[zexmarquies01]

http://www.destructoid.com/confirmed...l-164079.phtml

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.....BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAH....

*takes a deep breath*

This is going to backfire on ubisoft much much worse than Sims3 and Spore did for EA.

This is by far, the DUMBEST DRM to date.

For those who didn't read, or don't want to read the article...

Not only will you have to connect online to play Ubisoft's games, But you have to *STAY* online. If you lose connection for ANY reason, the game will boot you from your play session. Meaning, you will have to reload from your last save or checkpoint. If Ubisoft's servers go down for any reason, Booted. If your ISP goes down for any reason, Booted. If your router "burps" ( as My friend and I call it ), Booted, If your modem Burps, Booted. Someone accidentally unplugs your Ethernet cable? Booted. You lose connection for a second on your wireless connection? B-O-O-T-E-D.

And this is NOT for Online gameplay only. This is for playing Offline-Single player.

All Ubisoft did was *REALLY* **** off the legit consumers, as THEY are the ones who will have to put up with this BS. The Pirate community is laughing like mad, as they see the fallout this is going to cause. ( My laughing at the top of this post is in no way an indication that I'm a pirate. I just know a lot about the pirating scene ).

I feel sorry for the Developers at Ubisoft, because I see a Mass Lay-off in a couple months, due to lack of game sales and profits.

I'm just confused at how the CEO's and managers at Ubisoft think this is honestly is a good idea. How do they NOT see the backlash they are about to receive? Did they not happen to see what happened to spore? Did they forget about EA changing it's DRM practices? Do they not notice StarDock's VERY loyal fanbase, largely there in part, due to their anti-DRM practices, and willingness to listen to the customers?

Do dollar signs LITERALLY cause one to go blind? Because that's the only conclusion I can think of.

Everyone else's thoughts?

[killem2]

It reminds me a lot of like gun control attempts in the USA. Just because you have to wait 15 days to buy a gun does not mean criminals won't get around the ways to get a gun.

Just like piracy. Just because you make everyone have to stay online to play, people who are determined to pirate the game will break the rules and bypass the BS. So the legit players get bent over while the criminals keep doing it the way they want.

[joedymueller]

but where does it end? If i find a way to play my purchased game with out DRM, is that piracy? what do I do if i wanna play AC2 but only have dial up? I think its crap and if the nerds of the net find a patch for it.. I'm all for it.

[zexmarquies01]

Originally Posted by joedymueller

but where does it end? If i find a way to play my purchased game with out DRM, is that piracy? what do I do if i wanna play AC2 but only have dial up? I think its crap and if the nerds of the net find a patch for it.. I'm all for it.

Here's the problem...

USA laws strictly says that bypassing Copyright sofware is 100% ILLEGAL.

That means, While you are legally allowed to make a backup of a CD or DVD that you buy, If you have to bypass copyright / DRM software to do so, You are breaking the law. It's kinda messed up. Have to break the law, so you can do what you're legally allowed to do. ( The DMCA should be given thanks for that little conundrum. )

But for a game like this, then technically, Yes. If you find a way to bypass their copyright software / DRM ( The online check, and requiring to be online to play ), then by all technical standpoints, you are a criminal.

Will someone come after you if you actually buy the game, and find a way to circumvent the DRM? No. Even Ubisoft isn't dumb enough to spend ALL of their remaining money to go after people who find cracks for legitimate copies. No company would. It's bad business. Even if they wanted to, it wouldn't be financially feasible.

And while I can't condone any legal activity here on the forums, at least, not publicly, It doesn't mean I'm blind to what will happen. Simply, a large portion of people who buy their games will find cracks to run the game without DRM, and Ubisoft will get all upset and whine for a bit. The games will be HEAVILY pirated, due to even legit people raising a middle finger to Ubisoft.

Then Ubisoft will release their sales numbers, and blame it on Piracy ( which *WILL* be partly true...to an extent ), but they won't acknowledge that their games were pirated to such a large extent ( more so than average ), due to their DRM policies.

Then, Ubisoft will back down for a while. Just as they did with the whole Star Force DRM debacle. Then they will wait another year or so, and come back hot and heavy with the DRM once again.

Hopefully, during this time, Gamers refuse to buy any Ubisoft game, PC or Console. Hurt the company financially. Don't buy any of their games or products. I sure as hell know that I won't be buying any of their stuff. ( And I'm really not a big fan of most of their games anyways. So it's not like I'm really losing anything anyways. )

So again, While I can't publicly condone ANY form of illegal activity, I can ask you to not buy their games, and other products. Because in my opinion, Our money is worth more than their crappy product. Their blatant disregard for the legit gamers should be handled in the EXACT same fashion by the gamers. They Disregard us, We should Disregard them.

[Stratus_ss]

Originally Posted by zexmarquies01

So again, While I can't publicly condone ANY form of illegal activity, I can ask you to not buy their games, and other products. Because in my opinion, Our money is worth more than their crappy product. Their blatant disregard for the legit gamers should be handled in the EXACT same fashion by the gamers. They Disregard us, We should Disregard them.

This is very well put, the problem is that most people dont know/care. I have to admit, I am not opposed to the breaking of the DRM in the case where the person actually owns the game. Sometimes its actually necessary. I have had DRM completely make games completely unplayable for me which boggles my mind beyond belief. Windows had some kind of compatibility issue with the DRM not with the game itself and as a result I was unable to launch the game. After some investigation I found my solution and the games played perfectly fine afterwards with no compatibility issues

The whole system is just stupid

[Creegz]

Zex has it nailed. I've looked into this personally since I used to play Call of Duty games, along with Republic Commando, Battlefield 2 and Diablo, all of which required me to have a disc in the drive. Unfortunately that's considered to be "illegal" in some instances, like on Battlefield 2. Honestly, it comes down to; do you want to switch discs all the time, or do something that, at this point, is frowned upon. I choose doing something that's frowned upon. In all honesty, I think Ubisoft's idea will not go over well. I personally don't mind it too much, since there's almost no internet downtime these days in cities and such, but there still are some, and in that case they DO need an offline mode like Steam has. Steam requires to you be online most of the time, but an offline mode is an option. In order for this to be successful, they need to follow suit.

[reap3r]

*facepalm*

That has to be one of the worst ideas I've ever heard.. Ubisoft.. I've lost what little faith I might have had left in you..

If there was ever an effective technique to drop sales, I think with this DRM they might have hit the jackpot....

[KonaKona]

Originally Posted by Anti-Hero

Zex has it nailed. I've looked into this personally since I used to play Call of Duty games, along with Republic Commando, Battlefield 2 and Diablo, all of which required me to have a disc in the drive. Unfortunately that's considered to be "illegal" in some instances, like on Battlefield 2. Honestly, it comes down to; do you want to switch discs all the time, or do something that, at this point, is frowned upon. I choose doing something that's frowned upon. In all honesty, I think Ubisoft's idea will not go over well. I personally don't mind it too much, since there's almost no internet downtime these days in cities and such, but there still are some, and in that case they DO need an offline mode like Steam has. Steam requires to you be online most of the time, but an offline mode is an option. In order for this to be successful, they need to follow suit.

If having a backup copy of a game is legal, then you can just keep an image of the game on the computer and mount it to a virtual disk drive, right?

Meh, even with super annoying fancy DRM like this it still only takes a few days for it to be broken with enough support behind it. It's like using differnt styles of brick to keep a tank from getting though; you're just not going to do it.

[joedymueller]

Hopefully, during this time, Gamers refuse to buy any Ubisoft game, PC or Console. Hurt the company financially. Don't buy any of their games or products. I sure as hell know that I won't be buying any of their stuff. ( And I'm really not a big fan of most of their games anyways. So it's not like I'm really losing anything anyways. )

even if people don't buy the game cause the DRM is stupid . ubi will still blame pirates for the low numbers. its a lose lose for gamers.

[Stratus_ss]

Originally Posted by joedymueller

even if people don't buy the game cause the DRM is stupid . ubi will still blame pirates for the low numbers. its a lose lose for gamers.

Thats a good point. All around its just a catch 22. If we dont support game X then profits will fall and piracy gets blamed and they either up the DRM or yank development altogether. If we buy it but complain about it nothing changes because what do they care? they have their money

[Chixofnix]

My prediction: Ubisoft will move forward with this DRM, perhaps for a few titles, but it will not be sustainable. Pirates will blame the DRM and Ubisoft will blame pirates for lack of sales (and they'll both be half-right). Ubisoft management are not idiots, but they've probably got too much invested in developing the platform to NOT give it a fair shot at reducing lost sales due to piracy (a quantity too many are ignoring as immeasurable). They are in all likelihood individuals whose future employment is on the line regarding how Ubisoft moves forward with choosing to use this platform - so you can rest assured they're not going to scrap it and fire some talent without giving it a fair shot.

If and when they find these next few games aren't going to have stratospheric sales figures, they'll either come to the conclusion that this means of DRM isn't helping the situation, or they'll continue to avoid "shades of grey" in the argument and blame the inevitable circumvention the pirates will develop. I sincerely hope this doesn't spiral into Ubisoft leaving PC gaming altogether, but it's not an unlikely scenario.

I for one have in the past and will continue to boycott games I want to play but have too heavy-handed DRM policies. I personally feel DRM has its place and is necessary in the modern world of PC gaming for the benefit of all, but interrupting the game's experience is crossing a line too far.

How long would a cinema stay in business that stopped the movie and turned the lights on every time they found someone who snuck in a drink/snack? I'd demand a refund and never come back until the policy changed.

[Chixofnix]

I'd encourage anyone with sentiment towards this issue to sign the "official" online petition (as listed on ubi's forums here):

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_pe...cgi?ew15dl94&1

I signed and linked this ocforums thread for my thoughts. Perhaps you might want to do the same?

[tomasgi]

That drives me nuts!!! I'm a reformed pirate, but I will STILL get the cracks so I don't have to use a disk and count me in for when the crack for their new DRM as soon as its available. What about those people in rural areas with dial up connections that don't want to tie up their phone lines while playing a game?

And yes dial up still exists.

[Stratus_ss]

Originally Posted by tomasgi

That drives me nuts!!! I'm a reformed pirate, but I will STILL get the cracks so I don't have to use a disk and count me in for when the crack for their new DRM as soon as its available. What about those people in rural areas with dial up connections that don't want to tie up their phone lines while playing a game?

And yes dial up still exists.

It sure does! Quite a few of my friends are still stuck on dialup because they live in rural areas.

I signed the petition but we have a long ways to go before we have enough people to get any traction on the issue

[SteveLord]

Ubisoft's PC games have stunk for the past few years anyway. They are leading the way when it comes to halfassed console ports.

This isn't an issue in my book....UNLESS others follow suit.

[BenF]

This is a horrible idea. I like to game in between classes while at school but my college has spotty/flaky wireless networks

It almost seem that DRM like this makes a crack a necessity. I'm not advocating piracy or breaking copyright laws by any means but what the hell was ubisoft thinking?

[Chixofnix]

Originally Posted by SteveLord

...UNLESS others follow suit.

That's exactly why it's a big deal. That and you don't know that the family of developers within Ubisoft won't be behind the best games to come in the future - they have a lot of star talent and reputation under their roof to be sure. You can be sure that should this DRM platform somehow ends up being hailed/perceived as a "working solution," other publishers and independent developers will take notice.

At some point, us paying customers have to define a line for ourselves to determine when enough is enough and our money is better spent on other games/activities. If we don't, the heavy-handed DRM steamroller will only continue to gain momentum in the industry.

[killem2]

Originally Posted by joedymueller

even if people don't buy the game cause the DRM is stupid . ubi will still blame pirates for the low numbers. its a lose lose for gamers.

I thought mass effect tried something just as stupid like a 4x total activation before the game became dead and the outrage made them change it.

[redrumy3]

Terrible, Splinter Cell will most likely have this and i was really looking forward to buying it on pc...but not any more.

[dumpa]

We do not speak of or imply the use of Crack Hack or WAREZ in thes Forums.
Your speak of a torent is implying such activity. Please refrain from this now and in the future.

We'll call this your warning.

WarriorII
Moderator