Full Version: Ubisoft's new DRM

From: Dave!! [#1]
23 Feb 9:54
To: ALL

For those that haven't heard, Ubisoft will be rolling out a new form of DRM for their upcoming games which is so draconian that it makes even StarForce look like a pleasant stroll in the park.

Effectively, it requires a constant net connection every time you play the game. Not just one when you launch the game, but a constant one at all times. Lose your net connection at any point and the game will just dump you back to the main menu and you'll lose all your progress since your last save/checkpoint.

Have Ubisoft not realised that there's tons of ways in that a net connection can temporarily drop for 30 seconds and just how much this is going to screw with everyone who buys the game? I for one sure as hell don't want to keep being kicked out of a game I've bought just because of a router crash, quick drop in wireless signal, etc. etc. Especially when eveyone who pirates the game won't have these problems. Do they really think that pirates will take one look at this DRM and think "I gotta have me a piece of that!" thus driving up sales?

Pure madness.

From: Radio [#2]
23 Feb 11:19
To: Dave!! [#1] 23 Feb 17:24

Read about it both on engadget (or maybe joystiq) and then saw it was mentioned on Slashdot as well.
I can't say that it sounds especially appealing, but DRM in PC games has been getting progressively worse, and it doesn't really surprise me that they've resorted to this.

It does seem especially short-sighted though for what is a single player game. No playing it on a laptop in a hotel/airport/anywhere that doesn't have a net connection.

I can see the same thing happening that happened with Bioshock though. They'll stick to their guns initially, then once its actually released there will be a much larger outcry on the forums and they'll back off a little.
What people should really do is to refuse to buy OR pirate the game. Pirating it may seem like a good way to send a message about DRM, but we've seen that all it really does is to make the publishers think that they need more DRM rather than less.

From: patch [#3]
23 Feb 11:27
To: Dave!! [#1] 23 Feb 17:24

This chap is suggesting that everyone pre-order Assassin's Creed from Tesco, since their advert doesn't explicitly state that the game requires a constant connection, and then return it un-opened with a complaint about the DRM. Hope it works, though how Ubisoft aren't supposed to know about it, I'm not sure.

From: Dave!! [#4]
23 Feb 17:28
To: Radio [#2] 23 Feb 20:00

Well that's what they did with Spore. Due to anger over the DRM and strict activation limits it promptly went on to become the most pirated game ever. I just can't see the point with requiring a constant net connection. Even an activation every time you run the game would be less disruptive as a dropped net connection wouldn't then kick you out, although it'd still annoy a lot of people.

Ultimately, how quickly it's cracked will depend on how much of a disaster it is. If it gets cracked fairly quickly, I can see it having a decidedly negative effect on sales. If it survives for a long time without being cracked, the impact may be less severe, although I doubt that such DRM is going to make lots of would-be pirates rush out and buy it. Most will probably just avoid the games full stop. Either way, Ubisoft doesn't get any money, it's just that this way they also piss a lot of willing customers off as well.

From: ANT_THOMAS [#5]
23 Feb 17:43
To: Dave!! [#4] 23 Feb 19:02

Very quick thought that probably wouldn't work but could a work around involve something like adjusting your hosts file to point whatever the activation server address is to a local address that just pushes back the right response? Some sort of mini web server just for the activation process.

From: Kriv [#6]
23 Feb 20:42
To: Dave!! [#1] 23 Feb 21:42

Totally. Again the same old argument, people being penalised for purchasing legitimate software. They just need to revise the model. Lower prices and use Steam, granted another form of DRM, but an infinitely much fairer one.

From: Daniel Herman (HERMAND) [#7]
23 Feb 23:00
To: ANT_THOMAS [#5] 23 Feb 23:14

i'm making the assumption that they'll be sending a 'random' code and will expect a response. can't see why itd be any harder to crack than any other activation stuff, though. a case of watching it in assembly and seeing how it processes the code it sends to calculate the expected response.

From: Oscarvarium (OZGUR) [#8]
23 Feb 23:56
To: ALL

What publishers don't seem to get about DRM is that it has absolutely no impact on people who pirate the game. It's safe to assume that most of the people who actually crack it do it for the challenge, because they don't seem to get much else out of it, and the people who download it get all the game with none of the hassle. Once again, the only people who suffer from it are the legitimate paying customers. :/

From: Matt [#9]
24 Feb 0:35
To: ALL

What he said.

This seems to have been posted everywhere I visit, except here. Unless it has been posted here, in which case here it is again:

Of course I don't condone piracy, of course.

EDITED: 26 Feb 20:46 by MATT

From: Hugh et al le J (KOSWIX) [#10]
24 Feb 1:14
To: Matt [#9] 24 Feb 1:18

Is that an actual genuine account of that DVD?

From: Matt [#11]
24 Feb 1:21
To: Hugh et al le J (KOSWIX) [#10] 24 Feb 1:27

I don't know if it is or not.

I've encountered a couple of DVDs like it, with unskipable trailers, etc. but not that extreme.

From: 99% of gargoyles look like (MR_BASTARD) [#12]
24 Feb 8:59
To: Matt [#9] 24 Feb 12:29

Whatever it is that you posted seems to be borked, unless it's a Chrome/work connection problem.

From: Radio [#13]
24 Feb 11:03
To: Matt [#11] 24 Feb 12:29

I've seen it on a Postman Pat DVD of all things, bought for my son (or rather given to us for my son, but that's not really the point).
If you think you don't have the patience to sit through 10 minutes of trailers, then imagine what its like for a 2 year old.

There was another one as well, where there was an unskippable extended trailer for Madagascar on it, that really pissed me off. I think that was around the point I pretty much stopped buying DVD's, and even on the rare occasions I do, I now tend to copy it with DVDShrink as that allows you to skip all the supposedly unskippable bits.

From: Matt [#14]
24 Feb 12:29
To: 99% of gargoyles look like (MR_BASTARD) [#12] 25 Feb 9:34

It's an image and it works in Chrome this end.

From: ANT_THOMAS [#15]
24 Feb 12:35
To: Matt [#14] 24 Feb 14:04

Works fine here in FF 3.6.

From: Hugh et al le J (KOSWIX) [#16]
24 Feb 12:38
To: ANT_THOMAS [#15] 24 Feb 12:40

Fine in 3.5.8, too :C

From: ANT_THOMAS [#17]
24 Feb 12:40
To: Hugh et al le J (KOSWIX) [#16] 24 Feb 12:43

3.6 not made it to Scotland yet?

From: Hugh et al le J (KOSWIX) [#18]
24 Feb 12:45
To: ANT_THOMAS [#17] 24 Feb 13:13

Laptop always seems to take longer to realise there's an update for some reason :|

From: Dave!! [#19]
24 Feb 13:00
To: Hugh et al le J (KOSWIX) [#18] 24 Feb 13:19

Help > Check for Updates

Worth doing, Firefox 3.6 is noticeably faster than 3.5 I find.

From: ANT_THOMAS [#20]
24 Feb 13:14
To: Dave!! [#19] 24 Feb 14:32

Do you actually notice things like that?!

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Full Version: Ubisoft's new DRM

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