Ubisoft's Constant Net Connection DRM confirmed

Link to articleI've about had it with companies and DRM. DRM -- which stands for "Digital Rights Management" -- is a mechanism used by publishers to "ensure our intellectual property is not stolen". You know what's funny though? Pirates bypass this sort of stuff all the time, leaving the legitimate customers with broken -- yes, broken -- software that they paid full price for.Most DRM limits the number of times you can install it, and/or attaches itself to a hardware ID, preventing it from ever being installed on another machine. In PC game terms, when you finally upgrade your computer, you can't play that DRM-enabled game on your new machine unless you pirate it. Why? Because companies don't trust their own consumers. In their Holy War against pirates, they're willing to step on the toes of every customer they have in a futile attempt to thwart piracy (which actually increases exposure of most work and has been proven to increase sales in some cases).Ubisoft's new DRM will force you to be on the Internet the entire time you are playing the game. What does that mean for single player games, then? What does it mean if your Internet goes down? Every game with that DRM will be nothing more than a coaster, at that point. LAN parties will be a no-go unless you're connected to the Internet.DRM is nothing more than malware that's voluntarily built into these games, breaking them if specific conditions are not met. I don't know what part of the computing world you're from... but in my neck of the woods, software that doesn't work is considered faulty and gets thrown in the Recycle Bin.Thoughts?

I dislike DRM, especially the type that requires an internet connection. Up until a few years ago I didn't have internet at all, so I think its an unreasonable requirement.

DRM, is too much of a demanding 'software', it'll throw bitchfits for loss of connection, or lack thereof.Some people can barely afford the setups required for most of this crap. And it's preventing you from using it sounds like, as Xelados puts it: Malware.Consoles and games embedded with this will end up dying, as the DRM Suicide PEELZ are going to be everywhere by every company at this rate.The only good news is that PC ends up unchallenged should that happen, as the pirates can patch just about anything, especially for those with their originals safely tucked away in their protective casings.

require a constant internet connection to play a single player game? seriously, it kill the point of playing single player game, they might as well make it a multiplayer so the connection doesnt get wasted.i will never buy a single game that require constant internet connection to play them.

Ubisoft has lost any future purchases i make for aslong as this stupid DRM is in place.

I read something cool in IRC, want to hear it?

06:02 xelados Oh shit, someone made a great point on Slashdot; if a bunch of people got together and DDoS'd the activation server, millions of customers lose their progress, out of no fault of their own.
06:02 xelados God this is the worst idea ever.

It sounds like it'd be a blast! :D
I wonder how many people it would need to cause some chaos?

I imagine a single botnet of decent size could do it. Seriously, this is the biggest act of retardation I've seen in a developer/publisher.

Replying to #7

Probably straight from the publisher (Ubisoft). Although that doesn't make this act of retardation any less retarded.

Ah, i heard about this a few days ago, it's gonna be in the PC version of Assassins Creed 2.People have said it best, when they said this will only hinder the paying customers, seeing as how eventually pirates will find a way around it. This is a pretty stupid idea, although the 360 version of AC 2 had auto saving after you did pretty much anything, so it probably won't be that bad on the saving front

Going to be? Isn't AC2 out on pc already? @_@Arrr!

I mostly download my games anyway, watch me care. Granted, most of my games are played on my DS.

I know that Valve does this for some of their games, but i think that i would be right in saying that they only require an initial check via The Internet rather than needing you to be connected through the entirety of play?
Anyhow; from the information this sounds unworkable, can you imagine how furious you would be if their servers messing up caused you to lose data? Would having slow Internet access and a poor connection to their servers result in you getting kicked out?
Sometimes my connection cuts out for a second or a few minutes unpredictably for reasons like my antispyware doesn't like the certain things being given access, which would be a problem...Ultimately it will either cause them a loss in sales, be abandoned or be rendered useless by an unofficial crack...
Day by day Ubisoft becomes more like Micro$oft...

short answer is Yes.
These companies want everyone on T1 or better

xelados · #1Thoughts?

&($@&($@!Remember Spore? I upgraded my computer several times, because it was Windows it broke down a few times, and then that was the end of it. No Spore...

I'ts the same with GTA4 on the pc, everytime you want to save, you have to connect to the internet to save via windows live. which is crazy, just to save.

Replying to #15

Only if you sign in online. If you don't like that, use an offline account.

can't has, iirc.

Beats limited activations or needing the disc in the drive, which isn't saying much. Doesn't make it good.

Steam downtime earlier today = LOL

http://kotaku.com/5485179/rumor-ubisofts-new-drm-scheme-already-torpedoed-by-piratesThis really isn't surprising at all. =/Guess ACII is gonna get the opportunity to take first place for most pirated game ever.