Ubisoft gives Assassins Creed II the DRM treatment

[Tonnage_Ace]

http://kotaku.com/5474209/assassins-creed-ii-pcs-drm-sounds-as-pleasant-as-a-stab-in-the-neck

Kotaku made a post about Ubisoft taking the same measures to Assassin's Creed II as it is with SHV and the same outpouring of grief is evident among the posts. Is online DRM a step in the right direction? Popular opinion says no way I guess.

[Ragtag]

All major PC titles in he future will include the OSP. This has already been confirmed by Ubisoft.

[Seafireliv]

All major PC titles in he future will include the OSP. This has already been confirmed by Ubisoft.


Pretty astonishing in my view. surely they`re committing suicide as a business with this?

[TarJak]

Pretty astonishing in my view. surely they`re committing suicide as a business with this?
They are if enough people don't buy it.

[Seafireliv]

They are if enough people don't buy it.


WEll, i`m only one person, but i`m sorry to say that my PC buying of UBi ends here... and I was considering getting AC as well, since my friend said it was pretty good on the Xbox.

[Tonnage_Ace]

Well I'm also a fan of the Splinter Cell series and the latest incarnation will probably have OSP or whatever they call it as well.

I still consider the PC to be the master race when it comes to gaming but it seems the economic and cultural aspects of gaming has gone to the consoles. Being that SHV is PC only I don't really blame them as much for turning to OSP but I still don't like it one bit.

Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance

I'm at Depression right now.

[Fluffysheap]

Well, so much for me buying SH5. I bought 2 copies of SH3 and SH4, plus the SH4 U-boat pack. Steam (or a simple DVD check) is the only DRM I will tolerate.

Then when the game fails Ubisoft will blame the pirates. Or the "niche market." Or the economy. Well, it's a shame. SH5 looked fun.

[Lionclaw]

I wonder if it's a sign that they're really don't want to sell PC games and instead focus entirely on consoles.

I bought AC2 for the 360 last year, but I'll be wary of buying Ubisoft titles in the future.


The many developers that have Ubisoft as a publisher should really look for some other publisher.

I wonder how the developers feel when a publisher take these kind of decisions.


When companies get really big, quality goes down.

Quality? :hmmm: Nah, we want to make money. And while we're at it, we want to make even more money while screwing the paying costumer in the posterior!! :yeah:

:nope::shifty:

[Brag]

Though the demographics are different for AC players, It will probably meet similar opposition as it does here. The article on PC News (?) sure slammed Ubi hard. So far nearly 100% of the gaming press is strongly against DRM/OSP.

It doesn't take genious to realize that DRM/OSP does not offer any benefit to the end user.

[Nordmann]

Indeed. If they have thought this through (which I doubt), then they have definitely come to the wrong conclusions. PC gamers put up with a lot as it stands, but this really takes the proverbial biscuit. I wouldn't be surprised to see a turnaround decision on this OSP, once they realise no one is fooled by their attempt to sugar coat it!

[conus00]

Oh well, another game on my "to-buy-list" goes bye-bye... :nope:

[Arclight]

Oh noes, they found 'general games'! :rotfl2:

*cough*

Anyway, in case you hadn't realized it, applies to R.U.S.E. as well. Other upcoming titles include Anno 1404: Venice and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.

[Raptor1]

Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Bloody Revenge
Armed Revolution

This is the only way it could be resolved short of Ubi finally coming to their senses...

[Highbury]

It doesn't take genious to realize that DRM/OSP does not offer any benefit to the end user.

It was never supposed to. Calling it OSP is just a "positive spin" but it was always designed as theft prevention. The devs themselves know that anything they do is crackable/hackable.. but most "pirates" are only interested in what is shiny and new. If a DRM remains uncracked long enough for the next shiny thing to take most of the attention, the devs consider it a success.

[malkuth74]

Ok So I will make stand on ACII since I wanted that game too. Am getting SHV though.

But ACII is a larger gaming on PC then I think SHV is.. I think they will feel it more with ACII then SHV. So there. My protest is in.

And I really want ACII... Dam you UBI.

[Arclight]

Alright. So, Ubisoft's new DRM (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=235290&site=pcg). Supports unlimited installs and Cloud-based save data. Requires absolutely unbroken access to their master servers, or the product ceases to function. I can boil it right down for you:

Nobody wins.

Well, except pirates. Pirates always win, on a long enough timeline. Honestly, the timeline doesn't even need to be that long.

Visit any thread regarding the topic, and I mean any thread, and it won't be three posts until someone raises the Goddamned Jolly Roger and says they'll pirate the game (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/2/19/) as a gesture consistent with some comprehensive ur-morality they've ginned up, one where stealing things is alright provided they were very angry when they did it. It's entirely possible that you don't like being spoken to in this way, but somebody has to get this done. What Ubisoft is doing here is Draconian - I don't mean those lizard dudes, I'm talking about laws which are characterized by their severity. Before they eventually dismantle it, and it will be dismantled, it will have achieved exactly the opposite of their intention. But what I won't tolerate from rational beings is the idea that you don't understand why they're doing it.

Every avenue of convenience for the user is also a vector of exploitation.

They have given up.

As fiery rhetoric goes, this sucks. It doesn't have that revolutionary quality that rallies the faithful. The trouble is that this dialogue between pirates and publishers, one which was always characterized by falsehood and ill-will, has ceased to exist in this case. A maneuver this extreme means that they're finished talking altogether: this mechanism is their response, the final word. Only it's impossible to get the final word here in The Cloud. Ever.

And no-one of any sense has ever bet against the scorn and resourcefulness of young men.
^'Tycho' from Penny Arcade (Feb 19 2010): http://www.penny-arcade.com/

To illustrate the problem: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/2/19/

[Semtex]

i read some page and what i see? DRM at AC2 falling down, almost cracked? :o

[Arclight]

Of cousre it is. :lol:

After the big stink it caused, OSP became target #1. Same thing happened with Spore when it turned out it had limited installs. Only this one is easier to 'crack' (more like bypass).

[Semtex]

poor ubi :rotfl2:

[darius359au]

I'd been thinking of getting AC2 and SH 5 , but with this DRM rubbish from Ubi I wont be buying any more games from them!You think Ubi would have learn't the lesson from EA after the Mass Effect DRM outcry with the whole 5 re-install and then you buggered:damn:

[FIREWALL]

The big question is... Is it a finished product ? :haha:

[NeonSamurai]

Just as a reminder, we know already that this new DRM has been successfully broken for another game (and we all know which one). I don't want to see discussion about it for this game or any other UBI games.

I suspect UBI is going to back away from this method fairly quickly given its massive unpopularity, and failure.