I wonder how long. . . ?

[Commie]

Originally Posted by Brag

I am rapidly losing interest in SHV, I doubt I'll buy it even without DRM

I did lose interest for a while but finally seeing it here in Romania for 35 euros it's virtually already on the 'mid-life' price discount level when released! At this rate maybe in a few months it will be in the bargain bin and MAYBE by then UBI will cut it's losses(if only to save on server maintenance as others have said) and get rid of the DRM. Then maybe there'll be enough mods to make it a worthy purchase.

Originally Posted by Cavell

What's surprising about that is that Assassin's Creed is by no means a small or unpopular franchise, yet it's getting beat by MW2? That game's been out for quite some time now.

Well apparently according to the Anti Piracy Brigades, MW2 was pirated 4,000,000 times so any sales figures for this game must be a lie!

[maurader]

Originally Posted by mcarlsonus

I remember some years ago, there was quite a stink about Ubi's Starforce protection. Didn't they remove that, or did it just become so annoying they didn't reuse it in SH4 (can't remember!). Starforce DID hurt sales, though - "they" learned THAT particular lesson. I seem to recollect Steam downloads didn't go so well...

Yes, Ubisoft officially posted instructions on how to remove Starforce from SH3. It is posted on this forum.

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=160118

I have the original "Starforce included" version of SH3 and recently reloaded it on my new computer. I found the thread above and patched it as directed. Neal says it is a "approved by Ubisoft" patch.

The funny thing is I cant believe the audacity of Ubisoft because the "official non-starforce patch" is actually a pirate created crack.

So is this what we should expect when they decide to patch out the current DRM in 6 months to a year?

[Cavell]

Originally Posted by mcarlsonus

I remember some years ago, there was quite a stink about Ubi's Starforce protection. Didn't they remove that, or did it just become so annoying they didn't reuse it in SH4 (can't remember!). Starforce DID hurt sales, though - "they" learned THAT particular lesson. I seem to recollect Steam downloads didn't go so well...

They removed it, but only after they were repeatedly hammered on various forums and in the gaming press about it - including numerous proofs to the effect that Starforce was some seriously nasty malware. They weren't the only ones to use it, but I believe they were the biggest. And, as has been pointed out, once they were finally backed into a corner and forced to act like they cared that their DRM was harming customers' systems, their response was to pirate a crack and make it official.

[Commie]

Originally Posted by Cavell

They removed it, but only after they were repeatedly hammered on various forums and in the gaming press about it - including numerous proofs to the effect that Starforce was some seriously nasty malware. They weren't the only ones to use it, but I believe they were the biggest. And, as has been pointed out, once they were finally backed into a corner and forced to act like they cared that their DRM was harming customers' systems, their response was to pirate a crack and make it official.

Yeah, the scene should have nuked the crack for being stolen. Would have been hilarious.