Constant net connection no longer required for Ubisoft games

tom113 · 31 Dec 2010 at 13:02

http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/12/31/constant-net-connection-no-longer-required-for-ubisoft-games/

"It looks like DRM checks on games such as Assassin’s Creed 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction have been changed for the better. The controversial DRM system was launched earlier this year with Settlers 7, and required players to be permanently connected to the internet in order to play. Now the games will no longer pause instantly if a connection is lost, but will still require an internet connection to validate the install every time the game is booted up.

The change in the copy protection has been noticed by gamers on Reddit, who have posted screenshots showing Assassin’s Creed 2 and Splinter Cell: Conviction running with web connections turned off.

Good news for anyone with a flaky wireless connection then, though the games will require an internet connection to boot up the games. It’s the first change in the DRM we’ve seen since Ubisoft decided not to use it for the real time strategy game, RUSE.

A step in the right direction?"

About bloody time. I haven't tested it myself but I hope they have finally seen sense.

britboy4321 · 31 Dec 2010 at 13:12

I personally quite liked the idea of DRM, and wish more companys took it on

.

:/

It never gave me or anyone I know any problems whatsoever, and it got on the nerves of the thieves.

All my mates who complained about it, when you drilled down on their reasoning, the talk of 'I want to install it on 6 PCs and play simultaneously though' or 'I may want to play it on a camping trip where we've got no internet connection' - it was all basically lies. They actually just wanted stealing games to be as easy as possible, and saw this as a pain in the neck.

Semiskimmed · 31 Dec 2010 at 13:15

britboy4321 said:
It never gave me or anyone I know any problems whatsoever, and it got on the nerves of thieves.

Win/win?

lol, not really.
there always people out there who will enjoy the challenge of cracking games, the fact that people who illegally download games could play the games completely hassle free but people who bought it had hoops to jump through is a **** take.

britboy4321 · 31 Dec 2010 at 13:15

My wife's cousin copies games if it's easy, otherwise buys them. Same with my fat mother in law and her Nintendo DS. She had 105 games on the memory card, then bought a 'big screen' DS that protected against it, and doesn't know how to 'crack' it so buys the games. In fact same with loads of 'non-techy' folk I know ..

Anecdotal evidence, but I reckon there's a LOT of people like that out there.

I have loads of DRM games and have never, ever had to jump thorugh any hoops at all. I haven't even known they've had DRM on AT ALL until someone told me! I can't believe people complain because 'they can only install it on a maximum of 3 desktops and 2 laptops'. I mean -- what? Just at least say the truth -- you hate the old DRM because you want to thieve stuff mate ..!

aln · 31 Dec 2010 at 13:16

britboy4321 said:
I personally quite liked the idea of DRM, and wish more companys took it on .

:/

It never gave me or anyone I know any problems whatsoever, and it got on the nerves of the thieves.

All my mates who complained about it, when you drilled down on their reasoning, the talk of 'I want to install it on 6 PCs and play simultaneously though' or 'I may want to play it on a camping trip where we've got no internet connection' - it was all basically lies. They actually just wanted stealing games to be as easy as possible, and saw this as a pain in the neck.

Generally after installing a crack, you're unaffected by DRM whilst the legit customer suffers on quietly with their inferior product.

britboy4321 · 31 Dec 2010 at 13:20

aln said:
Generally after installing a crack, you're unaffected by DRM whilst the legit customer suffers on quietly with their inferior product.

I have loads of DRM stuff, not to mention stuff on STEAM, and I've never suffered at all. Where's all this 'suffering' going on?

Sorry - I've always had a bee-in-my-bonnet about thieving. I don't even like the idea of shoplifting things worth £3, no matter stealing £35 TBH. Should steer clear of these threads!!

tom113 · 31 Dec 2010 at 13:28

I love steam and own loads of games on there but this drm goes a step too far imo. I don't think I shouldn't be able to play a game I have bought simply because my connection is down. This has happened a few times this year because of some fault which affected my area.

Amnesia · 31 Dec 2010 at 13:32

britboy4321 said:
I personally quite liked the idea of DRM, and wish more companys took it on .

:/

It never gave me or anyone I know any problems whatsoever, and it got on the nerves of the thieves.

does your stupidity know no bounds ?
how does drm affect people who pirate games ?

britboy4321 · 31 Dec 2010 at 13:40

Amnesia said:
does your stupidity know no bounds ?
how does drm affect people who pirate games ?

Er, it makes it so it's harder for them to do it, so some don't bother.

Exactly the same as the way lockable windows on your house work. Sure anyone could smash a window and climb in to burgle your house, so WHY DO WE BOTHER WITH LOCKABLE WINDOWS AT ALL EVER? Answer that, and you'll start to understand DRM or indeed any other security system in the world. TBH it's pretty obvious stuff here fella .. out of interest, are you quite young?

Scotsmania · 31 Dec 2010 at 13:40

Bugger, i would have grabbed AC2 in the steam sale if i'd known this was in the works. My cable broadband has been dropping randomly for a minute here and there for the past month so didn't bother when it appeared on a daily :/

Semiskimmed · 31 Dec 2010 at 13:43

no, the people who crack games are individuals or groups who are part of the pirate scene, NOT the general public.
with these cracks and dodgy .exe files all the DRM is removed, making the pirates able to play games without worry of having to keep a internet connection up 24/7 or contacting support to be graced more activations after installing it 3 times.
and im really failing hard on the logic between comparing DRM to windows :/

iamtheoneneo · 31 Dec 2010 at 13:44

wasnt this always planned? they did say they would bring out a patch after a while when theyv essentially made all the money they can from a game.
i would expect the same drm to crop up in future releases

Semiskimmed · 31 Dec 2010 at 13:45

Scotsmania said:
Bugger, i would have grabbed AC2 in the steam sale if i'd known this was in the works. My cable broadband has been dropping randomly for a minute here and there for the past month so didn't bother when it appeared on a daily :/

yeah, it put me off buying it aswell. its a shame this has happened now or i would have bought it too. but this is good news for the future

thanks to OP for letting us know!

Martini1991 · 31 Dec 2010 at 13:49

britboy4321 said:
Er, it makes it so it's harder for them to do it, so some don't bother.

Lol.
It's the groups like Razor1911 etc that create the cracks. They enjoy it, and pretty much compete with the other scene groups. They ALSO request you support the developer if you enjoy the games.
Not the general public.

Are you naive?

Taziir · 31 Dec 2010 at 13:53

Steam is great and takes a tonne of hassle away from legitmate buying customers, however some games DRM schemes have been a real ballache to legitimate customers. I prefer the way Steam does not force you to always dial back to Valve and that just sometimes is enough.

Remember that this forum is populated with PC builders, accustomed to reinstalling their machines a lot (especially with XP lol). Games like Spore that had install limitations as part of it's DRM were always going to annoy people.

Gripes about bandwidth use or constantly dialling home for DRM are still relevant for people with poor connections or when playing from behind a strict firewall.

You have also clearly never played the game of trying to track down what application is constantly dialing unknown locations. With modern OS and Antivirus it's less of an issue than ever before, but 'back in the day' an unaccountable program trying to call an unknown external server could have meant you had malware, rootkits, DRM, virus or be part of some kid's botnet.

It's not unreasonable that companies use DRM when you want to use their software. It is unreasonable when you have no means to control what your PC is doing or who it is talking with at any given time.

britboy4321 · 31 Dec 2010 at 13:54

Martini1991 said:
Lol.
It's the groups like Razor1911 etc that create the cracks. They enjoy it, and pretty much compete with the other scene groups. They ALSO request you support the developer if you enjoy the games.
Not the general public.

Are you naive?

But my 9 year old cousin has never heard of Razor1911 or what a 'crack' is and certainly doesn't have a clue how to get/install one..

He installs the game from his mates original disk using the same code, printed on the back. If it works, he plays it. If it doesn't, he buys the original because he has never heard of Razor1911 or bit torrent or anything else remotely similar etc. Nor has ANYONE on my football team. Or my bar tender. Or my mum. Or 95% of the closest 100 people to you RIGHT NOW.

For all these people, DRM DIRECTLY STOPS COPYING. Simple stuff here fella, honestly..

Is it pretty on your planet?

Amnesia · 31 Dec 2010 at 13:55

britboy4321 said:
Er, it makes it so it's harder for them to do it, so some don't bother.

Exactly the same as the way lockable windows on your house work. Sure anyone could smash a window and climb in to burgle your house, so WHY DO WE BOTHER WITH LOCKABLE WINDOWS AT ALL EVER? Answer that, and you'll start to understand DRM. TBH it's pretty obvious stuff here fella .. out of interest, are you quite young?

really ? from the top of my head

limited activations after x amount of installs the game cannot be installed again unless you contact support and be nice.

are pirates affected ? nope
are paying customers affected ? yes

CD check you cannot play without the cd in the drive

are pirates affected ? nope
are paying customers affected ? yes

steam only 1 person may be logged into a steam account even if it has 874478 games on it, if you were not logged into your steam account before you went offline then you cannot access it until you connect to the internet. my favourite one

are pirates affected ? nope
are paying customers affected ? yes

constant internet connection no internet ? no play

are pirates affected ? nope
are paying customers affected ? yes

Martini1991 · 31 Dec 2010 at 13:56

britboy4321 said:
But my 9 year old cousin has never heard of Razor1911.

He installs the game from his mates original disk. If it works, he plays it. If it doesn't, he buys the original because he has never heard of Razor1911 etc. Nor has ANYONE on my football team. Or my bar tender. Or my mum.

For all these people, DRM DIRECTLY STOPS COPYING.

Is it pretty on your planet?

That is by far the crappiest justification of opinion I've ever heard.
DRM stops copying. Yes.... But that's why there's a crack, which is generally a modified .exe.

If you think copying an original and installing it as "Pro piracy", it's your world that is pretty.

Its_Me · 31 Dec 2010 at 13:56

britboy4321 said:
Snip out all the random use OF capitalised WORDS that ARE very ANOYING to READ...............
.......................are you quite young?

Britboys4321 a little LINK for you.
Nothing personal ofc :eek:

JUST a TINY, little, ITSY, bitsy IRONIC.

The problem with this type of DRM is that it could serve more purpose then just anti-piracy.

Any climb down is a plus, but after a basic lock is in place any further over intruisive DRM only harms the game/legit buyers.

Semiskimmed · 31 Dec 2010 at 13:59

britboy4321 said:
For all these people, DRM DIRECTLY STOPS COPYING. Simple stuff here fella, honestly..

Is it pretty on your planet?

the underlined bit is the reason im going to end discussions with you, you know very little about the badly implemented DRM out there.