Widescreen Gaming Forum

That's a funny/sad read, Fox.

Yet more measures that punish legitimate buyers more than anyone. Stupid Ubi. StUbidsoft? a litle clumsy?


PS - these damned geese seem to be flying lower and lower every day. Gonna have one crash through a pane at this rate.

They had already announced the game would be played online on Ubi's servers, not sure why everyone acts surprised when they spell out what that means... we all knew what it meant didn't we?

Anyway, Assassin's Creed saved every 5 seconds when you did ANYTHING, so I assume this one will do the same, I'm not really worried about losing progress. The constant internet connection thing is annoying and will only punish customers of course, but honestly am I the only one with a constant internet connection? People are acting like their internet still works like it did in 1999 but I get like one drop in service a month, if that.

I am not defending the DRM really, it is too harsh, but honestly if it manages to stop piracy and they patch it out eventually so I can still play the game in 20 years I could see it being worth it. I would bet the vast majority of people are playing the game on a constant internet connection anyway, just like most people do on Xbox Live even though there is no DRM there what-so-ever. MMOs have shown a constant online connection is acceptable and works for most people... seems like people are getting angry just to do so.

DRM-free is best, yes, but piracy is killing the platform we all love. There has to be some give and take to save our gaming.

DRM-free is best, yes, but piracy is killing the platform we all love. There has to be some give and take to save our gaming.

If it actually works, then great. I really don't think it will work though.

And I was without internet for 5 hours today, I turned to my neglected singleplayer games for joy.

[quote]DRM-free is best, yes, but piracy is killing the platform we all love. There has to be some give and take to save our gaming.

If it actually works, then great. I really don't think it will work though.

That is basically where I am at...

There are no install limits, there are no clunky client programs (we assume) and they have said they will patch out the online requirement when the servers go down. That means two things to me:

1) Despite having to play online I can feel like I own the product, its function not limited by anything more than internet access.
2) It will work in 20 years, which I find essential.

If it stops piracy then it is worth that sacrifice. It is worth the minor issues that might crop up on their end, and it is worth not being able to play it for the 10 minutes a month I might not have internet.

If it doesn't work though, I will hate it, because it will not serve a purpose but to annoy me.

Decompile as2.bin

Search source files all references to a connection and all points that connect to servers, trace though to find any relevant lines.

Replace
if (server_connect_status == valid)
with
if (true)

replace
if (server_connect_status == invalid)
with
if (false)

replace
if (server_connect)
with
if (true)

Recompile as2.bin
Distribute Crack
Stick middle finger up at Ubisoft.


Yer, its really going to stop them.
What I don't get is why Ubisoft is making this dumb ass move when Prince of Persia was release without DRM and it wasn't pirated more or less then any other game, while Spores was pirated shit loads more because of the DRM put on it.

When are they going to learn that 1 download is not equal to 1 lost sale, the vast majority of pirates, regardless of there reason to pirate a game, would not buy the game if they couldn't download it. Most pirates are people who ether can't get the game where they live, can't afford the game, or don't know if they want the game so want to try it first, not people who think ohh i can get it for free, then say, I can't get it for free, I guess I'll buy it which are a very small collection of pirates.

_________________
: ) Skid : )
My Multi-Monitor Focused YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/c/SkidIncGaming
My Twitch channel which I've been known to stream on from time to time: http://www.twitch.tv/SkidInc
"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality."

I like how you make broad assumptions and generalizations about both the AC2 DRM system and pirates in general in one post.

On the tech side we have no idea how much will be downloaded while you play or what kind of continous server authorizations will take place. Your little example could end up being absolutely nothing like the end game. DRM has worked before in the past for a good length of time with far weaker systems and I don't know many MMOs with perfectly playable pirated versions.

And the thing is, even though almost every PC gamer on every forum anywhere will tell you trying to stop pirates is pointless it's not. Yes, some of these people would never buy a game, but a lot of them would if given no alternative. Spend time on pirate forums and you will see the comments from spoiled brats who want to play X game and the crack won't work and blah blah blah "guess I have to buy it lol!" Games with DRM that gave them a window of no piracy have shown larger early sales that expected, one example I know of being Mass Effect.

People are jerks. People steal stuff because they can, it's that simple. Remove the "can" and a lot of them will pay for it so they can play it, they are spoiled after all. If I made multi-million dollar games I would not go "oh well, some people are gonna steal it." I would do whatever I had to do to make sure if anyone played my game they paid me first, simple as that. The trick is DRM that stops piracy and also doesn't totally screw over the consimer. In my opinion asking me to be online while I play is not a horrible request, I am always online anyway, who cares? As long as it gets patched before the servers shut down I really don't consider it an issue that will effect me and it MAY stop the little bastards from stealing it.

I like how you make broad assumptions and generalizations about both the AC2 DRM system and pirates in general in one post.

The first part of my post wasn't meant as a literal example I was taking the piss and just pointing out people WILL crack it, without fail.

And my "broad assumption and generalization about pirates" is based off of research done by third party organisations not funded by the entertainment industry. "People are jerks. People steal stuff because they can, it's that simple." That is a broad and frankly narrow minded assumption. Next time read a post in context.

Also "pirate forums" is not the best way to get a broad opinion on a subject, forums attract a set of people with similar opinions or hobbies etc, your average pirate won't broadcast the fact they can't download the latest game.

Also using MMOs as an example for DRM that works is the best example because for one they don't really have any DRM, and for two once someone has got there hands on the database and code someone has to buy and maintain a server themselves, while normal games take little to nothing to maintain or crack.

_________________
: ) Skid : )
My Multi-Monitor Focused YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/c/SkidIncGaming
My Twitch channel which I've been known to stream on from time to time: http://www.twitch.tv/SkidInc
"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality."

Funny thing is, I've read several articles where developers and publishers claim that reselling of used games is a much bigger problem for them than piracy.. To the dev, a used game sale is the same as a pirated copy, except even worse because you know the person was even willing to spend money on the game, just not to the dev.

I'm not sure the DRM in Mass Effect is what made it sell better than expected either.. dunno if they realized a lot of PC gamers are sci-fi geeks, and I've seen them be way off in predictions more often than not. (Kane & Lynch?)

[quote]"People are jerks. People steal stuff because they can, it's that simple." That is a broad and frankly narrow minded assumption. Next time read a post in context.

It's pretty common sense. You were trying to come up with grander explanations of piracy when the real reason for most of them is that people are jerks, they want to play games, and they have the ability to do it for free.

All the "I just hate DRM" and all the "I am just testing it out" and all the "I am too poor" and blah blah blah is just BS, or at best a minority part of the problem. The bulk of pirates are people who love playing PC games and are too stupid to realize the reprecussions of their actions. Pretending they would be like "oh well, guess I will stop playing games forever" if piracy was stopped is just plain silly. They love playing games, why else would they do so? Take away the free games entirely and they would have to pay for them.

Now the hackers, that's a different story. Most of them do it just for the fun of the actual hacking, as far as I can tell.

Funny thing is, I've read several articles where developers and publishers claim that reselling of used games is a much bigger problem for them than piracy..

In console land, where almost every major developer and publisher has major stock in, this has some truth, if measured strictly in terms of how much more money they might make if people didn't do it. Very few people pirate console games, but lots of people buy them second hand.

And yet, second hand games aren't really a "problem" at all. Every single copy of a game bought used, was originally bought new. And only a percentage of the customers who bought their game new will ever wish to part with it, and most of them won't do that until they've completed the game themselves, which forces used game buyers to wait their turn. The second hand market cannot be large enough to really eat into potential profits unless the first hand market is successful.

Re-selling a product is a customer right, and most non-consumable products are made with the understanding that a percentage of the customers will re-sell it, and are therefore priced accordingly.