Overwritten.net
Games => General Gaming => Topic started by: idolminds on Tuesday, January 26, 2010, 12:29:25 PM
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ITS SO AWESOME! (http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/the-settlers-7-paths-to-a-kingdom/1063391p1.html)
Unlimited installs! No need for a disc in the drive!
Oh yeah, and your save games are all stored online. And you must be connected to the internet to play, even for singleplayer. Lets try to ignore the scenario when Ubi.com is down thereby disabling your ability to play.
Looks like I'm pirating Assassins Creed 2. Or buying the PS3 version when its dirt cheap. Maybe even used so Ubisoft doesn't see a dime. Fuck you, Ubisoft.
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Yea I heard about this. I was waiting for a thread on OW. :P
D is slowing down.
Hmmm... it seems that if you pirate the game you won't be able to save the game since there is no mechanism for offline saving.
edit:
I hadn't been to gamespy in years!
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Think MMO implementation. Everything is stored online and you need an internet connection to play.
I've given up on PC gaming. I think the last PC game I bought was Spore.
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I think the last PC game I bought was Spore.
haha...
Anyway, I bet a lot of other companies will start doing this soon... at least for a little while.
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To be quite honest I don't think it's that bad. I know idol is still on 56k so it sucks for him that he doesn't have a persistent connection, but most people do indeed have a constant connection. Hell, whenever I play on my PS3 or Xbox I'm connected to their respective service anyway.
The only thing I can see as detrimental to the service is if Ubi.com goes down for an extended period of time. Generally speaking I don't think that's really too much of a worry though. Once the service is launched it should be stable after the initial influx of users passes.
Gaming while traveling can be a problem if you don't have an internet connection, but if you're staying at a hotel you should have one, and while traveling I don't think your focus would be to game anyway.
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My disconnect from PC gaming gets wider game by game. If it isn't high hardware cost, it's deal-breaking copy protection. At this point I want a PS3 much more than a new game PC.
Edit: No, it *is* that bad. I want full control over everything I buy, and I can't control the quality of my ISP, or Ubisoft's servers, or Ubisoft's maintenance, or Ubisoft's future existence. It is that bad.
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Heh, my connection is pretty persistent, its just slow. I've downloaded nearly 1GB since the last time I redialed. And at 3K/sec, you can calculate how long thats been.
Shacknews has some more info (http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/62098), taken from a Ubi FAQ:
What are the key elements of this platform for PC gamers?
Although a permanent online connection is required, this means that a CD/DVD is not required to play the game after installation. The protected game can be installed as many times and on as many computers as you like. Saved games are also synchronized online so the user can continue playing from any location with the game installed.
How many players can the server system support?
There is no limit to how many players can play at the same time. For each title, we carefully study the demand and allocate servers accordingly. We will also of course allocate back-up servers in order to be able to respond to fluctuations in demand. Ubisoft provides 24/7 monitoring of its servers.
How many computers can I install the game on?
There is no limit to the number of computers on which you can install the game. However you can only play with your individual Ubisoft account on one computer at a time.
Can I play my game from another computer?
Yes. As long as the game is installed on the PC, you can play from any computer and your Ubisoft account will recognise your last saved position as well as automatically save any updates.
I am in a strict environment with lots of firewall rules etc. Can I still play the game?
If you can access the Internet from the computer, you can play the game.
Blah blah, usual crap...
What if Ubisoft decides not run these online services in the future? Will my game stop working?
If any service is stopped, we will create a patch for the game so that the core game play will not be affected.
Well now thats interesting. I imagine patching in saving to the local disk from scratch would be some effort, so perhaps local saving is built in and simply disabled? That could get cracked...
What will happen if I lose my Internet connection when I play the game?
If you lose your Internet connection the game will pause while it tries to reconnect. If the Internet Connection is unable to resume you can continue the game from where you left off or from the last saved game.
Will I need to be online the whole time when I play the game? Including for single player?
Yes. You will need to have an active Internet connection to play the game, for all game modes.
So its not just a check at the start, you have to be online the whole time you play. Man, what the fuck?
Will this platform use unique keys?
Yes. Unique keys are verified throughout this system.
Will this affect the performance of my PC?
No. The services that we offer run only when you start the game and there are no background services.
Do you have to be a member of Uplay to use this service platform?
This system requires you to have a Ubi.com account. A Uplay and a Ubi.com account are the same. You don't need to use Uplay to use this service platform, but if you wish to do so, it's very simple.
Do you plan to implement this system on home consoles?
This system is for PCs only.
Will this system be available for every Ubisoft game?
Most upcoming Ubisoft PC games will make use of this system.
Blah blah, fuck you.
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This was pretty much inevitable. It's pretty shitty, but you can't blame them given how rampant pirating is.
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Well now thats interesting. I imagine patching in saving to the local disk from scratch would be some effort, so perhaps local saving is built in and simply disabled? That could get cracked...
Yea, that's what it means, which sorta disappoints me because this experiment will be pointless.
This was pretty much inevitable. It's pretty shitty, but you can't blame them given how rampant pirating is.
Yea especially after what happened with the first AC game on PC.
You can tell they were willing to give no DRM a chance by having PoP sold without any DRM, but that game was pirated like nuts.
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Wow, this is pretty bad.
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Yea I heard about this. I was waiting for a thread on OW. :P
D is slowing down.
D was at work.
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Think MMO implementation. Everything is stored online and you need an internet connection to play.
I've given up on PC gaming. I think the last PC game I bought was Spore.
I've done the same. I just buy my games on Xbox now, unless it's a PC only title (recently bought STALKER, Crysis, and Dawn of War 2 on the Steam sale).
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I am the opposite. I've even started buying console-type games on PC and use the Xbox 360 pad for those. That said, I stay away from games with horrible DRM, so my purchases have definitely thinned out.
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I'm growing really tired of this DRM bullshit. Pirates and companies using over-protective DRM are fucking-up my platform of choice.
EDIT:
Well now thats interesting. I imagine patching in saving to the local disk from scratch would be some effort, so perhaps local saving is built in and simply disabled? That could get cracked...
Even though this "must be online to save" shit shouldn't be instituted in the first place - especially for SP games...
As soon as the game's dirt-cheap most places - i.e. $20 or less - there's no damn reason for gamers to have to be able to be online to save a SP game. It's pointless now - as likely, everybody and their cousin might actually go buy a copy of your PC game, if they haven't already...
And guess what? By that time your company's game is in the bargain bin, pirates are already looking at the next $50-60 full game to pirate the living fuck out of - especially if it has retarded DRM.
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Valve
Ubisoft
2K
Ironically, I'm more inclined to support EA these days than a lot of other companies. And that's really weird.
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Ironically, I'm more inclined to support EA these days than a lot of other companies. And that's really weird.
Few years ago, I felt the same way - EA w/ its Securom and limited installs was the freakin' devil. Thankfully, they wisened-up w/ DRM, in recent memories. Though, the way they been doing DLC is pretty shitty with all the nickle and diming. That's nickle and diming is more forgivable than what the hell UbiSoft is planning to do.
2K is really aggravating me w/ the Bioshock 2 DRM and lacing every piece of Borderlands PC DLC w/ their own Securom install limits DRM. I mean really - WTF?
The day I started saying Valve has one of the weaker DRM's out there w/ Steam, I really knew PC gaming was starting to get FUBAR'ed.
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Fuck, neogaf just reminded me of something. (http://www.overwritten.net/forum/index.php?topic=5668.msg74641#msg74641)
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This was pretty much inevitable. It's pretty shitty, but you can't blame them given how rampant pirating is.
Yes, yes I blame them. They are fucking PC gamers in the ass; therefore, I blame them. Their profits are their problem. Mine is spending my money on products that stay away from my rectum. This is not one of them, not on PC anyway.
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Yes, yes I blame them. They are fucking PC gamers in the ass; therefore, I blame them. Their profits are their problem. Mine is spending my money on products that stay away from my rectum. This is not one of them, not on PC anyway.
But the product is based on these companies being financially viable enough to put them in the market. Pirating is fucking PC gamers in the ass, and that is why there are so many measures like this to deal with it - measures that end up hurting the customer.
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Just because an organization screams about something doesn't mean they're losing as much money over it as they want you to think. Remember the RIAA, when we found out most people still buy CDs and they really weren't hurting that badly after all?
But either way, the ends don't justify the means.
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I didnt look at the full FAQ (http://support.uk.ubi.com/online-services-platform/) before, but I saw this just now:
Will all my saved games be stored online?
Yes! They will be stored both online and on your PC.
Yeah, this is so going to be cracked in a couple days.
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I thought that looked funny... (http://dubiousquality.blogspot.com/)
Since my paranoia radar is up and fully functioning today, here's one little section that no one is talking about yet:
Will this platform use Uniquekeys?
Yes. Uniquekeys are verified throughout this system.
Wait a minute. What is this question even doing in here? WTF is "Uniquekeys", anyway? It's not "unique keys", because that would only make sense if they're talking about a database, plus it's capitalized.
This question 100% looks like a plant. No one would even know to ask this question, because no one has any idea what "Uniquekeys" even is, so why would they plant this unless it's the name for some kind of additional DRM scheme?
Adding to my suspicions: "Uniqekeys" doesn't exist in Google in any context other than a database field. Well, except in relation to this FAQ Ubisoft just issued.
I could be totally wrong here--hell, I usually am. But wouldn't it be so "Ubisoft" of Ubisoft to pull a sleight-of-hand like this? Announce a controversial policy, but hide the real controversy in language so vague that no one will notice.
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I just lost my Internet connection (from 4:30-4:45pm or so, my Time Zone). That's a good 15 minutes. If I had an UbiSoft U-Play game, I'd be screwed-over for 15 minutes.
Dad left me a message saying the Net connection been out most of the morning.
UbiSoft, you're freakin' nuts to go this route...
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Just because an organization screams about something doesn't mean they're losing as much money over it as they want you to think. Remember the RIAA, when we found out most people still buy CDs and they really weren't hurting that badly after all?
But either way, the ends don't justify the means.
True. Still, we've all seen the numbers posted here of copies sold vs pirated for certain games. It has to be disheartening as a developer to see the vast majority of people playing your game getting it for free. You can't expect them to do nothing about it.
But having said that, it's fucked that they can't find a solution that doesn't screw over the customer.
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Let's see how this works out.
The only thing is that they have to go all the way with this or not at all. There should be absolutely no way to save offline which can exploited by pirates, otherwise paying customers will feel like dicks jumping through hoops and all.
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And from 5:15pm to like....now (8:28pm), my Verizon Internet's been out. Under Ubi's current scheme, I'd be screwed. So, unless the game's cheap as hell or they change their DRM policy, no sale.
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To be quite honest I don't think it's that bad. I know idol is still on 56k so it sucks for him that he doesn't have a persistent connection, but most people do indeed have a constant connection. Hell, whenever I play on my PS3 or Xbox I'm connected to their respective service anyway.
I don't know man, I'd say I have a stable connection, but that doesn't mean that occasionally there won't be a hiccup or connection error while playing TF2 or DoD. It doesn't happen often, and it doesn't get all that annoying, but that's just because it's the nature of the game. With shit like Windows Live! though, I remember times when it wouldn't connect and I couldn't play a fucking game offline because of it. Fuck that noise. This is total bullshit.
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Granted, I haven't really done any gaming on the PC over the last 4 years aside from World of Warcraft. The DRM has gotten kind of crazy in the last year or two, and I've blissfully ignored it since I was engrossed into WoW. There, all I needed was a persistent connection and for their servers to be online. When the servers went down, it was annoying as hell, but it's the nature of the game. Also, everything is stored online for WoW (and Diablo II if you play on Battle.net).
I guess from my perspective it's just not that big of a deal because I'm so used to the structure of MMO design that it doesn't strike me as something too bad.
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Granted, I haven't really done any gaming on the PC over the last 4 years aside from World of Warcraft. The DRM has gotten kind of crazy in the last year or two, and I've blissfully ignored it since I was engrossed into WoW. There, all I needed was a persistent connection and for their servers to be online. When the servers went down, it was annoying as hell, but it's the nature of the game. Also, everything is stored online for WoW (and Diablo II if you play on Battle.net).
I guess from my perspective it's just not that big of a deal because I'm so used to the structure of MMO design that it doesn't strike me as something too bad.
Yeah that could be it because MMO ≠ single player game.
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Here's a bunch of vets of the game industry speaking on the rights and wrongs of DRM. (http://savygamer.co.uk/2010/02/01/digital-rights-and-wrongs-the-state-of-drm/)
Some of the people talking here: Dmitry Guseff from StarForce; Nihal de Silva of Direct2Drive UK; Richard Wilson of TIGA; and Cliff Harris of Positech Games.
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It gets worse w/ UbiSioft's DRM, guys.
If you get disconnected from the Net while playing a UbiSoft U-Play Connected Game, the game WILL shut down on you.
(http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/62412)Ubisoft wasn't kidding when it said that its new digital rights management technique mandates "an active Internet connection to play the game, for all game modes."
Advance copies of the first two games to embrace the new solution--Assassin's Creed II PC and The Settlers 7 PC--recently arrived at PC Gamer, leading to the discovery that the games automatically shut down if temporarily disconnected from the Internet.
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Ubisoft games on PC are basically guaranteed to be nothing but pirated copies now.
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Pretty much. Who the hell would pay money for that?
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Of course when no one buys it, they will bitch about rampant PC piracy and make their next games even worse. You will have to scan your receipt each time you want to play and if you don't, an implant they put in your heart while you are sleeping will explode. To prevent receipt forgeries, they will force retailers to buy new receipt printers that imprint a holographic image and magnetic strip. If you try to scan the receipt with a regular scanner instead of the special Ubiscanner you have to also buy that can read the holograph and magnetic strip -- you guessed it -- your heart explodes.
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Of course when no one buys it, they will bitch about rampant PC piracy and make their next games even worse.
I'd rather every PC gamer boycott the game than crack it and play it. I just don't want to hear the usual fall-back excuse publishers say of "Well...Piracy killed our sales on the PC version."
I'd like to hear them NOT be able to do the "piracy" fallback. I want to hear them say, "We shot ourselves in the foot w/ our Draconian DRM." Though, they'd probably be quicker to say something along the lines of this kind of PR statement - "PC gamers just didn't buy our game."
EDIT:
Here's the PCG article, in nice detail of how UbiSoft's New DRM Works. (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=235290&site=pcg)
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Ars clarifies further (http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/02/ubisoft-details-drm.ars)
"As long as you do not quit the game, the game will continue to try to reconnect for an unlimited time. Once the game is able to reconnect, you will immediately be returned to your game," Ars was told. What about your progress?
"Where exactly you are reconnected in the game may differ from title to title. Settlers 7 reconnects at the exact point where the connection was lost, AC2 reconnects you at the last checkpoint (and not the last auto save, as indicated in the CVG article). There are many checkpoints so you're back to the point where you got disconnected in no time."
We were assured that only happens if the disconnection is lengthy. If you're cut off for just a second or two, the game simply pauses and continues on. Ars was also told that nothing will happen if your connection slows down. "Our online services platform will require a maximum of 50kbps of available bandwidth, so even with the slowest connection, gameplay won’t be affected."
They say pausing the game if you're disconnected for even a second or two as if thats like...a good thing. How about you go fuck yourself instead, Ubisoft?
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UbiSoft should just lessen their DRM scheme to something more normal.
End of story.
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Ars clarifies further (http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/02/ubisoft-details-drm.ars)
They say pausing the game if you're disconnected for even a second or two as if thats like...a good thing. How about you go fuck yourself instead, Ubisoft?
Yeah, that's ridiculous. I've already sworn of EA and a few of their games I'm sort of interested in like Mass Effect and Mirror's Edge. Ubisoft has no chance as far as I'm concerned. There won't be the slightest feeling of temptation, I promise you that.
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I hope people keep pounding on this. Ubisoft needs to take as large a beating and PR disaster as we can throw at them. (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=235596&site=pcg)
Get a load of this.
What happens if Ubisoft take the DRM servers offline for maintenance, or suffer a technical breakdown?
In the case of a server failure their games will be taken offline, and you'll be unable to play them. "The idea is to avoid that point as much as possible, but we have been clear from the beginning that the game does need an internet connection for you to play. So if it goes down for real for a little while, then yeah, you can't play.
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So they control when you can play. Even if its a technical problem on THEIR end, then you will be unable to play the game you paid $60 for. How great.
Will Ubi make a firm commitment to removing the DRM if the servers are to be taken offline?
We'll paste the straight transcript here:
PCG: What I think a lot of us would really like is a firm commitment that you understand our worries that the servers are going to go down and suddenly we've just got some trash data on our hard drives that we've paid for.
Ubisoft: The system is made by guys who love PC games. They play PC games, they are your friends.
PCG: So you can commit to saying that those systems will be patched out?
Ubisoft: That's the plan.
PCG: It's the plan, or it's definitely going to happen?
Ubisoft: That's written into the goal of the overall plan of the thing. But we don't plan on shutting down the servers, we really don't."
Translation: "No, we will not be held responsible for providing a patch."
Is there something stronger than "Fuck you, Ubisoft!"? Like...involving anal rape with chainsaws covered in acid soaked sandpaper?
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Sure. Don't give them any money. As a for-profit corporation, they'd rather see their employees raped and burned by acid.
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Holy shit, this is getting out of hand. We're inching closer to "Play Assassin's Creed 3 for 1 month for ONLY $60!! YEAH!!"
I swear, if gaming becomes a "service" like that I'm quitting. I'll move to the Yukon or something.
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Ubisoft might as well just stick to console gaming, if they ain't getting to shape up. I ain't gonna tolerate this crap - and so ain't a lot of other PC gamers.
Once the protection gets broken by hackers - and you can bet it will - UbiSoft might as well just ditch the protection scheme. Come up w/ something we will tolerate, for crying out loud.
I had a lot of respect for UbiSoft when they release Prince of Persia (2008) with NO DRM. It's a shame it got pirated to Hell - but their answer w/ this new DRM can go take a flying leap out the window.
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I think with no offline save mode, the games may very well be impossible to pirate. We'll see.
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Even more info...
You can NOT resell your UbiSoft DRM-protected game, either. (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106675)
Can I resell my game?
Not at this time.
Can I resell my game along with my Ubisoft account?
Your Ubisoft account features your personal data and cannot be given or sold to anyone.
Why the need for a permanent Internet connection? Why no “offline” mode?
The online services platform authenticates with a Ubisoft account and a permanent online connection allows us to verify that no one else uses the account at the same time. We know that services such as Steam offer an offline mode but this option is not as efficient in its protection against piracy.
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This is like a really bad joke. Honestly.
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This is like a really bad joke. Honestly.
Securom and Steam ain't got jack-squat on the levels of ridiculous-ness imposed by Ubi's new DRM.
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can't wait to see this shit storm play out...
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Holy shit, this is getting out of hand. We're inching closer to "Play Assassin's Creed 3 for 1 month for ONLY $60!! YEAH!!"
I swear, if gaming becomes a "service" like that I'm quitting. I'll move to the Yukon or something.
I hate to say it, but it's only a matter of time.
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UbiSoft speaks on their DRM with PC Gamer. (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=235596&site=pcg)
PCG: Which PC games will require an always on internet connection?
Ubi: All announced Ubisoft PC games will include the online services, whether sold online, or from brick and mortar stores. That includes Splinter Cell, Silent Hunter 5, Assassin's Creed 2, Prince of Persia and the newly announced Ghost Recon. "It's hard for us to say, yes, from now until the day that we all die all of our games are going to include this," says their spokesperson, "but most will."
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Then say goodbye to all your PC business, you morons. I can't believe how stupid these people are. I really can't. People will still find a way to pirate your game, most likely, and only the most die-hard idiots out there are still going to support you.
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The conspiracy theorist in me imagines Valve and Securom paid Ubisoft off to make them look good. "Here, now do something so foul, so insipid that by comparison we will look like benevolent saints!"
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The conspiracy theorist in me imagines Valve and Securom paid Ubisoft off to make them look good. "Here, now do something so foul, so insipid that by comparison we will look like benevolent saints!"
You forgot Microsoft, too. :P
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haha imagine all the CEOs at a dinner party:
Ubisoft: You know what? *hic* Piracy is a real bitch! What if someone made it mandatory to have an internet connection to play games on the PC? What if you could only save online as well!? That doesn't sound stupid does it?
*everyone else looks at each other*
Microsoft: That sounds AWESOME! You should TOTALLY DO IT!
Valve: Yea I wish WE had thought of that. We just didn't go all the way!
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The lesson that Ubisoft probably should have learned from Sean Penn and South Park is that you never go full retard.
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haha imagine all the CEOs at a dinner party:
Ubisoft: You know what? *hic* Piracy is a real bitch! What if someone made it mandatory to have an internet connection to play games on the PC? What if you could only save online as well!? That doesn't sound stupid does it?
*everyone else looks at each other*
Microsoft: That sounds AWESOME! You should TOTALLY DO IT!
Valve: Yea I wish WE had thought of that. We just didn't go all the way!
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The lesson that Ubisoft probably should have learned from Sean Penn and South Park is that you never go full retard.
hahaha ;D I fear that may be beyond Ubi!
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haha imagine all the CEOs at a dinner party:
Ubisoft: You know what? *hic* Piracy is a real bitch! What if someone made it mandatory to have an internet connection to play games on the PC? What if you could only save online as well!? That doesn't sound stupid does it?
*everyone else looks at each other*
Microsoft: That sounds AWESOME! You should TOTALLY DO IT!
Valve: Yea I wish WE had thought of that. We just didn't go all the way!
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The lesson that Ubisoft probably should have learned from Sean Penn and South Park is that you never go full retard.
Well, Valve did introduce Steam Cloud... :o
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Well, Valve did introduce Steam Cloud... :o
Yes but Steam Cloud is optional (for the convenience of the player). Also the games that use it (so far) are multiplayer and since Steam is popular in internet/gaming cafes players who hop from machine to machine will only need to log in to access their configurations.
By contrast, Ubi's system imposes itself on the player like a fascist regime. Needless to say it's redundant since it specifically targets singleplayer games and games that would not likely be popular with gaming cafes and public gaming arenas. It's like the "phone home" schemes except it's constantly phoning home.
The sole purpose of Ubi's scheme is to combat piracy. A noble cause yet it penalizes the legitimate customers. By their example, I'd assume Ubi's method of choice to remove a tattoo would be to amputate the inked limb.
I believe that you can't completely eliminate piracy but you can certainly minimize it by simply rewarding legitimate and loyal customers. People will gladly pay for convenience i.e. home delivery, valet parking, housemaids, storage lockers.
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(http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs482.snc3/26395_378841218078_6738073078_5097239_7024753_n.jpg)
At least its not buried in the fine print on the back of the box.
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I agree, Idol. At least they're (literally) up-front about what you are getting yourself into, if you buy this game.
Still, this DRM sucks.
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I'm really concerned about Splinter Cell and Assassin's Creed II (well, not so much AC2 since I could just get it on PS3). Conviction I just want on PC coz that's where I like to get my Splinter Cell fix! Mouse+KB!! Plus, I don't have a console in Canada! Aaaargh! Ubi!
Honestly, I'd really rather they made the games require Steam. It's better to deal with the devil you know than the devil you don't.
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I'm really concerned about Splinter Cell and Assassin's Creed II (well, not so much AC2 since I could just get it on PS3). Conviction I just want on PC coz that's where I like to get my Splinter Cell fix! Mouse+KB!! Plus, I don't have a console in Canada! Aaaargh! Ubi!
Honestly, I'd really rather they made the games require Steam. It's better to deal with the devil you know than the devil you don't.
I'd rather Ubi's games require ONLY Steam, as well.
But, what's bad w/ AC2 Steam Version - that's right, you have to deal w/ Steam AND Ubi's DRM. Screw that shit.
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(http://scottws.zapto.org/pictures/ubisoft_drm.jpg)
This sums it up better.
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I don't get is scott, your image says the same thing as mine?
</sarcasm>
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LOL @ Scott's pic.
Nice.
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I don't get is scott, your image says the same thing as mine?
Haha
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Pirate version of AC2 is already out, 6 days before the official release. (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107615)
HA HA HA!
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I wonder if it actually works and allows you to save offline. Let's see.
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Heh, there is a patch for AC2 already. Before it even releases.
* Game can now be continued from the exact same point when connection is restored
* Added support for ATI Eyefinity technology
* Fixed minor performance issues related to some multi-core processors
* Now reset graphics options if a new video card or monitor is detected
* Fixed some minor issues in Uplay Browser
I guess that first fix is nice.
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Pirate version of AC2 is already out, 6 days before the official release. (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107615)
HA HA HA!
Oh, you knew that would happen...
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Pirates suck, but sometime they earn their pay.
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Haha, that's awesome. Burn in flames, Ubisoft.
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We all want to desperately believe it, but it doesn't seem to have happened yet. None of the torrent sites have it coming up. When I did a search on google, it gave a couple of hits, but they were false positives.
edit:
Yea, all of those were false positives. It isn't on pirate bay or any of the more popular torrent sites. The others have adverts disguised as AC2 torrent links.
I find it strange that the thread Idol posted has the guy claiming this show no evidence to support what he said, yet there is a whole bunch of fist pumping going on through out that thread. PC gamers... we are a strange bunch.
edit 2:
Not saying it hasn't happened or that it won't happen... but I haven't seen anything to suggest it has happened.
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I found the torrent on BTJunkie. But I guess its in Russian and some are saying it doesnt have a crack.
Though Silent Hunter 5 seems to be up, as well as its first patch. And it uses the same DRM.
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Note to self: Do *not* click on "Sponsored Search Results".
I found two SH5 torrents that seem to be legit (lots of seeds and leeches), yet the comments sections of these are empty... which is strange.
We'll find out in a few days anyway. If the torrents are working, then it means that there is an offline method of saving the game, which is crazy because it leaves you wondering how Ubisoft didn't see it coming.
There is no questioning that you can't upload ISOs of these to a torrent site, but the question is if you can develop a crack that allows you to save these pirated games offline.
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Hmmm:
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2010/03/rumour-ubisofts-new-drm-scheme-already-torpedoed-by-pirates/
This still isn't verified, but if it is true, then it seems the saves are saved offline, and you just need permission from Ubisoft every time you make a save? I just find it hard to believe that Ubisoft could be so stupid, because that can easily be cracked. If the saves are actually stored online, then it made some sort of sense.
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For saving to be entirely online, each user would have to transmit the save data to an online server at every save point, and receive it whenever booting up the game. How many millions will this game sell? Even if the size of the data is kept relatively low, that's one shit-ton of traffic. Cable-internet users normally have good download speed, but crappy upload speed too. Now saving . . . please wait . . . . . . 5% done, please wait . . . . . . . .
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I thought it was pretty well established that the save games are not JUST saved online. There are local copies and then cloud backups. As Cobra said, doing it online-only would be a huge pain in the ass for both sides. Unless they design the games to be like old game saves and are only a few KB in size.
I'm reading now that the games haven't been fully cracked. They are laced with triggers where they expect data from the internet. I guess for Silent Hunter 5, thats the mission briefings. It doesn't look like anything that couldn't be done in a crack, just that it will take some time to find them all.
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DRM servers went down. (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/98927-Ubisoft-DRM-Authentication-Servers-Go-Down) Customers can't play the game they bought. Apparently its been down for the last 10 hours.
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Beautiful. Thumbs up, Ubisoft. Up your ass.
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Wonderful news. I'm enjoying it tremendously. I hope it lasts.
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Wonderful news. I'm enjoying it tremendously. I hope it lasts.
Ditto.
And I hope class-action lawsuits get swung their way, too...
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Nuts. Worse case scenario.
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haha, nice.
i wouldn't be surprised if more "active" members of the internet community ddos'd them.
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Ubisoft is in full damage control mode. (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/ubisoft-drm-was-attacked-at-weekend)
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"Ubisoft would like to apologise to anyone who could not play ACII or SH5 yesterday," the company said in a statement this afternoon.
"Servers were attacked and while the servers did not go down, service was limited from 2.30pm to 9pm Paris time [1.30pm - 8pm GMT].
"95 per cent of players were not affected, but a small group of players attempting to open a game session did receive denial of service errors.
"All players with an open session during the attack were not affected.
"We also confirm that, at this time, no valid cracked version of either Silent Hunter 5 or Assassin’s Creed II are available."
So, what they're saying is that 95% of all players were playing the game at the time of the attack and were not disconnected, and 5% were not playing and only noticed the problem when they launched the game? I find it hard to believe that for the 10 hours or so the service has been down only 5% of players were trying to reconnect and failing and that 95% were playing or just left their games the whole time. That's an arbitrary statistic and clearly just a PR statement to try to justify Ubi's bullshit DRM scheme.
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What I find far more interesting is that "Ubisoft DRM was 'attacked' at weekend"...
It seems that hackers haven't been able to crack this DRM still, so is this them taking out their frustration?
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What I find far more interesting is that "Ubisoft DRM was 'attacked' at weekend"...
It seems that hackers haven't been able to crack this DRM still, so is this them taking out their frustration?
This is a press release, who knows if it is actually true. Maybe the attack was just a DDoS attack caused by their own games trying to authenticate. Maybe there was no attack at all and their DRM server solution sucked and crashed. Who knows. I hardly trust Ubisoft to be forthcoming, especially if it was a fault of their own.
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At the same time, even if there was an attack, it is in their best interests to make sure that this blows over. While an actual hacker attack may draw some sympathy, people will be less willing to buying their products if there is aura of vulnerability, no matter what the reason.
If they have hard evidence of an actual attack, I doubt they'd want to talk about it more than they already have.
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The damage is done. (http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03/07/ubisoft-drm-authentification-server-is-down-assassins-creed-2/) If it slows down sales of this game at all, it was a triumph.
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Man, it's just so disappointing for me since some of my favourite studios belong to Ubi: Ubisoft Montréal, Ubisoft Montpellier (France), Massive, Red Storm.
I just hope the shitstorm blows over and Ubi release patches that alleviate this ridiculous campaign.
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Ubisoft has sent an email to all owners of Assassin's Creed 2 and Silent Hunter 5 providing compensation for earlier outages of their DRM servers caused by DDOS attacks. Depending on the edition you purchased, the compensation ranges from free additional content to a free game such as HAWX or Prince of Persia.
Interesting. They must be really under pressure over this DRM scheme and they think this might sway people.
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This whole thing just boggles my mind. One of the following had to happen:
1. They are dense enough to think most people really have an always-on net connection
2. They don't give a shit about what this will do to PC sales, and want to push people to buy a console version instead
If 1 is true: wtf? U dumb?
If 2 is true: why even release a PC version?
And this is coming from someone who bought the 360 version of AC2. I never even considered buying it for PC, and this whole DRM thing has had zero effect on me. It still makes ZERO sense.
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I'm in the console group, but the effect on me is not zero. I've decided never to buy another Ubisoft game new. If I have to play one, I'll only buy it used. I won't give this company a dime as long as they continue treating their paying customers this way.
Why do they do this? Because they can. Because people continue to buy their games regardless. Do you think introducing this nut squeeze in a popular sequel was an accident? As long as the money keeps going their way, what the hell do they care if we're unhappy? The end justifies the means, as long as the means go unpunished. All we can do is vote with our dollars (pounds, yen . . .). Ranting online, even by big groups, won't accomplish anything. Money talks.
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Interesting. They must be really under pressure over this DRM scheme and they think this might sway people.
I would say if I was one of the SH5 or AC2 PC owners - "Thanks for the free game, but I still want the Ubi DRM patched-out for my other games."
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Austrailians are having problems running Settlers 7 b/c of the Ubisoft DRM.
We all knew something like this would likely happen...AGAIN. (http://www.bluesnews.com/s/108927/settlers-7-aus-drm-woes)
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I'm guessing it's basically Ubisoft DDoS-ing themselves with all the shiny new copies phoning home constantly. Their infrastructure probably can't cope with the traffic.
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I'm guessing it's basically Ubisoft DDoS-ing themselves with all the shiny new copies phoning home constantly. Their infrastructure probably can't cope with the traffic.
Yeah, basically - and they have nothing to gain by doing this.
Are they gonna give a free game from Ubi Store out again like they did to AC2 PC and SH5 owners? A free game is still not gonna convince PC gamers to deal w/ this ridiculous DRM scheme.
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So from what I've read, Assassins Creed 2 has been "cracked". In quotes because the games files aren't changed at all. Instead its a server emulator program. They had a few people play through the game and all the side missions while collecting all the incoming server data. So the user just downloads the server and that database, makes a change to their hosts file to redirect the game to the local server...and you play. Now that they have this figured out, they should be able to do it with future Ubisoft games. A quick look at torrents and the server + database is only 6MB.
I guess it "worked" if all they wanted to do was delay it...what, a month? But does that cover the cost of developing and running the system, the increase in support calls, the bad PR, etc? We'll never find out, I guess.
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Excellent. I hope it's a complete fix. If I had a PC capable of playing it, I'd pirate it just out of spite.
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That sounds.....complicated. I'd be tempted but seriously? Like, I don't even...are you sure it's not just a giant key logger?
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If you direct everything to localhost, I don't think so. You can always pull the plug on the internet, and make sure it still works. My firewall would prevent by default any app from phoning anywhere. It should also be fairly easy to detect outgoing net traffic, so that someone would have blown the whistle on it by now.
It doesn't seem complicated at all. I assume there's a setup program for this server thing. It just completes the game code (which is most likely a longer and more involved install). Setup, redirect, fuck you, Ubisoft. I assume this would also work with legitimately purchased copies of the game. Since this doesn't break any digital encryption or modify any game code, I doubt it runs afoul of the DMCA either.
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I downloaded the server files, and it looks like it's as you guys mentioned: you basically mod your hosts file and launch the server, the game redirects to the localhost. It supposedly works but it's not a clean job, you have to tweak a bit here and there. Still, if it works it'll mean Ubi has failed and looked stupid doing it.
EDIT:
I forgot to mention, the private server files are being updated consistently. They're on v0.44.1902 now.
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Well, I'll be checking into this....if you know what I mean.
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Good news, it works!
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Well, I'll be checking into this....if you know what I mean.
Yea that first sentence was pretty clear. :P
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You know, all UbiSoft really should've done if they were so worried about this stuff was let the game require the standard activation and disc-in-the-drive Securom everybody was using...
Steam version - just stick w/ Steamworks DRM and no extra bullshit. Steam DRM's always enough DRM in itself, anyways.
All of these issues they having w/ their games makes them look foolish. They will drive customers away. Even if there is a unofficial crack/fix out, I still ain't buying this until it gets WAY cheaper - unless Ubi modifies the DRM scheme to something not-so-ridiculous.
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The irony is that this crack may actually help Ubi, in some markets anyway. If the servers are self-DDOS'd, no problem. Download the server emulator+DB, and off you go. No need for Ubi-bashing online or class-action suits.
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The irony is that this crack may actually help Ubi, in some markets anyway. If the servers are self-DDOS'd, no problem. Download the server emulator+DB, and off you go. No need for Ubi-bashing online or class-action suits.
That wouldn't be the first time this scene has helped Ubi. I recall when Rainbow Six 3 was getting a lot of complaints about disc recognition and Ubi tech support offered a fixed exe, which turned out to be a NoCD crack made by a group known as Reloaded.
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That wouldn't be the first time this scene has helped Ubi. I recall when Rainbow Six 3 was getting a lot of complaints about disc recognition and Ubi tech support offered a fixed exe, which turned out to be a NoCD crack made by a group known as Reloaded.
I thought that happened w/ Rainbow Six: Vegas 2? (http://www.overwritten.net/forum/index.php?topic=3151.msg53588#msg53588)
Personally - I think if game companies want to use a CD crack as a fixed EXE, as long as it doesn't contain any additional malware provided by the cracking groups (like Reloaded), so freaking be it. It's THEIR game, not Reloaded's.
Though, they probably should thank Reloaded in the credits for doing their DRM-cracking work for them, somewhere in Readme and in-game Credits... ;)
There was a recent complaint by someone on GOG forums that Arcanum: GOG Edition is a cracked edition from some group that cracks DRM on games. Guess what? Hackers didn't make the game and publish it. As long as it doesn't contain any additional malware, who cares?
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My mistake! I meant Vegas 2 hehe For some reason when I think Rainbow Six, "Raven Shield" is always the one that pops into my head.
I don't complain about supposedly illegitimate sources providing legitimate solutions to problems, I just think it's ironic that the groups that Ubi (and others) are so vehemently combating are sometimes the ones who save them. I'd like to think these corporations at least offered some of these people jobs.
I hope Ubi get their heads out of their proverbial asses and resort to more "normal" protective measures.
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Yeah, I took advantage of the situation and checked out the workaround. It does indeed work well, but there IS outgoing traffic (windows firewall asked for a permission), which I don't understand the reason for. Doing a scan now.
That said, I'm not going to pay for this game. The protection scheme is whacked, but the thing that really gets me is the shitty controller support. It's straight out of 2000. It DOES recognize my 360 controller, but unlike every other game on the market, it doesn't have a scheme for it. That's one thing, but the real kicker is that it recognizes the two analogue triggers as either throttle buttons or another stick (three?). So, as a result, I can't map them to any functions other than camera control. Not a huge deal as it seems there are at least two controls I don't need that can be ignored so that the commands normally associated with these buttons can be remapped to the bumpers, but a huge pet peeve of mine.
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Yeah, I took advantage of the situation and checked out the workaround. It does indeed work well, but there IS outgoing traffic (windows firewall asked for a permission), which I don't understand the reason for. Doing a scan now.
That said, I'm not going to pay for this game. The protection scheme is whacked, but the thing that really gets me is the shitty controller support. It's straight out of 2000. It DOES recognize my 360 controller, but unlike every other game on the market, it doesn't have a scheme for it. That's one thing, but the real kicker is that it recognizes the two analogue triggers as either throttle buttons or another stick (three?). So, as a result, I can't map them to any functions other than camera control. Not a huge deal as it seems there are at least two controls I don't need that can be ignored so that the commands normally associated with these buttons can be remapped to the bumpers, but a huge pet peeve of mine.
Wow, that's pretty messed up considering how well the first game supported controllers. If I had one here I'd test it out.
Look into it, that doesn't seem right at all. Could it be an "xinput" driver issue?
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I looked into it a bit and didn't find anything except comfirmation that others are having the same issue. I'll do a more in-depth search when I get home.
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Problem solved. Apparently, this only occurs with the wireless Xbox 360 pads. Ubisoft support replied to someone that "they should play with the wired pad, the wireless isn't supported." What the fuck? You'd think from the developer's perspective it's the same thing. I mean, the driver is even the same.
Anyways, someone edited a couple files and if you install those everything works fine.
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Problem solved. Apparently, this only occurs with the wireless Xbox 360 pads. Ubisoft support replied to someone that "they should play with the wired pad, the wireless isn't supported." What the fuck? You'd think from the developer's perspective it's the same thing. I mean, the driver is even the same.
WTF?
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WTF? x 2. Why should the wireless pad look any different to the software in a PC? Joypad wireless support is not internal to PCs.
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That's pretty stupid. I own 2 wireless pads and zero wired ones. So if I wanted to buy the game for PC and use a 360 controller I have to go buy a new and debateably inferior one just because they fucked it up?
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I'm on the other side of that fence. The wireless pad that came with my current Xbox still sits inside its factory-sealed plastic wrapped. I just want to understand how wireless is different (from wired) to a PC once the signals get past the USB port. And if there really are differences, some designer or coder is an idiot.
Edit: Or . . . is it related to a capability for multiple pads to interface through a single USB connection? (Is there such?) That would be one legitimate reason for a difference, though it should still have nothing to do with pad functionality once a device is uniquely identified.
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Yea I'm not sure how the 2 are different. The wired one is USB (right?). The wireless one connects to the PC with a USB reciever wth a sync button on it. I would think that either way, the computer would see an xbox 360 controller coming in on a USB connection. Though, the drivers to give you the ability to hit the guide button and get an onscreen battery display, even if you're not in a game.
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It shouldn't matter at all. The Windows OS properly detects the controller and provides an API for it. Ubisoft must be doing their own thing.
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Well there's apparently a difference somewhere in the hardware. There's a popular 3rd party set of drivers people like to use for 360 controllers, because it allows more options for games that don't specifically support for 360 controllers. I don't use them though, because they don't work with the wireless controller.
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Oh, good call. I forgot about the XBCD drivers, although I assumed assume he couldn't get wireless support in because it was too much work (for whatever reason). Still, funny how this is the only commercial product where this has been a problem (apparently the first one as well....although I don't remember that).
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With the first Xbox I spliced a USB cable onto a controller extention cord and used 3rd party drivers. It worked great.
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I used my Logitech Cordless RumblePad 2 for all my gamepad-friendly games. While most games supported the pad (really well in some cases i.e. Prototype and Prince of Persia) I still installed the X360 Controller Emu driver just because I like buttons, especially for button sequences.
When a timed button sequence is screaming "Press Button 8" I'm scrambling all over the pad to find 8! But when it says something like Right Trigger or A or B it's easy. Actually what made the Xbox controller really easy for me is that it's basically the Dreamcast controller and I know where all the buttons are even if the controller I'm using isn't labeled.
I'd also like to note that it works with the PS3 controller too, which would also need custom drivers to get it to work on PC anyway.
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Apparently it still isn't working right. Some of the content won't work with the hack.
Also, this DRM would be far more effective if Ubisoft made it a habit of updating their content ala Stardock, Bioware, Blizzard.
That way they could keep a step ahead of the latest hacks with every update, while gaining some good will.
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Also, this DRM would be far more effective if Ubisoft made it a habit of updating their content ala Stardock, Bioware, Blizzard.
That way they could keep a step ahead of the latest hacks with every update, while gaining some good will.
This just goes for PC publishing in general. Think how many buggy games get dumped on the PC market and then abandoned. Halo and Gears of War immediately spring to mind. Those don't even scratch the surface.
If you think about all the companies that give most people warm fuzzy feelings, they have a track record of really supporting their products. The three that you mention are definitely some of those, but I would throw Valve in as well.
On the flip side you have publishers that just dump crap or foist intrusive schemes and people hate them. EA and Ubisoft deserve a lion's share of the attention here, but Take Two is starting to go this direction as well. I would say that Valve is coming in on this list as well for Steam, but their work on the games end helps mitigate most of the outright disdain.
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This just goes for PC publishing in general. Think how many buggy games get dumped on the PC market and then abandoned. Halo and Gears of War immediately spring to mind. Those don't even scratch the surface.
If you think about all the companies that give most people warm fuzzy feelings, they have a track record of really supporting their products. The three that you mention are definitely some of those, but I would throw Valve in as well.
On the flip side you have publishers that just dump crap or foist intrusive schemes and people hate them. EA and Ubisoft deserve a lion's share of the attention here, but Take Two is starting to go this direction as well. I would say that Valve is coming in on this list as well for Steam, but their work on the games end helps mitigate most of the outright disdain.
Yea, good point... Valve is definitely the king when it comes to this stuff. EA, have slowly started to regain some respect, and seem to be making an actual effort at turning things around, though haven't quite gotten around to the content stuff.
Just thinking of companies like Bioware, which are supporting their products well after release, I realize they aren't really playing by the same rules because they are part of the EA Partners program, and not owned by EA outright.
Just to further the point of keeping one step ahead of the pirates, if companies release updates that are solely designed to counter the latest hacks, (unless gamers are using services that download these automatically [ike STEAM]), people will just be apprehensive and not download them at all. But if companies release free content, they can include code that renders the latest pirate favorite cd keys, cracks and the like, useless.
I like what Bioware has done with their community stuff, where they've made a facebook like website for their latest games, which among other things, shows off player achievements.
I know it seems kinda silly, but hey, it draws people.
I think Idol a few years ago was mentioning that developers should take this route.
edit:
The point of all this was to say that I can't imagine Ubisoft doing the content thing in a billion years. The reason is that they are complete assholes when it comes to supporting their products. I've bitched about them before (you can find the thread). Basically, they release products and then forget about them. Some of their games take six months to patch.
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Its funny that Gears was just dumped on PC, and I think that was entirely Microsofts doing. Epic has a history of supporting their PC games. The Unreal Tournament bonus packs come to mind. They did a bunch of them for UT and UT2k4, and even UT3 got that big Titan pack after the game was essentially dead. Cant say they didn't try. But Gears was left to rot, which is a real shame. I'm sure MS was pushing Gears 2 dev at that point.
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Oh yeah I'm just talking about publishers. I bet many devs want to go back and support their products, especially if they are broken embarrassments, but the publishers shoot them down.
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Its funny that Gears was just dumped on PC, and I think that was entirely Microsofts doing. Epic has a history of supporting their PC games. The Unreal Tournament bonus packs come to mind. They did a bunch of them for UT and UT2k4, and even UT3 got that big Titan pack after the game was essentially dead. Cant say they didn't try. But Gears was left to rot, which is a real shame. I'm sure MS was pushing Gears 2 dev at that point.
Yeah, I think a lot of it was Microsoft, but it also seems that Epic themselves have been moving away from the PC of their own accord. Epic is self-owned and a very large sized development company. If they wanted to fix up Gears of War or release any of their other IPs (Shadow Lands or whatever) on PC there is nothing stopping them at all. They've blatantly stated that high-end games on the PC like Gears 2 just aren't profitable. Likewise, once Gears is out there, it probably isn't worth the resources needed to fix it when there'd be more of a return just putting them on Gears 2/3.
UT I think is a bit of a different beast since so much of their revenue model relies on the game. It's their flagship game, but also they can afford to put more into it because the popularity of the core game probably directly coincides with the licencing fees they can charge for the engine.
Oh yeah I'm just talking about publishers. I bet many devs want to go back and support their products, especially if they are broken embarrassments, but the publishers shoot them down.
I think publishers get a bad wrap for a lot of things, this being one of the ones that's probably more legitimately true. What I don't know, however, is how exactly this works. I'm sure a developer is free to go back and work on a game with their own resources all they want. It wouldn't make any sense to prohibit a developer from doing so unless they sold off entirely too much of their independence. I think the only situation in which a publisher would prohibit it is when they have to bankroll it in one way or another.
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Thing is Gears and Shadow Complex were also published by Microsoft Game Studios. And take a look at Bulletstorm, the new Epic/People Can Fly game. Its getting a PC release. The difference? EA publishing.
Remember when Epic and Microsoft got into a bit of a scuffle because Epic wanted to release free DLC and MS wouldn't allow it? Probably the same reason they cant go off and make the stuff with their own resources. Microsoft has a huge stake in the Gears IP so I'm sure they get a say in all that stuff.
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Well, the DLC thing isn't Microsoft Game Studios, it's whatever department is in charge of Xbox Live (assuming we're thinking about the same thing). There's pretty much always been a policy of no free DLC unless it can be included in a patch of a certain size. The UT3 Titan pack didn't hit the 360 while the PC and PS2 got it. It had nothing to do with the publisher in that case, it's because of the capital costs of delivering content through a closed system like that (I assume). Valve has been vocal about the same thing. They claim that they've wanted to update the 360 version of TF2 at the same time as the PC version, but they're forced to charge for it because of either the size or the content involved in the update. They've pointed out that it's a platform (Xbox Live) thing and they can't get around it so they're waiting for all of the class updates to be complete so they can pack it all into one DLC package.
I've read interviews where both Cliff Blelsxicdysdmfdsiou and the other Epic guy with a less polak name pretty bluntly stated that they're moving away from the PC or that it's "secondary" to console development. Unless they're lying to cover up the real reason, I think we can take that at pretty much face value. Who knows what the situation is with Bulletstorm, it could just be that EA specifically wanted a PC port and commissioned it or People Can Fly had retained the right to that decision when Epic bought them, or just that developing that particular game on PC makes more economic sense than developing a triple A title. All I really know is that Epic has said that they're moving away from PC development and they've also said that they wholly own the Gears IP and can do what they want with it. Those two combined lead me to believe that it's not just Microsoft Game Studios.
As for the patching thing, a company the size of Epic with the resources that Epic should absolutely be able to retain that right in any publishing deal. If they haven't it's because they just don't want to and basically "sold it" or they need a new law firm to handle their contracts. I can certainly see it with very small companies that want to mitigate as many risks as they can so they shift a lot of those rights and responsibilities to the publisher or in cases where a game is developed by a company the publisher actually owns, but beyond that, there really shouldn't be anything stopping the developer apart from poor paperwork or a lack of desire.
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Yeah, I think a lot of it was Microsoft, but it also seems that Epic themselves have been moving away from the PC of their own accord. Epic is self-owned and a very large sized development company. If they wanted to fix up Gears of War or release any of their other IPs (Shadow Lands or whatever) on PC there is nothing stopping them at all.
They've blatantly stated that high-end games on the PC like Gears 2 just aren't profitable. Likewise, once Gears is out there, it probably isn't worth the resources needed to fix it when there'd be more of a return just putting them on Gears 2/3.
If Valve can figure out the PC market w/ Steam and ALL of their games, so can Epic.
If Epic really has control of the Gears IP, they could just fully adopt Steam if they want to release games on the PC, for Christ sakes...
Many others have seem to gone this route - love it, hate it, or somewhere on the fence...
I mean, Steam is really where UT3 PC picked-up on its sales, right?
It sure wasn't UT3's original retail release, upon release...
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If Valve can figure out the PC market w/ Steam and ALL of their games, so can Epic.
If Epic really has control of the Gears IP, they could just fully adopt Steam if they want to release games on the PC, for Christ sakes...
Well, they CLAIM to fully have control of the Gears IP....but who knows what that means really. But Valve probably operates on a different business model than Epic. For Valve, their core is the PC, for Epic it's consoles. That's partially by choice (probably), and partially just because Epic stands to make more money off of consoles than Valve does.
Valve looked at the PS2 and said "fuck no" after Orange Box because they realized the opportunity cost of development for them wasn't worth it. Epic could be doing the same thing to some extent.
But really, it's all complete conjecture. The only people that really know what the deal is are a couple of people in Epic and a couple of people in Microsoft Game Studios. Idol could very well be completely correct in his assessment and Epic just wants to keep the illusion of increased independence for whatever reason. When they say "We own the IP and can do anything we want with it" they could mean "....storywise" because they signed a very restrictive publishing contract for a shitload of money. Or they could mean literally anything. Who the fuck knows.
How is Steam as an anti-piracy measure for most games? I know it's great for the Source Engine games, but you'd think if it was just as good for others people would use it more instead of things like Securerom.
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Steam games are pirated just as much as any other copy protection form. Its not like a magic formula or anything.
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How is Steam as an anti-piracy measure for most games? I know it's great for the Source Engine games, but you'd think if it was just as good for others people would use it more instead of things like Securerom.
Well, Steam is more of a service now than a anti-piracy measure.
Steam really isn't TOO much of an anti-piracy measure anymore, honestly. It does a good job of preventing Before Day 0 Piracy and Day 0 Piracy, but once the game's out through Steam - give it time, it'll be cracked. Also, I should note - Some Steam-sold games come w/ Steamworks DRM + Securom Internet Activation DRM (GTA4, Liberty City Episodes; first two Borderlands DLC's).
More and more 3rd-party PC games recently seem to be requiring Steam, whether you buy the game in the retail store or through Steam to download - Metro 2033; Just Cause 2; Dawn of War 2 + expansion; Modern Warfare 2; Saints Row 2, just to name a few here.
This all here has to do w/ Steam as a service. Keep in mind - when a lot of patching is done ONLY through Steam, it's the only place you can go to get the game all patched-up. You won't find patches easily and readily available for Steam-games on Fileplanet, GamersHell, a game's official site, or anywhere else. God knows what files are going to get updated, as Steam just does this to your game automatically. When games get the (rare) treatment of like TF2 and get updated VERY often (over 100 times, if I recall, so far), what cracker/hacker is going to keep cracking away? Gamers want the newest version of the game - and if the Torrents don't have the newest version and Steam does have the newest version, where do you think they'll go to get the game?
Also, I think people love that Steam has more deals than you can shack a stick at. They might buy a real cheap game, just to see if they like how Steam operates. If they do, they probably will buy future games from them and possibly even pre-load upcoming new releases there - especially if it's a big title.
EDIT:
Eurogamer article looking at some copy protection schemes, DRM, and piracy since the old days - 1976 up to the present. (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/banging-the-drm-article)
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Newest update: warez group Skidrow released an actual crack. No server emulator, just a replacement executable with the crap removed.
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Newest update: warez group Skidrow released an actual crack. No server emulator, just a replacement executable with the crap removed.
So, does it save saved games to the HDD?
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The game does already. Uploading them was optional.
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CNET (of all places) has picked up on the Ubisoft DRM being cracked. (http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20003120-248.html)
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Awww
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That article even links the Skidrow readme on this.
Great news. In your face, Ubi.