Ubi DRM: Their Side of the Story

[Samwise]

How would you like it if, for example, every time you started Windows it would go through a Windows Update check and there was no way of canceling the process?

You mean like when auto-update is turned on (which is the only reasonably secure way to run Windows)?

Auto-update downloads in the background without blocking the rest of Windows from use.

Except when it forces a reboot.  We had this problem with the media PC in our break room -- since it wasn't powered on every day, when you did power it on it to watch a movie or something it usually had some update it wanted to apply.  It'd start off quietly in the background, but halfway through the movie it would say "OKAY REBOOTING IN FIFTEEN SECONDS, SAVE YOUR WORK KTHX".  Not a problem I have with any of my own machines since I leave them on and have them set to apply updates overnight.

[BitWarrior]

Apparently the DRM has been cracked, so unless they radically change their DRM again they're not going to get that "2 week window" or whatever:

http://i.imgur.com/Q6Ei0.png

[Ratman_tf]

[Musashi]

I like Durr the best.

[LK]

Oh my god that is fucking hilarious. What is this doing in this thread?

[schild]

God I hate wall-eyed dogs.

[AutomaticZen]

Assassin's Creed 2 is also out on the interwebs already apparently.  Days before release.  (From the Russian release apparently)

[Azazel]

Well, that clearly worked extraordinarily well to combat piracy. 

[Tebonas]

I think it motivated the pirates to do their best. 

[LK]

Nothing motivates a talented group of individuals with time on their hands better than telling em Fuck You. It's how I hear the best shit talk from a rabid complainer when I tell him to shut the fuck up; it doesn't really do anything but make him bitch more, and at me.

[tgr]

I'm not sure what to do, giggle with glee at ubisoft's latest attempt at DRM getting thoroughly buttreamed, or weep at the future loss to the PC gamers.

I'm kind of siding with the giggling with glee part.

Yeah, definitely the giggling with glee part. Fuck UBISoft.

[Furiously]

Requiring you to be online to play a single player game... which you bought. Is asinine.

But piracy is huge. I'm sure that making portions of your game online with an account linked to a serial number is the way of the future.  I don't know how much moral outrage I would have if the last chapter of Mass Effect 2 was online only.

[tgr]

But piracy is huge. I'm sure that making portions of your game online with an account linked to a serial number is the way of the future.  I don't know how much moral outrage I would have if the last chapter of Mass Effect 2 was online only.

In my case, that outrage would be *huge*. I would not buy that game if that was the case. If it was some side-quest that might be interesting if you could get access to, but wasn't required, then fine. It's added value. But if it's required to get closure, then it'd be like some book publisher posting everything except the last chapter and going "you have to authenticate yourself online to be able to read the last chapter. Oh, and I may take down the server at any moment, or it may be unavailable due to DDoS, or your internet connection may be down. Guess you'll just have to wait and hope for the best.". Fuck that noise, it would have to be an absolutely orgasmic book (or game) to be worth that shit.

Yes, piracy is huge, but treating your customers more and more like criminals is emphatically not the solution. It'll become part of the problem.

[Falconeer]

I only play single player PC games on my laptop, when I am somewhere away from my house. That's the reason why I buy single player PC games in the first place, to play them on my laptop when I am in a no-internet area since open wireless aren't as common as they probably are in North America. I spent additional money just to buy a "gaming laptop", so basically this UBI thing is a big FUCK YOU aimed at me, my wallet and my entertainment. Neat.

Yes the outrage would be (and it is) HUGE that you need to be wired all the time. It reeks of science fiction too, the beginning of an era where simple rights start to be negated unless you are connected to "the network", and people think it's ok. It doesn't matter how widespread the internet is, I want to be able to play it in my log cabin in the woods or in a submarine, or just at my place the night my router dies. It's ridiculous I cannot anymore.

Music and movies suffer piracy too. How long before they force you to be connected to listen to your CDs or watch your DVDs?

I hope this is a joke.
I hope I read it wrong.
I hope someone will put a mandatory internet connection on their penises, so next time they want to have sex they will have to find a suitable network.

[ajax34i]

I hope someone will put a mandatory internet connection on their penises, so next time they want to have sex they will have to find a suitable network.

And be forced to view/listen to advertising.

[tgr]

I hope someone will put a mandatory internet connection on their penises, so next time they want to have sex they will have to find a suitable network.

And be forced to view/listen to advertising.

Oh god. I can see it now...

"uNF uNF uNF" "oh god don't stop" *DING* do YOU feel wilted? wish you were bigger? buy Viagra today and please your lady like she deserves!

[Threash]

As long as you don't see copies of AC 2 on the used games bin the DRM is doing its job.

[NiX]

As long as you don't see copies of AC 2 on the used games bin the DRM is doing its job.

I don't think sales prevention was their goal

[tgr]

I don't think sales prevention was their goal

You'd think so, but I sometimes begin to wonder. Take "it's not balanced for lean" as an example.

[tgr]

Not quite related to the problem we're looking at now, yet somehow it might be: linky

[Stormwaltz]

More and more, DRM strikes me as akin to gun control legislation; it rarely manages to affect anyone other than those who obey the law. While we wade through crap, criminals continue to get their guns games from a guy in a van down by the river.

[Tebonas]

You had to bring guns into it because we were too much in agreement here, didn't you?

[Rendakor]

Not quite related to the problem we're looking at now, yet somehow it might be: linky

Nice four year old link you've got there.

[Ratman_tf]

As long as you don't see copies of AC 2 on the used games bin the DRM is doing its job.

I'll take CD authetication as an example, since I had a brush with this.
For a long while there, my DVD Rom didn't quite work correctly. (I posted a bit of my adventures in the tech help thread here.) I could sometimes use it, and sometimes not. Really odd problem that resisted all kinds of troubleshooting. So I wound up investigating CD cracks on the net. I hadn't done any piracy related stuff since the Commodore 64 days, but if I wanted to play my games, I had to go all Renegade Shepard.  I was surprised at how easy it was. Download the crack, throw it in the game directory. Bingo. All this to play games that I had legitimatley purchased.
I've since managed to get my drive working properly. (And Lord, don't ask me how. I just kinda "grew" out of it in the last set up upgrades we did.) But if I ever wanted to buy used PC games, I'm a lot less apprehensive about downloading cracks.

IMO DRM has the potential to widen the pirate population as people will be encouraged to seek out cracks in order to use their products.

[01101010]

I always hated that "need to input CD/DVD" to play. I can see why companies do that, but it still pisses me off if I have to go dig through a pile of discs to play a game already installed on my pc. However, I can't say that I have ever NOT bought a game because of this feature... in fact I can't say I ever paid attention to it till a later time when the company already bought it's drugs with my money.

[tgr]

Nice four year old link you've got there.

Didn't notice the date when I got it from a friend of mine, but I still reckon it's relevant, and a potential glimpse into the future.

[Threash]

As long as you don't see copies of AC 2 on the used games bin the DRM is doing its job.

I don't think sales prevention was their goal

Second hand sales prevention was totally their goal. 

[LK]

1. One person buys the product.

2. That person makes that product available to others, DRM or no.

3. Team of competent people hack your code in isolation from outside sources to make it work.

4. Isolated hacked code is then made available to public.

5. Profit! (of the entertainment variety)

No amount of DRM is going to stop Step 3. Code and data files are not protected if they aren't being executed, and once its on a hacker's computer, they can tell that code / data to behave however they want it to, no matter how protected you make it. The only way you could stop it is to have all game files on a remote computer and only stream the graphics to the user.

I think some company was trying that.

Actually I think I just defined Web Games.

[Sky]

I hope someone will put a mandatory internet connection on their penises, so next time they want to have sex they will have to find a suitable network.

And be forced to view/listen to advertising.

Oh god. I can see it now...

"uNF uNF uNF" "oh god don't stop" *DING* do YOU feel wilted? wish you were bigger? buy Viagra today and please your lady like she deserves!

I'm just about to.....buffering....

[BitWarrior]

3. Team of competent people hack your code in isolation from outside sources to make it work.

Code and data files are not protected if they aren't being executed, and once its on a hacker's computer, they can tell that code / data to behave however they want it to, no matter how protected you make it.

I have enjoyed your adorable interpretation of how cracking works. 

[Minvaren]

It seems UBI has already patched the DRM code to "let you keep playing from exactly where you left off" in case your connection drops.  How...  nice.

They also warn you that "any gamer who downloads and plays a cracked version of [AC2] and [SH5] will find that their version is not complete".

Still not buying it, and I enjoyed AC1 (minus the hordes of lamprey women and imbeciles).

[Azazel]

While Ubisoft does not specify in which way cracked copies are "not complete," it's a safe bet that online saved game storage is one such unavailable feature.

Oh nose?

[LK]

3. Team of competent people hack your code in isolation from outside sources to make it work.

Code and data files are not protected if they aren't being executed, and once its on a hacker's computer, they can tell that code / data to behave however they want it to, no matter how protected you make it.

I have enjoyed your adorable interpretation of how cracking works. 

It works well enough for my purposes.

[Koyasha]

Nice four year old link you've got there.

Didn't notice the date when I got it from a friend of mine, but I still reckon it's relevant, and a potential glimpse into the future.

So from April 1st 2006, ALL electronic products sold in Japan before 2001 will be prohibited from the 2nd hand market!

[NiX]

Second hand sales prevention was totally their goal.