Ubisofts New Approach to DRM

[Thermal Ions]

GameSpy: Ubisoft Launches Anti-Piracy Countermeasures - Page 1

In the past Ubisoft has been derided for its use of the controversial StarForce digital rights management application. Ubisoft's new platform takes an approach that tackles many of the typical criticisms of DRM. You'll be able to run your games without a disc in the drive for authentication, and you can take advantage of unlimited installations.

Sweet

Your saves will be stored remotely on Ubi servers, allowing access to your game saves on any machine.

Nice, like steam cloud I guess. Presumably it also saves them locally?

Since authentication is now handled through your Ubi.com account, you'll always need to connect to your Ubi.com account to authenticate before playing.

Not so sweet

We asked about the potential backlash to this authentication platform requiring an Internet connection. "We think most people are going to be fine with it. Most people are always connected to an Internet connection," Wilkinson replied.

So for those who aren't "most people" they can go suck lemons (or "whatever").

Once again, a DRM system that restricts usage for genuine paying customers, fails to curb piracy (just you watch) and a publisher thinks it's wonderful and everyone will love it.

I'll be looking keenly to see whether anything changes on the AC2 steam page leading up to release to indicate if this Ubi.com account DRM is also to be forced on Steam purchasers. Nothing so far mentioned about DRM or internet connection being required to play.

[Unknown]

Originally Posted by Thermal Ions

Not so sweet

Agreed - but it's still better than some of the alternatives... *cough*SecuROM*cough*

Originally Posted by Thermal Ions

I'll be looking keenly to see whether anything changes on the AC2 steam page leading up to release to indicate if this Ubi.com account DRM is also to be forced on Steam purchasers. Nothing so far mentioned about DRM or internet connection being required to play.

Don't know about the Steam Store page updating (it's been wrong in the past), but I am 99.9% certain this will be forced on Steam users as its part of a broader "UPlay" strategy from Ubisoft.

[Chief]

Better than the more intrusive DRM, and I'm guessing it's because they'll be implementing Uplay into all their future games which ain't so bad, kinda fun unlocking that extra content

[Thermal Ions]

Ubisoft FAQ for the "Online Services Platform"
Online Services Platform Q&A | Ubisoft Official Video Game Website

and a take on it from RPS
New Ubisoft Games Must Always Be Online | Rock, Paper, Shotgun

[welshman]

This is basically what ROF does (Rise of Flight from neoQB)...even for SP You still have to log into the Master server. The complain there is that "I got the game and authenticated it but My connection isn't the greatest so I get dropped from My game." or it doesn't update My campaign is another one. Also if the Master server is down...then join the WOW crowd, You don't get to play the game....even in single player

[Drac]

Sadly, this kind of stuff is super easy to circument. Just modify your Windows host.txt file and redirect http://drm.ubisoft.com or whatever to a local app that mimics the server ubisoft runs and simply sends back a green light code for any requests.

[Chief]

Originally Posted by Drac

Sadly..

What do you mean by "Sadly"?

I feel no sadness when any form of DRM gets bypassed.

[Vulcan21]

Originally Posted by Unknown

Agreed - but it's still better than some of the alternatives... *cough*SecuROM*cough*

I think that SecuROM is also going a similar path now. Most of the new games that have it ask for one time authentification online and then apparently that's it. You'll be able to play single player without having to connect online nor will you need to actually have a game disc in the DVD tray. However, that said, some companies still impose a limit on how many times you can install a game with this method, which really just sucks.

[Reoh]

As always. Hike prices and make legitimate users jump through hoops, while the pirates are playing days after launch anyway. What they should really be doing, is launching their own hacks to their games. Plant a trojan to report back who installs it, and then file legal charges against them, and/or !@#$ their system up.