Ubisoft's DRM Servers Break, no Assassin's Creed For You

NG writes:

"The Assassin's Creed 2 forums are slowly filling up with angry Europeans unable to play their single player game. The cause? Ubisoft's have-to-be-online-to-play DRM servers are having a bad Sunday. Within a week of the game coming out in Europe and with only two days until its North America release, the server issues could hardly have come at a worse time. Yet somehow, this all seems so predictable."

[gavner]

Eurgh, why did reliable internet access become a must-have for offline SINGLE-player games. Absurd.

[Noctis Aftermath]

why bother buying it when the pirated version will be much more user friendly.

[Raf1k1]

True that. It won't be long before there's a cracked version that doesn't require an internet connection.

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

This is awesome! I hope Ubisoft will change their mind after this debacle.

I'm truly sorry for people that bought this essentially "malware" infested game!

This is good, people are seriously angry at the ubisoft forums!!!

http://forums.ubi.com/eve/f...

People complain about Activision, but I really see Ubisoft as a much more evil company. Good thing I'm buying Splinter Cell: Conviction on the 360. NO DRM hassle!!!

[toaster]

@ raf1k1

There already is. Cracked and rendered it useless in less than a day.
http://www.fudzilla.com/con...

[Spiderman]

Pirating the game wont stop this drm. Just dont buy the game on PC and dont pirate it. Then hopefully ubisoft will realise what theyve done.

[Redempteur]

this is pathétic ubisoft

[dabri5]

Pirating games is a horrible horrible thing to do. DRM's are just as bad. There needs to be a better way.

[mrv321]

Pirate it, no offnece if we BUY the game with our money surely you are also ORDERED to provide a service that allows to actually play it.

If your copy does not work, just pirate it or something.

http://www.game.co.uk/Help/...

'Faulty software where the seal has been broken may be returned up to 3 months after the despatch date.'

It is clearly faulty... so return it.

[mrb3ar]

DRM fails again.

[feelintheflow]

a so called Xbox 360 exclusive? Every time I say, yes you can play it on the pc, but why not play it on a console, I get, blah blah pc so much better, blah, way better to sit in front of a keybord and monitor than sit on my couch and play on my big screen. This type of thing, which is starting to happen more and more, is exactly why I don't play games on my pc anymore.

[table]

PC has steam. PC can play games through your HDTV if you want. PC can use controller, again, if you want. PC has better graphics. PC has dedicated servers more often than not. There is no disadvantage to gaming on PC over consoles.

[feelintheflow]

and I know this is not the first drm problem in 2010. Console, I go buy a game, never have to worry if I have the power to run it, don't worry about this drm crud. I will take that over pc any day. But to each there own. Oh yeah, lets not forget the amount of times games crash on pc's, like my age of empires 3 has done a few times in the last month.

[nevimkdojsem2]

Although I have a PS3 I've been waiting months to play AC2 in 1920x1200@60fps with better textures and faster loading times so I can wait a few hours or days until the servers work again. I love PS3 and its exclusives but play all multiplayer games on my PC.

[champ21]

legit customers get screwed over while pirates get to enjoy the game.

not buying anything with this sort of drm.

[AliTheBrit19]

Man, it isn't there fault, its 100% pirates that ruin it for everyone else.

[hay]

By making the game actually playable?

[Kurylo3d]

yea i hate pirates, but i gotta be honest.. with how rediculous this drm stuff is becoming.... i might just download the boot leg version instead of buying it.

Fact is what happens if my internet is down... or ubisofts servers are down... if i decide to switch my internet provider i dont want to think about how i cant play video games while i switch for a week or 2 lol..

[LastDance]

Ubisofts DRM measures are discusting to say the very lease however, the only reason they are doing it is to stop people from stealing.

[Spiderman]

Well yes blame the pirates, they caused this drm....If noone pirated there wouldnt need to be this crappy drm in place. And they are still pirating it, so legit customers are screwed, while pirates continue to be selfish and make ubisoft and others add this horribe drm.

[PotNoodle]

The music industry is finding its way around piracy, but not trying to stop pirates as much, at least in the product they sell. They make it easy to buy and download online, if more companies adopt things like steam, we'll see less people pirating and more people buying.

Many pirates do it simply because its easier to just pirate it, make it easier to buy it and you're sorted.

[hay]

If a game protection harms legit customers and pushes them to piracy there's something wrong here.

[iamgoatman]

@DeathroW22

Actually mandatory Steam activations can be just as harmful to certain users as constant online connections are to others. Users who still have slow internet speeds for example.

Although actually signing into steam and activating a game can be done with a dial up connection, the mandatory updates required for games to play are almost impossible for the same users or others with slow connections.
For example, I recently purchased a retail copy of Aliens vs Predator, I knew the game had some sort of online activation which concerned me as I'm still on Dial up (ADSL not available in area), but previous online activations I'd encountered had been a pretty simple task. Unfortunately due to the game requiring Steam I am left with a game I can't play, updating the game to 100% would literally take days, something I cannot do.

I am not debating Steam as a retail service, as I can see the many benefits to users with fast connections, but It can completely alienate some users. The last game I bought with a Steam activation was Borderlands, but seeing as this was optional and instead a standard release date check was needed, I had no problems at all and the game works perfectly.

If all games were to require a Steam activation I'd be forced to stop gaming on the PC, something I have been doing for years, and the idea of having to solely use consoles because of this is not a nice idea.

[AliTheBrit19]

Welcome to PC gaming

Jump In, and Play Beyond

Console Gaming FTW!

Edit -

Mate, Intel Core Quad, 4GB DDR3 RAM, ATI Radeon 1GB, 18.4 inch LED Full 1080p monitor

Think You'll find that can run pretty much any game thrown at it, and since I'm at college for 2 years studying advance IT, I probably know a hell of a lot more than you think you know

K kid? ;) good boy.

[Spiderman]

Do yourself a favour and stfu.

Just because mummy doesnt give enough pennies to buy a gaming pc doesnt mean you have the right to bash pc gamers..

[PotNoodle]

Naw, with console gaming you just get locked off your console for an entire 24 hours.

"ATI Radeon 1GB" You missed off the important part.. what specifically are you studying in college? As in the IT subject..

[Spiderman]

I work for a global IT company as a systems engineer/programmer, and have done for the past 2 years...

[bjornbear]

look at The Prohibition, the War on Drugs and all these "we do it to PROTECT YOU" acts...

always fail...

[jay2]

F you Ubi, maybe that'll be the kick in the pants you need to remove this bloody joke of DRM, no one flipping wants it!

[Modestmex]

Man this is the reason i wont buy this game and i really wanted to play it too.

[TrailerParkSupervisr]

Well, I have my PC connected to my 60' DLP via HDMI. I have a wireless mouse and keyboard and sit back comfortably in my recliner. As for the blah blah blah...do you ahve any idea how much better a game looks on the PC? Plus all the mods out there....

I understand consoles are good, shoot, I own a PS3. PC, however, is THE top of the food chain when it comes to graphics. The difference between ME2 on high setting and the 360 is huge. My friend could not believe how good it looked on the computer.

So, I guess I am only retorting because I see no reason to slam someone who has saved up hard earned money and purchased a gaming rig. There really is no reason to be rude.

BTW, did I mention I can take my laptop ANYWHERE? Mom's house at thanksgiving, airplanes, trains, the park...While you have to sit in your house to play, I can take it on vacation and also surf the net, watch movies and pretty much be very, very content.