Luk3us 63 Posted February 18, 2010 It looks like Ubisoft's new online DRM scheme is going to be even worse than we thought: Gamers will need a constant internet connection to play Assassin's Creed 2 on the PC and if it drops, so does the game. Ubisoft announced in January that as part of its ongoing effort against piracy, all of its future PC releases would require gamers to connect to the internet and log in to Ubi.com in order to play. Trying to sell the scheme as a positive move for gamers, the publisher pointed out that it would allow players to install their games on an unlimited number of PCs and access their saved games from any of them, because saves would be stored remotely. "We think most people are going to be fine with it," Ubisoft's Brent Wilkinson said. "Most people are always connected to an Internet connection." Unfortunately, it appears as though it won't be quite that simple. As PC Gamer discovered during its recent look at the PC version of Assassin's Creed 2, you'll not only have to connect to Ubisoft servers to start the game, you'll also have to stay connected while you play. And woe betide anyone who's connection happens to crap out while they're playing: If it does, the game will drop out to the main menu and any progress made since the last save or checkpoint is lost. Oh, and if Ubisoft's servers hiccup momentarily while you're playing? Same deal. It's bad enough that PC gamers won't be able to start their games if Ubisoft happens to have its servers down for a few hours for maintenance, but to be kicked out of games and lose progress because of it? Or because a router is accidentally unplugged or an ISP goes down for a couple of minutes? It's utterly mind-boggling, and absolutely inexcusable. Does Ubisoft really think that gamers going to be "fine" with that? http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/...e-Than-Expected I can only hope C&C4 isn't quite as bad... Share this post Link to post
Nmenth 291 Posted February 18, 2010 I can only hope C&C4 isn't quite as bad... How would it not be? What is the difference between the two? They sound like the exact same deal to me, all the way down to the company trying to convince us that it's a good thing. Share this post Link to post
Luk3us 63 Posted February 18, 2010 Denial is a nice place, you should visit some time. Share this post Link to post
Gben 20 Posted February 18, 2010 How about permament shutdowns... http://www.ea.com/2/service-updates Online Service Updates March 16, 2010 Online Service Shutdown Def Jam for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 Godfather for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 Lord of the Rings: Conquest for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 Mercenaries 2: World in Flames for PC Need for Speed: Carbon for PlayStation Portable Need for Speed: ProStreet for PlayStation Portable Simpsons for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 April 15, 2010 Online Service Shutdown Burnout 3: Takedown for PlayStation 2 Army of Two for PlayStation 3 (Asia only) Additionally, the shutdown of Xbox LIVE for Original Xbox consoles and games (scheduled for April 15, 2010) will retire online services for the following titles: Battlefield 2: Modern Combat for Xbox Burnout 3: Takedown for Xbox Madden NFL 09 for Xbox As background information, the games scheduled for shutdown in March and April 2010 represent less than 0.3% of all peak online players across all EA titles. Despite some people's perception, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work involved with keeping these older games up and running. We would rather our hard-working engineering and IT staff focus on keeping a positive experience for the other 99.7% of customers playing our more popular games. These decisions to retire games is never easy. The EA development teams and operational staff pour their hearts into these games almost as much as the customers playing them and it is hard to see one retired. We hope you have gotten many hours of enjoyment out of the games and we appreciate your ongoing patronage. If you have further questions about your account or the shut down of these services, please visit http://support.ea.com. Thank you, Electronic Arts Previously Shut Down Online Service Arena Football for PlayStation 2 and Xbox Arena Football™: Road to Glory for PlayStation 2 Armies of Exigo for PC Burnout Revenge for PlayStation 2 and Xbox Burnout™ Dominator for PlayStation Portable FIFA 2005 for PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox FIFA 06 for PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox and Xbox 360 FIFA 07 for PC, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2 and Xbox FIFA World Cup 2006 for PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox and Xbox 360 Facebreaker for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 Fantasy Football 09 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 Fight Night Round 2 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox Fight Night Round 3 for PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Xbox Goldeneye: Rogue Agent for Nintendo Game Cube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox MVP Baseball™ 2005 for PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox MVP™ 07 NCAA® Baseball for PlayStation 2 and Xbox Madden NFL 05 for PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox Madden NFL 06 for PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox and Xbox 360 Madden NFL 07 for PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox and Xbox 360 Madden NFL 08 for PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Xbox and Xbox 360 Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects for PlayStation 2 and Xbox Medal of Honor Pacific Assault™ for PC Medal of Honor Rising Sun for PlayStation 2 NASCAR® 05: Chase for the Cup™ for PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox NASCAR® 06: Total Team Control for PlayStation 2 and Xbox NASCAR® 07 for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox and Xbox 360 NASCAR® 08 for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 NASCAR® 09 for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (Europe Only) NBA Live 05 for PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox NBA Live 06 for PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox and Xbox 360 NBA Live 07 for PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox and Xbox 360 NBA Live 08 for PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii NBA Live 09 for Wii (Europe only) NBA Street (2007) for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 NBA Street V3 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox NCAA® Football 05 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox NCAA® Football 06 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox NCAA® Football 07 for PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Xbox NCAA® Football 08 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox NCAA® Football 09 for PlayStation 2 NCAA® March Madness 06 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox NCAA® March Madness™ 2005 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox NCAA® March Madness® 07 for PlayStation 2, Xbox and Xbox 360 NFL Head Coach for PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox NFL Street 2: Unleashed for PlayStation 2 and Xbox NFL Street 3 for PlayStation 2 NFL Tour for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 NHL® 05 for PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox NHL® 06 for PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox NHL® 07 for PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Xbox and Xbox 360 NHL® 08 for PC NHL® 08 for PlayStation 2 Need for Speed: Underground for PlayStation 2 Need for Speed: Underground 2 for PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox Need for Speed: Most Wanted for PlayStation Portable and Xbox Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 05 for PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 06 for PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox and Xbox 360 Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 07 for PC, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Xbox Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 08 for PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable TimeSplitters 3: Future Perfect for Xbox and PlayStation 2 Total Club Manager 06 for PlayStation 2 UEFA Champions League™ 2004-2005 for PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox UEFA Champions League™ 2006-2007 for PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable UEFA Champions League™ 07 for PC and Xbox 360 Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 08- The Daily Tournament feature is currently out of service for an indefinite period of time, but Play Now and Session Matches remain active. 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Doctor Destiny 41 Posted February 18, 2010 Inexcusable. Way to go Ubisoft. You have officially become the ****tiest game development entity. Grats, assholes. Share this post Link to post
Saracen 16 Posted February 18, 2010 (edited) This right here, is another reason why I've abandoned PC gaming altogether and gone with the more sensible and constructed Console Gaming market. This as such is a pathetic idea, and it's no wonder console gaming is at the forefront of developers and publishers alike. There's no faith within the PC gamer user base anymore. At least I'm safe in the knowledge that once my PC becomes obsolete, my next upgrade will be a super-cheap laptop with no gaming capacity in it whatsoever.. Things are just better that way, because I have a no bull**** console to play on. Edited February 18, 2010 by Saracen Share this post Link to post
Sonic 296 Posted February 18, 2010 Yeah same here. PC gaming is near dead for me. Apart from C&C 4 I can't see myself buying any more PC games in the future. Share this post Link to post
Doctor Destiny 41 Posted February 18, 2010 I still game on my PC... just not new games. Share this post Link to post
Luk3us 63 Posted February 19, 2010 Pff, people have been saying for YEARS that PC gaming was dying... It'll never happen. Share this post Link to post
Saracen 16 Posted February 22, 2010 To be honest Luk3us it's not so dying, as more shrinking to an unacceptable small size. You only need to go to any major games retailer to see that. The 2 biggest in the UK are testimony to that. The 2nd Largest just 5-10 years ago would dedicate almost half a shop to PC gaming as it was clearly the biggest format behind the PS2. Now they've got a 6ft high 4ft wide area consisting of just 5 shelves that covers the pre-owed and new PC games that come out... The chart hardly changes from month to month unless something big comes out. GAME upto last year were absolutely huge on selling PC games. They wouldn't budge on the amount of space they provided towards New and Budget games. But they had a change around, and reduced the format to less than 25% of their floor space. And last month, they reduced it to one 8ft x 4ft shelf and 2 smaller 3 x 4ft shelves. The large one for chart and recent releases, One for releases over a year old, and the other for budget titles that cost the price of a coffee. I give the format another few years before PC gaming is mainly wiped from it's hard copy status. You'll perhaps see one or two big titles per year braving the classic hard-copy... But retailers over here don't care about the PC, such stuff doesn't sell unless it's an RPG like Mass Effect 2 or Dragon Age, which did better than expected, but still not well enough to give them a profit worth shouting about. And this is why the likes of the PS3, Wii, DS and 360 have about 30% of the space each... This is what people use, and it sells big, especially the pre-owed sections which are about 250% bigger than the new sections. We live in a society these days where simpler is better. We don't want a powerhorse costing 3 times the price of a console, then have to deal with drivers, installations, settings etc just to get the thing to work. Why should we? I used to love PCs, but the technology is so sparse, so un-organised and so impractical... that it's best to buy a console which you plug in, power on, put in your disc, auto-install/patch (if needed) and then you play. No rubbish, no problems, you get on with it... Sure console players may get a Red Ring of Death (360), and Orange light of death (PS3), or it's just a Wii... But these things are less painful over several years than the crap a PC puts you through everytime you wanna play a game. So it's just not Piracy, it's not just the pre-owned PC games market (which they've killed now)... it's cos very few people (including myself) who care about having to deal with the technology... I need to replace my broken DVD Re-writer to play my old titles... I can't be bothered cos most of them are slowly becoming Freeware these days... so what's the point!? Share this post Link to post
Nmenth 291 Posted February 22, 2010 And this is why the likes of the PS3, Wii, DS and 360 have about 30% of the space each... 30% + 30% + 30% + 30% + ?% = >120% Share this post Link to post
Saracen 16 Posted February 22, 2010 30% + 30% + 30% + 30% + ?% = >120% Yeah ignore that. I ain't sleeping much lol. I was supposed to say that MS, Sony & Nintendo get 30% each across their respective console brands. So it should be 90%, while PC & Retro make up the other 10%. Share this post Link to post
Gben 20 Posted February 23, 2010 Hey if consoles supported keyboards and mouses for their games like a PC does, I would happy switch. Just because you can plug your console into your home/main TV doesn't mean it can't be hooked up a lcd screen on your desk... I looooong for trouble-free gaming that consoles offer, but I still prefer the keyboard/mouse combo. Share this post Link to post
Saracen 16 Posted February 23, 2010 Just because you can plug your console into your home/main TV doesn't mean it can't be hooked up a lcd screen on your desk... I know that. But since I have a Full HD 42" screen, why would I want it anywhere else The TV itself may have cost me 3 times as much as I paid for my PS3, but damn it's a worthy investment over a PC when rigged up to a 7.1 Surround System. The sound of an AC-130 thundering shells down in Modern Warfare 2 is close to audio Nirvana. Blu-Ray movies just make the cinema quality experience even better. The people I know don't go to the cinema any more, they come to my place. Share this post Link to post
Inferno 22 Posted February 23, 2010 Nintendo has more like 50% of the shelfs Share this post Link to post
Doctor Destiny 41 Posted February 23, 2010 I used to love PCs, but the technology is so sparse, so un-organised and so impractical... Only if you're an idiot. Share this post Link to post
TheBlackOut 7 Posted March 4, 2010 God I was going to buy ACII too! ... god dammit. ACI was unoptimized and didn't perform too great on the PC so I passed. Then they all said ACII ran a whole lot better and had more content than ACI! I was so excited... Share this post Link to post
Doctor Destiny 41 Posted March 4, 2010 I'd buy it and "find" a less DRM heavy version... if ya know what I'm sayin'. Share this post Link to post
Sonic 296 Posted March 4, 2010 Looks like Ubisoft's new DRM is has been defeated already, in 24 hours of making it's unpopular debut. Two stories from Kotaku. http://kotaku.com/5485179/rumor-ubisofts-n...doed-by-pirates http://kotaku.com/5485359/ubisoft-making-e...anges-to-pc-drm Share this post Link to post
Nmenth 291 Posted March 4, 2010 Pathetic. How many times does this have to repetitively happen before companies learn that pirates just don't care what they do and legal customers are the only ones to suffer? Share this post Link to post
TheBlackOut 7 Posted March 5, 2010 I'd buy it and "find" a less DRM heavy version... if ya know what I'm sayin'. Why the hell would I support a company that puts a product out there that I'd rather use the pirated version instead? No, I'll let my wallet speak and give them a big FU. Pathetic. How many times does this have to repetitively happen before companies learn that pirates just don't care what they do and legal customers are the only ones to suffer? Maybe they think they can win one day Share this post Link to post
