Ubisoft games no longer require constant internet connection

Not good enough. Either tie games to Steamworks and/or offer unencumbered retail versions and maybe I'll think about buying a game Ubisoft produces (assuming it's worth buying).
 
With the weather as it is right now, some of us would be lucky to have a reliable Internet connection. I'd be all kinds of peeved if I couldn't play my Ubi games because of the weather and their shit DRM. Lucky for them, I bought AC2 for my Xbox instead.
 
Finally. Ubisoft corrects a big mistake. I won't give them any praise for it because it never should have needed correcting but at least now I won't boycott their games on PC :p
 
wow... I would have bought AC2 the other day on steam lol

Oh well, lots of other games to play
 
Druneau said:
wow... I would have bought AC2 the other day on steam lol

Oh well, lots of other games to play
Click to expand...

Something about the post just makes me laugh. Look where you're buying it from haha.
 
Dion said:
Something about the post just makes me laugh. Look where you're buying it from haha.
Click to expand...

Steam has an offline mode.

On a side note, I can't believe this thread hasn't garnered more interest. When the "always-on" DRM was announced, there was a HUGE uproar on this forum. Now that it's been removed there is little fanfare...maybe everyone have already started their drinking festivities in anticipation of the new year and aren't browsing the [H] forums, lol. :)

So, the article wasn't clear...did the DRM get removed/disabled via a patch or what? I bought AC2 from D2D recently because of the $7.50 price tag, knowing that the DRM was in place but I decided that at that price I'd deal with it. Did the DRM get automagically removed? It seems like if the game didn't download an update, it wouldn't know to not check for a constant connection. And since some games don't auto-update a la Steam, I'm not sure how this works.
 
I don't see how they can turn off the always on without a patch. Gotta wonder if the cost to them was insane to keep running those servers for games people were avoiding buying due to the very servers they were running.

I doubt it'll stop them from going draconian in another way, and the excuse will be "Well you didn't want always online....so we did this instead."
 
It could be that this was simply built into the DRM system in the first place, only the authentication servers would then have to updated to send differing instructions that would enable it.

The DRM scheme was bypassed quite awhile ago, so it was obvious that there was no actual content streaming that would make online connectivity necessary.
 
Probably Ubi's plan all along. Try and insert invasive DRM. If they don't like it, we'll eventually lower it to something which is still worse then what we had before and they will applaud. Genius!

That said, I guess it is a step in the right direction. Too bad they did this a week too late or I would have purchased the newest PoP game when it was on sale.
 
imyourzero said:
Steam has an offline mode.

On a side note, I can't believe this thread hasn't garnered more interest. When the "always-on" DRM was announced, there was a HUGE uproar on this forum. Now that it's been removed there is little fanfare...
Click to expand...

Because after we got done pointing out how stupid the system was, we remembered we don't play Ubisoft games anyway. ;)
 
imyourzero said:
When the "always-on" DRM was announced, there was a HUGE uproar on this forum. Now that it's been removed there is little fanfare
Click to expand...

Because it sounds like it hasn't been "removed" so much as replaced with something only marginally less draconian.

drako said:
If they don't like it, we'll eventually lower it to something which is still worse then what we had before and they will applaud. Genius!
Click to expand...

This. It's like they did something intentionally stupid so that when they "gave in" and replaced it with something slightly less stupid, people would treat it as some sort of victory and forget that it was, in fact, still stupid.
 
imyourzero said:
On a side note, I can't believe this thread hasn't garnered more interest. When the "always-on" DRM was announced, there was a HUGE uproar on this forum. Now that it's been removed there is little fanfare...
Click to expand...

Because they haven't done anything deserving fanfare. Doing PC gamers a huge disservice and (at the time) potentially pointing PC gaming in general in the wrong direction - that's a big deal.

Them realizing it was a bad move (as so many people have been saying) and reverting to a closer to normal - but still not great - form of DRM doesn't deserve fanfare. It deserves a "Hm. That's a small step in the right direction."
 
KatalDT said:
Because they haven't done anything deserving fanfare. Doing PC gamers a huge disservice and (at the time) potentially pointing PC gaming in general in the wrong direction - that's a big deal.

Them realizing it was a bad move (as so many people have been saying) and reverting to a closer to normal - but still not great - form of DRM doesn't deserve fanfare. It deserves a "Hm. That's a small step in the right direction."
Click to expand...

And that's exactly what was said in the comments in the article.

I was appalled when Ubisoft first introduced this DRM, and was afraid that it would become the standard. Pirates managed to bypass the DRM, gamers voiced their opinions, and now they've backed off. I for one agree that it's a step in the right direction, and hopefully they've learned that this crap isn't 100% effective and won't sit well with gamers and therefore will avoid using it in the future. I guess on one hand we can be glad that they've conceded to the masses...on the other hand, we can worry that this never-before-seen DRM has been used for a period lasting for months and that someone else will try to top it with something even worse. But that too will be rejected, thwarted, etc. I know the days of Doom and using one CD to install on a dozen computers is pretty much over, but there has to be a compromise. I don't mind DRM as long as there are no install limits and as long as I don't have to have a flawless internet connection in order to play. Once upon a time there were disc checks, which while annoying were reasonable. Thanks to the piracy scene, disc checks were bypassed and companies had to do something else in order to protect their content. I am fine with DRM as long as it doesn't impede on my ability to play the game under any circumstance and doesn't bet on me having a perfect internet connection. In this age of digital distribution, disc checks are unnecessary and I think Steam, while imperfect, is a perfectly acceptable form of DRM (even though I prefer totally DRM-free games such as the ones on GoG). I think AC2 having its always-on DRM even when bought through Steam was completely unacceptable and hope that this retardation of PC gaming is gone for good, but the realist in me awaits the next ridiculous DRM scheme.
 
Zero82z said:
http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/12/31/constant-net-connection-no-longer-required-for-ubisoft-games

Looks like they're changing it to only require online authentication when the game is launched. It still doesn't help people without access to the internet, but it's a welcome change in my opinion.
Click to expand...

AC1 was great in my opinion but i'm not going to buy AC2 until they start talking sense regarding the DRM. Show the PC customer some sugar Ubisoft and i'll show you some hard cash for yer games.
 
Good news. A step in the right direction as someone posted earlier.
 
I just finished AC2. :eek: Late, although I never had any problems with it. Maybe because I beat the game in two days? No time for error?
 
King Icewind said:
I just finished AC2. :eek: Late, although I never had any problems with it. Maybe because I beat the game in two days? No time for error?
Click to expand...

Maybe because by the time you played it in just the last two days, the DRM had already changed?
 
King Icewind said:
I just finished AC2. :eek: Late, although I never had any problems with it. Maybe because I beat the game in two days? No time for error?
Click to expand...

Probably because the system works pretty transparently and flawlessly. All the drama really was for nothing, and mostly by people who had never even used the system.

Still, this is a good move by Ubi. More people should get to experience the gem that is AC2, and if toning down the DRM facilitates that, it's definitely good.
 
spindoctor said:
Probably because the system works pretty transparently and flawlessly. All the drama really was for nothing, and mostly by people who had never even used the system.

Still, this is a good move by Ubi. More people should get to experience the gem that is AC2, and if toning down the DRM facilitates that, it's definitely good.
Click to expand...

Yea AC2 was fantastic. It was meant for Eyefinity, and you won't quite know what I mean until you play it. Best played with a Xbox controller.

Too bad AC Brotherhood is console only, as I won't be able to play with Eyefinity, but I will just to continue the story line. :(

OT, sorry.
 
spindoctor said:
Probably because the system works pretty transparently and flawlessly. All the drama really was for nothing, and mostly by people who had never even used the system.
Click to expand...

Unless you have shoddy internet, or the Ubi servers go down (as they have which prevented everyone owning their games from playing the SINGLE PLAYER campaign). Which is not to say that the system didn't work alright most of the time for most people, but still. It was a system that required a constant connection to their servers in order to play a game which had no online content... which is ridiculous and I doubt it had any impact on piracy at all. It just punished the people who actually pay for their games. I know when my internet goes down (or when I'm traveling), I usually just load up a game's single player campaign as I no longer have access to multiplayer. Kind of defeats the purpose if you need an internet connection in order to play by yourself.

But, yes. This is a good sign for Ubi, but a lot of people will be waiting for the other shoe to drop. We'll see. We'll see.
 
spindoctor said:
Probably because the system works pretty transparently and flawlessly. All the drama really was for nothing, and mostly by people who had never even used the system.

Still, this is a good move by Ubi. More people should get to experience the gem that is AC2, and if toning down the DRM facilitates that, it's definitely good.
Click to expand...

mmm no my wife had constant problems connecting and staying connected with Settlers 7 that only got worse when ac2 came out.
 
phide said:
Not good enough. Either tie games to Steamworks and/or offer unencumbered retail versions and maybe I'll think about buying a game Ubisoft produces (assuming it's worth buying).
Click to expand...

Maybe that will be step 2 or step 3 in this far too long, dragged out, and needless process Ubisoft put themselves through.

I forgot which game it was...isn't there a recent title of theirs already using Steam instead? I remember a thread even came up around here because people were like: "Is this it? Are they done with that terrible DRM? "
 
Thanks for the info, this is a good change! Might make me consider an Ubisoft game again. My game backlog is quite extensive right now...so... whenever a sales comes by I might now be tempted. It's no worst then steam or EA now.

Y.
 
Q-BZ said:
Maybe that will be step 2 or step 3 in this far too long, dragged out, and needless process Ubisoft put themselves through.

I forgot which game it was...isn't there a recent title of theirs already using Steam instead? I remember a thread even came up around here because people were like: "Is this it? Are they done with that terrible DRM? "
Click to expand...

You're probably thinking of RUSE, and I'm not sure what the story is there with being tied to steam instead of Ubi's DRM.
 
Spewn said:
You're probably thinking of RUSE, and I'm not sure what the story is there with being tied to steam instead of Ubi's DRM.
Click to expand...

It was RUSE. Wasn't clear on the story with that game, either, but I think that game was the first very early indicator of some kind of shift.

Now we come to the subject of this thread.

One little step at a time... ;)
 
Q-BZ said:
Maybe that will be step 2 or step 3 in this far too long, dragged out, and needless process Ubisoft put themselves through.

I forgot which game it was...isn't there a recent title of theirs already using Steam instead? I remember a thread even came up around here because people were like: "Is this it? Are they done with that terrible DRM? "
Click to expand...

I doubt that will happen. The reason Ubi has it set like they do now is probably due to all of the games that use the DRM don't store any save files locally so you have to log in to access your saves stored on their servers. Ubisoft also seems to like its UPlay service and right now Steam doesn't offer an alternative to it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top