Ubisoft's new DRM cracked already

[bjoswald]

Of course it is. When companies do evil **** like this, how do they expect the community to react? Do they want us to cower like babies and bow to them like obedient slaves? It's a game for Christ's sake! I'm surprised the gaming community in general hasn't declared moral jihad on them by now.

[forster]

Good. We should live in a utopian society where everything is free and we dont have to work and we dont have to spend any money coz money will be obsolete and the companies will not spy on us and we will have plenty of food coz it will all be free and that's what we should have coz it's free and we dont have to pay for it.... etc etc etc

Seriously tho, DRM doesnt work - developers need to go back to the drawing board with a fresh cup of coffee and have a serious think about how to protect their content.

[null.]

Shocker that it got cracked. :rolleyes:

[Crompee]

Will they never learn?

The only DRM that works is a DRM that cripples the game to an extent that not even the developers can run it.

Actually, Blizzards upcoming DRM in Starcraft 2 is the perfect system.

You can play singleplayer offline if you want but if you come online when you play, you'll get single player achievements which unlock rewards, in-game chat with friends (including friends playing other blizzard games), profiles, and reletively cheat free multiplayer (no direct LAN, LAN speeds are enabled but you need to connect to IRC first), you'll also gain access to more maps and exclusive mods.

So, you when the game is cracked, they can play it but people who purchased the game will have a much better experience.

[Nagisan]

Actually, Blizzards upcoming DRM in Starcraft 2 is the perfect system.

You can play singleplayer offline if you want but if you come online when you play, you'll get single player achievements which unlock rewards, in-game chat with friends (including friends playing other blizzard games), profiles, and reletively cheat free multiplayer (no direct LAN, LAN speeds are enabled but you need to connect to IRC first), you'll also gain access to more maps and exclusive mods.

So, you when the game is cracked, they can play it but people who purchased the game will have a much better experience.

Thats how DRM needs to be, reward the people who buy the game, do not punish the people who do not buy it.

Its still not exactly a perfect system, as the game can and still will be pirated....but you get incentives to buy the game, such as achievements, in-game chat accross multiple games (similar to Steam, but only for Blizzard games), multiplayer, etc.

People can and still will play against AI at the very least without buying the game. There are already hacks out which let you play the SC2 Beta against AI of varying difficulty and on any map you wish. So you can still play non-campaign games without technically buying the game, but as you mention, buying the game has incentives other than simply multiplayer.

The day of DRM that punishes people who do not buy the game needs to end, start adding online components to a game that will get people to want to buy it and they may actually go and buy it instead of pirate it.

BTW, what type of rewards are we talking about? Because if they are singleplayer/offline rewards, then they likely will be downloadable shortly after launch anyway...

[giantpotato]

No, The way DRM "should" work is you shouldn't be able to play the game at all unless you bought it, and it should be completely transparent to those who did buy it.

[Nagisan]

No, The way DRM "should" work is you shouldn't be able to play the game at all unless you bought it, and it should be completely transparent to those who did buy it.

True, but that is not going to happen until game content is processed and hosted on a server then served up to the client, like how OnLive is going. But IMHO we will not have the resources to go that route for another 10 years minimum...so until then we have to deal with less effective DRM which shouldn't hindrance the legit player any, but rewards legit players....like the SC2 DRM. Not like crappy online DRM that is bypassed hours after it is released, and only affects those who buy the game.

[Xtreme2damax]

If the DRM is bad enough, I just use a cra*ked exe after I buy the game, did this with all the Starforce games I bought.

[Nagisan]

If the DRM is bad enough, I just use a cra*ked exe after I buy the game, did this with all the Starforce games I bought.

Thats fine IMO, but there are those out there who like to play games without running the risk of a bad cracked exe messing up their computer.

Either way, if you have to get a cracked EXE to stop any potential problems from DRM affecting your computer/limiting your gameplay, then they are doing something horribly wrong with DRM.

[lalalawawawa]

Thats fine IMO, but there are those out there who like to play games without running the risk of a bad cracked exe messing up their computer.

Either way, if you have to get a cracked EXE to stop any potential problems from DRM affecting your computer/limiting your gameplay, then they are doing something horribly wrong with DRM.

About the first, well, if you ask around, you will get quite a few answers about which scene groups can be trusted.

About the second, they already are.

[Crompee]

BTW, what type of rewards are we talking about? Because if they are singleplayer/offline rewards, then they likely will be downloadable shortly after launch anyway...

Not entirely sure as they havent talked about them much except for unlocking extra avatars to choose from. Nothing game changing, rather little rewards to convince you to login to Battle.Net while you play :p

but then again, Blizzard can only get away with doing this as every game they make is multiplayer friendly. I do understand why single player games (with no multiplayer aspects) get loaded up with as much DRM as possible, as if it does get cracked.. then the pirate gets the full version and everything a legit customer gets. It really doesnt matter if it gets cracked, they will still keep trying.

[Solid Knight]

Nice going guys, now they're just going to dream up an even more inconvenient system.

[Ambroos]

What people don't know is that AC2 has some exclusive reward system. UPlay points anyone? You get an upgraded throwing knife pouch, a new outfit (Alta?r outfit, not just armor!), a small new area (with some lore information) and a PC wallpaper (least interesting). Though, UPlay is annoying to access and I think MANY people will not even notice they can get 'upgrades'.

[Saurabh32]

for those who think it is cracked then wake up it is not properly cracked..

and yes Ubisoft "would consider" an offline mode for their DRM once it's cracked

[giantpotato]

I remember when the original Assassin's Creed came out and there was some sort of bug deliberately planted into the pirated version. All the pirates were complaining to Ubisoft about how the game was so buggy, not realizing they were just admitting to piracy. Maybe the same thing is true this time around as well.

[F_C]

I didn't think this question was worth a new topic, but apologies if it's deemed off topic here.

Does anyone know why the new Ubisoft games (with this DRM) seem to have been removed from Steam in the UK?

It seems just to be the UK as well which is strange. If you want to go and check look at Silent Hunter 5 or Assassins Creed II, both say "This item is currently unavailable in your region" as of yesterday, they were fine before that.

[Saurabh32]

I didn't think this question was worth a new topic, but apologies if it's deemed off topic here.

Does anyone know why the new Ubisoft games (with this DRM) seem to have been removed from Steam in the UK?

It seems just to be the UK as well which is strange. If you want to go and check look at Silent Hunter 5 or Assassins Creed II, both say "This item is currently unavailable in your region" as of yesterday, they were fine before that.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1176676&page=2

[Mr. Gibs]

Honestly, I paid for the game and the launcher and the DRM did not affect me at all. It doesn't do any background processes or services, so who really cares?

Corporations have to spend a lot of money licensing or researching DRM, that costs get passed onto the consumer. Why should you have to pay more because of something that is worthless anyways?

Also, a lot of DRM has been found to be harmful: like the sony one that not only sent information to their servers on a frequent basis, but also installed a rootkit on the user system. Or that other one which I forgot the name off, but caused havoc to people's optical drives.

[F_C]

http://forums.steamp...=1176676&page=2

Yes indeed, that was the only explanation they said. That was after saying it wasn't any of our business why all the games were removed and saying Assassins Creed was a one off.

Thanks anyway :)

[Nagisan]

for those who think it is cracked then wake up it is not properly cracked..

and yes Ubisoft "would consider" an offline mode for their DRM once it's cracked

Silent Hunter 5, which uses virtually the same DRM method as AC2, is already cracked and working for the most part. There is an issue with being unable to select missions after the tutorial, but there is a workaround that allows you to get past that hiccup.

That being said, Ubisoft needs to go ahead and remove the internet-required DRM from SH5, its been cracked and pirates are playing it normally without connecting to their servers. It also proves their claims wrong that there is no proper crack out. Sure there are some issues with the current crack, but it is still playable like an uncracked version.

[ylcard]

What people don't know is that AC2 has some exclusive reward system. UPlay points anyone? You get an upgraded throwing knife pouch, a new outfit (Alta?r outfit, not just armor!), a small new area (with some lore information) and a PC wallpaper (least interesting). Though, UPlay is annoying to access and I think MANY people will not even notice they can get 'upgrades'.

Seriously ? UPlay points ?

All of these things are as useful as a pillow under your arse.

I'm confident that AC2 will be playable, be it a cracked DRM or just a bypass method, it WILL be playable. (Talking exclusively about the so called "pirates" here).

Some games are just not worth the effort, AC2 seems to be worth it.

[DeusProto]

Meanwhile, for the legitimate users who didn't use a crack...

"Ubisoft DRM authentification server is down, Assassin's Creed 2 unplayable."

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03/07/ubisoft-drm-authentification-server-is-down-assassins-creed-2/

[SyntaxError]

Crazy, first title out with the new DRM gets cracked in no time, then the servers crash on the 2nd title before that one is cracked.

Shot themselves in the foot already. Good job Ubisoft!