Ubisoft's New Anti-Piracy Measure : Vuvuzelas

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Pirate the DS version of MJ's game and get bombarded with vuvuzelas instead of the music.

Ubisoft has instituted a novel measure to combat freeloaders looking to pirate the DS version of Michael Jackson: The Experience: it's figured out a way to make hacked ROMs play a vuvuzela chorus over the classic Jacko tunes.

Tiny Cartridge spotted a YouTube clip that shows a pirated version of the game rendered unplayable by the obnoxious buzz of the South African horn. Not only that, but crucial on-screen prompts aren't displayed either.

Article: http://www.eurogamer....cko-ds-pirates

Video:

Pretty nifty. Wonder how they managed that.

Source: http://www.neogaf.co...ad.php?t=414737

[carmatic]

its only a matter of time before someone cracks the game properly...

[firey]

As mentioned above.. it will end up cracked, however that is still pretty damn awesome.

[Rudy]

its only a matter of time before someone cracks the game properly...

+1, nothing new really, most big titles come up with some new piracy checks and they're usually cracked within a day or 2

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

DRM like this is stuff I don't mind.

DRM that only affects valid owners isn't.

[Pong]

This is how Anti-Piracy should be, not DRM that causes problems for the people who actually paid for the game.

[M_Lyons10]

HAHAHAHA, that's hilarious. I hope more companies institute anti-piracy measures like this.

[HawkMan]

This is how Anti-Piracy should be, not DRM that causes problems for the people who actually paid for the game.

Most DRM doesn't. people just like to complain that it does.

but for the most part DRM games consist of insert disk, install game, play game.

[Ruciz]

Most DRM doesn't. people just like to complain that it does.

but for the most part DRM games consist of insert disk, install game, play game.

Really?

ANY pirated game usually just 'works'. Thats the beauty, and sometimes the draw as well. DRM is really only a pain to those who actually pay for the title. People who steal it never deal with any of that crap - until now I guess. I bet updates are already out for some to fix this issue.

Any game I have requires install with a serial on the box- not disc- so its easy to lose. Should your comp die/buy a new one/reinstall to a different computer prepare for a 2-3 hr call or email tag to validate the game to work. Then after its installed, getting it to run is another story.

the biggest title that ubi is putting out is this tho? I guess almost any other game the sounds don't really matter. Missing prompts tho is a problem.

[etempest]

Most DRM doesn't. people just like to complain that it does.

but for the most part DRM games consist of insert disk, install game, play game.

I have to disagree.

* The always-on internet has caused issues for some DSL users / internet hickup - dumped form game.

* In the past, some of the optical drive "special" drivers could cause optical drive issues.

Remember Sony's protection that installed as a Root Kit in windows and was poorly designed so malware/virus piggy backed off it to infect windows.

* The register to you computer, if too stringent can lock you out of the game if you have hard drive failure / os corruption (due to malware / virus).

On top of that if the company goes bankrupt down the road, how will you acitvate your game when there activation server is gone.

The pirates seem to crack any protection within days of release, if not days before the release and enjoy the game better then the people that paid for it.

I do think there needs to be just enough protection to keep the honest people honest, but I believe any DRM beyond that is an inconvience with the consumer.

I think a simple "check disc in drive" and Serial Number (w/o needing internet checking-activation) should be enough.

[spaceelf]

Of course there's no guarantee the pirated version works properly. I recall the Sin Episode 1 guys saying that a lot of people were emailing them for tech support on bugs that'd already been fixed.

So 'the pirated version just works' isn't necessarily true.

[James Riske]

Most DRM doesn't. people just like to complain that it does.

I can't tell if you are ignorant or just plain lying.

[Vice]

And just like that Activision increases the piracy rate of the game due to the novelty of it.

[HawkMan]

I have to disagree.

* The always-on internet has caused issues for some DSL users / internet hickup - dumped form game.

* In the past, some of the optical drive "special" drivers could cause optical drive issues.

Remember Sony's protection that installed as a Root Kit in windows and was poorly designed so malware/virus piggy backed off it to infect windows.

* The register to you computer, if too stringent can lock you out of the game if you have hard drive failure / os corruption (due to malware / virus).

On top of that if the company goes bankrupt down the road, how will you acitvate your game when there activation server is gone.

The pirates seem to crack any protection within days of release, if not days before the release and enjoy the game better then the people that paid for it.

I do think there needs to be just enough protection to keep the honest people honest, but I believe any DRM beyond that is an inconvience with the consumer.

I think a simple "check disc in drive" and Serial Number (w/o needing internet checking-activation) should be enough.

Actually the star force breaking optical drives issue was NEVER proven. it was a claim thrown out by a small amount of users, which in the end turned out to be pirates that didn't like the fact that the DRM actually worked. Starforce asked anyone who had a problem to please send in the drive to them they've pay for shipping and replace it. NOONE did.

Always one internet is fairly new, and rarely used. and is annoying, but as a result of pirates again.

Sony's rootkit was actually on music disks. and it didn't actually do any damage, the issue was just that they installed it without asking.

And pretty much all games that require activation will have it removed in an upgrade down the line. because they don't want to keep the activations servers for it running. so not really an issue either.

And the issue is that the DRM IS working, they don't need the DRM to be 100%, they need it to work for the first 1-2 weeks, anything beyond that is a bonus. BUT if DRM works for the first few weeks, they sell a lot more. if a game is cracked before or on launch day, they sell a lot less. those first 1-2 weeks is massively important as far as sales go.

The irony here is of course that you're all congratulating Ubisoft on this. the ONE company who has been using DRM that IS intrusive for the user. :facepalm:

[Hedon]

The problem isn't the DRM, it's the thieves that brought on the DRM.

[spaceelf]

Actually the star force breaking optical drives issue was NEVER proven. it was a claim thrown out by a small amount of users, which in the end turned out to be pirates that didn't like the fact that the DRM actually worked. Starforce asked anyone who had a problem to please send in the drive to them they've pay for shipping and replace it. NOONE did.

Starforce never broke anything, but I had several games that would intermittently fail to validate. And it stopped my games working when I upgraded to x64, which ****ed me off.

To date, no DRM solution has ****ed me off anywhere near as much as Starforce did. Although Tages wasn't a charmer either.

Anyway back on the original topic, it is pretty funny. I'd want to see that and I don't pirate anything. :)

[ahhell]

I can't tell if you are ignorant or just plain lying.

Little from column A and little from column B.

[carmatic]

someone, somewhere is probably uploading a cracked copy of the game to some network by now....

[Subject Delta]

:laugh: genius

[HawkMan]

Starforce never broke anything, but I had several games that would intermittently fail to validate. And it stopped my games working when I upgraded to x64, which ****ed me off.

To date, no DRM solution has ****ed me off anywhere near as much as Starforce did. Although Tages wasn't a charmer either.

Anyway back on the original topic, it is pretty funny. I'd want to see that and I don't pirate anything. :)

Interesting, all the starforce games I had (though not many, but a few, that the pirates claimed didn't work for legal users) worked fine for me, both on XP, XP_x64(which I used from right after release), Vista x64 (from beta2) and on.

The only starforce protected game I had problems running, was ironically a free one. TrackMania.

[spaceelf]

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory still does not work on x64, except for the Steam version which doesn't have Starforce.

[HawkMan]

Did you get the x64 starforce driver

[spaceelf]

Did you get the x64 starforce driver

Yes. Starforce confirmed the game had to be patched to support it. It never was.

[Rudy]

The irony here is of course that you're all congratulating Ubisoft on this. the ONE company who has been using DRM that IS intrusive for the user. :facepalm:

Maybe because for ONCE they're using something that ISN'T intrusive :whistle:

Did you get the x64 starforce driver

Why should you have to download drivers for DRM? That's not acceptable to me

[HawkMan]

Maybe because for ONCE they're using something that ISN'T intrusive :whistle:

It's on a console :facepalm: :rolleyes:

when was the last time a console used intrusive DRM anyway ? in fact as far as consoles go, this is probably the most intrusive DRM I've seen since it actually goes beyond the console manufacturers own copy protection system. so....

Why should you have to download drivers for DRM? That's not acceptable to me

Well the thing is of course, the game was never released as anythign but a windows XP game, it was never released with a sticker that said it supported XP_x64 or any other future windows versions.