Assassin’s Creed ll and the "new" DRM scheme

sygnus21 · Mar 4, 2010

Assassin’s Creed ll and the "new" DRM scheme

We don’t have a "Gaming News" section, but if we did, I think this would qualify….

Assassin's Creed 2 DRM by Koroush Ghazi of TweakGuides.com

Assassin's Creed 2 (AC2) was delayed for release on the PC, coming roughly four months after its release on the XBox 360 and PlayStation 3. Unfortunately, it seems that aside from the delays, AC2 will be remembered primarily for introducing a new form of copy protection/Digital Rights Management (DRM) developed by Ubisoft. In the face of the widespread hysteria and misinformation on this topic, I've prepared this page in the hopes of providing some factual information based on personal experience with the system in question.

Source - TweakGuides.com - Assassin's Creed 2 DRM

I agree with a lot of what this guy is saying and it is something we PC gamers have to worry about as more and more games are going the way of the consoles

If you've never visited TweakGuides.com I urge you to do so. The guy is pretty knowledgeable and has a host of gaming tweak guides as well tweak guides for XP, Vista, and Window 7.

Good site.

PS - Since this is a touchy subject for most, I'd like to say that as passionate as people on both sides of the coin are, let's not get banned over them.

RST101 · Mar 5, 2010

It's up to ubi how they go about their business but surely the people who have made this decision are not computer literate at all because it will be cracked.

Like I said in other posts the only way to prevent any software being cracked is to scrap computers and all software because until then it will only is only code and therefore highly manipulative.

The only people who this will affect are ubisoft themselves and whatever custom they get from this. It is the paying customer who has to jump through all the hoops just to play it.

I for one will not buy this game!

hybridfan · Mar 5, 2010

I like the efforts of UBI, but alas there will always be a way to crack zero's and one's

cloud8521 · Mar 5, 2010

Its already been cracked. the Always on was already on a recent release and was cracked rather quickly

smarteyeball · Mar 5, 2010

cloud8521 said:
Its already been cracked. the Always on was already on a recent release and was cracked rather quickly

Silent Hunter 5? Cracked in under 24hrs.

cloud8521 · Mar 5, 2010

smarteyeball said:
cloud8521 said:

Its already been cracked. the Always on was already on a recent release and was cracked rather quickly

Click to expand...

Silent Hunter 5? Cracked in under 24hrs.

i know exactly.

sygnus21 · Mar 5, 2010

Another good read by the same author - TweakGuides.com - PC Game Piracy Examined. Long but interesting.

Wishmaster · Mar 5, 2010

Thanks for the links. Interesting reads.

I dont like DRM anymore than anyone but , since its something we really must deal with,

I actually prefer EA's solution for DRM. It requires the DLM, and must connect to the internet to activate the game, the first time its launced. After that no internet connection needed & No disc needed in the drive.

5 activation limit but you can de-activate and activate as you choose, which is really nice if you want to re-install Windows. simply de-auth the game and get the activation back.

But, sadly, it looks as if many games are moving to this always needing a internet connection type of DRM. Which really stinks if you do not have access or your connection is down for whatever reason.

i personally do not mind needing a connection to activate. but after that, I honestly do not think it should be required, unless it wants to re-check when applying a patch/expansion etc.

sygnus21 · Mar 5, 2010

Here's Ubi's solution with Assassin Creed (taken from the article)...

The official details of the new copy protection/DRM implemented in Assassin's Creed 2 are provided here, but basically it requires that you have a permanent Internet connection to play the game. Note however that it has no install limits and does not require keeping the DVD in the drive to play. This DRM has not been secretly introduced - it was announced several months ago by Ubisoft, and is noted prominently on the front of the AC2 retail box, as shown here.

One of the things I find most annoying is the need to have the CD/DVD installed.

RST101 · Mar 5, 2010

smarteyeball said:
Silent Hunter 5? Cracked in under 24hrs.

And it has the same drm as assassins creed 2 so what's the point.

Whoo · Mar 5, 2010

I was actually going to buy this when the price goes down. But now, forget it.

arkhi · Mar 5, 2010

I'll buy this when the price goes down. :sarc: Hopefully, by that time the online DRM thing should have been deactivated by Ubi (~3-5 yrs :cry:

).

RST101 · Mar 8, 2010

Earlier today, our tips inbox and the official Assassin's Creed 2 forum were set ablaze by incensed owners of the PC version of the aforementioned Italian revenge epic. According to numerous reports from prospective players of the game, Ubisoft's DRM authentification servers have crashed, forcing some players to suffer lengthy login periods when booting up Assassin's Creed 2, and locking some folks out of the game entirely.

A Ubisoft representative responded to a particularly rage-filled forum thread, stating "clearly the extended downtime and lengthy login issues are unacceptable, particularly as I've been told these servers are constantly monitored." The representative added "I'll do what I can to get more information on what the issue is here first thing tomorrow and push for a resolution and assurance this won't happen in the future." We've got a really great suggestion for how to make such an assurance: Find a less abominable DRM policy.

Epic Failure

Fantail · Mar 8, 2010

I'm all for a publishers such as Ubisoft trying to prevent piracy, but this drm-osp is a Turd they can't polish. Even if it marginaly works, look, they are punishing the honest people who want to buy these games. My internet connection / speed is not a problem, but it's not the point either. Anyone else, with a less then reliable connection such as spotty dial-up has been crapped on or shoved aside because of this scheme.
Here's another example; lets say I bought a new Ubisoft PC game and install it on a nice laptop. Now I'm somewhere with no internet and it's raining, or for what ever reason I Can't start my game that I Paid for because I'm not Chained to Ubisoft at the time. Well, I don't FRACKIN think so.
Was looking forward to SHV, & the new GRAW but not with osp-drm. Not happening now.
Bottom line for PC games from Ubisoft is the purchases ENDED with SHIV & GRAW 2 unless Ubisoft comes up with a different plan.

sygnus21 · Mar 8, 2010

I'm totally anti-piracy, but the solution thus far from Ubi just gives thieves more justification to steal the game, and perpetuate the myth that stealing is OK because of DRM.

I’m not opposed to DRM, I’m opposed to its intrusiveness when issues beyond the legitimate gamers’ control arises, example – servers going down.

Everlong · Mar 10, 2010

Like what's been said already, I'm all for anti-piracy methods being put on games, but when it gets to something like this, it does start to get rediculous.

The chances of me being able to play this at University are zilch, pretty much because of my connection blocks port 80, which is what all activation programs use for games. It's not too bad for games that use a single activation as I can get the network admins to give me a small window to get it activated then close it once I'm done, but I very much doubt they're going to let me get through the firewall for however long I want just to play it...

And asside from that, I normally save single player games for when my connection is down and I can't get online.

RST101 · Mar 11, 2010

Well I have actually bit the bullet and bought the game for £26.99 and am just downloading.

I promised myself I wouldn't do this but I can be impetuous at times and this was one of those times.

Hope all goes well and I am able to play when I recieve my product key(could take up to 8 hours) :doh:

, otherwise I will be cross

smsff7 · Mar 11, 2010

It just proves that DRM hurts legit users more then the pirates they are trying to stop

If I was so inclined to I could just download this with a crack and not have to worry about a bad connection keeping me from playing

swarfega · Mar 11, 2010

What about when Ubisoft no longer exist or they decide the game is too old and turn off the servers. Youl no longer be able to play.

RST101 · Mar 11, 2010

swarfega said:
What about when Ubisoft no longer exist or they decide the game is too old and turn off the servers. Youl no longer be able to play.

Hopefully they will patch the game by that time because it stinks as it is.

Just got my key

Will report back my findings.

Assassin’s Creed ll and the "new" DRM scheme

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