Thursday, February 2nd 2012
Ubisoft Server Maintenance To Render Always-Online DRM Games Unplayable
Next week, Ubisoft will be performing large-scale server maintenance, which could see its DRM-handling go offline. It would directly impact some games that are designed to work with Ubisoft's infamous "Always-Online" DRM, which requires gamers to be connected to the internet when playing games enabled with it. Tom Clancy's HAWX 2, Might & Magic: Heroes 6 and The Settlers 7 will be unplayable during the course of maintenance. Bigger titles such as Assassin's Creed: Revelations and Driver: San Francisco, however, will stay online for the duration of the switch-over. Ubisoft is loathed for its hyper-strict DRM that requires you to ping their DRM servers every few moments to reassure them you're not a pirate. It is even known to limit activations to your graphics card. This is yet another example where DRM only ends up hurting legitimate users more than piracy.
Source:
PC Gamer
24 Comments on Ubisoft Server Maintenance To Render Always-Online DRM Games Unplayable
Give it a read.
techreport.com/discussions.x/22134
Always online is just asking for people to come along and crack the game.
I just wish I hadn't been half asleep when I bought HAWX2 in a Steam sale. Because of this **** I don't ever intend playing it and haven't even downloaded it. Complete waste of money.
Ubisoft has already removed this DRM from some of its products, so why not all of them, FFS? :rolleyes: Maybe HAWX2 will finally get rid of it and I can play it?
About that three activation limit referred to in the story, I had reported the graphics card thingy here and the update here.Treating your paying customers like dirt is even more wrong.
Honestly though, as much as I argue against piracy... this is a situation where I wouldn't blame anybody for getting a crack. Me thinks a judge would even see it your way on this one. Cracking something you legally purchased because the provider knee-capped it... :rolleyes: hmm, whatever.
Kinda makes me think back to the Soundblaster dibacle where they nerfed their own products via driver... and then did whatever they could to make the older more capable driver inaccessible... and then sued the guy that wrote new driver re-enabling all the stuff they nerfed. WTF!
Edit: I don't buy anything soundblaster anymore... and I think I'll add Ubisoft to my boycott list too now.
Third party DRM, particularly Ubi's, has been by far the largest source of negative press Steam gets, not to mention all the issues Steam support has to deal with from pissed off customers.