Future Ubisoft Games To Require Constant Internet Access [Slashdot]

[DP ServBot]

Following up on our discussion yesterday of annoying game distribution platforms, Ubisoft has announced the details of their Online Services Platform, which they will use to distribute and administer future PC game releases. The platform will require internet access in order to play installed games, saved games will be stored remotely, and the game you're playing will even pause and try to reconnect if your connection is lost during play. Quoting Rock, Paper, Shotgun: "This seems like such a bizarre, bewildering backward step. Of course we haven't experienced it yet, but based on Ubi’s own description of the system so many concerns arise. Yes, certainly, most people have the internet all the time on their PCs. But not all people. So already a percentage of the audience is lost. Then comes those who own gaming laptops, who now will not be able to play games on trains, buses, in the park, or anywhere they may not be able to find a WiFi connection (something that’s rarely free in the UK, of course – fancy paying the £10/hour in the airport to play your Ubisoft game?). Then there's the day your internet is down, and the engineers can’t come out to fix it until tomorrow. No game for you. Or any of the dozens of other situations when the internet is not available to a player. But further, there are people who do not wish to let a publisher know their private gaming habits. People who do not wish to report in to a company they’ve no affiliation with, nor accountability to, whenever they play a game they’ve legally bought. People who don’t want their save data stored remotely. This new system renders all customers beholden to Ubisoft in perpetuity whenever they buy their games."http://games.slashdot.org/slashdot-it.pl?from=rss&op=image&style=h0&sid=10/01/27/0625244 (http://games.slashdot.org/story/10/01/27/0625244/Future-Ubisoft-Games-To-Require-Constant-Internet-Access?from=rss)
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[shopkins]

Now this really is bullshit. I hope they don't try to do this on consoles. My internet isn't the most reliable thing in the world and I don't always leave my consoles hooked to it anyway. Even with my PC it's been off for days a couple of times.

[portnoyd]

Looks like I won't be buying Ubisoft PC games any time soon.

[Snapple]

Didn't this happen with the Ghostbusters PC game? Where you have to be online for the game to work.

[jb143]

I know some developers have seen this as the only way to completely combat piracy. The article doesn't say but I wonder if that's the reason.

[Robocop2]

I understand the desire to combat piracy but this anti piracy stuff is just getting a little bit extreme. What happens if Ubisoft goes under someday; will you be able to play the game anymore? Of course I suppose they don't really care if you can play it if they're out of business....
It really doesn't matter what companies do, pirates will always find a way to overcome obstacles. But should the regular consumer suffer because of it?

[Push Upstairs]

I have got to the point where I don't get worked up about this crap anymore.

Because it is obvious to me that companies do not want me to spend money on their games anymore.

[Sonicwolf]

So now its like this... Instead of being able to play the game whenever you want, you must have stable, fast internet in order to do so. Ugh.

[tubeway]

This is an issue until, ya know. Cracks are made.

I don't bother playing my legit copies of games with their CD-ROM in the drive; I just mount an image of the disc and use that, or a NoCD crack. These won't be any different.

[j_factor]

I will certainly not be purchasing a single game that does this. They are out of their minds.

[kedawa]

So their solution to piracy is...irony?

I don't see how this could do anything but encourage piracy by alienating the very people that buy their games.

[Fuyukaze]

I'd be more upset if I cared about ubisoft. It's great to see a company kill off an entire market.

[Gameguy]

Ubisoft is just a publisher right? If they go under some other company would publish the games instead.

From their own FAQ;
http://support.uk.ubi.com/online-services-platform/


Can I resell my game?
Not at this time.

Can I resell my game along with my Ubisoft account?
Your Ubisoft account features your personal data and cannot be given or sold to anyone.

Do you plan to implement this system on home consoles?
This system is for PCs only.

Why is Ubisoft forcing their loyal customers to sign up for a Ubisoft account when they don't want to give their private data and only play single player games?
We hope that customers will feel as we do, that signing up for an account will offer them exceptional gameplay and services that are not available otherwise.

[RP2A03]

Can I resell my game?
Not until we find a way to make money from it.

Can I resell my game along with my Ubisoft account?
What? Do you think that you actually own the game?!

Do you plan to implement this system on home consoles?
Eventually.

Why is Ubisoft forcing their loyal customers to sign up for a Ubisoft account when they don't want to give their private data and only play single player games?
Because we own the game, you and your first born son.Fixed.

[shadows]

At least this doesn't install a rootkit, which can potentially screw up your PC or limits the amount of times you can install the games like some EA games ..so I guess it makes it better... Nah it still fucking sucks.

I don't mind needing to have an internet connection to start the game, sorta like the way Steam works. But for everything else, it's just going to make the piracy problem a bigger one for them.


Ubisoft is just a publisher right? If they go under some other company would publish the games instead.
They are both, publisher and developer and you can add idiots to their title now.

[Richter Belmount]

I like how such methods in the industry are satired in mgs4.

[skaar]

This is why if I'm playing a game on the PC, it's pirated. If it's on console, I bought it.

Other than a few gems.

Fuck them :P

[WCP]

Actually, I've heard that this new method that they are using could make pirating the game "extremely" difficult. I will admit to not understanding the whole technical method behind it, but the way I understand it, in laymans terms it works like this:


The reason you need a constant internet connection for the game to work, is that bits and pieces of the game are streamed to your PC, and installed "temporarily", seconds before they are needed for the game to function properly. Thus, you lose your internet connection temporarily, and the game is automatically paused. The reason the game is paused, is because the game needs these "bits of code", to function. If you lose your internet connection, then it doesn't get these bits of code, and the game becomes unplayable. Another way to think about this is kinda similar to the whole "OnLive" thing. With OnLive, you aren't actually playing a game on your computer, the game is streamed to your computer, and you're playing it from a remote server. This isn't exactly how the Ubisoft thing is going to work, but it's somewhat similar in theory. Supposedly, about 95 percent or more of the game code will be on your computer, but the other 5 percent (or less), won't be. This small amount of data that is critical for the game to function, will be streamed to you, just ahead of the time in which it's needed for the game to function. This is why you need to "always" be connected for the game to work.

Now, will it be completely impossible for hackers to get around this type of security? Probably not. But, I've heard that if hackers are able to get around this issue, to play the game, they might actually be able to play the game, but they will end up playing a busted, incomplete game. Imagine, playing certain levels where the enemies are completely missing from the level. It could end up being something along those lines.

I will say that everything that I've said above could be 100 percent inaccurate, but I was on another message board, and this is what people were talking about. This is how they kinda explained what Ubisoft is actually doing here. It's sounds really harsh for Ubisoft to take such measures, but hey, I don't really blame them. Piracy on PC is pretty rampant. Probably almost half the people playing their latest games on PC aren't paying for them. They feel like they got to do something drastic to change this, and this is definitely a drastic measure, but I give them credit for having the balls to actually try this. The key factor is whether or not this actually truly eliminates the ability for pirates to hack it. If it really does, then I think their efforts are justified considering the climate of piracy on PC. If it doesn't work, then it's just something that is going to really piss off their legitimate customers.

We'll have to wait and see what happens. The bigger question is when is this going to hit the home consoles? Could Sony or Microsoft or Nintendo get away with requiring an always active internet connection to be able to play your games?

[maxlords]

It was awfully nice of Ubisoft to design a system for PC gaming expressly to make me either pirate the game or just not play it at all. Swell guys.

[Push Upstairs]

It needs to be posted:

http://www.threadbombing.com/data/media/54/worfisfrustratedmz8.gif (http://www.threadbombing.com/details.php?image_id=977)

[Cryomancer]

Actually, I've heard that this new method that they are using could make pirating the game "extremely" difficult. I will admit to not understanding the whole technical method behind it, but the way I understand it, in laymans terms it works like this:


The reason you need a constant internet connection for the game to work, is that bits and pieces of the game are streamed to your PC, and installed "temporarily", seconds before they are needed for the game to function properly. Thus, you lose your internet connection temporarily, and the game is automatically paused. The reason the game is paused, is because the game needs these "bits of code", to function. If you lose your internet connection, then it doesn't get these bits of code, and the game becomes unplayable. Another way to think about this is kinda similar to the whole "OnLive" thing. With OnLive, you aren't actually playing a game on your computer, the game is streamed to your computer, and you're playing it from a remote server. This isn't exactly how the Ubisoft thing is going to work, but it's somewhat similar in theory. Supposedly, about 95 percent or more of the game code will be on your computer, but the other 5 percent (or less), won't be. This small amount of data that is critical for the game to function, will be streamed to you, just ahead of the time in which it's needed for the game to function. This is why you need to "always" be connected for the game to work.

Now, will it be completely impossible for hackers to get around this type of security? Probably not. But, I've heard that if hackers are able to get around this issue, to play the game, they might actually be able to play the game, but they will end up playing a busted, incomplete game. Imagine, playing certain levels where the enemies are completely missing from the level. It could end up being something along those lines.

I will say that everything that I've said above could be 100 percent inaccurate, but I was on another message board, and this is what people were talking about. This is how they kinda explained what Ubisoft is actually doing here. It's sounds really harsh for Ubisoft to take such measures, but hey, I don't really blame them. Piracy on PC is pretty rampant. Probably almost half the people playing their latest games on PC aren't paying for them. They feel like they got to do something drastic to change this, and this is definitely a drastic measure, but I give them credit for having the balls to actually try this. The key factor is whether or not this actually truly eliminates the ability for pirates to hack it. If it really does, then I think their efforts are justified considering the climate of piracy on PC. If it doesn't work, then it's just something that is going to really piss off their legitimate customers.

We'll have to wait and see what happens. The bigger question is when is this going to hit the home consoles? Could Sony or Microsoft or Nintendo get away with requiring an always active internet connection to be able to play your games?

Even streaming data is defeat-able. People rip youtube videos all the time, streaming radio, sites that have subtitled shows get their subs ripped, the same will happen for games. If there is a point where it is played as it is supposed to be played anywhere along the line, it will be taken from that point. There is no way to stop piracy, shot of simply not having a product to begin with. If they do want to stop piracy, they maybe they should stop making their products more of a pain in the ass to use legally than illegally.

[WCP]

There is no way to stop piracy,


Sony is doing a pretty good job of it, at the moment. Sure, I've heard the latest news about an exploit that could mean that the PS3 would be able to eventually run homebrew/backups, etc, etc, but at the moment there aren't any PS3 backups available for sale on Craigslist.

I just think that if they are going to this drastic of a measure, they must be extremely confident that it can't be pirated in a "useable" form. Again, I don't doubt their games that use the feature will still be pirated, but I think that nobody will be interested in playing the pirated versions, because they will be missing critical gameplay mechanics that will leave the games essentially busted.

Also, what about World of Warcraft? Is anybody pirating that?

[DigitalSpace]

I have got to the point where I don't get worked up about this crap anymore.

Because it is obvious to me that companies do not want me to spend money on their games anymore.

What he said.

[Flashback2012]

If their games were online only with no offline mode, similar to MMOs, then this would be a non-issue. I dunno...my initial reaction was "Well I guess Ubisoft won't be getting any money from me for their PC efforts" until I remembered they hold the rights to the Might and Magic and Heroes of Might and Magic franchises. Bleh...no doubt future M&M games will have this "feature" implemented in them. :mad:

I should stop there as I am still irked that New World Computing's more popular IPs are owned by different companies now instead of all being in one spot. :angry:

[Ed Oscuro]

Gotta hand it to Ubi for having the balls to remind us of what they actually are doing with the game adverts (like those in GRAW2). Or, I dunno, just pulling a Microsoft and scaring us so badly that we'll rush back into their arms when they inevitably realize "oh, that was a pretty dumbass thing to try, wasn't it?"

I didn't see myself wanting to do this, but if this happens it's outrageous enough that I won't be getting any affected games.

[Robocop2]

Ah well I haven't bought an Ubisoft game since....I guess Blazing Angels 2

[esquire]

Is it no coinicidence that Assassin's Creed II (Ubisoft) for the PC has been delayed? At least we now know why.

**UPDATE**

This includes consoles as well!!!!

I logged into Assassin's Creed II on the 360 and there was an update. Seems there is an option for "UPLAY" in the menu. You register with your email address. Once in you get points that you can redeem at the store. Nothing there yet. Only games showing up are Assassins Creed II, R.U.S.E. and Splinter Cell: Conviction. I guess we now know why that one was delayed as well.

[rpepper9]

I GOT IT! I know how we can still pirate these games! Ok so I don't know the tech but here is an idea, if something is streamed to your computer while you play all you need to do is have your computer save the streamed data to your HDD and then using the CD/DVD compile everything together into a complete game.

Sounds like a simple concept. Even if you don't compile everything together, the missing info could even be a patch. Or download the missing info to your HDD and tell the game to access that info from the hard drive rather than online.

With all the people in the world always attempting to crack or pirate or generally figure things out I don't think this would be too hard. We have Windoz running on a Macintosh, this cannot be to difficult to figure out!

[Push Upstairs]

Often wonder how much of the lost sales due to the copy protection methods used and not actual "I don't wanna pay for this" piracy.

I can't believe this rootkit/disable CD-drive/copy protection BS isn't hurting their sales.

[buzz_n64]

Well, this makes my decision of doing console gaming only an easy one. Unreal Tournament was the last PC game I really enjoyed. Ubisoft, go ahead and do it, I like TMNT, and Rayman, but this news is not a big deal with me.

[Gameguy]

The easiest way to get around it is to share your account publicly, like on a forum. They even said the game can be installed on as many computers as you'd like, you just have to be logged in to play it(though only one person can be logged in at a time). Seems like someone could buy the game and share the account publicly just to get back at Ubisoft.

What games did they actually develop themselves and not just publish? I could only find a list with both combined so I'm not sure.

[Nophix]

Well, if they implement it for console, I'll be forgoing my purchase of SC: Conviction.

After the mess EA's SPORE caused with my wife's machine(which required not only a reinstall of Windows to get the DVD drive working again, but a complete DBAN), I'm done with PC gaming and the DRM, unless I pirate the thing. I flat out told the EA tech support rep I was pulling it off bittorrent, and they could F$%^ themselves. I paid for a game, not for something to screw the computer up.

[robotriot]

This sounds like just another nail in the coffin of PC gaming. Pretty stupid move on Ubisoft's part (or maybe that's just what they intend - you have better control over piracy on consoles). Not that I play modern PC games anyway, but I certainly won't buy any of the affected Ubisoft games.

[Berserker]

This sounds like just another nail in the coffin of PC gaming. Pretty stupid move on Ubisoft's part (or maybe that's just what they intend - you have better control over piracy on consoles). Not that I play modern PC games anyway, but I certainly won't buy any of the affected Ubisoft games.

Seems almost like an attack against PC gaming, doesn't it? The big-budget gaming industry is quickly catching up to the recording industry in terms of the lengths they'll go to in order to sabotage their own profitability for ideological reasons.

They should be figuring out how to turn pirates into customers, not the other way around.

It's unfortunate, but these blunderers are never going to kill off PC gaming completely. If anything all they're doing is leaving a lot of open room for newer, smarter outfits to move in and profit immensely by not punishing the people who give them money. What a concept.

[WCP]

Well, if they implement it for console, I'll be forgoing my purchase of SC: Conviction.



I don't think Microsoft or Sony would allow that for "this" generation. As for PS4 and Xbox whatever, all bets are off.

[Zoltor]

The newer games Ubisoft has published have been subpar anyway, but this move is the dumbest thing ever, and is yet another step backwards for PC gaming.

If you buy the game, you own it, It's not like It's a mmo, and you get banned or the servers get taken down. It's completely BS to have to sign up to play a single player game that you bought, on top of which, these assholes are saying you don't even own the game you bought(selling a item you bought is not pirating, so they are just being greedy assholes now, and I'm possative the amount of money the company looses due to legal resales is unnoticeable).

[Push Upstairs]

I'm for buying a game and giving the guys who worked on it (a small part) of what they are due.

But they/the publisher don't get squat when you call paying customers thieves.

[Iron Draggon]

meh... I have a fast PC with a fast internet connection, so it's hardly worth getting all worked up over Ubi games requiring me to take advantage of both

sure, it sucks ass, but lately everything about PC gaming sucks ass anyway now, so who really cares? it's getting to where the majority of new games for the PC are either available only as an online download, or they can only be purchased from an online retailer like Amazon.com... again, so freakin what?

if you're a PC gamer, chances are you have a fast PC with a fast internet connection, so why get pissed off when a game requires you to have both?

[Push Upstairs]

It isn't about having a fast internet connection.

It is about how those who *PAY* for the game have to deal with DRM/limits/restrictions, while those who download a pirated version do not.

Why do I need to be punished for doing the right thing?

[Ze_ro]

If you're a conscientious PC gamer, here's what you can do these days:

1. Buy the game so you can support the company.
2. Download a cracked pirate copy and play that instead.

After you're done with the game, you can then re-sell the original like you would any other game (since you would have kept it sealed and un-activated) and still have some moral high-ground in knowing that you weren't strictly ripping off the company. Meanwhile, you weren't subject to invasive copy protections that could compromise your computer. Everybody wins!

Depending on your moral viewpoint and your opinion of the company, step 1 becomes less and less enticing.

--Zero

[FayeC86]

The great thing about this is it wont effect people its designed to combat. People will crack around this protection, and the only people that have to suffer it will be those who bought it legit

[BetaWolf47]

Hey, so it's been a few months. Is there a list of games that use "Online Services Platform" a.k.a. Ubisoft DRM? I've Googled it and cannot find a comprehensive list anywhere... just Witcher 2, Assassin's Creed 2, and Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands.