Ubisoft's "always-connected" DRM cracked in one day?

So now if I want to play games I have to be connected to the INTERNET and I only play games when I am not connected.....

Oh dear, well here's a huge surprise. How could Ubisoft be so stupid and arrogant to think that this new DRM would not be cracked? Now with all this publicity they're going to get far fewer sales than if they hadn't put any DRM on there in the first place.

I don't think that DRM is going to live until next year...Ubisoft is just want to get some more customers, but they will loose more. Probably they are giving a lot of money for developing such a ridiculous protection. It's just metter of time and it's useless losing of time.

I do not agree with Piracy. I think steam is absolutely fantastic but clearly DRM as it is now, is not the way forward.

I think their DRM will actually work in this case, as it effectively follows the same model as WoW. I think you will see a lot of other producers doing the same thing in the future. I do think it is kind of annoying, but it isn't that much different then the "steam" powered games either which i play I would like to hear from someone who legitimately bought a copy to know if it has really affected them or not.

While I understand that people without a good internet connection aren't happy with this, you can't blame companies for trying to protect their work. And this does sound like one of the best ways to protect a game. DVD copy protection has always been inefficient, so it was only a matter of time before something like this was going to be tried.

I wouldn't be surprised if most of the people complaning about this are pirates who can't get their game right now anyway. Well, excluding those complaining because of their internet connection of course.

hello ...

this is the reason why i went to console gaming & mostly on PS3. In Mauritius we have same problem, it's difficult, if not impossible to get legit PC or Xbox games, copies are sold everywhere & those owning these platform would make fun of PS3 owners forced to pay higher prices.

I'm happy got a PS3 & i don't care about paying for quality games & what's weird, the sales chart is quite impressive leading to one important fact: People go for pirated copies because they are available & 'some' have no considerations for developers.

maybe there will never be a solution against piracy but i think would be easy to control or slightly drop it off.

- the developers must not lose time protecting their work & end up with a crappy finish. like some of you mentioned, additional contents & services or bonuses would be a great solution & incentive in letting people get the games.

- create more competition at local levels, stop ignoring some countries & support all the sales. like in China, in Mauritius also we can't find original games, the 'official representative' of some companies if any wouldn't do anything to bring more & support the product. MS exist in the island & does a lot of campaign against software theft, but i never saw any campaign against games theft & console modding. if they only could come up with some competitions that would encourage youngsters to bind to the rules & play fair with some prizes at the end, would at least create the need of having an untouched system with legit 'loved' games.

piracy isn't good for developers, but also for gamers, i've seen a lot owning all the copied games possible but never could finish any, hey i didn't pay for the game & i'm stuck here ... no challenge too good, i can put the game away, won't lose anything, let's try the other one & so & so ...

i hope someday somehow some developers would come up with a system to protect their work, but i mostly wish that we consumers, would realise how bad it would be if our favourite games won't have sequels, some movies will never be produced just because they would go bankrupt if they dare spend too much on them.

say NO to piracy & YES to great pieces of art, whether it be in the musical, theatrical or virtual world .. let's have FUN!..

cheers!

As bad as I would like to go to the store and purchase this and play it, I will not. I have the <S@tan> copy already and it works great. Going thru levels is a snap. I noticed that the source code has been re-engineered and you simply run your own "check server", which replaced ubisoft's. the check server only takes up about 48k of memory then released from memory, Very intelligent cracking efforts I must say.

Which supprised me the most is that it runs flawlessly. Just as if it was the legit store bought version.

Oh and one more thing, The DRM has been totally stripped out! Awsome Job of cracking and cleaning up the *****


Shout out to Ubisoft - Mutha ****a!!! The Finger!!!!.

Maybe it's not the theft and piracy the problem, but the economy? Perhaps people aren't buying games right now cause they can't afford it. DRM is a waste of time, effort, and money that these game companies are investing in, specially when it can just be cracked in one day. Also, it's a turn off to consumers. I didn't buy Red Alert 3 for that VERY reason. As much as I wanted to. I also bought Spore, which I reject now because I didn't know it had DRM on it. The only time I'll buy a game now is if it doesn't have DRM, or it's a game I really want to play, like Starcraft II.

While I'm not so much a gamer anymore, it's certainly not solely because of DRM and it's invasive ways, but simply because I can't afford it. I don't pirate games because of it, but I'm definitely not going to buy one that has DRM. If the gaming companies can't trust their own consumers or give them what they want, then they might as well just stop making games.

So this means that if your on the road with you laptop (witch i do very often) you cant play if you dont have internet!
wow now that's entertaining.

Also if demo versions of the games would be more available so we could try the game before spending 60 + $ then realizing that you don't like the game ...... maybe there would be less illegal download. As a lot of people download the game to try it but hey i already have the full version running why go buy it now ......

Just a thought

There was no chance this was going to stop the hackers from creating a patch. Once again it becomes very inconvenient for the legal purchaser but a piece of cake for the people who pirate.

Most people complaining about DRM are the same people that pirate the games, just buy the game and be done with it. You can find very good deals if you look around the digital delivery services...

Just use a Cd Key. That will may stop casual people copying the game. You will never stop pirates so you might as well not even have DRM in the game. Learn to live with what you make from legit people. People who pirate wouldn't buy the game anyways.

While I agree DRM is needed, it doesn't have to be invasive enough to turn off legit users who care to keep some semblance of privacy. Then again, the days of privacy have gone out the window with acts of various governments, including our own.

hahhaa freakin hilarious..it seems like pirates r always smarter

This is only going to get worse, with increasing profit losses and competition the antipiracy techniques will only get increasingly complicated. Anything that's fully available to the user is bound to be cracked. real time authentication with manufacturer's servers is the only visible solution to piracy woes for this companies.
Computer Application's are getting increasingly network intensive. so, it's better we start looking for better and reliable ISP's and routers, rather than wining about DRM. ofcourse. And yes, you can continue wining if u really not want to pay ...

DRM Sucks...I understand the principle and I can agree with the idea of it. But schemes like this are what hurts the game developers. The more strict and a pain the DRM is the more people are going to use illegal versions in order to avoid issues like this. I don't know maybe I'm crazy or something but I seem to remember a time when a lost CD Key was the biggest issue you had with a game.

This post makes me sad. That sort of attitude damages PC gaming much more than any poorly executed and/or buggy DRM that punishes people willing to pay for the game. The publishers do have a point that if no one pays, eventually no one plays. Unfortunately they look to the short term and implement ever more restrictive (and expensive) DRM measures rather than develop fresh ideas to keep people paying and playing. When the publishers read posts like this, they assume ALL gamers have this attitude, and then either try harder with the DRM (Assassin's Creed 2), or give up on PC games completely and focus on consoles (as Crytek has threatened to do).

You are correct that "as soon as its released its gonna get cracked" [sic], but even many of the warez groups doing the cracking urge you to still buy the game if you like it. I personally look for a crack for every game I consider buying, so I don't have to keep the disc in the drive to play and still get the full functionality for which I paid. The ONLY time you may find an unpurchased game on my hard drive is if there is no demo available. I'll try the full version, and if I like it, I buy it. My purchased copy of Wheelman still has the shrink wrap, but I have been enjoying the game since i downloaded the cracked version in lieu of a demo when it first came out. Fallout 3 however wasn't for me, so I uninstalled and deleted my cracked version. But even my unauthorized "demo" was enough to get me hooked, and I did purchase the game later.

it seems that consumers are paying full price just to co-own the game. restrictions such as DRM are serving to encourage the very thing they are trying to prevent.

if my government followed the same logic as ubisoft, we would not be able to leave the house without xrays and ID cards, and everything we earned with our hard work would be subject to removal under the terms and conditions of the purchase.

any mechanism that restricts freedom of use yet still asks for a full commitment of resources from the user is unbalanced and unfair. companies should not expect the consumer to pay full price for something which they do not subsequently own.

Theosephus said it all: "paying full price just to co-own the game". I use the word "rent" for that.

DRM just seems like a way for us to not have the game forever. I can read books I bought 15 years ago; I can watch DVDs I bought in 2000. I can listen to my CDs from 1992. I paid full price to have them. I enjoy them whenever and wherever I can. Sometimes I crave playing a specific Gameboy or NES game, and I have the consoles and cartridges here.

So, for me DRM only feels like an on/off switch for me. I have to be constantly online, so I'll be only able to play while the company wants me to. In other words, when planned obsolescence comes forward, the company won't like that I still play my favourite game, and will just prevent me from running it anymore.

How is that *buying* a game if I don't posess it? So, DRM seems to be a way for us to only rent things for "full price". One day we will have to give it back, and as much as we crave playing it, we won't be able to. Enter a small abstinence crisis for each game I won't be able to play, book I won't be able to read (hey, Amazon deletes ebooks from Kindle) or music that I can't listen anymore.

We're in the age of "pay us, pay us, pay us, but you will never buy, just rent".

What next? A "property police" that will invade my house and strip me of all CDs, DVDs and books they deem "obsolete"?

That's one reason I don't intend to buy any Ubisoft games anymore, as good as they are. It's always Ubisoft. First with Starforce. And they never give up. I just don't feel like giving money to them; even if they create the perfect DRM system that's never cracked and I can't play it on the PC anymore. I also refuse to buy their console games. It's an ideology matter.

I don't want to rent games. I want to play them 20 years from now when I find my old discs in the attic and crave some gameplay. And it seems the only way to posess a hardcopy is resorting to piracy.

Way to go, Companies!!!