Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
Ubisoft Anti-Piracy Measures Worse Than Expected?
According to a report out of Europe, the Ubisoft digital rights management service for future PC games that is debuting with Assassin's Creed 2 and Settlers 7 is even more draconian than we feared. PC Gamer UK's Tom Francis posted that with his review builds of both games, which he confirmed were using the same DRM software that will be in the retail products, any tiny hiccup in his Internet service kicked him out of the game.
Words fail me. I can play Flash games in a browser window without problems if my 'Net connection goes down for a minute. I can keep on truckin' on Steam games that I've downloaded in offline mode if a tornado hits near my house and kills my local infrastructure. But in AC 2, if my router needs rebooting – and it's a router, so the stupid thing always needs rebooting – I'll have to revert to my last checkpoint because this Ubi software insists on dialing home constantly?
What happens when Ubi servers go down for maintenance, or there server farm gets hit by a DDOS attack or their ISP experiences some technical difficulties? I expect this sort of thing to interrupt my MMO time, because the game I'm playing is hosted on a server and it's obvious that a stable 'Net connection is necessary. For a single-player game that I've already paid you $50? No thanks.
There's no way to spin this one, guys. Blame Ubi, blame the rampant piracy that makes this sort of thing sound like a good idea to game makers, blame whomever. If this is the road that PC gaming goes down, I'm going to cry.
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
