Ubisofts new DRM

[Fenderon]

PC Gamer Blog: Constant net connection required to play Assassin's Creed 2 on PC - PC Gamer Magazine

Same goes for Settlers 7, Silent Hunter 5 and Splinter Cell: Conviction.
What are your thoughts on DRMs like this?

(oh and it has already been cracked according to Silent Hunter V: Battle of the Atlantic - Wikipedia)


Personally I will never ever buy a game that requires a constant internet connection (MMOs excluded naturally..). Too bad really, Settlers 7 looks interesting.

 

[Reno]

Agreed.
If I want to online I play a MMO or some multiplayer game.

Why would I want to be online when playing some single player?
Especially since I usually only play singleplayer when my internet is acting up or down.

Danita

 

[Raven]

Its certainly better than some of the other DRM out there but its not perfect.

 

[old.Tohtori]

Well isn't it kind of like steam then?

 

[TdC]

no, Steam can allow offline playing.

 

[old.Tohtori]

no, Steam can allow offline playing.

Ah ok, must've missed something or remember wrong 'cause i could swear i cursed at L4D2 not being offline.

Have to look into it.

More on topic though; i don't think i'd mind it, perhpas so used to online gaming that some game wanting to be online wouldn't bother much, especially since the net is as essential as a monitor these days.

 

[Chronictank]

Problem is people will just buy it on consoles, further reinforcing their delusions that people don't play pc games anymore

 

[Fenderon]

Except some of these games are PC only, like Settlers 7.

 

[Jeros]

Toht some games allow offline play some on steam and some don’t, it almost seems random, for instance when dled the DOW gold pack I think it was, I could play winter assault offline but not dark crusade, odd.

Also Ubi are making a stupid move with that sort of DRM, it screws over people who don’t always have a net connection, which is still a large amount of people.

 

[Tuthmes]

Company's are far to focussed on making a profit and far too less on the gameplay. Once they figure out that good gameplay = more profit they might make a lot more good games instead of copy #1001.

Pirating really isnt gonne stop and people wont start buying games just because it can't be pirated.

If you need a permanent net connection for this the game will fail. Simple.

 

[Thorwyn]

Company's are far to focussed on making a profit and far too less on the gameplay.

Companies NEED to make profit, otherwise they´re gone.

Once they figure out that good gameplay = more profit they might make a lot more good games instead of copy #1001.

So, something like Thief: Dark Project? Great gameplay, great reviews, awesome and innovative... unfortunately, noone wanted to buy it. People prefered to play the Diablo crap.

 

[Fenderon]

what I'm wondering is what they will do now that the protection has been cracked. Hopefully they will at least tone it down somewhat.

It's just wrong that the pirate version is more user friendly than the store-bought legal version. Find other ways to bring people over to the legal side. Don't punish them for buying your game.

 

[old.Tohtori]

To add to Thorwyns point, money&time is the only problem with game development.

If a company would have unlimited resources, with unlimited time, they would create the next big thing for sure, like Duke Nukem Forever *cough*

Game needs to be put out and the developers, rest assured, want to do the best game they can.

Ofcourse do they have the talent behind the design team? Well, different story.

Thanks for the info Jeros, even if the info seems silly(meaning they are silly ).

Also i do agree the anti-pirating has gone the wrong way, punishing purchase. I could speculate, design and all that, but i'm not doing free what i should be paid for

 

[Tuthmes]

Companies NEED to make profit, otherwise they´re gone.

Yeah, but there's a difference in making a profit and making as much profit as possible at the cost of other things. It's a inherent problem of capitalism, making a profit isn't enough, you need to make more profit else you are doing it wrong!

For example DLC is another milkcow (dutch saying?) the company's are apply'ing. Make a game and then leave some stuff out. The game is fine without it, but...

I haven't played Thief and i'm sure there are exception to the rule. Could give you a lot of (EA ) titles that fail because its more or less a money scam.

 

[Lethul]

Game needs to be put out and the developers, rest assured, want to do the best game they can.

I'm not so sure about that since seeing how the Wii games have flooded the gaming market. It's a bad development

 

[old.Tohtori]

I'm not so sure about that since seeing how the Wii games have flooded the gaming market. It's a bad development

Wii is bad development, don't get me started on that old horse again

As such though, Wii games fit the Wii market, crappy games for crappy players :lol:

 

[Thorwyn]

Yeah, but there's a difference in making a profit and making as much profit as possible at the cost of other things. It's a inherent problem of capitalism, making a profit isn't enough, you need to make more profit else you are doing it wrong!

Well...
There´s a lot to say about this, but I´m going to reduce it to a couple of points.
Making games is a risk. You´re gambling with millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs/people´s lifes. Releasing anything that´s "new" automatically increases the risk, because the customers *want* EA Sports NBA #23121 and PokemonTheGame. They´re not interested in new stuff. They might say it and they might scream for it, but in the end, they´re going to buy what they´re used to play and what their friends are playing.
Your statement sounds like you still think of the gaming industry as the big fishes with lots of $$$ and Ferraris all over the parkin lot. That´s not the truth. All gaming companies except for a few large ones are struggling and need to make sure to maximise their profits.

I haven't played Thief and i'm sure there are exception to the rule. Could give you a lot of (EA ) titles that fail because its more or less a money scam.

Indeed.. but look at the sales figures. Even the most retarded EA title sells more than the average "good" game mady by a small company. EA fails would still be huge successes for smaller companies. I remember an interview with one of the EA CEO´s a couple of years ago where he said that any title below 10 million sold copies is considered a flop.
People are buying it... simple as that.

Thief is not an exception to the rule. There are many other examples of companies who tried to make something new and payed for their efforts by going down the drain.

 

[soze]

Ctrl+Alt+Del - Comics - Cad - We should see other people (2010-02-19)

 

[Tuthmes]

Well...
There´s a lot to say about this, but I´m going to reduce it to a couple of points.
Making games is a risk. You´re gambling with millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs/people´s lifes. Releasing anything that´s "new" automatically increases the risk, because the customers *want* EA Sports NBA #23121 and PokemonTheGame. They´re not interested in new stuff. They might say it and they might scream for it, but in the end, they´re going to buy what they´re used to play and what their friends are playing.
Your statement sounds like you still think of the gaming industry as the big fishes with lots of $$$ and Ferraris all over the parkin lot. That´s not the truth. All gaming companies except for a few large ones are struggling and need to make sure to maximise their profits.

Thats another great thing about capitalism. Risks. If you can't take the risk, don't do it, however as seen by (for example) the bank company's if the reward is great enough, they will. Anyways your proving the point. It's not about gameplay, but profit (and survival), instead of gameplay. But good gameplay = more profit too. Also good gameplay doesn't mean more developing costs. It means beeing creative.
I never said that all the game company's have a lot of cash. However as you put it, everyone but the big company's have a cash problem. This really isn't true. Look at Ironglad with Sins of a Solar Empire for example.

Indeed.. but look at the sales figures. Even the most retarded EA title sells more than the average "good" game mady by a small company. EA fails would still be huge successes for smaller companies. I remember an interview with one of the EA CEO´s a couple of years ago where he said that any title below 10 million sold copies is considered a flop.
People are buying it... simple as that.

Well EA has enough cash for massive marketing, etc, etc. Ofcourse titles will be sold and not everything they make is bad. But have a look at the NFS titles, or Fifa vs PES.

Thief is not an exception to the rule. There are many other examples of companies who tried to make something new and payed for their efforts by going down the drain.

Yeah sure, nobody is denying that. There can be a 100 reasons why a game fails. But (in general) if a game is good, people will buy it. And Lets not start to argue if a game is good or not and why they failed or not!

 

[Thorwyn]

But good gameplay = more profit too. Also good gameplay doesn't mean more developing costs. It means beeing creative.

I think you missed the essence of my point, but nevermind.

 

[Tuthmes]

I think you missed the essence of my point, but nevermind.

What point?

 

[mooSe_]

Ctrl+Alt+Del - Comics - Cad - We should see other people (2010-02-19)

Like it said in the article on the page under the comic; the people who are being punished by this aren't the pirates (who will pirate it regardless of what measures are taken), it's the people who don't have a steady/any internet connection whilst they play pc games. These people might be in the minority, but they have essentially been banned from buying these games even though someone who doesn't have an internet connection to their home pc is very unlikely to be a software pirate.

 

[old.Tohtori]

But good gameplay = more profit too. Also good gameplay doesn't mean more developing costs. It means beeing creative.

Not necessarily, gameplay doesn't sell as much as good graphics and good PR. PR being the biggest one.

Good gameplay also requires money, as gameplay takes a backseat if there's not enough funds to hrie coders, or expand the production to fit in all the elements needed for good gameplay.

It may seem silly, but even a function like "opening inventory" requires a page of design and most likely 3 days of coding, graphics etc.

You are right though, some companies just don't know how to make good gameplay. That's where talent comes to play, but lack of talent is not equal to greed.

 

[Tuthmes]

Not necessarily, gameplay doesn't sell as much as good graphics and good PR. PR being the biggest one.

Good gameplay also requires money, as gameplay takes a backseat if there's not enough funds to hrie coders, or expand the production to fit in all the elements needed for good gameplay.

It may seem silly, but even a function like "opening inventory" requires a page of design and most likely 3 days of coding, graphics etc.

You are right though, some companies just don't know how to make good gameplay. That's where talent comes to play, but lack of talent is not equal to greed.

Well Warhammer hade good PR and nice graphics, but it failed. Nintendo always has fubar graphics (good PR?), but hade and has succes.
I don't say lack of talent is equal to greed, but the way most games are made the last couple of years, do show a lack of creativity and are trying to make a quick profit.

Anyways to keep it short, more creativity doesnt equal more investment.

I'm well aware of what it takes to make a game btw.

 

[Calaen]

Problem is most games have been done to death already..

 

[old.Tohtori]

Problem is most games have been done to death already..

The point i was going to make towards lack of creativity.

If you were to come up with a game idea now, it is most likely that it's A; a copy of some other game or there aspects of. B; already done. C; too complex/ridicilous to ever be made/sell.

There is some real creativity in independent games, but as always and as Thorwyn said, they don't sell. If a game doesn't sell, it doesn't matter if it's the new Doom or the new Baldurs Gate, it will be forgotten and it will never become what it should.

People complain about lack of good games, yet they get moist and buy every copy of Halo, half-life, FIFA 200X etc.

It's a case of having your cake and eating it, but the cake will be the same old cake. Throw a carrot cake to the chocolate cake lovers and they will toss it aside.

Your local game store has a plentitude of games that -could- be just what you're looking for, but because you've never heard of it, don't know of it and the cover art might be poo, you'll stick to the ones your friends or the gaming magazine of your choice praises as the golden turd that fell out of game companies arse.

 

[Calaen]

Lets be fair anyone that bought assasin creed 2 should be stoned to death, how they could even be bothered to carry out another mission after playing the first one for more than 10 minutes is beyond me. The game looked fooking superb, but gamelpay wise it was absolute pesh.

 

[mooSe_]

I don't seem to have any interest in any of the new big shiny console titles that come out anymore. CodMW2? meh. Assassins creed 1 or 2? meh. Starcraft2? YEH.

 

[Corran]

I wont be getting settlers 7 then... single player games are for offline time, mmo (or Modern warfare 2) is for online play.

Basically a move like that would just encourage me to download it and never buy it and im sure alot of people will be the same

 

[fl3a]

Like it said in the article on the page under the comic; the people who are being punished by this aren't the pirates (who will pirate it regardless of what measures are taken), it's the people who don't have a steady/any internet connection whilst they play pc games.

yes, i will pirate it no matter what.

in other news, silent hunter 5 has been cracked.