Ubisoft to require permanent internet connectivity

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[City Builder]

Hmmm, what does Steam provide.  Certainly they provide what you stated, "elimination of scratched disks".  They also provide and easy access point to start up your games without having to locate the disks, they provide all those "extras" that I'm sure somebody like crowebird knows much more about than I do.  But most importantly they provide convenience.  I don't even have to get off my butt to buy a game, nor do I even have to get off my butt to go and locate where I last left the disk, and they provide the convenience that I can play any game that I buy from them on any computer that  I own (most games anyway) and lastly they provide a much larger selection of games than I can get at the local Best Buy, Frys Electronics, Gamestop, EbGames or other store that sells PC games.

If I could still walk into my local Best Buy store and buy a game that I wanted, I'd likely to shop locally, however places like Best Buy have limited their inventory to overstocking games like Spore, and not stocking any games that might be over a year or maybe even only 6 months old.  They also don't get many of the new games that do come out.

When I first tried steam I was against it, I can't remember why at this time, it might have had something to do with lack of a physical product.  Reselling my games is no longer an issue since I couldn't really be bothered to put them up on eBay and have to deal with the hassles of trying to collect my payment from Paypal in a reasonable time with there new rules of requiring that the buyer post positive feedback before I can get my payment otherwise I must wait 15 to 30 days for payment, plus having to go to the post office which isn't so local, buy the wrapper postage etc, it's just no longer worth it.  So, even though many places like Steam don't allow reselling of the games (I'm not sure what Steams final stance was on this though to be honest), it's really no big deal.

I won't buy from services that try to charge me a fee almost 1/3rd of the purchase price as a one year insurance premium to allow me to redownload the game I paid for and there are far too many services (most smaller ones) that try that and I won't buy from them.  Places like Steam, Impulse, and Gamersgate (to a lesser degree) are services that are almost a necessity if you enjoy playing newer games, and those newer games that can't be found in the local big box store.

It's not likely that you'd find a modern mother board to build a computer that doesn't have a built in Network card, but nobody is forced to actually plug it in and get wired up.  I've got several computers that are not on the internet, I just have no reason to hook them up as they serve rolls in our household that doesn't require internet service.  Really, only my main desktop and my main laptop require Internet Service to keep my software updated and to keep our phone system running (laptop), but our other computers aren't even hooked up, though they could be if I wanted them to be.

[crowebird]

Maybe this can help too: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=3160-AGCB-2555

I think the downside to steam in this case, is you need to be online and atleast startup the game once, before you can use a game in offline mode.  If you don't have internet on a compute at all, and no way of getting it, your sol as faras steam goes.

In summary:
The nice thing about the backup is, say you do have internet but it is slow, you could download the game on another computer and run the backup.  Then on your computer, you would need to connect and login once again first (to let steam know, hey I own a new game), then run the backup installer, (and after atleast starting the game once while in online mode), are free to go back to offline mode.

So you need to be able to connect when necessary for atleast a few minutes. (And you would need to go through that process for patches as well if you dont want to download on your active computer).

So there are +/- with the service (I can only see the minus for not having an active internet connection, but in that case you might as well continue to buy the physical product).  I am a huge steam advocate, but I am always connected to the internet (but there are cases where I do not have internet mode, and have never had any problems, as long as the game is installed, offline mode allows me to do everything with my games I would have done online anyway)...
I love being able to buy a product, and download it whenever I want (wherever I want), and have it all online (including the manual), and it is like owning the physical product without the hassel of cd's [Unfortunatley this does not get rid of greedy DRM -> but this is not steams fault (steam's DRM does not cause hassel)].

==
(
As far as client goes, it is just your computer, or the steam application you are running on your computer, is the client.  The server is the steam service that your computer connects to do download the games, or check for updates.
-> Your internet browser is the client, the website you're visiting is the server
)
==

[CoconutKid]

Or·well·ian (ôr wel′ē ən)

adjective

of or like the society portrayed by Orwell in his novel Nineteen Eighty-four, in which a totalitarian state exercises almost total control over the public and private activities of the citizens.


It's good that my life will come to an end in another decade or so at maximum.

For the educated and\or affluent population to be in one way or another living with a perpetual umbilical cord attached to the internet whether through a machine at their desk or a pseudo-telephone constantly in their hand is a confirmation that Orwell was a brilliant person able to foresee the results of electronic technology running crazy.

Yes, there are still billions of people who do not have an electronic umbilical cord available and attached. They are considered backward, uneducated, undeveloped, or in semi-slavery. The people in the superior positions mostly wish to "lift" them up to join in the joy of understanding the benefits of being connected to the electronic umbilical cord.

That sounds like a political polemic - maybe it is - which is about the potential for governmental control. Look at what is happening in China -- and Iran.

I don't wish to beat it to death, but I'd rather go back to paper games than have to be a slave to some set of servers in some remote place.

     

[pad11]

I agree Kid....having to be connected once, maybe, to register or unlock the game is fine...but after that, you should in no way need to be online to play.  Utter crap and, unfortunately, typical Ubi...

[Khalan]

So I had a look today and Assassin's Creed 2 (which uses this new DRM) has already been halfway cracked; it's fully playable apparently, but you cannot save - though they've stated that this is very possible.  Be interesting to see what happens with this and the other upcoming games, especially Settlers 7.

[City Builder]

Yup, just a matter of time before somebody puts in the crack code to save locally instead of on the ubi servers.

[Khalan]

And now Silent Hunter 5 has been fully cracked.  And it was released yesterday.

So much for their new DRM.

[City Builder]

It's really kind of a laugh, Im sure they poured some serious money into their new DRM scheme too.  Just foolishness.

[CoconutKid]

Now all we need is a rating for the DRM cracks:

• Cracked because the game is really worth playing or
• Cracked because of the challenge of doing the crack (game stinks).

 
 

[RhiannOn]

Assassins creed 2 needs a permanent connection too from what I have read. Talk about being hardnosed.    I feel sorry for the folk who have dialup and want to play these games..don't Ubisoft realise there are still folk in the world than don't have dsl/cable and that is part of the retail market they may miss out on sales.  Or if that person buys the game and realise they can't play it then they feel duped....
Bring back the days where there is a cd serial number check and you can play straight away.