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Kotaku wrote: Some of Ubisoft’s PC Games Won’t Work Next Week. Not Even Singleplayer.

Next week, Ubisoft will be moving around some of its servers. What this means for those of you saddled with Ubisoft PC (and Mac!) games that have restrictive DRM is that, in some cases, your games won't work while the move takes place. At all.

PC games affected include Tom Clancy's HAWX 2, Might & Magic: Heroes 6 and The Settlers 7. Mac games similarly going all busted will be Assassin's Creed, Splinter Cell Conviction and The Settlers.

Those games above will be completely inaccessible while the move takes place. Worryingly, there's no ETA on how long the move will take place.

In addition, the multiplayer components of many Ubisoft games, both on PC and console, will be "impacted" as well.

Mr Bean wrote:Always on DRM, Great idea!

Always on DRM+Not always on Servers=Strong incentive to Pirate the games I legitimately purchased.

Kotaku wrote: Some of Ubisoft’s PC Games Won’t Work Next Week. Not Even Singleplayer.

Next week, Ubisoft will be moving around some of its servers. What this means for those of you saddled with Ubisoft PC (and Mac!) games that have restrictive DRM is that, in some cases, your games won't work while the move takes place. At all.

PC games affected include Tom Clancy's HAWX 2, Might & Magic: Heroes 6 and The Settlers 7. Mac games similarly going all busted will be Assassin's Creed, Splinter Cell Conviction and The Settlers.

Those games above will be completely inaccessible while the move takes place. Worryingly, there's no ETA on how long the move will take place.

In addition, the multiplayer components of many Ubisoft games, both on PC and console, will be "impacted" as well.

This makes the argument that Gabe Newell of Valve that this type of DRM means that the pirated DRM versions are superior to the purchased product.

Block wrote:I really love that because I purchased a new computer they tell me that my cd key isn't valid anymore when I tried to play The settlers 7, and they have no record of the electronic transaction as proof that I bought it even though it's somehow magically on my steam account, but that's not good enough for them.

Skgoa wrote:That form of DRM will NEVER be a problem, who doesn't have internet 24/7?

someone_else wrote: after a couple months at most

Skgoa wrote:The launch of GTA4 was especially bad: Rockstar had gloated on their forums that they had spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on DRM and yet cracks were on Piratebay 5(!) days before the game came out.

Edward Yee wrote:

Skgoa wrote:The launch of GTA4 was especially bad: Rockstar had gloated on their forums that they had spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on DRM and yet cracks were on Piratebay 5(!) days before the game came out.

Aren't those always a case of inside jobs?

Stark wrote:Only if you assume DRM is aimed at hardcore pirates, which it isn't.

Stark wrote:Only if you assume DRM is aimed at hardcore pirates, which it isn't.

Stark wrote:I don't think most people playing games on PC participate in the 'normal' feedback methods.

Purple wrote:

Stark wrote:I don't think most people playing games on PC participate in the 'normal' feedback methods.

We participate in the most ancient feedback method in the book. We take our money elsewhere. But it seems that the magical 'free market' fairy actually can't fix everything. *shock*

On that note, what is the legal status of purchasing a copy of their games and than acquiring a pirated one so that you can actually play it? Not that I would do so since I don't really care about these particular games. But its an interesting question none the less.

Andrew_Fireborn wrote:But, the DMCA makes bypassing DRM illegal.

Andrew_Fireborn wrote:

Purple wrote:

Stark wrote:I don't think most people playing games on PC participate in the 'normal' feedback methods.

We participate in the most ancient feedback method in the book. We take our money elsewhere. But it seems that the magical 'free market' fairy actually can't fix everything. *shock*

On that note, what is the legal status of purchasing a copy of their games and than acquiring a pirated one so that you can actually play it? Not that I would do so since I don't really care about these particular games. But its an interesting question none the less.

Before the DMCA, I don't think the courts would have cared.

But, the DMCA makes bypassing DRM illegal.

Court Backs Dismissal of Digital Copyright Claim

(CN) - General Electric did not infringe on a power supplier's digital copyrights when it used protected software unlocked through a hacked security key, the 5th Circuit ruled.
"Merely bypassing a technological protection that restricts a user from viewing or using a work is insufficient to trigger the (Digital Millennium Copyright Act's) anti-circumvention provision," Judge Garza wrote for the New Orleans-based court.
"The DMCA prohibits only forms of access that would violate or impinge on the protections that the Copyright Act otherwise affords copyright owners."
The ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by MGE UPS Systems, a manufacturer of uninterruptible power supply machines used by companies like Power Maintenance International (PMI), which was bought by GE in 2001.
To fix the machines, technicians have to use MGE's copyrighted software programs. The software can be unlocked with an external hardware security key, called a "dongle."
Dongles have expiration dates, passwords and a maximum number of uses.
Years after MGE introduced this technology, hackers posted information online on how to bypass the hardware key. Once a key is cracked, the software can be freely used and copied.
In its lawsuit against GE and PMI, MGE claimed a group of PMI employees had at least one copy of software obtained from a hacked machine. It said GE used the software 428 times between June 2000 and May 2002, even after a judge barred GE from using MGE's software and trade secrets.
A jury awarded MGE more than $4.6 million in damages for copyright infringement and misappropriation of trade secrets, but the trial judge dismissed its Digital Millennium Copyright Act claim.
MGE appealed, arguing that its dongles barred the kind of access to its software that the Act is meant to prevent.
But the 5th Circuit said MGE "advances too broad a definition of 'access.'"
"Without showing a link between 'access' and 'protection' of the copyrighted work, the DMCA's anti-circumvention provision does not apply," Judge Emilio Garza wrote.
"The owner's technological measure must protect the copyrighted material against an infringement of a right that the Copyright Act protects, not from mere use or viewing."

someone_else wrote:And the fun fact is that perfectly working pirated versions will still keep coming after a couple months at most after the official release regardless of this shit they constantly pull off.

someone_else wrote:I don't understand why they are making it so frustrating for the ones wishing to be legit.

Purple wrote:Only until an inside job leaks said part of the game and someone sets up a pirate server.