I bought a geforce 460 a couple months ago and it came with a "free" hawx 2 game. I had to make an account on the "ubi store" and check out with a promo code that was typed on a piece of paper in the box. Once I did that it let me download the game. I downloaded it and installed it. When I went to launch it it refused to launch unless I got a UBI ACCOUNT (which I thought I already had but apparently their store account are different from their UBI ACCOUNTS). I went online to see if it really was a requirement to have an account to play this game and their FAQ says not only do I have to have an account, I have to be connected to the internet the entire time I play the game.

I uninstalled this and won't be buying another UBI GAME because that's ****ing ridiculous. Do any of you guys go through this crap to play a game? I haven't purchased a boxed PC game in a really long time (although according to the steam page you also have to have a UBI ACCOUNT and permanent internet connection to play through steam). Does every publisher impose this **** now?

No, Ubisoft is extremely evil, and are notorious for their DRM.
I haven't bought an ubisoft game since they started using that in Assassin's Creed 2. Ubisoft can go to hell... oops, too late.

Yay consoles.

No, and after the crap Ubi-Soft got for Assassin Creed 2, they won't likely do it again either.

I buy almost every game on Steam nowadays, and have never had issues with DRM from any other company. Most companies are perfectly happy with Steam's DRM.

agree with all that's been said,

if the pc version of the game comes with crap loads of DRM I just go get the console version. As deadman said, Ubisoft are well known for screwing the pc version of their games over with DRM.

Trends keep going, there might be DRM that's pretty invasive on consoles too.

Ubisoft is ran by ********s.

Nah, they'll just do what they can to make sure your console experience is gimped if you get online with pirated games (or more accurately a console that has been modified to play pirated games). That's my guess, anyway.

Well some games already charge you to access online and extra content if you don't buy a new copy of the game with it's own pass (like Mass Effect 2 with the Cerberus system, and I think NFS: Hot Pursuit has something similar). I guess that's a start.

Ok, I'm not trying to side with Ubisoft here. DRM is bad, blah blah blah. What I want to know is:

Brian, why isnt your desktop connected to the internet 24/7? Using dialup? So paranoid serious about security that you disconnect the pc when not using internet?

The DRM had huge problems for Aussies too, a lot of the time it just flat out wouldn't work whether you have a connection or not.
eg

Lasted a while too, I can't say how long but I remember Settlers 7 was completely unplayable for Aussies for over a week... unless of course you got the pirated version (or at least the fix that comes with it), which of course only took a couple of days tops.

Nope. I don't buy any PC game with DRM more restrictive than a cd-key and/or Steam DRM. Anything that has activation limits, persistent internet connection checks, etc. automatically goes onto my no-buy list.

I'll Devil's Advocate with crappy ISP/intermittent connection, AND laptop/travelling.

If you're playing a game, your internet drops out, then your game stops and says "I CAN'T CONTINUALLY CHECK THAT YOU HAVEN'T STOLEN ME IN THE LAST 5 SECONDS SO YOU MUST STOP PLAYING NOW" I'd be pretty pissed off.

If I couldn't take my laptop to a hotel and play your game without having to pay for the (usually extortionate) wifi, I'd also be pissed off.

Hotels still charge for wifi?

In other news : I regularly have to 'crack' games I legally own to either make them run on Win7, or without a cd. I recently did this to Age of Empires to get it to run without a cd, which I found particularly absurd since the cd itself has no copy protection at all.

Yessir they do. In fact they still charge by the hour in some.

Any pain in the ass games like this I usually pi--

Oh wait.

That's not really the point, is it? I shouldn't have to register with every publisher (twice in this case) and let them monitor my usage just so I can play a game. And I won't. Yes, my computer is hooked to the internet, but no, they have no right to maintain a connection to watch me play the game. I'm not actually saying that DRM is bad, I'm saying that this instance of it is ****ing terrible.

Also, in regards to your comment about internet connection, yes of course it's hooked up all the time, but as with my bluray player/ps3, I prefer things not to phone home and slow everything down for no benefit of mine. I disable the BD LIVE crap because even though my connection is fine, the servers they connect to are often slow and make the discs take 10x as long to load.

The other thing I have a problem with is the fact that this was advertised as a "free" game. Free implies that I get it for nothing in return. I don't understand why people continue to insist that trading goods for personal information should count as "free."

Use ptunnel, get free wifi anyway

The required internet connection was doubly bad for Ubi Soft for Assassin's Creed 2. Their servers went down multiple times, and when it did so, not only would it block you from playing further, you would actually LOSE PROGRESS. It wouldn't save. Even a momentary hiccup in the connection resulted in this.

Is there anything worth playing from Ubisoft anymore?

I just have to reiterate that I've lost saves to the Windows Live bull**** before. The thing that pisses me off the most about these DRM debates is that the companies who care so much about the lost margins are the ones that always seem to deploy the most off-putting DRM, and then complain about piracy as the reason they lost sales. I'm sure looking at a big giant number like "9 billion downloads" scares companies and makes them see red down arrows, but they just can't generalize file sharing by that number. I and many people here have downloaded cracks for several games that we own just to play them without having to log into an account every time.

Not to mention the fact that "6,000 copies pirated" does NOT mean "6,000 copies that would've sold"

Ubisoft continues to make quality games. They aren't, generally, terribly original or ground breaking, but what ubisoft games do have is quality. They are generally very solid and bug-free.

It's the publisher that does this stuff, not the developers, remember.

You're a gentleman and a scholar sir.

there are also those who pirate just so they can demo the game before they waste $60 on a game that might suck or run like complete ass on their top of the line as of 5 minutes before the game's release PC

my computer being a bit old i haven't kept up on new PC games and demos for these games but i'm sure it's no better than it was a couple years ago... i miss the days when DAMN NEAR EVERYTHING had a demo

If it wasn't for the JK and MoTS demo I might not be here.

I put off playing Half-Life 2 (HL2) for years because I couldn't be bothered with Steam. I sure as he'll wouldn't be happy about signing up for all that **** that you mentioned. It's a ****ing turnoff. I don't care what their reasons are. It would have to be one badass mother shut your mouth before I'd be willing to sign up for so much ****.

Note: I'm just now playing HL2 for the first time & am rather enjoying it.

HL2:Episode 2 is only $2 right now if you dont own or havent played it.

Me too when steam first came out I was totally against it but now I ****ing love it.

Steam was not even a little bit good when it came out. It was slow, buggy, bothersome, and forced down the throats of anyone who wanted to play HL2. It turned out okay, though.

Well at least they won't be doing it anymore:

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/02/the-worlds-stupidest-drm-takes-a-well-deserved-break/#more-436058

I've been trying since you posted this to remember what game it was. But there was totally one [possibly Heretic II or one of the Battletech games MS bought] that I played the hell out of, and then the company went under or they stopped supporting the product and you couldn't actually play it anymore since it couldn't access their servers to check for updates or whatever. Though it may have been just MP that had to run off their servers, I forget.

Does anyone else remember something like this?