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Driver: San Francisco PC 'requires permanent internet connection'
by Alice O'Connor, Jul 27, 2011 7:30am PDTThe PC edition of Driver: San Francisco will see Ubisoft bringing back its DRM requirement of an always-on Internet connection.
"PC version requires permanent internet connection," Ubisoft confirms on the official Driver: San Fran Twitter account. This is how the publisher's proprietary DRM system worked when it first launched in 2010.
What this means is that you won't be able to launch Driver: Golden City if you're not online. If you are online but your connection drops, after a very brief grace period, the game will pause until you go back online. In some past Ubi games, players were sent back to checkpoints, while in others the action resumed where it left off.
In January, Ubisoft scaled back its DRM to simply require players be online when they launch games, but it seems it's back in full force for Driver: Frisco. However, it's certainly possible, and quite likely, that the harsh DRM requirements will be softened for Driver: The City by the Bay after a while.
Defending the DRM, Ubisoft said, "Bear in mind though that the PC version of DRVSF is released simultaneously to consoles." However, Ubisoft's recent releases cast doubt on that statement. The PC version of From Dust was delayed by a fortnight mere days before its release, and Call of Juarez: The Cartel PC was quietly pushed back by two months without explanation.
The company's mention of a simultaneous launch as an upside to its DRM supports speculation that PC piracy concerns play a large part in the company's repeated PC delays. (Though, if history is any indicator, it won't take long for unsavory elements to break through that protection anyway, once again giving paying customers the short end of the stick.)
On the subject of delays, Ubisoft casually confirmed on Monday that the North American release of Driver: SF has been delayed from August 30 to September 6. "The delay has to do with shipping considerations and getting the best exposure in NA, not production of the game," it explained.
Driver: The City That Knows How is also being used as a testbed for Ubisoft's uPlay Passport, an 'online pass' system which locks multiplayer off behind a single-use code included with new copies. Those who buy used copies will need to pony up cash money to get online, as well as receive unspecified "bonus content" and "exclusive offers."
To end all this Twitter crawling on a somewhat positive note, Ubi confirmed demos of Driver: Fog City for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. A PC demo, alas, is still "unconfirmed."
Comments
The PC edition of Driver: San Francisco will see Ubisoft's much-disliked DRM return to its original method of requiring players to be online at all times.
The PC edition of Driver: San Francisco will see Ubisoft's much-disliked DRM return to its original method of requiring players to be online at all times. : Shacknews
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 45 replies.
no and no. you are missing the point completely. just re read every forum on the internet regarding this DRM to educate yourself.
the bottom line is: nothing is un-hackable. nothing. just as the post above yours just mentioned. 0 day piracy will occur for this game. so keeping this in mind... their entire reason and method to prevent said piracy is moot. it only effects paying customers, annoyingly so.
theres even the argument that is always used "pirated downloads cannot be counted towards losses since the pirate never intended on buying the product anyways" (even DRM free games from ubisoft, PoP, were pirated all over the internet)... and now with DRM like this you get paying customers who will crack their paid for program just to not have such draconian DRM... and then wonder why he didnt just pirate it in the first place.
this argument is so old... and its been covered a million times. its an example of how DISCONNECTED the publishers are from their customer base, and how people don't vote with their wallet enough. (this company should be buried, im sure most would agree. there are far better publishers)
stop defending such tactics that hurt the consumer, industry, and developer's profit. realize there is a better way of doing business.
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