Ubisoft DRM hacked

Skerries

http://kokugamer.com/2010/04/24/hacker-group-breaks-ubisofts-drm/

it was only a matter of time

Overheal

Sadly it will still go down as an accomplishment to EA execs. That it took this long and generated so much attention.

calex71

I wouldn't say the pirates have won this round just yet based on the numerous "fixes" I saw released for AC2. That game though has a limited PC market anyway I'd say and 80% of the revenue has already been gleamed from console sales? If the DRM was for a top drawer PC exclusive the DRM would have been broken earlier I'd say.

PogMoThoin

calex71 wrote: »

I wouldn't say the pirates have won this round just yet based on the numerous "fixes" I saw released for AC2. That game though has a limited PC market anyway I'd say and 80% of the revenue has already been gleamed from console sales? If the DRM was for a top drawer PC exclusive the DRM would have been broken earlier I'd say.

But the latest fix released even fixed an issue that those who bought the game even get. Pirates get a better game

Fix Information:

This fix is for users who have problems with settings getting saved properly. It's a problem even the bought edition has. If you don't have problems, then you don't need this fix.

They even tell Ubisoft what they feel

Special Notes:

Thank you Ubisoft, this was quiete a challenge for us, but nothing stops the leading force from doing what we do. Next time focus on the game and not on the DRM. It was probably horrible for all legit users. We just make their lifes easier.

i_am_dogboy

It's still a win for Ubisoft that it took this long for that particular title's DRM to be cracked, most of the profit(and in the eyes of the bean counters, potential lost profit from piracy) comes in the first few weeks of sales. If the same approach could be used to crack other games with DRM we'll be seeing the result of that soon.

And while I don't approve of the DRM, let's not buy that **** about making it easier for legit users, they cracked it so people could get the game for free, helping out the people who paid for it is just serendipitous.

muppetkiller

Good to hear ..now I might go out and buy Silent Hunter 5

Ivan

i_am_dogboy wrote: »

It's still a win for Ubisoft that it took this long for that particular title's DRM to be cracked, most of the profit(and in the eyes of the bean counters, potential lost profit from piracy) comes in the first few weeks of sales. If the same approach could be used to crack other games with DRM we'll be seeing the result of that soon.

And while I don't approve of the DRM, let's not buy that **** about making it easier for legit users, they cracked it so people could get the game for free, helping out the people who paid for it is just serendipitous.

I disagree. I think as they even imply in their statement, they did it for the challenge.

If helping people out is just a happy coincidence, then surely so is the actual act of piracy?

Kiith

Ya, i'm sure the hackers were doing this to help the people who bought it :P

Games will always be hacked. The only way i can see this happening less is for service providers to give in to pressure, and to punish people who download illegally. I'm not saying i want this, but its going to happen.

Shiminay

It's a bit of a hacker/cracker argument really as to why they'd break the DRM, but I think there's a part of that is very important as the publishers need to understand that DRM will *ALWAYS* be broken and that whose who want to pirate the game probably always will.

You cannot sell a game to someone who has never had any intention of buying it.

Venom

Kharn wrote: »

You cannot sell a game to someone who has never had any intention of buying it.

But craptastic DRM like Ubisofts will turn away customers who would of bought it.

whitestag13

http://filenetworks.blogspot.com/2010/04/who-really-cracked-ubisofts-drm-skidrow.html

interesting read guys..who actually cracked it???

i_am_dogboy

Ivan wrote: »

I disagree. I think as they even imply in their statement, they did it for the challenge.

If helping people out is just a happy coincidence, then surely so is the actual act of piracy?

Fair enough, as long as people aren't of the impression that these guys have some noble cause or whatever, there are no white knights.

Kiith wrote: »

Games will always be hacked. The only way i can see this happening less is for service providers to give in to pressure, and to punish people who download illegally. I'm not saying i want this, but its going to happen.

That in my eyes, is a worst case scenario. Give the ISPs the chance to limit traffic in such a way and claim it's piracy, what's to stop them selectively limiting all sorts of other traffic and claiming on their part it looked dodgey.

But you're right, plausible practical DRM solutions will always be cracked. I reckon the only way to guarantee games(or other stuff) won't be pirated is to use an onlive type system where the user's machine is just a dumb client and all the magic happens out there on the internet. There is of course, the notion of a completely closed platform with proprietary hardware all over the shop to prevent piracy, but that doesn't really hold out for long-as each new console generation proves.

But don't think for a second that the companies making the games will ever give up on the notion of protecting their property like this. A whole lot of people spend a whole lot of time making a game like AC2, in their eyes putting it out there without DRM is just giving the game away to the big bad(possibly communist) pirates. Realistically, their money might well be better spent just releasing games like this for their lead platforms, and not bothering with the PC.