Ubisoft's DRM for Assassin's Creed II is Cracked

[stundexim]

I also don't support piracy as a general rule, but I also cannot abide by software companies like Ubisoft that use draconian DRM that they cannot guarantee will work 100% of the time from now to eternity, which should be a requirement in printed contract form, BTW. What jackasses like Ubisoft can't seem to get through their thick skulls is that the more you work at creating hardcore DRM, the MORE the crackers out there want to break it. It's like a call to arms for them and they WILL break it. Thank you, Skid Row!

 

[crabsncancer]

I think what Ubisoft should do now to recover from this fiasco is just to recall and re-release Assassin's Creed DRM Free and apologize for this mishap.

 

[XJDHDR]

@Pyroghozt
How are they going to download the game if their connection can't handle the game's DRM. News flash: If a connection can't handle the DRM, it's not good enough to handle a torrent!

@Kami3k
You obviously don't read the news much. Why would this article make such a fuss about a crack if something similar was released almost 2 months before? The reality is that the crack that was released then doesn't allow the pirate to play any missions because those missions are stored on the server that the game is no longer accessing. It took nearly 2 months to fix that problem.

As for the Ddos attack, I liken that to a child throwing a temper-tantrum just because they can't have things their way, much like the people that trash-rated my last comment just because I don't agree with their uninformed and unrealistic rantings. These people are childish on so many levels. I guess the saying is correct: Truth is the first casualty in war.

Anyway, Teirdome is 100% correct.

@Talon
That is a very good answer!

@Haplo602
First, new hackers can crop up all they like but if the established and experienced hackers have trouble with a new DRM, what chance does the fresh meat have of doing what the established could not?

Game company employees are not stupid. Don't you think they would have considered something like the scheme you proposed before? It's not actually that easy.
1. Whether cost has an effect on piracy or not is debatable. The Orange Box is heavily pirated even though it is effectively 5 games for the price of one. World of Goo had piracy rates of 95% even though it's price was $20 on release.
2. If you can crack the game, you can crack the DLC just as easily. Hence, pirates will just download the game AND the DLC.
3. Again, I would like to bring up Prince of Persia. No DRM whatsoever yet pirated to the extent that it has only made 2.2 million sales to date (AC2, with it's heavy DRM, made over half that in just it's first week).

@Rollerdisco
If this person's internet can't handle Ubisoft's DRM, how is it going to handle a torrent download, genius?

@STravis
First part is correct. However, I will, yet again, point out Prince of Persia. Ubisoft focused all their time on the game and nothing on DRM. The gaming community thanked them by pirating the game to death. Also, you are completely ignoring the fact that pirates faced their own issues. Pirates had absolutely no working copy of the game for an entire month after it was released while legitimate gamers were the only ones that had a working copy during that time. So how is this no issue for the pirate?

@VioMeTriX
If income is such a problem that you can't afford an internet connection, how can you justify spending some of your small savings on games? Or a gaming PC? Then again, it is your life so if you want to get into debt and ruin your credit rating because you can't prioritise your cash flow, be my guest.

@Stundexim
Hackers might WANT to crack a strong DRM but the question is how easy it is to do? If the established crackers can't hack the game, how will the fresh meat do it? No one said that DRM is unbreakable (except the pirates as propoganda, maybe). I don't know where you found that load of garbage. The goal of a DRM system is to stop a crack long enough that sales will be guaranteed, which this DRM did wonderfully.

@Crabsncancer
I think the more realistic action is that they will release a patch that removes the DRM. After all, the DRM has been uncracked for a whole month and guaranteed sales during that period so the DRM has done it's job. And what is Ubisoft supposed to apologise for? That their DRM did it's job? That gamers have one again proven that they can't be trusted?

@Everyone
Many people will still buy AC2 because they like a good story and they aren't concerned about constant connections and dubious security concerns and other minor issues like that.

And for those of you who have nothing but respect for Skidrow, I found this topic:
http://cs.rin.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=56074&sid=a3d0e980e106d8e61ff6bcdceebd1cf3&start=30
...which proves that Skidrow stole the mission data from the emulated server in order to create the crack. This is also the same server which they heavily criticised and described as "inferior to our cracks".

Bringing you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts!

 

[XJDHDR]

Oops, here is the forum topic I mentioned above:
http://cs.rin.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=56074&sid=a3d0e980e106d8e61ff6bcdceebd1cf3&start=30

 

[bobalazs]

Should cast these opinions in stone. Then throw them at the developers/publishers.

 

[bobalazs]

[citation][nom]crabsncancer[/nom]I think what Ubisoft should do now to recover from this fiasco is just to recall and re-release Assassin's Creed DRM Free and apologize for this mishap.[/citation]

That probably won't happen. If they don't learn from the fall of their sales, nothing will help them better to go down the drain.

 

[steiner666]

I can finally say that this game is worth buying now. I would never recommend it to anyone w/ that drm. as the article says, this is a game you'll want to be able to bust out and beat again in 5, 10, or more years, without having to rely on servers still being up. The whole ideal of requiring ppl to have an internet connection to play a single player only game was just mad to begin with.

 

[Guest]

skidrow!! always to the rescue

 

[Guest]

Haha, Ubisoft says : "Nothing is true, everything is permitted" . So there is no harm DL'ing this game, right?

 

[XJDHDR]

@Y90112
Ubisoft never said that! Where is your evidence? It is very easy to just spew sensationalist claims like that but much harder to prove it as fact.

 

[XJDHDR]

@Y90112
After doing a bit of reading, I now see where you get that idea. However, Ubisoft is still not the one who said that, it was Altair (read The Codex if you're not sure about what I mean).

Anyway, you're using in-game text to try justify piracy? I've seen a lot of pathetic and unintelligent excuses but this one probably takes the cake.

 

[Guest]

Assasin Creed II creators i have the best solution for piracy!

make the games cheaper n stop wasting money on anti pirate copies

hacker likes anti pirate copies they see it as a challenge, chacking is like solving a puzzle is funny n improves intelligence best u can do is make games cheaper throw to garbage all anti piracy stuff

1 programmer guy works from ubisoft team, 1000 jobless programmers guy that will try to hack it just as a hobby, they do it as hobby to test their intelligence, stop it already!

 

[Guest]

The biggest problem here is the price of video gaming. Im now a loyal skidrow fan, as i simply cannot afford my entertainment of choice, while keeping up the costs of full time education. Im now on a college campus with extremely restrictive wifi, which has made piracy impossible. Because of this, any game i buy now has to be at least 5 years old, as newer games just cost too much. I honestly believe if new games didnt cost £40 or so, sales would increase enough to make up the loss in profit per sale. It would be worth it as an experiment, but no publisher is willing to release a AAA title for less money, as they are entirely disconnected from the fan base.