Assassin's Creed 2 Review and test of DRM

Really? Did you seriously just tell someone that their logic is flawed, and then right afterwards back up your argument with anecdotal evidence?

Well, tell you what - I personally don't know of anyone who pirated MW2, so obviously, piracy doesn't happen at all.

 

i agree with your statement that most people who use consoles would not know how to pirate but not because they are teenagers and kids as you say.

most console users are not as tech savvy as pc users. also its much easier to pirate on a pc. in fact most console users choose that platform because of a simpler, more straight forward experience.

 

they choose it because they THOUGHT it was easier. PC games are not any more complicated than firing up a ps3.

 

Yeah but on PC you can run into a lot of problems when trying to play a game

 

yeah. that further proves their lack of technical expertise (in general)

 

also true. and this is what 'scares' them away...

 

I am betting that many pirates would want a game to come to the PC :JUST: for the chance to be able to easily pirate it and play it for free!

Such a shame when I'd like as many games to come to the PC as possible due to being able to play on higher settings, play with mods, play on the go with a laptop, etc.

 

Really... let's look at at a couple examples.

Dawn of War 2 (PC)
1. Buy game at store
2. Insert Disc at home
3. Confirm Internet Connection
4. Install Steam
4b. Make an account
5. Install GFWL
5b. Make another account
5. Install Game
6. Be presented with cryptic message about needing to Sign into an online LIVE account. "But I just made an account... isn't that the same thing?"
7. Now pending all of that went without a hitch you can proceed at the default settings or customize your display and performance settings and finally maybe even play some DoW2, lol.

Or how about this?

Gears of War (PC)
1. Buy game at store
2. Insert disc at home
3. Wait like an hour for game to install
4. Finally! Launch game
5. "wargame.exe failed to launch" WTH?
6. Google error "You need to set your computer clock to a date prior to Jan 30 2009 (or whatever it is)" WTH?
7. Reset date/time in Windows
8. Launch game, play for 10 mins because you wasted so much time installing and troubleshooting
9. Close game and forget to reset clock to correct time.
10. Miss important meeting or run into other errors due to wrong date/time, lol.

Any console game I have ever played
1. Buy game at store
2. Insert disc at home
3. Wait a short time for load and/or install
4. Play game

 

I run into a lot of problems when trying to play console games.

Well, one big problem really, I can't use a controller worth a damn. PC = mouse & keyboard, problem solved.

 

Well if it helps Thund3rball, console games are actually getting a bit more complicated than just a generation ago. Many PS3 games have several gigabyte installs which take around 20 minutes and require firmware updates. Many games now ship unfortunately with bugs because the developers can always just patch them up later and have become lax. We never saw this just 5 years ago!

The complexity gap between the PC and consoles is closing I believe, as the consoles become more advanced and strive to be more like the PC, their sworn enemy.

 

Second that
Xbox is okay for some types of games, but any fps has to be played on pc.

Piracy IS a big problem on pc and the sorry part is we've brought it down on ourself.......

swank

 

Even though you point very clear how the complexity of playing a game on the console has risen, it is still not even close to the complexity in computers. This is mostly because all those increased compexities (longer installations, need for patches/new firmware) aere still handled almost automatically, while on the PC is rare to see such features.

 

if googling 'blah blah game patch' is too difficult for you. how do you expect to beat the game?
also gears of war was one of the first strapped with securom, it was also badly ported. look at games that got a simultaneous release.

 

I've never played a FPS game and I don't think we'll be seeing RTS games on console soon.

I just know the few times I played console at friend's since I don't have one. He attempts to tell me directions and I interrupt with, "yeah yeah whatever. Just put the disc in." He has a 360 btw.

And away we go, load screen. Play. Smash buttons. Smash more buttons. I win. And I'm clueless exactly what each button does since I don't really care.

This doesn't happen in any PC game I've played, ever...

This alone shows the complexity differences between PC and Console. No matter what game it is, I always take a few minutes to study controls for PC and game mechanics, for console, never done it. Whether it was sports, arcade, whatever, console, I smash buttons and I win, sometimes lose, don't care.

 

Take your point, you are correct

I was thinking about this when i was walking home from work yesterday, of all the people i know or speak to (online or otherwise) the console gamers tend to be a more simple bunch, whereas high end pc gamers tend to be more techy geeks (bring on the flame guns...)

Re piracy still true that people who love games will buy em regardless even if they try a pirated copy first. People who are not going to buy them regardless are no loss as it isnt a lost sale.

I would be very interested to know how many "sales" Ubi think they have gained through this DRM

 

I beg to differ. Gears of War was an excellent port, as far as what is a port. The downfall in PC was the torture to install it completely (I mean, every software needed including GFWL, etc.) and make it work.

 

GFWL is fine , it just sit there in the background .. the most painful part was the installation or i should say the extracting part .. that took ages !

It was an excellent port with great keyboard and mouse support .. as if it was meant for pc rather than the 360.

Let me rephrase it .. mostly boys(console) against men(pc).

 

I feel the same way about GTA4, I'm enjoying it much more on the PC than the 360 where I have extensively played both versions. That's why I'd like as many console games to come to the PC as possible, in addition to PC-only games, where I can enjoy them more on my more powerful hardware as well as tinkering with mods, and other settings. Sorry for going off-topic.

I would like to say that if piracy for consoles were as easy as for the PC, the piracy rates on consoles would be as high, if not higher than the PC. Console gamers are not more moral than PC gamers. Look at the high piracy rate for the Sony PSP for instance. You make it that easy to pirate on the consoles as well, and piracy there will explode as well, much greater than it is now.

Maybe one reason for Sony adopting Blu-Ray was to curb piracy, where piracy all but doesn't exist on the PS3, whereas it does on the 360 and Wii.

 

it was a bad port because of securom and all the bugs and crashes. gfwl is microsofts problem, most games don't require them.

 

Not required BUT most games comes with securom nowadays and even GFWL( games on steam as well) .. does that means most pc games are bad ports ?.

As for crashes , may be your pc couldn't handle it as I haven't had any crash regarding this particular game.

 

Sorry, that is not a port, or at least the common undestood term of a port. A port is judged by its playability, easiness of adaptation (keyboard + mouse), etc. GFWL and the other software is not part of a port.

 

most pc games are not ports.

 

The lower rate of piracy on consoles is not because it isn't possible, but because the average user knowledge base is MUCH lower than the average PC gamer. (lets face it, tying shoes is HARD for the average console gamer)

The PS3 is a special case due to its completely different processing model.

 

You keep saying stupid stuff like this without any backing evidence, I mean, let's face it, you're just jealous that little Timmy down the street had a Nintendo growing up and all you had was DOS.

 

I think you should not use the "average user knowledge" standard for a PC gamer as the people in these forums. Our (average) knowledge can be easily classified in the upper echelons... yet pirating is no more than 3 to 4 simple steps.

 

Well that depends

some of the work arounds i have seen can be quite complex, esp for some of the newer titles

Not to mention the methodology of getting hold of a pirate copy without getting a slap

 

What? They are not availalble anymore through the traditional p2p channels??

 

uk's passing some very interesting laws regarding the rights of isps and copyright holders.

 

Depending on ISP's .... some will send you letters and stuff and some won't even care.

 

They need to change their name from UbiSoft to OOBISoft:

<param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-q9eEA5Uj5M&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/-q9eEA5Uj5M&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width='480' height="385"></embed>

 

Let's not delve into insults.
A point was well made (console gamers not being able to tie their own shoes not withstanding of course).
Console games exist in 'pirated' flavour as well and people use them.
It's possible that a lot of console gamers aren't simply aware of it, or making modifications to their consoles which would allow them to run the games in question are too tedious for them to mess with.

Make no mistake though, console games are being 'pirated' ... perhaps in lesser amount, but it still exists..

 

Can you give me an update on what is going on?

 

The game ROCKS.

And the only negative thing I can say about the DRM is that it has to be connected to the interweb constantly.

So much for portability.

It's making my ISP happy. And rich too. Wonder if ISPs are pushing for constant connection to combat piracy, as they will be the ones making out like pirates if all games go that way.

 

UBISOFT is giving away free games to AC2 owners ! without DRM !
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=240505
http://kotaku.com/5502062/ubi-apologizes-for-asaassins-creed-2-pc-downtime-with-free-games
I don't own a copy and don't planned on doing so , what you guys make of it ? especially the AC2 owners ?

 

Free game is always good I guess. Glad Ubi is trying to own up to their mistakes (jn some regard). But it won't make me buy AC2 or any other Ubi game off the shelf at this time.

 

I think they are losing more money this way than if they just removed the DRM

 

Obviously they'll become bankrupt at this rate if every games contains this crap DRM.

 

Unless they are mailing the games to everyone, it's almost free for them, so big deal. It's a digital download, it's just server space and bandwidth. That's pennies on the dollar per user for them. If they offered a new game like Silent Hunter 5 and Splinter Cell Conviction, then I'd be more impressed. Those games are all at least over a year old, and have had their sales peak.

 

I notice in the comments underneath the free game giveaway story that a user received a free copy of AC2 with his new PC but he doesn't want it due to the DRM, by the sounds of it, no one else wants it either. What hope do they have when their game can't even be given away for free lmao.

 

I don't think Ubisoft really cares. It's obvious to me they have shifted their focus to consoles. Porting a game from 360 to PC for them seems to be just increasing resolution and some framerate and call it a day.

Creating games that run well on 360 using DX9 and with a framerate of 30FPS should be a pool of cash for them.

At least that's what I would do if I was Ubisoft at this point.

 

I'd take it for free lol. There's no reason to not take a free one, a free one's already bought... sooooo

 

True, but the gamer probably wished it came with Bad Company 2 or Metro 2033 or Left 4 Dead 2, Batman Arkham, Dragon Age for free instead

 

lol too true

 

http://www.play.com/Games/PC/4-/9606606/Assassin-Creed-II/Product.html

AC2 on sale now