Ubisoft Patch Makes its Internet DRM Less Painful
A softening of DRM hits Assassin's Creed II just in time for launch.
The DRM scheme that Ubisoft intends to use on Assassin's Creed II isn't one that PC gamers are looking forward to.
Last month, PC Gamer UK reported that "If you get disconnected while playing, you're booted out of the game. All your progress since the last checkpoint or savegame is lost, and your only options are to quit to Windows or wait until you're reconnected."
While autosave points are frequent in Assassin's Creed II, it still stings to be taken down by your ISP failing, your wireless signal being weak, your router on the blink, or simply just someone pulling any number of plugs. Even worse, what happens when Ubisoft's Master servers are down?
Perhaps in response to the public outcry, Ubisoft has released a v1.01 patch before the game's retail release (set for March 9).
The most notable of fixes are:
- Game can now be continued from the exact same point when connection is restored
- Added support for ATI Eyefinity technology
- Fixed minor performance issues related to some multi-core processors
The top point shows that Ubisoft, while not backing off from its 'Internet-connection-required' stance, is still trying to make things less harsh on the legit gamer.
On the other hand, the copy protection scheme may have already been hacked (at least partially) by software pirates.

for real????
can't I play games that I PAID for WHENEVER and WHEREVER I want?????
Now the problem is that most of people who does not have good net connection or no net connection or wanna play game in their laptops while they are outside will download the pirated copy instead of buying the original one.
Ubisoft will repent their decession.
for real????
can't I play games that I PAID for WHENEVER and WHEREVER I want?????
why not focus on makeing good games that people want ? ... try that ... maybe that is the secret to selling units ? .... i know that consept is a little far fetch ... but it just might work ... you sure have not tried it yet ....
you "speTHal" people you
Did Prince of Persia just fall on its face in sales or something? Because that was released with no protection. And they were all "this is your chance to prove to us DRM is not needed"
Yes it has even before the games release there is a hack to fix it and they wonder why people pirate stuff.
I sell games at my computer store alot of people who buy the game run cracks on it to remove drm that causes game to crash, or in this case not able to save while you not connected to net.
Alot of people complained about the drm in this game and would not buy it if there was no crack to fix this silly drm.
Still not acceptable. I don't know about you guys, but my wi-fi cuts out multiple times a day, even on the channel with the least interference. I shouldn't have to put up with going back to the title menu during these times while pirates play it detraction free. Screw Ubi.
Not really, they own the program, you are merely purchasing the rights to use it, if you buy a hard copy you own the media but not whats on the disk just the rights to use it, It has nothing to do with gaming, its all about control and money.
The more they try to control their product, the less control they have over it, I absolutely love that fact, I don't like it when companies try to force the end user to do something they shouldn't have to, and I think they should take it when they lose profits due to their money grubbing.
They're ONLY hurting the legit gamer, not the hacker who got to play the game w/o paying for it, so why have it in there at all?