Latest Ubisoft DRM measure - all SP saves stored on a cloud server

lost_soul on 26/2/2010 at 17:25

Quote Posted by Jason Moyer

Comparing something whose value is derived from its physical existence to the value of intellectual property is one of my favorite things ever. Please continue.

Well, the entertainment industry does this *when it benefits them*. I've never seen one, but I've heard about those adverts that say "you wouldn't steal a car, would you?".

Nameless Voice on 26/2/2010 at 19:00

I'd love to see someone "steal" a car by using some kind of advanced scanner/replicator to scan its physical structure and create a copy.

lost_soul on 26/2/2010 at 19:43

Quote Posted by Nameless Voice

I'd love to see someone "steal" a car by using some kind of advanced scanner/replicator to scan its physical structure and create a copy.

"3D printers" are on the horizon, so one day it may very well apply to simple physical things like Christmas decorations (just popped into my head).

Nameless Voice on 26/2/2010 at 20:24

I still want a reprap.

Jason Moyer on 27/2/2010 at 23:13

Quote Posted by lost_soul

Well, the entertainment industry does this *when it benefits them*. I've never seen one, but I've heard about those adverts that say "you wouldn't steal a car, would you?".

Well yeah, the entertainment industry is largely composed of telephone cleaners and marketing people who are about as out of touch with reality as the people who appreciate their services. Just because the people who stand to benefit from copyright law are idiots who sell their rights to anything they make to soulless corporations the moment they are able doesn't mean the concept of IP laws are bad.

As an artist (former artist, whatever) I always hated the idea that someone could own the rights to a concept or idea, and felt like copyright laws should just go away since they largely exist to benefit corporations to whom our entire existence is already subservient. On the other hand there are too many independent artists/developers/musicians/writers/etc who also benefit from IP laws to make that a stand I can be overly aggressive about.

Bluegrime on 1/3/2010 at 02:58

Quote Posted by Nameless Voice

Software is... different, though.
If you steal a table, someone no longer has that table. If you steal a piece of software, no direct harm or loss comes to the owner of that software.

The only reason stealing software is considered immoral is because the developers are not paid for their work, as they would be if you bought the software from them. The same is true for buying the game second-hand.

So you used all those words to call people who buy second hand thieves?

Tonamel on 1/3/2010 at 05:07

Let's just all agree that copyright infringement and theft are two different things and stop trying to equate the two.

Flagston on 1/3/2010 at 16:39

I wish this thread had a poll. I would love to know how many people will actually purchase Ubisoft's games now.

Anyway, I did a little organizing last weak and out of curiosity I did a little study of my own game collection. Here's the pic:(http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/9638/dscf7512g.jpg)
There's a few steam games etc. not in the picture and I think I missed a couple here and there but that is most of them.

The breakdown:
45 Ubisoft games
25 pc games, 1 used the rest new
20 console games, 4 new 16 used
I've pirated 8 pc games, did not play 2 at all, did not play 2 for more than an hour,and bought 4 of the pirated games plus a sequel.

This little study probably is not typical behavior and I have no idea what it means but I can honestly tell Ubisoft I will not be buying any PC games of theirs with this DRM and will probably not be buying much in the way of console games either. I've already passed on 2 of their games last week and will be passing on 2 more in the near future. I hope they know what they are doing.

mothra on 1/3/2010 at 16:53

i predict that their first press release after AC2 comes out is: full success on all fronts, all satisfied, ubi.net no problems in contrary to the postings on their support forum

gunsmoke on 1/3/2010 at 19:10

Just what I had on the shelves. Tons more (at least 12 more Ubi games that I can recall) in bins being stored, plus several (Dark Messiah, FarCry 2, etc...) on digital purchase.

Inline Image:

http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/4293/vid00210.jpg