Latest Ubisoft DRM measure - all SP saves stored on a cloud server - by EvaUnit02
lost_soul on 26/1/2010 at 19:51
Quote Posted by Tonamel
I guess that's not too surprising. I don't really pay attention. But yeah, even worse.
Back when I was obsessed with Deus Ex, my saves directory grew to be as big as the game its self. I could not imagine seeing the word "saving" for a half an hour on my modest DSL connection.
gunsmoke on 26/1/2010 at 20:31
Quote Posted by lost_soul
It isn't pointless if it helps folks like me who format and then realize that they forgot to back up save files for a game we were playing. It should be completely optional though. I don't like programs phoning home without my permission.
Pointless not to YOU. Pointless to, oh I don't know...the whole reason it would exist. As a DRM.
Malf on 26/1/2010 at 20:38
Quote Posted by ZylonBane
Oh golly, you managed to find out my name. I only have it posted right on the (
http://shtup.home.att.net/) SHTUP home page.
I guess need to amend my earlier statement to-- You are why we're all doomed, you are apparently uninteresting, and you are dumb.
The problem here is not one of privacy. The problem is the means to play something you've paid for being held hostage to both a live internet connection, and a company who views their own customers as the enemy.
Also, sounds like you suck at computers if you've managed to destroy so many that this is actually appealing to you.
ZB, this is exactly what I expect from you. You throw an insult without clarifying what your point of contention is, then pick and choose which fight you're in the best position to win.
Ulukai raised the point that you might be talking about privacy, to which I responded. See how clear your communication is?
As a means of copyright protection, it's pretty damn clever, and a lot less invasive than something like Starforce. And complaining about having to be online in this day and age is a little pointless.
You'll also notice that if you'd read the rest of my initial post, I have concerns about how publishers will leverage this, and to be honest, Ubi have shown themselves to be one of the less scrupulous publishers in the past (they were one of the first developers to charge for multiplayer maps with extra content for Chaos Theory), but face it, cloud computing is coming whether you like it or not, and I doubt very much you're going to do much to stop it other than bitch and moan on the internet. Developers and publishers alike have seen the dollar signs flashing with technologies such as this and OnLive, and they couldn't give a damn what the consumer thinks. They know that people will go out and buy thier product no matter how much they whinge (see the riculous CoDMW2 Steam Boycott group picture for a prime example).
As for the point about sucking at computers, well that's just plain childish. I could go into detail about what I do for a living, but to be honest, I don't really want to be dragged down to your level.
Oh, and Tonamel / Ian: Nice to meet you Ian. You know my full name then? Good show old bean :)
Anonymity is fleeting these days.
Neb on 26/1/2010 at 20:42
Quote Posted by ZylonBane
15MB is chump change by current standards. Modern save files are even bigger.
I'm practically still stuck in 2005 when it comes to games, so I'm curious. How come save files are so large now? Is it mainly down to saving physics data?
june gloom on 26/1/2010 at 20:48
Quote Posted by DDL
[LEFT]While I'm not terribly averse to using the internet for game authentication (and hell, I use steam for a ton of shit), I'm thinking more along the lines of install game, connect to internet, game checks out, game no longer needs disc OR INTERNET.
Saying "internet connection required" on your box is one thing, but this is "internet connection required AT ALL TIMES", for single player games, which is a different kettle of fish. Hell, even steam lets you play in offline mode (er..for some games, at least). Plus it doesn't look like there's any indication of permitting a local backup of savegames, and you just
know the system is going to have a few hiccups here and there.."Sorry, we accidentally deleted all 80 hours of your latest RPG savegame, but hey: nobody else has this problem, so we think it's
you."[/LEFT]
Yeah I'm pretty much with DDL on this. There is no valid reason to store savegames on a separate server. Anti-piracy? Anti-piracy?! This will be cracked in 5 minutes. No, Ubisoft will probably try to sell it as "being able to load your game at any time, anywhere" except thanks to anti-piracy measures already in place not to mention general consumer behaviour most people are only going to have one copy of their game on one computer.
It's good to know Ubisoft are consistent.
What bothers me is that publishers think this sort of shit is okay to do to PC gamers, but 360 users would scream bloody murder if you tried to take their savegames away from them. Why are
we the fucking videogame Unit 731?
The only good thing to come of this is lost_soul will continue to stay the fuck out of the armed forces.
Tonamel on 26/1/2010 at 20:52
Quote Posted by Malf
Developers and publishers alike have seen the dollar signs flashing with technologies such as this and OnLive
I'm not entirely sure I'd equate this with OnLive, simply because there's no confusion about Onlive being a rental service not unlike Netflix Instant Viewing. It's a rental service, and pretty blatantly so. The trouble comes when you ask people to pay full price for something, and then try to convince them they don't actually own it.
lost_soul on 26/1/2010 at 20:52
Quote Posted by Neb
I'm practically still stuck in 2005 when it comes to games, so I'm curious. How come save files are so large now? Is it mainly down to saving physics data?
Well, as far as DX goes, I read somewhere that each save file actually contains the level you were playing on with the changes you've made to it during the game.
Games that use checkpoint-based saving *should* have tiny files though.I mean, what do they need to store? The player's current map and weapons/ammo/health?
ZylonBane on 26/1/2010 at 20:53
Quote Posted by Malf
Ulukai raised the point that you might be talking about privacy, to which I responded. See how clear your communication is?
Ulukai was quite obviously making a joke, as evidenced by the "seriously though...". See how awful your reading skills are?
Quote:
As for the point about sucking at computers, well that's just plain childish. I could go into detail about what I do for a living, but to be honest, I don't really want to be dragged down to your level.
Yeah, the whole "facts" level is daunting, isn't it? You admit that you kill computers on a regular basis, yet apparently don't bother keeping backups of your important data... so yeah, that's a sign of someone who objectively sucks at computers.
Quote Posted by Neb
I'm practically still stuck in 2005 when it comes to games, so I'm curious. How come save files are so large now? Is it mainly down to saving physics data?
Saving
physics data? What? Why would the size/weight/friction/elasticity/etc of an object be changing?
Savegames are getting bigger because games have more and more dynamic objects in them. Simple as that. Think of all the persistent objects laying around in even a single STALKER level.
Malf on 26/1/2010 at 22:06
Oh I keep back-ups of important data. After all, "If it's not backed up, it's not important". When it comes down to it, game saves aren't that important, and losing them is an inconvenience, but nothing more.
And you want to know how many "Catastrophic" failures I've had?
2 in the past sixteen years. But that's enough to know what an inconvenience it can be.
So I'd hardly call that killing computers on a regular basis, but then again, I never did say that. That was you putting words in my mouth ZB.
