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Posted
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Soulskill
uly 28, 2009 @05:30AM
from the surely-to-be-welcomed-with-open-arms dept.
Ubisoft recently revealed that their game sales have seen a 50% drop over the past quarter, blaming the overall market slowdown and piracy (particularly on the DS) for the low numbers. They also announced that four of their games, including Splinter Cell: Conviction and Red Steel 2, would be delayed until 2010. The company's CEO, Yves Guillemot, now says they are working on a new anti-piracy tool that should be ready by the end of 2009. He didn't offer any details about how it would be implemented.
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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
bydk90406 ( 797452 ) writes:
Ubisoft: Your development budget is better spent on developing good games (I am not saying your current games are bad - I have no experience with them), than yet another copyright scheme that will be broken.
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bydonscarletti ( 569232 ) writes:
I am not saying your current games are bad
Well, you should. I haven't bought OR pirated an Ubisoft game for the last six months for the exact same reason: they suck. The last game I did buy was the new Prince of Persia, which I was deeply disappointed with. Prior to that, I bought Assassin's Creed, which I was mildly disappointed with and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent which was terrible.
I usually do not pirate Ubisoft games because they don't warrant the effort. The only one I have ever pirated w
byGulthek ( 12570 ) writes:
Bummer. You let critics ruin what would otherwise have been an enjoyable game.
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byThatDamnMurphyGuy ( 109869 ) writes:
I agree. SC:DA was horrendous on the PC. It was clearly a port from the console version, and the controls on the PC blew goats. I played 2 levels and never touched it again...which sucked because I own all of the previous ones and love that series.
I guess it was made in Shanghai. Over the last 4 in the series, every one made in Montreal was kick ass. The others suck and were plagued with technical issues. There's no way I'll touch Conviction with a 10 foot.
byfarrellj ( 563 ) * writes:
Of course, not only is quality of product important...but, Has Ubisoft heard about the World Wide Recession?!?!?!?! Do you think it *might* have something to do with their sales?!?!?!
And if they want to compare to a Movie...well, a movie is almost an impulse buy, with maybe $8-$15 price wise...but when you start talking around $50 for a game....if you don't know where you next pay check is coming from, it's hard to justify a layout of $50 a pop,
Way back when, games for 6502 CPUs used to have all sorts of co
byPitaBred ( 632671 ) writes:
I haven't been impressed with their PC games, but damned if the Raving Rabbids titles on the Wii aren't fun
byMister Whirly ( 964219 ) writes:
Don't ever fall off your high horse - it is a long way to the ground.
bydonscarletti ( 569232 ) writes:
It may amaze you that I am actually a professional computer games developer. I am a "victim" who's work has been pirated probably many more times than it has been paid for. However in the industry, even with the publishers, your hard-line attitude is not particularly common. The key goal is to get people to pay money for software, not to stop people from playing the software without paying. If a copy of a computer game is bought by someone who has seen his friend play a pirate version, then that is a sale as much as any other. That is what makes money. I would get more money from someone who buys ten games and pirates another ten than one who plays none at all.
Secondly, what you clearly don't understand is that developers _want_ to have their game played, just like an artist wants their work viewed. It is nothing even close to being just a profit making venture in the eyes of the developers (I could be making double my salary in another field). THAT is why Ubisoft should be and for the most part probably is thanking pirates, since they are largely the ones playing the games. Developers mainly want more people to look on their works and be impressed, money just allows them to make more.
Anyway, sadly I cannot continue this argument due to time constraints, it's been fun but ultimately pointless.
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byMister Whirly ( 964219 ) writes:
Or possibly they are just out of new, innovative, and fun ideas. Or that the economy is in the toilet and all businesses are suffering, especially the "luxury entertainment" sector.
byMister Whirly ( 964219 ) writes:
Actually, bands (I manage a couple) make a hell of a lot more money by performing than they do by selling CDs which they get less than 10% of the take on. A band can play one show and earn (depending on venue and turnout) $150-$1000, plus whatever merch they manage to sell. To make say $500 on CD sales, they would need to sell about 500 CDs. So in that case, the pirates are absolutely right. You see, when a band plays live, they don't have to give 90% of the profits to their music label, they generally get to keep most of it (minus the manager's and the booker's cuts). Talk to any bands. They will be the first to tell you that they would rather have you come pay for a live show and download all their music free than to buy all of their CDs. Labels make money from selling CDs, bands make money by touring. How do you think the Ramones did it for over 20 years? It wasn't by getting airplay and selling CDs, it was by constant touring and selling T-shirts at shows.
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byAnonymous Coward writes:
Good games? They have no clue what the hell that is, they're too busy pumping out trash like Imagine Babyz [gamespot.com].
(No really, that's not my misspelling.)
byJohhnyTHM ( 799469 ) writes:
The parent is spot on. Most UbiSoft releases are utter dross.
The only title of theirs that I have been interested in recently was Far Cry 2, which I didn't buy (or copy)
due to the SecuRom with limited installs. There was a thread on the UbiSoft website begging them not to use SecuRom, with some polite, thought out reasons why it was a bad idea. When the game was cracked five days before the official release date I pointed out that those downloading it didn't have to put up with SecuRom and limited installs like the paying customers did. My forum account was banned. For telling the truth. Apparently it was considered to be promoting piracy.
Way to fuck off those willing to buy your games Ubi!
Maybe this is the real reason sales are down?
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bytehSpork ( 1000190 ) writes:
I am not saying your current games are bad - I have no experience with them
You've saved yourself some money and hours of crappy gameplay then. Assassin's Creed was almost enjoyable (if it hadn't been so buggy), other than that I haven't really enjoyed an Ubisoft title since Chaos Theory (released in 2005). I had been looking forward to Splinter Cell Conviction, however with the way they keep delaying it and changing things by the time we get it I doubt it will resemble the original franchise at all.
A note to game developers: Just because a franchise is successful doesn't mean that it will survive a substantial change in gameplay like we got with Double Agent. Furthermore, after a bomb like Double Agent it would be wise to return more towards the style that popularized your game in the first place before branching out in new directions. I'm not asking for EA Games Madden-esque repetition here and not saying that taking franchises in new creative directions is not good, but when you fail so badly take it back to base before you try again.
Also: If you notice game sales going down it probably has a correlation to your games sucking, regardless of the actual effects of piracy. Since the industry has pretty much stopped offering demos often times the only way to try a game is to download it first. If it sucks why would you bother purchasing it? "Better" DRM isn't going to help you on this front, however games that don't suck would. =)
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bytuntis ( 1065596 ) writes:
There's a gameplay video of Conviction [youtube.com] - it certainly doesn't remind me of the old games, but it still looks like a good game.
I don't think Double Agent is a bad game - but the horribly buggy PC version ruined it for me.
byAnonymous Coward writes:
At first I misread the title as Anti-privacy tool, on second reading i realized this might be close to the truth.
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bymoon3 ( 1530265 ) writes:
Anti-sales tool, that is the third reading here..
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bymwvdlee ( 775178 ) writes:
they are working on a new anti-piracy tool that should be ready by the end of 2009
In other news, hackers are working on breaking Ubisoft's new anti-piracy tool. They expect it to be cracked by the end of 2009 plus one day.
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byAnonymous Coward writes:
Brought to you by the same assholes that loved [gamespot.com] Starforce [wikipedia.org] (until they were sued [techdirt.com] for their crippleware).
Guess SecuROM isn't intrusive enough for them.
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byJurily ( 900488 ) writes:
He didn't offer any details about how it would be implemented.
Because he doesn't know, obviously. Oh, and there is no copy protection that won't be cracked on release day. Again, there is one and only one method I've seen so far that worked: make the server you control essential to gameplay, see WoW. (Oh, and Blizzard actually releases their client without copy protection whatsoever.)
You don't control my computer, and you deserve to go bankrupt for trying.
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byAnonymous Coward writes:
Oh, and there is no copy protection that won't be cracked on release day.
Really? because it took quite some time to crack Starforce when it first came out. And, even then, the first cracks were only workarounds that made it look like you were using an external SCSI drive which, for some reason, allowed the binary to run. At least, that was the eventual "crack" for Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.
byHungryHobo ( 1314109 ) writes:
On release day? I'd say it takes a few days normally, even a week or 2 sometimes.
but ya.
There is no unbreakable copy protection.
bycheekyboy ( 598084 ) writes:
Who has a leaked copy?
bytepples ( 727027 ) writes:
Again, there is one and only one method I've seen so far that worked: make the server you control essential to gameplay, see WoW.
The summary mentions games for Nintendo DS, which are often played miles away from Wi-Fi hotspots. Bundling a 3G to Wi-Fi adapter (such as MiFi) and 3G data service with your game is cost prohibitive.
bytepples ( 727027 ) writes:
solution: put the "server" on a chip, inside the game cartridge :-)
They tried that in the Super NES era, with the "DSP" and "Super FX" and "SA-1" and "SDD-1" coprocessors. All ended up cracked.
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byDarkness404 ( 1287218 ) writes:
Ended up cracked -years- later. After the SNES had ended its production run for the most part. Plus, back then to "pirate" a game you bought the game from some shady guy for $5, today that wouldn't fly, we want our games for free if we are going to pirate them. Today what people do is simply place them on a flash cart and go. The DS is unique in the fact that its going to be hard to truly emulate the experience of having a real DS on a computer. So all they need to do is release a chip with the games and stop most casual piracy. Will it be cracked? Of course, will it happen after the game is profitable, yes.
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byselven ( 1556643 ) writes:
Not only do they not use copy protection, they let you download the client an unlimited number of times if you have the right account status (basic, BC, WLK). They don't need to - even if every computer in the world has WoW on it, you still need to pay to get an account on their server to play it.
byparlancex ( 1322105 ) writes:
He didn't offer any details about how it would be implemented.
Because he doesn't know, obviously. Oh, and there is no copy protection that won't be cracked on release day. Again, there is one and only one method I've seen so far that worked: make the server you control essential to gameplay, see WoW. (Oh, and Blizzard actually releases their client without copy protection whatsoever.)
You don't control my computer, and you deserve to go bankrupt for trying.
Unless you count the free to play pirate servers that emulate the functionality of the official Blizzard servers. There aren't completely the same and often quite buggy, but the game is / was in a somewhat playable state without the aid of Blizzard's servers. You're right anyway though, offering an exclusive service for your product is often a better business model than selling any product.
byJurily ( 900488 ) writes:
I consider the WoW private servers more of a marketing device, rather than threat. They suck so bad some people just give up and go play the real thing.
On the server I play on, half the Northrend quests can't be completed, Skinning never goes above 27, Enchanting is extremely difficult because clams don't drop anything, Death Knights don't get their talent points, and Warlocks don't get their imp because the quest is buggy. The instances aren't better either: Ulduar is completely empty for example.
byCaboosian ( 1096069 ) writes:
Here's your best anti-piracy tool: Drop the price on new PC games to $40, and ffs, stop treating your customers like thieves.
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byDuds ( 100634 ) * writes:
Exactly, I stopped looking at their stuff for the same reason I stopped looking at EAs and for the same reason I buy very few PC games that aren't £10 or from gog.com. It's a f'ing hassle to get legal copies running.
byborizz ( 1023175 ) writes:
Actually, no. At $1 I'd buy a shitload of games.
I'm just not ready to drop 50 euros on a game (which is what they ask where I live). For example, I waited until Left 4 Dead was on weekend special on Steam so I could get it for under 20 euros. That's a price I'm more than willing to pay.
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bysalesgeek ( 263995 ) writes:
Jellomizer, I don't think that Ubisoft's piracy complaint is directed at causal piracy for the DS. I have a very hard time believing that kids ages 6-14 are busy cranking out duplicates of DS cartridges. Also, we've not had a new console recently to drive sales and many game publishers simply thirve and starve based on when the next big thing comes out.
byAnonymous Coward writes:
My 64 year old mother has Acekard's for both her DS's and my 68 year old Dad bannerbombed his Wii.
The only console I've never compromised is my 360, I don't want to get banned from live. It isn't price that has driven me, it's the depth of the online experience I get from the 360 that not only keeps me from pirating, but keeps me paying MS $50 per year.
byDr_Barnowl ( 709838 ) writes:
But DS piracy is so easy - you just need a flash cart. The ROMs are relatively small compared to modern bandwidth ; when people were posting N64 ROMs for use with UltraHLE they were in a similar size range, and speeds have gone from dial-up to 8Mb/s since then. You can copy your own legitimate ROMs easily too.
Once you have a flash cart, even for a legitimate use (the absolute best thing about it is not having to carry around all your ROM carts), the barrier to casual piracy is extremely low. In fact, why on
bythisnamestoolong ( 1584383 ) writes:
Bull. I used to buy computer games all the time until I tried getting SecuROM off of my machine. I don't download pirated games, but I certainly would had I not had a run in with some kind folks a few years back over illegal file-sharing. If you put a virus in your software, I am not going to buy it. Period. If I cannot buy the PC version because of the virus you put in it, I will absolutely not buy the PS3 version, either. DRM provably does not work, it is a total farce and it will sink them, as well it sh
bywjousts ( 1529427 ) writes:
They could be selling it for $1.00 and still they would pirate it.
They could try paying people to take their games. That would beat the pirates! I guess that would be a pyrrhic victory.
But no, I actually agree with you. If you don't like the price and/or DRM scheme the appropriate response is to not buy it and not pirate it. Pirating the game just adds fuel to the fire and will lead to an escalating arms race between publishers and pirates that ultimately only hurts the honest consumer.
bythisnamestoolong ( 1584383 ) writes:
"But no, I actually agree with you. If you don't like the price and/or DRM scheme the appropriate response is to not buy it and not pirate it. Pirating the game just adds fuel to the fire and will lead to an escalating arms race between publishers and pirates that ultimately only hurts the honest consumer."
What arms race? This implies that there is a legitimate contest between advancing DRM schemes and pirates -- there isn't, DRM is usually broken on release day, and the titles are customarily up on the torrent sites by that evening. A much better analogy would be to imagine the publishers as Dick Cheney, DRM the shotgun, the pirates a pheasant, and legitimate customers his friend's face.
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bywjousts ( 1529427 ) writes:
That's why I said that it only hurts the honest consumer. But I like your analogue too.
bySanityInAnarchy ( 655584 ) writes:
When I was employed, I had plenty of money to afford games, and I was willing and ready to spend it. I wrote this journal entry [slashdot.org] describing that situation:
If Mirror's Edge comes, say, as a Steam game -- not like Bioshock, but actually just a Steam game, with no additional protection -- I'd buy it in a heartbeat. On opening day. Make it DRM-free, and I'll consider preordering.
If it comes with anywhere near the level of DRM you're currently requiring for Spore, even this "relaxed" version, I will head over to the nearest torrent site and download a copy. I have plenty of money to spend, yes, but not plenty of time to waste proving that I own something.
Now, understand, I'm not saying everyone is like me. But I was pretty much their ideal customer -- young, male, computer enthusiast, I love games, and I had money to spend on them. If they're losing me as a customer, it raises the question: Just where do they think they're going to get customers?
As it is, I'm unemployed, so I don't have that money -- nor do I really have much time to game, when it could be spent looking for a job. As you say:
You can live without a game.
You also made a good point without realizing it:
Piracy is the competition
Any company that actually realizes that piracy is their competition has taken the first step towards fighting it. If you treat piracy as this evil, criminal act, and try to stop it with force, you will get nowhere. Instead, you can stop it by making the legitimate copy a better product than the pirated one.
Now, to address your other points:
They could be selling it for $1.00 and still they would pirate it. Probably coming up with some excuse that it is so cheap that it should be free anyways.
If this were true, don't you think the same would happen to Amazon MP3 and the iTunes store? Yes, people pirate, but those stores are still wildly successful.
In fact, that's probably the point.
High piracy rates show that there is demand for the game
They show that there's demand for the game at zero dollars. They don't show that any single person who pirated the game would've been willing to pay for it, if piracy wasn't an option.
As I said, I'm currently unemployed. My choice now is to either not play games, or to pirate games. I mostly choose to not play games, but the effect on the developer is the same -- they don't get my money.
And I'd think they would rather have me pirate the game than not play at all.
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bySanityInAnarchy ( 655584 ) writes:
They think they are! That's the whole point of DRM... Make it so the pirate copy isn't as good as the legal one.
No, that's focusing on the wrong side of the equation. Focus on making the legit copy better, not on making the pirate copy worse.
There's no way to make the legal copy better than the pirate one, other than the fact that it's legal and you don't feel bad about it.
Not true.
Even MMOs eventually get server emulators.
Yes, they do. And you know what?
The various WoW emulated servers are much worse than the legit ones. Quests are constantly screwed up, every update breaks something, it's difficult to even get a copy, at which point you still have to compile from source...
The legit WoW servers are where all your friends are. That network effect alone is what keeps people on Facebook, for
byArtifakt ( 700173 ) writes:
I'm sure a substantial portion of downloaders actually think of it as beating the system by getting something totally free. I think they are wrong about that, but I don't doubt they think pretty much as you describe. At the same time, industries in general calculate price points and occasionally try alternate models and revise their thinking to see if overall profits would be better at a different price point. What we seem to be seeing for the media industries is two trends that go counter to many other ind
byvintagepc ( 1388833 ) writes:
The free aspect may be a large part, but not always. Some software is ridiculously overpriced - Look at Photoshop, Dreamweaver, etc- full editions can go for more than some people make a week. If you're a work-from-home freelance web dev, you don't want to shell out that much. Yet, if you don't use them, few companies will want your work, since it's not using "industry standard" tools.
That said, I personally don't download any games from torrents etc, and I think it is wrong to use pirated software if you
byYogiz ( 1123127 ) writes:
Stealing is stealing. Piracy is piracy. Stealing is wrong.
There, fixed that for you.
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bygbarules2999 ( 1440265 ) writes:
Take a look at GOG.com games. You don't see them anywhere on pirate sites. No DRM, $6 or $10, and great games.
bytepples ( 727027 ) writes:
Most of the people who create their own 'backups' and want to run from their hard-drives most probably got their copies from a warez site or a friend of theirs own a copy and they want one too.
Even if "most" have pirated the game, some have purchased a lawfully made copy and want to run it on a smaller laptop, and smaller laptops happen not to have a built-in optical drive and a battery to support an external optical drive. And if a friend owns a copy, then perhaps the other people are trying to simulate the "spawn installations" of the original Starcraft and the "DS Download Play" of Tetris DS, which don't need a pirated copy in order to become player 2, 3, or 4 on a LAN. Make legitimate ways fo
bytepples ( 727027 ) writes:
What I was trying to explain was that while there are legitimate buyers, most pirates are the ones who choose not to buy in the first place.
Which is why video game publishers need to add features that make their products look more attractive to the legitimate audience, such as various forms of spawn installations.
byEsbenMoseHansen ( 731150 ) writes:
I don't like piracy (check my history if you don't believe me), but I do dislike having to type a 20-digit number to play a game I bought. I think that is what is meant by "treating like thieves". For the windows-crowd, you also hear about more serious issues, like CD-burning software stopping to work. I have no first-hand experience there.
Now DVDs are pretty bad. Sometimes they force-show a movie about not copying. Hello?! If I am watching the DVD, I patently did not copy it illegally. At least, I doubt the "pirates" actually include that bit :)
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byEsbenMoseHansen ( 731150 ) writes:
My advice is for the game developers to make games that are mostly placed on a server. That would truly make piracy hard, and would even lend some limited value to the customer (no downloading patches and so on).
Of course, that means that playing without internet connectivity becomes impossible. So it is a trade-off, but I hope this way that PC gaming will endure.
byraymansean ( 1115689 ) writes:
When will they learn that lack of sales != piracy? Lack of sales implies that people are not willing to pay the price you want for what you have to offer. This may be a direct cause of a tanked economy or your product sucks. There are plenty of reasons why your product will not sell piracy is not one of them.
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byGulthek ( 12570 ) writes:
Of course. This is just pandering to the shareholders who may not take kindly to the news that the games aren't selling because they just aren't good. They can't technology the "problem" away because: 1) piracy isn't what's killing their game sales and 2) copy protection doesn't work. But they can point to their new protection scheme and say to the shareholders: "Look look! We're fixing it."
Unfortunately all this crying wolf over piracy eventually results in actual legislation to attempt to rein in the free
bydkleinsc ( 563838 ) writes:
If your pricing is wrong or advertising is inadequate, then the CMO is in trouble. If your games suck, then the COO is in trouble. If your company can't manage the overall economic decline, then the CEO is in trouble.
Is it any surprise, then, that when these guys get together to figure out why their sales suck they all collectively point to piracy, which conveniently keeps all of them employed?
byPinky's Brain ( 1158667 ) writes:
I don't see any immediate reason why piracy would be up on the PC at the moment ... it hasn't gotten easier or more difficult really.
The DS is a different issue, flash card penetration and availability has still been growing.
byraymansean ( 1115689 ) writes:
I would guess that piracy is lost in the noise of monthly sales. The entertainment industry uses piracy as a scape goat in order to convince the bond holders that neither the quality of the product nor the current price of the product is driving sales down substantially. "If you only invest more money, we will be able to develop this new almost unbreakable scheme that will stop piracy. Then our sales will rebound."
Two facts of life:
1) Piracy is the oldest profession. There will always be dishonest men.
2)
byjanek78 ( 861508 ) writes:
If they keep delaying their titles that will surely teach the pirates a lesson. Look at Duke Nukem Forever, no-one has cracked that one yet!
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bypushf popf ( 741049 ) writes:
They've decided to thwart piracy by not releasing any games. Sounds like a Winner. In fact, they can also save a bunch of money by firing all the employees.
If they wait long enough, their customer will discover the Actual Reality game "Women."
"Women" are much less predictable, while being much more enjoyable. Unfortunately, you generally don't want the MM version, since it's typically infected.
byfreedom_india ( 780002 ) writes:
...FarCry, Unreal, heroes of might & magic, & Prince of Persia.
All these had their day and now are as dead as Duke Nukem. The Rest of Ubisoft's vaunted arsenal of games are either unplayable or so bad that using them as coffee coasters seem an insult to the coffee.
Ubisoft's CEO seems to have his head so far up his a$$ that he gets high on his own "perfume".
Instead of blaming his company's utter failure to produce good, replayable games with deep themes and good graphics, he blames an outside factor that his beyond his ability to control.
What makes him think he will succeed where the Evil Empire Sony's SecuROM and other hundreds of copy-protection have failed?
His Capitalism 2 doesn't play on Windows 7 64-bit. When asked, his company's cold reply was that i switch back to Windows XP.
Uru was a rockin' failure and a complete insult to Myst.
As usual, corporate CEOs are so far removed from reality that they can continue to fool stockholders every single day with more fairy tales of their own.
I would start shorting Ubisoft's stock from today, if i can.
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byKrneki ( 1192201 ) writes:
Repeat with me, there is no such thing as an anti-piracy tool for offline gaming.
After 30 years of gaming, I was hopping that maybe they will get it.
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byDrakkenmensch ( 1255800 ) writes:
I still have the old hole puncher I used back with my C64 for turning single sided floppies into double-sided, which would then be used to copy hundreds of games with my Fastcopy disk. Things haven't changed that much since, thanks to bittorrent.
byzwei2stein ( 782480 ) writes:
I am afraid you were deluding yourself for 30 years.
There is quite difference between game that you can copy without any trouble by normal cd-copy routine of your favorite burning software. And game that you simply can not copy without some net digging and without waiting for someone to crack it.
100% Prevention? No, not really, obviously does not work and can not work, but they do not need to get even close. All you really need is to make it difficult enough to make sure game gets week or two of shelf life
byKrneki ( 1192201 ) writes:
"difficult enough so that timmy, the clueless, will never really be able to give copy to his friend johny the clueless."
This so stupid it hurts my mind every time I read it.
A friend of mine asked me how to make a copy of his new CD, so he could listen to it also in the car. I told him to not bother and use a torrent site. Since then he doesn't buy new CDs, he learned it's easier to copy them from the net.
Gratz music industry for alienating your clients.
byRix ( 54095 ) writes:
For less than the cost of a single DS game (and they're only about $30), you can buy a cartridge and microSD card that can hold all the games you could ever want and then some *and* lets you play old school [s]nes/gameboy games. No juggling or losing cartridges, it's all just there.
Why would I want to participate in the for-pay DS economy when the pirate experience is far superior?
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byanomnomnomymous ( 1321267 ) writes:
Why would I want to participate in the for-pay DS economy when the pirate experience is far superior?
Because you like the game, and want to support the developer creating more of those in the future?
Just a wild guess here...
byDuradin ( 1261418 ) writes:
I use a cycloDS. All my games are played from that. However, all of the ROMs were ripped directly (and personally) from my own carts and those files are kept in my sole possession. I keep all the carts too.
I buy the games so that there could be the chance of more games that I like (and thus will probably buy).
(The other big advantage of a flash cart is you can carry and play GBA games without the cart protruding from the lite.)
bysolios ( 53048 ) writes:
Hardly a commercial failure. Nintendo still gets your money for the hardware, and the vendors still get your money for the rom cart and micro SD card. :P
That a lot of DS games are gimicky crap, front-ends for a collection of gimicky minigames, or just plain shovelware is another matter. I'll gladly pay money for a good DS game that I'm guaranteed to get 25+ hours out of... that's a list of maybe three or four titles a year, none of which are produced by Ubisoft.
byloufoque ( 1400831 ) writes:
Stealing a car is illegal, reading a game from an SD card is not.
bytepples ( 727027 ) writes:
Stealing a car is illegal, reading a game from an SD card is not.
It is if the DS Game Card interface is patented.
bynavygeek ( 1044768 ) writes:
Playing a game you've illegally downloaded is.
byc_forq ( 924234 ) writes:
Because that is NOT a superior experience. You have to drive without a window or an screwed up door, you have the risk of getting beat down by the owner or the police, and there are a host of other problems (most notably convenience, the main factor cited above). The thief experience is, in most cases, not superior. People who take the thief road usually choose it if it because it can be lucrative, at the convenience/comfort level it is usually called petty larceny.
bytepples ( 727027 ) writes:
For less than the cost of a single DS game (and they're only about $30), you can buy a cartridge and microSD card that can hold all the games you could ever want
For less than the price of a car (and they're only about $10,000) I can buy a crowbar and learn to hotwire which lets you steal any car you could ever want
Who said steal? My DS homebrew setup lets me run MoonShell, DSOrganize, and homemade games such as MegaETk, Lockjaw, and Setsuzoku no Puzzle. Exactly what am I "stealing" by running homebrew instead of commercial games?
byLingNoi ( 1066278 ) writes:
Their ability to force you to spend cash.
byNorsefire ( 1494323 ) * writes:
I realise that, I was (partly) joking. The "I pirate because X" crew really are frustrating, as each time whatever their gripe is (DRM, need disk to play, etc. etc.) is fixed they shift the goalposts ("Okay, the game no longer needs the disk to play, now I want them cheaper"). The argument is a strawman, it's been refuted to the point of inanity and its frustrating that you can't skip past it on DVDs, but it does help to give people who (claim that they) pirate because pirating grants them a feature they don't have a little perspective.
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bythisnamestoolong ( 1584383 ) writes:
"as each time whatever their gripe is (DRM, need disk to play, etc. etc.) is fixed they shift the goalposts"
When has this happened? I only see DRM getting more and more draconian.
"but it does help to give people who (claim that they) pirate because pirating grants them a feature they don't have a little perspective."
I don't know about you, but I definitely consider a game NOT bricking my OS to a be a good feature. I would also consider it a good feature to be able to reinstall the game I legally pu
byPvt_Ryan ( 1102363 ) writes:
that the games they have released were crap and they are delaying Splinter Cell yet again..
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bywhisper_jeff ( 680366 ) writes:
The best antipiracy tool is to make something that is good enough that people are willing to spend money on it. Quality. That's your best antipiracy tool.
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bywjousts ( 1529427 ) writes:
Rubbish, you best anti-piracy tool is lack of quality. Make the game so shit that nobody in their right mind would even want to waste their time downloading it. Many publishers seem to be currently working on this strategy.
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bydelt0r ( 999393 ) writes:
Making better games will reduce piracy as much as making better beer will reduce underage alcohol consumption.
byRazalhague ( 1497249 ) writes:
The only type of copy protection that won't be cracked is the one protecting something nobody gives a shit about.
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byYogiz ( 1123127 ) writes:
Having played the last few Ubisoft games, it seems that they have already started to implement this new anti-piracy tool.
byquadrox ( 1174915 ) writes:
Except that the pirates actually clean the boxes before handing the out to the people robin hood style...
Yeah, good move publishers, real good move...
byloufoque ( 1400831 ) writes:
They're already losing sales because of a bad market of bad competitiveness, and their answer to that is to lose even more sales by reducing the free advertisement piracy provides and make their users angry, thus committing suicide?
Are they out of their minds?
byLegion303 ( 97901 ) writes:
Not to worry; their new anti-piracy system will be cracked days after it finds its way onto shelves.
byaccount_deleted ( 4530225 ) writes:
Comment removed based on user account deletion
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byAnonymous Coward writes:
I forget what big titles Ubisoft came out with recently.. but I remember a discussion in my forums where most people were saying they didn't give a shit how good the game was.. They wouldn't buy it because of the DRM. I gotta admit that I'm now in the same boat.. The vast majority of pc gamers in my forums were saying the DRM would prevent them from buying the game.. PC Gamers aren't retarded console gamers.. They do their research on the game AND the DRM that comes with it..
I have been told I had to buy an internal cdrom drive because my external usb wasn't valid.. (wtf) because of drm issues.. I have been told to 'wait until the Tages servers are back up' before I can play.. I've had cd keys just all of a sudden no longer validate. And, I've had games install all sorts of crappy software on my 64bit windows xp that weren't made for 64bit.. so it causes problems.
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byVGPowerlord ( 621254 ) writes:
Entertainment sales dropping during a continued recession isn't exactly a surprise. People have less money, so they buy less.
That's why I thought Time Magazine's conclusions [time.com] last year were just ludicrous, as they predicted that entertainment sales would go up.
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byverbatim ( 18390 ) writes:
because, you know, with a global recession and all, a decline in sales of luxury items... hmm... I guess if I hadn't taken economics in school, I might be able to see a co-relation between the two. Now all I can think of is two lines on a graph, with one moving left, the other moving down, and companies like Ubisoft trying to keep P higher than it should be. So it goes...
byJaysyn ( 203771 ) writes:
I was taking a look at Ubisoft's game catalog & aside from Beyond Good & Evil, Far Cry, & the Heroes of Might & Magic series (which has been run completely into the ground), none of their games interest me in the least. The only reason I even have Far Cry is because it was like $5 at NewEgg.
byLegion303 ( 97901 ) writes:
"blaming the overall market slowdown and piracy (particularly on the DS) for the low numbers."
I'm certain the globally fucked economy has nothing to do with people buying fewer $50 games.
byDarthVain ( 724186 ) writes:
Best Anti Piracy Tool out there... EA and others have been successfully using it for years....
byJurily ( 900488 ) writes:
s/Usenet/torrent/g
Welcome to 2009.
byNorsefire ( 1494323 ) * writes:
Edit -> Find and Replace
Search for: Usenet
Replace with: torrent
[ ] Match case
[*] Match entire word only
[ ] Search backwards
[ ] Wrap around
[Replace all]
Welcome to 1995.
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byquadrox ( 1174915 ) writes:
How is this modded as insightful? Funny would be far more appropriate. After all, the vi syntax (which actually is PERL syntax IIRC) is somewhat quicker and more compact.
bycheekyboy ( 598084 ) writes:
Chineese writing can be more compact, but dude, unless you do a 7hr course, most laymen will go WTF are you
writing this 1970s crap for.
Lobby intel to put regex in the cpu next in microcode.
byJurily ( 900488 ) writes:
Chineese writing can be more compact, but dude, unless you do a 7hr course, most laymen will go WTF are you
writing this 1970s crap for.
Actually, the 1970s crap is much faster to input and eyeball-parse, and this is supposed to be a geek site, where people know about vi, perl and/or sed. Not to mention this is a text post.
It's like arguing against Chinese writing in China.
bynagnamer ( 1046654 ) writes:
10 PRINT Usenet
20 MOVE -6 0
30 PRINT torrent
byIBBoard ( 1128019 ) writes:
That depends on how they do the digital distribution. If they did DRM-riddled downloads then a) I wouldn't buy much because I've only got a 2Mbps line with a 2GB/mo cap and b) I would buy even less because I didn't own the damned thing (especially if it did online authentication as well).
I think it's more important to make them good than to make them downloadable. Making them good will bring in customers whether they're downloadable or not. Making crap games downloadable just gives you more ways to get crap
bytepples ( 727027 ) writes:
My download went at 1.2MB/s filling up my 10Mbps connection.
Good for you, but downloading a big PC game from an online store is not for everyone. In some places, the two options for high-speed Internet access aren't cable and DSL but instead satellite and 3G, and these usually have monthly usage caps between 5 GB and 8 GB. If you had such a cap on your Internet connection, would you still download from the publisher's online store?
bytepples ( 727027 ) writes:
... consoles that have a ROM chip with the game on it, that can only be played on that particular instance.
Desolder, dump, copy over the Internet, and emulate.
The console would be hooked to the TV, and that's it. You have to buy the whole thing if you want to play. Not that consumers would care or anything.
Such handheld TV games [wikipedia.org] tend to have NES- or Sega Genesis-quality graphics, not even the GameCube-quality graphics that Wii players expect.
byArtifakt ( 700173 ) writes:
One of the best ways to get rid of DRM and make the DMCA appear irrelevant would be if the dedicated pirates didn't crack ubisoft's new system for a few weeks, but sales sucked just as much anyway. The challenge of beating a new system quickly means crackers focus attention on the game even if there's little reason for anyone else to want it once cracked. Then they flood Usenet and torrents as part of bragging about their success. Companies interpret all this attention as demand, which would theoretically o
byDr_Barnowl ( 709838 ) writes:
Even better ; if all the cracking groups publicly announced that "We played your new game, and it's not worth cracking because it's shite".
But that won't happen because the crack is the game to them...
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bynavygeek ( 1044768 ) writes:
I wish I could mod you up. That's a rather interesting take that I'd never considered before - and I have to say, I think it would work, at least a little bit. No sales and no activity on the boards might just get across the concept of 'no interest' to some of these companies. Unfortunately, however, that only works with crappy games. It would never work for something like Sims 3 - too much 'average user' interest.
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