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Ubisoft Uses Internet Crack To Get Around Its Own DRM
from the ah,-the-irony dept
Ubisoft, one of the larger video gaming companies out there, has a somewhat troubled history of overburdening its games with awful DRM. And, as with most DRM systems, the people it tends to hurt most are the legitimate purchasers who somehow run afoul of whatever DRM rules are in place. In this case, the Ubisoft game Rainbow Six: Vegas2 (R6V2) had some DRM that would check to see if the physical media (CD-ROM) was in the drive before it would let you play. Unfortunately, Ubisoft also offered the game as a download via IGN's Direct2Drive store. They had set it up so this would work even without the actual CD, but a recent patch didn't take that into account, and broke the game for anyone who had purchased it via D2D.
So, what does Ubisoft do? It releases a patch that isn't actually a "patch" but a well known crack that it downloaded off the internet. As TorrentFreak points out at the link, according to the way companies like Ubisoft look at things, it "stole" someone else's code and passed it off as its own. And, of course, there's the somewhat delicious irony that it didn't just "steal" any code for its own use, but the very code that companies like Ubisoft insist is evil, immoral and illegal. Except, of course, when Ubisoft is in desperate need of it, apparently.
So, what does Ubisoft do? It releases a patch that isn't actually a "patch" but a well known crack that it downloaded off the internet. As TorrentFreak points out at the link, according to the way companies like Ubisoft look at things, it "stole" someone else's code and passed it off as its own. And, of course, there's the somewhat delicious irony that it didn't just "steal" any code for its own use, but the very code that companies like Ubisoft insist is evil, immoral and illegal. Except, of course, when Ubisoft is in desperate need of it, apparently.
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Really!?
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Is UBISoft Publicly traded?
Just a team of winners all the way around!
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So they broke their own game to sell it? If this doesn't show why DRM is useless, I dont know what does.
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(clap, clap, clap)
Deep in the heart of Texas!
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or as they say in the gaming world: Owned
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Smooth...
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sores :( not again!
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Time To Give Credit
Thanks and thanks again. We love you, whoever you are!
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I chose the latter.
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This is why...
Ubi's DRM is one half of the problem, their lack of support (on par with most game vendors) is the other half.
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Shut up.
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Re: This is why...
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All hail RELOADED!
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Crack has a flaw
This is very depressing that a game developer can't develope a program to fix this issue, so has you download a crack (which in it's on course, is a security issue). The crack is not for the correct verstion.
Now, back to the crack and the security issue behind it. Many of these no CD cracks are loaded with trojans, keyloggers, virus's and spyware. Wow, after the crack, my system went to shit and was now infected with a keylogger.
Thanks UBI, you guys rock!!!! (not)
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Re: Re: This is why...some should lurk moar.
Do tell how someone who bought a digital download of the game is supposed to let a check run for a disk that doesn't exist.
"And stealing the game doesn't make the support situation any better."
As with any overly restrictive DRM scheme, it was those that BOUGHT the download that had the problems. Could say it was Ubisoft guilty of perpetrating theft (or fraud) upon customers who purchased a defective product. That would be more accurate anyway, since infringement isn't theft. Illegal, but not theft.
"You losers just like to make up excuses to make yourselves feel better about what you know is wrong."
Who are you addressing here? Ubisoft and other content purveyors who use instantly devaluing crap DRM that prevents paying customers from using what they bought? Makes just as much sense.
"Grow up."
Be less 12. Neener.
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Where's MLS???
ttfn
John
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Re: Re: Re: This is why...some should lurk moar.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: This is why...some should lurk moar.
As someone who's paid for games only to get screwed over by DRM (as in not being able to play the game I paid for), I definitely understand the resentment, however. I DO know that they cost money to make and distribute and support, that's why I've always bought. But they don't get my money anymore. I don't 'pirate', I just don't buy.
And it's the fault of publishers that use stupid DRM, not the fault of pirates, that I'm a ex-customer. I'm sick of hearing the 'cause and effect' crap. I paid but I got the shaft. Does not compute.
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A similar situation has happened before.
The developer of Unreal 2 is no longer around, which is way they had to go this route. EPIC Games is the developer of all the other games in the collection, and released official patches that remove the CD check, usually after the first year or so.
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if my english is bad, sorry i`m chilean
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Re: Re: This is why...
Or you get a hacked exe and magically everything works.
To put it in perspective, I've cracked legally purchased copies of the few Ubi games I've owned just so I could play what I paid for.
You can say I'm contributing to the support problem, but it's a "chicken or the egg" question and I know that in my case, they started it. I buy (legally) just about everything I use. There are only a few companies (Ubi is one) who I would never pay another dime to.
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Rabbid Rabbit Book
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hi
http://cam.h22h.com
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HA
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