Serving notice that I am now boycotting all games from Ubisoft (and when I boycott something, I really boycott it).
Ubisoft have always had issues with DRM. They were one of the developers who used Starforce, which is also on my boycott list, before finally dumping it after they were hit with a 5 million dollar lawsuit (I understand the lawsuit was settled out of court). Unfortunately, after dumping Starforce, they switched to SecuRom which is just another waste of time abusive DRM. Although, admittedly, SecuRom doesn't appear to be anywhere near as bad as Starforce was.
Just a couple of Ubisoft DRM incidents which stick out in recent memory.
There was a hilarious incident with the PC version of Rainbow Six Vegas 2 where one of their official patches ended up breaking the legally purchased downloaded version of the game. Ubisoft's fix for this was to distribute a new patch which solved the problem. Unfortunately, it soon came to light that the patch was actually a crack taken from a warez site without any attribution to the original author. Real classy.
And then there was the DRM in Prince of Persia. Ubisoft included no DRM in Prince of Persia. Did they finally see sense? Of course not. As you can clearly see from this post from the Ubisoft community manager on 3 December 2008, they were very surly about the decision. To quote the community manager, "A lot of people complain that DRM is what forces people to pirate games but as PoP PC has no DRM we`ll see how truthful people actually are. Not very, I imagine." Nice 'tude asshole.
I guess that given Ubisofts attitude towards DRM in the past, their latest move isn't surprising. A while ago, Ubisoft announced that they would require a constant internet connection to play their PC games. As you can imagine, this caused an uproar amongst the gaming community and I was hoping that Ubisoft would back down and change their minds. Unfortunately, this doesn't appear to be the case.
PC Gamer received the review copy of a couple of Ubisoft games and has confirmed that a constant internet connection is indeed required to play the games. If you lose your internet connection for any reason during the game (or even if Ubisoft servers are down for any reason), you are instantly kicked out of the game. Not only that, you lose any progress since your last save. You don't even get the option to save the game before quitting (probably because the save games are also stored on Ubisoft servers although I'm sure they could have found a way around this if they wanted to).
And that, for me, is the straw that breaks the camel's back and is why I'm now putting Ubisoft on my boycott list. Which is a shame as I've played several Ubisoft games in the past and really enjoyed them (I have quite a few of the Tom Clancy branded games). I was also originally intending to buy Assassin's Creed 2 (albeit on the X360) as I really enjoyed the first Assassin's Creed despite the repetitive nature of the game.
I will certainly miss playing their games, but as a gamer, I'm not willing to put up with this kind of shabby treatment (even though it probably wouldn't have affected me directly as I primarily play their games on the X360).
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Aladuchar - King of the hill
I have been keeping this journal for a while now. However, it is only now that I truly feel that words are inadequate to convey the sights that I see.
The sight at the top of the mountain leaves us breathless
After defeating Kolgrim, we continued our way up to the top of the mountain. The sight which greeted us as we arrived cannot be described by mere words alone. Even the greatest poet would struggle to find the right words. Nevertheless, that is the task which befalls me as I write this journal.
In short, we found Andraste.
We are welcomed to the top of the mountain
Or rather, we found that which Kolgrim and the cultists believed to be Andraste. It was not a fair maiden who greeted us as we appeared but a fully grown silver dragon. The creature roared when it saw us and we could do naught but stand in awe of the mighty beast before us.
And she truly was a magnificent looking creature. The dragon easily stood as tall as a house and her beady eyes glared at us malevolently as she stood perched atop the mountain, queen of all she surveyed. The sunlight glistened as it bounced off her silver scales, evident even against the glare of the snow in the bright light. Although she had large claws which could easily pick up a bronto, her large fangs, which she proudly displayed for us to see, were her real weapons. Those fangs looked sharp enough to rend metal armor as easily as flesh.
The intelligence behind her eyes clearly told all and sundry that this was no dumb animal. And the animosity behind those same eyes clearly told us that we were not welcome in her domain.
She wasted no time in attacking us. While we stood in shock and awe, she swooped down from her perch and buffeted us with her wings. The massive windstorm knocked us off our feet and the battle was on.
The battle was long and hard but the fact that I am still writing this journal should be enough to tell you who the victor was. But despite my martial prowess, I have to admit that I am lucky to be alive. If it were not for the action and quick thinking of Alistair, I would now be dead. Indeed, the man has saved my life.
During the battle, the dragon reared up on its hind legs and lashed out with her claws. Focused as I was on her fangs, this move caught me by surprise. Nonetheless, I was able to twist aside just enough that her claws only managed to rake across my armour without penetrating. Alas, clad as I am in heavy armour, I wasn't able to get out of the way of her follow up. Moving quicker than I would have believed possible for a creature of her size, her serpentine neck snapped down and she was able to grab me in her fangs.
Andraste gives me her idea of a lovers kiss
Treating me as no more than a rag doll, she spun me around while clamping down with her fangs. Her fetid breath in itself was overpowering and I found myself gagging as I tried desperately to pry open her fangs. I might as well have tried to lift the mountain. The heavy armour that I was wearing was no match for the strength of her jaws and just as I felt my armour begin to buckle under the strain, Alistair came to my rescue.
He flies through the air with the greatest of ease
While the dragon had been distracted by the prospect of a dwarven dinner, Alistair had managed to sneak up behind her. He took the opportunity to jump onto her back and, as she roared in anger and frustration, she lost her grip on me. I fell to the ground with a heavy thud and could only watch as Alistair clung onto her back for dear life.
She may not have any claws or fangs that could reach the back of her neck but this didn't mean she was without defence. Using the powerful muscles in her neck, her head flicked back and forth in an attempt to dislodge Alistair. But Alistair was no fool - in the brief time he had, he was able to get a good hold of her horns and he managed to cling on.
As the dragon roared once more, Alistair took his chance and plunged his sword deep into her neck. Her last roar of frustration turned into one of despair as she realised that Alistair had dealt her a killing blow.
The blood fountained out from her neck and she collapsed to the ground in front of me. As I lay there, winded from the fall and watching the light of intelligence fade from her eyes, I had plenty of time to ponder my own mortality. I had been but a moment away from death. Nothing had come so close to defeating me in all my years of fighting darkspawn in the Deep Roads.
Alistair deals the killing blow
The sight at the top of the mountain leaves us breathless
After defeating Kolgrim, we continued our way up to the top of the mountain. The sight which greeted us as we arrived cannot be described by mere words alone. Even the greatest poet would struggle to find the right words. Nevertheless, that is the task which befalls me as I write this journal.
In short, we found Andraste.
We are welcomed to the top of the mountain
Or rather, we found that which Kolgrim and the cultists believed to be Andraste. It was not a fair maiden who greeted us as we appeared but a fully grown silver dragon. The creature roared when it saw us and we could do naught but stand in awe of the mighty beast before us.
And she truly was a magnificent looking creature. The dragon easily stood as tall as a house and her beady eyes glared at us malevolently as she stood perched atop the mountain, queen of all she surveyed. The sunlight glistened as it bounced off her silver scales, evident even against the glare of the snow in the bright light. Although she had large claws which could easily pick up a bronto, her large fangs, which she proudly displayed for us to see, were her real weapons. Those fangs looked sharp enough to rend metal armor as easily as flesh.
The intelligence behind her eyes clearly told all and sundry that this was no dumb animal. And the animosity behind those same eyes clearly told us that we were not welcome in her domain.
She wasted no time in attacking us. While we stood in shock and awe, she swooped down from her perch and buffeted us with her wings. The massive windstorm knocked us off our feet and the battle was on.
The battle was long and hard but the fact that I am still writing this journal should be enough to tell you who the victor was. But despite my martial prowess, I have to admit that I am lucky to be alive. If it were not for the action and quick thinking of Alistair, I would now be dead. Indeed, the man has saved my life.
During the battle, the dragon reared up on its hind legs and lashed out with her claws. Focused as I was on her fangs, this move caught me by surprise. Nonetheless, I was able to twist aside just enough that her claws only managed to rake across my armour without penetrating. Alas, clad as I am in heavy armour, I wasn't able to get out of the way of her follow up. Moving quicker than I would have believed possible for a creature of her size, her serpentine neck snapped down and she was able to grab me in her fangs.
Andraste gives me her idea of a lovers kiss
Treating me as no more than a rag doll, she spun me around while clamping down with her fangs. Her fetid breath in itself was overpowering and I found myself gagging as I tried desperately to pry open her fangs. I might as well have tried to lift the mountain. The heavy armour that I was wearing was no match for the strength of her jaws and just as I felt my armour begin to buckle under the strain, Alistair came to my rescue.
He flies through the air with the greatest of ease
While the dragon had been distracted by the prospect of a dwarven dinner, Alistair had managed to sneak up behind her. He took the opportunity to jump onto her back and, as she roared in anger and frustration, she lost her grip on me. I fell to the ground with a heavy thud and could only watch as Alistair clung onto her back for dear life.
She may not have any claws or fangs that could reach the back of her neck but this didn't mean she was without defence. Using the powerful muscles in her neck, her head flicked back and forth in an attempt to dislodge Alistair. But Alistair was no fool - in the brief time he had, he was able to get a good hold of her horns and he managed to cling on.
As the dragon roared once more, Alistair took his chance and plunged his sword deep into her neck. Her last roar of frustration turned into one of despair as she realised that Alistair had dealt her a killing blow.
The blood fountained out from her neck and she collapsed to the ground in front of me. As I lay there, winded from the fall and watching the light of intelligence fade from her eyes, I had plenty of time to ponder my own mortality. I had been but a moment away from death. Nothing had come so close to defeating me in all my years of fighting darkspawn in the Deep Roads.
Alistair deals the killing blow
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