silent-hunter-5 posts

If you like game sales and underwater action then you may want to check out GamersGate this week. The PC game download site has posted its game sales for now until July 18 and many of the games take place under the sea (insert The Little Mermaid reference here).

Among the games on sale is the original BioShock which you can purchase and download for just $7.98 and its recent sequel Bioshock 2 for $20.96. You can also get the recent naval sim game Silent Hunter 5 for $24.98 and its Collector's Edition for $29.98. Finally the underwater action game Aquanox and its sequel Aquanox 2 are available for just $2.47 and $2.46, respectively.

When Ubisoft decided to launch their "Always On" internet DRM set-up for their PC titles in March, we figured someone would try to crack it. Last month a game pirate team called Skid Row claimed to have cracked the Ubisoft DRM set up but that claim was quickly refuted by the publisher. Now Cnet reports that the same team is claiming they have finally created a hack that eliminates the need for the Ubisoft games, including Assassin's Creed 2, to have a "always on" connection.

The story says that the hack file began to circulate among pirate web sites and other locations on Tuesday. Skid Row also supposedly wrote a note to Ubisoft saying, "Next time focus on the game and not on the DRM. It was probably horrible for all legit users." So far Ubisoft has yet to respond to this latest claim.

[Via Blue's News]

It's a topic that always generates a ton of comments on this web site; the "Always On" internet DRM set up that's now in place in three current Ubisoft PC games and will be put in place for future PC game titles from the publisher. Many gamers and game developers have expressed their displeasure about Ubisoft's DRM and both technical issues and server attacks have served to keep some PC gamers from playing their Ubisoft games for long periods of time.

Eurogamer has posted up a brief statement from Ubisoft about their PC DRM decision. The statement reads, "Most forthcoming Ubisoft PC titles will use our online services platform. As with any online technology, we are constantly working to evolve and improve it." That rather vague statement could mean anything but we hope "evolve and improve" means that Ubisoft could be open to letting gamers play their titles without needing to be connected to the internet all the time.

The decision by Ubisoft to start making their PC games to always have to connect to the internet in order to play wasn't popular from the start. It got worse earlier this month when some players of Assassin's Creed 2 and Silent Hunter 5 were unable to play their games due to outside attacks on Ubisoft's DRM servers. Now it seems players of both games have received emails from Ubisoft offering compensation for the downtime.

According to the message boards for both games, players have gotten emails apologizing for the downtime and also offering a way to get a free downloadable Ubisoft game from a pre-selected list. Some owners of Assassin's Creed 2 have gotten offers to download extra content for that game for free. While it's great that Ubisoft is making this gesture we have a feeling those players would like the "Always On" DRM to just go away completely.

Ubisoft's decision to have their current and future PC games have an "Always On" internet connection for their DRM set-up has generated a ton of chatter, mostly for the bad. In fact, Valve's head man Gabe Newell indirectly attacted such moves in his Game Developers Choice Awards acceptance speech last week.

Which is why some people got concerned today that UK users of Valve's PC game download service Steam could no longer purchase or download Assassin's Creed 2 or Silent Hunter 5. These are the two Ubisoft published games that, so far, have the internet based DRM set-up. Naturally some people on the Steam message boards started speculating that some sort of rift had occured between Ubisoft and Valve over the DRM in both games.

However, VG247.com received a note from Ubisoft saying, "The fact it is not available on STEAM UK has nothing to do with the DRM but is linked to a local business discussion between Ubisoft and Steam in UK." It added that the games are still available for all other Steam users, including US residents. Ubisoft will release their next DRM-based PC game, The Settlers 7, next week.

Ubisoft already has enough problems with Silent Hunter 5. The recently released latest game in their WWII naval simulation series had some launch issues related to the game's use of the "Always On" DRM set-up. Now comes word via a German web site that the Collector's Edition of the game has been pulled out of Germany.

As some of you may know, the German government bans the display of certain logos and symbols from World War II in games. Apparently some of those symbols crept into the Collector's Edition of the game which caused the edition to be recalled. This move does not affect the regular edition of the game.

[Via Blue's News]

It looks like a few folks who don't care for Ubisoft's "Always On" PC game DRM set up are keeping the pressure up. Ubisoft's Twitter account confirms, "Our servers are under attack again. Some gamers are experiencing trouble signing in. We're working on it and will keep you posted."

Just a reminder: Ubisoft experience a similar server attack on their DRM set up on Sunday that prevents some gamers from logging in and playing Silent Hunter 5 and the single player game Assassin's Creed 2. This whole situation just shows that Ubisoft's decision to put this kind of copy protection in their current and future PC games is unwanted and should be reconsidered by the company.

[Via Shacknews]

Update: The DRM servers are now back up and running once again, according to Ubisoft's Twitter page

On Sunday we reported that the "Always On" DRM servers for Ubisoft games like Assassin's Creed 2 and Silent Hunter 5 were down, affecting gameplay and logins for people that owned both games. It now seems that things are back to "normal" on the servers but Ubisoft is blaming the down time on a third party server attack.

In a statement sent to VG247.com Ubisoft stated that because of the attack, " . . . service was limited from 2:30PM to 9PM Paris time. 95 [percent] of players were not affected, but a small group of players attempting to open a game session did receive denial of service errors. All player with an open session during the attack were not affected." That 95 percent claims doesn't quite jibe with the tons of people complaining about their issues with the DRM in the Silent Hunter 5 and Assassin's Creed 2 forums.

We had a feeling this might happen and what do you know? We were right. While the PC port of Assassin's Creed 2 is not yet available here in the US, Ubisoft's SINGLE PLAYER ONLY open world action game is available in Europe. And it looks like Ubisoft's DRM servers, which were supposed to protect against the game being pirated, have instead kept legit consumers from playing the game across the pond.

As detailed by very angry gamers in their posts for Ubisoft's message boards for the game, those DRM servers have crashed, keeping at least some folks from playing Assassin's Creed 2 while others have experienced long periods to log into the game. The same issues seem to also be affecting another game, the WWII sub sim Silent Hunter 5. A Ubisoft community manager has put in his two cents on the message boards, admitting that the "extended downtime and lengthy login issues are unacceptable" but so far there's no word on when the DRM servers will be back up and running.

Ubisoft, we are not one to put in editorial comments in a news post but here's an exception: Your DRM set up for your current and future PC games is the thing that's truly unacceptable and we hope this incident will finally convince you to dump it, now.

[Via Joystiq]

In Silent Hunter 5, players take command of a German U-Boat battling against Allied forces. The campaign changes dynamically according to the player's decisions, so no play through is ever the same. The game is available now, exclusive to the PC, through both retail and digital stores.

Download HD Silent Hunter 5 Launch Trailer (110 MB)
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