And Then There Were None Review

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Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None

Review by Old RoosterOctober 2005

“Ten Little Sailor Boys Went Out to Dine …”

“One choked his little self, and then there were nine.”  Most of us have read or are familiar with the great Agatha Christie novel, Ten Little Indians, a.k.a. And Then There Were None. Ten individuals are invited to a weekend “party.”  This event is held in a large mansion on a deserted island, with a storm raging, a scuttled boat, and no communication with the outside world. Further, the host only appears by way of a most unpleasant and accusatory gramophone recording. He is appropriately named U.N.  Owen.

“Nine little sailor boys stayed up very late. One overslept himself and then there were eight.” As this gruesome “nursery” rhyme, posted over the fireplace mantle, suggests, our guests begin to die, one by one, presumably at the hand of their host, for crimes real or imagined. Since Mr. Owen cannot be located in the house or on the island, suspicion falls on the guests themselves. And then, as Holmes would say, “The game is afoot.” (Or, as Gil Grisom would say, when discovering a dismembered corpse in the first CSI—”The game is a foot. Sorry, I just had to slip that in.)

ATTWN, the game, not only builds beautifully upon the Christie premise, but also takes some twists and turns of its own, including presenting a different killer than did the book. Using famed writer and game creator Lee Sheldon, the development team went to considerable trouble to both honor Christie’s work and make an interactive game that would bring a fresh approach to this delightful murder mystery.  Generally, they have succeeded quite nicely.

“I’m Very Much Hoping You Can Join a Little Weekend House Party” —U.N. Owen

In this third-person, point-and-click adventure, you play as Patrick Narracott, the boatman who ferries the guests to Shipwreck Island.  But even you are not necessarily who you appear to be. Even you have depths and hidden motives. Of course, you couldn’t be the killer, could you? And, of course, you’ll be sure to survive at the end, won’t you? Perhaps, and perhaps not. Nothing is guaranteed at this Shipwreck Island party!

Let’s discuss some of the technical features of ATTWN. Installation is smooth and fast, using two CDs and taking about 1.5 MB of hard drive space. Interestingly, especially for an Adventure Company product, there is not only no indication of the onerous StarForce CD protection program, but the game will even run without a CD in the drive! A single resolution is selected, I believe 1024×768, with shadow effects, anti-aliasing and other graphic options available.  My very moderate system, with a 64 MB nVidia card, ran the game smoothly with all options turned on.

Adventure game players will feel very comfortable with the “live” cursor. The large arrow not only shows footstep directions Patrick can use, but also clearly depicts a whole range of interactive options—taking an object, speaking to a character, opening a door, and even the unusual peeking through a keyhole and eavesdropping on conversations!

“I Copied the Contents into My Notebook” —Patrick

Our Patrick must have some kind of huge and invisible backpack!  You are able to accumulate an amazing number of objects in your inventory, accessible with a right mouse click or a tab at the top left corner of the screen. These range from jars, pliers and pouches to the incredible sheets, tripod and boat oars! The inventory allows for detailed examination as well as combination of objects to create a desired outcome—batteries into a flashlight, for example.  This act can get a little picky if you’re not careful with location of materials in the inventory.

“I don’t need it; I’m no packrat,” exclaims Patrick if you come across an item that looks interesting but isn’t really needed in the game. Further, Patrick will sometimes comment that “There’s something here I need,” and “I’ll need to come back to that later.” This all helps your already huge inventory not become an irrelevant garbage bin. Mr. Sheldon, our writer, often injects a bit of humorous relief into an otherwise grim tale. For example, when I tried to have Patrick pick up a whiskey glass from the bar, he comments: “I shouldn’t do that, I need to have my wits about me.” Indeed. Interestingly, he later needs to come back to that bar and glass.

When Patrick comes across an object in writing (letters, books, etc.), he can place and examine it in his journal, accessible by a tab on the upper right corner of the screen. This also allows for general information about the island and guests to be conveniently stored. Interestingly, I wondered about what a guest is supposed to think if an important letter is found missing from the top of his/her dresser due to Patrick’s compulsive snooping about. The guy picks up most everything he lays his eyes on! Apparently, the developers show the object as gone for our benefit—we know we picked that one up—but the guests do not realize anything is missing since Patrick instantaneously is able to “copy” the information into his journal and replace the object. A neat gimmick.

Finally, in terms of technical features, you are able to save anywhere in the game, and there are an unlimited number of save slots. A save depicts your exit scene and time. This is a great feature for experimenting a bit with different responses and approaches.

“Please, This Is a Time for Concentration, Not Conversation” —Hargrave

The opening cinematic, using the graphic engine, demonstrates the kind of visual richness you’ll see throughout the game. Indeed, like any great story, the first fifteen minutes will draw you in.  Together with a haunting piano theme, the introductory experience is very compelling.

However, one of the annoyances rears its head early on. Whenever Patrick has to maneuver in the dark, without his flashlight available for use, he and critical objects are almost impossible to discern, even with the brightness setting turned full up. I had to adjust my monitor to have any chance at all during these “blackouts.”  This could be a patch issue, or it could be my system; I’m not sure.

Other than those times, the presented scenes are richly detailed, carefully tailored to the 1930s setting. Character depictions and animations are varied and appropriate, although sometimes a bit wooden. This is particularly true of Patrick, as he walks like a tin soldier from spot to spot. And he can’t go anywhere in a room, only to specific and defined “footstep” locations. Sometimes, as well, the pathfinding is awkward. Perhaps, though, the largest disappointment with the game engine is the inability to rotate perspective around the static scenes presented. Every three to five scenes, there is a three-second black screen delay while the engine shifts to another set of fixed scenes. They’re lovely, to be sure, and this is a “character-centered” kind of game, but it would be nice to have more mobility of view and movement.

As Hargrave implies, there is a lot of conversation in ATTWN.  From early on, it’s clear there are layers upon layers with each of the guests, and even yourself! The script is tight and involving, with superb voice acting. You’ll learn a lot about each guest, and you will need to make notes even beyond your journal entries. Conversational trees offer choices, often ranging from a kindly to not so kindly question or response on your part, presumably something that might affect how the party you’re questioning may feel about you afterwards.  It’s been implied in some prerelease previews that how you’re received by the guests (friendly versus a pain) might affect game direction and outcomes. I couldn’t pick that up, even with experimenting.  Generally, you move along from ten to nine to eight to seven “little sailor boys” with critical item accumulation, conversational discoveries and related activities being the only obvious triggers for the next chapter.

There are, however, as advertised, four possible endings! These are fun, and they occur at “Chapter Nine—And Then There Was One.” Be sure to save at that point so you can work with each outcome.

“Any Good House Party Should Include Party Games!”  —U.N. Owen

And any good adventure game needs to include puzzles! Thankfully, the puzzles in ATTWN are as good as any I’ve experienced in adventure titles. They’re in context, make sense and aren’t the kind of bizarre sorts of mathematical or musical conundrums found in some titles, which should more appropriately be termed “puzzle,” not “adventure,” games, in my opinion. Having said that, ATTWN is hard, sometimes very hard. Thankfully, clues are presented. But still, the occasional need to combine several items in your inventory can be elusive, as can be hidden door handles and how to access rooms without clear entrances. Yet the puzzles are ultimately fair, and you feel satisfied when the resolution dawns on your tired brain.

“Any Truth to the Accusation Against You?” —Patrick

The script and character development are so well-done that I can see why the Christie estate gave its approval to ATTWN: The Game. A good part of your deductive experience is spent interviewing, thinking, sorting though hints and nuances of responses, which may or may not be fully truthful. Each of the ten has a different background and story. Each of the ten has something about which they’re guilty or ashamed, or at least ought to be! We have a physician, a retired general, a judge, a grim spinster, a private detective, and others.  They’re all well-acted and nicely fleshed out, and you can see why someone might have something against every one of them. Plus, to top it all off, the mansion and island have their own mysteries.

Except for the initial piano theme, the rest of the background music is forgettable, particularly since it seems to repeat ad infinitum.  The theme is fitting, it’s just that hearing it loop over and over again can become tiresome. You can turn it down or off.

Ambient noises are another matter altogether, and most welcome.  The cold rain coupled with lapping of the waves on the dock makes you want to run for cover. Thunder and lightening often enliven the windows of the otherwise static room scenes. Footstep sounds vary from the ground to a metal catwalk to the wooden hallway floor.  A range of other touches make this factor one of the highlights of the game.

Thankfully, two maps are included in the nicely done manual. These are of the upstairs and downstairs of the mansion, and they become invaluable tools in your initial explorations. You’ll spend the first third to half of the game exclusively on these floors. There are other locational hints (a potted plant) to give you clues, but these maps really help.

“Your Whole Story Sounds Like a Detective Novel” —Blore

And Then There Were None is, as the developers hoped, a “loving tribute” to the classic Agatha Christie novel on which it is based. With a sterling script, fascinating characters, superb voice acting, beautifully detailed graphics, and sensibly practical puzzles, it ranks among the best adventure games of the last couple of years.

What leads ATTWN to fall just short of our coveted Gold Star rating relates to the game engine. It’s dated and not up to the level of modern 3D and full-movement titles. We’ve seen this static scene, restricted point-and-click ambulation approach many times before. Some may feel comfortable with this style, but we can do better with today’s technology. Further, there seemed to be some glitches related to item location and brightness.

Still, this is a fine game and highly recommended. With an outstanding combination of intriguing story and ingenious puzzles, And Then There Were None is sure to delight Christie fans and adventure game players.

What’s Especially Good About ATTWN

  • Beautifully written story and script;
  • Fascinating characters;
  • Superb voice acting;
  • Creative, practical, if often hard puzzles;
  • Lovely, detailed graphical scenes;
  • Manual very helpful, with maps;
  • Original Christie novel included with the game.

What Troubled Me About the Game

  • The game engine is dated and limited;
  • Brightness, or lack thereof, sometimes a concern;
  • Musical themes become redundant. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Awe Games Publisher: The Adventure Company Release Date: October 30, 2005

Available for: Windows

Four Fat Chicks Links

Player Feedback

Screenshots

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System Requirements

Win 98/ME/2000/XP (XP recommended) P3 850 (P4 1.8 recommended) 256 MB RAM (512 MB recommended) 32 MB video card (64 MB recommended) 1.5 GB free hard drive space

Where to Find It

Links provided for informational purposes only.  FFC makes no warranty with regard to any transaction entered into by any party(ies).

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

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29 Responses to The Long, Sordid Tail of DRM

  • Meho

    Good one.

    Of course, it will be very interesting to see the battle between crackers and UBI’s cryptographers. PC version of Assassin’s Creed II is already circulating the warez scene, although as yet uncracked. Everybody seems to think it will be cracked in a couple of weeks time at worst, which, admittedly is better for UBI than what usually happens (games cracked before release). Of course, I won’t be buying it because I find this practice unnacceptable (and I do have the console version anyway) but the success of this game and its DRM might mean quite a lot in the future. Of course, we ARE moving towards the age where you will be required to be connected to do any playing at all, whatwith the Gaikai and OnLive systems rearing their heads on the horizon. Doesn’t mean I have to like it, eh?

  • Spike

    I went to the Ubisoft website and looked at their list of published games.  It seems that the last of their games I played was the last Myst game in 2005.  In fact the only Ubisoft games I’ve played have been Myst games.  So I don’t see that their new DRM crime-against-my-privacy will have much of an effect on me.  But I hate the idea.  It’s an “Off with their heads!” kind of development.  Reminds me of the idea that people will put up with lost privacy in exchange for security.  In this case the security is only to benefit Ubisoft.  Yes, I allow my privacy to be violated every day – each time I visit Amazon, or read Google News -the list goes on and on.  BUT THOSE ARE MY CHOICES.  I also have a choice about where and how I spend my money, and I’d refrain from buying a game that allows so much intrusion into my computer/life.  A game that tells me how I must live my life even in the smallest of ways such as always being connected to the internet is a game I can forgo.

  • Jason O

    Consoles CAN be connected to the internet 100% of the time, but there are still many consoles that never go online. Modern Warfare 2 sold over 11 million copies, yet XBox Live only shows 840,000 users that have been on-line with it. That’s not played online, that means they played the game in any mode while connected to XBox Live.

    Games that have required an internet connection and were multiplayer only have a history of vanishing quickly from the console marketplace. Phantasy Star ONLINE did much better on the Gamecube then it did on the XBox. What was the difference? Oh yeah, you could play PSO without an internet connection on the Gamecube, the XBox version require a live account and an internet connection. That’s hardly the only example but one that is near and dear to my heart.

  • Bennet

    No, no, you don’t get it! Ubisoft’s “always connected” requirement isn’t DRM, it’s value-add for you, the beloved customer. Just like the Albertsons supermarket chain requires employees to plaster obnoxiously bright orange “Thank you for shopping with us!” stickers on your Coke and milk not because they think you’re stealing them but to express their sincere gratitude for your patronage.

    Maybe my memories of a time when consumers paid for a product and got the product, unadorned by FBI warnings and impossible to open wrappings and authentication servers that can vanish at any time without warning were planted by aliens. In the current cultural climate it’s certainly difficult to believe that time ever existed.

  • Meho

    But Steerpike makes a good point: business model, retail model is lagging behind the times. And developers, instead of researching ways to use the existing systems to sell more games rather research new ways to piss off their paying customers.

    Seriously, in my opinion, pirates pirate games because they are better value than retail games. Not just in the sense that they get to spend less money on them, but they get them faster, do not have to go through any hassle with DRM and have full control over the game. I think that Gabe Newell put it best saying that Valve sees pirates as customers who haven’t been served yet.

    I think UBI and their ilk should look for ways to make retail games more valuable to their customers than (free) warez copies. Yes, stuff like achievements/ trophies helps a little, sure. There are other ways too and one of them is resale value. But, oh, what a surprise, used games market pisses publishers off MORE than pirates do. In fact most of the current DRM schemes are only effective against resales. EA’s ten dollar project and all other free DLC on day one initiatives. So, honestly, I’m afraid that UBI’s online-all-the-time-or-no-service DRM is basically only going to affect sales of used games. The crackers are going to bring their games to pirates eventually. I believe that draconic DRM schemes such as this will only inspire people like GeoHot, Dark Alex and Yoshihiro to spend more of their time on circumvention. Their street cred is going to be huge after all…

    What Valve seem to understand is that playing games through Steam should make playing MORE valuable/ comfortable than not playing games through Steam (which is, at the end of the day a DRM system). Being able to instal a game on as many machines as you want and not having to have a disc in the drive is exactly what pirated games give us too, but with Steam you also retain all your stats, friends lists, achievements and everything. So it’s BETTER than playing pirated games. I only hope that UBI wake up and realise they have to ADD value, not just subtract freedoms.

  • Lewis B

    I’m not really sure I see their DRM as a huge problem.  If my PC is turned on, so is my internet.  I’m fully aware that my name is probably on a million data bases already, and although it might be annoying knowing that Ubisoft have implemented such a security feature, if you don’t physically notice it, I don’t particularly care.

    I’m currently playing Myst at the moment, having never before.  What an odd game…

  • Meho

    Well, you know, just from a philosophical standpoint: if the game is unplayable as soon as you don’t have Internet connection (which, I’m afraid, happens to me more regularly than I am comfortable with) for no other reason than making sure you have paid for it then to me this is pretty much unnacceptable. Requiring a connection for something that is a function of the game itself is OK, but enforcing it just for the sake of protection of the publisher, sorry, no sale.

  • Lewis B

    True Meho.  I had 40 minutes the other day before I went out and thought I would have a quick skirmish on Dawn of War II.  Steam (despite my love for it) wouldn’t launch the game because for some reason it kept freezing and refusing to connect or launch in offline mode.  I couldn’t actually locate the source directory either to boot the game up manually. So, I didn’t get to play and instead spent 40 minutes in a fit of rage cursing Valve and all who work under them. 

    Not exactly the same situation, but not hugely dissimilar.

  • Gregg B

    I’m really not concerned about the privacy issue simply because that illusion is just that, and doesn’t really comfort or unsettle me. My problem with this whole thing is that internet connections can be temperamental at the best of times and the idea that if the connection falters I will lose my progress (and thus my invested time which I’d argue is more valuable than my money) then quite frankly Ubi can fuck off. I’ve been pretty placid up to press with DRM simply because it’s not seemed that intrusive but this will affect the paying customers more than the pirates. It devalues the product and I fear it will push otherwise paying customers to download cracked versions that don’t suffer from this shit. Which, of course, will play into Ubi’s hands.

    Am I right in believing all this stems from the hideous retail model that just refuses to die? Physical retail creates pressuring deadlines, costs considerably more due to increased physical production (and overheads in staffing and floor space), it’s inflexible with stock limitations and shelf space dictating the range of titles available in any given store and by the sounds of things is the sole reason for this ‘tail’. If you look at Steam, it isn’t always the newest games that sell the most due in no small part to their sales and weekend deals.

    “I wonder if we’ll ever get to a point where a person would be just as likely to invest in a beloved classic as a hot new release.”

    From my experience there are a lot of people who simply can’t stomach old looking games, even some of my friends who’ve been playing games since they were young have turned into total graphics whores. Seriously you want to see the totally underwhelmed look on their faces when I show them XCOM for any period of time. We’re at a stage now where graphics are so advanced that for a lot of people going back so far to sample an allegedly classic title is simply too much. Thankfully GOG is doing a fantastic job of making these titles as accessible, and valuable, as possible.

    EDIT: Spot on Meho. My point exactly.
    See what I mean though Lew? Time. Valuable stuff. A quick skirmish on DoW turned into a 40 minute skirmish with Steam.

  • Mat

    This seems like an awful idea.. or at least one which sounds like a good idea to somebody somewhere, but in reality is unworkable.

    Since I’ve been a paying internet customer I have lived at 3 different addresses and used around 5 different ISP’s. I have ALWAYS had problems with my internet connection. With my current set up it tends to go down if a menacing looking cloud passes overhead..

  • xtal

    Some people may like to play a game offline now and then; this is especially easy with older ones before the dawn of activation codes and online authentication. While those aren’t that annoying, having to maintain a constant internet connection just to play a game that you paid for, which is not specifically a MMO, really bites.

    Gregg B said:
    “Am I right in believing all this stems from the hideous retail model that just refuses to die? Physical retail creates pressuring deadlines, costs considerably more due to increased physical production (and overheads in staffing and floor space), it’s inflexible with stock limitations and shelf space dictating the range of titles available in any given store and by the sounds of things is the sole reason for this ‘tail’. If you look at Steam, it isn’t always the newest games that sell the most due in no small part to their sales and weekend deals.”

    I agree with this. Just a few years ago I couldn’t see myself paying for intangible, digital goods. Fast forward to now and it’s really my preferred method of computer gaming, whether it’s GOG, Steam, or elsewhere, I find it’s the model that works best for the customer. If I’m not mistaken, I believe once upon a time that was who the industry was trying to serve, no? The customer?

  • Cesar

    You know, I’m from Brazil and there piracy is HUGE. Maybe for that reason I feel for the industry and understand the efforts to stop it. However, I suspect this crack delay would have a very minor impact in markets like Brazil. People can’t afford the games, so they wouldn’t pay full price anyway.

    It is a shame that we don’t have privacy anymore. The other day a friend of mine on XBox Live sent me a message to congratulate me on a goal I scored in Fifa 10. I didn’t know but apparently not only you can see I’m playing Fifa, but you also see when I score and my avatar cheers! While that sounds very cool, it is also very disturbing. But like Matt points very well, privacy is already gone. And since I don’t have it anymore, why not help stop piracy?

    On the other hand, the plurality of solutions is a different matter, it becomes a hassle. I think the solution should be platform dependent, not publisher dependent. In Brew phones, the control is embedded in the system and you cannot use an app if it cannot be verified, which means if you are not connected to the network you can’t play.

    Unfortunately that cannot be applied to consoles, there’s a considerable number of devices outside the internet umbrella. But if the game constantly checks if you are online and tries to authenticate the copy, online piracy will suffer a big hit and the technological move towards full connectivity will make the practice more and more efficient over time.

  • Andrew

    Not going to buy the game, long tail or not, it sucks to have that kind of persistent connection needed for offline play. Not even just startup authorisation either. I must admit any Game For Windows Live games can be similar (Dawn of War 2 being one of them necessitating it) although most of them allow offline profiles, and most of them allow the saves to be moved easily between any online or offline accounts.

    Oh, and if you’re disconnected it won’t kick you out of the game too, even Microsoft didn’t get that wrong.

    I don’t even understand how privacy comes into it, my main issue is twofold:
    – The above note about simple, offline play (and disconnects for blips in service)
    – The fact it isn’t just your connection that is necessary, it is THEIR connection and servers

    The second point as a partial game historian leads me to wonder how many years (not decades) the servers will be there. Publishers have removed much more necessary servers quickly if they are a cost liability (or they want to push people onto a newer game…). Downtime is also, considering some of the services require payment (Xbox Live for instance) devastatingly poor considering the user base sizes, especially on high load days (and I wonder if we’ll see “Assassins Creed 2 unplayable at launch due to server overload” at all, heh). Lucky it’s “just games” though, no worries if we only have 99% uptime right?! 😉

    (Also, frankly their Assassins Creed 1 port was poor until they patched it, where at least then it was playable (in full on 16:9…for some reason), which makes me wary of any PC release of a console game they do. I wonder also if they still have unskippable cutscenes, I’ve not checked it out on the consoles).

    The fact they’ll never have enough sales of this PC version due to the earlier console release to either say this is a roaring success or roaring failure. It’s the longest end of the tail in the first place. Or they’ll lie about whatever happens anyway. It’s utterly bizarre…I just don’t understand it.

  • Meho

    Cesar: I’m in Serbia and here piracy reigns supreme (much worse than Brazil, I imagine) but still, this is pure and simple bullshit. I purcahsed BioShock 2 today, for my PS3 even though I’d prefer to play it on my PC just because of the stupid DRM that won’t let me control the use of a game I pay for. They can fuck off with that. So, my purchase was influenced by DRM, depsite the game being more natural to play on a PC. Protection measures should not create this kind of bitterness in a human being.

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    The issue of server overload on release days is significant. Think about it – a game like Modern Warfare 2? Or any other hotly anticipated release? Of course the servers would go down. It’s not cost-effective to install a server infrastructure capable of handling Day Zero traffic. That would royally piss people off.

    Ubi and others who use draconian DRM typically insist that if they ever go out of business or shut servers down, they’ll issue patches so the games can be played offline.

    Around the holidays here, big stores like Best Buy station a guy at the exit. His job is to go through your bag and consult your receipt to make sure you haven’t stolen anything. That’s a very similar ideology to this one: treat all consumers like thieves in hopes of catching the few who are.

  • Lewis B

    Considering most MMOG servers cannot cope on launch day, I see it as a gaurentee that when the next Modern Warfare is released, if they do follow through with this, would see many unhappy players.

  • lakerz1

    This new DRM policy will totally be screwing me over because I have a wireless internet setup, but my signal is a bit weak so here and there it drops out for a 10-15 second period before it reconnects.  Plus my wireless router is a bit wonky and will just stop working once in awhile until I cycle power to it.  So, until my setup changes, I will be forced to avoid all Ubi PC games that use this.

  • Igor Hardy

    I seriously doubt a person which would normally pirate a game, will pay money for it just because she has to wait a short while longer for the cracked version. This can work only for very cheap games – like 1$ cheap.

  • Meho

    Just for those keeping tabs: the Russian version of Assassin’s Creed II has apparently been successfully cracked, with a fix for the saves too. Of course, I don’t KNOW this for sure but that’s the word circulating through the grapewine.

  • Cesar

    Brazil is a strong competitor in the piracy rates. 95%-97% if I am not mistaken.

    Anyway, I don’t have a problem with the privacy issue. Not even with the assumption that we are all thieves. If you extrapolate that idea, you will conclude we shouldn’t have patrol cars on the streets. They assume people will commit crimes and have to keep watch. Homo homini lupus. Society isn’t perfect and even though losses are part of the model, no one is ready to lose out of good faith alone. I don’t mean to say DRM and police watch are the same thing, I’m just saying it’s not that simple to draw a line where it becomes offensive to monitor society.

    That being said, it is not acceptable to have a DRM impact gameplay at all. I don’t mind it authenticating my copy. But if I am offline it has to work. And if I loose connection during the game I shouldn’t be kicked out.

    And while the efficacy of the solution might be questionable under these circumstances, like I said in the previous comment, it only tends to increase.

  • Andrew

    “Ubi and others who use draconian DRM typically insist that if they ever go out of business or shut servers down, they’ll issue patches so the games can be played offline.”

    I have seen this happen to absolutely zero games ever. The fact that it is nearly impossible to sanction any work on IP if a company is in administration is the key. That and it is non-trivial to get around your own disk DRM by producing an installer that will work with your disk copy to install it.

    I’d love to be proved wrong…this is by far the most worrying thing of the deal, just installed Bioshock 2 and it has online activation (sigh)…worried I might need to download cracked versions to install it in the future!

    Oh, did you see the patch notes of the first patch? It makes the DRM very very very slightly “better” (I mean, better as in “still shit”):

    http://www.fileshack.com/file.x/17456/Assassin%27s+Creed+2+Patch+1.01+-+US

    “Game can now be continued from the exact same point when connection is restored”

    Ho ho ho. Ho.

  • Gregg B

    I like this bit:

    “Only those who purchased a copy of ACII or SHV legally appear to be affected. Pirates playing illegally downloaded cracked versions of the game are able to play without a problem.”

    Is it apparent pirates are having no problems yet? If they’ve properly cracked it then what I feared (above) is true. Last I heard was that the DRM apparently downloads levels or important files as you play. I don’t know whether this is true or not though.

  • Spike

    Meho beat me to it.  I just read a similar article on The Register.  I don’t suppose that the DDoS attack will make Ubi rethink its evil ways, but this might (I can dream, can’t I?):

    “Meanwhile Ubisoft’s much criticised controls have been broken by software hackers. A hacker group called Skid-Row managed to bypass DRM restrictions on Silent Hunter 5 less than 24 hours after the game was published. Skid Row has releasing a crack for the game based on this work, Zdnet reports. ®”

    Full article here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/03/08/ubisoft_anti_drm_hack_attack/

  • Littermate

    Spike.  RE: The Register article
    There is a comment to that article that claims the crack for SH5 is not a complete crack and would only allow an incomplete experience, because not only are save games stored online but some of the game data files are stored online too, implying that the boxed game you buy is incomplete.  This seems plausible and effective IMO, because if I was demanding an internet connection for my software this is how I would do it.  It demands not only that a games code be cracked but that missing data files be supplied too.

  • Spike

    Having just read this article – link below – I’m thinking that DRM will be fine and dandy AND hunky-dory with me as long as the packaging it comes in is “green”.  Yep.  That makes it more palatable.

    http://www.fastcompany.com/1620105/ubisoft-green-recycled-case-digital-manual-sustainable-packaging

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    I would kind of like to buy games in potato cases.

  • xtal

    I was thinking… and remembered one of the most creative instances of “DRM” if you can call it that: King’s Quest VI! I looked it up and sure enough it is mentioned on KQVI’s Wikipedia page:

    A booklet titled “Guidebook to the Land of the Green Isles” (written by Jane Jensen) is included in the KQVI package. Aside from providing additional background to the game’s setting, this booklet serves as part of the game’s copy-protection. The player will not be able to pass the puzzles on the Cliffs of Logic that guard the Isle of the Sacred Mountain without information from the booklet. The booklet also includes a poem encoding the solution to one of the puzzles in the labyrinth on the Isle of the Sacred Mountain.

    I guess that’s not very feasible today, what with widespread use of the internet around the world. I still think it’s more creative than the “thank you for your money, we intend to treat you like a criminal” method.

  • Bluebogle

    I played the KQVI game with the booklet. I was a kid at the time, and thought the booklet was so cool! It really added to the whole game’s experience.

    The quest for Glory games came with fun booklets as well, though I don’t remember if they had copy protection elements to ’em.

    Ahh, the good old days..

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