Ubisoft's controversial 'always on' PC DRM hacked

Ubisoft's always-on digital rights management solution, dubbed the "Online Services Network," has apparently been circumvented by hackers. News of its arrival on peer-to-peer file-sharing networks began circulating in places like social-news site Reddit Wednesday morning.

The DRM, which now ships with every new PC game made by Ubisoft, requires that gamers have a constant connection to the Internet in order to play their games. The security feature caused a large backlash by users for its inclusion in Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed 2 title, which was released last month.

The hack itself removes the DRM entirely and is being claimed by a consortium known as Skid Row. It requires users to download and install a modified version of the game's executable file to their computers. These modified game files, alongside a crack that can be applied to a retail version of the game, were uploaded to various file-sharing sites late Tuesday evening.

CNET

Command & Conquer Copies Ubisoft's Awful DRM

In a post over on Command & Conquer 4's forums, EA community manager Apoc writes "First thing to be clear about, Command & Conquer 4 has NO DRM. Zip, zero, zilch, none."

Sounds great! Until, a few lines later, he says this. "To play Command & Conquer 4, the computer needs to be connected to the internet."

C&C 4 Installation/Online Update
Kotaku

Ubisoft DRM authentification server is down, Assassin's Creed 2 unplayable

According to numerous reports from prospective players of the game, Ubisoft's DRM authentification servers have crashed, forcing some players to suffer lengthy login periods when booting up Assassin's Creed 2, and locking some folks out of the game entirely.

Joystiq