UBI drops Starforce

[MaXMhZ]

A UBI employee has announced UBI will NOT be implementing Starforce copy protection in oncoming games on the French UBI forum
as reported by the Dutch Teakers.net:

http://tweakers.net/nieuws/42034/Ubisof ... allen.html

It says an American named Christopher Spence started a class-action lawsuit against Ubisoft that could cost the company $5 million for installing SF on customers PC's on march 26 2006

original link:
http://forums-fr.ubi.com/groupee/forums ... 8641071034

hmmm here's a better one: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=1760

Finaly!
A decision that makes sense.


good 4U UBI ! maybe I can play some UBI games now

I wonder if SF will now publish bittorrent links to UBI games like they did with Stardock and definately bury themselves

the @#@$#@.
Ah well they had to apologize and Galactic Civilizations II came out the winner anyway

[CrazySchmidt]

I'll drink to that, actually I'll drink to anything.

That is definitely good news from what I have read about this nasty.

Cheers, CS.

[MaXMhZ]

yup it is I hope they re-release Silent Hunter - without SF I would buy it with SF I don't even want it close to my PC.

[Willy]

I hope they release a fix for the ones they've already sold

I have Silent Hunter III, LOMAC and FLaming Cliffs, all good stuff especially Lomac FC, but I took them of after reading all the jazz about starforce.

[MaXMhZ]

Taking the game(s) off won't remove Starforce - It will remain a permanent thread to your PC's security untill removed. I heard Starforce had a removal utility. But then I heard also it didn't work I fear you'll have to remove it by hand or reverting to a previous OS state might be the best way to go... I myself would treat it like any malicious virus and do a complete reformat / clean install of everything.
Thank goodness I never installed it. I had enough security problems over the last couple of months If your optical drives seem too slow, and dropping out of DMA mode, SF is probably still active.I think it reports information to Starforce's server too Installing the try-out version of Zone-Alarm Security suite might be handy to catch it if it does (ZoneAlarm firewall does catch the FireHole test, so it should warn if SF contacts the outside too.
the Firehole test can be found here if you want to test your current firewall: http://www.firewallleaktester.com/leaktest3.htm

[EURO_Snoopy]

I'm pleased to hear this, Starforce would have cast a dark shadow over the BOB release had it been used.

[Luckyboy1]

Ok, no Starforce... now, how do we reduce pirating of the game?

[MaXMhZ]

Ok, no Starforce... now, how do we reduce pirating of the game?

The question to ask is how to increase sales. Look at what Stardock did with Galactic Civ II They abandoned copy protection of the CD alltogether and reverted to a serial number which you'll need for updates/patches download. In a very short time the game went to #1 on Wallmart's sales list You'll never be able to stop piracy completely. If it's not too much pirated it can be even good promotion It's simular to TV series. WhWhen SciFi channel (on Europe's Astra satellites)started with the new Battlestar Galactica series it was on the net before it's premiere. They got so much attention and word-of mouth promotion on the net that the series was the highest ranking ever in number of viewers.Stardock said their program and support was good enough they dared to take the no copy protection step. I am convinced 1C:Maddox does an even better job with the IL-2 series, and I hope they go the same way. A serial number can be easily generated/maintained And I would be willing to pay extra for a game that would run without a CD in the drive. The whole thing installs to HD anyway, so there shouldn't be a reason for the CD in the drive if you leave the DRM madness-pool I believe it hurts sales more than it protects games. every game that has been "protected" by DRM copy protection schemes has been copied and put on the net. Copy protection is an illusion.