So I recently bought Anno 2070 during a steam sale and now I'm wondering if I've made a mistake. I've never messed with uPlay but only heard of it and read some users experiences with it. Can anyone tell me in exact detail what I'm dealing with when it comes to this DRM?

Never used uPlay before(i have a strict policy to avoid DRM) but if what i've heard is true, it's one of the most annoying and difficult kinds of DRM. Read these articles, maybe they help:


Techdirt article:

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120122/08260517502/tales-ubisoft-drm-latest-drm-goes-horrible-to-slightly-less-horrible.shtml



1UP article:

http://www.1up.com/news/ubisoft-drm-gone-too-far

Why deal with it? Crack it out...or "don't" rather...because that would be wrong. ;)

uPlay doesn't necessarily mean you require a constant connection to anything, since it's also what they call their multiplayer server setup. And so far as I'm aware, they ditched the whole 'you need to be constantly connected to play' bit last year. It MAY still need to be connected at the start of a session.

So I can play it offline whenever I want? If that's the case then I guess I'm somewhat ok with it. I really don't plan on using the co-op for the game any time soon.

I don't own that particular game, so I couldn't say. But you can certainly try it yourself if you can easily disable your net connection (Comodo is great for doing that).

Uplay is not the issue with their DRM generally, it's the install limits based on hardware changes that made the news. A lot of their games also start off requiring internet connections but they tend to phase that out of a title after a short time. They also have a bit of a bad habit if taking down their servers sometimes that can lead to the initial registration that most games require a pain in the ass. Last I heard Might and Magic 6, the latest Asscreed, Driver, Hawx 2, and Settlers 7 are the ones with the online always DRM, though that might have been phased out by now. Least those were the titles mentioned when they changed servers earlier in the year. They managed to keep Asscreed and Driver up since they are bigger titles but the other three went down for a little bit.

In the case of Anno 2070, you can play it in offline mode. But the game has a lot of small "mmo ish" componets that need you to be online. But everything that you get for being online is an added bonus on top of the game. If you play the game in offline mode, it is basically the same as it would have been released 4 years ago.

I love that game (although I haven't played it that much recently) and the "online mode" is an excellent addition to the game. And from personall experience I can say that I have never seen a "server offline" failure or similar.

Or you could...I dunno.....unplug the cable from your PC.(Ethernet/etc) Or unplug the modem.

Pretty much what I do whenever I'm not using the internet.

I think I'll go ahead and give the game a try. Thanks for all the answers everyone.

Driv3r, as far as I know, never had the always on requirement.

Not always a good idea/even possible depending on your net connection.

If you have a wired connection the worst that can happen is when you reconnect the wire you have to wait a bit for the connection to reload/reactivate so you can use the net. No biggie. Of course it wouldn't be an option for laptops, but that's about it.