Via BB:

Ubisoft’s DRM servers went down over the weekend, denying access to all customers who had legitimately obtained Assassin’s Creed 2. Quoth the Doctorow:

Of course, pirates and people who break Ubisoft’s DRM can still play. Way to correctly align the incentives, Ubisoft.

As I mentioned before, DRM is bad business. This is another reason. It’s like those legalese FBI notices that you can’t skip at the start of a DVD, or the anti-piracy threats in theatres — they only annoy paying customers.

Dune 2000, a game that I was eagerly anticipating, shipped with DRM that wouldn’t let it install if your computer had a CD burner. I bought it, was told “tough luck” by customer service, cracked it, and it was pretty decent — until I reformatted (I was still jockeying Windows at that point) and had to crack again.

cf. This comic about Cleveland libraries and audiobook DRM.

Pirates play, listen, and watch without insult. DRM is bad biz.