Ubisoft Steals 'No-CD Crack' To Fix Rainbow 6: Vegas 2 434
Ariastis writes "UbiSoft has long been against No-CD patches. Referring to them on their forums would get you warned or banned. But now, they have just officially released a patch for Rainbow 6: Vegas 2, which, when opened in a hex editor, can easily be identified as coming from the RELOADED scene group, not from UbiSoft programmers. A picture of hex analysis is shown in the story. See? Piracy isn't that bad! It saves you from having to code fixes for your own games! (Watch the drama on the Ubi Forums before it gets scrubbed clean.)"
The patch been pulled, over a week ago! (Score:5, Informative)
Someone was either being very lazy or thought it was funny. I'm glad they didn't censor the forums to hell and back ala Apple...
Last post from the now locked thread:
Re:Unethical? Yes. Illegal? Hmmm... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:This is awesome. (Score:2, Informative)
I heard story from friend whose another friend bought Pro/E, and could not install from the official CDs. Finally, running out of time, he installed cracked Pro/E right in front of their representative which worked like a charm.
Of course he has not asked for refund as he wants to keep the license to show, just in case.
Re:French? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Unethical? Yes. Illegal? Hmmm... (Score:5, Informative)
Yes. They've unintentionally violated copyright.
When an author uploads a torrent, is that file considered to have entered the public domain?
No, not anymore than if an author gives a free copy of a book away, that book enters the public domain. Authors (assuming they haven't sold their rights away) are allowed to distribute their own work as much as they want, and in whatever form they want. When someone else does it, they're in violation of copyright (unless they are licensed or copyright has been explicitly waived).
Re:Maybe NoCD patches are the latest in the indust (Score:2, Informative)
Re:So... (Score:5, Informative)
CD cracks aren't just for stealing games.
One of the first things I do when I buy a game is download the CD crack so I don't have to keep track of where the install disks are.
I bought the game, it's mine. I can do whatever the fuck I like with it, including disabling annoying shit like DRM.
Re:So... (Score:2, Informative)
Ubisoft stole a program released by a group who help others to steal theirs?
CD cracks aren't just for stealing games.
One of the first things I do when I buy a game is download the CD crack so I don't have to keep track of where the install disks are.
I bought the game, it's mine. I can do whatever the fuck I like with it, including disabling annoying shit like DRM.
Unfortunately, you only bought a license to use the game according to the terms of the EULA, not the game itself.
Re:French? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:So... (Score:5, Informative)
That aspect of EULA's has never been tested in court. It's quite possible that it would be deemed null and void.
Really? Because I seem to recall having this discussion with someone else on Thursday [slashdot.org], and pointing to a number of court cases where it has been decided.
You should also read the informative response to my post [slashdot.org] (since I was only directly answering a specific point and not attempting to cover the entire issue).
In other words, it HAS been tested in court, but courts are disagreeing on how to interpret the issue.
Re:Pot vs. Kettle (Score:5, Informative)
Reloaded has existed for quite a while and as far as I know they've never put malware in their cracks.
No cracker groups of any consequence has ever put malware in anything as far as I know, it's 99% others using a virus-adding tool and distributing their own trojaned version of their cracks. Still, it's not easy to tell one from the other.
Re:So... (Score:3, Informative)
remember that the crack was made to circumvent anti-piracy schemes.
And there always is a crack. Any even remotely popular game -- even quite a few indie games -- have their copy protection cracked wide open within weeks of release, if not days.
There wouldn't be any need for anti-piracy schemes if people were trustworthy and didn't steal software.
That isn't going to happen, so we have to deal with the reality that people will steal software.
Now the question becomes, what is the point of an anti-piracy scheme if it doesn't work? (See above.)
So everyone uses cracks to go around copy protection schemes when they're not supposed to, and then when that company uses that crack to fix a problem, everyone is outraged.
You're assuming that this is the same "everyone". You know there's more than one person on the Internet, right? More than one group?
Ubisoft is apparently notorious for cracking down (so to speak) on the mere mention of the possibility of using a crack, even when it's not in the context of piracy. Even when it's in the context of, say, playing the game you legally bought.
There are many legitimate reasons for wanting a crack.
Now, I don't know that anyone is actually outraged that Ubi is "stealing" the crack, or providing a better experience for their users. I think it's mostly the hypocrisy that they have censored the very mention of this exact crack, only to turn around and release it for their users.
something that was made specifically to target that company's product making it easier to pirate.
There's another fallacy -- do you actually know that it was created with this purpose in mind?
To my knowledge, most No-CD cracks are made -- that's right -- to allow you to play the game without a CD.
This allows piracy, yes. It also allows shocking things like playing the game on a machine without a working optical drive. Or taking multiple games on your laptop without having to bring all the game discs. Or play the game even if the original disc is scratched. Or, for some games (not sure about Ubisoft), to reinstall your OS, or buy a new computer, and still be able to play your game.
Re:Stop using the word pirate, FN (Score:3, Informative)
You get NO support from local stores, you get told to contact the developer or publisher, even for refunds.
Re:Furthermore (Score:1, Informative)
When you redistribute a movie rip, with correct title and attribution, it's copyright infringement.
When you take someone's work and claim it as your own, it's all kinds of much nastier shit.
Re:So... (Score:3, Informative)
"When the price is zero the demand is infinite."
That's a commonly expressed opinion, but it's incorrect. Just about any product out there has finite demand. If Ubisoft were to give away all their software starting tomorrow, I still wouldn't want any of it. If Apple were to lower prices on the iTunes store to $0.90 or $0.80 or even $0.50, I wouldn't buy any more of it. If Chevrolet or Ferarri cut their retail prices in half, I wouldn't buy one.
Piracy enthusiasts like to use this statement in an effort to point out that commercial software vendors don't understand pricing theory. "If PhotoShop costs five million bucks to produce, they should just sell it for $1 a copy and sell a five million copies, and they'll break even! If they sell another five million copies, that's five million dollars of profit, or 50% margin! It's so simple that I'm shocked that the pirates have figured it out and software vendors haven't! Durr on those stupid stupid software vendors!".
Although piracy enthusiasts are often heartfelt in their defense of this theory, it's got a lot of problems. First and formost is, as pointed out, demand is not infinite. There might not be ten million potential customers out there.
That's why supply/demand curves exist and why they're so useful for picking the right price for a product. What you've described (demand goes to infinity as price goes to zero) is called unit elasticity and is seldom found in real life. Demand curves are just that -- curvy -- and it might surprise you that a buck isn't automatically the best price to sell any given product.
The Zimmermann Telegram (Score:4, Informative)
.
The German occupation of Belgium set the pattern for what was to come. The Rape of Belgium: The Untold Story of World War 1 [amazon.com]
The Zimmermann Telegram [wikipedia.org] was authentic:
January 16, 1917
On the first of February, we intend to begin unrestricted submarine warfare. In spite of this, it is our intention to endeavor to keep the United States of America neutral.
In the event of this not succeeding, we propose an alliance on the following basis with Mexico: That we shall make war together and make peace together. We shall give generous financial support, and an understanding on our part that Mexico is to reconquer the lost territory in New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona. The details of settlement are left to you.
You are instructed to inform the President [of Mexico] of the above in the greatest confidence as soon as it is certain that there will be an outbreak of war with the United States and suggest that the President, on his own initiative, invite Japan to immediate adherence with this plan; at the same time, offer to mediate between Japan and ourselves.
Please call to the attention of the President that the ruthless employment of our submarines now offers the prospect of compelling England to make peace in a few months.
There is much of interest here - not least the talk of an alliance with Japan.
The historical background:
April 22, 1915
The German Embassy publishes this warning [wikipedia.org] which will appear below a New York Times marine add posting Lusitania's schedule:
NOTICE!
> TRAVELLERS intending to embark on the Atlantic voyage are reminded that a state of war exists between Germany and her allies and Great Britain and her allies; that the zone of war includes the waters adjacent to the British Isles; that, in accordance with formal notice given by the Imperial German Government, vessels flying the flag of Great Britain, or any of her allies, are liable to destruction in those waters and that travellers sailing in the war zone on the ships of Great Britain or her allies do so at their own risk.
IMPERIAL GERMAN EMBASSY
May 7, 1915 Luistania torpedoed without warning. 1200 die.
August 1915 A Bavarian metal worker stamps out 500 or so back-dated commemorative medallions of the sinking -- which British propagandists will replicate in the hundreds of thousands for sale through British wartime charities.
August 27, 1915 The Kaiser restricts attacks on large passenger vessels.
September 18, 1915 Unrestricted submarine warfare ends
Re:Where do I find these? (Score:5, Informative)
The key is not to download cracks if you can help it. Instead, download mini images (on gamecopyworld.com as "fixed images"). These are disc images for the games, with copy protection intact, that are only a few megabytes large as they only have the crucial bits. Then, use a program like Daemon-Tools to mount the image, and you're set. This works for online games like Battlefield 2 as well, where cracks usually fail.
And as an aside, I actually had to do this to run Battlefield 2, as the copy protection apparently doesn't agree with my DVD drive (even though other EA games work). I emailed EA support and never received a response.
Re:So... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:So... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:So... (Score:3, Informative)
"Please note that Amazon MP3 is currently only available to US customers."
Here's why Amazon isn't an option for a lot of people.