Granted, it may have been Green’s “finicky” Internet connection that was the direct cause of his problem, but why should one’s enjoyment of a single-player game be dependent on another service (beyond electricity of course)? Green proposes alternative modes of verification, but unless people stop buying games with DRM, I doubt that EA would listen even to one of its own.

[via Ars Technica]

Basically the server(s) handling log ins for Assassin’s Creed 2 players crashed, and since the game is being constantly authenticated as it is played, it locked players out.  The official Assassin’s Creed forum is overflowing with hate, even from people who don’t actually own the game. I think the server is still down as of this writing. Someone is probably going to get fired for this, but if that happens the people who thought of this idea should get the boot as well. What now Ubisoft?

[via Joystiq]

The online account dependency will debut with the game The Settlers 7:

Your Internet connection. Is required. To play. This game. I’m not much of a PC gamer, and I don’t have the solution to piracy, but I think restrictions like this only serve to alienate customers and encourage pirates. With the exception of the PS3 (so far, Sony’s knocking on wood), no major video game system has escaped piracy, and I’m fairly sure that this measure can be circumvented.

A “self-professed pirate” has this to say to Ubisoft’s paying customers: “This is fine, I only have to access the Internet once to get Ubisoft games. You’re the ones paying for a broken copy.”

[via Gamespy & Ars Technica]

The $199 device lets you wirelessly stream music (ATRAC, AAC and WMA formats) from your PC to your Bravia home entertainment system (assuming you have one of the models with Sony’s proprietary Digital Media Port.) While the tiny 3-inch black cube looks really cool, it does have one significant limitation – it can’t stream DRMed tracks from any place other than the Sony Connect store.

Surprisingly, it also doesn’t appear to stream the files in the ubiquitous MP3 format. This is a clear case where form and function didn’t go hand in hand. Too bad.

[via Le Journal du Geek via Gizmodo]

Now if you could only figure out a way to get those DRM locked tunes from iTunes to the Zune, you’d be all set.

[via MacRumors via Gizmodo]

The new PopCatcher MusicDock MD-601 is a portable MP3 player and a standalone FM-radio dock that can capture FM broadcasts to MP3, commercial-free. The dock automatically discerns music from talk and commercials, then records only the music to the MP3 player. Tracks are cleanly extracted in 192 kbps format, and can be easily transferred to your PC or other media player. The PopCatcher costs roughly $214 USD and is well worth a look for DRM-haters everywhere.

According to this review on Scandanavian tech site, Prylfeber, the system is reported to work as advertised, although it doesn’t provide an easy way to automatically assign track information.

[via Gizmodo]

The story claims that Apple may be getting ready to announce that they will offer licensing of its proprietary Fairplay digital rights management to Made for iPod licensees. If this really happens, streaming media devices other than Airport Express and the forthcoming Apple TV could be enabled to play purchased iTunes media.

There are a handful of devices that do provide streaming of iTunes tracks to non-Apple devices, such as the Logitech Wireless DJ and Netgear’s recently announced EVA8000 Digital Entertainer HD media streamer. However, it’s my understanding that these devices don’t directly access tracks, but instead piggyback onto iTunes to let it do the DRM authorization.

I’m hoping that this story does turn out to be true, as it’s one of my biggest frustrations with iTunes purchased media. I personally don’t care for Apple’s current streaming solutions, and would love to be able to use my purchased iTunes tracks on other media devices such as a Slim Devices Squeezebox, or (wishful thinking here) my Xbox 360.

[via Reg Hardware]