Rock Paper Shotgun has a couple of posts describing a new DRM scheme being put in place by Ubisoft. Apparently, new Ubisoft games (such as the upcoming PC version of Assassin’s Creed II) will require PC gamers to be connected to the internet at all times while playing. If anything should happen to said connection, the Ubisoft ball and chain will drop with Big Brother force – you will be kicked out of your (single-player) game, lose any unsaved progress, and be kindly asked to twiddle your thumbs while the Internet Shamans sacrifice a small goat to the broadband gods.

There are some trumped up justifications for the horrors being thrust upon us. The FAQ says that in exchange for our dignity we’ll be able to install the game on multiple computers as many times as we want.

I don’t know about you fine folks, but I barely have enough resources to keep one gaming computer going. The idea of having the need to install a game like Assassin’s Creed II on more than one computer is something I dream about. So that benefit is negligible at best.

We’ll also be able to play the game without the disk in the drive, but again, not really that big of a deal. We’ve been playing with disks in drives for quite some time now, after all.

The truth is, DRM like this does nothing but drive loyal customers away. I believe the publishers are geniunely trying to protect their investments from pirating, but they have to realize that this is not the way to go about it.

All it takes is one keyboard commando pirate to break the DRM and distribute the game online, and every dishonest person in the world will have unfettered access to the game, free from having to worry about the shackles Ubisoft is placing on its honest, paying customers.

Finally, Rock Paper Shotgun is awesome. Go check out their site, it’s pretty legit.

UPDATE: Ubisoft tries to defend itself. Check out this post from Terminal Gamer for the report.

Jerod Jarvis is an independent gaming journalist and founder of Duality Games. He maintains gaming columns for The Washington Times Communities and for The Outpost. When not blogging madly about games, he freelances for the Spokesman-Review in his hometown of Spokane, Washington and attends school at Whitworth University. Check out his presence on Facebook and Twitter to stay up on Duality Games updates and the inside scoop on the gaming news you care about.