CNN on DRM
Posted by Rocky on Saturday, March 13 2010

CNN are reporting on their experiences with Assassin's Creed 2 and it's "not fun" according to their technology journalist. Not surprising, the target for their disdain is Ubisoft's always on DRM system calling it ...

Contrary to Ubisoft's latest statement, CNN also report the the new protection system

Forum discussion here.

Ubisoft Compensation Details
Posted by Rocky on Saturday, March 13 2010

Yesterday we reported on Ubisoft's plan to compensate Assassins Creed 2 gamers for the downtime their authentication servers suffered at the weekend. Details are starting to arrive via an e-mail Ubisoft are sending to affected customers.

Read the full email in our forums.

DRM is a Disservice
Posted by Rocky on Friday, March 12 2010

If you search Google for our headline, you'll probably get almost 9,000 results. That gives an indication of how Digital Rights Management is perceived across the entertainment sector.

Yesterday Gabe Newell brought DRM out into the bright lights of mass media courtesy of the 2010 Game Developers Choice Award ceremony where he was recognised with the respected GDC Pioneer Award.

The introduction to the award will be of interest to gamers, and Gabe's acceptance speech is equally interesting if you want to know where gaming tech is headed, you'll not want to miss his speech.

Where the first round of applause came however, was when Gabe addressed games publishers, referring to DRM has a negative influence

There were actually only two rounds of spontaneous applause during Gabe's interesting speech, one for the DRM put down, and one when his auto-prompter failed.

Watch the speech here, (60 minutes in) , comment on Gabe's insight in our forums!

Downtime Compensation Coming
Posted by Rocky on Friday, March 12 2010

Ubisoft representative have stated that compensation is being planned for users affected by the Denial of Servcie attack that took Ubisoft's DRM authentication servers offline at the weekend. Exact details of the nature of the compensation that affected Assassins Creed 2 and Silent Hunter 5 gamers is expected later today.

RUSE Public Beta
Posted by Rocky on Tuesday, March 9 2010

Ubisoft have released a public beta through Steam for their brand new Real Time Strategy game R.U.S.E.

Try it out and let us know what you think in our RTS forums, where you can read the full press release. And to round it off, here's a 100Mb HD video download, hot off the press!

Ubisoft DOS Attack
Posted by Rocky on Tuesday, March 9 2010
Ubisoft have responded to yesterdays authentication server downtime citing Denial of Services attacks. Assassins Creed 2 and Silent Hunter 5 servers were both affected, although Ubisoft are stating only 5% of the player base was affected. Unfortunately reports are coming in of further attacks today. 

While some are questioning why Ubisoft seem to have been targeted while other publishers gaming servers remain unscathed, most in the gaming community have responded with derision focusing on Ubisoft's much criticised new DRM system.

Ubi Corrects DRM Hacked Rumours
Posted by Rocky on Thursday, March 4 2010
VG27 are reporting that Ubisoft have spoken out about claims that their new permanent connection DRM has been broken. Referring to Silent Hunter 5 a Ubi rep reports...

And so the saga continues! One has to wonder if Ubisoft will also feel motivated to make an announcement once there new DRM is fully cracked.

Ghost Recon.net Site Updates
Posted by Rocky on Wednesday, March 3 2010
As you've probably noticed by now, we are sporting a brand new front page! Taking advantage of a new wider format and improved coding we can now offer more news, more downloads information, full news archives and all wrapped in a faster more efficient loading webpage!

Coming up we've some even more exciting updates, not least brand new forums complete with new features and a new fresh look on the way.

It'd be great to hear your feedback in our forums!

New DRM Same Old Same Old
Posted by Rocky on Wednesday, February 17 2010
PC Gamer got their hands on Assassin's Creed 2 and are reporting that as far as anti-piracy measures go, Ubisoft's new "must be online" DRM is a case of new DRM same old story - the paying customer suffers.

PC Gamer simulated an interuption to their internet connection while in game and were immediately dropped from the game, losing all progress since the previous save point in the process. This confirms previous reports that in order to play Ubisoft's new games, a permanent internet connection must be available throughout the game session, even during single player games.

While Ubisoft may see this as the best answer to combat piracy, there is unanimous and universal condemnation of this anti-piracy measure that once again would seem to punish the paying customer.

If anyone supports these measures from Ubisoft, we'd love to hear your point of view in our forums, as so far it's all a one way debate! Join in here.

Ubisoft Financial Report
Posted by Rocky on Tuesday, February 9 2010
Hot on the heals of the Future Soldier announcement Ghost Recon publisher Ubisoft have released their 3rd quarter financial results.

The report confirms Ubisofts commitment to existing major titles (like Ghost Recon) in preference to new ventures. Ubisoft also promise a "platform of online servcies" for PC titles. 

Interested in the financial stats? Download the 5 page PDF here.

Big Announcement
Posted by Rocky on Friday, February 5 2010
Rumourville is rife with speculation that Ubisoft are about to make a big official announcement within the next 6 days.

Considering that Ghost Recon Future Soldier is now officially the game worlds worst kept secret, there's a good chance Ubisoft are about to reveal details of what will be one of their biggest titles this year, and one that Ghost Recon fans have waited a very long time for!

Or, perhaps it is something totally unrelated - a new Rainbow Six....?

Rainbow Six forums this way, Ghost Recon Future Soldier this way...

Ubi Reveals New DRM System
Posted by Rocky on Tuesday, January 26 2010
Recently Ubisoft intimated that they were working on their own DRM system to prevent copyright infringment on their games. Today the released details of the new DRM, there is none! There is a caveat though, you need to be connected to play your shiny new Ubisoft game.

Much like Relic with Company of Heroes, each time a Ubisoft game is started it will phone home using your internet connection to verify that it's legitimate. This will happen via existing Ubi or Uplay accounts.

There are pro's and cons to this method of verifying game sessions, so in our forums we have a Q/A from Ubisoft painting the positive side of the debate, and to kind of balance that out we have a slightly more cynical take from member krise madsen. Which is more accurate? You decide.

Happy New Year!
Posted by Rocky on Friday, January 1 2010
Happy New Year to all Ghost Recon fans, from the staff here at GhostRecon.net. 2010 is going to be a big year for Ghost Recon with the fourth installment of the series on the horizon, and some big changes here at GhostRecon.net.

We've a new site design in progress behind the scenes, an improved FAQ section with the very best in Ghost Recon instant support almost ready to open, a new download section with the largest archive of Ghost Recon mods anywhere, and a fresh look for the forums. It's still the same great team behind the scenes though, motivated to support Ghost Recon the best way we can!

Best wishes for 2010, long live Ghost Recon!

Merry Christmas!
Posted by Rocky on Thursday, December 24 2009
Merry Christmas and best wishes to all Ghost Recon fans everywhere. It's been a cracking year for Ghost Recon with some absolutely amazing mods released for GRAW, GRAW2 and Ghost Recon. With Ghost Recon : Future Soldier expected early next year there's even more to look forward to (including some secret GRAW 2 and Ghost Mods on the way)!

So, to all our visitors, whether you are a developer, publisher, die hard regular who visits our Ghost Recon forums every day, one of the hundreds of fans downloading mods from our download section every day, or one of the thousands of Ghost Recon fans who drop by and browse the site casually every day of the week, Merry Christmas and all the very best for 2010 from all the staff at Ghost Recon dot net!

GhostRecon.net Mobile Site Launches
Posted by Rocky on Friday, September 25 2009
A new mobile version of GhostRecon.net launches today! Recognising that mobile browsing is becoming more and more popular as internet capable mobile phones become more common we have designed a special mobile version of Ghost Recon.net.

The mobile version will automatically appear to anyone visiting GhostRecon.net from a mobile phone, and supports iPhone landscape browsing. If you have any questions or would like to see how the mobile version looks, visit this forum discussion.

Tokyo Games Show
Posted by Rocky on Thursday, September 24 2009
No sign of Ghost Recon 4 at the Tokyo Games Show this week, but some nice video footage of Splinter Cell Conviction, Avataar, Rabbids Go Home and Red Steel 2, check them out here.

Ubisoft Interview at MCV
Posted by Rocky on Tuesday, September 15 2009
Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot answered some questions from MCV this week, including the touchy subject of Piracy. No details were revealed on what exactly Ubisoft have planned for their next batch of triple A titles, and a rather unfortunate quote will give plenty of mileage for the cynical.

"Ubisoft wants to make sure that for normal customers it’s harder to pirate games and that it’s even more difficult than ever before for the hardcore user that pirates lots of content"

Leave your comments on that in our Ghost Recon 4 forums.

Ubisoft at Watchmojo
Posted by Rocky on Saturday, September 12 2009
Trends, markets, revenues. If those are keywords that interest you check out the range of Ubisoft interviews available at watchmojo.com, good stuff. There's not a great deal on Ghost Recon, but it does get a mention in this video.

GRIN Closed
Posted by Rocky on Wednesday, August 12 2009
The rapid and massive growth of developer GRIN subsequent to its work on GRAW1 and GRAW2 seems to have proven unsustainable for the developer as today it announced closure.

Citing late publisher payments as the reason for closure GRINs 12 years of producing games across various formats has come to an end.

Although GRIN's GRAW 2 was recieved with mixed reactions in the Ghost Recon community just over 2 years ago, it did gather generally favourable reviews around the web. The big game review sites rated GRAW 2 at over 80/100 and gamer reviews in general put it even higher.

Today GRAW 2 is still being enjoyed thanks to the ingeniuity of community modders who to this day are still uncovering ways to bring new features to the every growing collection of custom GRAW 2 missions.

So with thanks to GRIN for making GRAW 2 a game we are still enjoying today, on behalf of the staff and users here at Ghostrecon.net we wish the GRIN team and the brothers Andersson all the very best for whatever the future has in store for them.

Fans can leave their comments for GRIN here.

Ghost Recon Mods Live Bookmark
Posted by Rocky on Saturday, July 25 2009
Today I'm launching a brand new feature that'll help Ghost Recon fans keep track of the very latest mod releases and updates. By harnessing the power of Firefox's Live Bookmarks and Twitter, fans can instantly check on the latest Ghost Recon mod releases, without even leaving whichever webpage they are on.

It only takes 3 clicks to set up, so check out our guide here and never miss out on an update for your favourite Ghost Recon mods. Need help, or have feedback? Click here!

XTAC Update
Posted by Rocky on Sunday, June 14 2009
Tactical planning tool XTAC has received an update, more details at Tactical Coders.

Ubisoft Branch Out
Posted by Rocky on Wednesday, June 3 2009
Not content with pumping out games across all major platforms, Ubisoft are branching out into the movies. CEO Yves Guillemot revealed at E3 that they are providing media for the Avatar movie, and continuing on with a game tie in for the new Tin Tin movie.

HAWX Help
Posted by Rocky on Wednesday, April 15 2009
Not exactly Ghost Recon news, but this latest website from Ubisoft's Tom Clancy Universe is worth taking a look it. It's a really well put together help site specifically for Tom Clancy HAWX. I have to admit it's very neat, containing video walkthroughs of all the missions, for each platform. The videos are great for seeing how the pro's use each plane to complete missions.

There's also an Extreme Maneouvres video section showing how to pull off some air skills, and also unlock charts to check which planes are unlocked after each mission.

Visit the HAWX Help Site and check it out, even if you don't have the game yet, the video's are cool.

Undisclosed Tom Clancy Title Coming
Posted by Rocky on Friday, April 3 2009
According to Gameinformer magazine, alongside 2010 releases of Assassins Creed 2 and Splinter Cell Conviction will be a new undisclosed Tom Clancy title, source.

Tom Clancy HAWX Forum
Posted by Rocky on Tuesday, March 31 2009
We've created a space in our forums for the latest Tom Clancy title, the air combat game HAWX. Modding is about to take off in all sorts of directions with this title, so if air combat and/or modding is your thing, visit our new HAWX Forum here.

Mod Archive Update - GRAW 2
Posted by Rocky on Sunday, March 29 2009
As countless modding communities throughout the internet attempt to find an alternative to Filefront, we've been busy re-organising our own massive collection of Ghost Recon series mods here at GhostRecon.net.

Thanks to help from Pave Low, Davros and Tinker we have just about finished uploading the entire 10GB+ archive to a brand new download server. The next stage will be to update the download links for the 1000+ Ghost Recon files we have!

This weekend we completed the entire GRAW 2 mod section, and not only that, we added a brand new download archive for Tom Clancy HAWX mods.

With the change in download server we have implemented several improvements to the system, making downloading Ghost Recon mods eassier than ever. There will be no download queues, no security codes, no popups, no landing pages, just click and download!

With the GRAW 2 files online, we'll be concentrating on the Ghost Recon, and GRAW mods next and will post updates as we make headway on this huge task. 

Ghost Recon Mods Going Going Gone!
Posted by Rocky on Wednesday, March 25 2009
In a move with devastating consequences for Ghost Recon fans everywhere, Filefront have announced they are closing down in a few days. As Filefront has been our download source for quite some time now, this closure will knock all of our Ghost Recon mods (almost 1000) offline. Until we find a new file hosting service, the only way to gain access to every single Ghost Recon mod after the end of this month will be by our 6 Disk DVD collection.

Anyone with an interest in Ghost Recon, and Advanced Warfighter mods should visit our Download Section and start downloading like mad before Filefront goes offline at the end of the month.

Modders looking to submit new mods to our download section should read this announcement.

All Ghost Recon $20
Posted by Rocky on Saturday, February 7 2009
Possibly the bargain of the year, every Ghost Recon PC title for just under $20 (digital download). Visit the Ubi digital store here, or check your steam account here to purchase. **This Weekend Only!** Steam are working on compatibility issues with the digital versions, read more here.

Blackfoot Studios Interview
Posted by Rocky on Tuesday, January 27 2009
We've an exclusive interview with John Sonedecker from Blackfoot Studios today. Whiteknight's interview questions are answered openly by John, covering subjects such as Sky Gods, Ground Branch, console gaming, DRM, and more. Read the John Sonedecker BFS interview here. For further discussion there's a Sky Gods thread here.

HAWX datablast
Posted by Rocky on Monday, January 26 2009
Occasionally we like to look around at other Tom Clancy titles and one of the upcoming releases that has caught our eye is of course Tom Clancy H.A.W.X, and not just because it has a story tie in with Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter.

HAWX is shaping up to look pretty good, there's plenty of media around now, and the developers blog is definately worth a visit. For links to the latest info and a full Question and Answer session, visit this HAWX discussion.