Pirating Group 3DM Will Stop Cracking Single-player Games for One Year

Chinese software pirates 3DM have announced that the group will cease cracking single-player games for one year to see how it affects sales.According to TorrentFreak, 3DM’s leader “Bird Sister” made the announcement on her personal blog. “We just had an internal meeting. Starting at the Chinese New Year [February 8], 3DM will not crack any single-player games,” she wrote. “We’ll take a look at the situation in a year’s time to see if genuine sales have grown.”She also wrote, “Cracks by overseas warez groups will still get posted on the [3DM] forum, and we will actively deal with these,” but it’s not confirmed whether that means the group will ban other cracks on their forums.Last month, Bird Sister wrote that the new “Denuvo” digital rights management system used in games like Just Cause 3 and Dragon Age: Inquisition was so sophisticated that she predicted “in two years time I’m afraid there will be no free games to play in the world.” Inquisition took the group about a month to crack, but Just Cause 3, which released last December, has still not been cracked.

Far Cry: Primal & Rise of the Tomb Raider Will Be Protected By The Denuvo Anti-Tamper Tech

As we had already predicted, more and more publishers are starting using the Denuvo anti-tamper solution. Ubisoft has revealed – via the game’s EULA – that Far Cry: Primal will be protected by the Denuvo anti-tamper tech, while Rise of the Tomb Raider was also spotted on Denuvo’s website.

Going into more details, Far Cry: Primal’s EULA clearly states that the game uses Denuvo:

“THE PRODUCT IS PROTECTED BY DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE (“DRM SOFTWARE”) AND DENUVO ANTI-TAMPER PROTECTION TECHNOLOGY”

What’s really interesting here is that according to this EULA, some files of the Denuvo anti-tamper tech may remain on the PC even after the game’s uninstalled.

“CERTAIN FILES OF THE ANTI-TAMPER TECHNOLOGY  MAY REMAIN EVEN AFTER THE PRODUCT IS UNINSTALLED FROM YOUR COMPUTER. “

Regarding Rise of the Tomb Raider, its header image was spotted on Codefusion’s  tech support site. This domain is registered to Denuvo’s, Reinhard Blaukovitsch , in Salzburg, where Denuvo has its headquarters. Given also the fact that Square Enix’s latest title, Just Cause 3, used Denuvo, it’s safe to say that Rise of the Tomb Raider will also use it.

Rumour also has it that The Division will be also using the Denuvo anti-tamper tech, however its EULA does not reveal such a thing at this point.

Ubisoft’s For Honor Will Have A Single-Player Mode

For Honor seems like a really interesting new title that is being developed by Ubisoft Montreal. However, it appears that some players thought that this would a MP-only title. Well, that won’t be the case as Stephane Cardin, producer of For Honor, has confirmed that this new upcoming fast-paced, competitive game will feature a full single player mode.

As Stephane Cardin said:

“One of the big questions we receive in feedback is about the solo campaign. We said that we will have a solo campaign, and I can promise you that we will have a solo campaign. It’s one of the key subjects we are working on, on the floor. I can’t wait to show stuff to you guys, and we’ll do it as early as possible, like we did with the multiplayer.”

The concept of the game feels great, however it remains to be seen whether the single-player mode will force gamers to co-op with other gamers or the AI.

Denuvo Is Successfully Protecting Games, Pirated Games May No Longer Exist In Two Years

It appears that Denuvo is doing an extremely good job at combating video-games piracy. While its early versions were cracked by various pirate scene groups, its latest version – that has been used in Just Cause 3 – is driving all groups crazy. Despite the huge amount for a pirated version, the game has not been cracked yet, and 3DM is at the verge of simply abandoning its attempts at cracking it.

As 3DM’s forum founder ‘Bird Sister’ claimed, Just Cause 3 has driven its cracking guy crazy.

“Recently, many people have asked about cracks for ‘Just Cause 3?, so here is a centralized answer to this question. The last stage is too difficult and Jun [cracking guy] nearly gave up, but last Wednesday I encouraged him to continue.”

Bird Sister then claimed that pirated games may no longer exist in two years if more developers/publishers start using such anti-tamper technologies as Denuvo.

“I still believe that this game can be compromised. But according to current trends in the development of encryption technology, in two years time I’m afraid there will be no free games to play in the world.”

All in all, Denuvo seems to be doing an amazing job for developers/publishers. And no; Denuvo does not cause slowdowns. Batman: Arkham Knight was a mess and players should blame the team responsible for the PC version and not Denuvo. After all, both Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and Mad Max run ridiculously amazing and they are protected by Denuvo.

Rumour: Next Assassin’s Creed Game Coming In 2017, Watch Dogs 2 Coming In 2016

Kotaku has leaked some interesting new information about the next Assassin’s Creed and Watch_Dogs games. According to Kotaku’s sources, Ubisoft will not release a Assassin’s Creed title in 2016. Instead, it is rumoured that the next Assassin’s Creed will be released in 2017. Not only that, but it is said that the sequel to Watch_Dogs will come out in 2016.

As Kotaku claimed:

“The next Assassin’s Creed, which we believe is set in ancient Egypt and code-named Empire, won’t launch until 2017, according to both a new online rumor and sources speaking to Kotaku. One person familiar with Ubisoft’s upcoming gaming plans told me this afternoon that the decision to delay Empire from fall 2016 was made after 2014’s disappointing Unity, and that this bump will allow the development team more room to improve and polish the game. “

In 4chan, someone claiming to be a Ubisoft developer claimed that the next AC game will be a complete revamp. Since this is 4chan where anyone can claim to be anyone, take the following with a lot of grain of salt.

“Egypt. There won’t be an AC in 2016. You may screencap this and refer to it when nothing is shown in E3 2016. You’ll have to wait until 2017 for it. The reason: It will be a complete revamp of the series. The game is going for a Witcher feel, with player progression, freeform combat system. Horse is back, and boats too. It’s made by the Black Flag team. You may leave any question you want answered.”

Kotaku claimed that Ubisoft may replace Assassin’s Creed with Watch_Dogs 2 in 2016. Watch_Dogs 2 is rumoured to be set San Francisco.

Review: Just Cause 3

It’s a crime that it’s taken nearly six years for a new Just Cause. Exploding (figuratively and literally) onto the scene in 2006, the series quickly came into its own with 2010’s Just Cause 2. Refining practically every issue with the first title, Just Cause 2 is a game that can be enjoyed for a indefinite amount of time. Sadly another last-gen sequel wasn’t meant to be and Square Enix instead waited two years into this console generation to once again unleash the madness. With most of developer Avalanche’s Sweden studio focusing on the development of Mad Max, their New York office took on the Just Cause 3 development and hired numerous ex-staffers of Criterion Games to round out the team and boy does it show. This is the most ridiculous, over the top Just Cause yet, designed solely around a single element: blowing $#^! up.Just Cause 3 takes place several years after the events of Just Cause 2, with protagonist Rico Rodriguez severing ties with The Agency and heading out to his homeland of Medici, a fictional archipelago that has been seized by the brutal dictator, General Di Ravello. The General has turned Medici into a military state, installing a sizable amount of military bases and oppressing its population wherever possible. Rico won’t stand for this, so he teams with past allies like Mario, Tom Sheldon, Dimah and more to overthrow the violent dictatorship. That’s about as deep as the story gets, with most of the interactions and cutscenes simply excuses to set up an absurd action climax, but that’s just fine. Just Cause has never been about story, but rather simply causing chaos, a conceit Just Cause 3 fully embraces.Just Cause 3 takes place in the giant open world of Medici, encompassing over 400 square miles. It’s ultimately up to the player on how to tackle it all, but there is a campaign comprised of main missions. Much like Grand Theft Auto, as fun as simply tooling around in the world is, these missions highlight everything great about the game and are set up for maximum destruction. Mission variety is high and all sorts of things are accomplished, but expect to do things like destroy giant convoys of pursuing military vehicles whilst standing on top of a speeding truck or taking out multiple targets whilst plummeting through the air after jumping out of a plane.

As enjoyable as the main missions are, practically everything else is a blast as well. One of the main side activities to accomplish is liberating enemy bases and towns. To accomplish this, Rico simply storms through the gates and (surprise, surprise) starts blowing up everything in site. Certain things must be blown up (like radars, satellite dishes, transformers, etc) and a certain amount of overall destruction must take place to liberate a military base. With so much to destroy and plenty of firepower and gas tankers standing by to do it, these moments are where some of the most ludicrous levels of destruction take place. It’s sometimes possible to destroy nearly the entirety of bases at once, conjuring enough fire to burn down the entire island. Towns are liberated more liberally, with the goal being to bring down all the propaganda including billboards, speaker systems, statues and more. Upon liberating either, vehicles and weapons are unlocked for Rebel Drops. These supply drops take the place of in-game currency and allow players to snag any weapon or vehicles at any time provided a beacon is available. Don’t think this makes things easier, however, as enemies match firepower (which can lead to some ridiculous firefights).Liberating oppressed towns and bases also unlock numerous challenges including Land/Air/Sea Races, Shooting Gallery, Destruction Frenzy, Crash the Bomb and more. These challenges are almost all a blast and thanks to the asynchronous multiplayer, leaderboards with best times are constantly displayed to compete against. These challenges are completed for more than just bragging rights, however, as they unlock Gears which can then in turn be used on Mods. Believe it or not, Mods make things even more outlandish as they unlock things like rocket-propelled planted explosives, a Spider-man-like Re-Reel ability, nitrous and much more. These can be toggled off after unlocking to keep things more realistic (ha), but some of these result in some moments of pure euphoria.A world so big is going to take multiple ways of traversal and thankfully Just Cause 3 has these in spades. When we’re talking about in-game vehicles, we’re not talking about mere tanks or cars. No, we’re talking about friggin’ cargo planes, assault choppers, bomber jets and naval destroyers. The scale of vehicles (or more accurately weapons of mass destruction) is large and allow matters to be taken to the land, air or sea. As great as it is island hopping in a jet, however, the wingsuit is the real star of the show. Ever since wingsuits broke through the mainstream several years ago, it’s been impossible not to be captivated by their gracefulness. After all, since the days of Copernicus, man has dreamed of flight and this is now possible in Just Cause. By utilizing the wingsuit, parachute and grappling hook, it’s possible for skilled pilots to fly around for minutes at a time and see everything the item has to offer. It’s a beautiful and freeing experience in a game so full of such wonted destruction and also an efficient means of transportation. For those who don’t feel like flying around for some reason, fast travel can be utilized to instantly arrive at destinations at the cost of a flare.

Closing Comments:
The adjective “ridiculous” has been used several times in this review as it’s the most apt available. Just Cause 3 is a ridiculous, over-the-top experience that wants so hard for you to blow it up. Playing around its 400 square miles, it’s almost as if the game can be heard yelling “OH MAN, THAT WAS SICK” in the background. It’s hard not to feel like a complete badass as you fly around the island dropping grenades and vaulting enemies into the air; in fact, you basically have super powers. There’s hardly an ounce of originality in Just Cause 3; it cribs its features from a myriad of different games before it (including racing games), but it positions everything primitively great about video games into a single explosive package. Horrendous loading times, a lack of synchronous multiplayer and optimization issues hold it back from pure bliss, but Just Cause 3 is an absolute blast, an experience equivalent to a shot of adrenaline straight into the heart.

Rating: 4/5

Reviewed By: HardCoreGamer

Review: Assassin’s Creed Syndicate

There’s a reason why Assassin’s Creed Syndicate hasn’t received any fanfare, despite being the next entry in one of gaming’s biggest franchises. Let’s go over some of the first thoughts that pop into a gamer’s mind when the words Assassin’s Creed are uttered in 2015. Fatigue. Could use a couple of years off. Profit-hungry. We’ve grown into people who think more about the lack of respect that this franchise has received than what it offers from an entertainment perspective, and for good reason. Sure, there are massive fans of this franchise floating around out there, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that Assassin’s Creed has become the most iconic example of the perils of annual release plans. Gone are the days where we gush over its spectacle, its mysticism and its fun-factor; try counting the amount of sighs that you hear from the gaming media whenever another Assassin’s Creed is announced. This might seem like the start of an exaggeration, but now that Assassin’s Creed Syndicate has established itself as a firm talking point in the conversation surrounding the issues with this series, it’s getting more and more impossible not to notice some of the inherent flaws with Ubisoft’s flagship IP.After the awkward faux pas that was Ubisoft’s statement on the lack of playable female characters in the disappointing Assassin’s Creed Unity, it was great to see the massive publisher take a big step forward with the inclusion of Evie Frye in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate. Merely one year after basically saying that it’s not worth creating a female protagonist due the need for increased development resources, Syndicate gives us one of the better Assassin’s Creed characters in recent memory. The thing is, there is such a staunch dichotomy in the level of character quality between her and her twin brother Jacob that it brings up a major question that will likely never be answered. Some might be afraid to ask this question, but it needs to be brought up in some capacity: did Ubisoft create a dynamic female lead character in Evie only to backtrack and give her a playable twin out of fear of public backlash? At the end of the day, the answer to this question doesn’t necessarily matter anywhere outside of comments sections and message boards, but the fact of the matter is that Jacob feels like little more than an Industrial Revolution era dude-bro, while Evie is a smart, dynamic character who adds to what is largely a story without a true hook. Assassin’s Creed Syndicate‘s twin mechanic comes across as a half step towards a bold narrative choice, a flaw highlighted by its bland main story.

Whereas Unity manages to flesh out exactly what motivated its protagonist, the vast majority of Syndicate‘s story operates under the assumption that Jacob and Evie Frye have rock-solid reasoning for their actions. The male Frye twin is driven by the idea of a liberated, Templar-free London, while Evie sees the acquisition of a Piece of Eden as the key to society’s well-being. The previous sentence would be impossible to write without that understanding, and Syndicate certainly manages to spell that out subtly, but a blatant lack of backstory makes for a campaign experience that wants you to beat it simply for completion’s sake. We get glimpses of how horrible the main villain, Crawford Starrick, is, and we definitely can tell that Jacob and Evie want to take him down, but this tale simply isn’t fleshed out enough to be much more than standard video game fare. As a result, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate gives off the impression that it’s catering to an audience that wants another Assassin’s Creed game rather than an audience that wants a stand out gaming experience.While certain new additions like battles on top of moving trains and the opportunity to drive horse-drawn carriages serve to break up some of the monotony, the fact of the matter is that Assassin’s Creed Syndicate has the same mission design issues that gamers have been complaining about for years now. While you won’t necessarily be listening to enemies outside of a given area while crouching during every third mission, there are a fair amount of escort missions and basic fetch quests present to overshadow the handful of outstanding missions. Unity‘s largest strength was its inclusion of sandbox assassinations, and those return in full form in Syndicate in a big way. If you play through the main story in chunks, you’ll probably wind up playing through one of these assassinations during every sitting, so the campaign certainly has its highlights. Being able to find entry points and complete one or two small tasks in order to make killing your target easier does increase a level of dynamism to these missions that the franchise itself largely lacks. The thing is, these missions do not make up the entirety of the main campaign, which means that there’s definitely a whole lot of good old fashioned filler. Whether you’re driving a carriage, slinking across rooftops or just walking down the street, you’re going to have to follow a ton of characters very slowly, so be prepared.

Other than Evie being a compelling character, the clear star of the show in Assassin’s Creed Syndicate is its locale. While Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag may always stand out as the title with the most iconic location in franchise history, the darker 1868 London sports an intriguing dichotomy between modernization and old-time sensibility. Sure, the open-world itself might not feel like the most dynamic place in the world, as a great deal of the non-player characters are simply environment-filler, but there’s something that simply feels cool about this location in this time period. The more modern time period by franchise standards also gives rise to perhaps the best addition to Assassin’s Creed‘s core gameplay, period: the grappling hook. To be fair, this is totally The Legend of Zelda‘s Hookshot put in a more realistic package, but the idea that you can scale any building in mere seconds, as well as cross gaps between buildings through the use of a horizontal zip-line makes for a less obnoxious parkour experience. There are bound to be more Assassin’s Creed games in the future, and not including a gadget like this in those future iterations would be criminal. After all, this is a device that allows you to bypass what are easily the loosest control mechanics out of any Assassin’s Creed game this generation.Assassin’s Creed has always been known to have some level of control unresponsiveness. There are endless videos and memes floating around the Internet that poke fun at the fact that, at any given time, you can rocket up onto a ledge or get stuck on geometry in some irrational way. Assassin’s Creed Syndicate often feels like it takes this clunk-factor to the next level, as nearly every move your character makes feels like its subject to a noticeable input lag. From the way that Jacob and Evie, who largely play similarly despite what the tutorials tell you, seem to instantly move at full speed with no ramp up to the fact that you often can’t move in the direction you want to due to what seem to be inconsistent invisible barriers all over the place, this is a title that will not be kind to those who enjoy tight controls. It would be quite the accomplishment to be able to play through the entirety of Assassin’s Creed Syndicate without your character or the environment finding a bizarre way to impede your progress or cause you to fail, which speaks to the overall level of polish present here. Never has it been more evident that Ubisoft needs to start from scratch in updating Assassin’s Creed‘s controls, as they are directly at odds with player enjoyment here.

With a much lower NPC density than Unity, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate does not suffer from nearly the same amount of frame rate drops (minus those that frequently arise when driving) and pop-in as its predecessor. Unfortunately, Syndicate‘s smoothness does not make up for what often feels like a glaring lack of polish. During one mission in particular, I was tasked with defending an ally riding in a horse-drawn carriage from two enemies in horse-drawn carriages while driving my very own horse-drawn carriage. One would think that defending an ally would mean guiding them to safety, so the fact that only one of the enemies was actually killed shouldn’t necessarily matter if our dips and dodges wound up losing the other enemy in the crowded streets of London. It turns out, by letting that enemy stay behind made him completely freeze 450 meters away from Evie and her ally, and the next portion of mission would not trigger until this glitched-out enemy was thwarted. After travelling to this frozen foe and murdering him, the mission immediately failed itself due to the distance between Evie and her ally. Combine this with an unrivaled number of awkward climbing animation hitches, the fact that certain zip-line routes might cause your character to freeze in mid-air and the early reports of straight up invisible carriages, and it’s clear that Syndicate can be painfully frustrating in its own right.Yes, the story is a bit lackluster, the controls make The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt look like Bayonetta, and it suffers from some jarring polish issues. Still, if you’re looking for a massive open world game to dig into, and you’re not into Fallout or Metal Gear, then there is certainly a lot of content to enjoy. Thanks to a number of microtransactions that are conveniently located right next to, and inside of, your crafting menu, you’re going to do a fair amount of grinding if you hope to upgrade all of your equipment to Master Assassin levels. Combine this with a separate progression system for Jacob and Evie and the addition of a Far Cry-style enemy faction system, and it’s clear that Assassin’s Creed Syndicate is not starved for content. There are a great deal of side missions present everywhere you turn, and even though a great deal of these feel repetitive almost immediately, the fact is that this is one game where you won’t complain about not getting enough things to do. Whether or not those activities are actually fun is another question entirely, but at the very least, you’re going to have your schedule booked for a while if you hope to 100% this one.

Closing Comments:Assassin’s Creed Syndicate is emblematic of everything that this franchise has become. After being one of the most revolutionary new IPs of last generation, Assassin’s Creed has gone from producing consistent hits to being a series that has started to spit out average experiences. There are far too many exciting games coming out this fall to make this a priority unless you are a massive fan of Assassin’s Creed, as even those who have never played a game in this series before would be better suited picking up Black Flag on the cheap. With every release, the same issues that Ubisoft has been rolling over year over year seem to have compounded themselves to a point where the entire package winds up suffering. Sure, this isn’t the broken mess that Assassin’s Creed Unity was, but in some ways it’s more of a blemish than its predecessor. After all, this is a functional game that simply isn’t all that fun to play, which is far more damning than any technical glitch could ever be.

Rating: 4/5
Reviewed By: HardCoreGamer