Ubisoft is quick to boast the added value of tying games and the Ubi.com account together, such as unlimited installations, saved games being backed up online as well as locally, and the removal of the once-ubiquitous CD check (this time through legitimate means, as opposed to Rainbow Six Vegas 2) but these new freedoms come at a high cost -- the requirement for a permanent Internet connection, even for single-player. Many gamers have faced the annoyance of a downed internet connection cutting off their multiplayer titles; with the new system, any titles tied in to their Ubi.com account will be unplayable in single player as well.

According to Ubisoft's FAQ page, "most upcoming Ubisoft PC games" will make use of this new system. It is currently being trialed with the beta of Settlers 7. What makes this different from the activation systems common in other PC games is that it requires a constant connection to the Ubisoft servers -- a heartbeat signal telling the game to keep working. And unlike STEAM, which can run in an offline mode for single-player games, and even keep multiplayer games like Team Fortress 2 going, losing your internet connection in the middle of an Ubisoft game equipped with this new "feature" will pause the game while it attempts to reconnect. The FAQ provides a rather ambiguous answer to what happens if you can't get back online, in that "you can continue the game from where you left off or from the last saved game." Hopefully that "last saved game" wasn't too long ago.

But for those of you loyal Ubisoft customers worried about being forced to sign up for an online account and provide private data, don't worry. Ubisoft's FAQ has an "answer" for that question as well:

Why is Ubisoft forcing their loyal customers to sign up for a Ubisoft account when they don't want to give their private data and only play single player games?
We hope that customers will feel as we do, that signing up for an account will offer them exceptional gameplay and services that are not available otherwise.