pirating a game to demo makes as much sense to me as stealing a car to test ride it. One must really love gaming before they go out and buy a legal version of a pirated game.
I know there are people who do this, but they must surely be in the minority.
If I can't find a demo, a decent amount of reviews or know someone who played it I just wont bother getting it at all.
I have yet to see a great game of which there was no demo available.
Anyway I can only cheer for Ubisofts initiative, but why another PoP?

/agreed
i believe the only thing that will happen after this 'experiment' is that future ubisoft games will include even more convoluted protection schemes as a result of pop getting pirated to hell and back still.
there will be no excuse then for pirates to hide behind when drm is re-included into future games.

2 Fluofish:
Well, I do it really often. It saved me lot of anger with FarCry 2. I've pirated it, tried it, and after one hour deleted it.
Same with Witcher, but instead of deleting it, I've immediately bought it :)
I really don't know how trustworthy are your resources, but since my favourite webzine gave 9/10 to Farcry, I really prefer to try the game myself. Since there are almost no demos, what am I supposed to do?

I disagree, there's actually a few people in this thread who have said that they weren't interested in PoP but are interested now, simply because it's DRM free, and wish to support an initiative as such.
I wouldn't have even looked at this game, if it weren't for that. I know what comes with a Prince of Persia game, and it isn't my kind of game. I don't normally buy it. My girlfriend got the sands of time games, and she liked them, and I picked up assassins creed because I heard it was PoP-ish and figured she'd like them . I know what they're about, and I don't like PoP. But, if it means supporting a DRM free business model, then I will buy it. I probably won't play it. I'll probably let my girlfriend play it. But anyway, it's not a game I was ever interested in, so even if it had DRM I wouldn't have bought it. I just turned down a rather cheap copy of Crisis Warhead because of the DRM. Anyway, if it can be helped I'm not buying another DRM game, unless it's something that is very unobtrusive and is actually effective (steam multiplayer games for example, I prefer to use steam for multiplayer games because their interface for the PC is very easy to use), or a simple CD check or CD key, those are fine!
Anyway, my point being, is that PoP is a game that I have no interest in, other than being DRM free, if it wasn't drm free I'd have kept walking, as many people in this thread have already stated, and you two appear to be ignorant towards.
You feel the majority won't agree? Here's 182 people who'd probably disagree with you.
And here's over 2616.
Seriously, Spore was the most pirated game of 2008, you know why? DRM.
I don't have an interest in the game myself, so I haven't played it, tried a demo once but it didn't operate properly on my old machine.
Anyway, people are going to react to a big publisher not using DRM.
I imagine it will be in the games favor.

It would be a bit hasty to attribute its piracy rates to solely that fact. It might have to do with the game appealing to the Sims-demographic as well. (with Sims being the best selling game of all time and whatnot)

the sims being the best selling would lead to spore being the most pirated?
most people I know who play the sims, don't even know how to use their computer, they were shocked to find out it would run a video game.
Anyway, you might consider my characterization as being false/uninformed because I don't know all the people, or even the majority who bought or play the sims.
I could say the same thing about your statement. Just because the sims was a good seller, doesn't mean people will pirate another game, although, if that game has DRM they might pirate it, if it poses less value to customers through buying it.
I have done this with games in the past, like the orange box, I stole it, and now I own two copies, one on xbox, one on pc, and even Portal: Still Alive on xbox.
But then there are games that I have pirated in the past, that I haven't bought, and I don't intend on buying, because the games suck and I deleted them.
Although, whenever I see Oblivion for a cheap price I always think "Heeeeey..." I always eventually remember my experience with it and change my mind.

Announcing Beyond Good and Evil 2, getting rid of DRM...maybe Ubi is coming to their senses.

I went out today to pick up PoP and read the back of the DVD case and saw a little yellow box on the back that stated the software had protection that prevented copying the disk (something to that effect).
Needless to say, it sure did sound like DRM to me so I did not pick it up as I will wait for official confirmation of no DRM.

You know, its weird. In readme it also says that the game employs some sort of DRM.
But then you have UBISOFT employee openly stating the game has no DRM whatsoever.
PLUS, the leaked version is out already and there is no crack for it or anything, because there is not a need for one.You just install it and it works, no online authentication, no CDKEY, no cdcheck...nothing.
IMO there is no DRM, but the decision came too late and they did not manage to change the info on the box and in readme.

Enough people seem to know if Sims 2 managed to be the second most pirated game of the year, right after Spore.
It's not "people will pirate it because they liked another game", it's "lots of people will pirate it, simply because it has a huge playerbase just like the Sims".
It would actually be pretty funny if that's all the copy protection it had. Kind of like a huge "BEWARE OF DOG" sign with a drawing of a frightening mastiff, and it was actually a tiny chihuahua barking at you from the other side of the fence.

You really should at least give the demo a go. Its an awesome game, with an original premise, great style, great graphics, great music, great gameplay, etc...
Plus, there was an open beta, a free test in the form of Tower of Goo, and a very generous demo. And the price for the full version isn't much more than any of the games on GOG.
I seem to spen half my time moaning that no-one makes original games anymore, just sequels and FPS games, so i'm really happy that some people are still trying to make original games. Best game of the year so far, imho.
(The comment about people not putting in money seems very strange... publishers will put in money to things they think will MAKE money... that doesn't often include new/original franchises. But i think in this case (and in the cases of Braid, Audiosurf, etc..) the devs wanted (and needed) the freedom from suit-overlord-control in order to make the kind of game they wanted. )

Hop, i ordered it!
I was half interested before, but when i learned no drm were included, i decided to support the cause!

This is awesome. I'm just going to buy it for this, even if I'm not going to play it.

Good news, I hope the game sells well. Sadly the retail version cost 59,90€ here in Spain and I'm not gonna spend such amount of money in that game.
I wish there was a GNG (Good New Games ;D) selling drm free new games for 30-40$. Well, dreaming is free, so I'm going back to my bed :).