On topic, boy do I hate the sound of that...
Ubi really screwed people over when they implemented that crappy DRM in Anno 1404...
If I had known that before I bought it, I would have pirated it...
Truer words were never spoken...
The only way to fight piracy is through quality (also not treating your customers like idiots)...

Let's just hope none of these measures have nothing to do with DRM... except I have a feeling they will.
Just don't screw the consumer over... you do that and you will fail.

The word "tool," to me, implies some sort of hardware or software DRM mechanism. If it was anything value-oriented, he wouldn't have used that word.

This again? I thought I already said that I don't think it's going to be a digital bonus (that'll be easy to stick on the end of a torrent), nor anything physical bonus (for reasons Aliasalpha outlines). I think it's going to be some DRM.
Oh, and DS sales are more to do with the quality (or, more accurately, lack therof) of the games than anything else.
Sadly, shipping without DRM will never work for PC games, particularly new lesser known games.

"I agree with the sentiment but not the specifics. Packaging is pretty and all but unless you're an unusual sort (or baby), you open the box, get the fun stuff out and toss the box away. Likewise trinkets are utimately a short term "hey cool" thing that has no lasting value and only puts the price of the game up. "
Call me the unusual sort, or a baby. But my game boxes complete with manuals, maps, jewel cases, etc are all ensconsed on a huge bookshelf I have. Even now when I purchase a game from Amazon or eBay or wherever, I always go for the game in the box that has been well taken care of. And the same holds true for most of my gamer friends.

True, it suffers from things similar to the Wii: To many family/kid type games, focusing on the gimmicks.
But it's possible to play pirated games on both the DS and the PSP. For example, the DS have custom made cartridges, running firmwares that start up during the boot up sequence, and only loads up into the RAM, while the PSP can use a modified battery to boot up into a service mode, so that custom firmware can be flashed directly on to it.
I've got both consoles, and use it for both, though only for the homebrew stuff, like ports of PC games and such. But it's probably mostly used for piracy. Of course, there are those who have stuff like this and buy their games, thereby making the piracy number higher than it actually is.

So... people who buy boxed stuff get cool stuff. Whatever. It's like how people torrent Rock Band for the 360 when there's no instruments. I'll wait and see.

Also I hope this tool isn't a dongle, like a previous poster mentioned. I already have a couple Iloks and I find them a pain. Have studiously avoided syncrosoft thus far.

In this day and age, I don't think any major publisher that sells games online (and Ubi definitely fit that bill) COULD use any sort of physical media like a dongle.

I had heard of Ubisoft doing this years ago, but GOG? Do you mean the exact same modified exes or just the same approach?

Call me the unusual sort, or a baby. But my game boxes complete with manuals, maps, jewel cases, etc are all ensconsed on a huge bookshelf I have. Even now when I purchase a game from Amazon or eBay or wherever, I always go for the game in the box that has been well taken care of. And the same holds true for most of my gamer friends.
Indeed. I have never thrown a game box away. Not when I had 8-bit cassette tapes, not when I had 3.5 inch floppy Amiga games, not for any of the countless consoles I've owned and certainly not for any of my PC games. I even still have my original box for Half Life in storage in the UK (although I have CD with me).
it's the same for my CDs, DVDs and the few videos I still have. I always keep the packaging. Mind you, I still have the original packaging for the consoles I've bought here -- comes in handy for when it's time to put the console away for a few years =)

I was like that myself for a hell of a long time but then I realised how pointless it was and just how much space I was wasting when I could keep the relatively nice box for Dawn Of War OR I could fit a full season of Babylon 5 on my shelf. Oddly enough almost every gamer I know has started to follow this philosophy
I suppose it analogous to high quality JPG vs bitmap, lots smaller with minimal loss in value.

Horses for courses I guess, I really like the boxed units. It's one of the reasons I tend to prefer retail over DD if there's an option (the other reason being that retail is almost always cheaper).

Very true, but I find it quite strange, that you pay less for more. How is it possible that retail is cheaper? In DD there are no boxes with manuals and DVDs, which have to be shipped, stored, and then sold, yet it (DD) is usually more expensive.

Very simple...the publishers have to do it that way or retail wouldn't carry their product. Think about it...if you owned a games store and I came to you telling you about my great new game, and then told you that digital download would sell for $10 LESS per copy than what I'm asking you to sell it for, why would you carry a product where you're guaranteed to be undercut?