has anyone got any idea of what this tool entails as the worst part of drm is limited activations?

Yes. It's just too bad that they charge an annual fee for membership, and that they ignore anybody from outside the US and Canada. I mean, obviously, noone besides Americans and Canadians play computer games, right?

Couldn't it BE Steam? Sort of like Empire Total War: even if you buy the game on disc, you essentially get a Steam image and a CD key to activate it with?

If it is Steam, then I won't be buying what they're selling.
I really don't like having Steam constantly hanging around on my system. I run a tight ship!

"We are working on a tool.."
No. Steam is complete, no need to work on it. :P

It surely needs a hammer and a blowtorch taken to it...

:)

The best anti-piracy method is to make a good game! I purchase my games, and have multi-copies of a few games (I have 2 PCs). I did not purchase (nor download) Far Cry 2, first it had DRM other than just a cd key and disc check, second there was no leaning or prone in the game, it is a FPS, Duh! I will not tolerate online activation, limited installs, digital downloads (other than gog of course) or account log-ins. I will simply quit buying games, and only play my old ones, no big deal to me! Game companys need to realize that anything electronic can and will be defeated. I build my PCs and sometimes reinstall my OS, I am very anal about my gaming PC, I don't like unnecessary software installed nor do I like software doing something I am not aware of (trying to connect to the internet and such), that is why I have 2 PCs. I realize I am part of a very small percentage that is a hard core PC enthusiast, but I voice my opinions with my Money! If it sucks or has harsh DRM - NO sell! I am very willing to shell out money for a GOOD game on CD or DVD, but don't treat me like a criminal, nor give me any other software but the game!

Ubi's continued reluctance to fix the multi player component in their games is what baffles me. Look at Far Cry 2...apparently there are STILL server problems with it, so it never really took off as a MP title like it could have...result, it's already less than $20 almost everywhere you look. Same story with Rainbow Six Vegas 2, and it's looking like the same story with the new Call of Juarez game.
Compare that to Call of Duty 4. It's STILL selling for $40 and still selling a number of COPIES at that price point, what, a year and a half after release now? Why? A ton of people are still playing it online.
And Far Cry 2, from what I played of it at a friend's house, was just a pretty shell. Once you got past the graphics it was just a repetitive, braindead game.

It's since had the DRM patched out of it.

Thanks for the info, if Far Cry 2 drops to $15.00 I think I'll buy it.

What worries me about all these "Anti-piracy" techniques, are the dangers of companies going out of business. What happens to protect the consumer? For example, all this digital download stuff, that has copy protection; what if GameStop goes out of business? What happens to my game then? How do I reinstall it if I can't connect to a server to get "authenticated?" What happens if Steam runs out of steam, and (heaven forbid) the servers get closed down? What happens to the several hundreds of dollars I've spent on games that require steam to validate and play?
This kind of thing worries me. I still have games in pristine condition since 1996 and before, and occasionally reinstall them just to play. I would like to be able to do that 10, 20 years from now with the games I've bought today. That is why I don't like a lot of these protection softwares. I understand the need to try to avoid piracy as much as possible, but pirates will always find a way around it.
Just my 2 cents.

The trouble is, the game publisher has no interest in people playing their games in the future (say, after 1-2 years post-release).
If anything, they'd rather you ditched your old games (without selling them to a 2nd hand shop or lending to a friend) and bought their new games.
It's all about maximizing profits.

A valid and common concern. EA says it will patch the DRM out of the game should their servers shut down. Stardock's Goo offers the option to transfer the authentication process to any other online retailer. But yeah, off the top of my head, outside of that...it's a gamble. Of course, there are always cracks, which, if it weren't for those...I wouldn't buy most or any games with online authentication.
Also, the goal of DRM isn't to prevent all piracy, just minimize it, especially around launch time -- even converting 3-4% of people from pirates to buyers is a huge difference in profits, Capcom once said. But yeah, even that isn't very effective usually...

Especially when games leak a week early because of some twat at the duplicators (which seems to be the source of a LOT of piracy) and you can get the pirate version with less annoying shit, faster and for free...