Ubisoft's always-on, PC DRM system is making a return – unfortunately – with the release of "Driver: San Francisco." If you're unfamiliar with how the system works, it basically means your PC will have to be connected to the intenet to play the new "Driver" game. If you're offline, for whatever reason, you quite simply cannot play the game that you just paid actual dollars to purchase. The game you own.

It's been a bit since Ubisoft showed their genuine level of distrust in you, forcing your PC to be online whenever a game is played. Last year, the company made the same decision with "Assassin's Creed 2," a decision that almost immediately blew up in their face when the servers used to authenticate the game went down. So deep is their frustration with piracy, the company has turned to a method that is, frankly, completely absurd.

That's not to say that their concern with piracy is unwarranted. Illegal versions of PC games are, as we all know, completely rampant and the company has the right to secure their business. At the same time, this particular method of authentication is completely unnecessary. Sure, check when I install a game to see if it's legit, but the whole time – every time – I want to play?

What happens when your internet connection goes down? What if you're in a rural area where internet stability is spotty at best? Well, you won't be playing "Driver: San Francisco," that's what.

Strangely enough, there's no such DRM on the game's console version; a move which I'm sure doesn't come across as a giant middle-finger to PC players, at all. Kind of makes me long for the days when all the piracy-protection we needed was to identify the object printed on such and such page of the game's manual.