...How is this a positive thing for people who pay for the content? My internet connection is choppy - my wireless card needs to be replaced sometime - and this shit sucks for me. Who could this be good for?

I have 2 computers one has ubuntu as the os and is used for the internet and such. The other is my gaming computer with windows installed. It is not connected to the internet because i want to have the least amount of processes running when gaming. It has no anti-virus, no firewall and every unnessary service is turned off. If this is the future of gaming then this is my last gaming computer.
Also, you would think hardware manufactures would start complaining because this is turning people off to pc gaming.

This.

On this site, these sort of threads seem to be repeatedly trolled by horrendously ignorant console owners. They might like to consider where the R&D expenditure for the next generation of console hardware actually comes from. If you would like the costs to be borne by MS/ Sony/ Nintendo alone and your next console to cost $1000, keep on burying your heads in the sand. Otherwise, send a message to companies like Ubisoft- tell them why you're not buying the next installment of their fucking endless franchises and stop buying their games before you get caught up in their anti-consumer shite.

Smaller games will still be cracked exactly like they do now. Companies don't come up with unique solutions for every game they produce, and smaller companies can't afford to go to the effort of producing complex anti-piracy solutions so usually end up buying the larger generic solutions anyway (or go with whatever their publisher is pushing). Once these solutions are cracked, the effort required for applying it to newer games is minor. This removes the window you are talking about, which I personally think does little to promote sales, as many (most?) of those who pirate will never buy the game anyway.

While copy protection might have been used to try to fight piracy in the past, modern copy protection (or more specifically DRM) is about restricting used game sales and tracking user usage. This is why game companies want single player games to phone home every time they are played.

This is kinda the situation I'm in. My wireless internet connection can be very unstable, which in this case could be game breaking.

If I bought a game with this kind of protection I would probably download a pirated copy (assuming it's easier to use) and play that instead.

Every game gets cracked. Aside from that, the Settlers series sells fuckloads anyway. Methinks Master WilliamWatts doesn't have a clue.

That is not an entirely unreasonable solution, though I would just avoid the game on PC altogether.

You don't need a CD in the drive to play. So never a CD vs sometimes a wireless connection not being working at precisely the same time you want to save a game.

This is an Ubisoft DRM system. So my guess is all Ubisoft PC titles will use it. Therefore its not applicable to anything outside of games Ubisoft publishes themselves.

Given the drop in price most PC games experience, buying used and selling used is of little help as the new prices are often the same or cheaper than those of a used copy. It also remains to be seen whether the key is transferable or not.

....I use Daemon to mount virtual images of my game CDs anyway

You said this would be a good thing for players

How does that make this a good thing for players? GOG doesn't exactly need a CD check either but they don't shut down my game every time I disconnect