Spore

DagsJT said:
But do you really believe all these people on torrent sites saying they're downloading it but have also bought it? I'd say maybe 5% of those people have bought it.

And if it is true that they've all bought it, EA are still smiling because they're still selling retail copies regardless.
Click to expand...

No I wouldn't believe them - I'm just saying that's what they should do. Support the devs and then show EA you're going to torrent the game and use that version instead of their version.
 
If i was EA tho, i wouldnt care if people torrented the game if they'd bought it as i'd still have sold you a copy of the game regardless. If everyone buys and then torrents, why should EA take any notice of the stance, the game is selling either way.
 
DagsJT said:
If i was EA tho, i wouldnt care if people torrented the game if they'd bought it as i'd still have sold you a copy of the game regardless. If everyone buys and then torrents, why should EA take any notice of the stance, the game is selling either way.
Click to expand...
yup. EA care about £££ nothing else
 
Think EA generally overall do a good job. DRMs aside, they do get some cracking IPs out there and despite the aggressive monopoly of licenses, they do create whats widely regarded as the best sports games.

Think a video gaming fan would be worse off without them!
 
pboreham said:
Think EA generally overall do a good job. DRMs aside, they do get some cracking IPs out there and despite the aggressive monopoly of licenses, they do create whats widely regarded as the best sports games.

Think a video gaming fan would be worse off without them!
Click to expand...
na i would say 2K make the best sports games. if they where to make a footy game, dont be surprised if it was better then fifa.

EA just buy and buy people's ideas. look at crysis. the company behind them called cryteck made the very first far cry game which was distributed by ubi soft.

Now EA tried to buy rockstar and failed.
 
jonneymendoza said:
na i would say 2K make the best sports games.
Click to expand...

Play prizefighter and say that again.

Play Top Spin 3's underwhelming and flawed career mode and say that again (not to mention the multiplayer glitches like super wide serves that result in always a winning point for the server).

Play MLB2k8 and say that again.
 
Placebo said:
Play prizefighter and say that again.

Play Top Spin 3's underwhelming and flawed career mode and say that again (not to mention the multiplayer glitches like super wide serves that result in always a winning point for the server).

Play MLB2k8 and say that again.
Click to expand...
cant say about MLB2K8 or even prizefighter? But top spin 3 is the best tennis game so far. Has EA made a tennis game yet?

nba and nhl are both better on 2k sports then with EA imo :) im sure 2k could make a great footy sim
 
jonneymendoza said:
cant say about MLB2K8 or even prizefighter? But top spin 3 is the best tennis game so far. Has EA made a tennis game yet?

nba and nhl are both better on 2k sports then with EA imo :) im sure 2k could make a great footy sim
Click to expand...

Top Spin 3 has a great gameplay engine but the career mode is very, very poor, it makes the ML look like a good career mode IMO. No idea about NBA or NHL as neither of those sports interest me.
 
EA relents, changes Spore DRM. Too little, too late?


The story of Spore continues on, but, unfortunately for EA, the game is now firmly in the middle of the larger debate over DRM. EA now claims to have heard the complaints of gamers, and has detailed a few changes it hopes will ease the tension, but whether this appeasement will be enough to make gamers happy is an open question. "We're willing to evolve our policy to accommodate our consumers," Frank Gibeau, EA Games label president, said.

The install limit for Spore will be upped to five, from three, and EA promises it is working on a way to deauthorize the game on your machines so you can move your installs between five computers without having to contact customer service, an expensive proposition in places like Australia where the call costs nearly $3 a minute. Talking to MTV Multiplayer, EA claimed that it was rare for gamers to install the game on multiple machines, or almost unheard of for gamers to want to put the game on more than two systems.

Here is a look at the data EA provided, although it stresses that these numbers are a sample and shouldn't be taken as indicative of total sales:

* Total activations: 437,138
* Users activating on only 1 machine: 86 percent
* Users activating on more than 1 machine: 14 percent
* User trying to activate on more than 3 machines: 0.4 percent

If this data is to be believed, the newly implemented five-install limit should be more than enough to keep customers happy, along with the to-be-released deauthorization system. Still, the very idea of any kind of limit seems to gall many gamers, who believe this system turns their game purchases into glorified rentals. It's likely these new "loosened" restrictions will be hit with the same vitriol.

EA did confirm one thing to MTV: if the authorization servers are ever taken down, the game won't become useless. "If we were to ever turn off the servers on the game, we would put through a patch before that to basically make the DRM null and void," the company claimed. "We're never walking away from the game and making it into a situation where people aren’t going to be able to play it."

EA has also fixed the issue of only having one account per game, and will now allow five screen names per install. The official post details the update. "Each Screen Name will be able to view and create content, Buddy Lists and Sporecasts that will be tied to that Screen Name. The Achievements earned will be credited to the Screen Name that is logged in at the time the Achievement is triggered," it was explained. "In the first iteration of this change, all Screen Names will be playing in the same Galaxy and any content downloaded by any Screen Name will be available in the Everything section."

While these movements into less-restrictive DRM are nice, the game has already lost quite a bit of momentum, not to mention good will. Gamers made this displeasure clear by carpet-bombing Amazon.com with one-star reviews, and the install limit of Red Alert 3 has also been receiving negative press. Even worse for PR, the name Spore now has many negative connotations, very few of which have anything to do with the game, aside from the install restrictions.

After all this madness, one thing is sadly clear: gaming DRM isn't going anywhere. "Without the ability to protect our work from piracy, developers across the entire game industry will eventually stop investing time and money in PC titles," Gibeau stated. The pirates remain in the back of the room, giggling.
 
jonneymendoza said:
cant say about MLB2K8 or even prizefighter? But top spin 3 is the best tennis game so far. Has EA made a tennis game yet?

nba and nhl are both better on 2k sports then with EA imo :) im sure 2k could make a great footy sim
Click to expand...

NHL2k9 is better than NHL 09? HA! What a joke... 2k9 advertise their game as bringing back "fun". It's like saying FIFA Street is better than FIFA 08/09. But I guess some people like the more arcady option... just look at all the people still hanging on to PES.
 
I'm gonna buy it when it's cheap. I've got 5 people in my family alone who want to play it, not to mention all the reinstalls I end up doing.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Sure, Fruitfucker should be right up there for words that probably shouldn't be allowed in the Sporepedia and I had, at one point, named my fleshy shark-mouthed ode to Penny Arcade FruitLover. But let's face it, what that devious little shiny robot does to fruit does not involve even a shred of love.

Last week, months after the Fruitfucker I created with the Creature Creator got lots of attention and love (including from those inside Maxis and EA), I decided to upload the little beastie, sorta forgetting to change its name.

The result was this email:

Hello ,

Your Electronic Arts account has been suspended for 7 days for violating the Electronic Arts Inc Terms of Service. We believe that the violation or behavior is serious enough to suspend your access to the service.

Violation: Inappropriate Profile text or Avatar image Violation type: Inappropriate Language
Asset Name: Fruitfucker
Asset Creation Date :09.16.2008

Understanding the EA Terms of Service is extremely important, should you have any general questions or concerns please review the Terms of Service here: http://legal.ea.com/legal/legal.jsp?language=en. Should you then need additional assistance, or wish to appeal a violation, you can contact us here: http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=17.

Sincerely,
Customer Support
Electronic Arts, Inc.

EA.com Customer Relations
Click to expand...

custom_1221947855739_Ffucker.JPG
 
Radiation said:
After all this madness, one thing is sadly clear: gaming DRM isn't going anywhere. "Without the ability to protect our work from piracy, developers across the entire game industry will eventually stop investing time and money in PC titles," Gibeau stated. The pirates remain in the back of the room, giggling.
Click to expand...

Newsflash:
It won't stop the pirates and will only make paying costumers to choose the "better" version out there.
 
Originally Posted by Radiation View Post
After all this madness, one thing is sadly clear: gaming DRM isn't going anywhere. "Without the ability to protect our work from piracy, developers across the entire game industry will eventually stop investing time and money in PC titles," Gibeau stated. The pirates remain in the back of the room, giggling.

DRM is whats killing pc gaming too. DRM adds more salt to its wounds as they say because DRM only forces alot of people to pirate games instead of buying it.

i mean why pay for a game where it could slow down your pc with rootkit DRM'S and only restricts you for the amount of times you can install the game where you can get the "free" version without all that crap in it?

DRM doesnt stop piracy, its fucking useless and its just there to piss off customers. i mean come on, this game was cracked before it was even released!

seriously what valid reason do EA have in putting install limits/DRM's? certainly not to stop piracy thats for sure! making it worse actually.
edit:
DRM is definetly not fun. I'll give some examples of where Intrusive DRM hurts the consumer while the Pirate gets an easier experience:

1. Computers move on, but the intrusive DRM does not. The DRM is no longer compatible with your new operating system even though the game itself would physically run if the DRM didn't stop it.

2. The company forces your game to validate online, but you don't have an Internet connection or the validation servers are deactivated because the Games producer is losing money by keeping them active 5-10 years after the game is initially released. Also the Company may go bust and is unable to run the servers any more.

3. Some DRM is so intrusive that it begins to interfere with the stability of your PC, or stops other programs from functioning such as NERO or other Optical Disc devices.

4. The DRM may require you to use the CD/DVD that came with the game meaning each time you play your disc is being worn out going in and out of its case which has usually hard grips that can damage the center of the disc. Not to mention the hassle of having to keep digging the games packaging out.

5. DRM Bugs can simply cause your game to stop running. False positives, and general bad coding by the DRM's creator causes bugs that may make the game completely inaccessible to paying customers.

6. Re-installation issues if you don't call up the Games publisher and deactivate your old Installation. What if they stop maintaining those Phone systems, go bust or believe your a Pirate?

And finally, Number 7, DRM doesn't work. With each new DRM it only causes the Customers issues, costs the game company money in developing/purchasing/licensing the DRM and the pirates still get a DRM free version to download and use as they wish. The DRM is there to stop people from pirating the game but it doesnt do that. These Release groups that Rip and Crack games are not Joe-Average they are very competent programmers and hackers.

DRM to a Games Publisher is an easy way to rest their minds about the piracy level of their games. But it doesn't work. So what does work? - My advice to games publishers is this:

In each game, include a Serial Code. And then include a Multiplayer online aspect to your game. If people want to play that online component they have to login through your servers and have their Serial authorized by your authentication servers otherwise they won't be able to join any online games that are in progress.

Give the Pirates the Single-Player for free, but make them pay to play online. So many people want to play online and the pirated copies of good games with strong online components simply cannot compete with a retailed purchased version. I'm sure most people here are aware of 'Counter Strike: Source' its an Online FPS game with Team based action. It has been pirated so that people can play it online. However Due to the nature of the way the Developer kept updating the games online component with new features and improved authentication schemes the Pirated versions became unusable.

The game started off with the first pirate copy. Then within a year the group that originally put that copy on the Internet had to release over 29 separate updates so that pirates who downloaded their copy could keep playing the game. That sort of aggravation is what breaks the pirates resolve and makes them pay out. DRM does the opposite, it creates frustration for people who ARE paying for the game and makes THEM pirate. Don't make it easy for the Pirates, make it easy for your Customers.

That's all I have to say. Rant over.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
2 - EA said if they ever came to a moment where they no longer wanted to keep the validation system running they would release a patch to free the game from it.
 
EA has threatened to ban the Spore accounts of members discussing DRM issues on the official game forum.

"SecuROM has been discussed and discussed so much and it causes arguments in threads," barked a moderator. "If you want to talk about DRM SecuROM then please use another fan site forum.

"Please do not continue to post these threads or you account may be at risk of banning, which in some cases would mean you would need to buy a new copy to play Spore."

However, further down the page a producer for EA Maxis attempted to sooth the resulting furore.

"We are happy to support healthy exchanges on the forums. And people will only get banned for breaking the rules. Discussing DRM is not breaking the rules - and as long as it is a civil conversation, it's cool with us," said "Maxislucky".
 
Slachtbeest said:
I'm extremely pleased that consumer rights are being addressed, and companies such as EA who pull this kind of garbage are finally being called on it hard, and consumer rights being addressed very seriously now.

However, I'm unsure about the last part, regarding the "DRM overseeing the computer" etc., unless they're referring to it "overseeing" when/how the game is being used and installed, and things such as what hardware you're running, which we know it does. As for it doing or "monitoring" anything else, I don't know about that...

Anyway, here's the link to article and the article itself:

Link



Note: this thread was posted for those who actually care about consumer rights and even privacy, not as a "bash" thread, nor any "whining" about DRMs, for those who cannot handle a conversation about the issue that other adults wish to have, so please keep it calm and respectful to everyone here, thanks.
Click to expand...


ha!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom