Agreed. Thats why I don't by EA games anymore.
:rotfl:
Well unless there for $5 in a bargan bin or some such... Cracks is the only way to go with companies like Beth and EA, THQ etc.

Few PC game companies are true to there fans.... ah I mean clients.

Well, I'm still not seeing any info from EA on why this is happening, to so many people, or any kind of support response.... All I can find news-wise is EA decided to go with a standard serial number system, so if this is some kind of copy protection and they are not being upfront about it, AND not helping customers with legit copies, that's two strikes against them.

But to be clear, even though this is an EA fail, I still consider this the fault of people who copy games and distribute them illegally. :nope: EA wouldn't bother with any copy protection if people would be honest. Thanks again, pirates. If you want to play it, pay for it. Otherwise, move along.

I'll take the game back tomorrow.

Nah, it's just that EA still thinks that it can fight piracy. Other publishers have already realised that no matter the protection it can be cracked, thus making it useless to have copyprotection that does more harm than good.

So what's the answer? No CP? Great, now 500,000 people will be playing a game for free that I pay for to keep the developer in business.

PC games will be extinct soon anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter.

Ah neal not everything is white and shiny. Always blame the pirates. Its not always the pirates fault dudes. Sometimes companies set them selves up to fall.

If I like a game I buy it. But it has to at least work. I have the whole collection of Sim's 2 for my wife bought over the years. She likes it so I get it. I was about to get her the Sims 3 but seeing the issues I'm not at least for now. Why should I have to pay for something that doesn't work? Would I buy a car that doesn't work because they forgot to make keys? Not likely.

In the past I have wasted too much cash on beta games. Once enough patches fixes a game or if its a bargain then I will invest in it.

I'm actually surprised that Sim's is having problems at all. I never had problems with them all the way back to simcity.

Try to get honest support from them when your disk is defective.... See how much more cash your going to have to pay them to fix it or replace it. I'm talking from experience. Retail stores don't take returns once the wrapping is opened on dvds.

Am I a pirate? No I'm a smarter consumer. I'll buy it when its worth investing in. I have no problem buying a product as long as it works and makes me happy using it.

Aside from DRMs I don't like companies prying into my PC with there bloated crap. So I use cracks on my legit games to prevent them from accessing information.

I'm no pirate Neal but I'm not rich either. :salute:

That will happen with CP as well, that's the whole point. :)

Some people just would not buy games, so they download them. DRM isn't going to stop them or change this.

Others download a game, try it and buy it if they like it. A reason of not buying a game that they like is usually the DRM.

Others buy games based on reviews, no downloading. Again, a reason of not buying a game that they like is usually the DRM.

Where in these examples does DRM do any good? Where does it create more income for the devs? DRM only makes sure some well-informed people don't buy it, never does it stop people pirating something.

The most pirated title is, or was, Spore, a title much criticized because of it's DRM (also from EA, btw). Doesn't that tell you all you need to know about this issue?

Yes, people pirate software, and no form of DRM is going to change that. If you don't want people to pirate, make something that's worth buying, and that's all you can do against it. Pirating itself is a symptom, not a cause.



People have been saying it would die, or was dead, for years. E3 is returning to former glory, graphics cards are becoming more and more powerfull and budgets for games are climbing into the hundreds of millions.

PC gaming is here to stay. I doubt hard- and software developers would continue to poor such significant resources into their products if there was even the slightest doubt about that.

The problem with Spore was that once you reached the Space stage, that was about it, with you repeating the same task over and over again, or working towards achievements that did nothing to really enhance the game play. Sure you can make new creatures, over and over again, but again, it became old and repeditive. None of the stages were as fully thought out and detailed as the community was hoping for, and never was their an effort to expand on those stages, as the developer had already made their $$$, and were moving on to the next project.

I was happier when Maxis, which I remember buying SimCity and SimAnt on 3 1/2 inch "hard disk", hahaha, was an independent company with no attachment from the evil that is EA. Back in the days when I use to remember DOS prompts and commands (which have long since fadded out of my memory), Maxis was a gem of a developer making smart games, that taught as well as entertained. Sure they might not have been as big, or as profitable, but they made a reliable product, that kept you coming back for more.

The state of the industry is worrysome, but I as a lowly consumer have little say about the industry as a whole, being stuck with crap produced by 2KSports Beijing, and the like. I to have pre-ordered TS3, and await it from Amazon.com. I thank you all for giving me a heads up as to the headache that awaits me and the Mrs.

What people thought about Spore has nothing to do with it, it was heavily pirated because the infernal DRM limited installs

Well due to this I am going to not purchase this game for a few weeks or a month. I REALLY want to play this game but not until they hear the wrath of the community and clean up their act.

I say just use a no-cd or something, after all using a no-cd isn't piracy, your just modifying your own game to ensure your enjoyment of it.

Problem is the people who don't own a legitimate copy get their hands on them.

Besides, unless it's something released legally, then it really has no place here at SUBSIM.

You should't feel bad about going no-cd. Effectively you're fixing a non-working product yourself, same situation as with SH3 vs. Vista/Win7 x64. It's kind of funny that we're laughing at people who by two copies of Sims to get it working, while at the semi time a common answer here for SH3/Vista problems is to get another copy :haha:

I think the answer is the same now as it always has been, make software so cheap that it isn't worth pirating, go for volume. But the industry is too greedy/frightened of that option and always have been.

We can see the industry at its worst in direct distribution, here the costs associated with giving us games is at it's lowest with no packaging, no retailer and no distribution, profits to retailers etc and what discount does the consumer get nada... we actually end up paying more for less. We get no box no manual and annoying activation systems that effectively lock the software to our current PC, not good when you change systems later on and for this "privilige" we are charged top dollar for this, a blatant rip off.

The software industry needs the same wake up call as the music industry
DRM free software at low prices sold in a volume manner that is the best way to combat piracy.

They should make a patch, well i do hope they will. Same old story :down:.

Ignore the people who DL No-cds for their pirated copies, they broke the law and they know it.

Using a No-CD isn't illegal either even if the devs didn't release it, its like changing a part on your car, sure you may void the warranty but a swat team isn't gonna show up and arrest you for it.

It's still against the SUBSIM's rules.

Ignoring the topic ( No-cd ) does not send a very positive message as far as SUBSIM's reputation. And as mentioned ( a couple of times ), it is against the rules.

From the FAQ & Rules here:

Anyway, let's move on from this one.

You think they would have learn't by now that DRM doesn't work. The Music industry has finally woken up to this after many years of fighting it.:stare:

The only thing that left is wait for a patch. You are lucky if you can return disc back to store, i can`t. O well nevermind. ;)

Its working on my girlfriends computer. weird