In a move that can only be described as completely moronic (or evil, depending on your view, really), EA has essentially crippled Spore with a horrendous DRM. It is basically rewarding its customers the way a totalitarian regime might reward people who steal food: Chopping dicks.
Why EA would do this on the heels of the whole Mass Effect PC clusterflub when that game was released on PC is completely beyond me, and many other consumers for that matter.
Basically, under this DRM, the user is required to activate Spore via the Internet, meaning that you can’t even play the game until you do so. Not so bad, right? Unless you don’t have Internet access. But, you might contend, lots of people have Internet access. True, true. It gets worse, though.
Not only does the game only work for those who register over the Internet, but you are only allowed a maximum of three lifetime activations. So, if you have to reformat your hard drive, buy a new computer, or lose a bunch of your data more than a couple of times ever, you’re pretty screwed. More dick chopping, anyone?
The best part of the whole thing is that the Internet has fought back, and users are taking to Amazon to review Spore poorly and make their voices heard. As one user points out:
In a couple of years they might very well even shut down the general activation servers, because “it’s not financially feasible” to keep them running. What you will be left with is a nice, colorful $50 coaster. And you will be required to pay for another copy/license if you want to continue playing.
This basically means that you are actually RENTING the game, instead of owning it. The game WILL stop to function in the future. That’s inevitable, because even if EA keeps the activation servers going, there IS going to be a time when EA will simply cease to exist because of financial issues or federal laws (like most business eventually do).
Never fight the Internet, EA. We hit back hard.
What do you guys think of this disconcerting trend in punishing consumers as pirates? It’s probably going to lead to the total and utter death of PC gaming if things don’t change. To me, it’s ridiculous that you’re hurting only the people that buy the game in this instance, rather than people who are actually going to steal the thing.
Source- Destructoid
EA, the douchiest of all video game companies strikes again.
And everyone’s surprise. I little naive, I feel.
But yeah, this sucks for those who were looking to get Spore.
Wasn’t EA the ones that were going to charge for new weapons and stuff on one of their games?
Ea is bad about this. They are the ones who run UO (Ultima Online: The FIRST MMO EVER)
That game is dead. No one moderates it and it looks like shit. They tried to remake it but even Diablo II had better graphics and a better 3D engine. EA will just make their money, and then let the game die. (Im very sad UO is dead, and its over 9 years old, it should have been updated)
As far as the activation thing. Seriously a solution is needed. make it so they call in and explain what happened. If you HDD crashes you shouldn’t be at fault if you have to activate a game again. The most they should do is have you submit something that tells the problem. Now if that copy of the game shows up on 10 computers around the US with various or even same reasons, cancel it. New system needed, computers CRASH now a days, and when they do, they BURN.
Yeah, I want to call a tech guy in Bangladesh and explain to him that all my porn downloads killed my HDD and now I can’t play Spore and make Penis-Monsters!
Sign me up for that conversation.
lol that was what was bad first. Its like saying “Sorry when you create your character he cant look like you want him to”
They should have seen all the dirty monsters coming.
I dont know how you can solve the multiple reg things XD Its a hard issue