More TSR <3 EA Fun
How cosy!
You remember Neptune ‘Why Not Make All FA Content Subscriber-only’ Suzy?
Here is an interesting bit of gossip from Calalily at PMBD
She was canned by TSR as an FA, and to save face begged Thomass to be allowed to stay on as FA for free. Thomass being the cheap b*****d he is, agreed (all for Silus, all for Silus). So Neptune Suzy’s downloads are pay, but she doesn’t get a single cent for them – serves her bloody right.
How daft can you get?
Someone from the-prism.com asked EA technical support about a problem with HomeCrafter Plus not working. HomeCrafter Plus was made by EA for The Sims 2. EA’s response as follows:
Thank you for contacting Electronic Arts Technical Support regarding on your concern with The Sims 2.
As to your concern, we do not support or advice the use of this program (Homecrafter Plus) since it’s considered as a game modifier. It may cause conflict(s) with the game itself.
Should you have any other concerns or problems regarding EA Games feel free to contact us or you can review our extensive Self Support Knowledgebase (http://support.ea.com).
Sincerely,
Jay P.
Technical Support
Electronic Arts™
So, how daft can you get? Very, if EA’s tech support are anything to go by.
EA getting sued over Securom!!
Huzzah!
MOAR @ PMBD
Choice extract:
(Actually I’m not sure if this is a specific SecuROM issue; my sister gets the same message when she plays Fable and Fable can haz no Suck-u-rom)
Oh… it’s gone again!!
Utterly brilliant! It’s gone!
That was easier than I thought! There’s a non-techie way! Whew!
ETA: It looks like it might not have been a game that was responsible after all. I’ve discovered that (my sister’s) Official DSA Theory Test (i.e. the driving theory test) CD has the Sony DADC thing on it too, but most of the stuff mentioned in the MATY thread (e.g. securom folder in your settings folder, the uaservice7.exe thing) weren’t present. So maybe it was a less aggressive form of Suck-u-ROM? Still Suck-u-ROM though. Cool, so now even government owned institutions are trying to take over our PCs.
*thinks for a while*
… actually there’s nothing surprising about that at all.
ETA Part II : Actually I think it was my sister’s Castaway after all
Oh no! It’s back!!
Damn you, EA! Damn you!!
GRRRRRRRR!!! Why does no one listen to me when I say, check if it has SecuROM!!! Now I gotta wait for techie Uncle to come round and remove it cos I’m sure I’ll screw up somewhere. Or maybe I won’t bother waiting that long and give it a try anyway.
Here’s the quick way to see if your game is infected. Look at the back of the CD. I’ve even provided a picture for you.
Somewhere where I’ve shown you, in little writing, you will see the words SONY DADC. This is sekrit code for: Ha ha, b*tches!! We’re installing SecuROM on your PC!!
What are your feelings towards EA?
Poll results
Total votes: 58
- $#@£”%*”!!! Those taffers aren’t getting a penny more out of me! (34.5% / 20 votes)
- I’m unhappy with them, but I desperately want [insert game here], so I won’t boycott (36.2% / 21 votes)
- I’m indifferent, really (17.2% / 10 votes)
- EA’s cool! What’s your problem, dude? (12.1% / 7 votes)
Whoa… 12% of voters are total crawlers for EA. Scary.
More EAxis of Evil
Sheesh! What is wrong with EA?
As if SecuROM wasn’t bad enough, there is also a MASSIVE SECURITY LEAK in Spore: If you EVER share ANY content with ANYONE, be warned that YOUR COMPUTER USERNAME is ENCRYPTED INTO THE CREATURE “IMAGE” FILE. YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO REMOVE THIS INFORMATION BY HEXING! This means that ANYONE who downloads it will know what your username is on your computer.
This represents a MASSIVE security breach because many people (foolishly) encode their real names into their Windoze username. Even if you don’t, revealing this username to the world presents a point of vulnerability for attack by hackers. By sharing any Spore content ANYWHERE, you are leaving your computer open to attack and leaving yourself open to stalking and identity theft.
From: MATY.
Like I said already, EA aren’t getting a penny more out of me. What the hell is Spore anyway?
Two Cheeks of the Same A*se
A little game of spot the difference.
| EA | T$R |
|---|---|
| Expects you to hand over your money for buggy content and useless/ugly meshes | Expects you to hand over your money for buggy content and useless/ugly/broken meshes |
| Puts profit above the opinions and feelings of its paying customers | Puts profit above the opinions and feelings of its paying customers |
| Likes to screw up your PC | Likes to screw up your game |
| Illegally installs malware on your computer | Illegally charges money for custom content |
| Censors and/or bans anyone who complains about the aforementioned | Censors and/or bans anyone who complains about the aforementioned |
| Well, at least if you’re unhappy with the product you can sell it on second-hand | Errr…. |
Sims 2 Trailer
Yes, that did say Sims 2!
All I can say about this is, WHAT A SCAM! I didn’t play the first Sims game, I remember wanting it when it first came out, but not enough to actually buy it. But I do feel really sorry for those who saw this official TS2 trailer and thought: WOW! Sims 2 is gonna be great.
That is an absolute swizz. NOTHING in that video is genuine TS2 footage, the game is NOTHING like anything in that video. Sims don’t swing on ceiling fans, kids don’t set fire to carpets, none of the clothes, furniture, nothing really at all in that video is available in the actual game. What did I say about EA earlier? That they are a joke.
You can be sure that any official trailers for TS3 will likewise be pure fiction (or at the very least a very sugar-coated version of the truth). EA, like T$R, don’t care about their paying customers. Just about hoodwinking you into handing over your precious money.
And no, I won’t be buying TS3 either. And not just because my CCLOCIC can’t handle it.
The Maxis of Evil
No, my problem isn’t really with Maxis, but that beyond-a-joke publisher, EA. The last TS2 expansion pack, Freetime, is released soon here in the UK, and EA have seen fit to bundle that SecuROM malware with that too, despite the thousands of complaints they’ve received on the matter. What a joke.
Why can’t EA get it into their heads that they can stick all the Securoms they want onto their discs, it will do absolutely feck all to stop people pirating the game? EA, you fools, by bundling malware with your games all you are going to do is alienate your genuine customers, and push them towards real piracy, because why should your customers hand over £17 so you can screw up their PCs? My computer was previously infected with SecuROM, after someone installed NeverWinter Nights (no warning on that game either). My CD-RW consequently lost the ability to burn CDs, and we had no idea why. It was only after we reinstalled Windows because of a soundcard problem that the CD-RW drive started working again. Why do games publishers feel they have the right to mess up our computers – and deny us the right to burn perfectly legal CDs – to ‘protect’ a game most people have no intention of copying and bandying around anyway?
Copy-protection does nothing to stop pirates – why does EA think they will succeed where everyone else has failed? Pirates will always find ways to get round copy-protection, downloading an illegal copy of Bon Voyage is as easy as easy!
In other words, you morons, you’ve shot yourselves in the foot.
Oh, Pescado, you’ve taken the words right out of my mouth:
Not only is it [copying/sharing CDs] unpopular as a method, but it is also the method most likely to actually generate sales! The “casual” disk sharer is most likely to buy his own at some point. The veteran e-pirate is not only unlikely to do so, but strongly discouraged from doing so by the superiority of the counterfeit product that he clearly knows how to acquire. A short-sighted move like this forces customers that run into problems to learn the ways of the pirate, and pretty soon they join the Dark Side in frustration. By taking that sale now, the company costs itself future sales, an incredibly short-sighted move. Better to lose a sale in the present for sales in the future than to permanently alienate customers while simultaneously teaching them to be pirates to make what they have bought work!
Consider: A user who borrows a disk from a friend, with no CD check, probably won’t buy the game NOW…but he might in the future, when he has to reinstall it, or buy the expansion pack now that he has the game, and is no better equipped to be a pirate later than he was before. A customer p***ed off by the game NOT WORKING that has to go find a crack has now learned some dangerous knowledge and has a hostile disposition. It is not a customer that is pleased with your product and likely to buy future products.
- Pescado, Booty King, from MATY
Complaining to EA about the crap they bundle with their software doesn’t work. The only – ONLY – way to get the message across is to vote with our wallets. If sales go down enough, EA will finally wake up to their customers’ demands. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen, as many Sims players – especially the younger ones with their ‘pester-power’ – simply don’t care what rubbish EA fobs us off with – because they just have to have the latest EP. It’s quite a sad state of affairs, really. But EA have definitely lost me as a customer.
Why not pay?
More excellent info on why T$R doesn’t deserve your money, by Money Better Spent.
Link: Why Not Pay?
Et l’extract:
Leilatigress actually sat down with three members of the EA Legal team on August 27, 2007. This is available at PMBD but for those that don’t want to go look over there, it is posted here too. I asked her to cover a few topics, and here are the replies:
Q. EULA changes: TSR’s making a big deal over the removal of the word ‘noncommerical’ in the EULA for the content manager; is this a permanent change for all EPs/Bodyshop/Homecrafter?
A. It is a permanent change for Bodyshop and Homecrafter it is not going to be in any EPs. Turned right back around and said the EULA for Bon Voyage would match Seasons.Q. Filesharing: It’s been suggested that the only problem EA has with PMBD is that we have adult content (Pandora/M&M/etc), and therefore they don’t want our link on the Exchange. However, there’s also a rumor that EA will stop PMBD/SFV filesharing altogether – in essence saying that paysites DO own their content. What’s the real story?
A. EA has nothing against filesharing since they have the exchange which promotes filesharing. They ignored the rest of that question.Q. The various statements from tech suport/customer support/EA legal – obviously, there’s conflict. Some of it’s Maxoid issues, some of it’s ancient ties to TSR back when they were free. So what’s the story? WHO has final say?
A. Unless it’s signed by an EA Legal team member they have no say and are not held to be responsible for anything or anyone, EA Legal says.Q. Obviously, the big thing we want is ANY clear statement – paysites good, paysites bad, filesharing good, filesharing bad, or ‘we don’t give a rat’s ass what happens in the fan community”.
A. Filesharing good, paysites bad was the statement I got and that is verbatim.
Hooray!
PS. EA is a joke
