As most folks expected, Electronic Arts use of the SecuROM trojan install has sparked up a little class action lawsuit against the publisher. At first, EA thought they could just bump the total installs from three to five to make gamers happy, but they’re out for blood.
With an amazon rating of 1.5 stars and 2900+ ratings, it’s obvious that people are not happy with the security system used by Electronic Arts for this title. Forbes mentions how pirated the game has become since the DRM news went hot and pirates are touting to download it for free to make your “voice” heard. Legally, you can make your voice heard by setting up a class action lawsuit and so it begins!
“Although consumers are told the game uses access control and copy protection technology, consumers are not told that this technology is actually an entirely separate, stand-alone program which will download, install, and operate on their computer,” read the complaint. “Once installed, it becomes a permanent part of the consumer’s software portfolio. Even if the consumer uninstalls Spore, and entirely deletes it from their computer, SecurROM remains a fixture on their computer unless and until the consumer completely wipes their hard drive through reformatting or replacement of the drive.” (gamespot)
It seems everything boils down to the how EA went about protecting their assets. Nobody faults the publisher for trying to keep their products out of the hands of pirates. The pure fact that EA has chosen to install separate products that snoop on your operations and can malfunction your system is the hart hitting point. Rubbing it in worse, pirates had the game broken and free to download prior to the release of Spore in the US.
Although the license agreement will state the product uses a digital rights management technique, it fails to explain the details of the SecuROM’s stealth install and inability to remove itself without wiping the hard disk.
The suit accuses EA of “intentionally” hiding the fact Spore uses the SecurROM.
I wrote a comment to this podcast instead of playing GTA 5. I should probably get the VGRT reader’s award or something.
@EA CEO
I am in the camp who hates EA by default. I still bear a grudge for them ruining Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath and Marvel Nemesis. It will never change regardless of who runs it. But I do enjoy Battlefield and am looking forward to Battlefront so I am glad that some guy got replaced by another guy and I hope he will take the company in a bold new direction out of the shit pit it’s in.
@Sega buys Atlus
Never heard of Atlus. But I don’t expect Sega to get back in the console race. At the moment the competition is cutthroat in the market. Even an established brand like Nintendo can’t survive. Maybe Sega wants to expand it’s TV add on business. They release little boxes that have bunch of classic Sega games and are plugged into your TV. Either that or they want more MMOs.
@To mediocricity and below
Star Trek had a reboot and I didn’t even notice. I always thought Star Trek needed a reboot. It’s a very long running franchise. But I would prefer a condensed contemporary version of the original series. Not a movie where there is more shooting then actual trecking.
@Your daddie’s credit card can no longer beat Diablo
Just recently I started playing the second Diablo with a friend. I love it. Fast paced combat. Many locations. And loadsa loot. I also played the Xbox 360 demo and it was good. But not as good as 2. Combat was way to slow. On the account of auction house, I completely do not care if it is there or not. I am the type who can spend hours grinding monsters to get a good item (Monster Hunter eats my life)
@QOTW
I will answer last weeks question if it’s all the same. I live by the Russian rule of: “if it ain’t broke -don’t fix it”. I got a DSi because my original DS was falling apart. My Xbox 360 crashes evey 2 hours but I won’t get a new one as I don’t tend to play the same game for more than 2 hours anyway. I only get new hardware if i don’t already have it.
First I wanted to wish Jordan a speedy recovery from his hospital stay, I hope it wasn’t too serious.
It was nice to hear Dan on the show again!
@EA Change: Just googling to see the long history of game series ruined they have built a reputation that may be irreparable at this point. I know I’ll be getting Sims 4 for my wife and this change I hope does bring better games. The reputation is however a well earned one.
@Diablo Auction house: I think the more games that abandon the Pay to Win mechanic the better for quality games.
I’d like to end this with a question to you guys. I’m trying to figure out what is the best console for a family to play on and so far that does seem to be the Nintendo franchise. Xbox and PS seem very heavily focused on FPS and other 3D games. My wife get’s motion sickness from 3d gaming and can only play side scrollers and the like. Also I heard you saying how split screen is dead so I’m wondering what do you do when you have people that want to play the same game on the same console at the same tv?