Has anyone else seen the Spore reviews on Amazon?

ray_gillespie

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Have a look at this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/prod..._dp_hist_1?_encoding=UTF8&filterBy=addOneStar

At the time of writing there is a total of 157 one-star reviews on Amazon.co.uk, almost all of which are based on the DRM restrictions.

I had a quick look on Amazon to see if the price had dropped a little yet, with a view to buying the game. I think now I'm going to wait to see EA's reaction and see if they remove this silly '3 game' restriction.

I'm not that bothered by DRM stuff really but in this case I fail to see who they're hurting other than legitimate buyers; the game has been on the torrents since day of release, DRM free.

What do you guys think of this?
 
Re: F**k me! Has anyone else seen the Spore reviews on Amazon?

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/12/amazons-spore-reviews-vanish-in-glitch-return-soon-after/


:D. I will never support a game with heavy DRM, or EA for that matter. Ironic that DRM motivates me to pirate games.


The Digital Rights Madness around Spore has started an internet war. After demonstrating their power earlier this year with the "Mass Effect Sex-box" author, a gang of ruthless Amazon reviewers have struck Spore (and to a lesser extent the Galactic Edition) down to a paltry 1.5 out of 5 stars. Here's what those Negative Nancies are saying:

  • Dumbed down experience and draconian DRM
  • DRM is a show stopper
  • Spore: I Refuse to Buy Until DRM is Patched Out
  • No Way, No How, No DRM
  • drm makes me a sad panda
  • $49.99 too much for game rental
http://www.joystiq.com/2008/09/08/amazon-users-slam-spore-for-drm/

My fav in bold :)
 
Re: F**k me! Has anyone else seen the Spore reviews on Amazon?

Absolutely ridiculous.
They should adopt Valve's Steam platform for games... 1 licence linked to 1 user's account.
Just don't adopt Valve's way of updating games... lol :p
 
Re: F**k me! Has anyone else seen the Spore reviews on Amazon?

3 game restriction? So that means that you can only install it three times? What a crock of crap. Screw EA ..
 
Re: F**k me! Has anyone else seen the Spore reviews on Amazon?

Being a person who got Mass Effect the day it was released I know all too well about the DRM used. People went crazy before Mass Effect was released and they actually lessened the protections a little. I am simply stunned that they didn't learn anything from the Mass Effect release and the many many problems that I saw people report. There were many game issues which caused people to use up all their activations and then contacting EA was insanely difficult.

I can't say I'm surprised to see all these people giving it a negative review. EA really needs to step back and do some thinking because while I did like Mass Effect I won't be buying Spore no matter how amazing the game is. They lost a customer and I almost didn't even purchase Mass Effect.

If enough people decide to not purchase these games then EA will lose a lot of money. Sooner or later EA will suffer consequences to their very stupid decisions.
 
Re: F**k me! Has anyone else seen the Spore reviews on Amazon?

3 game restriction? So that means that you can only install it three times? What a crock of crap. Screw EA ..

No. Three activations which are tied to your hardware. If you install it and then uninstall and then reinstall on the same system and your hardware hasn't changed then you won't use up an activation. EA, however, won't say what constitutes enough of a hardware change to trigger the use of another activation on the same system.

They also don't give you a tool to pull an existing activation so that you can remove the game from system A and then install on system B while preserving the activation and not forcing you to essentially throw away one of your 3 activations.
 
Last edited:
Re: F**k me! Has anyone else seen the Spore reviews on Amazon?

Absolutely ridiculous.
They should adopt Valve's Steam platform for games... 1 licence linked to 1 user's account.

Just don't adopt Valve's way of updating games... lol :p

Exactly.

The EA store thing is a joke. Steam SHOULD be used as the content delivery of choice. I am simply stunned that more game-studio's don't use the distribution method Steam offers. It's established and with so many other dev's on there and a host of people using the app, it makes perfect sense.
 
Re: F**k me! Has anyone else seen the Spore reviews on Amazon?

I think a few more games with DRM and it will end, let's hope.

And I think Steam puts down more companies then people think. I think many producers and such want to use it but they dont meet Valves standard or something.
 
Re: F**k me! Has anyone else seen the Spore reviews on Amazon?

May none of us ever face the wrath of anon.
 
Re: F**k me! Has anyone else seen the Spore reviews on Amazon?

the craziest thing about Spore is that if 2 people in the same household want t o play 2 different accounts they need 2 copies of the game!!!
 
Re: F**k me! Has anyone else seen the Spore reviews on Amazon?

There is two legal copies in the house I currently live in, and for some odd reason, when both of us are playing at the same time, when two people try to log in, one person always gets logged out.

So if my friend is playing online, and I log in to play online, he gets kicked off. Does anyone else see this? Are they doing IP address based restrictions?
 
Re: F**k me! Has anyone else seen the Spore reviews on Amazon?

caught this on a google search for IP restrictions on spore
If Spore comes to Steam, I may consider buying it... but not as long as it has the current SecureROM Digital Restrictions Management ...
:p
 
Re: F**k me! Has anyone else seen the Spore reviews on Amazon?

If it comes to Steam I am going to be pissed lol
 
http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9420&Itemid=1

[...]

Many commentors on various BitTorrent sites say that EA has persecuted legitimate uers so much heavy and intrusive DRM it has left them no choice but to pirate it. Deathkitten writes in a comment on The Pirate Bay that it is the only way that users have the power to make this the most pirated game ever, to "give corporate ******** a virtual punch in the face". It is starting to look like Spore will be the most pirated game ever on BitTorrent.

[...]

In no way, shape, or form do I condone pirating. It is stealing, period. I am not surprised to see this happening, however. EA is reaping what they sowed. EA should have thought twice before what they used the SecuROM DRM on Mass Effect and even after the public response to Mass Effect they went ahead and put this same protection on Spore. They deserve what they get and if that means a lot of lost sales then it's time to fire someone or numerous people for stupidity.
 
Re: F**k me! Has anyone else seen the Spore reviews on Amazon?

No. Three activations which are tied to your hardware. If you install it and then uninstall and then reinstall on the same system and your hardware hasn't changed then you won't use up an activation.
Other websites are saying exactly the opposite of what you are saying here...

ANY three installations constitute an activation thus making the CD worthless...

Just food for thoguht,

Mike A!
 
i think this is very sad. if someone wanted to pirate this game they would. DRM is completely pointless, it stops no one and simply looses you customers in the long run.

The only people DRM affects are the people that actually pay for the software.
 
i think this is very sad. if someone wanted to pirate this game they would. DRM is completely pointless, it stops no one and simply looses you customers in the long run.

The only people DRM affects are the people that actually pay for the software.

Yes it has been said :rolleyes: And it sucks.
 
Re: F**k me! Has anyone else seen the Spore reviews on Amazon?

Other websites are saying exactly the opposite of what you are saying here...

ANY three installations constitute an activation thus making the CD worthless...

Just food for thoguht,

Mike A!

I don't have Spore so I can't specifically state all there is to know about SecuROM used for the protection however I cannot believe it is much different than Mass Effect so I will quote some information I do know about.

First off I'll quote Jack Lamden who works in Quality Assurance for BioWare. I have snipped out irrelevant tidbits to save space. The thread this post is in can be found here: http://masseffect.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=649890&forum=127

Jack Lamden said:
[...]

The way it's set up is that you can have 3 activations. After you install on what appears to the systems to be a new PC, one activation is used.

So you could in theory install thousands of times on a single PC, and then upgrade your pc and install the game again to use a second activation, etc.

Or you could have the game installed on 3 different PCs at the same time.

On one of my test machines I personally have installed the game several hundred times with only one activation used.

[...]

See? It's tied to hardware and you can install it much more than 3 times. No one will admit to how much of a hardware change is necessary to trigger a new activation to be necessary on a system you've upgraded, however.

Now, refer to the BioWare Mass Effect Activation FAQ here: http://masseffect.bioware.com/forums/viewtopic.html?topic=629227&forum=125&sp=1

Key points---

This solution allows gamers to authenticate their game on three different computers with the purchase of one disc. EA Customer Service is on hand to supply any additional authorizations that are warranted. This will be done on a case-by-case basis by contacting customer support.

• Games are authorized to the machine when the player installs and launches the software for the first time.

• We’ve all had those times when the discs get lost or scratched and you can’t play a game you’ve bought because you need a working disc in the drive. With the new system players will no longer need the disc to play the game, but can instead simply retain the disc as back up for re-installation.
I am in no way defending EA. I am appalled at the use of SecuROM and the removal of the rights of the consumer. I'm appalled at being treated like a criminal when purchasing a game. As many have said in numerous other places, when it comes to SecuROM it is closer to renting than owning the game.

Anyway, I could be all wrong and they may have made things far far more restrictive with Spore but, honestly, I doubt I'm wrong. I think many of the people going bananas over Spore are right in being angry but I also believe they are exagerrating the 3 activation thing to the nth degree.

Lastly, no, I'm no EA shill. I don't know if I will ever be purchasing another EA game or SecuROM protected games. I'm glad to see Take-Two walk away from any buyout by EA. It's a shame that Take-Two walking away made their stock plummet. It goes to show you how little investors actually understand about the industry, IMHO.
 
well... apparently they did the same thiing with crysis warhead, only there's 5 activations available this time


i was actually planning on buying it, but now i dont know :/
 

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