Monday, September 8, 2008

EA = Evil

Well… a few different things have happened during the past week. First off, I’ve started playing with Pit Lord against AIs in DOTA. HE ROCKS! Against AIs… he’s harder to use against real players in the cafes but still, the pushing power of the Pit Lord cannot be denied. At one point, me and Michael were fighting 5 Easy AIs, Michael was Tormented Soul, and he wasn’t doing to good, so he left, but I kept playing for kicks. I would have lost once they all got to level 25, but as I was several levels higher than them, I could still push them back. I COULD FIGHT 5 AIs! That is saying something…

Also, I’ve decided not to buy spore, and will have to reconsider buying Red Alert 3, or any PC game from EA for that matter. Why? One word: SecureROM. What is SecureROM you ask? It’s a DRM, a Digital Rights Management program. Now, I really don’t have to many problems with DRMs in general, but they have a bad habit of messing with your PC system, being malware, destroying hardware, and the like. Google search Starforce and Ubisoft. Starforce, Ubisoft’s attempt at DRM ended up destroying a few people’s CD-ROM drives. Starforce wasn’t sued (since they are in Russia… *sigh*) but Ubisoft lost 5 million US dollars, no small amount of money for them.

Now, EA is using DRMs, namely, SecureROM. This is annoying; first off, you MUST register with EA online. Second off, it limits to you three installations. That last bit makes me want to curse… no joke, its downright stupid. For me, I have a Laptop, that’s one instillation, my sister might want to play the game, she has a laptop, two installations, oh, and my brother, and mother might want to play these games too… FOUR INSTALLATIONS! Furthermore, any reinstallation of Windows and some hardware changes (new motherboard, new graphics card, new sound card… etc) might trigger an installation. Great… furthermore, you have to call an NON toll free number to try and ask EA if they want to let you get your installations back, this number is only available during working hours.

The greatest thing about this? The so called, “added security” that SecureROM brings. I mean, such a big deal, it must actually work, right? Nope. Spore was hacked, cracked, and uploaded to the internet BEFORE SHIPMENT. How stupid is EA?

So… this means something very simple: if I buy Spore, it will be a pirated copy. If I buy Mass Effect, it will be a pirated copy, if Red Alert is released with similar software, I will pirate it, remove SecureROM and hack/crack the game until I have removed the friggin stupid software. EA, you’re a bunch of idiots. That being said, I’m sure that in a few years this whole thing will blow over, EA will remove SecureROM and get back to making games like smart people do: without all the extra “piracy protection” software.

Now… to continue this piracy rant… I must speak. People claim piracy is killing industries like the movie, video game, and music industry. Ya, maybe they are losing sales, the Music industry appears to be for sure, but especially with the other two industries, I think it all steam and hot air to get people to not focus on what these industries are really lacking in a lot: quality. I mean, let’s be honest, most Americans, Europeans, and people in the first world do acquire their games legally. That being said, most people in the 3rd World, particularly Asia, do not. However, this does not mean, if given the opportunity to buy the game legally, if the pricing of said game was reasonable (and no, $50 bucks for a PC game is not reasonable to me, I can buy a pirated game for 120tk, less than $2). If EA, Blizzard-Activison, and other Video game and movie companies (music as well I guess) sold their stuff here, legally, for reasonable prices (we are talking $30 dollars max) people would buy them. Okay, some would still pirate and buy pirated games, but not everyone. I’ve lost PCs do pirated software and malware on video games. I’ve had CD Key-gens that are in fact Backdoor Trojans waiting to pounce and hack my PC to bits. I’d rather buy real software and install it, even if I have to crack it later on, I’d still rather have the Real CD.

Oh, and speaking of this, everyone, check the following website: www.gog.com. Good Old games is the website’s name. This site claims to be selling a bunch of “good old games” that are hard to find in stores, and are still classics. It’s not open yet, but the best thing is that it will have no DRM and agrees with me, the best way to combat piracy is low prices and lots of extras.

As for the those who still believe in DRMs… COME BACK INTO THE LIGHT! COME TO ME I TELL YOU! (we have cookies!) :D

2 comments:

Manwathiel said...

Cookies? *perks up*
Ahem. I'm sure I agree with you, not that I understood everything you said =P. But yes, EA sounds royally stupid.

Isaac, the masterofweirdness said...

More or less... EA puts software that they don't tell you on your video games that makes me want to pirate it, and furthemore, didn't do squat. The game was hacked, cracked, and uploaded to the 'net, a week before it arrived in stores... go figure...