EA refuses to refund and threatens ban

[dragonbird]

That one's new. So basically, they let you build a road on the top of a building and it then spawns cars?

To be honest, even if an offline version did come out, and it was free, and my current playing-with-Sim-City-2000 turns into an addiction for the game, I STILL wouldn't get this. Decent simulation is such a basic requirement, and it seems fatally flawed.

OK. Just found this. Official Sim City Blog at http://www.simcity.com/en_US/blog/article/simcity-update-8 apparently posted around four hours ago, according to Google.

Now that the game is in your hands we are seeing the emergence of many cities that test our systems in unique ways. It’s great to watch this happen because at its core SimCity is a game about experimentation and exploration. (Of course, it’s not so great when these experiments reveal bugs.)

We understand that when cars always take the shortest route between point A and point B there will be unavoidable (and illogical) traffic jams, so we are retuning these values to make the traffic flow more realistically.

It is totally illogical that this wouldn't have shown up in testing. How can it possibly come into the category of "unique ways"?

We wanted players to be invested in the lives of their individual Sims, which is why you can click on one and see a name

They don’t own a particular house or have permanent employment. We also don’t track their names,

Isn't there some inherent disconnect between these two statements?

It’s fascinating for us to see all of the different ways that players are testing our systems

I bet it is.

And no, no mention of the "offline mod".

 

[netra]

No one reads the EULA. A few read them, fewer understand them.

On February 2013, Valve was sued by consumers associations about the right to sell used games (EEC court). Time will tell what the outcome is, but the court has already ruled in a previous trial that used software may be re-sold by the owner (the consumer) even if the right holders disagree / forbid. You may find the judgement here (in French )
I believe however that some parts of the EULA are downright abuses and contradict local Law. For instance, do you remember the PSN EULA requiring you to forsake your right to sue Sony ?

It's all bullshit man. I'm sorry but my own country's legal language is starting to sound like chinese to me after this odyssey in lux legal texts i undertook. ;D

@Maxis employee spilling the beans: SERVES THEM FUCKING RIGHT

 

[dragonbird]

It's all bullshit man. I'm sorry but my own country's legal language is starting to sound like chinese to me after this odyssey in lux legal texts i undertook. ;D

@Maxis employee spilling the beans: SERVES THEM FUCKING RIGHT

Believe me, if you ever have to deal with Chinese contracts, you'd recognise the hyperbole in that statement. Total fucking nightmares.
Got to admit though, between the Sim City saga and the Prenda Law saga, this week has been pretty entertaining if you're into the legal stuff.

 

[onosendai7]

The fun part is : "pay for the game and accept the EULA. If you disagree with EULA, we keep the money and screw you !".

 

[pris2013]

so im back, good to know why i was banned...for what post...

 

[dragonbird]

so im back, good to know why i was banned...for what post...

If you have any queries, please discuss it through PM.

 

[dragonbird]

The fun part is : "pay for the game and accept the EULA. If you disagree with EULA, we keep the money and screw you !".

Serious review, one week in. It really isn't getting any better, is it?
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/03/simcity-one-week-later-time-doesnt-heal-all-wounds/

So some countries say you must complain within 7 days to get a refund, others say you need to give them 14 days to fix it before you can insist on a refund. I wonder how many are actually getting refunds now.

 

[sympathy4saren]

Never, ever buy an EA game. Ever.

 

[gregski]

Eurogamer must have a lot of unanswered calls from EA PR people today: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-03-15-simcity-review

 

[dragonbird]

I'm wondering if Eurogamer.se is regretting that Perfect 10 score yet.

 

[netra]

I'm wondering if Eurogamer.se is regretting that Perfect 10 score yet.

Can still pull a Polygon and whore out for pageviews by dropping the score a million times.

 

[dragonbird]

Can still pull a Polygon and whore out for pageviews by dropping the score a million times.

I'd have been OK with that IF they'd dropped it straight down to 4 after the launch problems, or if they'd dropped it once because of the launch problems and then again when the bugs started to show up. And if metacritic adjusted the scores. I don't mind a review site admitting they were wrong, it's more honest than trying to keep on insisting that the initial review was accurate.

And even the players are saying that it looks OK at first and that it takes a while to realise how flawed it is, once they get past the launch problems.

I can also accept that review sites play before the launch, but it would be good if they started to explicitly say so, and for how long they played before doing the write-up.

 

[Garrison72]

I'm wondering if Eurogamer.se is regretting that Perfect 10 score yet.

You've got to be kidding...

If I were a reviewer, the ease of which I could access and play the game I bought would most certainly factor into the final score. I see more reviewers taking this approach of late, which is a good thing.

 

[dragonbird]

The whole issue of embargoed reviews, where the review sites get their pre-launch copies, is going to take a hit from this incident, especially for online games. Which is a good thing. Traditionally, the review sites have desperately wanted those pre-launch copies, and have been willing to suck up to the producers to get them, because it's been seen as important to get the review out on the first day.

Now they seem to be starting to think that the danger of posting a totally inaccurate review is more important than getting it out on Day 1. Which removes one reason for sucking up to the producers. And the producers are going to have to take into account the fact that an "always online" requirement will totally fuck up the launch buzz if the reviewers don't play ball.

So I'm going to do my polyanna thing again and conclude that this entire incident is good for gaming

(Besides, I'm having a lot of fun reading the RPS updates. They seem to be twice a day now)

 

[netra]

You know, i'm getting kinda sick of scores. I prefer someone writing about the game and giving me his score via the whole text. Like RPS' Wot I Think.

 

[dragonbird]

It woudn't be so bad if there was more logic to it, and less instances of games that get criticised for one thing after another in the writeup but still get a 9.5.

Maybe they should have an global agreement on categorising. You know, Automatic deduction of 4 points for intrusive DRM, +/- 2 points for political correctness. -2 points if the reviewer finds bugs, maybe even allocate some part of the score to gameplay. Just imagine how much fun everyone would have trying to decide whether naked bodies count as a + or -.

 

[onosendai7]

Naked bodies with HD textures always deserves a +.

Anyway, game reviews are generally useless...

 

[Sunder]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=525129

Just take a look at this.

 

[dragonbird]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=525129

Just take a look at this.

I'm missing how this is different from the earlier revelations. I assume it must be, as this thread is dated today, but why? Is it just a much simpler way of doing it?

 

[gregski]

I'm not sure which order will be better for these pieces of news:

One. Million.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-03-18-simcity-sells-over-one-million-copies-in-two-weeks

but Riccitello is out

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-03-18-john-riccitiello-out-as-ceo-of-ea