Amazon pulls SimCity as EA struggles to fix servers - Polidicks

[QUOTE=The golden;39841122]I can name countless online games which have at least been playable at launch.[/QUOTE] I've been able to play a few hours. Takes a bit of patience to get in though.

[QUOTE=Riller;39841635]Actually, when [I]did[/I] EA turn to shit? It was certainly still great in 2005, and shit in 2008. Where was the turning point?[/QUOTE] Either 2006 or 2007?

[QUOTE=Riller;39841617]Well, no matter how you twist it or turn it, EA is still doing absolutely horrid damage control in refusing people the refunds they've been promised. When The War Z had an arguably equally shitty launch, it was both pulled and refunded to all who asked for it, within the fuckin' hour of release.[/QUOTE] They were not promised any refunds. The Terms of Sale (That thing you don't read and click agree to before purchasing your game) says that they don't owe you a refund.

[QUOTE=Dr. Ethan Asia;39841640]Either 2006 or 2007?[/QUOTE] Do we have a last-good-major-release-date and a first-bad-major-release-date? Battlefield 2142 was still good as memory serves, and that was 2006. [editline]8th March 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=T2L_Goose;39841642]They were not promised any refunds. The Terms of Sale (That thing you don't read and click agree to before purchasing your game) says that they don't owe you a refund.[/QUOTE] As far as I have gathered, they did start giving refunds to [I]some[/I] people, but not near everyone who applied.

I hope this, along with all the review sites adjusting their scores, is an eye opener for EA and any other developer thinking about adding this type of DRM.

[QUOTE=Reds;39841523] Facepunch has got this weird thing going on where there was so much hate for EA that a faction of people have jumped up violently deflecting criticism away from them solely on the idea that there's too much blind hate for them. [/QUOTE] "violently" also no it's just that some people are starting to find the rhetoric against a [I]company that publishes video games[/I] to ridiculous levels. I knew this shit was out of control when they were voted worst company in America over Bank of America and Wal-Mart. That's some ignorant shit.

I feel like it's more the multiplayer feature causing this issue than anything. Because of how it's set up to allow fluid streaming of other people and their cities, the servers going down is crippling. It was a real bonehead move to have it be multiplayer only. It's not the DRM causing this as much as it's just the multiplayer system. If it had no DRM, this issue would still happen because the game is multiplayer only. If it was singleplayer it would probably work just fine.

I don't understand why they take such annoyingly unnecessary anti-piracy precautions, it's not like they weren't making loads of money anyway, they're like one of the biggest companies in gaming in the past 10 years, and they still think they need to use silly methods of stopping people from trying their games

[QUOTE=Amiga OS;39841689]I absolutely adored Mirrors Edge, 2009.[/QUOTE] That was 2008 on consoles, PC was 2009. We can all agree that the Sims 3, June 2009 was a shit release, right? Overpriced DLC and all.

[QUOTE=Raidyr;39841675]"violently" also no it's just that some people are starting to find the rhetoric against a [I]company that publishes video games[/I] to ridiculous levels. I knew this shit was out of control when they were voted worst company in America over Bank of America and Wal-Mart. That's some ignorant shit.[/QUOTE] I'm just commenting there. And yeah, them getting voted that was idiotic. But, the people who voted were mostly people who were probably under 18 and didn't care about anything but what directed affected them at the moment.

I bought spore from the EA store at release, and having seen the size of the download, immediately requested a refund and bought it from the store on disc. EA refused to refund me, even though I now had two copies of the same game associated with the same account. So that was the turning point for me

[QUOTE=T2L_Goose;39841678]I feel like it's more the multiplayer feature causing this issue than anything. Because of how it's set up to allow fluid streaming of other people and their cities, the servers going down is crippling. It was a real bonehead move to have it be multiplayer only. It's not the DRM causing this as much as it's just the multiplayer system. If it had no DRM, this issue would still happen because the game is multiplayer only. If it was singleplayer it would probably work just fine.[/QUOTE] Making games online only with multiplayer and no singleplayer is a DRM system, even if they claim that it isn't. Making the game only run while contacting your servers is the easiest way to make sure no unauthorized copies of the game are running. DRM by any other name is still the same.

I don't know why but it looks like someone at EA/Maxis tried to make the DLC covers as ugly as possible [img]http://cdn.idealo.com/folder/Product/3744/6/3744607/s1_produktbild_gross/simcity-franzoesisches-stadt-set-add-on-pc.png[/img]

[QUOTE=T2L_Goose;39841642]They were not promised any refunds. The Terms of Sale (That thing you don't read and click agree to before purchasing your game) says that they don't owe you a refund.[/QUOTE] ToS' mean nothing when EU law says something else. If you buy something and it isn't working as advertised, you have every right to a refund.

[QUOTE=GoDong-DK;39841736]ToS' mean nothing when EU law says something else. If you buy something and it isn't working as advertised, you have every right to a refund.[/QUOTE] Hey look they cover that too in the legal document you agreed to when you purchased the game: [quote]If you reside in the European Union and you purchase a product or service on one of our Websites, you have the right to withdraw from your purchase within fourteen calendar days, commencing on the day after the date of purchase (the "Cooling Off Period"). If you reside in countries other than Germany you will lose your right of withdrawal if you start downloading your product, or if you remove or unseal the shrink-wrap packaging from your physical product, or if the performance of our services has begun, before the end of the Cooling Off Period. If you reside in Germany, the following applies: the Cooling Off Period does not start before you receive your purchase confirmation email, and if you purchase a physical product, not before you received the purchased physical product. If you purchase a service and expressly consent to the service commencing, you will lose your right of withdrawal once both parties' obligations are fulfilled before the end of the Cooling Off Period. If you purchased a physical product, you will lose your right of withdrawal if you remove or unseal the shrink-wrap packaging from your physical product.[/quote]

[QUOTE=T2L_Goose;39841642]They were not promised any refunds. [B]The Terms of Sale (That thing you don't read and click agree to before purchasing your game) says that they don't owe you a refund.[/B][/QUOTE] Doesn't work in the EU. :haw: Consumer rights protection over any corporate rights. The EU would fine EA if they don't comply, just like how they fined Microsoft a few times in the past for dickery.

[QUOTE=Van-man;39841750]Doesn't work in the EU. :haw:[/QUOTE] It does. If you read the TOS that you say you read you would know that.

[QUOTE=T2L_Goose;39841762]It does. If you read the TOS that you say you read you would know that.[/QUOTE] ToS is BS in the EU.

[QUOTE=Van-man;39841750] The EU would fine EA if they don't comply, just like how they fines Microsoft a few times in the past for dickery.[/QUOTE] How is it dickery? They tell you how it works in the document [B]you say you agree to before purchasing the game.[/B] It's a legal contract. [editline]8th March 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Van-man;39841763]ToS is BS in the EU.[/QUOTE] Uh well clearly not since they cover the EU and Germany in the TOS?

[QUOTE=T2L_Goose;39841762]It does. If you read the TOS that you say you read you would know that.[/QUOTE] [img]http://i.imgur.com/ttsXyva.png[/img] Here's somebody doing the exact same thing in the UK, with the same kind of TOS There's nothing in the agreement saying "Click here to waive laws"

[QUOTE=T2L_Goose;39841770]How is it dickery? They tell you how it works in the document [B]you say you agree to before purchasing the game.[/B] It's a legal contract. [editline]8th March 2013[/editline] Uh well clearly not since they cover the EU and Germany in the TOS?[/QUOTE] A legal contract does not override a law. You can't put a stipulation in a contract that would contravene a law such as this one.

[QUOTE=T2L_Goose;39841770]How is it dickery? They tell you how it works in the document [B]you say you agree to before purchasing the game.[/B] It's a legal contract. [editline]8th March 2013[/editline] Uh well clearly not since they cover the EU and Germany in the TOS?[/QUOTE] That goes under "Unfair Contract terms" [url]http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/rights/gen_rights_en.htm#uct[/url]

[QUOTE=kaze4159;39841796][img]http://i.imgur.com/ttsXyva.png[/img] Here's somebody doing the exact same thing in the UK, with the same kind of TOS There's nothing in the agreement saying "Click here to waive laws"[/QUOTE] [quote=Terms of Sale]This Contract does not confer any rights or remedies upon any person other than the parties to this Contract. You may also have additional rights under applicable law.[/quote] It's all covered in the TOS. The people who are covered by law are getting their refunds, and the people who are not.

[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;39841038]An online game having problems on launch. As if that's anything new.[/QUOTE] A single player game having problems on launch. Which EA decided was a good idea to put retarded always online DRM on.

[QUOTE=T2L_Goose;39841815]It's all covered in the TOS. The people who are covered by law are getting their refunds, and the people who are not.[/QUOTE]Their ToS means shit all. Just because they say you don't get a refund in these countries does not mean it actually has any legal bearing. So they can say it all they like, they can make it the first thing that appears every time you start the game, every time you visit their website, and everytime your jerk off. It means nothing. Law beats what they say in their ToS. The EU says that they get it so it doesn't matter if they are in Germany or not.

[QUOTE=T2L_Goose;39841815]It's all covered in the TOS. The people who are covered by law are getting their refunds, and the people who are not.[/QUOTE] It doesn't work that way. You can't avoid a law that overrides TOS with different TOS conditions, why is this so hard to understand for you?

Remember DRM in the 80s and 90s? When all you had to do was look back in the manual for the answer to a question?

Let's sum things up: People buy SimCity. People Rage about the Always-Online-Stuff and things not working. People still threw money into EA's basket and showed them: "Hey I'm willing to accept your idea of singleplayer-modes being always online" Well... it was superficial that things like these are going to happen, eh? Why did you throw money at them in the first place? [editline]8th March 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=Van-man;39841763]ToS is BS in the EU.[/QUOTE] Absolutely. If the ToS state something like "after buying the game you agree to pay 20 bucks every month" somewhere hidden within it, it's clearly nullified.

[QUOTE=KILLTHIS;39842164]Let's sum things up: People buy SimCity. People Rage about the Always-Online-Stuff and things not working. People still threw money into EA's basket and showed them: "Hey I'm willing to accept your idea of singleplayer-modes being always online" Well... it was superficial that things like these are going to happen, eh? Why did you throw money at them in the first place?[/QUOTE] Sim City is a fairly casual game played by a lot of people who have no idea what DRM even is and don't follow gaming news. Most Sim City customers had no idea what they were getting into.

Just saw this posted by a friend. Semi related: [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Tw82ymU.jpg[/IMG]