EA, you disappoint me.

Eh, how can you not expect EA to use Securom? As far as I know they've been using versions of Securom for a very long time. It's just because the current version is more malignant than most, that it stirs up some controversy.

Quite frankly, I'm surprised that we haven't yet heard announcements of impending deals between EA and Starforce. Seems to me that that piece of rootkit-malware is right up their alley.

Emphasis mine.

Argh where's the edit button when you need it!

Anyways: even EA? Hello? EA has always been at the forefront of draconian (and counterproductive) initiatives to benefit the company at the expense of the customer.

Yes, but it's a demo they distribute for free. It's kinda like the Zango malware thing except without free stuff.

erm the free version does not have DRM on it. And you can use the trial version without logging into EA servers.

I can't speak from personal experience, but I've read on a couple other game forums that the demo does have SecuROM attached to it. I'm personally wary of demos ever since I had StarForce installed on my machine after trying the King Kong demo a while back.

Frankly I no longer care, my EA cheque book slammed shut long ago. Its going to take a lot to prise it open, which is a bummer, because not all their games are blow-outs by any measure. I just cant get myself to trust them any more, its as simple as that.

I teach my Clients "The Customer is not King, Understanding them is"

EA dont have Customers in their philosophy, they have revenue robots, and they sure as hell dont understand them. Watch their Management Team after Bonus payouts hit accounts first week Feb 09, at the very latest post annual bonus round Feb 2010 - I'll bet my pension there is wholesale change as the old guard will know full well by then, that they have gone as far as the MilcheCow will let them, and they will move onto the next Company wanting to expand its Market Share.

Amidst Crys of Thanks for: "gifted leadership" "inspirational strategic leadership in the difficult times we have battled through" "setting the standards others will follow" "leading us into a new era". Geez, its all been done before....

Once that drivil dies down, EA will then settle down. What happens then will set the scene for EA for a 5-10 year period. It'll be interesting to see which way it goes.

Regards
Zy

Why not just boycott without pirating?

Boycotting EA has so far done what? Is DRM evil, will you not buying it make any difference? Come on now, to be surprised by EA and DRM is like saying "I put my hand in the fire...and I got burned."

Stardock has the right model, but so far it is the Tucker of this electronic world. A bit to far ahead and in the shadow of giants. Maybe EA will return to its roots and make good games, but then I am sure that will be right after Hell has frozen over. Maxis was purchased by EA and like any good pimp, EA is milking its electronic ho Maxis for all its worth. To make sure its ho is safe it has a deal with the devil DRM.

Look at the brick and mortar stores, hey there is Sins and about a dozen Sim expansions. Now I love Sins and it gets the most play time from me, but I have to say that I took the evil of DRM to use the Spore Creature Creator. Now to say "Oh noes it phones home..." you must also look at your OS and every other application running on your machine. How many phone home, oh your smart you say nothing phones home, nice to know that and you can remove that tin foil hat to.

You get food from the store, you have to be dressed right? You want to play this game you have to suffer DRM. Actualy the day you can shop for food naked you will probably see EA have a DRM free game. If you grow your own food and get it naked, consider yourself in a small minority and try to boycott Walmart...hmm the same effect as boycotting EA.

PS - The Spore creature creator rocks. Yep I bought the full version, but hell its FUN. Ok remember that people to have FUN you have to pay the piper of DRM in this case, but hell what else is like it? Well I am waiting...

No, the demo has SecuROM attatched, and it actually still sends the stuff to EA. No difference.

 

I'm only pirating it to show that it *CAN* be broken, not that I'll play it. It's an act of defiance.

 

Also, I don't mind if Windows or security suites phone home, but I won't let a game's copy protection do it.

 

Nah, nudist colonies exist, and I could get food there while all natural.

no the trial version does not contain DRM. You know why? because EA will have to pay DRM a small fee for each download.
So with EA and there greed, this makes no sense for them to add it on something that wont give them money back.
If the Pro version contains it, i dont know.

and it actually still sends the stuff to EA. No difference.
what stuff? the trial version does not even send a single bytes to EA when your logged off.

Dont get me wrong im no fan of EA, but your saying something that is untrue.

The demo version HAS SecuROM.

"Scanning -> C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\SPORE\Sporebin\SporeCreatureCreator.exe
File Type : Exe, Size : 17351944 (0108C508h) Byte(s)
-> File Appears to be Digitally Signed @ Offset 0108B000h, size : 01508h / 05384 byte(s)
-> Suspicious MZ Header..
[!] SecuROM Detected - Version 07.36.0012
[!] Possible CD/DVD-Key or Serial Check -> Unregistered
- Scan Took : 1.140 Seconds"

Yes. EA probably buys a royalty-free license or a contract deal (they let them out it in the demo, they continue buying) to get the demo's DRM free. And they give the darn thing away. Also, I've heard reports it phones home, though I cannot verify, even before the system logs you in? either way, I'm no fan of Securom or StarForce. Both have screwed me over.

Actually from what i can read on this site WWW Link it actually have DRM and phones home...

This is weird, i didnt detect anything tho.. hmm if this is true, it will be on more known news sites i bet

Advocating any kind of piracy is forbidden on any Stardock forum.
Consider this the only warning. 

wait..i thought DRM and starforce only causes incompatible issues on some users computer and also causing technical for even those who have legit copy of the software. Hence it is not consider to be malware.

But even if it is, can like spybot search and destroy, smithfraudfix and combofix.exe remove the problem???

I had X3 the return installed on my computer but it has starforce on it. I did not have any problem with my system after i unstalled the game.

To bad this isn't going to matter. There are lots of people hyped about Spore thanks to the trial, who will no doubt run out and buy it day 1.

It really saddens me that companies continue to increasingly screw the user with their 'protections' that DON'T STOP PIRACY. I stopped buying from Valve after the Half Life 2 protections (can't play or even install a SINGLE PLAYER GAME unless you're connected to Steam), and I have since added EA and Bioware to this list for severe Spore and Mass Effect protections. I am disappointed to hear that Ironclad is going to force you to connect to Impulse to play Sins online with the next patch. Aren't cd-keys good enough to prevent pirates from accessing multiplayer?

I have no problems with supporting good games and good companies with my money, but if you're going to treat me like a criminal then you've lost a customer. I don't care how good the game is. It's too bad, I really liked Bioware but they had to go and partner with EA. Not a smart move guys.

Where did you read that Ironclad will be forcing people to connect to Impulse to play online? And is that only if you use their servers, or even for direct LAN/IP games?

Yes, the problem is that you have to go through protection that won't work at all in order to play. I'm fine with impulse, but you install Starforce or Securom on my PC, and you waste my hard-drive space and slow it down more than it already is (though I do optimize it often enough).

Granted, pirating it is a bit too far. I'll just boycott it, since piracy is illegal. Plus, I don't want that crap on my PC anyways.

Stanley, I won't try it because I'm on board with the boycott, but would it pass ethical muster for you if someone bought Spore but never installed anything but a SecuROM-free crack?

wow now that is a chilling look at the future.

i don't like ea at all either but.... i am a slave to battlefield and c&c.
but securom is horrible, whenever i try to play star wars empire at war it says im using a backup disk and i have to re-insert the disk so i can play, some times i have to put it back in so many times, i just give up.

and p.s. does battlefield (2142 or bf 2) even have securom? if it does i don't notice it often.

Im not sure but battlefield has some form of it. People have been having a huge problem with it since it was released and the game still doesn't work right. It like registers your hardware settings or something so when you make the slightest changes like changing you bits or screen resolution or even plugging in a new mouse the game glitches up and you most likely have to delete some hidden file or completely uninistal and reinstall then repatch it.Its easily fixable but is a pain.
Or how both games would suddenly brick your cd/dvd drive for no apparent reason but then securom has been known to damage peoples hardware. then theres is the thing where if your cd's pretty much messed up you have to buy a new copy of the game cause it won't except a new cd or a cd that has a different cd key. Like most people I pretty much just went and got a hacked Exe. cause it was to much of a hassle to deal with that crap.
I'm wondering now you have both games and never run into any problem?

I don't think Battlefield 2 or 2142 has securom.

Piracy is bad. The best way is simply a boycott. Remember, if it's not worth playing, don't.

I'm not gonna pirate. That was the heat getting to my temper. I had to walk in 110 degrees.