Maxoid Sam

[Feverish]

I was planning to buy Bon Voyage. Not anymore. Even if this issue is resolved, I don't think I'll be buying any more expansions. I'm saving my money for better things.

[Renegade]

I'll contact a lawyer here tomorrow, they're right here in CA so they know full good and well it is illegal to install any software without my consent or knowledge. I'll also point them to Sony/Securom's lawsuits and the terms of their settlement. I'll let you know what they say.

I'm very interested to hear what they have to say.  I know it's illegal in Canada, but I doubt if a class action lawsuit would be a joint international thing.  It would probably be on a country-by-country basis.  I also think a lawsuit might be more likely in the US than in Canada, which is unfortunate, because I far from appreciate the illegal activities of EA.  I don't like having shit on my computer, even less so from things that are installed without knowledge and consent.  In essence, that is what a Virus is - well, virus types and spyware.

Edit: I must point out that Sony's settlement was for their BMG division - their music label or whatever.  Their settlement terms were that in the future they cannot put any of that crap on their music CDs.  I am not aware of any lawsuits/settlements regarding the SecuRom being illegally installed with games.  They should have used their heads, though.  If it didn't fly with the music CDs, it sure as hell ain't gonna fly with game software.

[Pescado]

Thanks for the help Requip, I did not have the securom, I was needing the tools for some other nulls that showed up, turned out they were legit. Well one was a product of Daemon tools, so semi legit anyways.

Daemon qualifies as legit: After all, YOU installed it there.

[Markus]

I agree with RenegadeSims that unfortunately a lawsuit doesn't seem as likely here in Canada as it is in the States.
Still, any company stupid enough to use copyright protection provided by Sony deserves what's coming to them.
Because I'm more familiar with music than gaming, I know some labels will list what type of copy protection is being used, or at least have a logo on the jewel case. That's what EAxis should have done. It wouldn't have taken a lot of effort, and it would have saved myself and everyone else the grief.

[LilyLocksley]

Daemon qualifies as legit: After all, YOU installed it there

Oh, I know it is legit. It was was supposed to come off sarcastic, since EA was trying to block it. I just can't ever seem to type what I am thinking.

[SnarkyShark]

I was planning to buy Bon Voyage. Not anymore. Even if this issue is resolved, I don't think I'll be buying any more expansions. I'm saving my money for better things.

Same here Feverish. I usually buy the EP and wait a couple months to install. This time around I didn't buy it and more than likely won't. And if this what EA plans on doing for all future releases, I won't be buying EA merchandise anymore.

About a couple years ago my old computer starting acting very strange after playing a Sony DVD. Was it a root kit? I don't know. But regardless, I now avoid Sony products. The way I look at it my machine is an investment that runs in the thousands of dollars. I will NOT risk that investment for a fifty dollar game.

[dietofworms]

I always wait for a long time before installing any x-pack because of the massive number of bugs that invariably materialize.  This time I'm really, really glad I've waited. (Didn't buy BV or HM, never will).

I'm furious at EA for letting this happen.  Way beyond their usual fucked up shoddy testing.  This is evil. :evil:

[Requip]

Edit: I must point out that Sony's settlement was for their BMG division - their music label or whatever. Their settlement terms were that in the future they cannot put any of that crap on their music CDs. I am not aware of any lawsuits/settlements regarding the SecuRom being illegally installed with games. They should have used their heads, though. If it didn't fly with the music CDs, it sure as hell ain't gonna fly with game software.

I don't think that matters? If you look at the wording of that comment by the FTC:

In the future, Sony BMG is required to clearly label DRM-protected discs and is prohibited from installing any software without notifying and gaining consent from the user. and the other one:

"Consumers' computers belong to them," said FTC Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras, "and companies must adequately disclose unexpected limitations on the customary use of their products so consumers can make informed decisions regarding whether to purchase and install that content."

States COMPUTERS and says nothing about "music" cd's? I think a precedent is a precedent. I love how now they're threatening members at the BBS from giving out info on this.

However, you are crossing a very serious line with your accusations, which are based on out-dated information about a completely different version of the software, so please stop doing that, or I will have no choice but to ban you from participation.

[/i] :roll:

What a HUGE load of crap. It doesn't matter!!! It was placed on our computers WITHOUT our knowledge!!!!  :evil:

[Feverish]

Since I won't be buying BV, I can't have beaches. That sucks. I could care less about missing future expansions because I don't want the teen packs or the hobbies pack.
What about Spore? Is it possible that they could be planning to include SecuRom with that game as well?

Since I won't be buying BV, I can't have beaches. That sucks. I could care less about missing future expansions because I don't want the teen packs or the hobbies pack.
What about Spore? Is it possible that they could be planning to include SecuRom with that game as well?

I found this in the SecuRom updte post  made by MaxoidVanquish. He made a FAQ post.

Q: If I uninstall Bon Voyage, SecuRom is still on my machine. How do I remove it?
We do not recommend removing SecuROM from your machine. It is used by other Electronic Arts games that may be installed on your machine.

[black rose]

After reading all this, I feel very fortunate that I wasn't interested in any expansions after Pets.  Stuff like this makes me so angry I want to pirate their stuff on purpose just to get back at them.  (not that I will, but still - I have a hard time being upset with people who do).

I have a lot more respect for companies who earn their customers by putting forth a quality product.  Yes, I download things from torrent sites to check them out - looked at Neverwinter Nights 2 out of curiosity. I like it a lot - and I plan to go buy it and the upcoming expansion next week because I like it and it is not overpriced.  My husband tried Farcry, and did the same.  I've done the same with music - I love almost everything Lacuna Coil and Evanescence make, so I buy their disks.  When the product is worth it, I am happy to buy it, but forcing things onto your computer that messes with your hardware is just wrong. On the other hand, I tried Doom 3 - hated it and deleted it. I was glad I didn't waste $50 on it.

ETA:
And before someone goes "there's always demos you could try" the demo doesn't give you the storyline, which for me makes or breaks the game most of the time.

[LilyLocksley]

ooked at Neverwinter Nights 2 out of curiosity. I like it a lot - and I plan to go buy it and the upcoming expansion next week because I like it and it is not overpriced

I don't know if you know this but Never Winter Nights 2 comes with SecuRom too. I don't know if it was ever fixed with a patch or if it will be with another expansion. I just though you may want to know, if you didn't already.

[black rose]

Really? Thanks, I'll have to look into it.

ETA: On a quick search it appears that the SecuRom was added after the game gets patched to version 1.02.  I guess since I never bothered to patch it I didn't have the problem.

Darnit - I really wanted to buy that game too.

ETA: More thorough search - I checked my device manager (start+pause break/hardware/device manager->view/show hidden devices) and don't have SecRom, but I do have StarForce.  Doesn't seem to be causing any problems, however.  Of course it's been awhile since I've reformatted so I don't know which games installed it.

[dasha]

I just noticed the Wikipedia entry for Bon Voyage:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sims_2:_Bon_Voyage

Love the part "Game criticism and SecuROM controversy"  :wink:

I saw that not long after you posted the link, and then last night, I was talking about all this BS in IM with a friend, and went to Wikipedia to show him (so that I wouldn't have to, and someone had edited to take out any hint of conspiracy/cover up.

Of course, it still lives on in the edit history, but it's been edited since last night to take the link to MATY and the fix off of the page, too.

[alia]

Probably somebody from EA did that.

What does the wikipedia IP tracker say?

[dasha]

All the major changes were done by named contributors, as far as I can see. Some of the lesser changes seem to be done by unnamed IP-only folks (some of whom, it appears, only edit Sims 2 articles. Interesting).