Impulse is proud to announce the addition of the Electronic Arts catalog to its growing library of games. Today sees the release of The Sims 3, Command & Conquer Red Alert 3, Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 Uprising, and Spore.
In The Sims 3, every Sim is now a truly unique person, with a distinct personality. Will your Sims be evil, artistic, insane, and romantic kleptomaniacs? It’s entirely up to you. Influence the behaviors of your Sims with traits you’ve chosen and watch how their traits impact their relationships and the neighborhood around them. Combine over 60 personality traits to create millions of unique Sims and control their lives. The Sims 3 is available for $49.95 at: http://www.impulsedriven.com/sims3.
Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 continues the alternative history strategy series with yet another tweak to the timeline. Facing certain defeat, with the Allies at their doorstep, a desperate Soviet leadership uses its own experimental time machine to save themselves. Going back in time, they ensure that the Allies never gain their technological advantage, saving their future selves. However, like all changes to the timeline, this has unforeseen consequences. Fight as the Allies, Soviets or the all-new Empire of the Rising Sun in this action-packed real-time strategy game. Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 is available for $29.95 at http://www.impulsedriven.com/redalert3.
In Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 Uprising, players learn what happened in the aftermath of Red Alert 3. This stand-alone expansion pack adds four all-new campaigns, more star-studded live-action movies to tell the ongoing Red Alert story as well as an all-new Commander’s Challenge mode where players must withstand the brutal onslaught of the world’s toughest commanders. Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 Uprising is available for $19.95 at http://www.impulsedriven.com/ra3uprising.
In Will Wright’s PC masterpiece, Spore, players take an amazing journey of creation as they guide their creature through five stages of evolution. Unleash your imagination as you make fantastical creatures, vehicles, buildings and spaceships. Players can show off creations and everything you make can be shared and used by other players. Explore your world and beyond with Spore, now available for $39.95 at: http://www.impulsedriven.com/spore.
Ya know, i'm really tired of hearing that kind of false logic... if you don't pay for a game your are a thief, but if you're paying as a customer they (as in distributor, publisher and/or developper, etc) have every rights by Law to protect, secure, manage, track, register, validate the copy of a product someone actually gave money for.
DRM isn't an inconvenience, it's the PROOF that i was honest enough to invest in someone else's business rather than stealing from them.
You may all question whatever methods (SecuRom, Rooters, DataMining, etc) are used to prevent Pirates from stealing anything it doesn't negate the fact that games will simply STOP being made if there's nobody left around & paid to work at these.
Get some moral values in your silly idiotic heads; Piracy is anti-social behavior while criminals endup in jails for good reasons. You want the good life, earn it.
Fixed, atleast in the case of securom. I really don't care about DRM so long as it doesn't phone home, break computers, or involve install limits. Having the CD in the drive, putting in serial numbers on install, and even having to run a digital platform to play the game is fine by me (ie steam).
And this is more of an ethics argument. Yes, companies do have the right to protect their software from pirates. Some developers/publishers take it a step further and put malware on their software, punishing ligitmate consumers.
I'm not on the side of the pirate, I've never pirated anything... but that doesn't mean I agree with EA.
SecuRom hasn't caused my computer any faults, and i have Bioshock, Mass Effect, and plenty of others that have the "malicious" SecuRom. Sometimes they do refuse to acknowledge that the disk IS in the drive, but that i have always managed to solve without "third party" solutions.
Install limits aren't really a problem anymore either, since a tool for de-authorizing computers is (finally) available. And pirating a game is yet another good excuse for a publisher to stop supporting the PC platform, to prevent PC gaming from dying, don't kill it
Actually, that would be a very good argument (and one that would convince me of the necessity) if, and only if, it actually stopped pirates. It doesn't. The "we need this to protect ourselves" argument only works if "this" actually "protects".
Even the best/harshest DRM does little more than provide some brief entertainment for the more tech savvy pirates around, and it only takes one successful cracking to flood the net with pirated copies. This process tends to take anywhere from a few hours to at most a few days. The actual paying customers, however, will be lumbered with whatever new inconvenience the DRM folks invented for as long as they have the game installed/in use. (sometines longer, in case of rootkit)
Once more for emphasis:
DRM does not stop pirates.
I legally bought Mass Effect, installed in on my PC and laptop. I had an install error on my laptop, but it was solved. My PC crashed, and I was on hold for two hours with EA customer support because I had only owned the game for two weeks and had already activated it three times. The pirated version I downloaded after EA gave me grief for giving me one more activation works flawlessly, while my legit copy sits on my shelf, never to be touched again. It's not the normal response, but install limits can burn in hell for all I'm concerned. I'll never buy a game with them again.
Games are easily pirated for the consoles as well. It's just that the average joe isn't as confident about it. There are people who sell "xbox 360 game backups" that they install directly to your HD. Guess what those are? Games have been pirated since there have been games. It's still a multi-million dollar business with huge profits for responsible companies. And if the PC market ever dies (it's been on it's "death bed" since around 1985 I believe), then pirating for the consoles will just become more mainstream. Welcome to the Human Race. Go worry about Global Pollution or Starving Children if you want a real problem. Improving the pocket linings of a game company by 10% by irradicating piracy isn't possible until you give up absolute control and privacy of your PC to the watchdogs.
Companies have a right to protect their products, but not to the point of punishing the consumer. DRM doesn't, has never, and will never stop pirates, so don't confuse DRM with something that is anything but a waste of money. DRM does stop a large majority of second hand sales though, which is still a huge money loss for the console market. Unfortunately, DRM hasn't become as invasive for the console market yet, so second hand sales can't be killed as easily.
EA uses the asinine form of DRM that no one should accept. Waiting for a "horror" story to happen to you before you stop buying a product doesn't make sense to me. If I constantly hear buyer remorse stories and there is a large following of people who don't like a companies products, I tend to shy away from those products. I think people who take out short term leases to play their games are larger "silly idiot heads" than those who pirate them.
Off topic: Is there any way to convince EA and similars to offer games to places like, let's say, Europe?
The only problem I see with this post is "In Will Wright’s PC masterpiece, Spore."
Other then that, congrats on getting EA, no matter how much I hate them. Should bring in some money.
Your logic lacks perspective.
"By restricting their games to just a handful of regions, publishers concede to pirates a much desired distribution service for those outcasts that pirate not because they don't have money, but because of the urge of wanting to play great games."
Given your location Zyxpsilon, it is far easier to be against piracy while in Canada. Granted, it's stupid to pirate a game while wildly available in a given region, though some people maybe be driven to it by moronic DRM. Lack of legal availability is an important issue which gives way to some pragmatic decisions. In such cases, region locking only contributes to widespread piracy. If publishers do that to themselves, for whatever reasons they might have, how valid is it to put every "pirate" in that same anti-social bag that you're claiming?
I'd be locked in a regional "controversy" -- i still wouldn't try getting a FREE game through Piracy for a very simple reason;
Whovever coded & compiled that **now FREE game to me** didn't receive any of MY money for it.
Now - variable EURO currency, manufactured in the US, made available in India through bandwidths, heck even boxed up and shipped to Antarctica weather station X.... i really don't care; you play, you pay.
It's commerce, it's honest. Otherwise, it isn't.
Sure, publishers such as EA take some drastic measures to annoy... i don't care either. Go ahead and dump whatever you want on my PC, it still is a proof i paid for a product installed legitimately. There's no justification for theft and while pirates brake the international model of economics, there can be only one possible but rational consequence; *SOME* businesses would shut down and stop making games. Now that's punishment enough to the honest populations & true customers wherever they are.
And for the honest populations & true customers wherever they are, region unlocking (with/without discriminate pricing) would be a way to combat piracy. This current distribution model fails to perceive a medium that can get their products to the most remote locations, while allowing pirates to benefit from their inaction.
The fact that I have an internet connection, despite my location, denotes potential and the perfect selling mechanism for their digital merchandising. Alas, I have the will and the means but they lack the competence.
Sorry to say it, but Impulse is going to be more and more useless for an european customer.
Very few games available for us, and mostly overpriced.
Wow, North America only. I'm surprised.
QFT.
The amount of criticism EA have received over Securom is totally unjustified...
Have any of you used it or do you just moan about it and distort the FACTS....
When EA uses Securom on its games you can install the game an unlimited amount of times on up to 5 different PCs.
YES-i said unlimited-and okay u might reinstall your system but that will not use up an activation.
Some people may upgrade their Mobo etc which would cause an activation slot to be used up but EA supply a really easy to use Deauthorisation tool so as long as you use that in theory you do have unlimited activations on numerous PC setups.
---
But why put us through the hassle? Why install (potentially) harmful DRM on our computers? "Well to stop pirates, of course!"Wasn't Spore the most pirated game of 2008? Man, that securom really stops pirates now don't it?
EDIT: And to be positive, look at Stardock. They aren't stupid, they know their games are going to be pirated. They also know that DRM pisses people off and can make people pirate the game instead of buying it. That's why they don't put any DRM on their discs! Demigod was pirated so much not because of DRM but a few other issues (a big one being gamestop releasing the freaking game early...)
I did I have battlefeild 2. And a few others. I can afirm to you that when ever I install and EA product on my computer. My computer starts acting weird and performances starts to drop. I don't need to install tools to mersure the performance of my cpu to see the changes I can see them for my self very easily.
To top it off thousands of other people have reported simmiler problems with EA products, some reported nightmarerish events. So to me that good enought to ban ALL EA PRUDUCTS WITHOUT QUESTION.
Here's my criticism: DRM does not work! The one thing all DRM, from "enter word from manual" to "CD key" to "version whatever Securom/Starforce", has in common is abject failure. Sure, the latest in DRM will stop some kid just loaning his game CD to a friend to copy, but the humble CD key will do that too. Ok, if you want to pirate a few moments on the internet will give you a CD-key generator, but that same search will also yield a crack or cracked version.
None of us here (or at least, no sane person) deny the right of a developer/publisher to protect their code, but when they make legitimate customers jump through hoops (or worse) while still achieving absolutely nothing against the pirates, people get annoyed. Well, the customers get annoyed. The pirates don't care, it's business as usual for them, since they don't get faced with the crap the customers do on account of ripping all that stuff out with the rest of the copyright protection. Fun, isn't it, when the crooks get a better product than the legitimate buyers?
#1 reason why don't don't buy EA no more.
How many games do you have installed? I have more than two dozen. Now, imagine you have to deauthorize each and every one before changing your motherboard or before you reinstall your OS. That's a serious and unnecessary pain in the ass, especially if your games are already tied to a digital platform like Impulse.
Here's the thing: I don't care if I have "proof" that I bought a product--I KNOW I bought it. And I certainly resent having that proof on my PC when it slows performance hindering my enjoyment (when, say, I can no longer play a smooth game with the graphics maxed out. And YES this does happen).
You can use all the piracy-related reasons in the world to justify putting malware on my PC --or rather getting me to PAY MONEY to install malware on my PC--it's irrelevant. I am not a pirate. I won't pirate EA's or anyone else's software. But I will not pay for malware. I understand the reasons for getting EA on Impulse. They make some of the most popular titles in the world. I'm just glad that the DRM used on a particular title is clearly displayed.
I'm not, then again you were probably being sarcastic
Too bad, I would've bought Sacred 2 earlier if the cheap price was also for EU.
Nobody does either ways; legally bought or pirated copies.
What most people hate, i gather, is supplemental verifications (through hidden processes) by code taking up useless space on their PC... i KNOW that also.
But, worst if there isn't anything to protect YOUR paid software (not malware, need i insist) from being stolen from YOU (and not by Pirates or from the publisher itself) - what value do you get to install on the PC?
Enter password. Security. ATM money in your bank account. Why do you think criminals try to use fake credit cards?
I have three registration codes for GC2 DL/DA/TA products that i paid for. Stardock KNOWS i'm a legitimate buyer. They even think of me as a customer, not a Pirate.
I paid for DesktopX, registered too.
None of these programs are malware, even if they check some tabs on their database (in a fraction of a second i should add) and constantly acknowledge my presence on Impulse when these products need to be updated. As a service - to a CUSTOMER, not a Pirate.
That's how precious our identity is, even for such things as games (paid for) installed on a PC.
By malware people mean SecuROM, which does act like malware.
You are paying for malware. When you buy certain games and install then, they install malware drm onto your system.
Your confusing the points. the DRM that Stardock uses isn't very invasive, and isn't as bad as the ones other companies use. Most of us don't mind activating our product, and proving that we are still the owners when it's time to update and the like. I have zero complaints about it, but part of me is worried that when stardock crashes something will happen and our beautiful games won't be able to update anymore.
A lot of DRM from EA games is installed on your system without your knowledge, and is not uninstalled from your system. Ever. Some programs (such as punk buster) will run everytime your PC starts up, even after you've uninstalled every game that is included with it. There's not an easy way to uninstall it either. DRM doesn't stop pirates, so why is it still in existance?
If you were buying a car, and for $3000 more, you could have a piece of paper taped to the window that says "this glass is shatterproof, so don't bother breaking in", would you buy it? That sign is just as effective, if not more effective than current DRM is against pirates.
We're not ranting for free everything, no disk checks, etc. We're saying that we don't deserve to have restricted activations, online necessary 1st person games that must call home every 10 days, invasive programs that aren't uninstalled without tedious work, etc. You are paying for malware. Not all DRM is evil, but current DRM in general is idiotic. I have never, ever, heard a single intelligent rebuttle to any of the key points of the anti-drm arguements. At least not any that can withstand a round or two of objections to their logic.
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