Gearfuse

Before you get your molotov cocktails out and start heaving them in the direction of the Electronic Arts offices, stop and listen. We all know what a clusterfuck DRM caused for the game Spore. People bitched quite a bit and this time around, EA is going to listen. On the official Sims 3 blog, Rod Humble from EA just posted this tidbit about how the DRM for the game will work:

The game will have disc-based copy protection – there is a Serial Code just like The Sims 2. To play the game there will not be any online authentication needed.

We feel like this is a good, time-proven solution that makes it easy for you to play the game without DRM methods that feel overly invasive or leave you concerned about authorization server access in the distant future.

Awesome. Back to basics. Power to the player. This not only a good move by EA’s development team; it’s a PR miracle.

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Outer space is filled with things we’ll never know about. Beautiful objects swirling around in the fiery cosmos. How poetic.

Luckily, we have half-decent scientists here in America (and some OK ones from Britain) who used the Gemini North and Keck telescopes at the Mauna Kea observatory in Hawaii to explore outside our solar system. After a little digging, they found a planet orbiting the star known as Formalhaut. With the discovery of more planets in an entirely different solar system, the possibility to find another Earth totally exists. One day, we’ll be able use intergalactic travel to emulate our Spore fantasies.

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Shame on you, Pete Hines. Claiming that your latest game, Fallout 3, contains only the mildest form of DRM was a lie. A big fat lie. Not only does the PC version of Fallout 3 contain DRM, it contains the most infamous of all DRMs: SecuROM.

Remember what happened to EA for releasing Spore with SecuROM? It got hit with a class action lawsuit. It’s no mystery that SecuROM permanently stays on your computer, even after an uninstall, leeching precious resources from your PC. The only solution is reformatting your hard drive. So far, the only problems caused by the Fallout 3 DRM has been conflicts during installation for a small group of users. Just wait, much like the Master Control Program in Tron, SecuROM will take over.

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Applause all around for Electronic Arts. The gaming company managed to fuck up big time, this time with Spore. As you’ve heard, Spore contains draconian DRM that limits you to three installs of the game and no more. Now a California class action suit has been formed in an attempt to recoup $50 + damages for everyone who bought Spore. The SecuROM copy protection program will install itself on a computer without notifying the user and stays on said hard drive even after an uninstall of the game. To boot, the SecuROM phones home to EA and hogs up system resources without alerting the user.

I truly hope EA gets hit hard with this suit. Of all the gaming companies that need to pull their head out of their ass, Electronic Arts takes the cake. Maybe next time around you’ll quit fucking around with DRM.

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Let’s say, hypothetically, that last Friday I got my hands on a copy of Spore before it came out. You could say I spent all day Sunday testing it out and playing it too. Let me give you my hypothetical impression of it as to not implicate myself entirely.

Spore is a fantastic game. Not since I first played World of Warcraft has a game really taken me aside and into another world. You play through five different stages, each of which is like a mini-game inside a game. Right now, I’m on the final part of the game, Space. You get to colonize planets, make money through trade and diplomatic relations, fight other galaxies and empires and so much more. The thing is, however, that one gets very sick of having to constantly fly to your home planet every five minutes. Whether you’re under attack or turning in a mission, the need to constantly visit is something that detracts from the fun of the game.

If you’ve played other Will Wright games or an MMO, you’ll love Spore. I wasn’t able to fully test the Internet-related aspect of the game where other players’ creations are injected into your world, but that’s fine. Make no mistake about it: this is not an MMO. It’s single-player with MMO-injections here and there. Kind of like crank but safer for the body. I suggest you pick up a copy this week and give Spore a try. It certainly does not disappoint.

So looks like we’ve all got a nice gift from Santa this year in the form of Spore, the much awaited game from Will Wright. Sure, it’s due out on Monday, September 7th but who wants to wait the entire weekend? Hop on your favorite Bit Torrent site like I did and grab a copy. RELOADED is the only scene group that’s released a working copy and crack right now, so buyer beware.

My torrent is still downloading despite being on a private site, so I’m afraid I can’t let you know if it’s a decent game right now. If it is and you really end up enjoying it, buy a copy of the Galactic Edition.

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I sure hope you’ve tried out that creature creator for the upcoming Spore, otherwise you’re going to be left in the dark. Having to settle for randomly generating creatures simply because you weren’t creative enough to come up with your own does not please Will Wright. After all, the full game is just around the corner. That’s right, Spore has gone gold, meaning the code has been completed and it’s ready for the slated September 7th release!

You can either pick up your Galactic Edition or just get the regular version like any other normal kid who cares not for precious art books and behind the scenes footage. Oh and Mac users (for once) get a Maxis game that’ll ship on the same day as the PC version. Spore is changing the world in more ways than one.

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See this monstrosity above? That’s my new pal, Bonerfart. I created him with the Spore “demo” Spore Creature Creator. There’s a free trial and some bullshit $10 full version with more body parts to mess with. The full game is out in September and after spending 10 minutes with this little sandbox mode, I’m very pleased.

Hit the link to get the demo for Windows or Mac OS X.

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