Sims 2 Blocked by CD Copying Software

bairy writes "EA says The Sims 2 will refuse to run if you have Nero, CloneCD or Roxio's EasyCD installed on the same PC. Although they link to a patch to bypass this, a lot of people are upset by this."

Comments

Roxio's EasyCD?

[sgant]

Um...that came with my wife's Gateway machine. It's not like we copied some "l33t" CD copy program hack. It fricken CAME with the machine!

What up? Then they list a patch that will bypass it anyway? What up? Why did they even include it in the first place?

Again, what up?

This is why I play console games.

[Godeke]

I'm a developer and as such I use some of the more obscure tools: including CloneCD (I have a library of my MSDN subscription CDs imaged on my server, for example). I back up to CD, so I have CD burning software on my machine. This isn't the first game where someone decided they know what is good for my machine better than I do. "You want to *use* your machine: then don't buy our game!" they say. I have learned my lesson: I don't buy your games. How exactly does that help your bottom line?

From the discussion board it appears it took two days for a NoCD crack to become available. How does *that* help your bottom line: you have people returning the game (rightfully so, many will have no clue why you want to cripple the computer just to play a game, even if they know *how* to cripple it) and yet the pirates didn't even skip a beat?

Nothing but bad press and bad customer service. Yes, the consoles are protected, but they are protected in a way that doesn't break the game and doesn't require gutting my machine's functionality to get there.

Ironic

[DeadBugs]

I heard that people that have Doom3 and Unreal Tournament 2004 installed are refusing to install Sims 2. (no matter how much their girlfriend complains)

What really gets me is this...

[Dark Nexus]

Reading through the posts, I come across a post from someone at EA responsible for the board (or support in general, I'm not sure which), in response to one customer who got so annoyed they returned the game:

There is no conspiracy of silence. I've seen posts from people running Nero and CloneCD who aren't having problems with the game and those that are. We can look into it, but I don't have any answers for you today.

And murronrose, since you returned your game, that means that you are no longer a product-registered owner of the game. Which means you shouldn't even be using this BBS... I'm most likely going to have to remove your posting priveledges if you don't cancel your account yourself.

-MaxoidLucky

Check out The Urbz - Sims in the City
The next great game from Maxis!
http://www.theurbz.com

Absolutely wonderful customer relations... "You have a complaint, so instead of trying to fix the problem and get a few customers back, we're just going to remove you from this board and pretend it never happened."

State it in the System Requirements

[meanfriend]

If a company wants to take such stupid measures with their games, go ahead, but let me know *before I buy it* so I know which lousy products not to waste my $$ on. With most store policies regarding open box returns (ie. dont even think about it) they owe it to the consumers to notify them if something that has become quite common on modern systems may prevent the game from running.

Don't all games have a little section of the box indicating the system requirements? Like:

1 Ghz CPU
Direct X 9 video card
1.2 GB free Hard Drive Space
NO Installed CD emulation software: (eg: Nero/Alcohol/CloneCD)

If they did something like that, then consumers would have no complaints. Sales may tank, but that should tell them something too...

And no fair adding emulation detection code in a patch like Ubisoft tried with Raven Shield. (It was retracted quickly after a good backlash from the users)

Not the only one

[hawkbug]

Have you tried to play Far Cry yet? The game came free with a brand new video card I bought, the eVGA Nvidia Geforce 6800, and after I installed it and then patched it to version 1.1, it refused to load. It said something about detecting drive imaging software on my machine, and it said it would not load until said software was removed. I can't tell you how much that ticked me off. So, rather than uninstall the cd copying software because I NEED IT FOR LEGIMATE PURPOSES, I simply found a crack for the program I legally own, and was forced to use it. It's just wrong. There needs to be a class action law suit, I'd even help spring for the lawyer.

Just another example of why copy protection loses

[Stevyn]

This is another example of how copy protection does little to stop piracy, but pisses off honest customers for no reason. I'm sure if a crack isn't already up, it will be soon. It's the same situation with Windows activation. The customers who bought the software honestly deal with the hassles while the people who downloaded it illegally won't have to worry. It's like the audio CDs that restrict use on windows machines, but downloading MP3s lets you do whatever you want. It's like paying for songs off music distribution services gives you a product that is more restrictive than if you went on Kazaa and downloaded it.

One of these companies arguments against piracy is that you get a better experience if you're honest and buy the product. However, for these protection schemes, I fail to see how things are made easier or better.

Future anti-infringement measures:

[base3]

The Sims 3 will refuse to run if any of the following are true:

• Suprnova is bookarked in IE
• .NFO is associated with any text editor
• A debugger is installed
• An IRC client is installed

Maxis Represenative Responds: Fuck Off, Customers.

[EllF]

My goodness. I was reading the BBS for the game, and there is one individual who purchased the Sims, found it to be inoperable on the system that he uses to do photo editing and digital video work, and returned it to the store with an explanation. He then posted, trying to get Maxis to do -something- -- he is apparently a longtime customer as well as a polite, well-spoken fellow.

Here's the Maxis represenative's response: "There is no conspiracy of silence. I've seen posts from people running Nero and CloneCD who aren't having problems with the game and those that are. We can look into it, but I don't have any answers for you today. And murronrose, since you returned your game, that means that you are no longer a product-registered owner of the game. Which means you shouldn't even be using this BBS... I'm most likely going to have to remove your posting priveledges if you don't cancel your account yourself. -MaxoidLucky"

That's unbelievable. You don't threaten your fucking customers when they're justifiably angry because you released a ridiculously broken product. Fuck you, Maxis.