A serious question - does EA have to pay each person who bought the game a settlement figure, or would they have to put a big notice on game cases saying "This game contains SecuROM", or would they be barred from using software like this in the future (the best outcome imho)?
If the information in the database can be used to identify you (which it obviously can at the very least for emails & mobile phone communications) then you can send a Freedom of Information Request to the Government to be sent a copy of said information.
Now, in itself one request wouldn't really make them reconsider - but if a few tens of thousand or more people started making these demands - which the government has to comply to - then they might get so swamped with requests, that it becomes too costly to maintain the system.
EA still do this - or at least Command & Conquer games do. You got a decent manual that explains each unit and building, detailing their "stats", and their purpose. This isn't the reason why I bought the game, but it genuinely made me smile when I opend the case, and I do use it (which is more than I can say for any PDF manual I've ever had).
This isn't why I bought Tiberium Wars though, I bought it because I buy all C&C games. Why? Because "back in the day" I played a 3-mission demo of C&C and was hooked, and best of all the full game didn't disapoint, and neither did the spins-offs/sequals. By giving me a good demo, and making a good game, Westwood/EA crated a life-time customer out of me. To add to this, I've introduced friends to the series, who are also serial-customers.
Just goes to show, if you do do it right*, you get rewarded.
*EA don't do it perfect, they do use DRM, and in return I use a no-cd crack. I want to be able to shift from Kane's Wrath to Tibirum Wars, or Transport Tycoon without having to clutter my desk with discs.
Personally I have quite a "fancy" mobile phone. It can make video calls, play mp3s, record audio/video, take pictures, and much more! But I didn't get it because it could do those things, I got it because the interface was nice, simple, and easy to use.
If I'm out and about and want to take a photo, I get out my camera which I always carry with me, it's infinately better than the phone's camera. If I want to play music, I get my iPod out (which I always carry with me) and listen to it from there. If I want to play games I pull out my DS (which, you guessed it, I always carry with me) and play away. Why do I do this? Two reasons really:
The quality available to me on my sepreate devices is far above that provided by my phone.
If the battery dies on my iPod, I can still make a phone call, send a text, take a photo, or play games.
Yes it means I have to carry a shoulder bag around with me everywhere, but in that bag I have other useful items including medicines, first aid stuff (very useful when out & about with kids), a note book, water and snacks.
BUT I'm NOT saying that this suits everyone. It suits me, but it doesn't suit others. I don't try and force my lifestyle onto others, but I can explain why I do what I do, and hopefully others respect and understand that.
OMG yes. My son, four/five at the time wiped out my almost fully completed Mario Kart DS saved game. I was pissed. He was banned from Mario Kart for a fair few months, but he sure leart quick that you don't go randomly tapping on menus that you can't read (which for him, was all of them).
I started him off playing games at 3ish, but only random stuff like walking around Animal Crossing picking up weeds (child labour?), he's now six and loves Mario (World, DS & Galaxy), Mario Kart, and his (current) favorite is an old Turtles game for the Gamecube. Yes it's violent, but he fully understands that he is never to re-create anything he sees in a game, be it doing double jumps over lava, or hitting enemies with nunchucks. We do slack sometimes though, I've caught him picking up weeds on the odd occation.
Slashdot Mirror
I disagree. It took my parents (and a few less tech-savy friends) about a month to associate Firefox's icon with the Internet over IE's.
OK I did have to remove all traces of IE from the start menu & desktop, but dumb people are dumb, so they soon re-learn tricks.
A serious question - does EA have to pay each person who bought the game a settlement figure, or would they have to put a big notice on game cases saying "This game contains SecuROM", or would they be barred from using software like this in the future (the best outcome imho)?
If the information in the database can be used to identify you (which it obviously can at the very least for emails & mobile phone communications) then you can send a Freedom of Information Request to the Government to be sent a copy of said information.
Now, in itself one request wouldn't really make them reconsider - but if a few tens of thousand or more people started making these demands - which the government has to comply to - then they might get so swamped with requests, that it becomes too costly to maintain the system.
I find myself wondering if most of the attraction of it is the fact that it is new.
Nail. Head. That and it's Google. People love to love Google.
4. Nothing In The Box But Digital Data
EA still do this - or at least Command & Conquer games do. You got a decent manual that explains each unit and building, detailing their "stats", and their purpose. This isn't the reason why I bought the game, but it genuinely made me smile when I opend the case, and I do use it (which is more than I can say for any PDF manual I've ever had).
This isn't why I bought Tiberium Wars though, I bought it because I buy all C&C games. Why? Because "back in the day" I played a 3-mission demo of C&C and was hooked, and best of all the full game didn't disapoint, and neither did the spins-offs/sequals. By giving me a good demo, and making a good game, Westwood/EA crated a life-time customer out of me. To add to this, I've introduced friends to the series, who are also serial-customers.
Just goes to show, if you do do it right*, you get rewarded.
*EA don't do it perfect, they do use DRM, and in return I use a no-cd crack. I want to be able to shift from Kane's Wrath to Tibirum Wars, or Transport Tycoon without having to clutter my desk with discs.
Chiddingfeld-on-sea, lol. Not seen that before, shame on me!
This is why choice was invented!
Personally I have quite a "fancy" mobile phone. It can make video calls, play mp3s, record audio/video, take pictures, and much more! But I didn't get it because it could do those things, I got it because the interface was nice, simple, and easy to use.
If I'm out and about and want to take a photo, I get out my camera which I always carry with me, it's infinately better than the phone's camera. If I want to play music, I get my iPod out (which I always carry with me) and listen to it from there. If I want to play games I pull out my DS (which, you guessed it, I always carry with me) and play away. Why do I do this? Two reasons really:
Yes it means I have to carry a shoulder bag around with me everywhere, but in that bag I have other useful items including medicines, first aid stuff (very useful when out & about with kids), a note book, water and snacks.
BUT I'm NOT saying that this suits everyone. It suits me, but it doesn't suit others. I don't try and force my lifestyle onto others, but I can explain why I do what I do, and hopefully others respect and understand that.
OMG yes. My son, four/five at the time wiped out my almost fully completed Mario Kart DS saved game. I was pissed. He was banned from Mario Kart for a fair few months, but he sure leart quick that you don't go randomly tapping on menus that you can't read (which for him, was all of them). I started him off playing games at 3ish, but only random stuff like walking around Animal Crossing picking up weeds (child labour?), he's now six and loves Mario (World, DS & Galaxy), Mario Kart, and his (current) favorite is an old Turtles game for the Gamecube. Yes it's violent, but he fully understands that he is never to re-create anything he sees in a game, be it doing double jumps over lava, or hitting enemies with nunchucks. We do slack sometimes though, I've caught him picking up weeds on the odd occation.