Darkspore Gone Forever Due to Abandoned DRM - UPDATED

[zumbledum]

Steam has pulled Darkspore from its store, though at time of writing EA is still selling it on Origin.

Oh EA, you haven't really changed at all, have you?

---

This sounds unfortunate...I have no idea what the game is about or even how many people are fans but at least we can point to something like this and say "This is why XBone wouldn't have worked". Can't even play Single Player anymore...damn shame. The Virtual Boy died outright but I can't still play (and annoy people with my love of) Teleroboxer.

And so it has come to this. The Age of Retro Gaming is over. The time of the DRM has come.

Retro Gaming will never truly die until the consoles and carts themselves do.

It was a diablo clone using creatures generated in the spawn engine if you can believe that, honestly im not shocked they shut the servers, i had the misfortune of owning the game since launch , what i find shocking is anyone noticed they went down, i mean seriously who was playing this steaming pile of crap? its a sad state if your that hard up for games your playing that!

 

[WarpZone]

THE FUTURE of AAA Gaming, ladies and gentlemen!

Hey, anybody wanna buy a single-player PC game that just works?

 

[Amir Kondori]

Wow, so not only does it not work and they say it is "no longer developed" but they are still SELLING it?! This is why I have never in my life bought an always online game that wasn't a truly online game. This is disgusting and I hope EA gets sued.

 

[Sir Shockwave]

Fun fact: Due to the way they work, EULAs are non-binding in Europe: No contract can force you to give up your rights.

However, it's entirely possible for companies to ignore them, or say that law doesn't apply due to wording or datedness.

Recent Example: I tried to pry a refund from Steam over the Game God Hand. Steam refused, citing it's terms of Service. I countered with the Distance Selling Regulations 2000, which is a UK (and possibly EU Law) saying that if I am not happy with a company's product or service, I am entitled to claim a refund within 7 Days. I explained this to them...

...and they still refused to refund this, claiming it didn't apply to Digital Games.

Ironically, they refunded someone over Worms: Reloaded, who cited the exact same law with similar reasons.

 

[Amir Kondori]

Oh look "Error 3" what a great error message.

a great way to cover up the fact that we pulled the servers without telling anyone.

Unless you give us a reason, not just a random number, then thats what im going to assume.

While that could be true I doubt it, most error messages for software are like that.

Darkspore Now Requires a Third-Party Crack To Play

Fixed it for you. Remember folks: cracking is 100% legal as long as you own a legal copy and didn't pirate it like a bad boy.

It really isn't. I don't think there is anything wrong with doing it as long as you own a legal copy. The only thing you used to be able to do was dump the rom from carts as long as you owned them, but with the DMCA anything that circumvents DRM is outlaw. Just the circumvention of DRM itself is made illegal by the DMCA.

So do it if you want, but everyone should know it is most certainly 100% illegal, at least in the USA.

Captcha: "Face the music" So shall we all Captcha, so shall we all.

 

[Amir Kondori]

Fun fact: Due to the way they work, EULAs are non-binding in Europe: No contract can force you to give up your rights.

However, it's entirely possible for companies to ignore them, or say that law doesn't apply due to wording or datedness.

Recent Example: I tried to pry a refund from Steam over the Game God Hand. Steam refused, citing it's terms of Service. I countered with the Distance Selling Regulations 2000, which is a UK (and possibly EU Law) saying that if I am not happy with a company's product or service, I am entitled to claim a refund within 7 Days. I explained this to them...

...and they still refused to refund this, claiming it didn't apply to Digital Games.

Ironically, they refunded someone over Worms: Reloaded, who cited the exact same law with similar reasons.

I think it comes down to who deals with your case. They are only really protected because they know most people just won't go to court over a anything that costs less than $50.

 

[Sir Shockwave]

Fun fact: Due to the way they work, EULAs are non-binding in Europe: No contract can force you to give up your rights.

However, it's entirely possible for companies to ignore them, or say that law doesn't apply due to wording or datedness.

Recent Example: I tried to pry a refund from Steam over the Game God Hand. Steam refused, citing it's terms of Service. I countered with the Distance Selling Regulations 2000, which is a UK (and possibly EU Law) saying that if I am not happy with a company's product or service, I am entitled to claim a refund within 7 Days. I explained this to them...

...and they still refused to refund this, claiming it didn't apply to Digital Games.

Ironically, they refunded someone over Worms: Reloaded, who cited the exact same law with similar reasons.

I think it comes down to who deals with your case. They are only really protected because they know most people just won't go to court over a anything that costs less than $50.

That's what I suspect it was. What Steam did is of course morally and legally wrong...but there are some powers even being Corporate-savvy about cannot fight.

 

[Mr.Amakir]

Recent Example: I tried to pry a refund from Steam over the Game God Hand.

Wait God Hand is on Steam? God Hand as in the excellent beat em up developed by Clover Studios and published by Capcom?

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

The spectre of digital distribution finally rears its ugly head, sure it's a game nobody really cared about and wasn't "that" great but people paid money for this game and now it no longer exists for them.

This IS the digital only future... and it's kinda freaky.

 

[Clankenbeard]

And this is what you can expect from every always-on game with a single player aspect. So go ahead and try to defend it without looking like a corporate tool.

You are wrong sir! EA claimed the mandatory server connection wasn't DRM and was just "part of the experience." "Error Code 3" is a new psychological meta function of the game and is simply "part of the experience" of Darkspore.

Damn. You're right. I still sound like a corporate tool.

 

[Paul Bastin]

DRM never really bothered me. I've bought games from Origin, GOG, Steam and even Desura. But one thing I refuse to indulge in is anything with an always-online requirement.
When it comes to pulling the plug on the servers, it's not a case of if, it's a case of when.
Oh, and it WOULD have to be EA, wouldn't it...

 

[immortalfrieza]

Snip

Piracy has ALWAYS been more attractive than legit means of getting digitially downloadable media in many ways, that's the reason why it exists to begin with. History has proven time and again that people in general are going to use the cheapest and most of all most convenient method of acquiring and using anything that they can find, and illegal means are no exception, especially illegal means that are completely unenforcable like Piracy is. All the anti-piracy measures only serve to exacerbate the situation further. If getting digitally downloadable media legally was more convenient and was at reasonable prices, piracy wouldn't exist. I don't pirate myself (it's true, though I don't expect anybody to believe me) because so far I haven't had a reason to do it, I never go anywhere near anything that has those annoying anti-piracy measures to begin with, unless you count Steam sales, but I understand the rationale behind piracy and I just might be forced into it if those anti-piracy measures infest the entire video game industry.

 

[theultimateend]

This is also (new) Sim City in 5 years. Though good riddance.

5 Years is probably generous.

I don't mind too much, the companies doing this DRM stuff are not companies I often (if ever) purchase from. Most good games these days (good to me at least) are DRM free or Steamed.

Valve has a pretty good track record of treating their customers well.

 

[5ilver]

Darkspore Now Requires a Third-Party Crack To Play

Fixed it for you. Remember folks: cracking is 100% legal as long as you own a legal copy and didn't pirate it like a bad boy.

Wow, are pirates really getting the better deal AGAIN?

 

[Deathfish15]

"In order to provide a better service experience for Battlefield 4 players, as well as make more room for them too, EA/Dice have decided to close down all Battlefield 3 servers at the launch of the new game. These servers will be refurnished for the new game in the matter of a week. We thank you all for your continued support in this fantastic series."


-Prediction-



Yeah, that's what I think will actually happen.

 

[Lightknight]

Hmm, you'd think with steam sales and such of old games gaining resales years after release that it'd be worth one developer's time to have already made a patch that would role back the stupid EA DRM.

 

[MetalMagpie]

I'm not convinced we can say for certain yet that a) the game is definitely broken for all players and b) it will never be fixed.

Inquisitor Laine (the guy who wrote that post) does not appear to be an EA employee. He's just a volunteer forum mod.

The only other place online I can find this story is Game Trailers (where Escapist have got it from) and they aren't citing anything other than that post by Inquisitor Laine.

Does anyone here actually own Darkspore? Can they verify that it doesn't work?

I'm only acting suspicious because gaming news sites like this have a habit of performing a variant of the [a href=http://xkcd.com/978/]Wikipedia Citogenesis[/a].

That was a good question. I own it and I was able to sign in, after going through the standard "we've updated our terms of service, please indicate that you've read and agree to this nonsense that we know you're not going to read every time we do this". Anyway, no apparently it's not broken for everyone. If there are knows bugs that make the game unplayable for some people and they have no intention of fixing those bugs it's still irresponsible to keep selling the game. Do they at least have some sort of warning posted on their site?

UPDATE: EA has apparently changed its mind on Darkspore and updated the message leading into the forums to pledge continued support for the game. "Welcome to the Darkspore forums. Thanks for supporting the game," it says. "We recently resolved an issue that was causing some players to not be able to connect to the game. If you any encounter any other issues, please contact help.ea.com for customer support. We will continue to support Darkspore, so feel free to continue to discuss the game here."

I think by "changed its mind" they mean "removed a completely unofficial post and swapped it for a less misleading/scary one". No doubt EA aren't making a huge effort to support this game, but while they're still selling it they will keep supporting it in some fashion.

*sigh* Every day is a slow news day on a gaming site. I wonder if this little storm in a teacup actually got any further than just Game Trailers and the Escapist.

 

[direkiller]

Fun fact: Due to the way they work, EULAs are non-binding in Europe: No contract can force you to give up your rights.

Not so fun fact: that's the theory, the practice is different. For example, in the EU there is a law that any purchase made online can be cancelled without cost to the buyer within 7 days, for whatever reason, and the seller is obliged to pay you back within 30 days.

The only exceptions are things like hotel rooms and consumables.

Yet try enforcing this against online game stores like Xbox Live, PSN, or Steam - no dice. They simply will refuse to cooperate with the law and nobody in Brussels seems interested to do anything about it. In fact, people who have attempted a charge back against Steam have found their entire account locked, Valve in essence stealing all their games on the service.

almost any online services automatically locks you out if you charge back because it is more often then not used as a result of identity theft or chargeback fraud. As the merchant is always held responsible for the rather large Chargeback fees, they lock the account until it is all sorted out, as they do not wish any more to happen, and they wish to keep any information you have with them safe.
You can get the account unlocked, provided you were not doing something illegal with it.

 

[Diablo1099_v1legacy]

Wait...so is the game back online now?