Darkspore Gone Forever Due to Abandoned DRM - UPDATED

[fix-the-spade]

Actually, that Steam one is highly unlikely. Steam has an offline mode that generally allows you to play you Stream games just fine.

What if an update bricks Steam?
Or Valve goes bust?
Or their publishing deals expire or go south (like say... Crysis 2)?
Or your Key corrupts and bricks the game (Like Company of Heroes)?

There are a whole bunch of scenarios where you lose access to a game(s) on Steam, or keep access, provided you never, ever need to repair or validate the install ever again, some of which have already happened, not all of which were fixed (thanks EA and Ubisoft!).

But people get complacent because Valve are generally better behaved than Ubisoft or EA are, that doesn't mean their system is perfect or that they'll maintain their standards forever.

 

[themilo504]

I?m really worried that one day this is going to happen to my steam library.

 

[ThunderCavalier]

This is a damn shame.

I hope that EA starts taking notes or this might be happening a lot more often with the less popular titles that don't have huge devs or publishers feverishly trying to revive the thing.

 

[Aggieknight]

And people say that online DRM is OK if you have a good broadband connection...

Idiots.

 

[Scorpid]

Stay classy EA... you assholes.

 

[geizr]

This is just BAD, BAD BUSINESS, I mean really, truly bad business. You just don't do something like this to your customers. You don't just leave them high and dry with a broken product and no recourse. But then to continue to sell a known non-functional product, that's just criminally bad business. I think a major class-action suit is in order.

It's our fault folks, we resisted the digital future so hard, they killed this game, so now we'd know what we lost. If only we hadn't resist change...

Edit: Sorry guys, didn't know this is one of them sites you have to put /sarcasm at the end. I frequent the BSN, my bad.

While you were being sarcastic, there is a significant element of truth to your statement. We, the gamers, have allowed game companies like EA to get away with the crap they do because we don't know how to just say "NO!". We act like junkies when it comes to gaming; we just have to have our fix. We're too tolerant, and that needs to just stop. We need to hold these companies more to the fire with the one single power that we have. As I have said time and again, a company hears and understands ONLY two sounds, the creak of your wallet opening and the slap of your wallet closing. All other sounds are noise to be ignored. Closing our wallets to shitty business practices like those of EA and only opening our wallets to good, or at least less anti-consumer, practices is the only power we have against these companies (aside from opening class-action suits for obviously illegitimate behavior, such as false-advertising, which would be the case here, IMO). We as gamers need to just rise up and show to these game companies with a single loud, collective SLAP of the closing wallet that we are tired of this kind of shit and just aren't going to tolerate it any more. Remember, these companies desperately want our money; they're more hooked on our money than we are on their games. That means we are the ones that truly hold the real power.

Close your wallets to EA.

 

[RJ 17]

"But seriously guys! Mandatory connections are the wave of the future! You just don't know how great it is because you won't give it a chance! I honestly don't see why you people are so opposed to needing a constant connection!" - Any MS representative...and apparently Patrice "I created AC so I'm qualified to tell you what you want and don't want" Desilets.

Translation of this story: If you bought Darkspore, you no longer own the game you paid for. And that is why there were riots in the streets - so to speak - when MS said they'd be doing this for their entire fucking console.

 

[silver wolf009]

OMG DIGITAL IS SO AWESOME!

Yeah, it's fucking amazing! If this is the future we are heading towards, I would rather stay in the past. I might not play a load of games that belong on GOG but when I want to, I don't want to find the servers have packed in.

Everytime I see YOUR avatar, I think Pikachu has a Chirstmas Tree growing out of his belly button!!

I WANT UNSEE!!

OT: Nothing I can't say that isn't repeated, so I'll just throw my voice in with the disgusted crowd, and my wallet in with the anti-EA crowd.

 

[blackrave]

So how long until C&C4 follows same route?
[yes, I'm out of my happy denial pills]

P.S. That is why I have images of all games I bought on Steam, I don't use or share them further, but they are there just in case

 

[faefrost]

Actually, that Steam one is highly unlikely. Steam has an offline mode that generally allows you to play you Stream games just fine.

What if an update bricks Steam?
Or Valve goes bust?
Or their publishing deals expire or go south (like say... Crysis 2)?
Or your Key corrupts and bricks the game (Like Company of Heroes)?

There are a whole bunch of scenarios where you lose access to a game(s) on Steam, or keep access, provided you never, ever need to repair or validate the install ever again, some of which have already happened, not all of which were fixed (thanks EA and Ubisoft!).

But people get complacent because Valve are generally better behaved than Ubisoft or EA are, that doesn't mean their system is perfect or that they'll maintain their standards forever.

If I recall correctly Valve did at one time say that if for any reason they shut down Steam, there is a mechanism designed into it to unlock the DRM requirements. I believe it would however also lock some other features, such as the ability to re download you game library.

 

[tardcore]

And this is exactly why EA will never see another penny from me. Companies if you publish with EA you are dead to me. In fact if you let EA push you into using their imbecilic always on DRM it looks like you are dead full stop.

Darkspore dead and Simcity 5 not looking much better. Any bets on how long it will be before the name Maxis joins the list of those killed by EA's stupidity and greed?

 

[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.