SimCity Apology Offers One Of Eight Free Games

[1337mokro]

Friend of mine tipped me off about ME3 being on the list. Basically the only reason I got SimCity. Found it for 40$. ME3 is worth 15$ at a discount store so all in all 40$ for two games that will both betray me SimCity at launch and ME3 at the end? Quite the deal.

Though this really is just a PR stunt to ship more SimCity copies. You have like till march 22nd to get your copy registered. That's a MASSIVE time window for an "apology".

 

[V da Mighty Taco]

I genuinely hope that most people grab SimCity 4 from this as it'd set the message that yes, people do want SimCity; just not a broken-ass multiplayer-only version of it that everyone has been bitching about. Seriously, if you complained about SimCity 2013 after buying it then this may be the best way to get your point across. DO IT!

 

[Atmos Duality]

"Gift Certificate Apology"

Sure, it looks like a kind and fair gesture, but it's an old trick to not only keep a customer's business and (usually) them legally entangled but here it also ties the recipient more closely to EA's service system (Origin).

To put it another way:
With a refund, a customer could rightly reject the bad business that warrants an apology to begin with and do something else with that money. (logic suggests that money would most likely go to a similar product; like a competitor's)

But with this, they get to keep the customer's money (which is especially important to them this time of the fiscal year), AND take the customer's continued business as justification for their stupid scheme. Who knows? Maybe enough customers will forgive them and stumble head-first into the next game that pulls the same kind of shit again.

(Before some apologist comes into whine about how I'm only picking on EA here. I) They are the only subject of the topic, it's kind of implied. But II) EA are by no means the first company to employ this, nor will they be the last.)

Caveat Emptor

 

[major_chaos]

That leaves these:
Battlefield 3 (Standard Edition)
Dead Space 3 (Standard Edition)
Need For Speed: Most Wanted (Standard Edition)

So which game should I choose?

Battlefield 3 is IMO the top of the heap as far as military shooters go, its far better paced and balanced than CoD tends to be, and the vehicular combat and large maps add a lot of depth, that said if you don't like military FPSs there is nothing here for you, and the campaign and Co-Op are awful even by genera standards.

Dead Space 3 is a third person "horror" shooter that plays a bit like a much better RE4 with controls that aren't terrible. As for the story, the game starts with a recap of the past games IIRC but you still might be a bit lost, although if you enjoy DS3 you can pick up the first two cheap, and 2 is the best in the series so that's worth checking out. Overall I love the franchise but I recommend you approach it as a tense third person shooter with a horror setting, because if you look at it as a true "horror game" and expect to be scared you are gonna end up disappointed.

P.P.S. >inb4 "you should choose to demand a refund hurr hurr", I already bought the game and I wouldn't even consider a refund if EA were offering 'em, on the off chance mods (or a new CEO) eventually fix it. This game may feel unfinished, but it's got a solid foundation that just needs DRM removal and fleshing out.

I think I love you.

Dead Space 3 (Standard Edition)
Mass Effect 3 (Standard Edition)
Medal of Honor: Warfighter (Standard Edition)

Let's placate people by letting have their pick of all the other franchises we ruined!

ME3 was amazing up till the last 15 minutes, DS3 is excellent and doesnt change all that much from 2 I have no idea why people hate it so much other than the negative hype, and Metal of Honor was never good. Can we stop with the "EA RUINS EVERYTHING WHHHAAAA" nonsense?

OT: ITT some people complain about free shit, cuz "EA IS EVILLLLLLLLL" While others react reasonably.

 

[carlh267]

This is the same stunt sony pulled after their snafu with the PSN hack; apologizing by offering free games, which, coincidentally, have sequels coming out next month. That's not an apology, that's salvaging the situation by salvaging some more money from your pockets. they could at least try being a bit more subtle about it. Hey, how about this? give away the full edition of quality games and generate some goodwill so that people will want to buy the next game you release? god knows you could use it...

Oh yes, because even when EA gives out free games as an apology for a serious fuck up, its somehow a giant conspiracy theory to get into your wallet. Lets look at the number of sequels to the games on this list, shall we?

Battlefield does have a sequel
Bejeweled does not have a planned sequel
Dead Space does not.
Mass Effect does, but its not coming out in 2013
MoH has been canned due to poor Warfighter sales
No sequel for Need for Speed
Plants vs. Zombies- no sequel, but Popcap is rumored to be working on it.
Simcity 4: Well, there is a sequel, but it just came out and its coincidentally the game that's giving away one of these goodies.

So when you count everything up, its 2 games with confirmed sequels, 1 with an unconfirmed sequel, and 5 with no sequel. Yep, this is all a giant conspiracy to get you to buy future sequels to these games, grab your pitchforks everyone!

Unbelievable, people already are getting a pretty damn good selection of games (excluding Doorfighter and Bejeweled), and even then it isn't enough goodwill for some people, because they aren't handing out GOTY editions.

 

[jdogtwodolla]

Battlefield 3 (Standard Edition)
Bejeweled 3
Dead Space 3 (Standard Edition)
Mass Effect 3 (Standard Edition)
Medal of Honor: Warfighter (Standard Edition)
Need For Speed: Most Wanted (Standard Edition)
Plants vs. Zombies
SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition

That's a solid list of undeniably good games

Hmm....

Anyway, it's nice to see PopCap games along side their bigger brethren.

 

[Callate]

I find myself slightly amused that this list includes a game they gave away for free last Halloween and the previous game in the series (which actually, by most reports, worked.)

And Warfighter. Ho. Talk about a backhanded apology.

Still, there's a decent list of offerings there, some of which still sell for a good $40, so I'm willing to consider that their intentions were at least in the right place.

 

[Floppertje]

snip

Oh yes, because even when EA gives out free games as an apology for a serious fuck up, its somehow a giant conspiracy theory to get into your wallet. Lets look at the number of sequels to the games on this list, shall we?

Battlefield does have a sequel
Bejeweled does not have a planned sequel
Dead Space does not.
Mass Effect does, but its not coming out in 2013
MoH has been canned due to poor Warfighter sales
No sequel for Need for Speed
Plants vs. Zombies- no sequel, but Popcap is rumored to be working on it.
Simcity 4: Well, there is a sequel, but it just came out and its coincidentally the game that's giving away one of these goodies.

So when you count everything up, its 2 games with confirmed sequels, 1 with an unconfirmed sequel, and 5 with no sequel. Yep, this is all a giant conspiracy to get you to buy future sequels to these games, grab your pitchforks everyone!

Unbelievable, people already are getting a pretty damn good selection of games (excluding Doorfighter and Bejeweled), and even then it isn't enough goodwill for some people, because they aren't handing out GOTY editions.

What, you need more evidence that EA is about as subtle as a rhino with a wrecking ball?
the games don't need to have sequels, they all have a ton of dlc that you have to buy to get the full experience. as for casual games and stuff that came out 10 years ago... they don't count for the same reason it wouldn't count if they were handing out keychains...
what is it costing them to give you these? nothing, because it's just a download. just as it would cost them nothing to give the full game. Don't take this as greed on my part though, I have no horse in this race because i didn't buy simcity to begin with so i'm not getting anything. I'm just calling them as I see them, and the way i see it, EA has some terrible business practices. before you say that i just think they can't do anything right, I think they can (although they won't). stop with the bullshit DRM, stop twisting developer's arms to make their games fit in your business model and sell games on their own merit. if they can do that, i'll buy it, say 'thank you' and get the dlc too when it comes out.

 

[Xanadu84]

Their handling of SimCity at launch was terrible, and their business practices are generally crappy. All is not forgiven, but come on...this is a DAMN fine apology. Deal with buggy servers for a few days and get a full priced game, possibly one released last MONTH, for free? So what if it is games with DLC, you can play the games without DLC, and if you want the DLC, clearly you wanted to play it in the first place. That is a HUGE compensation for being stalled from playing Simcity for a few days. I can play other games for a week if it means getting $40-$60 worth of free stuff.

If this is how they apologize for crappy launches, then I sincerely hope they botch more launches.

 

[theultimateend]

Hey remember that time Activision/Blizzard had that always online Diablo 3 thing??

Yeah.... Remember what they did to compensate that.... You know... Basically saying "Fuck You Customer"... Yeah that was heaps better! Herpa derpa derpa EA bad derpa doo daa day!

I was offered (and accepted) free wow time >.>...

Since I play wow I was happy with it.

They also gave me 1 or 2 year (I forget which) subscriptions to gaming magazines and all their purchase pets when their magazine closed.

All in all Blizzard has done right by me 90% of the time. Diablo 3 overall being the other 10%.

 

[lacktheknack]

As hilarious as offering SimCity 4 is, I'm still annoyed and angered by the amount of people who are trying to attack EA for giving out free games.

Sure, they may not fit the ideal offer from your standpoint, but they could've... you know... NOT given you a free game...

 

[Hero in a half shell]

This is the same stunt sony pulled after their snafu with the PSN hack; apologizing by offering free games, which, coincidentally, have sequels coming out next month.

And don't forget most have DLC out right now! Not to mention ME3's multiplayer gambling microtransactions, just to show they're really sorry.

I thought there'd be more games than this, I like how many of them are 3+ sequels though. EA home of new IPs!

 

[SirDeadly]

I bought Simcity yesterday and so far I've had absolutely no problems with it and now I'm downloading Dead Space 3 for free. Simcity cost me $80 and Dead Space 3 would have cost me $100, that's technically a profit, I'm happy!

 

[RicoADF]

Okay, I've ruled these ones out:
Bejeweled 3 - I do not like bejeweled
Mass Effect 3 (Standard Edition) - Story driven, I did not finish (nor particularly like) the first one, haven't played 2.
Medal of Honor: Warfighter (Standard Edition) - This game is shit.
Plants vs. Zombies - Already have it on Steam
SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition - Already have it on Steam

That leaves these:
Battlefield 3 (Standard Edition)
Dead Space 3 (Standard Edition)
Need For Speed: Most Wanted (Standard Edition)

So which game should I choose? I haven't touched the Battlefield series except for Battlefield Heroes, which I liked. I haven't played any Dead Space games (do they need to be played in order?). I absolutely loved Burnout Paradise and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, but I'm concerned Need for Speed: Most Wanted might not have enough new to offer.

Any suggestions?

P.S. Thanks

P.P.S. >inb4 "you should choose to demand a refund hurr hurr", I already bought the game and I wouldn't even consider a refund if EA were offering 'em, on the off chance mods (or a new CEO) eventually fix it. This game may feel unfinished, but it's got a solid foundation that just needs DRM removal and fleshing out.

Assuming your into racing games need for speed would be my recommendation. I've heard good things about it, plus it was made by Criterion who made Burnout paradise, which was one heck of a fun game. I'll tell you what I think of it once I get my copy.