SimCity Apology Offers One Of Eight Free Games

[DataSnake]

For fuck sake people, EA is offering 8 decent games as apology and you're still bagging on them? FUCKING GROW UP! EA is trying to do something good and a bunch of you are acting like children. THIS is why people don't take gamers seriously, because insead of being mature about a situation they always seem to demand more. So far EA have done more than Valve did when The War Z came out and was unplayable.

Technically, they're offering seven decent games and Warfighter.

 

[PH3NOmenon]

Can we just accept this as a nice gesture? If we ***** and moan at every single thing EA does, then credibility will soon just run out. Also, their distribution costs aren't 0. No matter how fun it might sound to say it, it's factually simply not true.

They're offering free games because their servers didn't work for a week upon launch. The choices aren't bad.


Captcha: come on down

I agree.

 

[Glaice]

I wouldn't touch that garbage they (EA) call Origin even if I was personally affected by the whole Simcity disaster.

 

[Atmos Duality]

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...

It is a kind gesture, and it is certainly better than nothing, however it's also just treating the symptoms than fixing the underlying problem (Always-Online is a problem for the consumer more than EA; EA WANTS consumers to accept Always-Online DRM and they want consumers to use Origin).

When a company offers a non-standard apology or settlement (in this case, something other than a refund), at least consider why before accepting it, and consequentially, be more mindful of what caused them to apologize in the first place.

By all means accept if it doesn't compromise something more serious (which I have seen happen in labor lawsuits and settlements, which obviously isn't the case here).

Forgive, but please do *not* forget.

 

[kebab4you]

Honestly,I am stuck trying to decide which game to get. Out of those games I own 4, so I have 4 remaining choices. Which one I get though is the tough part. I am stuck between MOH: Warfighter and NFS: Most Wanted.

Warfighter is a joke, get NFS. I would however, love to meet the person that somehow convinced the team that "warfighter" would be a good thing to have as part off the title.

 

[bug_of_war]

Technically, they're offering seven decent games and Warfighter.

It's still a 40 dollar game that they are offering for free. I remember when they first announced this I pointed out that if the maximum price that they would give away for free was 20 dollars, and that if they ONLY gave 1000 people the 20 dollar voucher they would still loose $20,000. Now we're seeing EA offer games ranging from 20 to 50 dollars, which means they're going to loose more than $20,000. My point still stands that people are acting like assholes to EA even though they're prooving that they are really sorry and offering compensation for their fuck up by sacrificing a decent amount of revenue.

 

[porous_shield]

Most of the people I know who like Sim City games aren't the type to enjoy games like Mass Effect, Warfighter, Battlefield, or Dead Space so it seems to be an odd offering of games for an apology. I'm glad I didn't buy it because I either own or dislike every game offered and Sim City is still broken and has online drm.

 

[deathbydeath]

For fuck sake people, EA is offering 8 decent games as apology and you're still bagging on them? FUCKING GROW UP! EA is trying to do something good and a bunch of you are acting like children. THIS is why people don't take gamers seriously, because insead of being mature about a situation they always seem to demand more. So far EA have done more than Valve did when The War Z came out and was unplayable.

Back when Modern Warfare 2 came out, players were getting unintentionally permabanned because of VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat). In response, Valve gave every effected customer two copies of Left 4 Dead 2, which they could give to friends. That's a good response.

Besides, I can't upload directly images here, but there's a screenshot of that page of Origin with a banner on top that says "You expect better. So do we." with the EA logo next to it. Right below it is a download error, telling the user that they can't download the game and need to try again later. I saw it on Twitter, but if I find it again then I'll link it.

Postscript: This is funny [https://twitter.com/GOGcom/status/309328842345050112].

 

[bug_of_war]

Back when Modern Warfare 2 came out, players were getting unintentionally permabanned because of VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat). In response, Valve gave every effected customer two copies of Left 4 Dead 2, which they could give to friends. That's a good response.

Besides, I can't upload directly images here, but there's a screenshot of that page of Origin with a banner on top that says "You expect better. So do we." with the EA logo next to it. Right below it is a download error, telling the user that they can't download the game and need to try again later. I saw it on Twitter, but if I find it again then I'll link it.

Look, I'm not hating on Valve, I like Valve, I use Steam all the time; I have however experienced some really dickish actions from Valve in my time using Steam. For example, there was that time where all the games I had on Steam HAD to be played with a constant internet connection, the time where my copy of Ghost Recon did not work and it took me a whole month to convince them that the game literally was broken, and while I got my money back they sent me an Email basically saying they will never do this again. As for my War Z example that game should have never made it to the public, Valve should have made sure the game is what it said it would be before they put it up for distribution. Instead they let hundreds, if not thousands of people pay for a game that is broken. So the way I see it, EA and Valve are basically on even ground in my books. Yes, there are photos of Origin fucking up and seemingly none of Steam/and Valve product, but I think it's because of the seemingly livid outlook that gamers have towards EA, they will find ANYTHING to ***** about when it comes to discussing EA.

 

[bug_of_war]

They arent sacrificing anything, dont kid yourself.

The most of those games are older, and all of them are out of their first few weeks/months sale cycle, so anyone who was going to buy them most likely already have, and almost all of those are first party titles, meaning they lose NOTHING and sacrifice NOTHING to let people download them. They are offering games THEY made on a service THEY control.

The reason people are being so cynical is because MOST people can see right through this.

It doesn't matter if it's a first party game or not, they are still giving away a game and gaining no financial benefits from doing so. Yes they're older games, but how often do you go out and buy an older game? I for one know that I'm constantly playing catch up when it comes to video games because I don't have the money to grab every game I want when it comes out. As for your claim that they made most of the games, you're wrong, they published most of the games. So while the developers don't loose money (because they're paid a lump sum in the beginning for their work) EA has to wait for the games to be sold to see any of their cash back. So again, they are loosing money because regardless of the game being made by a company they own or not, they're still gaining nothing financially from giving away free games.

Lets have a quick look at the games they're giving away and how much it would cost in retail/Origin (Australian dollar, PC version)

Battlefield 3 (Standard Edition) - retail price: $29 - Origin price: $9.99
Bejeweled 3 - retail price: $15 - Origin price: $9.99
Dead Space 3 (Standard Edition) - retail price: $69 - Origin price: $39.99
Mass Effect 3 (Standard Edition) - retail price: $39 - Origin price:$29.99
Medal of Honor: Warfighter (Standard Edition) - retail price:$29 - Origin price: $39.99
Need For Speed: Most Wanted (Standard Edition) - retail price: $39 - Origin price: $39.99
Plants vs. Zombies - retail price:$15 - Origin price: $4.99
SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition - TBA

(Date prices found: 24/03/2013) Lets now average this out. All the prices added together then divided by 8 = 21.86625. So, averaged out EA is prepared give away a $21.87 voucher to it's consumers. Also, 6 out of 7 of the games on the list have better online prices than they do retail. You know what that tells me? EA is actually doing pretty good by it's customers (at least Australia wise). And before you say, "But some of those prices are marked down for sale" remember, Valve does that ALL the time.

So I'm sorry, I don't see the justification for a childish tantrum that most people seem to go through every time EA does something as I have got plenty of proof that EA is about as equal as the holy grail which is Valve.

You wanna talk about a game company that is being a dick/holding the industry back/re-hashing dead products/changing games at their core? Maybe look at Capcom or Nintendo, then I'll agree with your opinion, but as for EA, gonna need to try harder than, "They published the game, so they don't have to pay anything to anyone".

 

[deathbydeath]

Look, I'm not hating on Valve, I like Valve, I use Steam all the time; I have however experienced some really dickish actions from Valve in my time using Steam. For example, there was that time where all the games I had on Steam HAD to be played with a constant internet connection, the time where my copy of Ghost Recon did not work and it took me a whole month to convince them that the game literally was broken, and while I got my money back they sent me an Email basically saying they will never do this again. As for my War Z example that game should have never made it to the public, Valve should have made sure the game is what it said it would be before they put it up for distribution. Instead they let hundreds, if not thousands of people pay for a game that is broken. So the way I see it, EA and Valve are basically on even ground in my books. Yes, there are photos of Origin fucking up and seemingly none of Steam/and Valve product, but I think it's because of the seemingly livid outlook that gamers have towards EA, they will find ANYTHING to ***** about when it comes to discussing EA.

Steam cracks, yo. Seriously, they solve most every Steam-related problem on Windows (I've had one). Not using that as an excuse to justify Valve, just handy-dandy advice.

Also, have you ever tried offline mode? Not the "my internet crashed" mode but the one where you actively pick a menu from up top? That is a problem-solver.

Also also, I think the "always online" for GR might be Ubisoft's fault. I've never had "always online" enforced in any of my 130+ Steam games, and Ubisoft is infamous for that shit.

Also x 3, if Valve and EA are on the same level to you, then go home because you're drunk. Origin and Steam, sure, let them be on the levelest level in history, but Valve and EA are practically the opposite as businesses and game creators/creation facilitators.

Lastly, on the War Z scandal, that really isn't Valve's fault. Valve obviously gets a poopton of requests for game hosting (hence Greenlight), and if they had to thoroughly test TWZ, then they'd have to thoroughly test EVERY SINGLE GAME that they host. They can't, so they let the devs do that. The TWZ devs are clearly incompetent hacks, and the massive bandwagon is the result of people jumping on said bandwagon without doing their research. Also, Valve offered refunds which I have not heard significant bitching about.

Spoiler: EDIT: I found the image mentioned earlier. Im mainly posting this because it's related and ironic as shit

 

[bug_of_war]

Steam cracks, yo. Seriously, they solve most every Steam-related problem on Windows (I've had one). Not using that as an excuse to justify Valve, just handy-dandy advice.

Also, have you ever tried offline mode? Not the "my internet crashed" mode but the one where you actively pick a menu from up top? That is a problem-solver.

Also also, I think the "always online" for GR might be Ubisoft's fault. I've never had "always online" enforced in any of my 130+ Steam games, and Ubisoft is infamous for that shit.

Woah woah woah woah, I never said it was the always online that fucked up. I mean Steam literally was not opening the game. I could not get to the main menu, the screen would go black and stay black. So while it may have been Ubisofts fault for the game not working, Valve still acted like a dick towards me.

Also x 3, if Valve and EA are on the same level to you, then go home because you're drunk. Origin and Steam, sure, let them be on the levelest level in history, but Valve and EA are practically the opposite as businesses and game creators/creation facilitators.

I disagree, whilst EA may be morally questionable, they still produce good games and do so frequently, and I have yet to be screwed over by them. Valve on the other hand re-use audio files and continually use the same basic and average graphics in every one of their games. They have yet to release any information on games that it's customers are begging for such as Half Life 3/ Episode 3, and they make most of their money by selling in game items in Team Fortress 2 such as hats and dyes from 2-15 dollars which only have an aesthetic effect. The Source engine is out dated, the team AI in Left 4 Dead is poor, same goes for the AI in Team Fortress 2 single player. Speaking of Left 4 Dead, they could have easily made Left 4 Dead 2 an add on, but instead made it a full game and expected top dollar for it, which is bullshit seeing as how it came out a year after the first game. Also, going back to your idea that Valve showed their kind hearted holy grail nature when Modern Warfare 3 was screwin' the pooch, they did the exact same thing EA are doing right now, only they offered a choice of 1 game which they made and published. So yeah, I don't think I'm intoxicated, I think I'm well aware of my surroundings and the shit that goes on.

Lastly, on the War Z scandal, that really isn't Valve's fault. Valve obviously gets a poopton of requests for game hosting (hence Greenlight), and if they had to thoroughly test TWZ, then they'd have to thoroughly test EVERY SINGLE GAME that they host. They can't, so they let the devs do that. The TWZ devs are clearly incompetent hacks, and the massive bandwagon is the result of people jumping on said bandwagon without doing their research. Also, Valve offered refunds which I have not heard significant bitching about.

Spoiler: EDIT: I found the image mentioned earlier. Im mainly posting this because it's related and ironic as shit

Heh, that photo is funny. As for The War Z, you would not have to thoroughly test that game to find it's problems, it's problems are noticeable from the very start of the game. Lets turn this around, you say that it's unfair to expect Valve to test every game hosted on Steam, yet you expect every game on Origin to be thoroughly tested and what not by EA? That's a little unfair don't you think? From what you're saying it's entirely the devs fault, so why blame Valve for the game having something go wrong with it? You're being hypocritical. Yes, EA published Sim City, but they didn't make it, Maxis did, and how many other companies under EA are also making games? 10? 20? And how many other publishers are getting Origin to host their games? At the end of the day, you can either blame everyone, or the devs, and I personally believe that picking and choosing who to blame is wrong and that is exactly what you're doing. You're giving Valve a free pass, but you're condemning EA for doing basically the exact same thing Valve did.

Again, I don't hate Valve, they're a good company, I just believe that they've got some serious problems that they need to work out before they start to stagnate (which they are already kind of doing), and I believe they are equal to EA in just about every way, both good and bad.

 

[ThriKreen]

Besides, I can't upload directly images here, but there's a screenshot of that page of Origin with a banner on top that says "You expect better. So do we." with the EA logo next to it. Right below it is a download error, telling the user that they can't download the game and need to try again later. I saw it on Twitter, but if I find it again then I'll link it.

Actually that happens in Steam too, where a recently released game doesn't register as available (or switch from pre-loaded to install). I suspect that both clients cache your games library to reduce network traffic, so to force it to update, you have to log out and log back in (not just close and exit). I had to do the same, it selected fine, but I had to log out then back in to get my free game to start downloading.

 

[deathbydeath]

Actually that happens in Steam too, where a recently released game doesn't register as available (or switch from pre-loaded to install). I suspect that both clients cache your games library to reduce network traffic, so to force it to update, you have to log out and log back in (not just close and exit). I had to do the same, it selected fine, but I had to log out then back in to get my free game to start downloading.

Huh, I don't remember having that problem. Anyways, I believe that is a different issue than the one I described. I found the image I was talking about, and it got posted two posts above your post, if you care.

 

[ThriKreen]

Huh, I don't remember having that problem. Anyways, I believe that is a different issue than the one I described. I found the image I was talking about, and it got posted two posts above your post, if you care.

Nope, it's the exact same problem. I saw that pic earlier before I had tried to grab my free game, thus I figured to try the log out and back in trick, and then it worked. Someone else on Reddit had the same problem yesterday and got it to work with my suggested fix.

 

[unstabLized]

My reaction is "meh". Didn't buy SimCity 5 because I predicted it would be a shit storm, couple of friends did. None of the games above appeal to me, with the exception of Battlefield 3 which I already have with Premium, and SimCity 4 which I already own. That piece of crap racing game they call "Need for Speed" can fuck right off. It was the crappiest racing game I've played in a long time. EA can do whatever it wants, but they're unforgivable to me, and I still want them to pretty much burn in the 7th layer of hell. Still, decent move for once.. I guess..

 

[Olas]

You know what? I feel like EA does deserve some credit here. They're not just writing a letter of apology and hoping it shuts us up, they're actually giving away something for free as an apology. Even if it is obviously a PR stunt it shows that they do care about customer satisfaction.

Maybe EA isn't completely incompetent and sociopathic.