Quote:Original post by MindWipe
I found this rather amusing: Spore's Amazon Page:

742 Reviews5 star:		 (21)4 star:		 (13)3 star:		 (6)2 star:		 (19)1 star:		 (683)

That's what DRM gets you.

/MindWipe

Wow...

An amazing element of that is that it's not copy-paste cries. Those are full out responses against it.

Wow, a lot of people say they didn't bought the game because of DRM. I would like to know whether DRM has been actually prevented people from pirating the game. If not, they have waste money on DRM, lost some potential customers and made the pirate versions more attractive than the original!

[Edited by - Kambiz on September 8, 2008 4:28:58 PM]

It's already up to 744 1-star votes... geeze.

Quote:Original post by necreia

Quote:Original post by MindWipe
I found this rather amusing: Spore's Amazon Page:

742 Reviews5 star:		 (21)4 star:		 (13)3 star:		 (6)2 star:		 (19)1 star:		 (683)

That's what DRM gets you.

/MindWipe

Wow...

An amazing element of that is that it's not copy-paste cries. Those are full out responses against it.

Indeed. I had a very strong feeling it would be dumbed down despite its hype (a reaction I have learned after various very hyped Kojima/Molyneux titles) and upon learning of SecuROM... it's a showkill. I don't want it.

I'm sure it's great. But I'm not spending $50 for something that shuts off after 3 installations. Let's call this basic household economics -- that is a rip-off.

Quote:Original post by Kambiz
Wow, a lot of people say they didn't bought the game because of DRM. I would like to know whether DRM has been actually prevented people from pirating the game. If not, they have waste money on DRM, lost some potential customers and made the pirate versions more attractive than the original!

I would say without a doubt that drm did nothing but hurt (directly and indirectly). The game was cracked and being distributed before it was even released state side.

from the first amazon review

Quote:Second, the game was dumbed down to oblivion. Evolution doesn't even matter anymore. You can add as many legs to a creature as you want, but it won't be any faster than a one legged creature with higher leg stats. "Creating" your creatures is pointless (cosmetic only, because everything is based on stats)

is this true?

I can see creating this would be a nightmare to program/design from a technical viewpoint but surely this was the whole premise of the game,
physically creating your own creatures + seeing how well they compete against other creatures.

Quote:I honestly don't understand the humor in that at all.

thats because the humor comes from other ppl not finding it funny, (hmm does this statement make sense)

Quote:Original post by zedz
from the first amazon review

Quote:Second, the game was dumbed down to oblivion. Evolution doesn't even matter anymore. You can add as many legs to a creature as you want, but it won't be any faster than a one legged creature with higher leg stats. "Creating" your creatures is pointless (cosmetic only, because everything is based on stats)

is this true?

Sadly, yes.

I haven't experimented thoroughly, but it seems like shape and position of body parts has no effect on the survival of the species. When you unlock a new body part (usually by clicking a glowing object and "finding" it) it becomes available in the creature creator. Each part has associated stats and enables attacks or social abilities. It's largely (probably 100% but I haven't tried to too hard to prove this to myself) the stats that dictate the outcome of social interactions and battles.

In my opinion, the early stages of the game are a powerful and intuitive model creator and a shallow (but at least not broken) button mashing / exploration game. These are two completely disjoint things. If there was a more significant relationship between the creature creator and the way the first stages of the game are played (besides the +X speed rating on the legs you found under a log), they'd have something really special.

I'm not writing the game off as bad at this point. I still haven't played in the space stage and I've heard that's where all the great parts of the game are, so I'll withhold my final judgment until then.

Quote:Original post by Wavinator
I'm of two minds about this: On the one hand, I don't like DRM, so I'm going to be voting with my dollar and probably avoiding this one-- so I'm glad for them raising the awareness. But I don't feel it's right for activist mobs to jink the rating system over an issue so outside the actual content and gameplay of the game-- that gets into the whole tyranny of the mob dynamic.

I'm ambivalent about that form of protest as well, although in the case of Amazon reviews I feel it's more of a comment of the product as a whole - which also includes the DRM. Thus it's not so much saying "Spore sucks" but that this boxed product of Spore plus the DRM sucks.

I'm still going to get Spore (actually I might have already got it - I instructed my brother to buy my a copy ages ago so I wouldn't be tempted into buying it myself before I have time to play it). However I'm mainly interested it in from a game designer perspective due to its novelty. If this were any other title that I was buying for enjoyment then the DRM is severe enough for me to pass - at least until the game was a lot cheaper.

Quote:Original post by Wavinatior


But I don't feel it's right for activist mobs to jink the rating system over an issue so outside the actual content and gameplay of the game-- that gets into the whole tyranny of the mob dynamic.

I would have to agree with you if those reviews were on a gaming website. However though since this is on Amazon, I personally see this as a full product review. Though maybe that's just me?

All the time I see in reviews on books that come with weak bindings that fall apart too easily, or missing CDs though this is much more rare. I think these kind of details are definitely important in a consumer's decision to buy the product. Most reviews are pretty honest and mention those kind of facts, but still go on to rate the content.

Reading some of those reviews though, even game content readings didn't look so comforting. Some people really enjoyed the game, but it seems (at least from what I've read) that most people found that the game isn't as fun/great as expected/hoped.

Personally I would like to play the game and try it out to get a full picture and experience for myself. Though those reviews alone have definitely made me decide for sure that I am never going to buy the game. If someone I know has it then I might play, but otherwise, no.

Let this be a reminder to EA that anti-pirating counter-measures can hurt you far more than pirating can if you really screw up. Also a truth that any company should be aware of, ratings can make or break you. Not that they didn't know this, but they are definitely going to have to do some self-examining if they want to clean up their act.


Edit: Oh I guess I should have read TrapperZoid's post before making mine, I just realised he also said what I was thinking haha.