Darkspore Off Steam; Abandoned? [Jul 01, 2013, 09:34 am ET] – Share – Viewing Comments
Darkspore is no longer being sold on Steam, reports
GameTrailers based on a comment on
NeoGAF, and sure enough, a
Steam Search for the title comes up with listings for the demo and a
trailer, but following either link just redirects to the Steam support page
(thanks nin via
Kotaku). They say since its launch, Maxis' sci-fi action/RPG has suffered
intermittently from Error 73003 from being unable to connect to EA's servers,
and more recently a new Error 3 popped up, preventing players from saving
changes to their characters. Darkspore is still being sold by EA's
Origin, so the game may be temporarily off Steam to work this
out, as pulling the game after 26 months following the Error 73003 issues would
be a strong indictment of the game's reviled always-on DRM scheme. And although
EA may yet be addressing this, according to a statement on the
Darkspore Forums, developer support
for the game seems to be at an end, oddly, referring inquiries to EA Customer
Support, even though it's an EA site:
Darkspore is no longer developed. It is for almost all intents & purposes an abandoned title. If you cannot play the game & have flicked through technical issues for any fixes, then contact EA Customer Support; especially if it regards CD-Keys or refunds.
Error 73003 has gone unfixed & remains an issue.
Error Code 3 has arisen for the majority/all & remains an issue.
I will however keep the forums here as clean & tidy as possible in my spare time. Why? Well why not. If it helps anyone with minor problems, or find their way somewhere, then that's great.
I wish you all luck, no matter what path you choose with Darkspore.
MoreLuckThanSkill wrote on Jul 1, 2013, 15:09:
Having some game breaking/seriously annoying engine based issue in Grim Dawn would be.. grim news...
Unless you mean that rubber banding thing?
Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Some people never had it. Some people had it mildly. On two computers, it all but ruined the game for me, as it would literally freeze-and-rubberband for 15 second stretches. 15 seconds which usually would see me dead at the end of it.
I don't know that it got into Grim Dawn for sure, but I saw a comment from someone who was in the beta who said he experienced it. Hearsay and all, but still... It's built on the same engine, afaik, and the Iron Lore guys had no clue how to fix it, so it wouldn't surprise me if (some of) the same developers with the same engine happily bring that bug with them to their next game.
Creston
EA=Everything Abandoned.
Proudfoot wrote on Jul 1, 2013, 16:00:Creston wrote on Jul 1, 2013, 14:24:
Zelda: Skyward Sword had a game-breaking bug. You could bug Dragon's Age and X-COM to kill progress, too.
At least, though, you can play them. Not being able to connect to servers is horrendous.
Could add Vampire: The Masquerade to that. It literlly didn't work on release to most, but post patching from fanbase has fixed, improved, and added content. If it had been a server-driven online only DRM, it never would have made a cent.
If I recall, the only reason why this was even possible was because it was one of the game's developers doing those patches, similar to when Aureal was bought out and shut down an Aureal developer continued to make aftermarket drivers for the cards
Online requirement was the least of this shitfest's problems.
Do you have a single fact to back that up?
Creston wrote on Jul 1, 2013, 14:24:
Zelda: Skyward Sword had a game-breaking bug. You could bug Dragon's Age and X-COM to kill progress, too.
At least, though, you can play them. Not being able to connect to servers is horrendous.
Could add Vampire: The Masquerade to that. It literlly didn't work on release to most, but post patching from fanbase has fixed, improved, and added content. If it had been a server-driven online only DRM, it never would have made a cent.
Creston wrote on Jul 1, 2013, 14:24:
And which games have also done this beside Titan Quest: Immortal Throne? (and that didn't even become unplayable, it just became really fucking annoying to play. Good news though: The bug apparently made it safely back into Grim Dawn!)
Creston
? I know we're getting a bit off topic here, but what Titan Quest bug was this? I put easily 200+ hours into TQ:IT, with no issues. Having some game breaking/seriously annoying engine based issue in Grim Dawn would be.. grim news...
Unless you mean that rubber banding thing?
Creston wrote on Jul 1, 2013, 14:24:Beamer wrote on Jul 1, 2013, 11:39:
The fact that it's abandoned with a potential game-breaking bug isn't a huge deal, either.
It isn't like it's the first game to have that happen.
It isn't? It's not? A working game that gets a fucking game-breaking bug inserted somewhere down the road to the extent that most people can't play anymore isn't a big deal?? They literally BROKE their fucking game!
And which games have also done this beside Titan Quest: Immortal Throne? (and that didn't even become unplayable, it just became really fucking annoying to play. Good news though: The bug apparently made it safely back into Grim Dawn!)
Creston
From the sound of things Error 3 isn't 100% of the time and people can still play, just getting botched a percentage of the time.
If it's all the time, it's borked. If it's some of the time, and recent, I don't think it's the devil. Plus, according to the Steam forums, it was fixed this weekend.
Zelda: Skyward Sword had a game-breaking bug. You could bug Dragon's Age and X-COM to kill progress, too.
At least, though, you can play them. Not being able to connect to servers is horrendous.
-------------
Music for the discerning:
http://www.deathwishinc.com
http://www.hydrahead.com
http://www.painkillerrecords.com
Music for the discerning:
http://www.deathwishinc.com
http://www.hydrahead.com
http://www.painkillerrecords.com
So basically EA fucks up their game with updates after release, can't figure out how to fix it and just abandons it.
I understand all this. What I don't understand is why this is news.
I understand all this. What I don't understand is why this is news.
Beamer wrote on Jul 1, 2013, 11:39:
The fact that it's abandoned with a potential game-breaking bug isn't a huge deal, either.
It isn't like it's the first game to have that happen.
It isn't? It's not? A working game that gets a fucking game-breaking bug inserted somewhere down the road to the extent that most people can't play anymore isn't a big deal?? They literally BROKE their fucking game!
And which games have also done this beside Titan Quest: Immortal Throne? (and that didn't even become unplayable, it just became really fucking annoying to play. Good news though: The bug apparently made it safely back into Grim Dawn!)
Creston
That's how EA does business. You buy your online DRM games, you take your chances.
Who played this as single player? It was so much better multiplayer. I forgot I even rented this game until I read this post.
This is what people will be looking forward to for all their games on the Failbox 180.
Pigeon wrote on Jul 1, 2013, 09:51:
Apparently you want to steer clear of anything with the word spore in it that's published by EA... or just steer clear of EA in general.
Actually, the original Spore could (and still can) be played fine offline (although it was annoying to bypass the online insistence). As a family, we had a great time with it.
If Russia stops fighting, the war ends. If Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine ends. Slava Ukraini!
Thanks for renting this software/hardware (c) EA and MS.
I felt like adding MS to that list.
I felt like adding MS to that list.
No surprise here, EA game after all.
InBlack wrote on Jul 1, 2013, 10:54:
but I have to confess Ive never heard of Darkspore before today.
It was an okay game. Steam says I played it for 4 hours. I abandoned it long before EA did. And yeah, it's a single player game online. The game play was a cross between Diablo and Pokemon, set in space. If it still worked, $1.50 would be a good price.
The fact that it's abandoned isn't a big deal.
The fact that it's abandoned with a potential game-breaking bug isn't a huge deal, either.
It isn't like it's the first game to have that happen.
The fact that it's abandoned with DRM that may or may not let you play is extremely problematic.
That they're still selling it despite all that...
The fact that it's abandoned with a potential game-breaking bug isn't a huge deal, either.
It isn't like it's the first game to have that happen.
The fact that it's abandoned with DRM that may or may not let you play is extremely problematic.
That they're still selling it despite all that...
-------------
Music for the discerning:
http://www.deathwishinc.com
http://www.hydrahead.com
http://www.painkillerrecords.com
Music for the discerning:
http://www.deathwishinc.com
http://www.hydrahead.com
http://www.painkillerrecords.com
It's similar to the one and only shitty part of BF2142. "Connecting to EA Master Server" "Connection failed"
EA, you're so lame. Do us all a favor and just get out of the gaming industry already. You don't belong.
EA, you're so lame. Do us all a favor and just get out of the gaming industry already. You don't belong.
walrus1 wrote on Jul 1, 2013, 10:58:avianflu wrote on Jul 1, 2013, 10:52:
Amazon was last December selling it for $1.50
Apparently, that money would be better spent on a soda even if flat and pipping hot.
Hehe, well said.
Creston
As a reminder, this game had the infamous always-online DRM, like SimCity and C&C4, so if they can't play this game it means they'll never be able to, ever, since it's online-only for a mostly singleplayer game.
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