Most of the people complaining about it will still buy the game.

I wont it's dead to me as far as I'm concerned. When EA/DICE do this for a demo, it doesn't inspire confidence in the retail product.

Complacency, it's America's Pass Time. Along with greed, it should be enough to undo us eventually, without outside help.

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EA = Game Nazis

I have yet to see the game community effectively boycott anything. but it isnt going to happen. Im not saying I dont agree. I'd love to boycott the crap out of VU (Now you all know what kind of crap the Tribes franchise has been dragged through). Its kind of funny seeing another franchise community going through the same bitch fest. Sucks doesnt it.


This comment was edited on Jun 15, 22:55.

Who cares? Is anyone going to play this long term with the el guapo control assignment interface? Where's the 'release all' button? EA = f**kwits - this is bf1942 ll over again - 6 or 7 patches from not sucking.

That's a new feature... It came directly from the Electronic Arts Sales Prevention Team. The same people who brought us 12 minute rounds for a large scale war game.

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EA = Game Nazis

Yes, you can't make certain, but the publisher will certainly try.


Is anyone else being kicked to the desktop any time they try to connect to a server?

No new gamer is downloading the Halo or SOF2 demo these days

You are dead-wrong there especially about Halo. It is very popular among adolescent boys, and new ones come of age all the time.

But if you're a publisher, and you see a significant amount of people playing a demo of your game years after the game is released, you'd wonder why that's happening and how you can make certain they shift over to the full product.

You can't make certain of anything. If someone doesn't want to part with their money or has no money to part with, there is no way to coerce him to buy your product especially an elective one in a crowded market. There are a surfiet of PC video games on the market including free and trial/demo versions. Having one less isn't going to change that.

I don't know if this move is really going to help their sales. I'm guessing at this point the pissed off players are looking to open up the 32 player map for single player now while some are looking to warez the full version in retaliation (eh, they'd probably do it anyways but now they think they have an excuse).

What I don't like about it is they're taking away SERVERS. Fewer servers to play on come release day is BAD thing for both us and EA/DICE. These are severs that are paying for their own bandwidth too and most of the operators are not hackers or pirates. They're just some good guys that are taking the time to set up something cool for people to play. *shrug* It just dosesn't sit well to see this...

I think many are missing the point. It isn't the time limit per se which is the problem, it's rather how EA handled the situation. There is no precedent for treating modified text configuration files as "hacking" worthy of IP bans: It is extremely common for developers to deliberately leave configuration files as text so that users can make changes as they see fit. EA could have simply encrypted the relevant configuration files, or clearly stated that the configuration files were not be altered, or issued a warning after the fact that admins should restore altered configuration files or face delisting.

Instead, they out of the Blue (so to speak) started banning the IP addresses of anyone running a server with altered configuaration files. They gave no indicatation that routine changes to text files were not allowed. They gave no warning that modified servers would be delisted. They insulted and punished their biggest fans, calling them "hackers" and IP banning them.

There are many ways that EA could have handled the situation such that they could have crippled the demo as they see fit without alienating a good portion of their potential customers and starting off relations with modders -- who greatly increase the appeal of their product -- on a sour note. It's just hilariously bad business. Expect to see more clueless middle managers behaving atrociously towards gamers as EA's market share rises.

This comment was edited on Jun 15, 12:20.

Is there a general release date for ET:QW yet?

"2006"

Anyone who plays one of those old demos at this point is either a new player just trying the game out or a veteran player who would never buy the game anyway.

No new gamer is downloading the Halo or SOF2 demo these days.

I agree they mostly wouldn't have bought the game, anyway. But if you're a publisher, and you see a significant amount of people playing a demo of your game years after the game is released, you'd wonder why that's happening and how you can make certain they shift over to the full product.

rock climber, there clearly ARE a significant amount of cheapasses like me that don't always feel the need to buy a full game because they get enough fun from the dmeo. Having the demo this long has probably convinced me not to get BF2. The aircraft is boring, the tanks get kind of boring, I find most of the classes boring, infantry feels a bit weird, and it's sometimes too hard to find a hummer or buggy to run people over. The worst part is that squad members rarely listen to orders or even bother spawning near you when you're standing at a flag screaming "I need backup," watching them die and respawn at the damn airport.

I don't see the addition of new maps changing that.


As for getting a job, I've got more than enough play money.

"You guys are all ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NUTS to have you panties in a bunch over SUCH A FUCKING TRIVIAL THING!!!! Get a fucking life folks please... IT'S A FUCKING FUN GAME DEMO!"

This could just as easilly been posted to EA/DICE. hahahaha Get a grip EA. It is just a demo. Like someone alluded to before, if all they would play is just the demo, they wouldn`t have bought your game anyways.

In one week whos going to care?

Anyone running a hacked server in the next few days that gets banned for a week certainly will.

Imagine that. EA has actually set rules in place that can cause people to NOT BE ALLOWED TO PLAY THE GAME when it gets released.

I have to give it to them. The balls to say "you can't play our game...and you'll STILL buy it, bitch"

We suck as consumers!

Spread the O&A Virus on XM Radio!
http://www.opieandanthony.com
http://www.xmradio.com

Less pubbies on our clan server yay! In one week whos going to care?

Canceled my preorder after trying the 12 minute games... it just wasn't fun.

Then I found out you could unlock the timer and was actually enjoying the game (singleplayer). Kept thinking that I might just buy this game after all.

As a matter of principle, I don't think I will now. I spend too much time on WoW anyways.

Most of the people complaining about it will still buy the game.

Man these guys are really stupid. Who is the brainiac behind this decision, and without warning, idiots. 'Hack' LOL ya that took some real friggan genius to crack thier super secret code. This is just too damn funny, I'm waiting for the punch line.

Can anyone tell me what the weapon unlocks thing does?

They're worse than Microsoft IMO.

Interesting way of criminalizing your own Fan-Base :).
The only thing this banning will probably cause, is that there will be IP lists of banned ( OMG ! BANNED ! They must be mighty illegal ! ) Servers floating around.

Btw :
LOL !

This comment was edited on Jun 15, 05:34.