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While EA may be backing off the practice of using invasive DRM in its games, piracy continues. The newest casualty? Sims 3 has leaked to the torrent sites two weeks before the game's release.
By Ben Kuchera | Last updated May 18, 2009 10:15 AM CT


EA is no stranger to piracy trouble. Spore was leaked online before the game's retail release, and ironically the DRM the game shipped with to stop piracy caused a huge backlash with gamers, leading to Amazon getting review-bombed. Well buckle up: it looks as is if Sims 3 is the latest game to be leaked.

You can't really verify this news directly without... you know.... breaking the law, so we can't say for sure if the files are real. We're also not going to point you in any particular direction. What we can say is that a torrent claiming to be the game has popped up in a number of places, with downloaders reporting that the game is working fine.
The release notes on the torrent gives pirates instructions, and a stern moral warning: "Be sure to have a firewall prevent the launcher and main game from going online," it warns. "Support the software developers. If you like this game, BUY IT!"

This is bad news for EA as the game is still two weeks away from release. The game also doesn't require online activation to play. "The game will have disc-based copy protection—there is a Serial Code just like The Sims 2. To play the game there will not be any online authentication needed," EA said on the official site. "We feel like this is a good, time-proven solution that makes it easy for you to play the game without DRM methods that feel overly invasive or leave you concerned about authorization server access in the distant future."

Ars contacted EA for comment, but has yet to hear back—which is not all that surprising. "Yes, the file is real?" ACE Team recently had some success talking directly to pirates and asking them to buy the game instead of pirating it, but EA can have something of a tin ear when it comes to listening to what gamers want.

At the Game Developers Conference this year Microsoft announced technology that would require games such as Sims 3 to be activated once online before the game would work, allowing publishers to control the spread of a game even if street date were to be broken. It's unclear how effective that sort of technology would be in the wild, but with pirates playing Sims 3 right now, it doesn't look as if the serial code included was much of a deterrent.

In an amusing twist, while the torrent appears to be a popular download, many pirates are claiming the game is for their girlfriends, not themselves.

Link:
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/05/sims-3-leaked-to-torrent-sites-weeks-before-retail-release.ars

Yeah, I've seen this topic discussed on plenty of sites today, thanks.

Good! People need to test it before they spend money on it. 

To whomever plays the game, let us know how it goes because I think I am going to wait at least 6 months to purchase it.

When something like that happens, it amuses me to no end. It's actually the best advertisment against copy protection. It also shows what I always have been saying. Copy protection is only there to annoy paying customers. The pirates shrug it off and have a good laugh.

And it's even more amusing when that thing obviously comes from the company's own doorstep.

Has anyone considered the fact that EA themselves might have leaked it. With all the negative backlash their use of DRM has gotten them what better way to vindicate themselves than to be able to point at the "Pirated" Sims 3 and cry victim!!!

Then they can start pushing for even more restrictive DRM and take their horrible "Victimized" selves to court during the DRM suits and point to the "pirated" Sims3 and say "See this is why we used such brutal copy protection judge, we are not evil people"

Thing is, people in the community have grown so cynical that they'll bring that possibility to the lawyers handling the various legal cases. It could turn around to take a massive bite out of their butt cheeks. Hey, a girl can hope!

Greetings:

What this proves is that EA should have a demo of the game out before people go off and spend their money.

Cruz'd  ;)

Has anyone heard of an official response from EA. on this matter?
I certainly haven't. Their very silence tells me that they have been caught with their pants down trying to fob off an absolute load of crap.
As it stands now they are loosing sales hand over fist from preorders being cancelled as the realisation begins to sink in that it's actually overrated garbage.
Surely if the thing is as people are hoping a beta or some incomplete work piece then EA. would have broken all records releasing that to the media.
So can someone out there who still thinks that this release is bogus please explain EAs silence on this matter.

Roez is completely and totally right. If the leaked game was a Beta, EA would have jumped onto every major Video Game site as well as released a press release on their own site denouncing the leaked game to be a Beta and not the genuine article. The fact of the matter is that it's been almost a week now and we haven't heard hide nor hair from EA on the matter. What's that tell ya'?

I know. They have a crappy Internet connection and still haven't finished downloading the pirate in order to make a comparison and then give an informed response.
Yea yea I know. S--t I'm only trying to save someone out there who's still trying to convince themselves that the thing is bogus the trouble of finding a new one to comfort themselves with.

Maybe EA are just that vain, and they think that there loyal fanboy and girls will see through this copy and expect a perfectly bug-free better version come the 2nd Ha!

also this probably doesn't mean anything but It caught my eye just now while I was messing around on the official site, and it most defiantley popped up soon after the leak because I was there just the other day and it was basically the same but just worded differently.


This was on the main headline on the site



The official The Sims 3 game launches on June 2 with:


With the official The Sims 3 game, unlock a new town online!
Riverview is a complete town filled with  intriguing new Sims to play. It’s exclusively available online to download and expand your game.


notice how they use 'official' twice its like there kinda hinting around in a way but I dunno.. :-\


also this..


The Sims 3 includes exclusive extra game content and robust online features, available only after you register online with an authentic copy of the game. Download a complete second town filled with intriguing Sims and secrets to discover. Get $10 Worth of SimPoints to customize your game with additional in-game items from The Sims 3 Store. Choose from hundreds of game items to enrich your Sims lives.

for some reason 'authentic' looks italicized on my browser and bold but I might be seeing stuff as it is 2:05 in the morning :p but seriously why do you think EA has worded this stuff differently? I clearly remember the site just saying The Sims 3 releases with blah blah blah etc etc. but I am just now noticing them popping in 'exclusive, authentic and official'

You left out VIP SimGirl.

Some one at MATY posted that they read a response from EA. The pirated copies are buggy and not official. Asked them for a link cause I failed at finding it on google, but haven't replied yet.

Hope that the official copy is not as buggy as this one, I am riddled with bugs in the game and considered getting a RAID bomb for it.

I hope it is the demo version for the sake of my support. Although, I am doubtful because the game is basically how they described it. You know, boring and unattractive.

The response is in this AP report (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i2Ts-zyPtq_1NOZV49oeN7ZvY4RgD98BBEMG0). Just a one-line response on the 7th or 8th paragraph.

Some "spokesperson" claimed that. Of course, they claimed that the missing thing was the SECOND NEIGHBORHOOD THEY WERE OFFERING, so obviously, that person is an ignorant buffoon trying to cover EA's ass.

*Gets some popcorn, sits back, straps in and waits for the gates of hell to open up on 10 days.*

Between the potential mess of code registration, the fact that the new hood is most DEFINITELY going to end up getting cracked anyway, and the bloody murder people will start crying once they see how ridiculously high  EA's Sims Store Content prices will be, fun times are coming for all. [/sarcasm]


Oh, and I love how EA edited their press release without so much as even denouncing the leak, which to me says a lot. At least there P.R. people are gettin' some work in.

If it really was a beta, their PR department would fill pages and bombard the mags and papers with press releases. That once sentence line really says a lot.

I will be watching with a six-pack... er pass the popcorn.

Right now they are advertising to the BBSers and not to the regular community. Once the parents of the 12's and teens stop paying for that crap (it is a bad economy) at the Sims 3 store and T$R, I feel the gates will be open for 3rd party modding programs and CC. The mature simmer is not going for it.

I have been supporting EAxis since 2000, and still nothing for the mature simmer.  1headwall

Don't count on that. My political incorrect wish is, that this prerelease pirating hurts them somewhat. But there will still be enough folks forking out their hard earned dough. The amount of outright happiness here on an explicit modding board should be a clear indicator that EA isn't gonna starve anytime soon.

I wasn't talking right away, probably in 6 to 8 months.

Oh, come on. Then its christmas and the first expansion will hit the shelves - well maybe the pirates will have it a little bit sooner than that.

You're right there. Oh well...  :rolleyes:

It's the long term effects that will hurt EA. The 1st year they'll turn a decent profit on the game, just nothing near what they turned for TS2 or some of their other high profile releases. (Like Madden NFL 10, which always sells ridiculously...and is one of the few EA games they actually make better year after year...for you fellow Football fanatics out there.) But 2 years from now, 3 years from now and so on...when EA sees there's STILL more activity in the Sims 2 Community then there is the Sims 3 Community, hopefully some lights start going off in a few bigwigs heads and tells them "Maybe we should loosen the reigns on TS3 a bit." The fact that they're guarding their precious code and CC like it was the Holy Grail means that for the short term, they could give a rats ass about the people who REALLY matter. Like it was said previously, it's the BBS'ers they're banking on, as well as the people still in complete denial that this is going to be the game that surpasses TS2 in ever way. Ah to be ignorant...

Well I can see from some of the screenshots on the official site and gamespot that the graphics and overall flow of the game look different then those seen on MATY even the interface looks different in the screenshots of the game seen on other website. so I would say that I am going with my gut on this one and believing this is indeed a beta because last night I seen some pictures that were added on gamespot on the 20th (clearly after the leak) and those pictures had definite stuff that others said were buggy that were not in the pictures, such as windows with curtians that did NOT bleed through amoungst other things. I know I read someone say the file dates were dated sometime in April. How do we know the exact year though? I think the pirates have gotten an early development copy at the worst, so come the 2nd I don't think people who buy the game will have anything to worry about..but who knows right? ;)

Remember the prerelease screenshots for TS2? I especially remember one with a butler in some mansion-like estate receiving his employers, arriving in a fancy car. Was this part of the release?

Nope. That was just promotional CG done to goad people into thinking that's what they were getting in the game.

 But even if it's not the full build of the game, there are still so many holes, unanswered questions and questionable features about the game that a leaked beta is the last thing people should be worried about. And I've seen the new screens. They do look marginally better then those I've seen from the leaked version, but that still doesn't change the fact that the game looks ugly as hell. The game models still look like crap. I'd take the default Maxis models from TS2 over the TS3 models any day. And to further that point, there's no way you can create a realistic looking face. Even if you detail them to the most meticulous extent, they still end up looking like cartoon characters. And pardon me for saying...if I want to play something that looks like a Cartoon, I'll go play Conker's Bad Fur Day. (Awesome game, BTW :P)

I agree with you completely. But I'm not going to say more than that, because some people (on other sites) take it the wrong way.

Anyways, I think you're right. But like you say, who knows ... only time will tell.

Why EAxis is asking Mininova to get rid of the pirated copy aka torrent then? If it is a beta what damage can it possible do?  This info is being mentioned somewhere in the comments posted below the article at arstechnica.com

Whatever. Ten more days to go.

They would do that anyway. Even if it was an alpha.

But knowing the press and PR departments from the inside, the one liner reaction is telling a very different tale. The PR department would virtually jump at the option to discredit the leaked copy if it really was a beta. They would raid the press and the boards with denials and not with a lame one liner.

Didn't matter, it came back a couple hours later on different links.

It always does. Once its on the web it stays on the web.

Please allow me to literally roll on the floor laughing to tears. I find the whole issue so bloody hilarious!

Yeah, me too. When I first saw it at some place I had a moment of incredulity followed by fits of giggles. It's always the same. When they first introduced securom the no cd patches were hitting the web within hours.

It always amuses me most when it hits the security freaks.

Please allow me to spread out cushions and special comfy mats for you to roll about on in your amusement, don't want you guys to get hurt. I may well join you! They don't get that the tighter a grip they try to keep, the more things slip through their fingers. It's rather like sand held in an iron fist, it just slides right out.

Can you please designate these new screenshots because the game I played looks just like that, interface and all.

Please do, it will be our pleasure. There will be green tea (hot or iced) and sake, if you'd like.  :D

It appears people are still neglecting the obvious.
If this is some junky incomplete beta EA. would have flooded the media with a statement to that effect three days ago.
Stop looking for clues to reassure yourselves. If you need the game then go ahead and get it.

It's obvious that EA is just covering their butt with whatever fly paper there is-they should have been, would have been on top of the leak within a few hours of it happening, if they had truly wanted to stop it. They would have had announcements on the official BBS and the EA site to warn people to not download the leaked version, for fear that it would hurt the computer it was going onto within hours of it happening.

If they had truly had the goods on it, they would have threatened the main pirate sites with legal action the very second it appeared on the sites.

They did nothing for how many days? Then they have some damn single statement about how it is a "pre-release beta". As if they produce those all the time. Yes, it is the final version, and they're the ones who sent it out. To make all of those playing it right now the beta testers of a final release so they can judge what to fix. They're reading all the forums and taking notes, I would wager.

Of course they know fully well what's wrong-and they're depending on the various sites to point out the most major, pressing problems. BTW, they did gut their QA staff back in November, remember?

So for lack of a QA staff, players are now doing their jobs. Unpaid labor, isn't that great?

I hope that isn't the final version. If so, what a flaw with the clock going sooooooooooo slow.

Arg. I give up. How long is this going to take? For the last time. They're speechless, lost for words, they've been caught out. Dammit if ya can't defend the s--t then its best to say nothing and hope it will all blow over by release day
There's nothing there that they can believably explain away. To attempt it will just attract more unwanted media attention to the obvious, so the best policy is silence and hope that the mindless desperates will poo poo it as being nothing more than an attempt to discredit the good name of EA.

The statement issued by EAxis is utter PR tripe, obviously. This is no surprise: EAxis can no longer simply deny that the version exists, and they CERTAINLY cannot actually admit it is the REAL thing, so they HAVE to say that.

A review of the actual information available to us paints an interesting picture, though.

The build date reported on the executable is 2009-04-22. The date the game was announced "Gold" is 2009-05-08, meaning the actual event occurred an indeterminate amount of time prior. This means that the build date of that executable was a scant 2 weeks before the game was permanently imprinted to DVD. Now, ask yourself: If the game was only built 2 weeks before the date they booted it out the door, how much could they REALLY have changed? More importantly, in software development, every new build must be subjected to testing, especially the final build. Two weeks is not a lot of testing time, and if this is NOT the final build, that means the REAL final build has even *LESS* testing. Regardless, there is no way they could have done very much at this stage in 2 weeks or less. In software development, software is declared "Feature Complete", meaning no new features will be added, far in advance of ship dates.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter. Any gripes we have about the game are based in its design, not in the minutiae. If the game's DESIGN is flawed, two weeks of additional work cannot save it.

Pescado knocks it out of the park with a Grand Slam once again. That pretty much sums it up in a nutshell. EA's got some major egg on it's face, and there ain't a PR rep good enough in the world to clean them up.

They'll patch it though, won't they?

Of course they will. That' how these companies make money. They release a buggy piece of crap, then offer patches and expansions to clean up the mess. And the foolish consumer falls for it hook, line and sinker. In the business world we call it a "Money Trap". You put out a product and hype it to the point where it has a cult following before release, but the end product only has bits and pieces of what was initially offered. You then get the consumers to latch on to the missing bits via patches, expansions and DLC. (Downloadable Content) Happens on console games all the time, why the hell would EA do it with a title as high profile as TS3? And it's the gullible people that buy into it that EA makes their millions off of.

And only available via the VIP. section no doubt. $$$

What in nine hells is this VIP section and when one is considered to be a "VIP"?
Are they trying to make kids/early teens to feel important or it is just my idea?

There were offers made to become a VIP, in the sims 3 store. No doubt by spending oodles of money you accumulate lots of sims points and that then enables you to access their VIP. section and spend even more money on some of the more exotic stuff.

More exotic stuff? It sounds like a suspicious dance club to me. :D

My guess is that this section where the selected feature artists get to display their creations.

Yeah, I was joking. :D

I got the VIP for registering my game...which I had to do to play anyway--so I didn't get the whole  "Special VIP bonus for registering!" spiel.

Was it a preordered or a regular pack bought from a store?

I found it, its okay to me... still some kinks I think they need to solve.  Other than that it's pretty good.
I wouldn't recommend what I did though...I've been a bad boy, but I CAN'T WAIT ANYMORE!

Of course I'm still gonna get the retail version when it comes out! ;D

It was for SLS.  I had to register to play it--but they threw in an "If you register you'll become a VIP and receive exclusive Sims 3 news and bonuses!"  Which wouldn't have been so ironic if I'd had a choice.  Not to mention they wiped out all the SLS sites, help pages and welcomepack items to make way for the Sims 3 adverts.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who noticed that DaSpecial. I tried getting a welcome pack and some said CC when I registered TSLS and it was no where to be found :rolleyes:

Yes and the wonderful customer service @ EA just kept referring me back to the site to get it...like even the reps didn't know they had wiped them out.  Still happens.  If I log in to the game and click on the SLS help link it goes to the Sims 3 site.  Wouldn't have been so bad if they actually had something that approximated true customer service.

I think it's sad that I only purchased TS2 because of the help I got from InSim and other real sims communities--yet the company disregards their imput.   Any installation problems or game issues etc I had were resolved by simmers here and the wealth of information on MATY & MTS2.  It's little wonder why people would feel less loyalty or trust in the brand.

FYI, 1.0.631 has leaked and is out there now.

If that's a fact then I'd say EA is leaking these games themselves to claim profit losses.

well, it's certainly something worth considering

That wouldn't surprise me at all. It's common practice sometimes for game companies to give away "promotional" copies of games to say, radio stations to giveaway, merely so they can add those numbers to their sales totals. I don't at all put it outside of EA's range to do something as underhanded as leaking the actual 1st build of the game so that they can truncate their profit losses they were going to have from the jump on the game just being a bad game. This is going to be the single most messiest PC game release in history, I know it.

That would be extremely silly. No, I think they handed out one copy to many. It's the same with some movies. DVDs are leaked with "for your consideration" inserts. That points to the Academy Awards. There's always a lose end at some point of the production.

So a few days ago I downloaded the thing, and I posted immediately on here its a good game.  After a few days, PEOPLE DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!  IT'S GOD AWFUL!  1chair

I hate the fact that time continues when playing at different houses, I hate the fact that I see no way of custom content being imported to the game, unless you really want to spend your hard earned cash on their crap...  The only plus in this game is this....hmm...never mind...

I hope this game does flop, maybe EA will have second thoughts...

This just in:  The Sims 3 kills the The Sims Franchise, critics agree...

Is this based on some real source or just wishful thinking?

Truth is, I wouldn't count on the game mags giving an honest review. There's just too much EA money in the advertising budget. And money makes the world go round.

As far as reviews go, there are only 2 sources I pay attention to, Game Informer Magazine and X-Play on G4TV. But are VERY objective in their reviews, and will not hesitate to rip a game (Or the company that makes it) a new a**hole if it's bad. I expect X-Play to give it a 3 out of 5, and Game Informer to give it a 6.5-7. In both cases, that's average. Cuz that's what the game in the end is, average. It tries to difference itself from TS3, but in the end the things that have been changed fails to really wow, and the rest hasn't been changed at all. The biggest change in the game has nothing to do with the actual gameplay itself, and also happens to be it's biggest flaw...that being the CC issue and all that comes with it. Add to that the fact that as was posted elsewhere the game can be modded by the skilled modder, but as per the EULA it's illegal to do it, that brings up a whole other mess. For all the hype the game has gotten over the last 10 months, it took the real facts about the game to surface to finally let people know that this will in no way, shape or form be even close to the game TS2 is. We have full control over what we can put into our TS2 games, whereas we have no control over what we can import into TS3. (Wait, we do...it just has to be from EA.) Recipe for disaster, and at this point, EA is letting the soup come to a slow boil. 6 more days and the pot boils over, and I can't wait to see how they plan on cleaning up the mess.

I think you're wrong there. The gaming magazines do their duty and write laudatios. Even if it wasn't about the advertising budget, most magazines don't give a rats if the thing is moddable or not. Also, the piece will be bought. By enough people to make EAs day. You can take the level of excitement here on this modding related board as a clear indicator of the general public. The general public will be even more excited, since most of them don't even know how modding is spelled let alone about the implications of Eulas and disk protection apps.

The wrongness in you assumption lies mainly in taking for granted, that people like you or me are the mainstream. We aren't. We are the minority of a minority which I have come to accept. I resent the fact, that EA will have a field day with this release and the example it is setting for future publications. But that will not alter the fact, that it will be a success.

Going on the number of downloads that TSR  alone claims, 680000 to date. We should assume that the vast majority of these people also shop around in other sites and are well aware of mods. Perhaps not some of the extreme ones, but mods none the less.
Anyone that has dealt with with the exchange would have asked themselves where these creations come from and how do they make them.
I would say that those that are unaware of mods are those without an Internet connection.

Just wishful thinking, but money does make the world go round, its the root of all evil too...

I tend to think that perhaps this is wishful thinking by EA. What they do not realize is that the vast majority of fans are the ones who snap up every single game, every single EP and they are the ones who made the sales for Spore.

They are the ones who post on the BBS and have SimPages-and they will be the ones who make this a success or not. If they are disappointed by the release or the game, they will make themselves heard, and big time. The BBS will be overrun by their unhappiness and no amount of money will make it go away.

EA will wish that they had never made the game, if they're the ones who are upset. One bad customer opinion, and you have ten more who will hear about it. Guaranteed-there's nothing like an unhappy customer to ruin your business.

I don't have high expectations for this one. It has a very narrow time frame to prove its' durability and playability. If EA does not address the more important playing issues within a week or two, they will feel the effects of it.

Where do you think the bad reviews for Spore came from? Not from heaven, that's for sure. It might still be selling, but it would have been a blockbuster hit if the fans had been made happy. They weren't and so they decided to do other things with their money.

They also told all their friends to stay away from Spore. That is what ultimately doomed it to the second tier of game sales.

I wonder how much of EAs meddling in the creation of Spore had an impact on Will's leaving.

All of it. When Will Wright lost full creative control of not only Spore, but The Sims, the games became shadows of what they should have been. And why? Because EA can give a crap about keeping to the source material, when they can change the games into something they can market to the casual gamer and make more money off of. Further more, in response to Abaris' comment, I know all to well that EA will turn a profit on the game. If you've read any of my previous posts in other threads, you'd know that I myself have been saying that for weeks if not months. But the money they will make on the game will not nearly be what their projected figures will be because the hardcore users of the game as well as modders will not be buying it. That's going to be at least a 15% loss in total intake. 15% isn't much, but when you're talking about a game projected to make millions by the end of the year, you do the math. Compared to other high profile releases to come this year (Not just from EA, but other companies) TS3 will be a bust by comparison. It'll make money, and it'll turn over a profit for EA. But when you compare what TS3 will essentially make to say...the PC version of Street Fighter 4 or Modern Warefare 2, there is no comparison. And those games will most likely have the same online based authentication as TS3. But the difference is they WON'T have the heavy and hefty micro transactions needed to make the most of the game. DLC for those games are one shot purchases. You buy it, and it's yours. You don't need a 1st part installer to import any of it, and once you do buy it, you're free to do with the content what you wish. Activision and Capcom could care less if the code is modified, They've made their money. And that fact will keep people coming back for more when new add-ons are released, as opposed to running away like they've seen Godzilla from TS3. So no, my last statement isn't an assumption. It's predicated on facts and figures. Figures that I'll be more then happy to point out and compare once some of the other high profile releases are on the market. I deal in numbers, and numbers don't lie. EA's numbers will be decent, but no where near what they at 1st projected when they 1st announced the game.

Simguy 18 said:

Just wishful thinking, but money does make the world go round, its the root of all evil too...
[/quote]


Not to start an argument but actially the saying is ;  "The love of money is the root of all evil."

I bet EA loves their's and our's too.

I tend to keep what I love *very close* to me. Which means they are NOT getting my money this time. Ha!

Okay, due to the incident that happened earlier today in this thread, and just to remind everyone... please do NOT ask where to download The Sims 3 from, even if it's actually not your intention to download it.  Even in that case, it is still considered as requesting a location for downloading it, is against site rules, and will not be tolerated by the staff.  I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but it's something that apparently needed some clarification on some parts.  :)

The earlier situation drove the thread completely off-topic and admittedly should have been stopped before it escalated... so if you're wondering what happened, I personally apologize for the disappearing of the off-topic posts, and the confusion that followed. 

Please continue on with the discussion!  ;)