That is by far the silliest I've ever read. The moment the "final" game hits the stores it will be on the internet, the moment it's patched it will be on the internet. And the moment they release addons, they will be on the internet. And same goes for the store-BS.

I don't know who's gonna believe that kind of argument. A 7 year old with a PC probably knows more about the www than they obviously do or claim to know.

But one should add, it's only there for the unsuspecting and those sticking with every fibre of their being to the letter of the law. That shite is worthless when it comes to cracking. No CD patches for everything I know of are readily available and the only one annoyed by these measures is the customer wanting to play by the rules.

My personal policy is that of bite me. I only buy a game when there's a patch available. Too often have I experienced that game X or Y didn't want to load because I had app A or B on my rig. I'm not going ot delete anything from my computer because some game developers got paranoid or want to take a sniff at my software.


But that means no modding, ain't it?

What they are actually thinking is, adults should play their child's game. I don't blame them entirely for that decision. There were a lot of pressure groups attacking the game industry and the industry is scared.

Not even the best PR department can make an elephant fly. That's the whole point of what I was trying to say. They're out of words. Maybe the had a so called special edition at the ready containing that second neighbourhood. And chances are, they will sell that as the standard edition to minimize damage.

At least that's what I would do in their shoes.

I'm phrasing this very carefully so as not to step on anybody's toes. That's not my intention. I only want to give you some insights in what my business life is all about and what it has to do with incidents as that leaked copy:

I'm working in the press and PR business for about 20 years. So personal experience tells me, that if that copy wasn't the real deal, there would be headlines flashing and press releases raiding the websites and mags. To keep quiet as they do is either extremely stupid or in the hope of the storm blowing over and being able to cover up.

I'm aware, that there's a lot of excitement and hope for TS 3. So here's my carefully phrased advise: If you don't like what you already see in screenshots and reviews, don't go for it. Even if it was a Beta. They couldn't possibly have changed the animations and modells in such a short span of time.

I had that problem. Time and time again. As for the reasons I cannot give you an answer, but there's a workaround - at least in my case.

If you already had a working downloads folder with stuff showing up, keep that save. For some reasons, the game looks for that particular folder. If you make changes to it, empty it out, but don't delete it. Refill it. That works in my case. Maybe it's a bit of help.

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.

When TS2 first came out there was an interview with one of the developers in a german gamers mag. He said, that they could have done a more mature version for the European market, but refrained from trying, since the blur was´one of the funniest features they had.

It was a lame excuse then and it only shows how full their pants already were at that time. The gaming industry is scared rigid of religious and parental lobbies in the USA. That's why I still maintain, that the modding ban is rather a panic button. The making additional money option is probably nothing but a pleasant side effect. Some legal suit probably told them to play it save by banning modding entirely.

It would be interesting if same sex marriages are even possible with TS3. In fact I was highly surprised they were possible with vanilla TS2.

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

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.

How original. That was one of the features in sim city. They're plagiarizing their own games.

Fat chance for that. Chances are, they already have their first expansion to launch it for Christmans sales. Probably they're doing a Molyneux on their customers by including some of the paid stuff from their online store in order to make them pay twice.

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?

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.

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.