I was about to get Spore...
Yes, I indeed planned on getting Spore as soon as there were some solid reviews out there which recommended it. But although it indeed sounds like an awesome game and I really looked forward to it since the first time I heard of it (two or three years back I think), I refuse to buy it. The reason? The publisher or whoever else in all his glory once again proved that he seems to believe his own customers to be nothing more than a dirty thiefing bunch of money sh*tters who do not deserve to actually get anything at all for their money. Yes, I am talking about DRM1), or more specifically SecuROM which was used to cripple a perfectly good game. Turns out they decided to only allow you to install your own personal copy of Spore (for which you pay something like 50EUR) three times before forcing you to call in and beg for additional installs (and prolly let yourself be questioned why you even dare to need to install it more then three times). I can remember a time when I payed something like 3 EUR for a bloody rental, not 50.
And while we are at it, I'm seriously fed up with having to fast-forward through minutes of “Piracy funds terrorism”2) ads on every DVD I buy3). But then I prolly should be thankful, because I still can watch my DVDs in whatever DVD player in like, whenever, how often I want and even – *gasp* – lend them to my friends.
Anyway, no Spore on my computer, at least not until they patch out that crippling DRM… thankfully, taking a look at the massive amount of 1 star ratings at amazon US I seem not to be the only person feeling screwed.
Discussion
Sad to hear… we bought it without knowing about the DRM and it's much fun till now. :) Let's hope they'll think about a patch, but I doubt it. I guess there are too many people like us who don't even knew about the DRM because it's a “must have” title and you buy it without waiting for reviews.
Golem.de wrote about the future of SecuROM: http://www.golem.de/0809/62300.html (only german). Especially the last paragraph is interesting, it's a shame to use these technics not to decide against a game because of such kind of copy protection!
Well if you ask me, you made the right choice. Seeing that most of the time the game is just all about rushing your opponents in all ages except cell and space age. In fact the only age that has some kind of depth and playtime is the space age and that gets kind of boring too after saving a planet the twentieth time by killing some ill creatures on it. Or defend yet another enemy attack or spice burglary on your planets which wont take an effort at all. Personally I am really disappointed on how the game turned out to be. This game which could have been the best since a long time, if it's depth were more like cililisation. The only thing that really makes fun in the end is to build your own creatures at which you literally have endless possibilities. And jeah the DRM kind of sucks ofc.
My impression is slightly different from that… I'm very impressed by the game! If you expect a strategy game like Starcraft or Civilization it's not the right choice of course, but if you have fun in exploring and being creative it's the best I've played since… well, Sims? No, it's not really like Sims, your creatures don't have to go to the toilet and there are many many things to collect ;) It's not just about building stuff.
Most critics complain about the fact that it's too easy to reach the space age. It's true, there's no “Game over” - but if you don't see it as an old fashioned strategy game that's no problem. You can rush through it or take your time, it depends on you. There are many goals and quests, especially in the space age. The only problem I see is the fact, that the first 4 ages are very easy to understand and fit great together, but the space age suddenly becomes very complex. That might be hard for casual gamers I guess - and for the pro gamers who start playing it and get bored after 4 ages without seeing the great space age. ;) Spore is not a game for everyone I guess. But it's something different and worth trying.
Oh… and it's just too cute to see walking bushes dance and sing for giant flying cats.
This is a capitalist world. The publishers attitude toward DRM in games will only change when sales of DRM-games go down. A lession the music industry is painfully learning, the film industry is about to learn and the electronic book industry has not even started to understand. Meanwhile, buy games without such copy protection.