Latest posts for the topic "Spore Now Available on Steam!"

Spore Now Available on Steam!

MaxisCactus — GMT

Just in time for the holidays, Valve announced that Spore™ and Spore Creepy & Cute Parts Pack are available now via Steam, a leading platform for PC games and digital content with over 15 million accounts around the world.

For more info or to get Spore from Steam, visit [url=http://www.steamgames.com]www.steamgames.com[/url].

-MaxisCactus

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

Draycu — GMT

This will make quite a few people happy, I think.

I love good news!

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

MaxisCactus — GMT

In response to a few questions I've been getting, Spore from Steam [i]does not [/i]have SecuROM. It uses the Steam DRM.

-MaxisCactus

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

NicMacc — GMT

[quote=MaxisCactus]In response to a few questions I've been getting, Spore from Steam [i]does not [/i]have SecuROM. It uses the Steam DRM.

-MaxisCactus[/quote]

this will make A LOT of people happy

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

Draycu — GMT

I [i]really[/i] love good news!

Nice; now we might get more players to try Spore!

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

SporeMasterKaliena — GMT

I don't suppose there is a way to convert our Securom purchases over to Steam?

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

Kylelolcat — GMT

NOW It comes out!Stupid Malware!

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

Sikyanakotik — GMT

[quote=SporeMasterKaliena]I don't suppose there is a way to convert our Securom purchases over to Steam?[/quote]
Seconded. Get this EA Download Manager out of my face and let me use a DRM scheme that actually adds more functionality than it takes away!

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

SporeMasterKaliena — GMT

At this time it doesn't look like a Spore registration key can be imported to Steam:

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7480-WUSF-3601

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

bansama — GMT

I was all ready to purchase this again on Steam (especially as it appears the SecuROM DRM may not be used), but what a surprise. It's North America only. Again. Why is it so difficult to simply sell games worldwide on the Internet these days? =(

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

Swimmery4 — GMT

If EA will allow owners of Spore and other DRM'ed games to freely register for Steam's DRM-free versions, I will forgive all of EA's DRM sins, and I'm sure a lot of other people would too.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

KamiPoi — GMT

i dont think it will be too hard for steam to setup to allow it but i dont know exactly how they work im gona be hopeful though would make me play spore more knowing that if my computer crashes or dies that its on my steam account or if i lose my disc i never have to worry i would purchase more from ea if it would allow me to do it.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

The Kittani — GMT

Bah! it's just a rant and not important...

One question about steam though... do I HAVE to be online all the time in order to play the game? I have periods of up to a month on the road where I don't always have an internet connection. It seems with steam I'd only be able to play spore at home when I have an internet connection.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

gstommylee — GMT

How steam works all the games product keys are tied to the steam account i believe as long as you have a computer that has an internet connection you can play the steam games on any computer. There is a offline mode to play the games via steam with out an internet connection and they have instructions on doing so via steam's website.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

The Kittani — GMT

I got that part... but like with Stardock's games. I just have to have an internet connection to install (and it activates at that time) after that if the game is or has single player I can disconnect from the internet and go on my merry way able to start up my computer and play weather I have an internet connection or not. From what I gather about steam you have to login just to start the game every single time. That will kill Spore for me as my next trex is going to be about 20 days without internet (SecurRom requires re-activate every 10 or it disables the game yes?)

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

gstommylee — GMT

there is like i said a way to set the game to offline mode with steam to where you do not need an active internet connection to play.

Maxis i got my own question. Since with steam the product key is tied to the steam account would you still need to have the key tied to the EA account as well?

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

legomitch02 — GMT

first off im a n00b. I cant get steam to accept my spore key and its driving me crazy. the reason i bought spore was to socialize with others and steam has chat ,something me and my friend have tried to do using a spore creation that looks like the spore logo that we post comments on.not only does steam have chat but its live and private, javascript:emoticon(''); !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

bansama — GMT

legomitch02, you cannot register retail keys on Steam. If you want Spore on Steam you will need to purchase it on Steam.

[i]i dont think it will be too hard for steam to setup to allow it but i dont know exactly how they work im gona be hopeful though[/i]

EA will have to do this. They need to give Valve a database of ALL CD keys in order for the game to be registered on Steam. Not surprisingly, EA like many other 3rd party publishers are a little wary of handing out such databases.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

legomitch02 — GMT

so are you saying i should buy as in use my national curency to own the game to get it to work??

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

Landfill2 — GMT

Wish this had come sooner rather than later, but good move Maxis. Steam and Valve (and the wonderful people at Maxis) are the only companies keeping me in computer gaming.

I would also like to throw my vote in for getting the ability to use my EA purchased Spore to work in Steam. It's highly unlikely it will happen, but a couple of months ago, I thought it was highly unlikely Spore would ever be on Steam.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

bansama — GMT

[i]so are you saying i should buy as in use my national curency to own the game to get it to work??[/i]

The simple fact is this. If you buy Spore retail or via any other download service, you cannot add the key from that copy of Spore to Steam.

If you want to play Spore over Steam, you need to purchase it from Steam. And right now, only people in North America can do that.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

The Kittani — GMT

All they have to do for registered users is to have use fill out a form based on our current activation thier securRom database info. Then process the registrations at thier leisure. Not everyone is going to need this done right away if they are already playing the game in the retail theatre. From there they just De-activate the SecuROM activations and give users a tool that patches the game over to Steam's system. As soon as it's used it implements Steams system and voila!. When a person re-installs from disc all they have to do is go to the steam site, download the client, log in, and have that re-patch spore to the latest version. Saves them from having todo everyone's at once, lets players decide if they want to make the switch or not, and lets them do it at thier own time.

And..

I know Steam has an offline mode, but from what I hear on THAT bit is that it cripples the game badly.

People have mentioned that alot of Steams games have very little of the game's features (even offline ones) available.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

peppersprayed — GMT

[quote=MaxisCactus]In response to a few questions I've been getting, Spore from Steam [i]does not [/i]have SecuROM. It uses the Steam DRM.

-MaxisCactus[/quote]

Oh my dear God they grew a brain

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

peppersprayed — GMT

[quote=The Kittani]I got that part... but like with Stardock's games. I just have to have an internet connection to install (and it activates at that time) after that if the game is or has single player I can disconnect from the internet and go on my merry way able to start up my computer and play weather I have an internet connection or not. From what I gather about steam you have to login just to start the game every single time. That will kill Spore for me as my next trex is going to be about 20 days without internet (SecurRom requires re-activate every 10 or it disables the game yes?) [/quote]

The only stardock game I've bought was sins of a solar empire. It has absolutely no DRM at all but you do need the CD key to register for support. I'm not sure if that's how they do all their games though. Anyway steam seems like an acceptable middle ground and I would hope that in time they abandon the use of Securom for their games altogether for something more in this vein.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

bansama — GMT

[i]All they have to do for registered users is to have use fill out a form based on our current activation thier securRom database info. Then process the registrations at thier leisure. Not everyone is going to need this done right away if they are already playing the game in the retail theatre. From there they just De-activate the SecuROM activations and give users a tool that patches the game over to Steam's system. As soon as it's used it implements Steams system and voila!. When a person re-installs from disc all they have to do is go to the steam site, download the client, log in, and have that re-patch spore to the latest version. Saves them from having todo everyone's at once, lets players decide if they want to make the switch or not, and lets them do it at thier own time.
[/i]

That's not how it works for Steam. It's fully automated and based on the information being given to Valve in its entirety. It has been explained in as much detail as they are willing to make public before (and they make very little information public). There are only a small handful of games that can be registered from retail on Steam. The majority of them use either Valve's Source engine or Steam Works. The most notable exception being Prey which was prety much added to Steam only because its previous DD solution went kaputt.

As for how the Steam DRM works, it's basically as follows. If you have an internet connection and are online, Steam will authenticate your game every time you run it.

[b]You must run a game online at least once[/b].

Once you have run it online, you can set that game to not automatically update and then you can put Steam into Offline mode. In Offline mode, you won't need to connect to the internet in order to play your game.

However. It's important to note that the Offline mode does not work correctly. So you must ensure you do not have an active internet connection when trying to use the Offline mode. Even then, there is the slight possibility that Steam will forget that you are in Offline mode and will then refuse to run the game until you go online again. Sadly, this bug has been around for years and Valve see no reason to fix it.

And finally one other highly important point:

[b]Do not use retail patches for Steam versions of games.[/b]

Trying to apply a non-Steam patch to a Steam version of a game can destroy that install of the game (meaning you will need to reinstall either by redownloading or from a backup. There are very few exceptions to this point.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

legomitch02 — GMT

sorry im late but thankyou!!!

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

Ricotez — GMT

They haven't done retail to Steam for Fallout 3 and Trackmania United. I do not see why they would do it for Spore and the C&C Parts Pack.

Still, they did it for Prey. I found that out only recently, but you can activate the retail version of Prey on Steam, even if you've already installed and played it independently.

We will just have to wait and see what happends, I guess. For now it's NA only, and I live in Europe...

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

The Kittani — GMT

Ok that pretty much means when I go on vacation I'll have to use a cracked executable then? Well... at least when I want to play but don't have internet... EA is checking how many activations I have left for me now. Steam seems like in my case at least (a definate minority) it would be a waste of time and money.

All this was so we could play the game without having the disc in the drive? Why not just release an exe that requires the original disc to be read (or a specially encrypted key disc they send you that works with your key number and cannot be duplicated by iso ripping) It's not that hard. We did that in some of my Information Security classes as a test of physical security using public key encryption with portable usb flash drives. Works like a champ and it gives you a key to use your copy of the software whenever and wherever you want to. I'd rather have to have the CD in the drive to start the game than have to rely on having internet to use the software i paid for. Like I said I'm in the extreme minority though so I guess I'm outta luck.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

DrArkaneX — GMT

Until Retail Spore versions can be created on your steam account, i can't play spore.. I refuse to email them for an extension. I've reloaded my OS 3 times and waiting 24 hours for them to make an extension is retarded, so Spore is aining dust on my shelf until something new comes along I guess. Spore was great until i hit that 4th OS Reload. Cheers EA.. And I won't be buying Mirror's Edge either, even though i want to.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

The Kittani — GMT

actually they got back to me about my key status within 4 hours and if I had been able to send a replay back immediately i prolly could have gotten my answer handled immediately. They do good when they can. It all depends on who you get (A helpful rep or a hurtful one) But that's the same with any company.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

draknfyr — GMT

The retail version needs to be added for Steam or they wont be getting back those of us who have already been burned by the install limits. If they are trying to patch things up with their bad PR this is only going to satisfy those who avoided purchasing Spore due to its DRM.

There is no way I will repurchase a game I already spent my hard earned money on. The DRM was originally set up to invalidate the game after a period of time (depending on how often you upgrade hardware/OS/ect.) in the hopes that you would repurchase a new copy. I consider that a scam or fraud, and until I can use my legitimate copy of Spore again without a quasi trojan installed on my now fully upgraded PC, I will continue to consider EA a fraudulent company.

Steam is a step in the right direction but they still have a lot of ground to cover if they want to patch things up proper.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

The Kittani — GMT

I always thought DRM stood for Digital Rental Management... that's not the case?

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

DrArkaneX — GMT

[quote=The Kittani]actually they got back to me about my key status within 4 hours and if I had been able to send a replay back immediately i prolly could have gotten my answer handled immediately. They do good when they can. It all depends on who you get (A helpful rep or a hurtful one) But that's the same with any company.[/quote]

I paid $53 for this game with tax, I shouldn't have to beg for an extension. They got their money now give me my game.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

The Kittani — GMT

I agree and the myth that DRM does anything to prevent piracy is laughable.. the fact that the Execs at EA bought into SecuROM's scam and false claims of security is actually laughable. I believe one article stated that Spore was the most pirated game of all time. Yay DRM! all it has really done is make a portion of the player base extremely frustrated and either forced them to buy more copies (inflating sales figures) or go out and get the crack for the game. I paid 100 bucks as I bought the Galactic edition and the creature pack at the same time. If mine de-auths and they deny me a workaround I'll just go out and get the crack for the game. I try to do things the legit way first but I have no patience when it comes to my money and Executive retardation. I paid for the game... according to the EULA I have the right to use it. technically EULA's aren't legal as you have to agree to it "by opening the box" without seeing it first (not everyone goes home to look it up first and since they don;t tell you to do so on the box, well.. it's illegal in most states to enforce a contract that has not been seen by a contracted person if you force them to enter the contract in order to read it. If it was they could say whatever they wanted on the box but the box could contain a piece of paper saying you just paid money for nothing and noone could do anything about it.

For now I trust EA will fix it and they have already stated in other forums that once the product reaches the end of it's lifecycle the DRM activation component will be removed entirely. This form of DRM is only intended to slow down release time piracy so that sales of legitimate copies can be earned. Once the cracks and hacks are out en masse it becomes pointless to maintain a DRM that causes issues with players so it is removed. Just give it time. If they don't fix it they will get the pants sued off them and lose. It's DEFINATELY illegal to sell a product and then deny the person use of that product when they still physically own the software. And I would hate to to see the hooplah if someone ever uses that ubiquitous line (may revoxe liscence at any time for any reason) The first time someone does that based solely on the grounds of forcing the user to buy the software over again is the day nearly everyone will switch to GPL and every software maker in the world will never be trusted again. I venture to say that Microsoft would even step up and revoke the publisher's rights to put DRM in the core in the first place in favor of thier own activation system... once and it's done... no internet... phone it in and be done. Re-check on upgrades.

done nuff said.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

SnuggleFairie — GMT

So let me get this straight-

The pirates get spore without any drm or securom. The steam players get spore without any drm or securom. WHAT ABOUT THE LOYAL FANS!?!? We purchased the game and supported EA. Now we are stuck with drm and securom unless we want to PAY AGAIN for the game? Come on! EA really needs to grow a brain here.

EA has had so much bad press and has lost the faith of so many gamers. They are laying off a lot of people and are closing up many of the gaming divisions. This is nothing more than a way to milk more people into giving EA money. They are trying to gain the attention of people who haven't bought spore yet..... all the while CONTINUING to slap the loyal fans and supporters in the face.

It is fine and dandy that they finally got around to seeing the fact that not many gamers will pay for crap with securom and drm. But to continue to screw over the loyal fans is uncalled for.

EA has already had 3 or 4 major lawsuits reguarding securom and drm. There are several more in the making. I can see another one happening if they do not allow regisitered users with a valid key code, to get a .exe file with no securom or drm. Most other gaming companies have wised up and started doing this to avoid the backlash from the whole securom fallout. They have allowed their gamers to download a patch that removes securom or to download a whole new .exe without it. EA needs to do the same thing. Only then will they REALLY appease and save face in front of their loyal fans/supporters. Anything else, is just like this whole thing..... too little, too late and doesn't help those who have already supported them.

edit to correct typo.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

mrsaturnzoom — GMT

Does this mean people that had spore before this have to register spore AND C&C at steam?

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

The Kittani — GMT

well it's official... if you run out of activations you have to buy the game again... when I asked to have the two current activations freed up they gave me this reply..

Hello,

Thank you for contacting Electronic Arts

Please be informed that your activations cannot be removed from the game.Once it is done it gets recorded.

If there is anything else we can help you with please let me know.

Thank you,

So... if you use up your activations you're pretty much outta luck. Pray you can predict a hardware crash BEFORE it happens so you can de-auth the computer with the tool.

EA really does expect you to buy a new copy of the game...

EDIT: well it took 3 days but when I asked about what I should do when I run out of activations they said they will hand out additional activations on a case-by-case basis.

So... annoying... yes... will they let you continue to activate the game even if you fiddle with your computer alot... yes.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

DrArkaneX — GMT

Yea, i'm pretty much done with EA at this point. I'll just seek elsewhere for my gaming needs regardless of the title. I really like Spore and I'd like to continue to play Spore, but i'm not re-buying it every 3rd time I wish to reload my OS and I'm not sending an e-mail to add another Auth to my account. I specifically asked for a supervisor at EA to contact me about the DRM issue and if they could add an online tool to remove and add computers to my EA games. It's been over a month now and no response.

I have Verizon Starz Play and they allow 3 installs on any computers I wish. Inside the application I can Add and remove whatever computers I wish on the fly and the chanegs are immediate. If EA could incorporate this policy, I feel that all of their problems would go away. Since EA is a big company, I don't foresee this happening anytime soon unless something happens drastically that affects their financial statements on the Q and is directly tied to their policy of DRM like a Full Ban of all EA PC Games until they change it and make a public statement.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

ausdreamer — GMT

Wow- how dare EA offer an alternative without securom. Probably all a plot!

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

draknfyr — GMT

[quote=ausdreamer]Wow- how dare EA offer an alternative without securom. Probably all a plot![/quote]

Wow- if you missed the point any further you would be in another galaxy.

Point is you can get it without securom for a nominal fee of only $49.99. If EA wants to double dip they can do it in someone else pockets.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

ausdreamer — GMT

[quote=draknfyr][quote=ausdreamer]Wow- how dare EA offer an alternative without securom. Probably all a plot![/quote]

Wow- if you missed the point any further you would be in another galaxy.

Point is you can get it without securom for a nominal fee of only $49.99. If EA wants to double dip they can do it in someone else pockets.[/quote]

The point is you cannot go back in time- Well according to Science.

The point is many asked for an alternative that do not already have the game- and now there is another option. You want to not have this happen then? Honestly- I just see some people want to complain no matter what- there is a revoke tool and another option to purchase. No doubt what ever happened you are not going to please everyone - some people that like Steam (mind you I am not a Steam customer) like the option.

I hope you have a nice xmas

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

draknfyr — GMT

[quote=ausdreamer]
The point is you cannot go back in time- Well according to Science.

The point is many asked for an alternative that do not already have the game- and now there is another option. You want to not have this happen then? Honestly- I just see some people want to complain no matter what- there is a revoke tool and another option to purchase. No doubt what ever happened you are not going to please everyone - some people that like Steam (mind you I am not a Steam customer) like the option.

I hope you have a nice xmas

[/quote]

You're grasping at straws with this argument. In fact, I'm not even sure what your arguing for/against now.

The only thing I've asked for is that those of us who have already supported the game financially (by buying it) get the same respect as anyone else by allowing us to activate our copies via Steam. Seriously, this must be rocket science.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

ausdreamer — GMT

Steam is a digital distribution system. Just another way to purchase your game.

Stating that because you now own the game you should be able to use Steam is like stating because you bought a copy at EB Games you are now entitled to take for free the same game at Walmart.

Steam also are in thi this to make money.

Neither are a charity based service.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

DrArkaneX — GMT

It's doubtful EA and Valve will turn our store bought copies into "Steam Purchased" copies, so probably the best thing to do from this point on is just not purchase directly from EA and from now on, just make your purchase from Steam. Lesson learned. I'm just not rebuying Spore, i'll just use the cracks from now on until they fix it.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

draknfyr — GMT

[quote=ausdreamer]Steam is a digital distribution system. Just another way to purchase your game.

Stating that because you now own the game you should be able to use Steam is like stating because you bought a copy at EB Games you are now entitled to take for free the same game at Walmart.

Steam also are in thi this to make money.

Neither are a charity based service.

[/quote]

Ignorance is truly bliss. If the above is what you want to think don't let me try to change your mind. You simply can't grasp what I'm saying and are arguing in circles. I'm done trying to convince you of anything.

Honestly, the only thing I've asked for is the removal of securom and the install limits on the game I've already purchased. But you make it sound like I'm asking for the moon.

Spore Now Available on Steam!

FutureFilms — GMT

[url=http://sporedum.net/2008/12/26/spore-also-available-on-steam-europe/]Spore Avaliable on Steam Europe[/url]

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

puddlenipper — GMT

Thank you for making this available through Steam. I wanted to get Spore for my kid for Christmas but refused to buy the securom afflicted version. He was prepared to go without but instead has had a pleasant Christmas surprise!

My heart goes out to all the poor souls who couldn't wait until Spore was released without securom.

Spore Now Available on Steam!

Jackuul — GMT

I wish I could unleash Andy Rooney upon this topic.

I really do.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

SnuggleFairie — GMT

[quote]Neither are a charity based service. [/quote]

No one is asking for charity. Other companies that have been bombarded with complaints about securom and threats of lawsuits have begun to come to their senses. Many have offered patches to all registered gamers that will remove the drm and securom. Other companies have issued .exe files with securom removed.
It would cost EA nothing to do the same thing. In fact.... every gaming company that has done this has seen a major increase in sales and profit. Which is something EA could use. Especially considering they are laying employees off and closing up some of the dev groups.

The game is already paid for. All they have to do is make it so you need to be registered to get the steam code, the patch to remove securom/drm, and-or a new .exe without securom/drm. That won't be taking any money out of EA's pocket at all.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

bansama — GMT

[i]Spore Avaliable on Steam Europe[/i]

There are currently only 2 countries where you cannot buy Spore over Steam. The UK and Japan. It appears it may be added to Steam for the UK "soon", but it looks like those of us stuck in Japan are doomed to a non-working EADM forever >_<

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

ausdreamer — GMT

[quote=SnuggleFairie][quote]Neither are a charity based service. [/quote]

No one is asking for charity. Other companies that have been bombarded with complaints about securom and threats of lawsuits have begun to come to their senses. Many have offered patches to all registered gamers that will remove the drm and securom. Other companies have issued .exe files with securom removed.
It would cost EA nothing to do the same thing. In fact.... every gaming company that has done this has seen a major increase in sales and profit. Which is something EA could use. Especially considering they are laying employees off and closing up some of the dev groups.

The game is already paid for. All they have to do is make it so you need to be registered to get the steam code, the patch to remove securom/drm, and-or a new .exe without securom/drm. That won't be taking any money out of EA's pocket at all.
[/quote]

Asking EA for a patch to remove securom and activations is different to making it available for free on Steam for those already with the game.

Valve may have something to say about the costs of their bandwidth to download the game and to use their tech support and product.

You would have to remove securom from your PC and then redownload the game from Steam afterall. If you run into tech problems with downloading and running the game- I am pretty sure Valve would be the first port of call for assistance. I doubt they are prepared to do that without some moula from someone.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

bansama — GMT

[i]If you run into tech problems with downloading and running the game- I am pretty sure Valve would be the first port of call for assistance. I doubt they are prepared to do that without some moula from someone. [/i]

Valve's Steam Support will only help you with download related issues. If you have a problem with the actual game, you will still need to go through EA support.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=5845-EUIX-5341

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

ausdreamer — GMT

[quote=bansama][i]If you run into tech problems with downloading and running the game- I am pretty sure Valve would be the first port of call for assistance. I doubt they are prepared to do that without some moula from someone. [/i]

Valve's Steam Support will only help you with download related issues. If you have a problem with the actual game, you will still need to go through EA support.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=5845-EUIX-5341[/quote]

Yes, normal ingame problems Valve shoud not be expected to deal with- that is common sense. However, anyone first after downloading and trying to run the game facing problems more than likely will contact them to deal with it.

I have loads of downloaded games via EADM to other various download managers (Gamergate, BigFish etc) and never had a problem myself- however- others are not so lucky and experience problems getting the game to run from whatever download manager it is they are using. And yes some people whether it is the fault of the download manager, their PC, or the game- will no doubt clog up the tech support.

Either way- more work for Valve staff.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

Vermil — GMT

Well, well, I already bought Spore and C&C. ...And installed securom on my computer (sorry, no, I already had securom installed on this PC).
But tell you what, I'll eventually buy some other games on Steam. Congratulations EA, to the business.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

JustM — GMT

hmmm let me warn some people in Europe [url=http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=770231]Click here[/url] not menth bad to who ever i just feel like im obligated to say this

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

EntropyGuardian — GMT

Funny, before Spore came out I emailed Doug Lombardi about bringing it to Steam and received a "working on it" sort of wink wink answer. I went ahead and bought the regular version against my better judgment (I buy EVERYTHING on Steam).

Now that it is out I think I will wait a bit until the first expansion comes out and is bundled with Spore in a "Galactic Edition" or whatever then rebuy it on Steam along with the Creepy and Cute thing (which I also bought in a hard copy form).

Its regrettable, but $50 is hardly going to bankrupt anyone and Steam is always the superior option unless you live in the woods or something. But if you did you couldn't read this so I could make fun of you and you'd never know. You woods-liver, you.

Its funny, the only other retail game I bought in the past year was Mass Effect which ALSO just came to Steam. I'll rebuy that eventually just to have it on steam.

Also, a lot of you seem to be a bit misinformed. Steam HAS DRM. Steam is the delivery system and the game .exes it downloads have the Steam DRM within them (although not for some older games it seems). The Steam client must be ran while you play a game.

I don't know why most of you would be willing you kill to own mothers to rid the world of DRM, but Steam has it too so settle down. What Steam doesn't have is the specific Starforce or whatever type of DRM that makes you lot wet your pants. Presumably this means there are no install limits (just like every other game on Steam).

Spore Now Available on Steam!

Skidd777 — GMT

Could we get secuROM uninstalled from our copies of Spore then?

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

bansama — GMT

[i]Presumably this means there are no install limits (just like every other game on Steam). [/i]

For the record several games on Steam do still have install limits. Off the top of my head, examples include the two Crysis games (5 installs), Stalker Clear Skies (5 installs) amd Two Worlds (4 installs). Of course, if EA ever finally decide to offer their games for sale over Steam in Japan (and offer up both Japanese and English language versions), I'd gladly rebuy Spore and Mass Effect. But so far, the only response I seem to get from them is a "**** you, you're stuck with the EADM". Ah well, at least Ubisoft have finally started selling their games over Steam to gamers the world over (although not their full line up yet).

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

wakkydude — GMT

This is ridiculous. We have given EA our money, and now we deserve to be treated the same as those people who have bought it on Steam. Also, let me add, that I do NOT know why EA could just release this in the UK. Complete rubbish.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

EntropyGuardian — GMT

[quote=bansama][i]Presumably this means there are no install limits (just like every other game on Steam). [/i]

For the record several games on Steam do still have install limits. Off the top of my head, examples include the two Crysis games (5 installs), Stalker Clear Skies (5 installs) amd Two Worlds (4 installs). Of course, if EA ever finally decide to offer their games for sale over Steam in Japan (and offer up both Japanese and English language versions), I'd gladly rebuy Spore and Mass Effect. But so far, the only response I seem to get from them is a "**** you, you're stuck with the EADM". Ah well, at least Ubisoft have finally started selling their games over Steam to gamers the world over (although not their full line up yet). [/quote]

You can just have a friend from a region where the game is available buy it as a gift and send it to you. That is assuming you have friends.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

PenguinKid — GMT

The Spore Without Install Limits is a lie!

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

H_Lightra — GMT

Frankly, I don't know what to think. I'm already out about $150 US thanks to buying Creature Creator, then uninstalling it and having SecuRom stuff removed. Now, it can be bought legally without SecuRom, but there's still A DRM thing. I seem to have forgotten what exactly the DRM does, but if it may pose a security tisk, which I seem to think it is, does the Steam DRM pose the same security risks as the Spore DRM?

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

bansama — GMT

[i]You can just have a friend from a region where the game is available buy it as a gift and send it to you. That is assuming you have friends. [/i]

Not much help when they live in the UK =P

[i]Steam DRM pose the same security risks as the Spore DRM? [/i]

Simply put, there are no security risks. But then, there weren't any proven security risks with SecuROM either.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

H_Lightra — GMT

Yes, it may not ahve been definitively proven, but there was still some evidence that pointed towards SecuRom weakening firewalls, if I recall correctly. Bah. I'll wait a week or two and find out what the new consesus is.
Steam certainly seems to be a brilliant setup, though, so I have a feeling I'lll end up buying it.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

JGvardija — GMT

I have been using Steam for god knows how long, as have hundreds of thousands of others, without any problems. I can only hope we will be able to activate retail spore on steam some day...

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

Nilty — GMT

DRM = Digital Rights Management

Basically DRM is to ensure copyright protection of a company's intellectual property. Games are not free to distribute among different users..

EA Tried using SecureROM as their primary DRM as well as a few other things.. SecureRom itself is a horrible program and can and does things to a persons system and is impossible to uninstall on your own.

Steam is another type of DRM but is acceptable among people who agree to use it. All games are tied to an account and this account is used to verify the user is authorized to run the program. Steam does a few things on the backend also to verify the user.. For example if a user logs in from different IP's and re-downloads games often then it is thought the person is abusing the steam service to illegally disturbute and copy games and gets their account disabled..

Steam Differs from Secure Rom to where.. Steam can be removed from your computer. Steam does not disable certain kinds of software/hardware on your PC. and Steam offers additional services which its users seem to enjoy (community/friends/store ease of distribution)

No system is perfect but Securerom is invasive and cannot be removed bothers me. Steam is more passive and can be removed if you wish..

and honestly no DRM will stop pirating heck HD-DVD was cracked and is pirated now and that used to be a secure format.. Something that is invasive and hurts real customers is bad.. More passive DRM is often overlooked or dealt with as a cost of playing the game.. Steam is a good non-invasive DRM in my opinion and I enjoy the extras which Steam provides as well and wish I could quire more titles via steam.

Re:Spore Now Available on Steam!

MinionJoe — GMT

I'll overlook the fact that your resurrecting a topic that's been dead for a month because your post speaks clear, coherent truth.

[quote=Nilty]SecureRom itself is a horrible program and can and does things to a persons system and is impossible to uninstall on your own.[/quote]

There are instructions on the internet on how to manually uninstall SecuROM from your PC, but I have reason to believe that they do not completely remove the version that comes with the store-bought Spore. And it's been known for a long time that the "official" SecuROM removal tool is a joke. And not the funny kind.

However, you CAN completely and without-a-doubt remove SecuROM by yourself: by formatting your hard drive and reinstalling your OS.

Spore Now Available on Steam!

cobalson — GMT

im trying to download GA from steam, so do i need to rebuy spore from steam?