Posted 1 week ago at 2:37 AM. 0 comments
No Snow Villiers, they’re running away from the game.
Well the most anticipated game of the year, Final Fantasy XIII, is about to make it’s way to the American shores. Professional Japanese reviewers loved it! Professional American reviewers loved it! But whats this? The game scored a 3/5 on Amazon Japan player review. It appears Japanese players are split. On one side, they see it as an evolution, on the other side it’s deemed dull and repetitive, amidst all the hype and production.
I took the time to translate (with the best of my ability) certain bad Amazon reviews that gave the game a score of 1/5. Once the American version is released I want to compare if generally, Square Enix made a game that would appeal more towards International communities than their own.
Japanese Player Reviews
“The game stuffed in a lot of terminology and phrases which I found terrible. I wanted to enjoy more of the story, but I had to remember all of these made up words... There isn’t a town either. Plus, shops are attached to a save point, there isn’t even communication with the shopkeeper either. It’s strange to wonder why the producer would remove such features and think it would be fun for an RPG ” ~Mamasan
“This game is like one straight road from start to end. There aren’t that many people you come in contact with. It makes you feel isolated and lonely. You can’t even control the other party members , they just act on their own. Like they would just defend when I didn’t want them to. You really need a brain to understand this story, it’s really incomprehensible. I am very disappointed” ~Faran
“13 is like a terrible “Linear CG Game.” They took away our rights of enjoying an RPG by discarding things like ‘Story’ and ‘Content’.” ~morgan
“The battles were useless. Early on you just repeated the same attacks until you got tired of them. It wasn’t interesting (except the summons!) Later on in the game you will die frequently if you don’t utilize the Optima system. ” ~y
“The journey through this game is like just one long straight path… Generally, I’d evaluate this game as trashy. I feel as if the producer thought that this game would be popular just by slapping the name of Final Fantasy onto it. I feel uneasy about FF Versus after playing this.” ~dustpan
“Where on earth did Final Fantasy go? I’ve been playing FF games before I could even write Hiragana. I’ve been very happy with them since. However the direction of the games has shifted over several years, never returning to what it was. ” ~?
“I regretted my purchase of this game. I felt that it was just light on content and heavy on pretty visuals.” ~
“Final Fantasy 10 was good. Final Fantasy 13 is a pain. (FF12 I just didn’t find interesting.)… Playing this game is painful from beginning to end. [Battlewise,] I feel that we should be able to move in real-time freely. We should be able to walk around to any dungeon we want… I didn’t really feel like playing this narrow path. It wasn’t until Chapter 10 where I was able to actually walk around [in an open field]. That place was large and beautiful, but it still ended up rather annoying than pleasant. ” ~Ruru
“I tried FF13, I was impressed with the quality of the visuals. I didn’t really care much for the beginning but I finally gave up at Chapter 10. I felt stressed out after the amount of game overs I got from battling common enemies. You have to put in a lot of patience and spiritual strength for this game, but for me I just sold it.” ~wind
“This game is like a movie, with many cutscenes that pop up to disturb the tempo of the game… With so many cutscenes, the player feels left behind. In fact, I don’t even understand what the main characters are doing in the first 2-4 hours of gameplay. At least there is a dictionary within the game [to explain the terminology.] Battles get repetitive. It’s because much of the battle system is locked away in the early parts of the game. They should have implemented something that allows us to access these systems whenever we want to. ” ~Pundel
“…It feels like watching a visual novel with no choices [for dialogue]. This isn’t even an RPG muchless… [Squarenix] what were you doing all this time when you postponed the game?” ~waiting
“As a full time working adult, I can stay up all night with a game if it’s interesting. As for this game, I can only spend 2 hours with it. ” ~
“The story isn’t well developed. I felt it was childish and full of contradictions. I’d say it felt like “playing a game on rails.” ~
The story, music, and graphics are good… We move characters through this narrow straight path. Then we are shown a movie > forced battle > movie > and continue again on the straight path. This pattern continues on for eternity. You may hear chatter in a town, but even a concept like “shopping” isn’t even in the game. The town’s only existence is just so that the main characters may pass through it… [The town] is actually a part of the dungeon so to speak. ~monpuchi
The Best Worst Review
This review was actually quite funny to read. I think he kind of rambled off and on but you can see this game has affected him.
“Good Points about this game…
Well, the movie scenes are pretty!
The main character is a hot chick!
Well that’s it, just two [good] points.
It’s hard to even relax in this game because there isn’t really a town. You keep fighting from beginning to end. Heck, the battles tend to go on.. And, for some reason the producer thought the players would be strong, so he made the enemies stronger. Maybe he thought we’d enjoy this.
I want to be able to quickly advance through a dungeon, but the enemies are soo strong… I get really irritated…
This may be unrelated but, for those of you who quit smoking, you really should have never done that. I really want a cigarette so badly right now. I am really stressed out.
The battles has this command strategy called “Optima.” The characters look great when they pose, but… During that moment, you are completely defenseless. ‘Cause if the character you are controlling dies, it’s Game Over!
The story is the worst. Right at the start of the game, you get these incredibly confusing terms like Fal’cie and L’cie..
When Square Enix came to be, their Final Fantasy games turned to shit.” ~hiro
Well there you have it. From this I conclude the reason Japanese hate Final Fantasy is due to it’s linearity, confusing terminology, and lack of towns. The game does indeed have a city known as “Nautilus” which you can explore to some extent. But in reality, it is just a place you visit to continue the story. After you complete the story, the game throws up several missions where players can kind of explore areas they’ve seen.
Posted 3 weeks, 4 days ago at 5:31 AM. 3 comments
Aim 7.1 Skins
Four Brand new Aim Themes for Aim 7.1.
Each theme is done in a different style.
Aim 7 Theme: Sonar Royal [Preview Settings]
Description: Your Majesty! Your AIM subjects bow in your presence.
Tags: purple skin, 790 x 1024, tiled
Aim 7 Theme: Sonar Sky [Preview IM Window]
Description: Soar to the sky and see the stars!
Tags: blue skin, 790 x 1024, tiled, default.css
Aim 7 Theme: Sonar Red [Sign On Preview]
Description: Electrifying tentacles in pink and red.
Tags: black skin, 790 x 1024, seamless,
Aim 7 Theme: Sonar Orange [Preview IM Window ]
Description: A delicious orange during the summer day.
Tags: orange skin, 790 x 790, tiled, default.css
Download Aim 7.1 Skins
Continue Reading…
Posted 4 weeks ago at 1:43 AM. 0 comments
Back again after 4 months of translating Japanese to English.
This time we’re going to change screen name colors for Aim 7.1, and it’s going to work without signing off.
AOL loads a certain CSS file each time you re open an IM window.
So feel free to go far beyond this tutorial and customize the colors of AIM as you see fit. This page will get rid of that ugly brown color they use for your screen name.
Before we Start
This tutorial requires a certain skill level. You must be able to do the following on your own.
- Navigate folders in Windows Explorer.
- Understand the process of opening a file in notepad.
- (Vista Only) Changing File Permissions under Administrator.
- Understand the process of copying and pasting text.
If you are unable to do these tasks please do not continue this tutorial.
Unlocking Vista’s Notepad:
- Open Notepad with Administrative privileges by clicking Start, All Programs, Accessories, and then right-click Notepad and select to open as Administrator.
Preparation
Unlike Aim 7 Beta, Aim 7.1 has made the process of editing screen name colors very easy. All it requires is pasting a few html colors within the a CSS file.
The first step is to find the default.css file that controls screen name colors.
This file is located in the folder:
C:\program files\aim7\services\imApp\ver7###\content\im\
Simply copying and pasting the above path will not work in Windows Explorer. You must manually navigate to the folder using My Computer if you have Windows XP or Computer in Windows Vista.
Program Files, Vista users may see Program Files (x86), if you can not locate the AIM 7 folder, try the other Program Files folder.
Ver7### represents your Aim 7 version number which you will instantly see if you navigated to the folder manually.
en-US is the language and region folder.
Screen Name Color
Open Notepad (Vista users must open as Administrator) then drag the file, default.css, into notepad. You are going to look for the line below…
.color_font-header_local, .color_font-header_local_inline
{
color: #864F04;
}
Highlighted in brown in the code above is your screen name’s default color. To change your screen name color, replace it with an html color code of your choosing.
.color_font-header_local, .color_font-header_local_inline
{
color: #b2bf16;
}
I have now changed the color to #b2bf16 to match my new AIM 7 skin. You can of course edit the screen name color of the person you are iming by changing the color on the line below it.
.color_font-header_remote_0, .color_font-header_remote_inline_0
{
color: #e49600;
}
To summarize, .color_font-header_local changes your screen name’s color. Whereas .color_font-header_remote_0 will change the person you IM.
When you are done you must save the file. For your changes to show up, close ALL IM windows, you don’t need to shut down AIM, then re open them. Even though you have completed the tutorial, you can also edit other colors as well.
Screen Name Status Color
If you still have default.css open, look for this line.
.color_font-screenname_status,
.color_font-state_status,
.color_font-timestamp_status
{
color:#5D6E87;
}
Editing that html color will change the color of the status message. Here I changed the color to pink to match the website.
Posted 5 months ago at 2:09 AM. 23 comments
The History thus far:
On March 2006, AOL placed advertisements in the footers of all AOL member emails. Since then it sparked a petition gaining 900 signatures against the idea.
In May 2008, AOL notified a limited number of subscribers by allowing the option to remove the advertising footers at AOL Keyword (http://footer.aol.com). It is amazing even to this day, I was never notified of this keyword.
Around October 2008, AOL was hit by a lawsuit. The case, Cecchini v. AOL LLC, stated, “AOL attached advertisements to over 100 million emails without the subscribers’ permission.”
Frank Cecchini believes, an AOL customer paying $25.90 a month should not see any form of advertisements placed within their email. I pretty much agree, it is understandable to place advertisements inside free email accounts, but I don’t think it is fair to paying AOL customers. I feel paying customers shouldn’t see advertisements on AOL websites, but I digress.
Proposed Settlement
An email from a related case, Fairchild v. AOL was released this week. Fairchild et. al v. AOL started around May 2009, and has since been placed within Cecchini v. AOL. It appears since August 24th, 2009, the lawsuit has moved to the proposed settlement phase. Here the courts will decide if AOL should pay over $250,000 for legal costs and fees, in addition to $103,000 it must pay to charity, among other things.
AOL’s Proposed Requirements
According to the email, AOL is required to notify it’s members about AOL Keyword Footer (http://footer.aol.com). They must also inform current and new members (upon registering for an AOL account) the option to remove the advertisements. This notification will continue every six months for two years.
User Response
Well I must admit, there isn’t much buzz about this subject but people have been forwarding this email around. I’ll wait until a few more days to get a response. So far I see it has been pretty negative. I think paying AOL members are bummed that they won’t get any share of the money. I think sending a portion of the money to charity is a nice touch, but it would be nice to get something back… (or does this make me sound greedy?)
[via joemanna and court house news and Cecchini and Bronster]
Continue Reading…
Posted 5 months, 3 weeks ago at 12:41 PM. 4 comments
As one of the few people in the world who has never created a Twitter account, I was disappointed when a certain email was sent to my address.
Welcome to Twitter, emariswgne. Wait a minute? Who is emariswgne?
Naturally I figured it was probably an account phish, but lo and behold, the user name does exist and is using my email address. The account was quickly suspended for sending spam.
Saying goodnight to Cialis obviously raises a huge red flag!
I was wondering how in the world could someone sign my email address up for twitter? Maybe my email account was phished and they were using my password. I was skeptical of this and I tested out a little hypothesis of mine. Let’s create a twitter account using any email address I chose. Congrats a new twitter account was created!
It seems you can use just about anyone’s email address provided they did not sign up for Twitter themselves. Even though Twitter doesn’t initially care about which email address you are using, they take the time to blacklist them for sending spam. If I ever wanted to use my email address in the future, I am now forbidden to under their suspension rules. Of course you can email Twitter support but why would they want to waste their time responding to a “spammer“.
How long will they take to respond?
“Emanuele Swafford from Hawaii” isn’t going to wait forever.
It’s pretty easy for Twitter to rectify this problem. All Twitter really needs to do is set up some form of email confirmation. Considering Twitter is a social networking site, I have no idea why they would ever skip such a useful feature many websites use to avoid spammers.
Posted 5 months, 4 weeks ago at 2:06 PM. 2 comments
Looks like Bubbleshare will shut down it’s photo sharing site. I previously recommended the site on my other blog hosted here. However, to give a heads up warning to all those who did not receive the email, BubbleShare.com is shutting down November 15th, 2009. You must download all your pictures prior to this date or else they will be gone FOREVER!
Lest not forget the amount of comments left on here for those who did not know XDrive was closing down. Some users are still asking for their files 5 months after the fact.
As of November 15, 2009, Bubbleshare.com will no longer be available and all links to all albums and photos will cease to function (including existing links within emails, blogs, etc). To access your photos in the future you will need to download your photos prior to November 15, 2009.
To save your images to your desktop, simply click the “Download Album” link next to your albums and double click on original photos. Your photos will then be saved to your desktop.
Again, all photos and albums must be removed prior to November 15, 2009. Effective immediately, you will no longer be able to upload any new photos or albums.
We apologize for the inconvenience. It was our pleasure to assist you with your photo sharing needs.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
The Bubbleshare Team
Posted 6 months ago at 5:28 PM. 2 comments
Lets Play The Sims 3 in 3 hour bursts!
Its been around a week since the Sims 3 patch 1.3.24 came out.
We’ve seen comments and threads of users detailing the mischief the patch caused.
Besides the much needed story progression fixes the patch introduces, the game can still crash and will occasionally deliver a blue screen of death (BSOD).
Before you install Sims Patch 1.3 and 1.4
Remove ALL your mods! Yes, I do stress ALL of them. The patch is very picky. It does not like modifications to any file whatsoever. It will pass over official custom content but will freak out with any type of hacks you implemented. The folders where mods are usually installed are:
C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts
\The Sims 3\GameData\ Shared\NonPackaged\Ini
Usually contains camera modifications, you must restore the original unmodified file!
C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\resource.cfg
The resource.cfg file tells the game where to check for mods.
C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Mods
The mods folder is where all mods are installed. You can move them to Desktop.
C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin
This is where the original nude patch installed. It doesn’t work with The Sims 1.3 patch. You need to restore the original files the nude patch edited. Download the orginal Shaders_Win32.precomp file in this directory. Please install No Mosaic instead once the patch is finished.
How to Avoid Crashes
After you install the patch you can safely add certain mods back into the game. However, due to player feedback, certain mods will crash the game. Please be sure to check each mod’s website to see if the author has updated for the latest Sims 3 1.3.24 patch. Some general tips you can follow are to:
- Remove the AwesomeMod if installed before July 30th, 2009.
- Reinstall the AwesomeMod post July 30th, 2009.
- Remove the IndieStone version 0.5a, wait until the author updates it.
- Remove the bodyslider casslider hack mod wait until the author updates it.
- Reducing the high detail lot sizes to 4 may help to reduce crashes.
- Disabling antivirus software may reduce crashes.
- Deleting “cache” package files in the
My Documents/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3/
especially scriptCache and simCompositorCache.
Even if you follow everything listed above, the game will still crash. I don’t know, but I think EA just couldn’t find a way to make this game stable on all computers. There have been reports of crashes and video card failure on machines that highly exceed the minimum requirements.
User Experience with the Patch
Certain users experienced path finding issues where a Sim will not autonomously use any items in another room. This caused issues where a Sim won’t go to work because they somehow cannot find the car outside.
For the path finding bugs, the current suggestion is to delete the files:
My Documents\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\scriptCache.package
This file is located in the My Documents folder, not the Program Files folder! Deleting Cache files will force the game to reload it’s data.
C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\d3dx9_31.dll
Removing this file will also stop certain mods from working, be sure to check which mods install this file.
I’ve also seen complaints regarding sound issues whether it’s stuttering or not playing at all. Make sure you update your sound drivers before posting a dxdiag log at the official forums.
My Experience with the patch 1.3
My game for the most part ran as well as it did before the patch. It was able to start and load everything in the previous game. However, the longer I ran the game, the more likely it was to crash.
I can last 2-3 hours without a crash. The more serious “blue screen of death” occurs only when I’m editing a Sim in Create a Sim mode. There was also an issue where the arrows to expand or shrink rooms appear in Live Mode and are practically unusable until you switch to Build Mode.
The Sims 3 Patch Downloads
Did the patch kill your game? Looking for an older patch to upgrade to?
Posted 6 months, 2 weeks ago at 3:14 PM. 19 comments
Currently this extraction tutorial is made only for Aim 6 skins.
This tutorial has been updated for July 27th, 2009
I often get many questions on how to extract files from a zip file. This process is not too difficult but people seem very confused over the file itself. This tutorial will show you how to extract a file to any directory. The second part of the tutorial will apply these steps to skins hosted on this site.
This tutorial is made through Windows XP, if you are using another Operating System such as Windows Vista, certain names and functions will differ. Please follow the general idea of this tutorial to get a handle on zip files.
Page 2: Installing a skin
Posted 6 months, 2 weeks ago at 7:42 PM. 4 comments
This method only works in Beta 3 version of Aim 7
Aim 7.1 users read here
So you’ve been enjoying AIM 5.9’s incredibly familiar red and blue screen name colors. AIM 7 replaces the screen name color scheme yet again with a pretty natural green and a horrendous brown color.
Fear not, you can change these screen name colors to any color you wish to use.
You will do this by editing one extremely long file with notepad. So let’s get started!
Preparing your files
The first step is to find the file that controls screen name colors.
This folder is located at
C:\program files\aim7\services\imApp\ver7###\resources\en-US
Simply copying and pasting the above path will not work in Windows Explorer. You must manually navigate to the folder using My Computer if you have Windows XP or Computer in Windows Vista.
Ver7### represents your Aim 7 version number which you will instantly see if you navigated to the folder manually.
en-US is the language and region folder. Obviously if you are using the Spanish language of AIM7, the folder’s name would change to sp-US, or french would be fr-FR. This last folder will be instantly obvious if you manually navigated to the folder.
As you reach that folder open notepad. You will drag the file strings.xml into notepad.
Strings.xml controls a lot of stuff. It’s imperative that you do not try to edit anything else in this file unless you know what you are doing. You might want to expand notepad’s window a bit so you can see what you are doing.
Changing Your Screen Name Color
Search for the line below.
<string name="imForm.history.header.local.color">#864F04</string>
Note the HTML color code is highlighted in brown. Use the HTML Color Code site to insert a color of your into this area. After you are done you can save the file and RESTART AIM.
Changing Other Screen Name Colors
Similar to Aim 6, you can edit the colors of other screen names. Remote.color is located a tad below the local.color so it should be easy to find. Remote.color.0 represents the person who IMs you. Any number higher than 0 represents chatroom screen name colors.
<string name="imForm.history.header.remote.color.0">#0172F3</string>
<string name="imForm.history.header.remote.color.1">#0052a3</string>
<string name="imForm.history.header.remote.color.2">#0860A8</string>
<string name="imForm.history.header.remote.color.3">#F91361</string>
<string name="imForm.history.header.remote.color.4">#0197B5</string>
The colors of the first 5 screen names in a chatroom are already highlighted for you. You can change any of them by typing any HTML color code you want. After you are done save the file and RESTART AIM.
Posted 6 months, 3 weeks ago at 10:45 AM. 24 comments
Updated for Aim 7.1 on Sep 26, 2009
Download Four New Aim 7.1 Skins
Even you can create a custom skin!
Aim 7 has been out for a while and it’s pretty much garnered lots of attention due to their lifestreaming project. So far there hasn’t been many questions dealing with skinning and customizing AIM. Our series of posts will detail the process of creating a skin as quick as possible. I can assure you that skinning AIM 7 is 90% easier than Aim 6. You can spice things up by using your own photo as the background.
What has changed since skinning Aim 6.
In Aim 6, skinning included editing 3 files. This was a very time consuming and difficult process for newbies as you had to edit each and every bit of color that shows up in AIM. The process was complicated more when you had to make gradients and set how they should show up in an area.
Aim 7 changes all this by doing the work for you. It takes editing just ONE file to add a skin. In fact all you are pretty much doing is setting a background color, a background image, and a skin icon. You no longer have to worry about gradients since the program does it for you by applying a transparent layer of white over the background.
Skinning Aim 7 is a three step process
It’s so simple, even a caveman can do it. Even one with no knowledge of coding can simply create a skin with ease. In this guide we will start with the background, then follow up with the background color and options, and finally adding it within Aim 7.
Step 1: Photoshop Your Background
Sorry I can’t help you much with your Photoshopping skills (besides I don’t use Photoshop anyway), but you can always search for your own background image on the net if you choose to do so. Your background image can be whatever pixel size you want. If you are creating your own image I recommend setting it to wider than 520 pixels.
However, if you are using a background that has a tiling effect, just make sure the image can seamlessly stretch vertically and horizontally when a user drags the window.
The grass skin is a perfect example of a tiling background.
It must match both horizontally and vertically.
Continue to next page
Posted 6 months, 4 weeks ago at 11:01 AM. 0 comments
Ok I’m back from vacation after about 2 months on just tech support and commenting. Some things to expect in this months posts are AIM 7 SKINS. This time skinning Aim 7 is 90% easier. We’ll have a step by step guide on what to do and what to expect. You don’t need any coloring skills at all! If you can whip up a photoshop picture you are ready to go!
I have been posting many a blogs over at PSUBlog which you can check out.
Posted 8 months, 2 weeks ago at 8:16 PM. 0 comments
Ficlets was an idea brought up by AOL developer Kevin Lawver. Essentially you and several authors will continue a multi-part story that spans as long as there is interest. The site came under fire when AOL announced last year that they would be shutting it down.
During AOL’s restructuring and downsizing, they decided to let a few properties go. This evidently ended up with the message board fiasco we had a few months ago, but that’s beside the point. Kevin Lawver has relaunched his new site Ficly.com!
The best part of the site is how you really don’t have to register. The site uses OpenID, you can ironically use your AOL screen name to sign in. Now we’re off to finish up our 20 part telenovela!
Posted 8 months, 2 weeks ago at 6:45 PM. 68 comments
A Developing Story… updated 6/3/09
Just when you thought it was safe to go back outside, another Sims 3 leak is released. This time another group claims their leak is now the final retail version that is expected to ship on June 2nd. News of this leak was sent on May 25th, after several days of performance and testing issues discovered by members of various forums and blogs we can now project that there are no noticeable changes between the two leaks.
We still can not say whether or not this leak is the final version until June 2nd. There will be a new post after I purchase of the game where we will compare reports made over the past two weeks on issues that have been fixed or not. Unless there is any other major news story released, the next Sims 3 blog post will be the last discussion over the authenticity of the two leaks.
Story Progression Fixed in Retail ?
On June 3rd: There are complaints at the official board about story progression. It appears it does not deactivate if you uncheck the feature. I guess for those who thought the second leak was the final version, you can officially say “I told you so!”
The First Leak’s Demise
Will EA step up their game plan with this new leak?
As reported by SimPrograms, a SnootySims member found a link to the first patch to be released officially by EA. According to the story, the first leak’s version number is 1.0.615.00107. The patch to be delivered by EA will upgrade the retail version, 1.0.631.00002 to 1.0.632.00002. This was to put an end of all forum debates on whether or not the first leak was final.
Still as addressed in the previous article, there are doubts over whether EA is telling the truth. The version numbers aren’t so incredibly far from each other either making it sound as if there were only minor bug fixes between each build.
The Second Leak Steps Up
Sunset in Sunset Valley: Screenshots via [SimGalaxy]
According to the info file contained within the second leak, this version is slated to be 1.0.631.00002. This leak also appears to be a DVD copy of the game and does not include SecuRom.
The second group is boasting how their leak is the “real deal”. They’ve made sure to post evidence of this by comparing the version numbers and dates of files in both leaks. They have included a link to EA’s patch update file to explain how the first leak cannot be patched since EA will only update version 1.0.631.x to 1.0.632.x. So it seems there’s a little competition going on here.
Differences between 1.0.615.x and 1.0.631.x ?
This week, several players from various forums and blogs described their experience between the two games. Players reported no gameplay differences between both versions. They found no additional items, hairstyles, or objects. Some gamers experienced minor bug fixes between each leak, but there were conflicting reports and we can not confirm them at this time.
The inability to deactivate Story Progression was a major bug in the first leak. Players reported this bug was still not fixed in the second leak.
The only major difference players noted between each leak were the version numbers and dates of files. The second leak had files 7 days in advance from the previous leak.
EA encourages pirates to purchase the full game
Pirated “615″ Posted by a forum member on Gamespot,
the thread was later deleted.
Thursday May 27th: EA sent a message through the game launcher:
You are playing a non-final, unauthorized copy of The Sims 3.
Purchasing and registering an official copy of The Sims 3 will entitle you to benefits including access to an entirely new game town called Riverview, 1000 SimPoints which can redeemed for game objects in The Sims 3 store, and access to The Sims 3 Exchange.
It was very interesting to see EA’s response to the piracy matter. There is something very significant with this message. Note that the version number says 1.0.615.x. Put your thinking caps on!
Real Retail Version “631″ Posted by SnootySims Forum Member
The version number for the retail version with no patches installed is version 1.0.631.x. The last four digits refer to the region it came from and if it is a digital download. There is something interesting here though. Compare the three screenshots.
Pirated “631″ posted on SnootySims Forum
Unlike the first screenshot of version 1.0.615.00107. The second leak does not show the “non-final, unauthorized” message.
The Sims 3 Store Money Pinch!
EA officially released The Sims 3 store prices and it has left several consumers upset, concerned, or refusing to buy anything due to the cost of items. An estimate to purchase all store items cost over $250, thats way over the retail price of $49.95.
Posted 8 months, 3 weeks ago at 2:00 AM. 1 comment
In an interview with the Associated Press, EA claims The Sims 3 leak is only a “buggy, pre-final” version. This is pretty good news on behalf of the whole Sims gaming community as the leaked copy featured some glaring bugs that should have been caught during testing.
The Second Leak (May 25th, 2009)
The Sims 3 has been leaked again, this time by another group. This group claims their leak is the final retail version and has been posted on many different websites and torrents.
After several observations found from forums and blogs we can conclude the retail version does not present the same bugs as the second leak. Click here to read more information about the second leak. The article below consists only of the issues and bugs concerning the first leak.
The Major Concerns with The Sims 3
The police station, so far EA hasn’t sued file sharers.
Screenshot via [SimGalaxy]
In the leaked copy, players found numerous bugs and oddities that would potentially disrupt the fanbase. It was very interesting to see SecuRom packaged within the leak. This lead to doubts over the authenticity over EA’s statements. They claimed the physical copy of the game would be shipped without it, however, the digital copy would still include SecuRom.
Fortunately, it was later found within the EULA that the leaked copy was derived from the digital release. Even though SecuRom is used to protect unauthorized copies of the game from running, it was already bypassed by the time the leak was released.
The lack of objects, clothing, and hairstyles became a hot button issue among fans. EA has not revealed if the base game will include more items when it hits retail. EA does plan to sell more objects through The Sims 3 store, and will allow 1000 points free for all players who legally purchase the game.
As the hours went by, the mystery surrounding the leaked copy took on a huge forum debate whether the game was the final build. Players brought up major points to support each side of the argument. One issue that supported both sides were game freezes and crashes. In each case, players reported crashing incidents starting within 3 minutes to 6 hours of gameplay. However, some players did not receive any crashes whatsoever.
A general theory over the cause of the crashes were related to old graphic and audio drivers. It’s recommended that players should update their NVIDIA or ATI graphic card drivers before installing the retail copy of the game.
Bugs, Bugs and more Bugs!
Screenshot via [SimsDomination]
We do expect the Sims 3 will ship with bugs, and many of these bugs will most likely get patched. Alas, players were complaining about various glitches and screwups within the leaked copy.
A bug some players found early on during gameplay was the inability to kill a Sim in a fire. This bug was quite interesting in that one would think EA would allow this ability in the first place as it’s one of the most popular deaths in the whole series. On May 20th, we finally saw the first leaked video that included the fire death animation, so we’re not sure as to why some players couldn’t do it and others could. Rumours and speculations arose as players felt that maybe EA was trying to soften the game’s image by removing the death. However, the leak was programmed to include other methods of killing a Sim. We concluded that this form of death will return in the retail version.
Another bug found by players was the inability to deactivate story progression. This feature controls any drastic changes your neighborhood Sims would do, for example, this feature controlled if your neighbors would move in or out, become pregnant, advance in jobs, and die. This became problematic towards players who wanted a similar play style of The Sims 2. They did not want to worry about other Sim families they created to suddenly die or move out of the neighborhood for good.
There were also some minor issues with the music not playing, fast forward speed button malfunctions, and guitars stuck on a Sim’s body.
Players are still skeptical
Protesting at City Hall
It’s quite hilarious to see the debate move right back to where we all started, as now there is still a lot of discussion on whether or not EA is telling the truth. Discussion among forums and blogs seem to theorize that EA is now speaking out to avoid bad press. It’s still likely that EA will release a patch to fix all major bugs related to the gold copy on release day.
We’re also concerned with EA’s choice of wording with the term, “pre-final”. This implies the leaked copy is probably just a few small builds away from the gold copy. If this were the case then it means the leak pretty much sums up everything that’s going to be in the game. Fans will not be happy!
Posted 8 months, 3 weeks ago at 1:35 AM. 12 comments
Pirates don’t Pre-order? Or do they?
There are several reports and screenshots circulating around the internet around the unexpected release of The Sims 3. The game has surfaced on some bittorrent sites and has been downloaded by 1300 people at the time of this post. Several screenshots on a popular image board show that this leak was real. This included fulfilling requests made by others to verify they were actually playing it.
With these screenshots some minor tidbits have been revealed.
- Some described how the game runs much smoother than The Sims 2.
- Newspapers can actually be read in popups. Stories remind me of Simcity 2000.
- Junkie XL is back.
- You can actually troll on a forum on the computer.
- Someone may respond to your forum post.
- Something resembling EA’s Skate and Madden can be played as a video game.
- A 60s style Diner.
Unfortunately for EA, we don’t know what stance they will take on future games. I do applaud them for removing SecuRom from the physical copy of the game (SecuROM still exists in the digital copy) after the backlash they received from Spore. However, it’s uncertain whether this leak will have a huge impact on sales of the game. Please don’t post any links here, we’re not that kind of site.
Is the leaked copy the final build?
It’s official! The leaked copy is not the final build!
The leak is not the final retail version because…
- Mouse pointer graphical bugs.
- Debunked: A bug that occurs during the use of Fraps.
- Several glaring bugs in the game.
- Some players were unable to kill a Sim in a fire while others were able to do it. -May 20th
- Fast Forward Speed Malfunctions.
- If Story Progression is disabled, it appears to have no effect.
- Handful of objects released in the game.
- Debunked: The Sims 3 store will release the remaining items.
May 18th:
As the buzz spreads to more and more forums, players have described this leak as some sort of preview version. Rumours have swirled where players have described only seeing a handful of objects available. It seems EA will be selling the rest of the objects in the Sims 3 store. We’re also wondering about several posts regarding the mechanics of death. It seems some players are unable to kill their sims in a fire.
It could be possible that this leak may have been given out for the gaming magazines for their “hands on” experience but we can’t confirm if this is the case.
May 19th:
There’s some arguments regarding if the release is the “retail” version or an earlier preview build. They have pretty much figured it’s not a demo. EA has been taking down “some” leaked footage on Youtube, claiming copyright infringement.
May 20th
Two gaming review sites with legit copies of the game stated they had a preview build (bit-tech.com and eurogamer.de). It’s still uncertain if the leaked copy is the same version the gaming sites reviewed. More arguments whether the game is retail or not.
May 22nd
Leaked copy is not final build!
Coincidentally there was a 5.0 earthquake in Sourthern California, then GOD proceeded to say…
