Maybe that is because of the DRM, even if you buy the game, you still have to pirate it to be able to play a clean version (clean meaning without DRM restrictions of course).
I had to pirate the game after buying it in Thailand (I live there) because EA support refused to give me the English language (1.3 meg of files)
Dear *******,
Sorry for the inconvenience, but Spore Thai retail version support only Thai language as indicate on the package. And there's no English text file include in the build.
You are right, that's very inconvenient and can't believe you are telling me to go buy this game twice for just 3 files that total up to 1 Megabyte.
You have left me no choice but to download the game off the internet and get the three files in need to put into the "Locale" folder. I find it frustrating that I have to pirate EA games I have bought to be able to play them.
I hope that in the future you will provide a better service to your customers that are buying your products instead of leaving it up to internet pirates to provide support for your games.
Regards, ******
.....
Dear *******,
All AAA EA titles in Thailand are localized to Thai language. All are locked preventing user to change the language. We have this language switching protection to prevent our goods being export to other territories due to the cheaper price on Thai products. As for Spore, retail price in Thailand is only £8.5, while you have to pay for £35 in UK.
We also aware that people can get the locale file from the internet. But it is against our policy to provide you the locale files from our side.
We hope you understand and sorry again for the inconvenience.
Best Regards, EA Thailand Support
and why the fuck should I care if it's more expensive in the UK if I don't live there? In fact why do they mention the UK at all?
WHY RESPOND! I DON'T GIVE A SHIT WHY YOUR FUCKING ME OVER FOR THREE FILES!!!
Umm... because they're a company and don't give a rat's rear about you?
Let's calculate. One customer pissed off vs. thousands of cheap "imports" from countries where you couldn't charge 35 quid for a game because copying rates are already higher than the US national debt.
Now imagine you're a company and think accordingly.
Yes, it sucks for you. And don't get me wrong, I'm neither berating you nor taking EA's side here, but that's how it looks for them. You're one customer who already bought the game anyway, and it's not an MMO where they could squeeze any more money out of you.
The problem is that if we accept that argument, we can apply it in reverse too: what's one lost customer among hundreds of thousands of people copying the game already? let's go to TPB, better customer support, and cheaper to boot.
"The customer is always right" is a good policy for a business to follow, specially when they're going against a 'free' (if not entirely legit) alternative.
Everyone always gets hyped around November 4th and other election days, but they forget that EVERY DAY is an election day. Your ballots are your dollars, and by not handing those dollars to companies like EA Thailand or EA-EU or EA-USA, you are slowly but surely driving that company into bankruptcy.
But if you go ahead and "vote" for them, then all you've done is said, "I support you; keep up the good work." You never should have bought that Thai-only game if you wanted an English language version. You should have withheld your "ballots" and kept your money in your wallet, or given it to another company.
Casting votes for or against corporations is the most-direct form of democracy we have.
Piracy is easier. What I dont buy in "imaginary media", I can buy in hardware, gadgets, better food, dinner out, save up for my ring for my GF, and other real stuff. Braggart pirates and others willing to go the length get the media we all want. I just benefit on those people who get it for me, and I thank them.
Frankly, if you make "imaginary media", I'll take your work and not give a shit less. Ill spend my money on real material, thankyouverymuch.
Umm... because they're a company and don't give a rat's rear about you?
Let's calculate. One customer pissed off vs. thousands of cheap "imports" from countries where you couldn't charge 35 quid for a game because copying rates are already higher than the US national debt.
They sell it for cheap in Thailand so obviously they still earn money from it. So basicly they are ripping off UK customers.
They could sell this game in UK for Thailand price and still earn money. Maybe even more because people who don't buy games for 50 pounds will buy them for 5 pounds. And those who can afford 50 pounds for gaming could buy 10 games instead of one.
To take a trip into economy, what you're dealing with is fixed vs. variable expenses. I.e. basic cost to create the ability to create an item, and the cost per item. When you take a piece of furniture, the fixed cost part would be what designing the table costs, while the wood, screws and workforce needed to assemble it would be the variable part.
The tricky part is now that every table has to cover for part of your fixed costs. You split them amongst the units you create and plan to sell and add t
sounds great. when the game comes out, charge $99.99 for it. as they sell lower the price.
Oh wait that does not happen until a year later when they have a wearhouse full of a turd game and they blow out the copies to make room for the next new hotness. Nintendo and the others are trying hard to remove that by making the Wii-II only use downloaded content. that eliminates bargian bin games, and decimates the used and rental game market. So that POS game that is crap, will still sell for $49.95 2 years
Well, anything will sell for the price the market carries. I'm not too familiar with the bargain bin deals, who actually slashes the price, whether the shops have to pay up front and want to cut their losses or whether game studios want to get rid of their unsold copies and 5 bucks is still better than paying for the landfill, but the reason why games keep their price for some time is usually because they can be sold at that price. You might have noticed that some games hold their price for longer than othe
That's the sort of thinking that has gotten media corps the current waves of piracy (screw our customers every time we can get away with it). While this isn't the same as the exploding gas tank recall snafu, it's the same thinking behind it. However, it's a flawed policy for the following reason:
People who get screwed tell their friends. Hardcore anti-pirates have been slowly driven to support piracy, one by one. It's a bit hard to fight the pirates when most of geekdom supports them.
FACT: A company you deal with does NOT give a RATS ASS about you as a customer. If they got your money, they dont care one bit. This is how all corporations work. customers are a nuisance.
Comcast and AT&T for example. They go out of their way to make sure as a customer you are treated with as little help as possible. Outages will not get you any refunds unless you bitch to high hell AND are a high level customer. you are a bother to them. and in comcast's case they firmly belie
To quote an ex-boss of mine, "The customer is the necessary evil to profit". Back then I was working for a company that had the de facto monopoly for broadband internet in a large portion of the country.
Other companies broke into that monopoly (wasn't THAT hard considering what they charged for what kind of "service"). A year after they got competition, prices dropped sharply, customers were lost in amounts that weren't even managable anymore (seriously, we had troubles squeezing enough time out of our tech
Hey, you actually got a very nice reply from EA Thailand explaining you why they didn't provide the English locale there. Someone actually read your mail and manually typed a reply explaining the situation, and quite honest too. No auto-generated mail. This gets my respect.
What crap, they said that after I had already downloaded the whole 3 Gig iso for just 1 meg. Damn annoying but all I did was put the files in and it worked, proving that all they have done is waste my time and piss me off. Then they try to convince me it won't work after I already did it? Morons..
You obviously didn't notice this but they assumed that because I can't understand the Thai language that I should have to pay more money for another version, ev
This is an old problem with hardware and software. They're not looking at it as 'what is the single right price'. They're looking at it as 'People will pay the full price for these features: will they pay less for software without some of these features, and still get us a sale that makes some money or protects our market from competition there? Then sell it without those features for that lower price, and lock it that way so we don't lose sales to our cheaper version.'
More like; hey I don't know the local language can you buy me the cheapo tickets only locals can buy? Oooh and by the way can you be my guide through the whole ride, I don't know the local language....
If the guy had learned Thai to begin with this wouldn't be a problem. And since he is living there he should learn Thai.
Hey, you actually got a very nice reply from EA Thailand explaining you why they didn't provide the English locale there. Someone actually read your mail and manually typed a reply explaining the situation, and quite honest too. No auto-generated mail. This gets my respect.
Wait a second, being given the silent treatment doesn't get your respect, but being given the finger (ever so nicely and politely) explaining why your arse has been raped, that gets you respect????
So are you also okay with being robbed at
"I got everybody to pay up front...then I blew up their planet."
"Now why didn't I think of that?"
-- Post Bros. Comics
Because of the DRM (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Because of the DRM (Score:5, Interesting)
I had to pirate the game after buying it in Thailand (I live there) because EA support refused to give me the English language (1.3 meg of files)
and why the fuck should I care if it's more expensive in the UK if I don't live there? In fact why do they mention the UK at all?
WHY RESPOND! I DON'T GIVE A SHIT WHY YOUR FUCKING ME OVER FOR THREE FILES!!!
Re:Because of the DRM (Score:5, Insightful)
Umm... because they're a company and don't give a rat's rear about you?
Let's calculate. One customer pissed off vs. thousands of cheap "imports" from countries where you couldn't charge 35 quid for a game because copying rates are already higher than the US national debt.
Now imagine you're a company and think accordingly.
Yes, it sucks for you. And don't get me wrong, I'm neither berating you nor taking EA's side here, but that's how it looks for them. You're one customer who already bought the game anyway, and it's not an MMO where they could squeeze any more money out of you.
Re: (Score:2)
The problem is that if we accept that argument, we can apply it in reverse too: what's one lost customer among hundreds of thousands of people copying the game already? let's go to TPB, better customer support, and cheaper to boot.
"The customer is always right" is a good policy for a business to follow, specially when they're going against a 'free' (if not entirely legit) alternative.
Re:Because of the DRM (Score:5, Insightful)
Precisely.
Everyone always gets hyped around November 4th and other election days, but they forget that EVERY DAY is an election day. Your ballots are your dollars, and by not handing those dollars to companies like EA Thailand or EA-EU or EA-USA, you are slowly but surely driving that company into bankruptcy.
But if you go ahead and "vote" for them, then all you've done is said, "I support you; keep up the good work." You never should have bought that Thai-only game if you wanted an English language version. You should have withheld your "ballots" and kept your money in your wallet, or given it to another company.
Casting votes for or against corporations is the most-direct form of democracy we have.
Re: (Score:2)
Here's the problem: How would you know, before buying, that it is a Thai-only version? Does it say so on the box? Does the demo somehow indicate this?
Is it even possible to return it, then?
Re: (Score:1)
Thing is it's these stupid reasons I personally have a problem with...
"because of piracy....."
"because of cheap imports...."
I DON'T CARE, I BOUGHT the game. So why do they always lecture customers about this shit?
EA! We don't care why you're adding DRM, the fact that you're doing it is the problem!!
Next time EA comments on DRM or something like this look for these lines they always use. It's purely stupid.
Then they don't understand why people don't bother buying the game and just download it from the intern
Re: (Score:1, Troll)
I dont buy software or media. Why?
Piracy is easier. What I dont buy in "imaginary media", I can buy in hardware, gadgets, better food, dinner out, save up for my ring for my GF, and other real stuff. Braggart pirates and others willing to go the length get the media we all want. I just benefit on those people who get it for me, and I thank them.
Frankly, if you make "imaginary media", I'll take your work and not give a shit less. Ill spend my money on real material, thankyouverymuch.
Re: (Score:1)
Umm... because they're a company and don't give a rat's rear about you?
Let's calculate. One customer pissed off vs. thousands of cheap "imports" from countries where you couldn't charge 35 quid for a game because copying rates are already higher than the US national debt.
They sell it for cheap in Thailand so obviously they still earn money from it. So basicly they are ripping off UK customers.
They could sell this game in UK for Thailand price and still earn money. Maybe even more because people who don't buy games for 50 pounds will buy them for 5 pounds. And those who can afford 50 pounds for gaming could buy 10 games instead of one.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Erh... no.
To take a trip into economy, what you're dealing with is fixed vs. variable expenses. I.e. basic cost to create the ability to create an item, and the cost per item. When you take a piece of furniture, the fixed cost part would be what designing the table costs, while the wood, screws and workforce needed to assemble it would be the variable part.
The tricky part is now that every table has to cover for part of your fixed costs. You split them amongst the units you create and plan to sell and add t
Re: (Score:2)
sounds great. when the game comes out, charge $99.99 for it. as they sell lower the price.
Oh wait that does not happen until a year later when they have a wearhouse full of a turd game and they blow out the copies to make room for the next new hotness. Nintendo and the others are trying hard to remove that by making the Wii-II only use downloaded content. that eliminates bargian bin games, and decimates the used and rental game market. So that POS game that is crap, will still sell for $49.95 2 years
Re: (Score:2)
Well, anything will sell for the price the market carries. I'm not too familiar with the bargain bin deals, who actually slashes the price, whether the shops have to pay up front and want to cut their losses or whether game studios want to get rid of their unsold copies and 5 bucks is still better than paying for the landfill, but the reason why games keep their price for some time is usually because they can be sold at that price. You might have noticed that some games hold their price for longer than othe
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
It's a bit hard to fight the pirates when most of geekdom supports them.
It's even harder when your actions support them, too.
Re: (Score:2)
Mod this up to +8!
FACT: A company you deal with does NOT give a RATS ASS about you as a customer. If they got your money, they dont care one bit. This is how all corporations work. customers are a nuisance.
Comcast and AT&T for example. They go out of their way to make sure as a customer you are treated with as little help as possible. Outages will not get you any refunds unless you bitch to high hell AND are a high level customer. you are a bother to them. and in comcast's case they firmly belie
Re: (Score:2)
To quote an ex-boss of mine, "The customer is the necessary evil to profit". Back then I was working for a company that had the de facto monopoly for broadband internet in a large portion of the country.
Other companies broke into that monopoly (wasn't THAT hard considering what they charged for what kind of "service"). A year after they got competition, prices dropped sharply, customers were lost in amounts that weren't even managable anymore (seriously, we had troubles squeezing enough time out of our tech
Re:Because of the DRM (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, they responded with bullshit..
"Language locked"?
What crap, they said that after I had already downloaded the whole 3 Gig iso for just 1 meg. Damn annoying but all I did was put the files in and it worked, proving that all they have done is waste my time and piss me off. Then they try to convince me it won't work after I already did it? Morons..
You obviously didn't notice this but they assumed that because I can't understand the Thai language that I should have to pay more money for another version, ev
Re: (Score:2)
This is an old problem with hardware and software. They're not looking at it as 'what is the single right price'. They're looking at it as 'People will pay the full price for these features: will they pay less for software without some of these features, and still get us a sale that makes some money or protects our market from competition there? Then sell it without those features for that lower price, and lock it that way so we don't lose sales to our cheaper version.'
This is old, standard behavior for har
Re:Because of the DRM (Score:4, Funny)
If someone's polite as to why they won't comply with your very reasonable request for help, that gets your respect?
You: "Excuse me, but would you switch seats with me so that my wife and I can sit together?"
Me: "I'm sorry but it's my policy not to switch seats, because your seat was paid for with Euros and mine with dollars."
You: "GOD DAMN! I RESPECT THAT!"
Re: (Score:2)
More like; hey I don't know the local language can you buy me the cheapo tickets only locals can buy? Oooh and by the way can you be my guide through the whole ride, I don't know the local language....
If the guy had learned Thai to begin with this wouldn't be a problem. And since he is living there he should learn Thai.
Re: (Score:2)
Hey, you actually got a very nice reply from EA Thailand explaining you why they didn't provide the English locale there. Someone actually read your mail and manually typed a reply explaining the situation, and quite honest too. No auto-generated mail. This gets my respect.
Wait a second, being given the silent treatment doesn't get your respect, but being given the finger (ever so nicely and politely) explaining why your arse has been raped, that gets you respect????
So are you also okay with being robbed at