EA Plays 'Guess The Serial Number' With Customers
from the quality-control dept
EA continues its attempts to make a near total mockery of DRM on video games. Its latest move, pointed out to us by Alex, was to misprint the serial numbers found on some versions of Command and Conquer Red Alert 3. Rather than showing the necessary 20 digits, EA only printed 19. To be fair, EA will supply the missing digit if you send in a photo of the first 19, but the company also suggests testing out every letter from A - Z and then every number from 0 - 9 to find the missing digit. While it's true that this is likely to be an effective workaround, it's yet another example showing DRM getting in the way of legitimate buyers, rather than doing anything useful.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: serial numbers
Companies: ea
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Re: The 15 Digit numbers work
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Re: Free Time
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Re: Re: Free Time
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Re: Re: Re: Free Time
Password length = 20 characters long.
All possible password combinations: 36^20 = 13,367,494,538,843,734,067,838,845,976,576
But then, who needs a brute force crack when a keygen is probably already out in the wild?
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Free Time
Sure is. ;)
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Re: Re: Re: Free Time
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Re: Re: Free Time
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Re: Re: Re: Free Time
Or, you could just buy the damned game, take the extra (yes, annoying) minute or two and enter the 1 extra digit.
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Re: Re: Free Time
with a limited number of installs I guess they can expect to sell that many copies...
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Typical EA
I also love how this "hey, just try all 62 possible values for the missing digit!" thing was timed right after the announcement that if you criticize them in any way on their forums, you'll be banned instantly from all EA games you own.
I guess once you've destroyed about 2/3 of the US gaming industry the way EA has, you can do whatever you want to your customers and still somehow manage to turn a profit.
*Sigh* Thankfully, Japan and Korea still make great games, without the EA BS.
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Re: Typical EA
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/30/BU0G13RIO3.DTL
Video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. posted a quarterly net loss Thursday and said it is laying off 6 percent of its workforce to cut costs as it heads into the most lucrative season for the games industry.
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Higher development and marketing costs led to the bigger-than-expected loss for the July-September period. The quarter's revenue surpassed Wall Street's forecast thanks to the success of games like Spore and Madden NFL 09, but the Redwood City company did not exude the cheery optimism that has characterized the video game industry in the past few months even amid the economic turmoil. The company's shares, which have been trading at their lowest level more than five years, tumbled in after-hours trading.
"Considering the slowdown at retail we've seen in October, we are cautious in the short term," Chief Executive Officer John Riccitiello said in a statement. "Longer term, we are very bullish on the game sector overall and on EA in particular."
The company lost $310 million (97 cents per share) in its second fiscal quarter. That was worse than the loss of $195 million (62 cents) a year earlier. Sales jumped 40 percent to $894 million.
Excluding one-time items, EA says it lost 6 cents per share in the latest quarter, matching the expectation of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
Chief Financial Officer Eric Brown said the company remains "cautiously optimistic" about the holidays. EA, like other video game companies, makes the bulk of its money in November and December.
EA lowered its full-year profit outlook range because of the strengthening dollar and the delay of the latest Harry Potter game, although it kept its revenue forecast intact. The company expects to earn between $1 and $1.40 per share during the fiscal year, excluding items, down from its previous forecast of $1.30 to $1.70 in adjusted earnings. On this basis, analysts are predicting a profit of $1.42 for the year.
The job cuts will include from 500 to 600 positions across all departments and locations, EA said. While some of these jobs are open, most will involve layoffs.
EA shares sank $4.03, or 14.5 percent, to $23.70 in after-hours trading. The stock had closed down 31 cents at $27.73.
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Re: Typical EA
I can only hope that other companies will see how ridiculous this is and that it only pisses off buying customers. Unfortunately, Ubisoft went the same path with Far Cry 2.
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You've got to be kidding
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Re: You've got to be kidding
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Only a few combinations, not zillions
While I don't like EA's DRM tactics and (boycott them for it), it's ridiculous to think they would send their customers out on a wild goose chase like this.
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36 times = 35 too many
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What if no digital camera?
...or better yet, make a daguerotype and use the magnesium flash... that would be interesting to send in > a giant tin plate with the pic.
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Adding value
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Potential Gammer NOT
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But, myself being a pirate, and myself being a Red Alert fan, I think I shall peruse a few torrent sites for this one. I don't want to miss out, but EA can perform acts of sodomy with a blow-up doll for the money they will (not) be receiving from me.
Back to Amazon.co.uk Chaps!!!
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I did buy a Popcap game the other day since they proved they actually understand how the market works to some degree. Sure they require registration but it's simple and doesn't rootkit ya.
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DO NOT INSTALL ANY EA GAME WITH SECUROM UNLESS YOUR OK WITH DAILY BLUE SCREEN ERRORS!
DRM - DIGITAL RENTAL MEDIA
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Securom
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Isnt this toying with fraud?
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Legal question
Wouldn't that be poetic justice?
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Really a big deal
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