EA said the pirated version "is a buggy, pre-final" version of the game.

"It's not the full game. Half of the world — an entire second city — is missing," said spokeswoman Holly Rockwood in a statement.

Electronic Arts has announced it is publishing "The Sims 3" without restrictive anti-piracy software known as DRM, a form of copy protection that requires online authentication.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap...ZvY4RgD98BBEMG0

True or damage control?

...just because pirates can't download Riverview yet doesn't make it buggy.

Lie, probably. Although I'm wondering if they really don't take into account how pissed off the buyers will be, when they find out that their pricy version is just as bugged as the pirated one.

After all, which Sims game hasn't been buggy.

I don't think they were saying that it is buggy because there's no Riverview as that's not a bug. There is most likely bugs in the game (perhaps the whole loser's can't die thing or.. I heard that you can't really pause houses.. or perhaps more minor things) that were fixed and this is a version before that fix.
We won't know if it's true until the actual release though.

Buggy = true.
Pre-final = damage control.

I would be more inclined to believe that the leak was a beta version of the game if the spokesperson didn't focus on Riverview as the missing element.

I wasn't going to really comment much on the leak since it doesn't affect me personally, but I have been reading about it (mostly for the new info) and even feared that it was the final version after all the bugs and lack of content being discussed by others. But this source definitely eased my mind, which also made me a bit suspicious if EA probably was possibly behind the leak as a marketing strategy, but of course, we will never know that and therefore I have no right to assume such a thing. And for those who still fear the game will include DRM, it's also yet again confirmed to be untrue. They had already said no Securom will be in the final disc version, even though the leaked version has Securom in it.

...you can pause the game. Just clearing that up. =P

EDIT: Also, the leaked version is, as shown in another topic here, the direct-to-drive version; if you buy the game in stores then secrurom won't be on it.

If that was marketing strategy , there was nothing great about it :p

Thanks! Hope that's true, because I'm really upset by all the things I've read.

Someone on this forum said that it doesn't pause fully and that the sims still do things on their own, though.

it doesn't really matter.. final version or not, though given the time frame I'm betting its the final version and they are just covering their ass.. but yeah it really doesn't matter.. I'm still buying it and I'm sure 98% of the people on these boards here are buying it.

Had they left out the bit about Riverview being included as "evidence" that the leaked version is not the final version, I'd be more inclined to hope that it wasn't the final version. However, as the statement stands, I am left with the impression that they are either "confused" or lying.

An important clarification about SecuROM, I think, is that EA said that SecuROM would be on the digital download version, which the leaked version appears to be from what I've seen elsewhere. Either way, the presence of SecuROM in the leaked version pokes holes in the theory that it was EA's change in DRM approaches that led to the leak. It has SecuROM, and it still got cracked (not that that's surprising).

I was reading about this yesterday, not because I want to download it, just because I'm very nosy, and there is one thing that really struck me that makes me think it can't be a final version. EA will release a game or expansion with plenty of gameplay issues. We've all experienced that. But up to this time one thing they've never released is something with major graphical issues (I've seen a few minor graphical issues but nothing that really smacks a person like this one did), because whether the gameplay actually functions as advertised or not apparently isn't as important as whether things look like they should. There is one HUGE graphical glitch that I don't think they would ever let by in a "finished" product.

As far as damage control goes, I don't think they would say it isn't the finished product if it was, because if they said it isn't, then that's what everyone gets come release day, just imagine what it would be like for EA.

Hmph. "Pre-final." How pre-final? The leak didn't happen until after the game went gold.

The second statement is very misleading. It doesn't bode well when the biggest thing they can say is missing is an optional (yes?) downloaded city.

I paid 80 frickin dollars for just the REGULAR version of this game and if the leak IS the FINAL version then I'm probably going to murder someone at EA. Don't say it doesn't matter, cause it so does.

chyrun, it doesn't matter because the game would be put up for free download by people anyway, so if this is the final version then they just got to give it out sooner, if it's not the final version then the final will be made for free pretty quickly after its actual release.. It happens with pretty much every new game so you are often paying money for things that others are getting for free.

Somehow I don't buy it. If it's true that it's a pre-final version, good then. I hope the final version is less buggy.

I edited my post a little, but I meant "great" as in just a way to promote the game in a non-finalized version to give us an idea on how the game is. I just wouldn't be surprised, that's all. I do hope this isn't the final version, though.

I know you guys can't get the info on this site, but it's been reported on MATY that the difference in the date on the cracked exe and the Gold date announced by EA is only 2 weeks apart. Not a lot of time to make a change to a game

Okay. I guess the reason why I was hopeful was because of the Story Progression feature not functioning when turned off/disabled. That's going to be one hell of a bug for me to deal with because I want to start off by playing with that feature off alongside with aging off so that I can have the chance to play with all the premades and not worry about missing any events. It's not fun to have to constantly switch between families every Sim hour and having only one family that I care about will be boring. Hopefully a patch for this and other bugs will come out soon after the game is released.

Eventually I will play with these features on, I just mean for when I first play. Besides, if Story Progression has the ability to be disabled, then why not make it function? Otherwise it'd be pointless to exist.

I guess we'll know soon enough, the 2nd is almost here

I find it interesting to note that they call it a pre-final release due to the fact it dosen't contain Riverview. I'd assume that most people would download Riverview when they register; actually to me it looks like it is automatically downloaded at registry. It would be interesting to note if the download contained ONLY Riverview , or if it somehow also downloads the first "patch". Thus, the "final release" being the one you have after registration/patching is completed.

Yeah the comment about Riverview was a bit weird, I guess they were somehow afraid to mention an actual bug in the leaked game instead. If the game we get on June 2nd/5th does have the stupid bugs like the story progression option not working properly then imagine how buggy the game would have been if it was released in February. I don't want to have to rely on unofficial fixes this time around unless it's something I personally didn't like, like speeding up the growth process of crops in The Sims 2.

Oh my gosh! The lying idiots. They are so sneaky.

I think the comment about "Oh it's missing the second city!" is really easy to say, and it will provide hope to everyone who have preorders they don't feel so good about anymore.

Pretty pathetic. If it wasn't the final version they could have just said so. Adding that it's missing Riverview just makes them look like liars. Stupid liars.



I agree. I know of someone who played and wanted to play Mort and Bella as kids, but by the time this person got to them the Sims had aged up to teens. It was a little disappointing.

I really think EA should have kept it so that only Sims who are being played age. At first I liked that everything progressed at once, but I imagine it's just going to be irritating now. You get the sense everything is running away from you.

BUT! You can start a new game (parallel universe) and everything just resets itself under a new save. So if you want to, say, play Bella, but forget to or don't get a chance to, you can start up a new game and play her. All the Sims you've made in the original save won't be around, but hey... At least you don't totally miss the chance forever.

Ah, but how can anyone be 100% certain that Riverview was what they were speaking of? I read several reports of people not being able to find certain things within the neighborhood in the leaked version that should have been there. Why couldn't this be what the rep from EA was talking about?

At this point all we have is speculation.

Frankie, EA has released plenty with some major bugs, but I honestly can't see how they would let loose a bug as huge as story progression not functioning as it should. Also, someone was having problems with Sims aging at the same rate with it on. That would also be a major bug that I don't think would be released. Again, though, this is just my speculation, nothing more.