Free Game?

[Sunfighter 186]

Exactly, it is smart. And a lot of people will buy in to it. No doubts there. 

 

The real irony is how such things are used on the balance sheet, it is fully artificial gain, but hey - welcome to statistics

 

And well, that they are laughing is clear anyway. It fits the mindset and the methods. The customer to them is just a joke at best, sheep at worst. That used to be different in our industry, and personally I think it would be smart to not fall prey to such a mentality. Unfortunately, it pays better, because consumers consume. Pure and simple. 

 

Its smart, because then they can claim simcity was a huge success and disregard all the lessons learned.

[macvirt 361]

Exactly, it is smart. And a lot of people will buy in to it. No doubts there. 

 

The real irony is how such things are used on the balance sheet, it is fully artificial gain, but hey - welcome to statistics

 

And well, that they are laughing is clear anyway. It fits the mindset and the methods. The customer to them is just a joke at best, sheep at worst. That used to be different in our industry, and personally I think it would be smart to not fall prey to such a mentality. Unfortunately, it pays better, because consumers consume. Pure and simple. 

 

Its smart, because then they can claim simcity was a huge success and disregard all the lessons learned.

 

But they did learn lessons, and they will apply them. They are just not the lessons consumers have learned out of this. The biggest lesson for EA is that they must invest more in narrative control. I agree that does not serve the consumer types who have punched through the marketing, but that is irrelevant either way as the user types connected to that have served their purpose anyway. And cutting them off, so to speak, saves EA money in terms of handling those now, and in the future. 

[ReeceF11 0]

Yeah I also got the email but it says they will roll out waves of free games on certain dates on the email so it confused me.

[Spatzimaus 77]

Yea, this is no apology.. This is just a promosale now..."Anyone who buys SimCity/activates by the 25th, get a free game."

 

If they'd said that anyone who pre-ordered gets a free game, then it wouldn't be fair to the people who bought it in the interim.  It's still just as broken for those people as it is for us pre-order types, right?  Did the people who bought it post-release not go throught the same issues as the rest of us?

If they'd said that anyone who bought it before today (the 18th) gets a free game, then it wouldn't be fair to the people who'll buy it within the next few days.  The critical bits might be fixed by now, but it's still not working fully yet, after all.  And how many people do you think actually read these press releases, or visit these forums, out of the entire game-buying public?  (Hint: not many.)  So you'd have a whole slew of people who missed the deadline by a day or two, and get nothing.

So instead, they put the deadline far enough into the future that hopefully all the critical bits will be fixed by that point, to where anyone who buys it after that point won't feel like they got screwed over.  And if you're still thinking of buying, you have time to decide whether to buy it now (and get a little something extra) or wait until it's totally fixed.  Yet somehow, this gets portrayed as a negative...

 

As for "a free game", did you look at the list of games?  Obviously, some of them are much better values than others, but I find it hard to believe that any of us could go through that list and not enjoy* a single one of those games at all.  Sure, you've got four shooter games there, but Mass Effect 3 was pretty darn good (other than the ending) and I'm not a shooter fan.  I'll probably go for the N4S game, myself, because the only driving game I've bought in the past few years is GTA 4, and that's using a really loose definition.  The list of games could have been a bit bigger or more diverse, and I wish the $20 DLC was an option, but I was pleasantly surprised by what they were offering.

 

*- That's "enjoy" in the sense of "get some hours of entertainment", not enjoy in the sense of "be willing to pay full price for that game on its own".

[macvirt 361]

It's not about being fair. Fair has nothing to do with it. That's a subjective non factor. It's commercial instrumentation, which with the help of just a little bit of messaging also aids in destabilising "unproductive" trends among customers (like engaging in constructive criticism or mere voicing of frustration due to having fallen for the publishers marketing but finding out that the created expectation patterns do not match with the releases game itself) by splitting them up in those who want to believe and who thus are very likely to pitch themselves against other users. Classic marketing construct really which always serves in more than just one way. 

[Write 9]

Gimmick or not, I am actually impressed by the games they're giving away and with the CEO of EA stepping down today it almost kinda seems like EA is trying attempting to turn over a new leaf.

[cubercaleb 8]

 

 

Odd, I have SimCity installed.

[CaribbeanSail 33]

Keep in mind, reguarding extending the offer to people who buy up until March 25th, that anyone buying the game now is still buying a broken game with some key features disabled.  I think it is actually very fair of them to do this and personally think it is the main motivating factor (rather then to get more sales).

 

Some people will always complain no matter what efforts are made to remedy the situation.

[uebs 11]

Why do people refer to it as a gift? The only true apology would be offline mode, and mod tools

 

EA/Maxis is paying us to beta test SimCity...so it'll be ready for the Mac guys...

[cryonicjason 0]

Interesting wording...

 

"*THIS OFFER IS BEING ISSUED TO YOU FOR PROMOTIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A CREDIT, CHARGE, DEBIT OR GIFT CARD. OFFER EXPIRES MARCH 25, 2013. VALID FOR NEW PURCHASES OF SIMCITY (“PRODUCT”) THAT ARE REGISTERED TO YOUR ORIGIN ACCOUNT BY MARCH 30, 2013 AT 11:59PM PT. FREE PC DIGITAL DOWNLOAD GAMES NOT DOWNLOADED FROM ORIGIN.COM BY MARCH 30, 2013 AT 11:59PM ARE FORFEIT. ELIGIBLE GAMES SUBJECT TO CHANGE. VALID WHEREVER PRODUCT IS SOLD. LIMIT ONE OFFER PER PERSON. CANNOT BE COMBINED WITH ANY OTHER OFFER, GIFT CARD, REBATE OR OTHER DISCOUNT COUPONS. CUSTOMERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR APPLICABLE SALES TAX. OFFER MAY NOT BE SUBSTITUTED, EXCHANGED, SOLD OR REDEEMED FOR CASH OR OTHER GOODS OR SERVICES. RETAILERS, DISTRIBUTORS AND EMPLOYEES OF ELECTRONIC ARTS INC. AND THEIR AGENCIES/AFFILIATES ARE NOT ELIGIBLE. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED, TAXED OR RESTRICTED BY LAW. SEE APPLICABLE END USER LICENSE AGREEMENTS AND DISCLOSURES ON WWW.EA.COM."

[YukiEiriKun 29]

So .. instead of compensation for people who bought and suffered the problem of SimCity, this is now "buy1 get 1 free" offer for everyone? o_O;
Nice move EA, real smooth!

And to put the old SC4-deluxe in there!

[cortezz 25]

I'm disappointed with the selection of games lol. I didn't want any of them.

 

That was the point of the choices along with very short window to get them. They got some free pr from it when really did not do anything at all.

[azxcvbnm321 17]

SimCity 5 is a horrible game so of course it's going to be on sale at some point.  And the best time is now since there's still hope by many that the game can be fixed.  I'm very doubtful that it can, it seems the engine itself and the very core of the mechanisms are broken.  If so, they can't be fixed without remaking the entire game practically.  

 

This was a good list.  Frankly I'd rather have what's on the list than a future SimCity DLC.  Few people are going to buy a DLC for a bad, broken game.  

[McFluffy 4]

Just used my coupon that I got when pre-ordering. So I ended up paying 127$ for Battlefield 3, FarCry 3 and SimCity Digital Deluxe.

 

All the games on the list is currently on 50% sale on Origin in my region.

[RyanMorgan95 144]

I can't decide what game to get! Mass Effect 3 looks good, but I have Crysis 3 for that sort of genre. Dead Space 3 seems interesting, and I haven't got a first person shooter on my PC yet either, so maybe Battlefield 3 is the way to go? Any recommendations would be appreciated!

[Catchin22 299]

I can't decide what game to get! Mass Effect 3 looks good, but I have Crysis 3 for that sort of genre. Dead Space 3 seems interesting, and I haven't got a first person shooter on my PC yet either, so maybe Battlefield 3 is the way to go? Any recommendations would be appreciated!

 

Just watch some youtube reviews and make up your mind. DS 1 was awesome, I haven't played 2 or 3 yet but went with 3 even though it's supposed to be less horror than the first 2. ME3 is probably an epic game but I never played 1 or 2 so I skipped it. I'll buy all 3 on amazon for like $50, DS3 is $60. BF3 is probably good too but I'm tired of typical FPS, if you like racing NFS is supposed to be good, but maybe repetitive.

[frdrcklim 139]

 

Which games are available?

• Battlefield 3 (Standard Edition)
• Bejeweled 3
• Dead Space 3 (Standard Edition)
• Mass Effect 3 (Standard Edition)
• MOHW (Standard Edition)
• NFS Most Wanted (Standard Edition)
• Plants vs. Zombies
• SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition

 

I think this is a nice gesture from EA/MAXIS and i am saying this without any sarcasm or irony (actually i don't know which word would be right in this situation ) . I'm not a gamer so except SC4 i don't have any of these games so for me this is like a 'buy one, get two' discount.

 

I'll be surprised if someone picked Bejeweled 3 or Plants vs Zombies as their choice of game .

.

[SimCity_Statue 0]

 

 

Which games are available?

• Battlefield 3 (Standard Edition)
• Bejeweled 3
• Dead Space 3 (Standard Edition)
• Mass Effect 3 (Standard Edition)
• MOHW (Standard Edition)
• NFS Most Wanted (Standard Edition)
• Plants vs. Zombies
• SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition

 

I think this is a nice gesture from EA/MAXIS and i am saying this without any sarcasm or irony (actually i don't know which word would be right in this situation ) . I'm not a gamer so except SC4 i don't have any of these games so for me this is like a 'buy one, get two' discount.

 

I'll be surprised if someone picked Bejeweled 3 or Plants vs Zombies as their choice of game .

.

Actually I already got my big games elswhere so all I had left to chose from was those 2 titles and i just grabbed the Bejewelled 3 for my daughter. (I already downloaded it also as it was available this morning really early). Choice being so limited was not helping with me getting another decent title.

[Snacko 5]

I got the popup about the free games when I started Origin client today.

 

But I hate all the choices.  There is nothing there for me.

 

I don't like FPS'ers, so that removes 1/2 of the choices.

I already have Simcity4.  Why would I want to play that when I have this???

I don't have a steering wheel, and don't want one.  Can't play those driving games with your mouse.  So that's worthless...

And I didn't build a $2500 pc to play board games, so I don't want Bejeweled or that stupid zombie pos.

 

Hey, guess what.. I just spent $60 on this new Simcity game..  How about something for that.

 

Seriously, If you don't play First Person Shooters, the other choices are crap.

Too bad really..  The offer was a nice idea from Origin.  Some DLC for this game would have made me pretty happy really.

 

Oh well, I'm not even going to pick any of those games.  I won't play them, and it will just remind me of a wasted opportunity to get something free I wanted.

Snack

[JaceTwice 115]

I don't have a steering wheel, and don't want one.  Can't play those driving games with your mouse.  So that's worthless...

 

I'd think you could use the keyboard or a gamepad for that instead. Keyboard is what I use for arcadey PC racing games.

 

Still, I agree it would've been nice to get a certain amount of DLC credit or even another copy of SimCity to give to a friend.

[Snacko 5]

I bought my first driving game (Shift 2 Unleashed) just last week with the $30 store credit from pre-purchasing SC5.  I don't like driving it with the keyboard.  It's too hard IMHO.  No fun.  If I could just steer with my mouse that seems like it would be better, but I don't really know.  I have a Saitek x52 joystick and pedals for my flight simulators and tried using the twist feature of the joystick (rudder) to drive and that was better than the keyboard, but still probably won't play that much either.  Just bought it to help fill up the discount amount.

[Radioactive Chicken 10]

Plants vs Zombies is a good tower defence game so while it perhaps looks disappointing next to the more expensive titles if you feel you need to get your moneys worth I got a lot of game play out of my copy.  I really wouldn't knock it if you find that it's one of the only choices you are left with. 

 

I wasn't expecting there to be much there for me because I don't play a lot of EA games but at least they didn't just stick up Bejeweled 1, 2 and 3 and left it at that. 

 

It's probably either NFS or Mass Effect 3 for me.  Leaning towards ME3. 

[JimCityBuilder 14]

I downloaded Medal of Honor warfighter this afternoon, not played it yet but will find out tomorrow if it actually works ? !!!

 

Jim

[mapboy 106]

I really don't like shooter games, so went with NFS

[ItsShane 18]

Just got mine, I chose Need for Speed.

[jacksunny 741]

Who cares if this is just an attempt at getting people to buy Simcity? I'm just glad I'm getting a free game! I'll be picking Battlefield 3.