Sims 3 pirated 180,000 times in four days

though it really means nothing, because when this drops on June 2, pirates will likely be able to grab a patched full version before sundown

Same thing happened with Sims 2. It really is a smart move, before the pirated release of Sims 3 I had zero interest, now it's going to be a first-day (of me having enough money) purchase, just like Sims 2.

Even that means nothing. game will still sell 2,000,000 in the first week.

I really doubt that confusing the pirates with full albeit buggy versions of the game are likely to make pirates reach a revelation that they should start buying games legit. They'll just wait a more days until the final real version comes out and torrents will just have a clearer specification that its the final full version of S3. In the meantime their buggy copy would keep them occupied until the release.

At least they got rid of the DRM, this game should be good and I'm excited to buy a copy next week.

This game'll be the highest selling PC game of all time within the next few years. There's no doubt about that. It'll also be the most pirated, though, just like Sims 2 was

[Wtfurcleerlydilusianalism] - Symptoms: A rare form of dementia whereby the patient/s has to justify their immoral actions with clearly fabricated beliefs based on no evidence which they perceive to be moral justification for immoral acts (can be associated with religion, pirating and PETA extremists.

McWilly, what was the point of that? I don't see anyone here trying to justify anything.

And don't lump all forms of piracy together...

In my country software pirates you.

@THE WICKER MAN (BWF) (GT: Dalek Prime):

OH, NO! NOT THE BEES! NOT THE BEES! AAAAAHHHHH! OH, THEY'RE IN MY EYES! MY EYES! AAAAHHHHH! AAAAAGGHHH!

That is what I think too. I have been followin up on The sims3 news and the way EA handles the leak by havin the 2nd map as a DLC (free) for registered users seems a bit too quick for the company to come up with especially how the game went gold sometimes before or during the week the "beta" version was leak.
To clarify, because it went gold like sometimes this month, it seems a bit strange that they would have the extra map (90mb) as a free DLC unless they knew that a leak version of the game was goin to be out on the web.

Also, half of the game's content are mostly DLC that cost money.....

Anyone thinks it is a bit strange that EA would also hand out 1000 sim points for their sim store. Someone on the gamefaqs board added up all the dlcs listed at the sims3store and discovered that they the cost for all the DLC equals to a 103 somethin dollars.

EA knows that ppl are goin to pirate the hell out of the game and that the securom on Spore does more damage than good. My theory is that EA purposeallly let this beta leak out for ppl to try the game and to also try to see if DLC is a better way to prevent piracy as oppose to somethin like scurom.

At this point, I am not sure how the DLC would work but it from what I assumed from goin to the sims3 site, the DLC appears to be accessed via serial number. I would not be suprised if the game has to go online for one to be able to use the dlc since that seems to be another way for EA to fight piracy, or rather to make more profit. However, it is a shame that EA's creative attempt would be futile since I am sure pirates will find a way to hack it. :(

Charging for content that made the Sims series what it is (Hint,
Custom and User-created Content), is pretty smart. Just more whoring
of the consumer by EA.

Though I don't blame them; I blame the whores they create.

@Doom Saber

Well, it beats DRM for legitimate customers.

you sir win Internets!

And those same people are the ones complaining how all the best games go to consoles. Most companies are not Valve, and if pirates continue to steal and justify their theft with 5 year old generalizations about EA, you won't get too many more games on the PC.

You didn't like Dead Space?

EA makes great games, and you make shitty comments

@ Ballers

Console pirating is as easy or easier then PC.
Flash a 360 DVD drive to play burned games
Custom PSP firmware to play from the memory stick
DS flash cartridges
Wii has a loader
PS3 has been done, more should be out soon...

"Console pirating is as easy or easier then PC."

You say this... Followed by

"Flash a 360 DVD drive to play burned games
Custom PSP firmware to play from the memory stick
DS flash cartridges
Wii has a loader"

You know what you have to flash, burn, upgrade, etc. to play a PC game? Absolutely nothing. I also don't void any hardware warranties... You download the file, install it, and at most have one other step (run crack/keygen). Now that's not to say pirating console games isn't easy... but please don't be so hyperbolic to think it's easier than pirating on a PC.

Anyone can download a PC game, as evidence by the comments. "Guyz! HELP!!1! I click on iso! NOTHING HAPPENS!1!" I promise those types wouldn't be opening up their xbox to flash the DVD drive (for the most part).

You are pathetic.

Oh NO! A company who wants to make money?! Stop the presses!

Why support a company that cares nothing about you? I don't pirate their games, but I don't buy them either. It's ridiculous how much they overcharge for the minuscule amount of work they put into their expansions/stuff packs.

Would you pay $500 for a fully-featured game?

The Sims 2 is a pretty self contained experience. If you can't get your fill from the main game, you can get it from user generated content. You really don't need to buy the content packs as most of them offer little of value to anyone but the diehard players. They are marketed as such too, to fill specific niches in that player base.

@Ignatius
"Why support a company that cares nothing about you?"

Are you telling me you honestly thing Valve or Stardock care about you? Yes, they may be in the position to a) listen to community feedback and b) act on it but at the end of the day, if they have to take a anti-social position lest they lose money, they will do it without the blink of an eye!

For example, Stardock essentially threw their 'bill of rights' out of the window with Demigods release, as fucked up and buggy as it was.

"It's ridiculous how much they overcharge for the minuscule amount of work they put into their expansions/stuff packs."

It's really quite simple: DON'T FUCKING BUY IT.

"Why support a company that cares nothing about you?"

Welcome to Corporate America. Isn't it the purpose of 99% of all businesses to turn a profit?
Besides, they offer you a product that you can choose to buy or not to buy. I don't give a rats ass about certain company's believes and such, as long as they provide me with the service/product I require.

I would've really thought that joystiq could've figured that out thrmeselves being "journalists" and al.

Not sure if the leaked ver is the same as the retail one since I find it odd that I have heard that there is no story intro for the map despite it being shown on various websites.


I am sure the retail ver will have some fixes here and there, but even so, the retail ver will be most likely be made illegal online.

That is not true, HHUK. If you check the timestamps on the files, the leaked version is older than the gold version.

There are two leaked versions. One is the final and one is not.

Now they just need to find a correlation between piracy and being a basement-dwelling neckbeard. They've already got one part of that puzzle.

I kinda agree. The Sims 3 does sorta lack the luster the Sims 2 had with all its expansions.

You got it wrong,

Sims 3 hits store shelves June 2, hits major torrent sites just before June 1

It's shaky ground I guess. On one hand, the game hasn't released and you shouldn't own it. The people who created it want you to have it after the 2nd. On the other hand, if you are going to buy it, what is the difference between having it now and having it a couple of days from now?

I would say the law is against you on that. But on a moral grounds, you aren't taking any of their revenue, so I would say download ahoy!

The keychain is actually a 2gb flash usb