SI, Jacobson & co are a disgrace!!!

[CowSimao]

So many people over reacting.

Not really. If I sold you a car, and said "sorry the mechanic screwed up so you'll have to wait 2 days before driving it" you'd be pretty angry wouldn't you?

[lpx88]

My friend bought the game

Cant activate after trying ever possible way for hours

And he downloaded the crack in the end

Fantastic

[pelicanstuff]

My friend bought the game

Cant activate after trying ever possible way for hours

And he downloaded the crack in the end

Fantastic

and he will find it doesn't work properly after a while and will have to reinstall

even more fantastic

or are you just writing free verse

[woody2goody]

If they didn't do anything about it they would lose an enormous amount in revenue and most likely be sued. So they're forced to do something about it...

Ok yeah fair enough great point there. I reckon it's SEGA's fault and not SI's. I'm not a fanboy, I'm not brown nosing, I genuinely don't think it's their fault.

[lpx88]

Point is at least he's playing the game now without much problems

And i doubt he will reinstall the original version ever again

[JimmyIOCS]

Ok yeah fair enough great point there. I reckon it's SEGA's fault and not SI's. I'm not a fanboy, I'm not brown nosing, I genuinely don't think it's their fault.

The buck has to stop with them though. The only reason they get paid is because we buy the games. If the game doesn't work, the blame has to be directed at them.

[T4RG4]

The DRM isnt Miles'/SI's decision though is it. It's Sega's, and they cannot have antitipated the whole SoftAnchor thing would fall over like this. I suffered too, thought it was shocking but everything that could have gone wrong (bar them sending out empty boxes) went wrong. Quite annoying!

Whoever thought it a good idea to put zeros and letter o's etc in the activation codes though - lollers - that person is a genius Guess its some off the shelf system though. That'll teach 'ya.

There is generally a lot of anger towards the wrong people at the moment. I'd be the first to say the game should be better on release (pre-patch) and I'd argue they are not managing the expansion of FM as well as perhaps they could, but blaming them for issues they have little to no control over? Nah. The dev team were not/are not in a position to determine approach to DRM not sort out issues with its poor launch. It's no good blaming those chaps. I'd wager they thought it was just as big a screw-up as us and will most certainly take an interest in what the plans are for next year. For all we know they may have been told not to comment on the issues.

They've worked hard to get the patch out and then they've seen the launch screw up. It's not been great for them, but they can do little about this now.

[berggren75]

Ladies and Gents,

I think I speak for all involved with the game when I say I am gutted and embarrassed at what has happened here.

All I can say is I hope as many of you are up and running as possible as soon as possible, and that we will make sure we learn from this experience in the future once we get a chance to pick the bones out of what went wrong.

I cant really say anything more at this point, for now the priority is to get people playing the game they paid for.

Paul

To err is human as they say.

I managed to get into the game 4 hours ago. Yes, I was ****ed during the 10 hours I tried to get in, but it is natural.

What is not acceptable though, is how people go off on personal attacks because of this.

It is a game and you WILL get to play it people. So please calm down. It isn't helping one bit to throw around such amounts of verbal abuse.

[pelicanstuff]

Point is at least he's playing the game now without much problems

And i doubt he will reinstall the original version ever again

he will when he find out how badly it doesn't work. But I have to stop there, have been told not to discuss the subject.

[vbr]

Open beta? Best way to ensure the source code is quickly found out and distributed to competitors...

hahaha do you know anything about coding at all? stop talking rubbish about stuff you don't understand in the thread and kissing up to SI for this shambles of a release

patches on release day, basic bugs that thousands of users posted about mere hours after the demo was released, activation software that was a complete joke, thousands of paying customers can't even play the game

the guy talking about taking a year off and polishing it up and thoroughly testing it is right it's the only way we'll get a (virtually) bug-free products

[LewisQ]

The thing is, the community accepts paying full-price for annual updates because they know that's the only way SI can make the game profitable. That's how much goodwill there is out there towards SI, and that's what they've severely jeopardised today. Some of the reactions have been pathetic and unduly personal (they didn't set out to cause this shambles, anymore than they set out to realease a sub-par demo) but they can't say they weren't warned about the inevitable consequences of this completely superfluous layer of protection. People predicted precisely what's happening, and that's what sticks in the craw. The most galling thing is the attitude of many Sega bods on these boards tonight. No-one is willing to take the blame, only PaulC (predictably) has had the decency to express any kind of remorse for what's happened. It's not the end of the world, but it's a very sad day for those of us who would consider ourselves SI loyalists. They (and the buck stops with them and Sega) have let down their customer base badly.

[pelicanstuff]

hahaha do you know anything about coding at all? stop talking rubbish about stuff you don't understand in the thread and kissing up to SI for this shambles of a release

patches on release day, basic bugs that thousands of users posted about mere hours after the demo was released, activation software that was a complete joke, thousands of paying customers can't even play the game

the guy talking about taking a year off and polishing it up and thoroughly testing it is right it's the only way we'll get a (virtually) bug-free products

something pretty terrible happened last time there was an open beta, I imagine it was related to people disassembling.

[vbr]

full source code from a demo? complete rubbish. the only source code stolen story that has happened in recent years was half-life 2 where someone hacked into valve's unsecured network and DOWNLOADED the actual source code.

[Interloper]

The DRM isnt Miles'/SI's decision though is it. It's Sega's, and they cannot have antitipated the whole SoftAnchor thing would fall over like this. I suffered too, thought it was shocking but everything that could have gone wrong (bar them sending out empty boxes) went wrong. Quite annoying!

They could have had the balls to tell Sega how much they were against this BS and how could they not know all this would happen ? When has it not happened with a game that required activation ? I think red alert 3 was fairly smooth with the online but half life 2, Spore, Bioshock and many others all crashed the servers.

full source code from a demo? complete rubbish. the only source code stolen story that has happened in recent years was half-life 2 where someone hacked into valve's unsecured network and DOWNLOADED the actual source code.

There was also S.T.A.L.K.E.R and a metal gear 3 and some psp games... But not from open beta.

An open beta would allow competition to steal some stuff but better than releasing it with all the bugs right here

[pelicanstuff]

full source code from a demo? complete rubbish. the only source code stolen story that has happened in recent years was half-life 2 where someone hacked into valve's unsecured network and DOWNLOADED the actual source code.

Well, something bad happened and there is a reason why they don't do open betas any more. There is a closed beta I think, but it is very closed.

[LARulz]

Just wondering, but have most of the people who have bought the game and had this problem got it resolved yet, or is it still the same?

This is sort of putting me off buying the game

[Come Clarity]

I think to personally make Miles responsible is a BIT harsh - he's lovely really.

However, to say it was ballsed up is an understatement - at the same time Uniloc servers are not entriely SI's responsibility.

[Interloper]

However, to say it was ballsed up is an understatement - at the same time Uniloc servers are not entriely SI's responsibility.

No but it is their fault giving that crap to us.

If i make a cake and fill it with weed that i bought from someone isnt it my fault that people gets high from eating it ?

[Chingchong]

Well, something bad happened and there is a reason why they don't do open betas any more. There is a closed beta I think, but it is very closed.

Tell me skipper, what colour is the sky on your planet? After September the 11th do you think we shouldn't use planes anymore?

If somebody did steal the source code I feel genuinely sorry for them that they will have to rectify the myriad issues we genuine paying customers are having to face today.

[stevvy]

Some people seemingly need to learn to act their age and not their shoe size. Some of the personal insults towards members of SI and other forumers, and general whinging saying heads should roll is bordering on childish. So it hasnt gone exactly to plan, big deal, since when did anything in life ever go exactly to plan? Anyone would think with some of the comments that some people were going to die if FM2009 didnt work perfectly instantly. Get over yourselves!

[Doog]

Open beta? Best way to ensure the source code is quickly found out and distributed to competitors...

no, I meant take a year off and come back with the game they should be releasing. forgot to cut the second part out of the quote

[RCD]

Some people seemingly need to learn to act their age and not their shoe size. Some of the personal insults towards members of SI and other forumers, and general whinging saying heads should roll is bordering on childish. So it hasnt gone exactly to plan, big deal, since when did anything in life ever go exactly to plan? Anyone would think with some of the comments that some people were going to die if FM2009 didnt work perfectly instantly. Get over yourselves!

People have paid for this game and are perfectly entitled to have their say regarding this farce. Having paid £30 for the game I think people have the right to expect their game to go "exactly to plan"!

[Nadessico]

People have paid for this game and are perfectly entitled to have their say regarding this farce. Having paid £30 for the game I think people have the right to expect their game to go "exactly to plan"!

people who expect a game to be 100% obviously don't play many games

that's why things called "patches" were invented

[stevvy]

People have paid for this game and are perfectly entitled to have their say regarding this farce. Having paid £30 for the game I think people have the right to expect their game to go "exactly to plan"!

Is there a need for the pathetic personal insults towards members of SI and other forumers? No.

Is it the end of the world? No

Does any game ever go exactly to plan? No (Because no game ever has)

Do people need to take a chill pill before throwing insults around and whinging like its going out of fashion? Yes

Edit - I should point out the first bit about insults wasn't directed specifically at you, just in case you were wondering, it was a general comment

[Doog]

So it hasnt gone exactly to plan, big deal, since when did anything in life ever go exactly to plan?

"it hasn't gone exactly to plan"? tbh with the activation servers crashing and si's own servers also crashing, and however many people are still unable to play the game, I'd say that's slightly worse than not going exactly to plan. you're right, some of the responses threatening legal action for some ludicrous reason are stupid and pointless, but responses like yours are just as childish as the ones you're attempting to put down

and yes, games get patched, but patches usually contain minor fixes and adjustments rather than the fairly significant recalculations si have had to issue on more than one occasion

[stevvy]

but responses like yours are just as childish as the ones you're attempting to put down

I'd disagree personally. I'd say my points regarding it not going exactly to plan, people needing to stop whinging like its going out of fashion etc are quite valid, as well as accurate.

[Nadessico]

If it's so much of a problem, it's a simple answer, unistall the game, don't buy future copies and delete the forums off your bookmarks. the only thing insulting people here is going to get you is RSI

[Doog]

still think "not going exactly to plan" could make the final shortlist for understatement of the year, and I also still think that calling people childish and suggesting they get over themselves isn't exactly productive

[projektion]

People calling for heads to roll are an absolute joke and so melodramatic it's unreal. However, both SI and everyone else knows that this years release with the authentication was an absolute joke and it's been schoolboy stuff the way this years FM has gone. I mean, a release day patch?!

I haven't even bought the game yet after playing the demo yet I was seriously thinking about doing so...not now - I shall wait a fair bit to see if everything has been ironed out and rightly so. Absolute shambles and SI know it..and that's just from reading the problems from the majority of others. Somehow I hardly think FM10 will be this poorly represented but expect no surprises...

[stevvy]

still think "not going exactly to plan" could make the final shortlist for understatement of the year, and I also still think that calling people childish and suggesting they get over themselves isn't exactly productive

Not like everyone whinging is what you'd call productive either eh? Especially when most of it is just bashing SI/Sega/FM2009/Steam/Whatever without actually going into the relevant stickies where people can report their problems properly and in a civilised manner (i.e. no threats of legal action, calling for heads to roll etc) instead of choosing to create thread, after thread, after thread, of nothing but whinging

[Serpico]

At this stage we (the community) don't even know why the problems occurred. Miles has said that there will be a statement released over the weekend to fully explain things. How about cutting them some slack until you've read that eh?

[Doog]

if you look back you might notice I already said those comments aren't productive either. on one side you've got "omg I'm gonna sue!!", and on the other side you've got "stfu and grow up!!". do you really think the latter is more productive than the former?

[projektion]

Not like everyone whinging is what you'd call productive either eh? Especially when most of it is just bashing SI/Sega/FM2009/Steam/Whatever without actually going into the relevant stickies where people can report their problems properly and in a civilised manner (i.e. no threats of legal action, calling for heads to roll etc) instead of choosing to create thread, after thread, after thread, of nothing but whinging

I'd like to sell you a mobile phone that is completely unusable to you but you have no recourse whatsoever without the 'whinging'...are you interested? Please say you are.

[Nadessico]

I'd like to sell you a mobile phone that is completely unusable to you but you have no recourse whatsoever without the 'whinging'...are you interested? Please say you are.

The phone is working fine, you just can't get through to vodaphone to get it unlocked

[stevvy]

I'd like to sell you a mobile phone that is completely unusable to you but you have no recourse whatsoever without the 'whinging'...are you interested? Please say you are.

Unsurprisingly, I already have a mobile phone, so no

[projektion]

At this stage we (the community) don't even know why the problems occurred. Miles has said that there will be a statement released over the weekend to fully explain things. How about cutting them some slack until you've read that eh?

Both you and I know this'll be swept under the carpet as just a 'mistake' and that words will be exactly that so 'cutting them some slack' just really doesn't er...cut it somehow. Sorry - that was rude. For everyone else having problems with FM09 so far, cut SI some slack until you've read the half-hearted 'statement', ok?

[Interloper]

At this stage we (the community) don't even know why the problems occurred. Miles has said that there will be a statement released over the weekend to fully explain things. How about cutting them some slack until you've read that eh?

What about we the community couldn't care less what the reason was ? I dont care if the server building burned down or what could be the reason, i care for them having crappy DRM in their game that everyone except the suck ups said was going to crash the servers and make the paying customers made... Yes it did happen and it will happen next year again when they find another pathetic reason why it wont crash this time.

The most pathetic thing is how SI told us "oh everything will be fine", reading some press release only made to try and not damage their reputation as much as it already has been wont change my opinon.

[projektion]

The phone is working fine, you just can't get through to vodaphone to get it unlocked

In that case, how would the phone be working fine if it wasn't unlocked?

[projektion]

Talking about phones is fun...let's talk more about that and less about the absolute mess that is this years activation procedure.

[Nadessico]

Maybe it will teach people not to leap out and buy games without reading reviews first then. It's not like Miles took you at gunpoint to your local game store at 9am

[Grevenfhi]

from wikipedia about drm on computer games:

Sometimes, the DRM restrictions backfire, and people actually pirate the game because of the DRM. The most recent case of this is pirates fighting against SecuROM in games such as Spore, Bioshock, and Mass Effect. This backfire has caused Spore to become one of the most pirated games ever.[18] This event has caused some to take a good look at anti-piracy and how to implement it into computer games

[projektion]

Maybe it will teach people not to leap out and buy games without reading reviews first then. It's not like Miles took you at gunpoint to your local game store at 9am

Too right..everybody listen to Nadessico - do not go out and buy a game and fully expect to be able to play it after spending your own hard earned money on it. You should wait, read reviews, reconsider, possibly do a little dance in-between and then go and purchase it and experience the same problems. A sure-fire way to success as it were.

[Interloper]

Maybe it will teach people not to leap out and buy games without reading reviews first then. It's not like Miles took you at gunpoint to your local game store at 9am

No but we kind of trusted them.... We did.

Too right..everybody listen to Nadessico - do not go out and buy a game and fully expect to be able to play it after spending your own hard earned money on it. You should wait, read reviews, reconsider, possibly do a little dance in-between and then go and purchase it and experience the same problems. A sure-fire way to success as it were.

In fact you should just buy fm08... Do a year without fm now and buy fm09 at release if fm10, that way you will always know what to do !

[Nadessico]

Too right..everybody listen to Nadessico - do not go out and buy a game and fully expect to be able to play it after spending your own hard earned money on it. You should wait, read reviews, reconsider, possibly do a little dance in-between and then go and purchase it and experience the same problems. A sure-fire way to success as it were.

Funny, so your saying if you logged on now for the first time and saw that FM was out and read all the posts about the issues, you'd go out an buy it right now?

No you wouldn't so you wouldn't be moaning about you hard earned money being taken then would you

[DUFC83]

Your at Uni and you spell like that ?

Sheesh, I hope your not heading to the top of the world leadership anytime soon.

If you're going to criticise grammar, at least proofread your own.

Elitist ****.

YOUR + YOU'RE - There's a vital difference.

[Nadessico]

No but we kind of trusted them.... We did.

The old saying "who's more foolish, the fool, or the fool who follows him" comes to mind

[Interloper]

The old saying "who's more foolish, the fool, or the fool who follows him" comes to mind

The old saying "Fool me once shame on you - fool me twice shame on me". SI only fooled me once and next year they wont, because i wont buy it... They told us how all this DRM wouldnt affect us at all and look at this mess ! Not again.

[Nadessico]

1 less person to get in the way of me getting my game unlocked next year

[stevvy]

The old saying "Fool me once shame on you - fool me twice shame on me". SI only fooled me once and next year they wont, because i wont buy it... They told us how all this DRM wouldnt affect us at all and look at this mess ! Not again.

i hope next year you find out you missed out buying a great game that was easy to get working,didnt have many major bugs,and was 1 of the best games of the year

[projektion]

Funny, so your saying if you logged on now for the first time and saw that FM was out and read all the posts about the issues, you'd go out an buy it right now?

No you wouldn't so you wouldn't be moaning about you hard earned money being taken then would you

The thing is, I haven't purchased the game yet, but that doesn't stop me feeling sympathy for all the others that have been victim to this joke of a system that has failed miserably. The point is not about who hasn't purchased the game and your comments are all well and good for those very people but the masses that have decided to spend their money on this game with the full intention of being able to play it without so many problems and not so much hiccups but full on heart attacks, have been badly let down. Paint it whatever way you want, a PR disasters wet-dream is what it is.