Store & Exchange Open for viewing

[jolrei]

I wonder what effect adding items (and even expansions) will have on the game speed.
We could be looking at longer load times (switch family or CAS etc.) or it could impact game frame rate.

It borderline crippled TS2. I wonder how TS3 will handle large amount of downloads, which could hypothetically be several gigabytes..

What?  You mean, sims will just completely stop moving altogether?

"Making it worse?  How could it be worse?  Jehovah, Jehovah, Jehovah!!"

[TashaYarrr]

Poked around the new exchange and community site a bit. Two less-than-exciting observations:

--You can register without a CD-key (for those like me who tend to skip the fine print). It's the first field in registration, but can still register, just not post.

--It looks like they finally decided their 1995-style BBS may be a little bit unwieldy, and dragged themselves kicking and screaming into 2001.

[tedw]

I wanted to get some shots of those textures and ask people who have the game if they are indeed new. Because the scalping is beginning to make me wonder if there is a huge gas leak in Redwood Shores.

They're new to me (running the razor version).  Unless the retail version includes them, I think they will only be available if you purchase that dress.  It'd be a bit pointless for the store to say they are included if they were already in the game.

[Zazazu]

They're continuing to charge separately for hairs in different age groups. That's considered extremely bad form, even in the paysite community. Look at the last two to the right on the slider here. 25 points for toddler, 75 points for adult, and 50 points for child way below...for the same frakking cut.

[Netich]

But are we sure they are different objects?. It could be differents ways to access the object. I mean, if you have to pay for a shirt for adults, and also for young adults, then i hope EA Hq get struck by a lightning!

[TashaYarrr]

I'm usually pretty neutral on whether or not EA is evil, mostly because I can't be arsed to think about it in depth, but the $275 Sims 3 Store price tag is almost sparking a little righteous consumer indignation in me. I'm fine with paying for add-on content and I've probably spent that much on Rock Band songs, but the Sims 3 Store price points seem pretty absurd ($19 for a set? can you imagine if a third-party paysite tried that pricing structure?). I think they lost sight of what micropayments are about.

[simsdesperado]

I'm usually pretty neutral on whether or not EA is evil, mostly because I can't be arsed to think about it in depth, but the $275 Sims 3 Store price tag is almost sparking a little righteous consumer indignation in me. I'm fine with paying for add-on content and I've probably spent that much on Rock Band songs, but the Sims 3 Store price points seem pretty absurd ($19 for a set? can you imagine if a third-party paysite tried that pricing structure?). I think they lost sight of what micropayments are about.

Apparently, according to the EULA custom content of any kind is strictly forbidden. This could very well turn into a take it or leave it attitude towards additional game content, and they will sell it at whatever price John Riccitielo fancies. As long as there are rich sheep willing to buy the store items they will sell them, even if it means overpricing them to make up for the low demand.

[LFox]

Okay i'm usually one of the people that says developers don't intentially leave stuff out but this is BULLSHIT.  There's so many items on that store and so few in the game that they HAD to have purposely left them out.  Not to mention their prices are absurd buying it all will cost more than an expansion pack.  I assume there'll be a nice pirate section going for their crappy store pretty fast right?

[TashaYarrr]

Apparently, according to the EULA custom content of any kind is strictly forbidden.

I've seen this mentioned several times, but no one seems to know exactly what, if anything, the implications are. Is this supposed to spell an end to third-party freesites?

[missyye]

I'm usually pretty neutral on whether or not EA is evil, mostly because I can't be arsed to think about it in depth, but the $275 Sims 3 Store price tag is almost sparking a little righteous consumer indignation in me. I'm fine with paying for add-on content and I've probably spent that much on Rock Band songs, but the Sims 3 Store price points seem pretty absurd ($19 for a set? can you imagine if a third-party paysite tried that pricing structure?). I think they lost sight of what micropayments are about.

Apparently, according to the EULA custom content of any kind is strictly forbidden. This could very well turn into a take it or leave it attitude towards additional game content, and they will sell it at whatever price John Riccitielo fancies. As long as there are rich sheep willing to buy the store items they will sell them, even if it means overpricing them to make up for the low demand.

Im confused. If it's strictly forbidden then what will happen to sites such as TSR, MTS and all the other ones? Not that I'll miss TSR but just curious.

[Druscylla]

They're continuing to charge separately for hairs in different age groups. That's considered extremely bad form, even in the paysite community. Look at the last two to the right on the slider here. 25 points for toddler, 75 points for adult, and 50 points for child way below...for the same frakking cut.

My optimism over this part is kicking and screaming and having a proper tantrum. I had thought at first that if you bought say the adult High Ponytail, that you got that particular style - not just for that age group. I would love to call Bullshit, but I know with EA I will end up holding a pair of sixes as defense against EA's steel money-grabbing fist.

[buny]

  Here is a portion of the EULA:

    Quote from: ELECTRONIC ARTS END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR THE SIMS 3 GAME
2. Intellectual Property Rights and Ownership.

A. Reservation of Rights. You have purchased a limited license to the Software and your rights are limited to the license grant above and subject to this License. You may not otherwise copy, display, distribute, perform, publish, modify, or use the Software or any component of it. You are prohibited from making a copy of the Software available on a network where it could be used or downloaded by multiple users. Except as expressly licensed to you herein, EA and its licensors, as applicable, owns and reserves all right, title and interest in the Software, and all related data, characters, themes, objects, storyline, images, photographs, graphics, animations, video, music, text, and the associated copyrights, trademarks, moral rights and other intellectual property rights therein. This License is limited to the intellectual property rights of EA and its licensors in the Software and does not include any rights to other patents or intellectual property. Except to the extent permitted under applicable law, you may not decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer or created derivative works of the Software by any means whatsoever. You may not remove, alter, or obscure any product identification, copyright, or other intellectual property notices in the Software. All rights not expressly granted herein are reserved to EA.

[simsdesperado]

I'm usually pretty neutral on whether or not EA is evil, mostly because I can't be arsed to think about it in depth, but the $275 Sims 3 Store price tag is almost sparking a little righteous consumer indignation in me. I'm fine with paying for add-on content and I've probably spent that much on Rock Band songs, but the Sims 3 Store price points seem pretty absurd ($19 for a set? can you imagine if a third-party paysite tried that pricing structure?). I think they lost sight of what micropayments are about.

Apparently, according to the EULA custom content of any kind is strictly forbidden. This could very well turn into a take it or leave it attitude towards additional game content, and they will sell it at whatever price John Riccitielo fancies. As long as there are rich sheep willing to buy the store items they will sell them, even if it means overpricing them to make up for the low demand.

Im confused. If it's strictly forbidden then what will happen to sites such as TSR, MTS and all the other ones? Not that I'll miss TSR but just curious.

Well, to quote Eaxis, the in-game recolour possibilities are endless. MTS could share free recolours while TSR could continue to charge members for the privilege to download recolours. And then there's stories to be told and movies to be filmed, some chatting and picture threads. And I saw on the official forums a thread about latest fashion or something. Beats me what they intend to do. But if you read the EULA it says very clearly that we cannot modify, reverse engineer or create derivative work from the game or its contents. I think we'll need to wait and see.

[rufio]

Well, seeing as they completely failed to prosecute TS2 paysites despite the fact that they were violating the TS2 EULA, I think it's probably unlikely that they'll go after TS3 freesites even if they wind up violating the TS3 EULA.

[Jarsie]

What happens if you have to take your computer offline, and you just installed some files from the Exchange directly into your game? Will they even show up in your game?

So far, the only things that you can download as a file are the housing lots (though I only saw one). I don't like the fact that everything else has to be installed from the website directly into the game, and that if you want to delete it from your game, you have to uninstall it from the website. That sucks.

[missyye]

Well that just sucks. I hope it's not going to be as uptight as emphasised, I really do. Those hairstyles are hideous, man.

[Zazazu]

  Here is a portion of the EULA:

    Quote from: ELECTRONIC ARTS END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR THE SIMS 3 GAME
2. Intellectual Property Rights and Ownership.

A. Reservation of Rights. You have purchased a limited license to the Software and your rights are limited to the license grant above and subject to this License. You may not otherwise copy, display, distribute, perform, publish, modify, or use the Software or any component of it. You are prohibited from making a copy of the Software available on a network where it could be used or downloaded by multiple users. Except as expressly licensed to you herein, EA and its licensors, as applicable, owns and reserves all right, title and interest in the Software, and all related data, characters, themes, objects, storyline, images, photographs, graphics, animations, video, music, text, and the associated copyrights, trademarks, moral rights and other intellectual property rights therein. This License is limited to the intellectual property rights of EA and its licensors in the Software and does not include any rights to other patents or intellectual property. Except to the extent permitted under applicable law, you may not decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer or created derivative works of the Software by any means whatsoever. You may not remove, alter, or obscure any product identification, copyright, or other intellectual property notices in the Software. All rights not expressly granted herein are reserved to EA.

This does not say no CC. It says no copying the game, no changing some code of the game and redistributing it (presumably for sale). Derivative works is along the line of EP, not CC.

[Marhis]

Except to the extent permitted under applicable law, you may not decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer or created derivative works of the Software by any means whatsoever.

It's pretty similar to the TS2 EULA:

Your right to use Tools & Materials is limited to the license grant above, and you may not otherwise copy, display, distribute, perform, publish, modify, create works from, or use any of the Tools & Materials. Without limiting the preceding sentence, you may not modify, reverse engineer, disassemble, license, transfer, distribute, create works from, or sell the Tool, or use the Tools & Materials to further any commercial or unlawful purpose.

[jriggs]

I thought that Skadi had already created a new texture and added it to the game and it worked.  Plus we have the mods here that are in testing and we know that they have been successful so we know that custom content is possible outside of EA and I really don't see how they could get something in place that could somehow prevent us from being able to mod the game.  Pescado and others will have us playing an enjoyable and functional game soon enough.

[sanmonroe]

HA!

The sims 3 store is going to be awesome since it will generate tons of revenue to keep many programers on pushing out patches, bug fixes, extra content, and new ways to play!

So, bin another thread someone figured that it cost players 710 dollars over the life of TS2 to buy everything. What is the potential impact of the sims 2 store for people who want to get everything?

The sims 3 store for the first month would cost you 275 dollars for everything that should have been in the box, plus the base game at 70 for the collectors edition.

So EA wants you to pay 345 dollars for the full release day game, otherwise you just have the crappy base version. You want to be cool don't you?

Just think, if they release 20 bucks of stuff a month, plus 2 expansions and 2 stuff packs a year, for 5 years...

345+ 20*12(months)*5(years)+20*2*5+50*2*5

hmm

345+1200+200+500=2245!!!

2245$ compared to 710$

And I am not sure if the guy included the cost of TS3 collectors edition in that 710$, so it may be 640$!!!

Inflation sucks.

Thats a little over 37$ a month. You could play every single SOE online game (EQ, EQ2, vanguard, matrix, etc) and WoW for the just 3 bucks more per month.

[HomeschooledByTards]

I thought that Skadi had already created a new texture and added it to the game and it worked. 

Skadi's texture was an in-game recolor of an already existing texture.

[jriggs]

But she was able to recolor it and add it to the game and get it to work without using the EADM or any other EA program so that should show that it will be possible to add CC without using their system.  People who think that EA is somehow going to be able to be the only ones you can get content from or that they will be able to control the creation or distribution of content seems unlikely.  I keep hearing people say that they are afraid that they will have to get their CC from EA or that somehow only content that goes into the game via the Download Manager will work in game.  That simply doesn't seem to be the case.

[HomeschooledByTards]

But she was able to recolor it and add it to the game and get it to work without using the EADM or any other EA program so that should show that it will be possible to add CC without using their system.  People who think that EA is somehow going to be able to be the only ones you can get content from or that they will be able to control the creation or distribution of content seems unlikely.  I keep hearing people say that they are afraid that they will have to get their CC from EA or that somehow only content that goes into the game via the Download Manager will work in game.  That simply doesn't seem to be the case.

Yes, because she is smart enough to be able to figure out where the game exports shit to and what to do with that stuff afterwards. Hint: The folder is named EXPORTS.

[brownlustgirl]

My concern is if I install the EADM to get the free items, what will happen if I uninstall it? Will I lose everything cause the installer phones in to check what I downloaded? Big brother for sure, guess I will not get my free stuffeths. 

[Marhis]

I'm quite sure that modders will find a way to mod the game; there's always a way. The problem, here, is how this way will turn out for us users in the end.
If the only way to modify the game will require high-end programming skills and knowledge, disassemblers and actual crack of the code, I don't know how many of us will be able to enjoy modding.
If I'm not mistaken, apparently the packages are both encrypted and digitally signed; this is not a good sign.