RSPOD

By Shamus Posted Tuesday May 20, 2008

Filed under: Movies 33 comments

I haven’t mentioned this game yet, but I just wanted to point out that I know about it, it’s there, and I do plan on getting it as soon as my queue clears out a bit.

A game for $20. Clever writing. No DRM. The Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, the Penny Arcade game:

They would have to butcher the gameplay for this title to miss, because everything else about it seems perfect.

 


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33 thoughts on “RSPOD

  1. Mom says:

    Since we are choosing to call it other than censorship because it was not under force of law, can we instead just call it “fixed”?
    Sincerely,
    your prudish Mom

  2. TheOcho says:

    First time poster, long time reader. Well if you consider months a long time.

    The game definitely seems to be a sure hit. Like you said they would have to completely drop the ball on this for it to fail. My only question is will the giant Fruit Fucker actually be called that? The language, maybe one or two posts a week with the F word, is enough for me to NOT let my son read their site. I just hope the game refrains from from using those choice words because I would love for him to experience this type of genre.

  3. Craig says:

    I have yet to see the PA duo put out a substandard product, so here is hoping it’s a good game.

    @TheOcho, it’s M-rated so I am sort of assuming they do. I’ll fire off an email if I find out either way when I get it tomorrow.

  4. Lee1255 says:

    So far, early reviews haven’t been super-positive. I really hope that’s just reviewers sharpening their knives at Penny Arcade and not a reflection of the actual gameplay. Ron Gilbert also helped them out with this too.

  5. Ian says:

    Lee1255: The not-so-positive reviews might just indicate that the humor of the game might be lost on people who aren’t hardcore Penny Arcade fans. That seems to happen a lot with games like this.

  6. Hotsauce says:

    @Mom (risking some wrath here, I know)
    “can we instead just call it ‘fixed'”
    It worked fine before it was broken, so no. See, here’s the thing: my way, you have a choice: don’t buy it if you don’t like it. Your way, I have no choice; whether I like it or not, I can’t buy it. Personally, I prefer freedom, thanks.

  7. Fireryhot says:

    It’s the craziest thing. I was just reading about this and then I come here and see you posted about it for apparently the first time. Having said that, the game definitely looks great. I wasn’t expecting the turn based battle system, but that doesn’t really effect my opinion too much.

  8. Marcel Beaudoin says:

    I plan on buying it, if only to support a couple of guys who do so much for the community. (Their Childs Play charity – http://www.childsplaycharity.org/) The fact that it (the game) looks really cool doesn’t hurt either.

  9. Phlux says:

    I’m very hopeful for this game. I’ll pick it up first thing tomorrow for sure.

    I’m kind of leary about the combat system though. It looks like it kind of sucks. I don’t know if the videos are just slightly time-lapsed but everything seems to go by way too fast. I don’t read that quickly, so I was always missing half the dialogue bubbles. I also am not a fan of active-time battles. I’m more of a pure turn-based FFX kind of guy.

    If it is indeed a little slower, I will be very content. I’m sure the adventure game portions will be killer.

  10. Deoxy says:

    HotSauce,

    Since the government is not the one involved, and it was changed voluntarily by the content owner to get more sales, I would call what you are experiencing “freedom”. You have another name for it?

    Oh, and we’re on the wrong thread (but since Mom started it…).

  11. Eltanin says:

    I can’t actually see the video. It seems that about half of youtube videos never load for me. Does anyone have any suggestions? As far as I know I’m using the latest firefox with update plug-ins and gizmos. I even tried watching in IE to no avail.

    Forgive my off topic comment, but it’s hard to comment about the subject when I can’t see it.

  12. qrter says:

    Ian:

    The not-so-positive reviews might just indicate that the humor of the game might be lost on people who aren't hardcore Penny Arcade fans.

    No, those reviews mostly mention that the humour is fine, but the gameplay isn’t.

  13. Stu says:

    I applaud a game which is not only cheap, but will have a native Mac release. This is on my list :-)

  14. Jabor says:

    Episodic?

    It’s about time a half-decent game was released under that system. I’m going to be trying this first one regardless of how well the gameplay is done, and possibly later ones as well.

  15. Freykin says:

    I had completely forgotten about this, thanks for reminding me :)

  16. Pete Zaitcev says:

    I do not play games generally, but I was going to get it to see how their Linux version works. It’s not a common practice, so I’m curious. Will it support ALSA directly, for instance? I’m on Fedora Rawhide with Pulseaudio, not a common config just yet. And $20 is not much for me, I can easily afford it.

  17. Totally agreed. I love steampunk, I love Lovecraft, and I love Penny Arcade. I’ve also got a soft spot for adventure games. What’s not to feel good about?

  18. ArchU says:

    Oh, brilliant. I’d get that for my fiance, too…

  19. Ian says:

    qrter: Ah, alrighty then…thanks for the clarification. I didn’t have time to check those reviews earlier. :P

  20. Mephane says:

    That looks awesome. I will definitely try the demo and, if the gameplay is as fun as it looks like in the trailer, get it.

    No DRM is a huge plus, of course. :)

  21. DaveMc says:

    From http://www.playgreenhouse.com on the Terms of Use page (http://www.playgreenhouse.com/terms), I note that they are not wholly against DRM in games:

    —-

    – The use of Games downloaded is governed by the end user license agreement (“EULA”) accompanying such Games. If a EULA is not present in the Games, Greenhouse grants you a limited license to download and use on a single computer for personal and non-commercial purpose. You may not resell or violate any Canadian or foreign law, rule or regulation.

    – Games you download may contain a Digital Rights Management (DRM) System managed by The Greenhouse. The DRM system may communicate over the Internet with the Games in order to prevent illegal or unauthorized use. Please refer to the Privacy Policy for the types of information and details on how we manage the communication of information between the Games and the DRM system.

    —-

    I can’t say what the EULA for Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness actually says, because the game (Mac native, hooray!) hasn’t finished downloading yet (yep, I bought it already). I think it’ll probably be DRM-free, given the discussion I’ve seen in the past on Penny Arcade during its development, but it doesn’t seem to be possible to view the EULA prior to buying the game. This seems silly given that you’re doing all this online, and presumably those of you upset by not being able to view the EULA before buying a boxed game will be upset by this, too. I wonder if they’ll allow a “return” on a download, if you don’t like the EULA?

    (Disclaimer: I don’t think these guys have sinister intent with this, it’s probably more in the nature of an oversight, but one they should correct if they want to avoid ticking people off. When Penny Arcade says “Trust me”, I’m more inclined to give them some slack than I am when it’s EA, but still, people should be able see the EULA before making a purchase, especially given that it’s a small file you could easily slap up on the site right next to the “Buy now” link.)

  22. DaveMc says:

    Later that day . . . Well, it’s now downloaded, and I can see the EULA now. It seems relatively benign, and it has the amusing feature of having chatty, plain-language translations interspersed with the legalese (these are in italics in the original, but I’m not going to reproduce that here). For the benefit of the community, let me cut and paste that, below, for all to see. The only thing that jumps out at me is that there’s a clause saying you can install it only three computers at a time, and beyond that you’ll need to contact customer support to ask for more — wasn’t that one of the deal-breakers for Mass Effect and Spore, for some people? One significant difference, though, is that there’s no indication that this number will be enforced by the software itself, it looks like you’re just supposed to agree not to do it. And further, the phrasing does seem to imply three computers at a time, not three “activations” total, and if so that’s substantially less intrusive.

    Without further ado, I give you . . . the RSPOD EULA:


    On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One

    End User License Agreement (EULA)

    YOU SHOULD CAREFULLY READ THE FOLLOWING END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT BEFORE USING THIS SOFTWARE PROGRAM. BY USING THIS SOFTWARE PROGRAM, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, CLICK “QUIT” AND CEASE ALL USE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

    This software program, including any electronic documentation (collectively, the “Program”), any printed materials, and any and all copies of such Program and materials are the copyrighted work of Hothead Games, Inc. (“Hothead”) and/or its affiliates or subsidiaries, and/or its suppliers or licensors. All rights are reserved, except as expressly stated below. Your use of the Program is governed by the terms of this End User License Agreement (the “License Agreement”). The Program is solely for use by end users according to the terms of the License Agreement. Any use, reproduction or redistribution of the Program not in accordance with the terms of the License Agreement is expressly prohibited.

    1. Thank You. We, Hothead, would first like to thank you for licensing the Program. We know you probably don’t care much for reading through EULAs, but our lawyers want to make sure we keep control and ownership of the stuff we and our licensors have spent so much time, effort and energy developing. In order to keep developing cool stuff that we hope provides you hours and hours of entertainment and fun, we have to make sure you understand and agree that you are just buying the right to use the Program and that there are certain limits to your rights to use the Program. What follows is what you need to agree to before you can use the Program.

    2. Limited Use License. Like we mentioned above, you are buying the right to use the Program, not the rights to the Program itself. Hothead hereby grants, and by using the Program you thereby accept, a limited, non-exclusive license and right to install and/or use the Program on a maximum of 3 personal computers belonging or primarily used by you (for example, on your home computer(s) and a laptop) with the express understanding that the Program is licensed, not sold, and that your license confers no title or ownership of the Program. If you wish to use the Program on more than 3 personal computers, Hothead’s customer support may (in its sole discretion) increase the number of computers on which the Program may be used on a case by case basis. This license is not a sale of the original software program (which means that the fee you paid gives you the right only to use the Program). To avoid any misunderstandings, the license granted hereunder is for one individual person and the Program will be deemed in “use” on a computer when it is loaded onto temporary memory (i.e., RAM) or installed into the permanent memory (e.g., hard disk, CD-ROM or other storage device) of a computer. Installation of the Program on a network server is strictly prohibited. Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed as granting any right to use the Program on a computer that is not owned or primarily used by you.

    3. Intellectual Property Ownership. In order to keep making cool games in the future, we need to make sure that you understand who owns the intellectual property rights to the Program. All title, ownership rights and intellectual property rights in and to the Program and any and all copies thereof (including but not limited to all copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, trade names, proprietary rights, patents, titles, computer code, themes, objects, characters, character names, stories, dialog, catch phrases, locations, concepts, artwork, animations, sounds, musical compositions, audio-visual effects, methods of operation, moral rights, any related documentation, and “applets” incorporated into the Program) are owned by Hothead or its licensors. The Program is protected by the copyright laws of Canada, the United States, international copyright treaties and conventions and other laws. All rights are reserved. The Program contains certain licensed materials and Hothead’s licensors may protect their rights in the event of any violation of this Agreement. The Program may not be copied or reproduced in any manner or medium, in whole or in part, without prior written consent from Hothead.

    4. Responsibilities of End User. We’ve mentioned this before, but it probably won’t hurt to be a bit more detailed about what you’re agreeing to by licensing the Program. We want you to be able to enjoy the games we make to the maximum extent possible, but our lawyers tell us we have to set some rules about what you can and can’t do to keep from getting us in trouble (and to allow us to stay in business and keep making cool new games). So by licensing the Program you agree to the following:

    Subject to the license grant above, you may not, in whole or in part, copy, photocopy, reproduce, translate, reverse engineer, derive source code, modify, disassemble, decompile, modify or create derivative works based on the Program or any part thereof, or remove any proprietary notices or labels on the Program without the prior written consent of Hothead. You may not work around any technical limitations in the Program.

    The Program is licensed to you as a single product. Its component parts may not be separated for use on more than one computer.

    You are entitled to use the Program for your personal use, but you are not entitled to sell, grant a security interest in or transfer reproductions of the Program or otherwise distribute copies of the Program to other parties in any way, nor to rent, lease or license the Program to others without the prior written consent of Hothead.

    You are expressly prohibited from selling or otherwise profiting from any levels, add-on packs, sequels or other items based upon or related to the Program or created by use of any part of the Program. If you create levels, add-on packs, sequels or other items to the Program, including the construction of new levels (collectively, the “Modifications”), you are subject to the following restrictions:

    Modifications are considered separate from the Program in the sense that they are not guaranteed or supported by Hothead. However, by creating a Modification you shall be deemed to have assigned in favour of Hothead all copyrights and intellectual property rights to the Modifications;

    your Modifications must require a full, licensed copy of the Program to run;

    your Modifications must not contain any libellous, defamatory or other illegal material, material that is scandalous or invades the rights of privacy or publicity of any third party, or contain any trademarks, copyright-protected work or other property of third parties;

    your Modifications must be distributed solely for free. Neither you nor any other person or party may sell them to anyone, commercially exploit them in any way, or charge anyone for using them without a license from Hothead.

    The prohibitions and restrictions in this Section apply to anyone in possession of the Program or any of your Modifications. For greater certainty, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Agreement, you are not permitted to reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the Program in any way. Any copying of the Program not specifically allowed in this Agreement is a violation of this Agreement.

    5. Compliance with Ratings. To keep the politicians from carrying through on their threats to decide what video games you should and shouldn’t be able to play (and what developers can and can’t create), we need to make sure you understand the rating given to the Program is important and that you agree to use the Program in accordance with its rating. The Program may consist of a video game that has been rated by one or more ratings boards (a “Rating Board”). By using the Program you expressly represent, warrant and agree that:

    you are aware of the rating (the “Rating”) issued to the Program by the applicable Rating Board in the jurisdiction in which you reside or will otherwise be using the Program;

    you are of an appropriate age to use the Program in accordance with the Rating issued in such jurisdiction;

    you will not permit use of the Program by those under the age set out in the Rating in the jurisdiction in which you reside or will otherwise be using or permitting use of the Program.

    YOU AGREE TO INDEMNIFY AND HOLD HARMLESS HOTHEAD FROM AND AGAINST ANY CAUSE OF ACTION, ACTION, SUIT, PROCEEDING AGAINST OR DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY SUFFERED BY HOTHEAD IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR BREACH OF THIS SECTION 5.

    6. No Transfer. What is this “transfer”, you ask? It means that once you accept, you can’t sell or give the game to someone else. You may not transfer or assign this Agreement or any of your rights or obligations under this Agreement.

    7. Termination. We hope this section never has to come into play (or section 12 for that matter), as that means you are doing something you shouldn’t be under the terms of this Agreement (which would suck for both of us, but more for you as it means we have to get our lawyers involved). This Agreement is effective until the earlier of (i) termination of this License Agreement by you or Hothead or (ii) termination of this Agreement in the event you fail to comply with any term contained herein, in which event this Agreement shall be deemed to terminate automatically. You may terminate this Agreement at any time by destroying all copies of the Program in your possession. Hothead may, at its discretion, terminate this License at any time upon notifying you of such termination (including by way of public notice to all licensees of the Program). In such event (or if you are bad and are not complying with the terms of this agreement), you must immediately destroy the all copies of the Program in your possession. Any license agreement to which you may have previously agreed that governs your use of prior versions of the Program is hereby terminated and is replaced by this agreement. The provisions of Sections 3, 7, and 10-13 will survive any termination of this Agreement.

    8. Updates; New Versions. We can’t support all versions forever but we will do our best to support the latest version that we have made available. Hothead may, in its sole discretion, provide updates or new versions of the Program in the future. Hothead may provide such updates or future versions subject to a separate license, which may by its terms terminate this license pursuant to Section 7. Hothead shall have no obligation to provide support or updates for the Program.

    9. Export Controls. Don’t be a criminal . . . I mean, what else can we say here? You agree to comply with all applicable laws, regulations, rulings and executive orders of any governmental authority relating to the exportation or importation of the Program, including but not limited to the export and destination control regulations for Canadian goods.

    10. No Warranties. We have no idea what you have already on your computer and what state or health your computer is in. The entire risk arising out of use or performance of the Program remains with you. THE PROGRAM IS PROVIDED “AS IS,” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NONINFRINGEMENT. ANY WARRANTY AGAINST INFRINGEMENT THAT MAY BE PROVIDED IN SECTION 2-312(3) OF THE UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE IN THE UNITED STATES AND/OR IN ANY OTHER COMPARABLE STATE, PROVINCIAL OR FEDERAL STATUTE IS EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMED. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of implied warranties, so the above limitations may not apply to you to that extent.

    11. Limitation of Liability. HOTHEAD SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU, OR TO ANY PERSON ACCESSING GAMEPLAY AS A RESULT OF THE LICENSE GRANTED TO YOU, IN ANY WAY FOR LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY KIND RESULTING FROM YOUR USE OF THE PROGRAM, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOSS OF GOODWILL, WORK STOPPAGE, COMPUTER FAILURE OR MALFUNCTION, OR ANY AND ALL OTHER COMMERCIAL DAMAGES OR LOSSES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM, EVEN IF HOTHEAD HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. FURTHER, HOTHEAD SHALL NOT BE LIABLE IN ANY WAY FOR THE LOSS OR DAMAGE TO ANY PLAYER CHARACTERS, ACCOUNTS, STATISTICS OR USER PROFILE INFORMATION. YOU UNDERSTAND AND ACKNOWLEDGE THAT HOTHEAD CANNOT AND WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INTERRUPTIONS OF ONLINE GAMEPLAY, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ISP DISRUPTIONS, SOFTWARE OR HARDWARE FAILURES OR ANY OTHER EVENT WHICH MAY RESULT IN A LOSS OF DATA OR DISRUPTION OF ONLINE GAMEPLAY. Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitations may not apply to that extent. In no event shall our total liability to you for any and all damages, losses and causes of action (whether in tort, contract or otherwise) exceed the amount paid by you for the Program.

    12. Equitable Remedies. We need to make sure we can put a quick stop to anyone doing something they shouldn’t be under this agreement. You hereby agree that Hothead would be irreparably damaged if the terms of this Agreement were not specifically enforced, and therefore you agree that Hothead shall be entitled, without bond, other security, or proof of damages, to appropriate equitable remedies with respect to breaches of this Agreement, in addition to such other remedies as Hothead may otherwise have available to it under applicable laws. In the event any litigation is brought by either party in connection with this Agreement, the prevailing party in such litigation shall be entitled to recover from the other party all the costs, attorneys’ fees and other expenses incurred by such prevailing party in the litigation.

    13. Miscellaneous

    This Agreement shall be deemed to have been made and executed in the Province of British Columbia, Canada and any dispute arising hereunder shall be resolved in accordance with the law of British Columbia. You agree that any claim asserted in any legal proceeding by you against Hothead or its licensors shall be commenced and maintained in a court located in Vancouver, British Columbia having subject matter jurisdiction with respect to the dispute between the parties.

    Hothead reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to change, modify, add to, supplement or delete any of the terms and conditions of this Agreement, effective upon prior notice as follows: Hothead will post notification of any such changes to this Agreement on the its website, and may provide such other notice as Hothead may elect in its sole discretion.

    In the event that any provision of this Agreement shall be held by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be unenforceable, such provision will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible and the remaining portions of this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect.

    This Agreement constitutes and contains the entire agreement between the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof and supersedes any prior oral or written agreements.

    You hereby acknowledge that you have read and understand the foregoing terms of this Agreement and agree that the act of using the Program is an acknowledgment of your agreement to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Agreement. You also acknowledge and agree that this Agreement is the complete and exclusive statement of the agreement between Hothead and you with regard to the subject matter hereof and that this Agreement supersedes any prior or contemporaneous agreement, either oral or written, and any other communications between Hothead and you regarding the subject matter hereof.

    That’s it! Not so bad, right? Thanks for supporting us and reading all the way to the end.

  23. Paramnesia says:

    I have two questions regarding the EULA:

    2. Limited Use License. […] Hothead hereby grants, and by using the Program you thereby accept, a limited, non-exclusive license and right to install and/or use the Program on a maximum of 3 personal computers belonging or primarily used by you (for example, on your home computer(s) and a laptop) with the express understanding that the Program is licensed, not sold, and that your license confers no title or ownership of the Program. If you wish to use the Program on more than 3 personal computers, Hothead's customer support may (in its sole discretion) increase the number of computers on which the Program may be used on a case by case basis.

    If anyone finds out for sure if this means 3 computers concurrently or 3 installations please let us know.

    6. No Transfer. What is this “transfer”, you ask? It means that once you accept, you can't sell or give the game to someone else. You may not transfer or assign this Agreement or any of your rights or obligations under this Agreement.

    This means the game cannot be resold, correct? At first I though, hey no fair when I can resell my used games, but then I thought it over and realized when it’s downloadable for such a small price it makes sense.

  24. Noah Lesgold says:

    For those who are wondering, the game definitely does online verification of the serial code you get when you purchase the game. I didn’t try putting in the serial code without an active internet connection, so I don’t know what would’ve happened. Also no idea what other information was sent when it was doing the verification.

    As for the game, I only played for a couple hours, but it was enough to convince me that the game was worth purchasing and playing through. The combat controls are a little clumsy, but I’m pretty content with the underlying system. It reminds me a litle of the GBA Mario & Luigi battle system, actually, although not as involved.

    The writing has had me laughing out loud a number of times; if you are a fan of Tycho’s kung fu grip on the English language, I can definitely recommend the game. On the other hand, he also makes heavy use out of his Weapon Proficiency: Profanity. For those concerned about violence, it’s handled in a comical fashion, but it is possible to hit a mime so hard that his head explodes.

  25. Jonathan says:

    I was really excited about this as well, but.. well.. my experience with the game is pretty buggy. I paid for a download, only to have my laptop pop up an error and close in the midst of the first cutscene. My desktop with XP doesn’t even get that far, with a completely different problem.

  26. Aufero says:

    Provision 2 of that EULA looks pretty much identical to the DRM on Mass Effect, which is the sole reason I’m not buying that game.

    On the other hand, $20 is fairly cheap, so if three activations limits the number of times I can replay the game, I’ll still have gotten pretty good value. (Assuming I think it’s good enough I want to replay it, that is.)

    Later observation: The Greenhouse site is somewhat poorly designed, from a customer perspective. It asks twice what kind of credit card I want to use, (it apparently pays no attention to the first answer) and it’s twice rejected my attempt to buy the game with no other explanation than “Error 500.” More detail would be nice. Server problems? Can’t verify my credit card? Deep Crows clogging the intertubes? There’s no way to tell.

  27. Gahaz says:

    Go to the Greenhouse forums Tech section. They have 3 of 4 people actively aiding those that are having problems. Mine was fixed within a few minutes!

  28. Mephane says:

    I am confused now. Shamus has written the game would not have DRM, and yet you say otherwise…

  29. Vegedus says:

    Bought it today. It’s a budget title, so it isn’t exactly deep, but the gameplay is still fun and the PA humor prevails. Certainly worthy the 20 bucks overall.

  30. Warstrike says:

    My understanding of what was written in the EULA is you can’t have more than 3 copies RUNNING (i.e loaded into RAM) at the same time, not that you can’t install it more than 3 times – entirely different from Mass Effect.

  31. Aufero says:

    “If you wish to use the Program on more than 3 personal computers, Hothead's customer support may (in its sole discretion) increase the number of computers on which the Program may be used on a case by case basis.”

    That wording makes it pretty clear it counts the number of times you installed it on different machines, not the number of copies running at once. (It doesn’t say “at once”, it just says three machines.) It’s worded pretty much identically to the announcement of the DRM on Mass Effect and Spore, which makes me wonder whose lawyers came up with it first.

  32. DaveMc says:

    Alas, it does seem to be the case that you need to confirm your license key online with the company (I tried to activate without an internet connection, and it chided me and refused to do it until I allowed an online check). Once that’s done, you can play offline and there are no further checks, but those of you who are concerned about playing the game many years from now seem to still be justified in that concern.

    I think the folks at Hothouse won’t be screwing around with people on purpose, but it’s unfortunate that they feel the need for this limited-activation thing.

    There’s a discussion of all this in their forums, including the quote “We don’t anticipate having to limit the number of redownloads but remember that each new machine or major hardware change may trigger a new key to be issued against your license. Our plan is to allow multiple installs and to be generous in that regard to cover murdered systems, planned upgrades, people wanting to play it on their PC and their Mac or even Linux box etc. Even if the limit is reached–a limit that we have not determined yet–we will be flexible in resetting or increasing the limit for paying customers. If you are registered, we will keep your license keys stored for you in your profile and you will be able to see the number of times that license has been used for various systems so there will be no surprises.” (Short version: “Trust us.” –Dave)

    Unfortunately, if all this was a deal-breaker for you with Mass Effect/Spore, it sounds like it still may be with this game.

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