I just heard back from EA with a functional workaround for installing the v1.1 patch for Spore on the Mac. I’m sure by now you’ve heard about all the wonderful issues with the patch. But after spending a few hours, I now have everything up and running with the newest patched version on my MacBook Pro.
Here’s the gist. You need to uninstall the game from your system. Don’t worry, your save data won’t get removed. Drag the SPORE folder from Applications to the trash. Then fire up Finder and go to “/Users/[Username]/Library/Preferences/[Game Name] Preferences/p_drive” and delete all the files there as well. Once that’s done, reinstall the game and download the patch when prompted. Now, here’s where things get interesting. This is a line from the email I received from EA:
*Please Note: This process may take a considerable amount of time. The patch process may seem to stall, but the installation of the latest update could take up to 20 minutes. Please be patient.
I did that and, after 20 minutes, the patch completed the install and Spore booted up. The game ran fine and things worked as you would expect.
So there you have it. If you try to patch your game on your Mac and it freezes up, follow these directions and you’ll be off and running. Get some.
I’m not an angry person, but this is part one of what set me off last night. I bought myself a copy of Spore a little while ago and finally got down to start playing it Thursday night. I installed and fired up the game and was prompted to download a patch. Ok, seems normal. What PC/Mac game doesn’t have patches? What ensued started a fire-storm.
I sat there for literally an hour and a half as this patch downloaded and tried to install. Guess what? It froze up my entire MacBook Pro. Yep, good times. So, I restarted and fired up the game again. Not being prompted for the patch this time, it took (again, no exaggeration) ten minutes for me to get to a point where I could create a new game (I already have a Spore account, so all I had to do was login). After starting a new game, I entered the Cell stage. To my surprise, I had NO creature displayed on my screen. That’s right, I didn’t exist. Yay! Yet another broken piece of the puzzle.
It seems the intarwebs are a bit pissed off at the SecuROM DRM scheme in Spore. You’re allowed 3 activations of the game before you have to call EA for help. When that happens, EA doesn’t even have to allow you any more activations. Sad. People have taken up arms on the Amazon reviews page. Check this one out:
First of all, the game incorporates a draconian DRM system that requires you to activate over the internet, and limits you to a grand total of 3 activations. If you reach that limit, then you’ll have to call EA in order to add one extra activation. That’s not as simple as it sounds, since when you reach that point EA will assume that you, the paying customer, are a filthy pirating thief. You will need to provide proof of purchase, reasons why the limit was reached, etc, etc (it has all happened before with another recent EA product, Mass Effect). EA, of course, is not obligated to grant you that extra activation or even provide that service. In a couple of years they might very well even shut down the general activation servers, because “it’s not financially feasible” to keep them running. What you will be left with is a nice, colorful $50 coaster. And you will be required to pay for another copy/license if you want to continue playing.
Many people are arguing that you’re essentially renting the game, and I can see their point. I hate being penalized for actually buying a PC/Mac game. You’d think game companies want to find ways to reward their paying customers. It’s things like this SecuROM crap that make people want to pirate games even more. I’m debating buying Spore and this fiasco is really leaning me towards not doing it. We’ll see what happens.
This is no bullshit. Christian Rock is a huge, huge market. So huge that this game may go frankincense. Hell, it may even go myrrh. Guitar Hero praise is a music rhythm game that is solely Christian Rock. Now, don’t get me wrong. I am a religious person who was raised Irish Catholic. Yet, many people find these music zealouts to be batshit crazy. Grown men crying when a song comes on just doesn’t sit well with me. Remember that seen in Borat where the guy is speaking in tongues? Its coming out for PC and Mac. We are doing everything we can to get this game for review. No word on whether Faith + 1 will be making an appearance. Hit the jump for the complete set list. For those about to rock, we salute you.
EA dropped a press release today dating Spore worldwide for the weekend of September 7th, 2008. The game will be available for PC, Mac, Nintendo DS, and Mobile Phones.
“The wait is almost over,” said Maxis Chief Designer Will Wright. “We’re in our final stages of testing and polish with Spore, and the team at Maxis can’t wait to see the cosmos of content created by the community later this year.”
I’m not too sure how the game will play out on mobile phones. Spore seems a bit too deep and complex for the platform. Either way, I can’t wait to get my hands on the final game this fall on my MacBook Pro.
Who doesn’t want to jack up a hobo here and there? With Penny Arcade Adventures, you’ll get your chance. The game is looking fairly promising, and will be coming to PC, Mac, and the Xbox Live Marketplace. I wonder why no PSN love?
Mac gamers rejoice. Spore is coming your way. EA announced that Will Wright’s new creature-creating game, Spore, will see the light of day on Mac later this year.
“We couldn’t be happier to bring Spore to the Mac at the same time as the PC version. Spore is a highly creative game and I look forward to seeing what the players come up with to fill the universe they design,” said Will Wright, Chief Designer of Spore.
Since I will be switching to Mac later this year, this is exciting for me. With Mac gaining a lot of market share, I would expect to see more and more games making the jump.
Do you want to curb stomp your friends only on the PC? Well, you better pony up for a LIVE membership, since the game’s multiplayer seems to be locked to only use Games for Windows LIVE servers. Microsoft confirmed the information to CVG today.
Now, some may argue that Games for Windows LIVE is free, but that’s just for the Silver account. To play online, you need a Gold account, which will run you $50 a year, just like Xbox LIVE. This looks to be the first game to pigeon-hole gamers into a LIVE account to get their multiplayer action.
This is sure to piss off a few PC gamers out there who don’t want to pay to play online. I wonder how the Mac version is going to work around this.
[UPDATE] I found out you will be able to play for free with a silver account.
That’s right Mac fans, you’ll get your chance to frag away with both of Epic’s non-console versions here. No longer will you need to use Boot Camp to switch over to Windows.
Mark Rein confirmed the news during Game Head, which airs late Friday nights on SpikeTV. Rein enthusiastically announces in the video:
And don’t forget, we’re also doing Macintosh. Yes, Gears is coming to the Mac and so is UT.
This is great news for anyone thinking that Mac can’t compete in gaming. With most major games now being released simultaneously for Windows and Mac, and John Carmack developing a crazy new game engine on the Mac, there’s little holding anyone back from switching.
We're like Spaceballs... we're making Loot Ninja everything. Coming soon we'll have hats, shirts, hoodies, possibly banana hammocks if one Editor has his way...
Check out the shirt prototypes here and the hats here
