Battlefield 2142 comes with spyware.

K

kingrob

Guest
http://www.shacknews.com/ja.zz?id=13049860

Nice one, EA. I won't be buying this game, or ANY other game from EA ever again!

Here's the 'disclaimer' that EA sends with the game:

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/7315/igavy2.jpg

And here is the announcement from the advertising company :

EA signs agreement to bring Dynamic In-Game Advertising (DIGA) to select titles 31 AUG 2006
Agreement with IGA Worldwide Provides Cross Platform In-Game Ad Solutions for Global Advertisers Redwood City, CA/Chertsey, UK, August 31, 2006 – Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced an agreement with IGA Worldwide Inc., a leading independent in-game advertising network, in a move to offer marketers new dynamic advertising possibilities in select EA franchises on a global basis. Through the agreement, a portfolio of EA games will be incorporated into the IGA Worldwide network. Financial terms of today’s agreement were not disclosed.

The initial EA title to incorporate dynamic in-game advertising via IGA Worldwide is Battlefield 2142™, developed by DICE in Stockholm, Sweden. Fans of the franchise will see new, realistic brand presence integrated into contextually relevant game environments across the platforms and across the geographies where they play. At least two additional EA titles will offer dynamic ad serving capabilities through the course of the agreement with IGA Worldwide.

“Consumers are increasingly gaming in deep, virtual worlds and advertisers need adapted ways to reach these audiences,” said Frank Sagnier, Vice President for Online and Strategic Relationships for EA in Europe. “The agreement with IGA Worldwide is a first step in a detailed strategy to deliver advertising in a seamless format. We are continually looking at how to bring more connected experiences and services to consumers, and working with a network like IGA Worldwide is a start to building this dimension of our business.”

“At IGA Worldwide, we are establishing a global advertising network with the consumer reach to rival any cable channel, yet with the proven advantages of engagement, measurability and consistently hitting the demographic sweet spot,” said Justin Townsend, CEO for IGA Worldwide. “EA’s strategic commitment to the space is one that many leading advertisers have been waiting for, and no advertiser should even think about building a comprehensive marketing campaign without considering in-game advertising as a key component of their overall advertising spend.”

About Electronic ArtsElectronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for videogame systems, personal computers and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTSTM, EATM, EA SPORTS BIGTM and POGOTM. In fiscal 2006, EA posted revenue of $2.95 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

Electronic Arts, EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS BIG, and POGO are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S and/or other countries. Battlefield 2142 is a trademark of Digital Illusions CE AB. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
 
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Toxin

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Bleh, whatever, It was bound to happen sooner or later. I'll still be playing 2142. So they're gonna have ads, as long as it doesn't influence my gaming negatively I can't be bothered.
 

Tsimo

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Jan 20, 2006
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it should be pretty easy to stop. just monitor the traffic and put that domian in your host file with a 127.0.0.1 Ip.
 

Syndyre

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Whether its easy to stop or not they still shouldn't be doing it. Especially on something you pay for.
 

Darth Garth

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it should be pretty easy to stop. just monitor the traffic and put that domian in your host file with a 127.0.0.1 Ip.

Do you not think they have not thought about that one ??? ;).

They will sent it down as new texture data with future game updates and patches and multiplayer maps have the game engine render it in real time which is rather impossible to stop.
 

doobiwan

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@Toxin,

It's not the in game advertising I have a problem with, it's the spyware they're installing to watch you when you're not playing that annoys me.

Remember the Sony DRM debacle? Who says they aren't using the same software?
 

w1z4rd

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EA Games has hit a new low. I wont be ordering this... and I was looking so forward to the release.
 

Toxin

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@Toxin,

It's not the in game advertising I have a problem with, it's the spyware they're installing to watch you when you're not playing that annoys me.

Remember the Sony DRM debacle? Who says they aren't using the same software?

Here:

Oh, and from a legal and logical standpoint this isn't spyware. There's a notice inside of the game box and it's been clearly stated publicly that it will not gather any information aside from the time you spend looking at the ads.

This will easily be proven by geeks with protocol tools the day of pub release :)

This is from Total Battlefield 2142 forums

Data will only be gathered from in game. Web browsing and other profiling data is not being gathered.

Squib has essentially nailed it. The purpose of the gathering is to determine if an ad is viewed by players.

Source

As I have mentioned before (in other threads/interviews) there will be no adverse affects on players from the advertising aspect. It will not impact gameplay at all. You most definitely will not receive any emails or other forms of solicitation due to this.

I will add that if any of you do receive negative solicitation related to anything Battlefield please let me know.

Source

The information that is gathered is specifically related to the ingame ads themselves and not anything personally related to you.

There is no additional spy ware software installed secretly to your machine.

Source
 

w1z4rd

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are they trying to say its okay to just install their spyware?
 

killadoob

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its not that bad man

its ingame and doesnt affect anything else in windows

geez

i think they are allowed to monitor the advertising of their game

spyware watches your every move

this watches your game and nothing else

hardly the same thing
 

doobiwan

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Fair enough from your quotes, but according to the admittedly 3rd hand reports the in box card says differently. I guess we'll only know when we see it.
 

louisp

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May 23, 2004
Messages
662
Still,

It's not right of EA to watch ANY of my moves????

Even if it is only in-game.

To be honest, it doesn't actually matter, but the principle sucks. In essence, they will be gathering data based on my personal behaviour and sending it back to advertising agencies.

:(
 

w1z4rd

Karmic Sangoma
Joined
Jan 17, 2005
Messages
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Still,

It's not right of EA to watch ANY of my moves????

Even if it is only in-game.

To be honest, it doesn't actually matter, but the principle sucks. In essence, they will be gathering data based on my personal behaviour and sending it back to advertising agencies.

:(

agreed. and this is how it starts... first this little bit, then how long until game play is interrupted to break to commercials?
 

ort1

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Telkom - Touch Tomorrow

Telkom is Africa's leading integrated communication company. We provide high quality services to all our customers.

Thank you, you may now continue reading this thread...:cool:
 

BCO

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OMFG that sucks. "Pepsi", way to ruin the post-apocalyptic wasteland battlefield vibe.

F_ck EA.
 

w1z4rd

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See? Now you're just talking crazy. :rolleyes:

To give people an idea of what we're talking about. BF2142 ads


Your comment is pretty strange and I think you need to read your history a little. When someone mentioned to people when they first got tv`s that their program might be interrupted by an advert... people said pretty much the same thing as you are saying now.

You give a corporation a bone.. its takes the whole body, community and society in with it.
 

Toxin

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Telkom is Africa's leading integrated communication company. We provide high quality services to all our customers.

Thank you, you may now continue reading this thread...:cool:

Oh and BTW, huh?

Is there any meaning here or are you just spamming?

Your comment is pretty strange and I think you need to read your history a little. When someone mentioned to people when they first got tv`s that their program might be interrupted by an advert... people said pretty much the same thing as you are saying now.

You give a corporation a bone.. its takes the whole body, community and society in with it.

I won't forget to add the [sarcasm] quotes next time for you. ;)

OMFG that sucks. "Pepsi", way to ruin the post-apocalyptic wasteland battlefield vibe.

F_ck EA.

[sarcasm]Yep, that's definately gonna ruin my gameplay experiance.[/sarcasm] :rolleyes:

See sarcasm quotes. :)
 
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