DriftSPace

I called this months ago, and plenty of you responded saying I was wrong.

Anyhow, the thing that sucks about this for me personally is that it may be one less title I purchase for Wii U; I wasn't stoked on the GamePad mechanics, and trophies for a game like this are hard to pass-up.

This game was one of the reasons I bought a Wii U.

As long as EA doesn't get Darksiders I don't care one bit about this ...

(Maybe I don't care anyway since Joe Madureira left Vigil...)

Yes, my parents bought one for my kids this week; it was the deluxe model, and they are also getting Scribblenauts.

I don't know about "sold out" either; my parents reported plenty at W*Mart and Toys'R'Us. I had been checking on-line earlier and found a couple Target stores that had them in-stock as well.

I guess I'm done with the Darksiders franchise now.

@tourgen said:

If class action is busted then it should be fixed not removed.

Welcome to western ideology; instead of solving the problem, we'll just treat the symptom.

@studnoth1n said:

I hate to sound facile on the subject, but based on personal experience, the language of law, well, they make it up as they go. The company is merely an institution with virtually unlimited resources to draw from to better define that language which would inevitably benefit their own best interests. Some here say it's no big deal and doesn't impact them, but you're looking at the short-term only, to which I would say it's high time you increase your purview, if only so you're not so easily taken advantaged.

Amen, but since there is usually a modicum of effort required to "increase" one's "purview," most people would rather say "fuck it; it's just video games." Argh, self-improvement is such a bitch, but now you want us to improve the social self instead of just myself?

@Psychohead said:

I would honestly be more concerned about the "erosion of my rights" if class-action lawsuits weren't already completely fucked from stem to stern anyway. Nevermind the already dubious nature of EULAs as a whole, quite aside from all this.

I appreciate that you're righteous and concerned, Patrick, I really do. And I want you to keep doing what you do with the passion you posses. I just don't see any reason to raise arms about something that's already as impotent as this.

While you are right, and it's totally true that the system is "completely fucked from stem to stern," it is only that way because consumers are mostly uneducated idiots who don't read the contracts they sign. If more people are made aware of the magnitude to which things are actually "fucked," then it can change, and Patrick is doing his part to amend this impotency. While it currently is a factual state of things, it doesn't have to remain that way. Being involved in politics can certainly start with a bunch of people just having a conversation.

@HerbieBug said:

This isn't legally enforceable. If any of these companies does something worthy of incurring a class action suit, you can be sure the courts will toss out that clause like so much rubbish.

State of Washington says it is, and when you agree to a contract with a company located in a state you agree to be bound by the laws of that state. Arbitration is perfectly legal, though a judge does have to review the results of the arbitration and rule whether or not it's legitimate.

The sketchy thing is that the corporation hires the arbitrator, so it's like having judge and jury on the defendant's payroll. Also, the court system is so backed-up that judges reviewing arbitration don't actually have the time to judge the results based upon the facts (except for the facts presented through the lens of the "impartial" arbitrator who was hired by the corporation) so they just crank them through the system.

@Dopey2400:

EA, class-action lawsuit for unpaid wages to Ultima-Online "volunteers." Not stupid, and not a waste of time at all; some "volunteers" were paid over $1,000 just for adding their name to a list and submitting their case to the pool. There's nothing stupid about the right for consumers to unify against a corporation; a lot of times that's the only way an average human being can right a wrong imposed upon them by a wealthy, multi-national corporation. Without these rights -- which are slowly dwindling, and will continue to do so with ignorant attitudes like yours -- corporations will be telling you what do do, what to eat, where to shit, and what to think. Use your brain before it becomes property of someone else, "Dopey."

Edit: Yeah, that's right: delete that post (which I should have quoted).

@SmokePants: Well said. Newell isn't even responsible for this; Valve's lawyers are the ones picking the "low-hanging fruit," as you said. While it's true that these are "just video games," this kind of trend represents something alarming which has been taking-place for a number of decades: corporations having more rights than regular people, and the general indication that the amount of money to which one has access directly determines the perceived social value of their ideology and their value as a human being. That seems ... wrong, because lots of people have lots of money because they found creative ways to screw people who didn't know any better.

mattman734:What would anybody possibly sue a game company for anyway? Just don't buy a game if it doesn't meet whatever made up legal stuff you think it should.

Why ask this question when someone is going out of their way to give you less rights as a consumer? That would be like a part in a movie where someone hands the antagonist a nuclear weapon and says: "Sure, you can take this from me; I don't really have a use for it anyway, and can't imagine anything bad you might do with it."

Lack of imagination does not constitute a lack of importance, nor does it indicate a lack of social magnitude or meaning. "Made up legal stuff" is exactly what caused unwitting folks who used "free" file-sharing software to have 6-figure judgements made against them due to copyright infringement; "Made up legal stuff" can ruin your entire life. Those people said the same thing: "It's just music," or "it's just a movie."