Codemasters are liars. Simple as that.

[Paradigm Shifter]

OK, having been reading scav's MMMM thread, I spotted that GRID now has a 1.3 patch. Maybe I'm slow? Anyway, I popped on the Codies website to find it, and saw this interesting little snippet:



Notice the bit that says "FREE CHEATS"?

Well, what's your definition of free? Costs nothing, right? Same as mine. Now, knowing that Codemasters are a bit weird, and charge you for custom-unlock codes for various cheats in their games, I thought, "Oh, maybe they've made the GRID cheats free since it's now older..."

WRONG.



When the hell did "FREE" become "PAY MONEY"?



Apparently, in whatever strange little universe that Codemasters occupies... "FREE" equates to £2.99.

Now, I'm sorry, but this requires me to do a doubletake and a loud...

LOLWUT? :doh

...

Now, I'm sorry but I think that's fuckin' cheeky. Free stuff does not cost money.

[Tanuki]

They sell cheats now? What will they think of next, paying for storage space? Ohhhh.

[Paradigm Shifter]

Codemasters have been "selling" their cheats for years. It obviously works, or they wouldn't do it... I imagine most of their income on that front comes from console gamers (kids) who can't be bothered to complete a game to unlock the cheats. I've got a completed GRID save (somewhere) I just thought if they were free, that I'd maybe load GRID up again for a "mess around and have fun" play-through, rather than a "serious" play-through. :)

[GeneralAdmission]

I heard about the pay-for-cheats thing awhile back but never went looking for examples. I can't decide if this is more or less absurd than horse armor.

What really irks me about Codemasters is that they are the primary party causing "licensing issues" resulting in awesome games getting pulled from the GOG.com catalog. I went to buy Operation Flashpoint a couple weeks ago and no dice...it's been gone for more than a year. The GOG staff have posted that they are trying to resolve things but nothing has changed. This has left a number of GOG community members sitting under a collective WTF?

[The_cranky_hermit]

When the hell did "FREE" become "PAY MONEY"?

You just realized this? This particular scam dates back at least to P.T. Barnum. Surely you must have heard of Columbia Record Club, or cereal box tops, or one of the bazillion "free reward" companies that popped up and vanished within the past decade.

[Soduka]

I heard about the pay-for-cheats thing awhile back but never went looking for examples. I can't decide if this is more or less absurd than horse armor.

What really irks me about Codemasters is that they are the primary party causing "licensing issues" resulting in awesome games getting pulled from the GOG.com catalog. I went to buy Operation Flashpoint a couple weeks ago and no dice...it's been gone for more than a year. The GOG staff have posted that they are trying to resolve things but nothing has changed. This has left a number of GOG community members sitting under a collective WTF?

Wow, a year? Last time I was on GOG it was still available. Time has passed alright...

[StingingVelvet]

I didn't even know Operation Flashpoint was on GOG, I would have bought it.

[GeneralAdmission]

I didn't even know Operation Flashpoint was on GOG, I would have bought it.

Had they announced the game was going to get pulled by a certain date--like they did for Dirt and TOCA 3--I would have definitely purchased it. Sadly, now games just vanish without warning.

[StingingVelvet]

[quote]I didn't even know Operation Flashpoint was on GOG, I would have bought it.

Had they announced the game was going to get pulled by a certain date--like they did for Dirt and TOCA 3--I would have definitely purchased it. Sadly, now games just vanish without warning.

That is indeed lame.

I make sure to have backup copies of all my GOG purchases, just in case. I don't trust them to be around or offering the same wares in a few years like I do Steam or other such services.

[GeneralAdmission]

I make sure to have backup copies of all my GOG purchases, just in case. I don't trust them to be around or offering the same wares in a few years like I do Steam or other such services.

Yeah I do the same with my GOG library. I'm hoping GOG will be around for a long time. The fact that they landed Activision on their service I take as a good sign. If they are able to get EA or Lucasarts or both then I would see that as an indication of a very healthy business. Fingers crossed....

[Paradigm Shifter]

When the hell did "FREE" become "PAY MONEY"?

You just realized this? This particular scam dates back at least to P.T. Barnum. Surely you must have heard of Columbia Record Club, or cereal box tops, or one of the bazillion "free reward" companies that popped up and vanished within the past decade.

It's the first time I've seen it for PC games, outside of spam and phishing attempts.

I want F1 2010, but now I might think again...

At this rate, it won't be long before the only damned games I buy are indie ones, as all the big publishers seem to be on a mission to get me to boycott them at the minute.

[StingingVelvet]

[quote]I make sure to have backup copies of all my GOG purchases, just in case. I don't trust them to be around or offering the same wares in a few years like I do Steam or other such services.

Yeah I do the same with my GOG library. I'm hoping GOG will be around for a long time. The fact that they landed Activision on their service I take as a good sign. If they are able to get EA or Lucasarts or both then I would see that as an indication of a very healthy business. Fingers crossed....

Landing Activision and a second round of Ubisoft products tells me they definitely make a profit for the publishers, so it encourages me as well. I am a box collector now-a-days and want these games in their boxed versions, but for $5.99 with no DRM and updated installers and such it is nice to get the GOG version, burn it to a CD and then put it in my old box for safe keeping. Steam has no such temptation.

[scavvenjahh]

Liars ?
Register any of these games and you will really get a FREE cheat/unlock. (A totally dispensable one of course, in a list of much more exciting codes that you can... buy.)

So they're basically trying to strip games of part of their content and sell it. For Codies, cheats are "DLC"...

Codemasters are publishers, and publishers are low-down rats. Simple as that :?

[Paradigm Shifter]

*sigh*

They have a button saying "FREE CHEATS"... which takes you to a page which demands money. To my mind, that is saying one thing then doing another... or forcing you to.

Oh, forget it.

[whismerhill]

I agree Paradigm Shifter
they are not the only business doing that though ...