This past weekend, the guys responsible for The Sims have released a new game called Spore.   The basic premise is your character starts as a simple organism in the primordial soup of a newly formed planet.  Your job is to guide your little amoeba-like character through its evolution into a space-faring race, and then conqueror the galaxy.  Simple... right?  Well kinda.

First problem... I use only Linux at home.  EA have released this game only for Windows and Mac. [1]

I bought the game from the EA Store with the intent of downloading it direct instead of buying a box set from a shop.  So out came the credit card, and away I went.  Tappity tappity, and my card was charged, and I was all ready to download my new game.  Nope... not possible.  EA requires you to use their proprietary downloader tool... Windows only.  I tried installing the downloader in Cedega, but it was a no-go.  I contacted EA Customer Support asking if there was another way to download the binary... and was not-so-politely told to go away. 

Well, there is always a solution... I fired up my trusty VirtualBox, and booted a Windows XP VM.  I installed the EA downloader there, downloaded and decrypted the Spore installer (for some bizarre reason they "encrypt" the main download).  A bit of fiddling and I had it moved over to my Linux /home. 

Now the test... the big test... will it actually install in Cedega.  I warily launched the installer and to my surprise... it worked... it actually installed with no complaint.  I also installed the DirectX9 Redistributable (part of the Spore install process).

The next test... will the game itself launch... well... it worked!  It actually worked (using the latest Beta RC from Cedega).  Cool.  There are a few minor issues - such as two error messages on startup, but they are not critical and have no impact on gameplay that I can see.

There are a few problems with the game though... DRM being the major one.  EA in all their wisdom implemented one of the stupidest DRM schemes ever in an attempt to limit or stop piracy... they used SecuROM (one of the most hated DRM "solutions" on the planet) and they limit ALL paying customers to 3 activations.. after that you're out of luck and cannot install and play the game anymore.  All they have succeeded to do was alienate a significant portion of their potential customer base, and drive even more people into pirating the software... if only to circumvent the stupidity of the DRM.  To add insult to injury, the crack for the DRM was actually available online several days BEFORE the actual release.  EA 0, Software Pirates 1.  EA lost the fight before they even released the software.  How stupid can they be?

That said, the game is a lot of fun, and I'm really enjoying designing my own spaceships and taking over the galaxy.  If you do decide to give it a try, be aware that the SecuROM DRM stupidity is almost impossible to remove from your computer (assuming you still use Windows) without a reformat and reinstall.

[1] The Mac port was done by Transgaming, the same company that produces Cedega for Linux - the Wine engine you can use to install and play a lot of Windows games in Linux.