So I bought SIM City 4 Deluxe Edition and went to install it and the game told me that the serial code is invalid. I bought the game brand new and sealed so I was wondering what is going on here. Was it perhaps a knock off copy? After waiting on hold for over 25 mins to talk to an EA rep I was told that the game required EA's version of steam which is called Origin. For those unfamiliar with steam it is basically a copy protection program. No where on the box does it say anything about requiring steam or something like steam. Nor did EA put in some kind of notice in the game saying in order to use this serial you must install Origin. So I had to waste over 30 mins of my time (after discussing the issue with the rep and relaying my disgust with EA's practice of using DRM) all because EA could not take the time to inform their customers. The reason I bought this version rather then the new one was because of the DRM protection and having to use their servers in order to play the new version. So I figured I would avoid that whole mess and buy the older version, I was wrong in that respect. In the end if you buy the deluxe version and then register the serial code using origin you can then download the game and install through origin which allows you to play the game even on Windows 7 pro 64 bit. Not sure if the game locks/crashes any but it does run. Hope this helps.
So I bought SIM City 4 Deluxe Edition and went to install it and the game told me that the serial code is invalid. I bought the game brand new and sealed so I was wondering what is going on here. Was it perhaps a knock off copy? After waiting on hold for over 25 mins to talk to an EA rep I was told that the game required EA's version of steam which is called Origin. For those unfamiliar with steam it is basically a copy protection program. No where on the box does it say anything about requiring steam or something like steam. Nor did EA put in some kind of notice in the game saying in order to use this serial you must install Origin. So I had to waste over 30 mins of my time (after discussing the issue with the rep and relaying my disgust with EA's practice of using DRM) all because EA could not take the time to inform their customers. The reason I bought this version rather then the new one was because of the DRM protection and having to use their servers in order to play the new version. So I figured I would avoid that whole mess and buy the older version, I was wrong in that respect. In the end if you buy the deluxe version and then register the serial code using origin you can then download the game and install through origin which allows you to play the game even on Windows 7 pro 64 bit. Not sure if the game locks/crashes any but it does run. Hope this helps.