Something has to be done about E.A media

[Friend_Bear]

E.A must be using very, very cheap production methods since I keep having the same problems over and over again, with their CD'S cracking very prematurely, the cracks are always in the same place from the middle outwards, and this is EVEN without usage, they just degrade very quickly and i'm not the only person that this happens too, both of my friends have had problems with E.A CD's, I haven't had any problems with any others.

About a month ago I brought Sims: Superstar and I noticed disc 1 is now starting to show a very small crack in the same places as the others that developed, and I haven't even used it for a month!

So far, my games that have developed cracks in the CD'S for no reason whatsoever are:

C&C Renegade: This was the first one that developed the problems with the CD cracking with/or without usage.

Battle-Field 1942: Straight cut crack from the middle outwards

Battle-Field 1942: Brought a second copy to replace it, same problem after a few months

Sims: Unleashed: Same problem as BF1942

Sims: Unleashed: Again, brought a second copy of the game and noticed yesterday that CD1 is starting to develop a pronounced crack in the same places as before.

Sims: Superstar: Same as above, still can be used but life is rapidly coming to an end.

I'm pretty sure that there must be some laws protecting the consumers from extremely poor media such as this. Has anyone else had problems with E.A products?

[E.T.]

<div class=\"smallfont\">E.A must be using very, very cheap production methods since I keep having the same problems over and over again, with their CD'S cracking very prematurely, the cracks are always in the same place from the middle outwards, and this is EVEN without usage, they just degrade very quickly and i'm not the only person that this happens too, both of my friends have had problems with E.A CD's, I haven't had any problems with any others.

About a month ago I brought Sims: Superstar and I noticed disc 1 is now starting to show a very small crack in the same places as the others that developed, and I haven't even used it for a month!

So far, my games that have developed cracks in the CD'S for no reason whatsoever are:

C&C Renegade: This was the first one that developed the problems with the CD cracking with/or without usage.

Battle-Field 1942: Straight cut crack from the middle outwards

Battle-Field 1942: Brought a second copy to replace it, same problem after a few months

Sims: Unleashed: Same problem as BF1942

Sims: Unleashed: Again, brought a second copy of the game and noticed yesterday that CD1 is starting to develop a pronounced crack in the same places as before.

Sims: Superstar: Same as above, still can be used but life is rapidly coming to an end.

I'm pretty sure that there must be some laws protecting the consumers from extremely poor media such as this. Has anyone else had problems with E.A products?</div>

Thats pretty wild Friend_Bear, I never have had this experience.
Also, I do own three of the titles listed [they look good].

Youre bound to be asked the obvious questions, i.e.:[1] temp variation exposure,[2] handling issues,[3] environment exposures [chemical contact etc],[4] method of storage
[5]What about your CD drive[s]? Are disc getting pinched on insertion?

If youre having this experience w/CD's that are cared for, there must be many others out there w/same problem.[as you indicate].

[Suicides-by-Steve]

<div class=\"smallfont\"> Has anyone else had problems with E.A products?</div>

No never, but I suppose you have these problems kind of like the problems you have climbing ladders in Chrome, or that Shadow Magic is buggy- you seem to find things and problems where none really exist!! :p ;)

I've never had a disc explode, or crack on me, but keep in mind that you have 90 days for the disc to be free of workmanship defects guaranteed. If the disc is cracked, or cracks within that time period, you can send the disc to EA and they'll replace it. Maybe instead of putting the discs in your back pocket, you should keep them in a case instead when taking them to your buddy's house! LOL ;)

[Friend_Bear]

My friend has had similar problems with his media from EA, temperature is always been pretty steady, no contact with chemicals also and I'm careful with my CD's, I still have discs from 1997 that work perfectly and have had much more usage than some of my other stuff, sims superstar is only a few months old and has developed the cracks. My BF1942 last time I played it which was over 4 months ago was in perfect condition, last time I checked it which was about a month ago was totally ruined even though it was just on my shelf and had no usage, it just degraded.

I'm starting to believe that the CD'S have microfractures for some reason, and over a period of time they become gradually worse w/ or w/out use, it doesn't seem to matter. However, the cut is clean each time at first I thought it might have been my CDRW doing it, so I started play the discs on my dvd instead, doesn't seem to matter what I use, and my friend uses a crappy 24X cdrom and his copy of C&C renegade still developed this problem, i've not had any other problems of this nature with any other products, i'll ask my fiancee to take a digi of the CD.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against EA, they make some great games, I just wished they would stop cutting costs on production.

As for Chrome and shadow magic, Chrome has some funky ladder control granted once you're used to it, its fine. Shadow magic definately had some severe bugs on release, however now after several patches its great, the annoying no RTC in multiplayer was annoying, and the save game corruption bug was even worse. fortuntely now its been fixed its definately the best aow.