And then there's the "There was a problem initiating your download. Please try again later." error I get when trying to select my free game. I guess they didn't expect such high traffic volume.

[facepalm]

EA! What a company! Sell 'em (their stock) if you got 'em.

@Armyboy5 I don't know... being a tool disgusts me, but whatever floats your boat.

I think they would have been better off not making this offer only to give people a bunch of games from a completely different genre with a five day window. It seems like they had extensive meetings to determine what titles they could offer that would look good but have the least actual appeal to the type of player that would buy Sim City.

Personally, I think they would have been better off just apologizing and moving on. This smacks of manipulation of the process and leaves me disliking EA more.

@Wawas20 Because it's a half-effort at best. You have 3-7 days (depending on when you get your notice) to download a shooter or clone of an iPhone game; and an additional five days to install it. Why not open the entire catalog under a certain dollar amount so people can pick a game they actually want?

It seems to me that EA is trying to get all the publicity of an apology while doing everything they can to minimize the reality. They probably know that most customers who buy a sim game aren't interested in shooters. In the long run EA ensures that most people won't even pick a game due to the short 3-7 day window and poor selection -- and 75 percent of those that do download something will be getting games they never would have purchased and probably won't actually play. So for the vast majority of us, there's no value here. I certainly don't want any of these games.

It's disingenuous. I was one of the people who said they were taking a good step after this botched roll-out, but now I think they're doing everything they can to make it a de facto non-offer. That sucks. Now I won't even trust an EA apology even if it looks good on paper.

In my opinion, they would have been better off not making this promise and then making all the terms so absurd.