[rant] ... Mash ON SPORE Comic Book Creator - Review - Let the buyer beware !!!

In a word - Disappointing. :scared:

Let the buyer beware ... this software is, well, very disappointing.  Here's a little background.
I have "Comic Book Creator" by Planetwide Games and it works quite well so I figured, What the heck, let's see what this new one has ... Mistake, BIG mistake. (<from the movie "Pretty Woman")

First of all, it took the better part of 15 minutes to load from the CD (finished pgm folder size was only ~ 8 MB).  I felt like I was back on a 300 baud modem.  Anyway, it appears that there was an excessive amount of "chit-chat" over the net during the load process.  I figured that it must be downloading a whole bevy of new colorful and exciting cartoon characters to play with.   WRONG!  After several back and forth iterations of "Please stand by while loading ..." etc., etc., etc.  ad nauseum.

After ~ 15 minutes of back and forth loading operations, it finally asks for the activation code.  If you get it wrong, I guess you might have to start all over.  So I enter the code and, luckily must have gotten it correct because now I am graced with the totally UN friendly "Registration" screen.

No thanks, I don't want to register, I just want to play with the software.  Now, let's see, where IS that cancellation button ... grrr (blood pressure gettin' a little bit higher now)

Anyhow, I open the program and it asks if you want to "Register' ... You must enter your name, address, email addy, mother's maiden name (<just kidding about that one).  After several tries to "cancel" out of the "Registration" window (which you must get passed before you can do anything with the program) (The small "X" in the upper right hand corner of the Registration window has no effect and does not allow you to gracefully exit without registering.  You are almost forced to register in order to use the software whether you want to register or not.

After telling this %@&%#@#&% piece of fecal matter that I DO NOT want to register, DAMN IT !!!!!!! ...

Finally I got to the screen where I could load a sample page layout and see some of the glorious colorful cartoon charaters that appear in the ads for this product.  Guess what - they are not there (on the CD nor your HD - even after ~15 minutes of back and forth well, you know what.)  I thought perhaps I could use some of the "content" from this software with my other program.  WRONG again.  All of the "goodies" appear to be in .swf format and can only be used within this pgm but not by any others.

OK, so let's see some of these colorful characters, ok?  WRONG, again (grrrrr, blood pressure rising more).  In order to "get" (use) the characters, you must "log on" (yup, you guessed it - Must register with mother's maiden name (<just kidding again), etc. before you can get any of the really colorful and exciting cartoon characters.  At this point, I exited the net and unloaded the software (all ~8 MB of it) from my HDD.  It only took a few milliseconds to unload, then why oh why did it take ~ 15 minutes to ... well, you get the picture. :scared:

Oh well, tomorrow's another day ... ;=[[[[[[[[[[[ ... Sorry, had to vent.  Thanks 4 "listening."

I would highly recommend this s/w to all masochists who might be interested.. :scared::

(blood pressure now starting to resume normal levels)

[/rant]

NO cheers,
dr geep
;=]

P.S. This is tooooo long to proof for typos so please excuse and just read around 'em.  Thanks. dg ;=]

When the doc is in need of meds...it ain't a good day.
Swf's...can't they be used in Flash?

Is it linked to EA at all?  They're the proprieters of Spore, so it would only make sense that they make this just as hard to register as the game sigh.  I <3 the game, but I hate the fact that I can't log into my own EA account and play....only one account PER COMPUTER.  But, I can install it on 3 computers.  Make sense?  Nope.  

this is the first time I saw the warm hearted Dr. Geep become angry. O_O

Can U tell.

Here's what happens when you try to install this %@$&%@%$ s/w ...

It starts off fiendly enough, cough, cough ... ;=[

and then after 5 minutes ... :scared:___ YAA !!!!!!!!!!

and then ........................

Color me STOOPID !!! ........... Shudda hit the CANCEL button right here but ...

**NoooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!! ** We gotta try (<dumba$$)

Hmmm, what could be next if we persue this avenue of higher blood pressure ...

stay tuned ... :scared: ...... see what this dumba$$ posts next ... ;=[

Couldda canceled here, also but ...

NoooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!!!!!!!!

;=[

What COULD it be doing ????????????????

Oh, I'm sorry, the first screen said Getting READY to install ... NOT install ///
Only 5 minutes to get READY ???????????????????
Sheeeeesh and I thought I was slow. ... ;=[

Another 7 minutes wasted ... grrrrrrrrrrrrrr :cursing:

.......... stay tuned ... ;=[ ........... if your stomach can take it ..... ;=[

Wait a minute ... You ain't seen nuthin' yet ...........

How's your stomach? ......... Mine's ok ...... (after 1/2 bottle of tums)... (so far)

Stay tuned ... :scared: _________ There's more ???................ Yup (unfortunately)

YAY !!! ..... We're finally getting somewhere ... (maybe) ??? ...................... NOT !!! :cursing: (again)

Stay tuned ... not done yet ... :scared:

Ahhh yes, we need to agree to those terms and conditions, right? ...
Hmmm ... think again :cursing: ___ This is getting to be a BAD habit !!!

Stay with me folks, we're almost done ...... maybe ... ;=[

See, I lied about the ~15 minutes ... It was more like a half an hour ... ;=[

Oh well, let's take a look at those "Terms and Conditions" ................. Uh Oh ... :huh:

Butt ............ How bad can it be? ............ Stay tuned ... :scared:

o.k., thx fr the info, geep. I reckon I'll stick to photoshop. :lol:

Stay tuned ... we're not done yet ...;=[

**I QUIT !!!!!! :cursing:

NO cheers,
dr geep <------------------------------- doesn't have much hair left ... ;=[
;=[

P.S. There's a place to send 'em feedback.  Guess what I did?
I give you 2 guesses and the first 3 don't count, ha ha. :lol:
See, I'm even getting my sense of humor back, if ever so slowly. ... ;=]

P.P.S.  CD has ~650MB but only ~8 MB gets installed, ?????????? What gives?
Maybe I don't want to know ... Do you? (rhet) ... ;=[

 I'm not saying this isn't a PoS.. sure looks like it. But.. You do have Spore installed, right? As far as I have understodd from the promos of this, it's a place where you can assemble screenshots made in Spore and make them into cartoons.

I may be wrong though. My kid has Spore (and the add-on) and is having a lot of fun with it. But this program seems like.. well.. I think I'll stick to Photoshop myself LOL 

(or just add the screenshots into Comic Book Creator which I've also got ;) )

I do wonder what's on the rest of all those megabytes on the cd thogh... But perhaps that's just the EULA...

I gave it back.A program that demands an internet connection installed ,has no chance to survife on my computer.On most programs registriering can be done also with a *.txt file sent by e-mail or access to the website on any other PC.

"I would highly recommend this s/w to all masochists who might be interested.. :"

Interesting, the Marquis de Sade as reincarnated as a software designer!
DPH

@ -Timberwolf-

re: "... gave it back" ??? Gave? or returned for refund.

I am finding that smithmicro's return/refund website is almost as user UNfriendly
as MashON SPORE's installation process. :cursing: .... grrrrrrrrrr

Quote - @ -Timberwolf-

re: "... gave it back" ??? Gave? or returned for refund.

I am finding that smithmicro's return/refund website is almost as user UNfriendly
as MashON SPORE's installation process. :cursing: .... grrrrrrrrrr

Returned for refund ,of course  ;)  

Sounds like a great Christmas gift for Nay Say Guy in 2009.

This sounds a lot like anything related to Steam.  Why do I buy a CD or DVD only to have to wait hours for more crap to download?  Then before I can play the game I have to wade through commercials for crap games.  Then before I shut down the PC I have to wait for Steam to update and close.

Quote - Sounds like a great Christmas gift for Nay Say Guy in 2009.

Purrrfect !!!  Now why didn't I think of that.  it could keep him entertained for weeks just trying to install it on his Atari 400.  But, he would have to transfer the s/w to a casette tape first since the 400 does not have a cd player.

Thanks 4 the suggestion fibbits.

cheers,
dr geep
;=|

Quote - I gave it back.A program that demands an internet connection installed ,has no chance to survife on my computer.On most programs registriering can be done also with a *.txt file sent by e-mail or access to the website on any other PC.

I was suffering from the DocumentViewer.msi affliction this past weekend and found online a little application that promised to fix it. RegCure I think it was called. I downloaded it (on my internet computer) and installed it and it proceeded to read every file on my pc looking for "errors" of different types. Finally the "Fix" button became highlighted, indicating that it was now ready to fix the errors. When clicked, the program instantly tried to connect to the internet.
This little bugger read all my files and tried to phone home. No thanks.

Of course RegCure tried to connect to the internet -- it won't fix any of the problems it "finds" unless you go their site and PAY for it first. Without knowing whether it actually works, mind you. That's a big "Heck, no!" in my books.

Unfortunately, most "free" registery cleaners work that way. And ALL of them disagree on what actually is an error, so Program X may tell you there's 500 while Program Y says it's only 50.

Ok, ok, I returned it.
Spent $10 to get a $20 refund .......... oh well, what the hay.

;=[