Report: Hellgate London Includes Adware

Apparently EA has decided to use Massive's data gathering, to place advertising in their game Hellgate London. While right now they are only using it to put posters on some of the walls in game, they have the ability to do a lot more. Be warned before you just click "accept" on the license agreement.

The Software incorporates technology of Massive Incorporated ("Massive") that enables in-game advertising, and the display of other similar in-game objects, which are uploaded temporarily to your personal computer or game console and replaced during online game play. As part of this process, Massive may collect your Internet protocol address and other basic anonymous information, and will use this information for the general purposes of transmitting and measuring in-game advertising. Massive does not store or use any of this information for the purpose of discovering your personal identity. For additional details regarding Massive's in-game advertising practices, and to understand your options with respect to in-game advertising and data collection, please see Massive's privacy policy. The trademarks and copyrighted material contained in all in-game advertising are the property of the respective owners. Portions of this product are © 2007 Massive Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Consent to Use of Data. You agree that EA, its affiliates, and each Related Party may collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer, including without limitation your Internet Protocol address, operating system, application software and peripheral hardware, that may be gathered periodically to facilitate the provision of software updates, dynamically served content, product support and other services to you, including online play. EA and/or the Related Parties may also use this information in the aggregate and, in a form which does not personally identify you, to improve our products and services and we may share that aggregate data with our third party service providers.

I personally don't mind an advertisement showing in game. However there is no way I should pay $50 for a game that is this intrusive with it. I see no reason they need to know what software and peripherals I have. Be warned before you just click yes on the license agreement.

You can read more about Massive's data gathering on their website.

Thanks to Voodoo Extreme for breaking the story.

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Actually, as bad as this sounds, Massive Network probably has more info than anyone would like to admit about gamers out there. The only difference here is that they will acquire gaming habit data to couple with their pre-existing personal info database, to deliver personalized advertising for each player in-game.

It's no secret that the big brother data-mining corporations already know everything about you.

IP, hardware, and OS is fine with me. But why the heck do they need to take a list of all the software installed is beyond me since they can do validation via the internet and most games will eventually take place online where they can do live validation at all times. No body needs to know about my anime porn apps *sighs*