- Jan 23, 2007
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A few years back my wife bought a retail boxed CD copy of a kids learning game called "Itzabitza"
http://sabigames.com/kids-games/itzabitza/
It's basically a kids learning game where they draw things, and it helps them to learn to read, etc.
Since I tend to nuke my hard drive every few years and start over, we prefer to buy retail CD copy for ease of reinstalling.
This time around, my PC died completely, so I'm reinstalling everything. Trouble is, this game won't reinstall. Ok, actually it installs completely, but it won't run. It keeps asking me to enter the CD key from the CD sleeve, and then it tries to authenticate online, but fails.
When it failed, I found a lot of other people complaining about the same thing, because the retail CD version is still being sold on Amazon. My request to the company for a license file to allow us to install our full retail copy was met with a short email reply saying that the game was no longer supported, and we were out of luck. They suggested that we install STEAM and buy the game a second time.
I also found the company's stance laid out here:
http://sabigames.com/support/
Which again, basically says "we no longer activate old copies".... "we realize this is not ideal for you"..... and then directs us to STEAM so that they can have us purchase the same game again.
In the past, whenever there was a problem like this, (Bejeweled, for example, from Popcap), the company involved would release a workaround that let folks at least install their game properly.
Is there anything we can do, other than paying them twice, in order to get this working?
Asked and answered. Closing this before things get dicey.
Anandtech Moderator
KeithTalent
http://sabigames.com/kids-games/itzabitza/
It's basically a kids learning game where they draw things, and it helps them to learn to read, etc.
Since I tend to nuke my hard drive every few years and start over, we prefer to buy retail CD copy for ease of reinstalling.
This time around, my PC died completely, so I'm reinstalling everything. Trouble is, this game won't reinstall. Ok, actually it installs completely, but it won't run. It keeps asking me to enter the CD key from the CD sleeve, and then it tries to authenticate online, but fails.
When it failed, I found a lot of other people complaining about the same thing, because the retail CD version is still being sold on Amazon. My request to the company for a license file to allow us to install our full retail copy was met with a short email reply saying that the game was no longer supported, and we were out of luck. They suggested that we install STEAM and buy the game a second time.
I also found the company's stance laid out here:
http://sabigames.com/support/
Which again, basically says "we no longer activate old copies".... "we realize this is not ideal for you"..... and then directs us to STEAM so that they can have us purchase the same game again.
In the past, whenever there was a problem like this, (Bejeweled, for example, from Popcap), the company involved would release a workaround that let folks at least install their game properly.
Is there anything we can do, other than paying them twice, in order to get this working?
Asked and answered. Closing this before things get dicey.
Anandtech Moderator
KeithTalent
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