Condemnations of G2 Games and New Era Interactive Software (HK) Ltd

Five months ago, I bought a copy of the creepy adventure game Scratches: Director's Cut. This Director's Cut differs from the original Scratches in that the former has greatly improved user interface, graphics and sound effects as well as a new chapter of game. Nucleosys, the developer of the game, recently has also released a free update of several hundred MB in size to Director's Cut, making the game more detailed.

五個月前，我購入了鬼氣森森的歷險遊戲 Scratches: Director's Cut。它和原裝 Scratches 的分別，在於前者大大改善了介面和影音效果，亦加入了一章新內容。此外，遊戲的開發者 Nucleosys 最近亦為 Director's Cut 發放了一份幾百個 MB 的免費更新檔案，令遊戲場景更加細緻。

Since I have been busy, I haven't opened the game package until this week. After I opened up the cardbox, there was a keep case. At this point I started to notice something unusual: the name of the game as printed on the cardbox is Scratches: Director's Cut, but on the keep case it is Scratches: Special Edition.

由於之前事忙，直到本週我才把遊戲拆封。拆開包裝紙盒，裏面還有個塑膠盒，這時我開始發現有點不對頭了：怎麼紙盒外邊寫的是 Scratches: Director's Cut，但膠盒上印著的卻是 Scratches: Special Edition?

Nonetheless, I installed the game. Then I tried to install the update to Director's Cut, but to no avail. This "Special Edition" was published by the British-based G2 Games and distributed in Hong Kong by New Era Interative Software (HK) Ltd. I sent an email to Agustin Cordes, the author of Scratches, and asked what is the difference between Director's Cut and Special Edition. Here is his reply:

無論如何，我也先安裝了遊戲，再嘗試安裝 Director's Cut 的更新檔，但不成功。這套 Special Edition 由英國的 G2 Games 發行，在香港由 New Era Interative Software (HK) Ltd 代理。我發了電郵給 Scratches 的作者 Agustin Cordes，詢問到底 Director's Cut 和 Special Edition 有何分別，以下是他的回覆：

Hi [my name],

I'm afraid you have been cheated. G2 Games signed a contract with us
for the original edition of Scratches. They sold copies yet we never
saw a single penny from them. They're now selling the game through
another distributor and shamelessly putting the "Director's Cut" title
on the box to confuse customers everywhere.

Needless to say, the copy you have is a scam. I would complain to both
New Era and G2 Games about this. I personally can't do anything - I
would gladly sue G2 but the effort and cost is not worth it. We should
warn everyone about this situation though.

Best regards,
Agustin

Since I've thrown away the purchase invoice, I cannot return the game to the retailer. Here I would like to make two statements:

1. I condemn G2 Games for its dispicable act of cheating the game developer and consumers, and I call for a consumer boycott against any games published by G2 Games.
2. I also condemn New Era Interative Software (HK) Ltd, for it has not only imported games from a dishonest publisher, but also performed no check on whether the games insede the cardboxes were the supposed ones. This not only caused financial losses to consumers, but also dashed expectations.
   

由於我早已把發票丟掉，因此沒得退貨。我謹此作出兩項聲明：

1. 本人譴責 G2 Games 欺騙遊戲開發商及消費者的卑劣行為，並呼籲消費者罷買任何由 G2 Games 發行的遊戲。
2. 本人亦譴責 New Era Interative Software (HK) Ltd 不但從不誠實的商人手中進貨，還沒有檢查貨品是否對辦，令消費者在蒙受金錢損失之外，還要期望落空。