The new censorship

As you can see in the comments from users here, the Steam software forces you to upgrade your version of Plants vs Zombies to the GOTY release even if you don't want it. Yes, even if you have disabled automatic updates for that game. They have blatantly ignored the choice made by players to keep the old version of the game, following the rules set by Valve to handle Steam.

This kind of disregard for what the player wants, taking advantage of the power they hold when they fully control your access to the games, is what makes me skeptical about digital downloads. They can tamper with your game in any way they think appropriate. Now they are saying, "oh, sorry, some character in the game may get us sued so we are removing it", but at some point you can log in to your game account and be confronted with a disclaimer telling you that "sorry, a big Earthquake killed 100,000 people in California so the Quake games are in bad taste and you can no longer play them". Or maybe one day you try to play "Rock and Roll Part 2" in a Guitar Hero / Rock Band game but then Gary Glitter is arrested for molesting a child, so then the song gets patched out of the game because some parents complained about it... You know what I mean!

And then I, as a player, will yell "stop screwing me! I just want to play my game in peace! Don't take anything away from me!". But now there's nothing I can do, because in the digital era nobody can hear you scream.

Say goodbye to the MJ zombie

Plants vs Zombies was our Game of the Year for 2009. It had laughs, very clever design and a lot of memorable zombie characters. One of the best ones took inspiration from Michael Jackson and his Thriller video, with hilarious results.

Well, if you haven't bought and played this game yet, be quick, because the old version is going to be pulled from game providers (Steam, etc) and replaced by a different build. Seemingly, after his death it's not funny anymore to laugh with Michael Jackson, even after he's been laughed at for several years now. I don't know what PopCap is going to do to replace that memorable enemy, but it won't be easy to match the kind of inspiration and lunacy the original MJ zombie had.

Goodbye, MJ zombie! We'll miss you!


UPDATE: If you have bought the Steam version of the game, then download it right now and select the "Do not automatically update this game" option to keep the old version. The game takes very little space (25 Mb), so you won't regret it!

2nd UPDATE: Here's the new dancing zombie!

3rd UPDATE: JR just sent me this link, and it's perfectly appropriate to illustrate this situation. Trying to "protect the value of a brand" shutting down everything that looks even remotely as a "copyright infringement" only leads to destroy creativity and can even be counterproductive. If Andy Warhol tried to paint those iconic Campbell soup cans nowadays, he would be sued out of existence. Just think about it.

FINAL UPDATE: Forget about disabling automatic updates. Even if you do that, Steam forcefully upgrades your version to the GOTY release. That's not nice, Valve, that's not nice at all...

POST-FINAL UPDATE: Some guys have found a way to keep MJ in the game. It's not perfect, but it seems to work.