User information for Tim

Real Name
Tim
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Doombringer
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July 23, 2008
Total Posts
117 (Novice)
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52021
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117 Comments. 6 pages. Viewing page 1.
Newer [  1  2  3  4  5  6  ] Older
3.
 
Re: Blizzard on Overwatch 2 Review Bombing
Aug 18, 2023, 22:37
3.
Re: Blizzard on Overwatch 2 Review Bombing Aug 18, 2023, 22:37
Aug 18, 2023, 22:37
 
"We just couldn't deliver." Yes, the small indie studio named Blizzard.

I'm sorry, we wouldn't buy that in the 90's and we certainly aren't buying it now. Blizzard of Olde wouldn't have shipped a game until i was ready, and if they promised a feature they'd make it happen. That's how they got so big.

Blizzard of Now is a gigantic AAA studio so you can't say you lack manpower, money, or time. What you also have is an overlord problem, where Activision is ultimately running your studio and it shows.

Hopefully Microsoft will rule more from afar and let them make games without mandatory modern-era garbage like random loot boxes, a preponderance of season passes and gated content, and schemes like "Overwatch 2" being a glorified patch to the original game.
2.
 
Re: Evening Metaverse
Apr 22, 2023, 06:27
2.
Re: Evening Metaverse Apr 22, 2023, 06:27
Apr 22, 2023, 06:27
 
Elon's mess of a feature with the blue checkmark is an example of what happens when he makes decisions, personally, versus just paying the salaries of people with actual brains in their heads.
28.
 
Re: Op Ed
May 6, 2022, 12:04
28.
Re: Op Ed May 6, 2022, 12:04
May 6, 2022, 12:04
 
Bill Borre wrote on May 4, 2022, 12:28:
I'm not sure why letting states decide is such a disaster for abortion supporters. Sure a young lady might have to buy a bus ticket to California but is that really so onerous?

Yes, it is. This is a free country. If we're going to start walling off states on issues like this, it won't stop. They're demonstrating that already and it's eroding what should be inalienable rights.

As it is, these states aren't simply running abortion providers out. They're happily making abortion illegal for residents, no matter where they receive said abortion. So that person "taking a bus to California" can face prosecution or litigation when they return home. They'll also be unable to buy post-coitus contraceptives like Plan B and will have to unlawfully seek it as if it were a scheduled substance.

This if the United States of f'in America and freedoms are supposed to be part and parcel with that, but some religious zealous are getting way, way too powerful and prominent -- anything that offends their eye risks getting outlawed in a large number of states where Conservatives dominate.
9.
 
Re: BlizzCon Paused & Reimagined
Oct 26, 2021, 23:00
9.
Re: BlizzCon Paused & Reimagined Oct 26, 2021, 23:00
Oct 26, 2021, 23:00
 
Reimagined meaning "please don't come to the show and try to put us on blast about our bad behavior" ...

They'll probably keep it online-only going forward. It allows them much more control over the Q&A and their exposure, when and how the panels go, and there's no pressure on the staff to work long hours prepping for the live event. Overall I think those are good things.
15.
 
Re: Op Ed
Aug 1, 2021, 10:46
15.
Re: Op Ed Aug 1, 2021, 10:46
Aug 1, 2021, 10:46
 
Darks wrote on Jul 31, 2021, 23:52:
You guys are really delusional if you think unionization is the answer to fixing this problem. I grew up back east, and I know all to well what Unions do to companies. once they are in, its a nightmare to get them back out once you see the real effect they have. Union Dues, then comes complaints about better pay, and benefits, and so on and so forth. This all translates back to higher cost in development and this will effect the price of games.

This is bad in the worst way possible, and you guys really need to take a step back and see this for what it really is.

It will get to the point where they will take development outside the US just to remove this possibility.

My dad was part of the UAW for nearly his entire career. They weren't great, but the alternative was that automakers in general, or his in particular, would get away with a LOT more crap behavior concerning their employees.

Game devs are in a better spot to unionize versus infotech. Game development is historically poorer for outsourcing especially to teams that are half a world away from the core designers. There are a lot of nuances and to develop these AAA titles, studios want to keep their talent as close to home as possible. It makes for a higher quality product and a smoother development. Not to say that their processes aren't flawed by publisher demands and timelines, but that's a different story.
28.
 
Hmm
Nov 6, 2018, 08:58
28.
Hmm Nov 6, 2018, 08:58
Nov 6, 2018, 08:58
 
I don't know, I'm calling BS on this.

Starcraft 2 has been out forever and there's no SC 3 announcement. Really, there doesn't "have" to be, as SC 2 still a fine game that can be expanded upon. So is Diablo 3.

Diablo 4 would be like Blizzard announcing a World of Warcraft 2, or an Overwatch 2. It's not supremely necessary to increment the "counter" by one right now. I could be very, very wrong, but Blizz in recent years hasn't been one to throw out sequels for the sake of it.

I do believe that Diablo has been in development turmoil however. Apparently it's enough to have some higher-up think a quick cash grab of a Mobile title, leveraging NetEase, would be enough to mollify players. It's done the exact opposite.
4.
 
Oohh...
Dec 19, 2017, 10:34
4.
Oohh... Dec 19, 2017, 10:34
Dec 19, 2017, 10:34
 
Finally a Rock & Roll Racing sequel?

Not that we need it, but that would be... interesting.
44.
 
feature creep
Nov 29, 2017, 16:17
44.
feature creep Nov 29, 2017, 16:17
Nov 29, 2017, 16:17
 
Star Citizen is the epitome of "feature creep" by now. They can't apparently release a game with a set of key features and a certain area to play in, and expand from there... they just keep expanding without releasing anything. And people are giving them money for this. This time around it's "here's a gigantic colony ship" ... what's the next one to add in, a Dyson Sphere you can pilot about?

They should have come up with a great ship-to-ship sim game, with a handful of good features and decent graphics. Get it solid, stable, playable, and fun. Release. Then begin bolting on features in expansions or a sequel, or even a threequel. And so on. You essentially have a space sim MMO here... so build it like one.

Chris is really trying to release World of Warcraft TODAY without any of the 12+ years of releases and development that came before today's product.

And he's selling virtual ships and now parcels of digital land...
10.
 
Hearthstone
May 2, 2017, 09:36
10.
Hearthstone May 2, 2017, 09:36
May 2, 2017, 09:36
 
I loved the idea of Hearthstone and still think it can be a supremely fun game ... but someone said "it's about chasing the meta" and that is so true.

The minute they started releasing big card-packs/expansions in fairly rapid succession, I stopped playing and following the game. It quickly became a "get the latest cards" and "find the most OP deck and copy it". We're now, what, 4 or 5 expansions in? There are so many cards out there, their attempt to "exclude" certain packs and make Standard vs. Wild games isn't helping. For me.

TL;DR -- too difficult for new players to get into with the massive pile of cards/expansions, too difficult for old-timers to get *back* into for the same reason.
1.
 
id
Dec 8, 2016, 15:42
1.
id Dec 8, 2016, 15:42
Dec 8, 2016, 15:42
 
Early id Software is one of my favorite companies to read about. Right up there with early Blizzard.

That era (the late 80s, early 90s) was game-studio nirvana. This was before all the corporate BS came in. You had a bunch of young, talented folks in an office park somewhere... turning out world-changing games. And that was it. "Here's this amazing game as shareware. Like it? Buy the rest." What a time to be alive.
31.
 
Re: Doom, verticality
May 9, 2016, 15:18
31.
Re: Doom, verticality May 9, 2016, 15:18
May 9, 2016, 15:18
 
CJ_Parker wrote on May 9, 2016, 12:35:
It applies more than ever. Back in the day when id games were PC exclusive and Carmack was still on board, people bought the latest id game not just for the game but also as benchmarks for what is the visual state of the art in gaming. I was one of them. I wasn't even that interested in the Dooms or Quake 1 + 2 or Q3A as a game but I did not want to miss out on the graphical spectacle.

This new Doom? Laughable garbage. Low detail, slow pace, little variety, everything is low res, zoomed in and XXL for controller friendliness, same goes for the lack of vertical gameplay, everything happens in a narrow band in front of the player so controllers basically only need to be moved left/right and only slightly up/down.
The console compromises here are plain as day to see for anyone with an eye for the analytical detail of why a game is made as it is and I'm more than happy to share my expertise with y'all (even if most of ya don't deserve it! ).

You're complaining about a lack of vertical gameplay in a Doom game... which never had a variety of vertical gameplay (beyond a few platforms or stairs). In fact, you couldn't even mouselook up and down in classic Doom or Doom 2...

A lot of people could argue that too much vertical play is actually UN-Doomish and not something they want. And "controller friendliness"? The original Doom had how many controls exactly? Weapon swaps, strafe, shoot... not even reload! And the display... huge numbers for health and ammo and armor.

Did we play the same classic Doom?
40.
 
Re: Romero
Apr 29, 2016, 16:01
40.
Re: Romero Apr 29, 2016, 16:01
Apr 29, 2016, 16:01
 
mram wrote on Apr 29, 2016, 15:06:
I would venture to bet that those people who contributed to this kickstarter are doing it solely out of blind devotion to Doom and his Doom legacy, and have absolutely no memory of Daikatana or how he had a significant hand in blowing up Ion Storm, or the infamous "John Romero is going to make you his bitch."

He's the very definition of "risky bet" which is the only reason he stopped to actually produce something. There's no way any sane person with memory of the above events would give that person a dime on a whisper and promise of a game, without something to show for it... and I think he knows that. Now.

Yep, he did have a lot to do with blowing up ION Storm. But all those id guys were riding VERY high at the time and they believed their own hype. Fortunately ION Storm helped give us Deus Ex, which is a less jagged pill to swallow compared to Daikatana.

And the "bitch" campaign was supposedly helmed by a woman advert/marketing lead, so there's that.

Romero doesn't have any more "pull" or "cred" than, say, Chris Roberts -- and what was the last great thing that Chris did? Privateer or something? How many years ago? And, he was involved pretty heavily with the Wing Commander feature film, which was a stinker compared to the narrative in the games? How many failed ventures did Chris have, including Digital Anvil? Yet Chris raised a TON of Kickstarter dough with just a handful of dreams and wishes. He and Romero were (and probably still are) a lot alike, especially at the point when they both made a Kickstarter for a passion project.
43.
 
Re: Quake
Apr 26, 2016, 09:03
43.
Re: Quake Apr 26, 2016, 09:03
Apr 26, 2016, 09:03
 
ForgedReality wrote on Apr 25, 2016, 20:53:
Remember back when Quake was first announced, and it was supposed to be all about this dude with an axe in like medieval times or whatever, and you were supposed to be able to hit things with your axe and you could chop wood and lop off limbs and stuff and if you fell, you'd tumble realistically and stuff... All this crazy Romerohype that basically never saw the light of day. It was to be this crazy realistic shit, and look at what we got instead. XD Romero is full of shit.

I have to set the record straight here, because Romero gets crap he doesn't deserve, but if you did some research you'd know. Quake's development cycle went way off the rails, and it wasn't because of Romero's design doc. Yeah, he had plans for it... they weren't any more or less crazy than what they came up with for Doom. The id guys cribbed ideas left and right from Dungeons & Dragons, which they played. So an axe or hammer-wielding warrior with fantasy elements wasn't that strange a concept for Quake.

Quake's engine took too long to sort out, and they had to rush the "creative" side of it toward the end of development. Any truly interesting ideas were stripped out and what we got was more of a tech demo than an actual game... I mean really, who remembers Quake for any of its design i.e. enemies or weapons, like we remember Doom or Duke 3D?

And Daikatana... the game had some great ideas, but execution was flawed. They aimed too high with too green a team at ION Storm. It definitely could have and should have been handled better.
18.
 
Steam comms
Dec 31, 2015, 10:43
18.
Steam comms Dec 31, 2015, 10:43
Dec 31, 2015, 10:43
 
Steam's communications team sucks. Typical Valve in that regard. For a company that's as well-regarded as they are ... all the good press is because they butter us up with sales. Their support blows.

TB calls them out on this and I found his comments were on point. We've been giving Valve a pass on almost everything and ... sure, I love a Steam Sale, but they need better support, communications, accountability. No other major retailer would get so much glad-handing as Valve does.
14.
 
Visuals, fun. Everything else, ehh.
Oct 13, 2015, 14:14
14.
Visuals, fun. Everything else, ehh. Oct 13, 2015, 14:14
Oct 13, 2015, 14:14
 
The environments and visuals, plus sound design, are all spot on. You feel like you're playing something truly Star Wars-y.

Unfortunately everything drops off after that. The spawn system has you constantly being picked off from every angle, no place is safe. The accuracy allows players to blast you (not the sniper rifle, just the default blaster) from way too far away. It's really hard to feel like you're gaining or holding ground when all this comes together.

The card system is OK, but I liked "classes" better. The power-ups are acceptable. The vehicles aren't very fun, especially the AT-ATs on rails and most of the fighters.

Overall most matches boil down to: who has the high ground, and are they going to snipe you with their blaster? And every time that answer is "yes, prepare for a reaming."
57.
 
So...
Oct 11, 2015, 20:43
57.
So... Oct 11, 2015, 20:43
Oct 11, 2015, 20:43
 
Apparently the trick to developing Space Sim Shangri-La is to bog down your development by shoe-horning in a ton of extraneous modules like FPS and glitzy star-maps, or a really bad CGI Gary Oldman, slowing down progress on an actual core, workable, playable, 'complete' and FUN launch title.

Yikes. Imagine if WoW never released in 2004, but they kept developing and iterating and promising to include the content from every expansion since then? "Just keep waiting, now we have Burning Crusade content in! It won't be long now until we get the game to you!" "Oh, Looking for Group is almost done and we might have it in for Alpha alongside Icecrown. Yea, I know it's 2012 and we've been teasing for almost a decade already but you can wait right?"

It's like CR doesn't know when to put a period and deliver something. There will always be "something more" that keeps pushing that release date into the nether. Not one product, but 5. And then not 5, but 8... meanwhile product 1 isn't fun or even complete.

I really want to see a great product here (there are few bigger fans of Wing Commander than I), but I am troubled, VERY troubled, when I see leadership that has has a reach that far exceeds their grasp. I'm seeing that in Roberts.
6.
 
Funny...
Jan 15, 2015, 13:59
6.
Funny... Jan 15, 2015, 13:59
Jan 15, 2015, 13:59
 
What I find funny is that WildStar is having to become more like Wow to keep and gain subscribers...

... and WoW is trying to become more like WildStar by "hiding" more things (treasures, quests, events, etc.) to reward players who explore more.
18.
 
Halo, Destiny
Jul 12, 2014, 22:04
18.
Halo, Destiny Jul 12, 2014, 22:04
Jul 12, 2014, 22:04
 
XBox gamers complaining about PS4 exclusive items/access...

Really. Tell me about your problems.

I'm a PC gamer who recalls seeing Halo originally announced at a 1999 Macworld. I'm a PC gamer who, along with my Mac gamer friends, brought Bungie up from infancy by playing and loving their games like Marathon and Myth. I'm a PC gamer who felt betrayed by Halo's sudden XBox exclusivity, and again insulted by the limp-wristed PC port of it that came eons later, and wasn't even ported by Bungie themselves.

So. Yes. You really have room to complain, XBox gamers. Now you know what it's like to get a slap in the face from a company you poured a lot of love into over the years, only to watch them turn on a dime and arrange platform exclusive deals that make them a ton of cash and spit in the faces of their fans.

I suppose I should be lucky that Blizzard still supports PC and Mac gamers as part of their company creed.
11.
 
Bungie, traitors to their heritage
Apr 28, 2014, 19:05
11.
Bungie, traitors to their heritage Apr 28, 2014, 19:05
Apr 28, 2014, 19:05
 
Bungie isn't Bungie any more. Hell, when Bungie went to MS, they stopped being Bungie.

Halo was debuted at a god-damned MacWorld conference, let's not forget. It barely made it to PC as a lousy port, years later. People think Duke Nukem Forever was a joke... no, the original Halo is a better example of a dev studio completely hosing their fans and customers (and expecting us to like it).
40.
 
Wow...
Nov 17, 2012, 19:10
40.
Wow... Nov 17, 2012, 19:10
Nov 17, 2012, 19:10
 
I'm seeing a lot of "gasp!" and "the sky is falling!" regarding Windows 8's "Metro" or RT apps...

I suppose it wouldn't be so shocking if Microsoft said "hey, it's like iOS. Get it?"

Because that's what it is. It's a walled garden. You can't install whatever you'd like on an iOS device, and yet, somehow Apple can't sell enough of them. People are eating them up. Did you think Microsoft *wasn't* going to want a piece of this?
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