This is, perhaps, the first game I've been genuinely excited about in a long time. Grand Theft Auto meets Person Of Interest? You have my attention piqued at the very least. Even when Ubisoft has let me down (AC3, for example), it hasn't been a full fall, just a few too many stumbles for my liking. I preordered it for next-gen, so I'll have time to cancel if the reviews go south in advance...

It's not really about SimCity though. EA's crap service towards customers goes far back, even into the days of BF2142 where they'd outsource their Support department to foreign workers such as Indians, and would refuse to assist with certain issues and refuse refunds even in those days.

SimCity is just an example, and it's also proof that EA has not changed since.

Which is clearly more evil than, say, foreclosing on tens of thousands of homeowners, or destroying the economy.

I swear, this is why we can't have nice things.

"Bad customer service is worse than families being thrown out on the streets."

Get the fuck over yourselves.

*throws money at the screen angrily to no effect*

They're trying to buy Psychonauts back on the cheap, I imagine.

Gadzooks wrote on Nov 21, 2012, 16:00:
Start a kickstarter for Dungeon Keeper 3, and ill fund it.

THIS.

... in a perpetual Beta for a game no one will ever want to buy.

Good thing no one will ever have to buy it then! It's going to be free-to-play. But don't let logic stop you from trolling, troll.

I've never understood people who hate genres or classes of games. I don't play sports games. You don't see me on a tirade every time a new Madden game comes out.

There's just not enough on display for me to feel comfortable backing it, and I back a lot of things. I need more than a handful of posts saying "old school!" and "hardcore!" to convince me a game's a good idea. Want to make something awesome? Show me more of your proof-of-concept. Don't just say "We did awesome things once; we can do it again!"

As an ex-Westwood Studios guy, this depresses the fuck out of me. But it seems like the days of RTS have passed, at least for a while.

Pyloff wrote on Jul 31, 2012, 20:16:
Why don't any new AAA MMO titles try any of these? From what I've read SWOTROWRS is just a WoW ripoff.

They're expensive as hell to make, they're giant risks, and there hasn't really been a big success since WoW. Basically, that ship has sailed.

Silicon Avatar wrote on Jul 26, 2012, 20:32:
Sounds like a company to walk away from - or they have a clueless stupid HR department.

Well, the company is called Irrational Games.

*rimshot*

Danke, I vill be here all ze week.

Please remain non-existent, market. It's hard enough making games as it is.

Tom wrote on Jul 25, 2012, 17:57:
"The big problem that is holding back Linux is games"

LOL! Yeah right. Ok, let's just pay no attention to the huge fundamental usability issues. Or the lack of non-game application support. Or the update/upgrade processes. Or dependency nightmares, having to compile stuff yourself, the ever so friendly support community, the battle of the righteous vs. closed-source, etc etc etc!

No, games are the big problem. If not for that, everyone would surely use Linux. Hahaha!

Oh good, it's not just me.

Linux, to me, has always been a non-starter. And while games are a part of it, they aren't the majority of it.

Silicon Avatar wrote on Jul 21, 2012, 17:28:
It is not like they have to test against a million different pieces of hardware like you do on PC.

I'm confused as to why the testing process didn't catch the bug in the first place though. Isn't that what they are paid to do? Seems like the error is mutual and he should get to put his patch back up free.

There's actually over a dozen hardware revisions of the 360, each with its own quirks. Also, the bug he's talking about only affects a very small minority, which likely means it's a hardware + hardware configuration that's rare (like, say, a 360 from one specific year, with a specific hard drive upgrade, or some such).

CJ_Parker wrote on Jul 11, 2012, 21:08:

Mashiki Amiketo wrote on Jul 11, 2012, 20:38:
Sounds like "whoops moment." Watch for a market dump tomorrow.

What? If investors do actually believe that Riccitiello is at fault for the falling share prices then EA's stock will rise tomorrow, not fall. The stock market is all about expectations, rumors, potentials and what-if shit. Why the hell would there be a "dump" tomorrow? There will only be a dump if the general sentiment out there is that Moore will suck harder than Riccitiello.
And depending on the circumstances Pachter could be in pretty deep shit because leaking inside knowledge that might either positively or negatively affect the share prices usually ends in legal action against the source of the leak.

Pachter is an incompetent jackass, and people still keep talking to this guy... why exactly? Seriously, go back and look at his "predictions" and you'll see he's pretty much like any other analyst... wrong a whole hell of a lot of the time. But he's also against game developers unionizing, and frankly, if there's any industry that SHOULD unionize, it's the gaming industry. And yet this stuffed shirt analyst thinks people who make games are paid too much money? Tell you, Mike... I'll take what you make in a year, and you take what I make, and we'll see how it works out for both of us...

Beamer wrote on Jul 10, 2012, 18:37:

Devinoch wrote on Jul 10, 2012, 17:59:

space captain wrote on Jul 10, 2012, 17:52:
genre labels are for dumbshits that need to be told how and what to think

No, it's called language. Try using it! It's all the rage these days, people actually communicating!

(Also, anyone who says "my music can't be put into a genre" is a pretentious twit. Rough categorization isn't a bad thing. Unless you absolutely, positively think every single thing is unique. Then you're just like all the other people exactly like that. Twit.)

Labels are mostly meaningless. Quick, what's Korn and Limp Bizkit? Ask their fans and they're metal. Ask anyone else and they're hard rock. Don't even get me into the infinite levels of subgenre. I mean, the Map of Metal has dozens of genres, but if someone says "so what kind of music do you listen to?" and the response is "deathgrind" you're going way too in-depth. But if someone says "metal, you know, like Korn"... basically genres are either meaningless or too in-depth.

"Labels" or, y'know, "genres" are broad classifications, designed to help narrow down a conversation. They're not an end point unto themselves. Otherwise you're saying Frank Sinatra, Phish, Nitzer Ebb, Parliament Funkadelic and Justin Beiber are all the same thing.

I agree, there are infinite levels of subgenera, far more than there need to be, but there's also a starting point in using broad categories. That's why they're categories. To focus a conversation. Not to consume it.

space captain wrote on Jul 10, 2012, 17:52:
genre labels are for dumbshits that need to be told how and what to think

No, it's called language. Try using it! It's all the rage these days, people actually communicating!

(Also, anyone who says "my music can't be put into a genre" is a pretentious twit. Rough categorization isn't a bad thing. Unless you absolutely, positively think every single thing is unique. Then you're just like all the other people exactly like that. Twit.)

space captain wrote on Jul 10, 2012, 17:19:
pretty hate machine was pretty good.. the remaster is definitely worth checkin out... but the later shit didnt do it for me.. laibach, ministry, throbbing gristle, psychic tv, pigface, e. neubauten, SPK, big black, etc - yes... nin - no

No shame in that. You're a classic industrialist, while I'm more of a rock industrialist. I thing Fragile is probably one of the best records ever made. (There was actually quite a bit of good stuff on Year Zero, and The Slip as well, but Fragile is a high bar to set.)

Me, I haven't enjoyed a Ministry record since Psalm 69. But I like great big chugging guitars with a snappy beat, and a vocalist who isn't barking. (For this same reason, I'm pro-melodicore, but mostly anti-screamo.)

I think the most common incorrect assumption about NIN is that it's an industrial band. It's not. It's a rock band with industrial leanings. One's not better or worse than the other.

Yeah, I saw NIN in concert 5 times over the years, and I love the hell out of his music. More NIN is never a bad thing. And I'll certainly be buying at least the BO2 theme now off iTunes.

ventry wrote on Jul 3, 2012, 20:16:

Devinoch wrote on Jul 3, 2012, 19:54:
Game crashes happen. If they happen a lot, then yes, by all means, yell at the developer, that's a game-breaker.

Ah yes. However the problem is they already have your money.
Money up front business model carrys with them an expectation of receiving a product that is not faulty. How many will refund that money?

You sir need to stop bending over and taking it up the arse from big corporations so often.
The more you bend over and say "more please" the more they will do it.

It's not a question of bending over for big corporations. I've been in the sausage factory. I've made games. I know what it costs.

Your point about money up front business model carries an expectation that a products not faulty. Define "faulty." Bug free? Then stop buying software. "Manageable bugs?" That's a fair expectation. Did you ever see a movie you didn't like? Is that "faulty" entertainment? Can you get your money back? No, you can't.

You, sir, need to have realistic expectations, or expect to see gaming go away.

nin wrote on Jul 3, 2012, 19:53:
Let's go back to your mcdonalds argument: Why are you asking the customer who placed his order to solve your issues in the back of the restaurant?

I'm not. I'm asking the customer whether or not one hamburger with pickles (when he asked for them without) is enough to make him boycott the entire franchise. Also, and here's where the analogy falls down, a customer who gets something at McDonalds is getting something that is 1) disposable, 2) marginal in price, 3) marginal in effort to create.

You want to boycott people with game breakers? I say, go right ahead. But if you're asking me why, from a business point of view, most minor bugs don't get fixed in game post ship, it's because it isn't the smart application of resources. You've already paid for the game. Now if you're unhappy with the game, you won't buy another one from that particular studio, and that's fine. It might not be fair, but it's fine. But you're asking me why game developers ship games with bugs, and I'm giving you an answer - because sometimes it's ship it buggy or don't ship it at all, and if you know the studio's closing up, getting some money for your months or, more likely, years of effort is better than nothing.

The games industry's a bitch.