marelooke

May have been obvious, but that answers my question to:- Yes, backers receive both Steam/GOG and Epic keys - Yes, even crowdfunding backers can withdraw their pledges, not just people who pre-ordered In other words, the impact of this decision on their backers appears to be minimal. Then again, question is how many backers actually registered the switch - internet drama and sending out emails is good and all, doesn't mean all backers get the memo. For all I know some of the money I sent out to crowdfunded projects are now used to start forest fires. Incidentally, as it turns out, it wasn't Epic that invested into Snapshot games - it was Snapshot games who approached Epic asking about the deal. That first sentence is an outright lie. They said they had the money to deliver on the KS promises. The deal with Epic is just to secure future funding. So they threw their backers under the bus out of pure greed, not even because "whoops we miscalculated and we really need this money to be able to deliver", which is often the case (and while still sad, would at least be more understandable). Offering a refund is just cynical, since they literally just used their backers to get an interest free loan so they would have something to shop around with. If this doesn't have any serious repercussions then then this might just be the deathblow for crowd funding. Teams failing to deliver is one thing (and a risk you knowingly take on when you back) but a successfully funded project in no financial trouble rewriting the agreement when it suits them is something else entirely. I don't necessarily have any interest in getting my money back (hell, since I backed a physical tier me refunding would probably be better for them as that would absolve them from needing to provide the physical rewards). What I want to see is a crackdown on this outright scummish behaviour, if it turns out there is no protection for either backers or pre-order customers (without literally going to court, which besides expensive is also extremely slow, and absolutely not worth it given the money involved) even in the EU (as mentioned previously, Snapshot Games HQ is in Bulgaria) then I fear crowd funding is just dead as that would mean there's literally no guarantee a company will live up to any part of the agreement they have with backers and thus opening the floodgates to this type of behaviour. It's really just a matter of perspective. Were you crowdfunding a game or were you crowdfunding platform availability? It looks like they will deliver the game, so I can't see how the vast majority of the backers won't see it as success, particularly if it is good. The delivery method of the game is a minor part of the agreement we make when backing, so I don't see this affecting crowdfunding in any way. Still waiting on the next Space Quest, btw. I'll take it on any platform or delivery method at this point. I was crowdfunding a game that was explicitly promised to be available through certain means (there's a reason some of these projects are vague about this stuff). The delivery method was part of the agreement, whether that was a minor part is a matter of perspective and not something someone can decide for another person. It's minor for you maybe, but there are enough valid reasons to not want to deal with the Epic store, whether those concern you or not are up to you. Regardless the simple fact is that they are still walking back on an established agreement, which is shady (and legally dubious) in itself and serious "slippery slope"-material and sets a rather dangerous precedent to boot. It's also not the first time they walk back on their agreement with backers: they already dropped Linux support, likely because they were already negotiating with Epic and knew they couldn't support it on their client, so why bother, right? Or are you going to argue that doesn't matter because that's minor platform anyway? The argument that it's too hard to support Linux also doesn't fly here since they had a working Linux version up until the point they decided to screw over their Linux backers. Or how about the Chinese backers that will now be unable to play the game they funded since the Epic Store is banned in China (ironic, given all the Tencent hubbub, if nothing else), or any of another number of countries that are not supported by Epic (there was a list at one point during the Metro rage) As already mentioned, it's not like they needed the money to get the game done, they've publicly stated they could fulfil their crowfunding promises with the budget they received, so they get zero sympathy for me there either as the only reason to do it is the ego of Gollop (he wanted to do more than he got funded for) and/or pure greed. The condescending way in which they have communicated with their backers (and pre-order customers) since hasn't exactly done anything to garner any sympathy from me ("even if y'all refund we're still good; so **** you", would summarize it pretty well). This is seriously different from a company mismanaging budget and going under, or any of another number of ways that things can go wrong (overreaching etc.). "Do not attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence", unfortunately Snapshot Games has made it very clear that no incompetence was involved and that this was a very deliberate and very well calculated move to violate the agreement with the people who made it possible for them to create the game in the first place, and without which they would have had nothing to go to Epic with.

That is ... well, not exactly encouraging. I wonder what they'll come up with as a rationale. https://www.reddit.com/r/PhoenixPoint/comments/b0rxdq/epic_game_store_spyware_tracking_and_you/eijlbge/ Gamers rising up, again To be fair, them accessing the Steam files directly instead of using the official API (which respects your Steam privacy settings, for example), like other services, like Origin, do is still dodgy. But yeah, not nearly as nefarious as it's made out to be, at least based on what's being shown. Even if (and that's a big if) the Epic client is doing illegal things I'm sure they'd hide it better as they're aware the thing is going to be analysed. Oh yeah, their privacy policy is still in violation of EU Privacy laws, so there's still that. Sending that hardware information (which includes things that qualify as personally identifiable information, per the GDPR) without explicit consent (and per the GDPR hiding it in their TOS/Privacy Policy is explicitly not good enough) is among those. But that's not what this is about, of course.

May have been obvious, but that answers my question to:- Yes, backers receive both Steam/GOG and Epic keys - Yes, even crowdfunding backers can withdraw their pledges, not just people who pre-ordered In other words, the impact of this decision on their backers appears to be minimal. Then again, question is how many backers actually registered the switch - internet drama and sending out emails is good and all, doesn't mean all backers get the memo. For all I know some of the money I sent out to crowdfunded projects are now used to start forest fires. Incidentally, as it turns out, it wasn't Epic that invested into Snapshot games - it was Snapshot games who approached Epic asking about the deal. That first sentence is an outright lie. They said they had the money to deliver on the KS promises. The deal with Epic is just to secure future funding. So they threw their backers under the bus out of pure greed, not even because "whoops we miscalculated and we really need this money to be able to deliver", which is often the case (and while still sad, would at least be more understandable). Offering a refund is just cynical, since they literally just used their backers to get an interest free loan so they would have something to shop around with. If this doesn't have any serious repercussions then then this might just be the deathblow for crowd funding. Teams failing to deliver is one thing (and a risk you knowingly take on when you back) but a successfully funded project in no financial trouble rewriting the agreement when it suits them is something else entirely. I don't necessarily have any interest in getting my money back (hell, since I backed a physical tier me refunding would probably be better for them as that would absolve them from needing to provide the physical rewards). What I want to see is a crackdown on this outright scummish behaviour, if it turns out there is no protection for either backers or pre-order customers (without literally going to court, which besides expensive is also extremely slow, and absolutely not worth it given the money involved) even in the EU (as mentioned previously, Snapshot Games HQ is in Bulgaria) then I fear crowd funding is just dead as that would mean there's literally no guarantee a company will live up to any part of the agreement they have with backers and thus opening the floodgates to this type of behaviour.

What the hell brought on that "measured" response? I was just trying to help someone who suffered issues that seemed similar to the ones I had with that game way back when. I know there were DRM issues with the disc version of TW1 because I suffered them. Loading screens would take forever because the game would check the disc on each loading screen (which would require the disc to spin up, usually since all the actual game data was on the hard drive), if it couldn't access the disc fast enough it would time out and crash the game (CTD). Whether or not one would experience those issues of course depended heavily on the disc drive used, but given the mention of slow loading times I figured this might have been the issue. The digital versions obviously didn't suffer the issue due to there being no disc check DRM, for extremely obvious reasons.

Well, Gorth gave the inspiration, so I might as well admit to my problem join in: From left to right (oldest to newest, only lvl80 characters included): 1st row: Sylvari Daredevil Human Dragonhunter Charr Berserker Sylvari Chronomancer Sylvari Herald Sylvari Scrapper (sPvP) / Holosmith (PvE) Human Necromancer (WvW) / Reaper (PvE) 2nd row: Sylvari Weaver Human Mirage Sylvari Scourge Sylvari Spellbreaker Sylvari Druid Sylvari Firebrand One thing I notice is that while the relative size difference between the races is readily apparent, the size difference between different characters isn't (my Spellbreaker is like a full head taller than my Chronomancer, and I'm pretty sure she's taller than the Human Mirage as well). I do have Norn and Asura characters, but none of them managed to make it to lvl80 yet (ironic, as my oldest character is an Asura). I was kind of, errr, shocked at my race bias, to be honest.

Were you playing the disc version? I had stupid long loading screens as well (and regular crashes) which were caused by the DRM reading the disc on each load. The download versions (or the newer DRM-free ones) didn't suffer this defect, so if the DRM was the issue it might be worth revisiting the game.

Software development is work, and vast majority of the fabled "other devs" actually only ever operate by taking "bribes" from "publishers" to develop a product. It's how majority of the industry works - and how a whole bunch of crowdfunded projects went as well, incidentally. *chuckle* And I can see you would prefer the dev team's children starving before they took a publisher deal! Why would you murder children!? I know you're being facetious here, but Bulgaria is a civilized country with a working social security system. If Snapshot Games folds no-one is going to starve.

Someone posted a rather interesting post about the Epic store on the Phoenix Point reddit. The post itself is a bit old (at least for this instant news age), so maybe some here have already seen it. The tl;dr is that the Epic Store is bad for small developers as well and that, if the cut was such a big deal, there are other alternatives that take even less of a cut that are conveniently ignored when it is brought up. My takeaway here is that the constant bringing up of the smaller cut Epic takes is either misinformed or plain dishonest shilling. My takeaway is that Epic doesn't have anything over the alternatives except for bags of money to throw around, and them doing so effectively hurts some of the better alternatives (eg. the entire Gog thing, but I wouldn't be surprised Humble might also be feeling it)

Ah, but the contract with Epic is newer than the one with their backers (and pre-order customers). Meaning they signed a contract they couldn't adhere to, not sure how that's handled legally but "not valid" seems to make the most sense to me (but ianal). They should just have done what the Metro devs did, keep their end of the deal at least for the copies that were already sold (one could, I guess, argue about KS backers, but not about the pre-order customers)

That's not how consumer protection works. I don't need to sue, or prove damages, I just need to prove that they violated my consumer rights by not living up to their end of the bargain. Unlike in other cases where the perpetrator was outside the EU this time the ECC can take action since it's inside their jurisdiction. If anyone will be suing it will be the ECC, not me. If I order a VW Beetle but you deliver a Bentley you could argue that's an upgrade so I should just stfu and take it, but unless I accept said deal you've still violated my consumer rights by not delivering what was agreed upon, and if I insist you must deliver me that VW Beetle. The assumption is made here that the choice of delivery platform is unimportant (even though it was part of the initial agreement) or that the extra stuff they offer (free DLC) offsets the negatives so they expect people to accept their new agreement, no questions asked. It turns out they miscalculated. Anyway, I'm still undecided about what I'm going to do about the situation. I might just contact the BECC (Belgian wing of the ECC) and ask what's what (since they offer free legal advice on my rights). Doesn't mean I'll act on it, but then again, if their attention is drawn to it they might follow up on it anyway as it's not like they need my permission to act on such public violations (if someone litters the police aren't going to wait with fining until someone files a complaint either). In either case I'll at least have a better idea as to what my options are should this situation repeat itself (which it might, if it's proven they can just get away with it).

It's a fairly deliberate move (btw, PP was going to be on Gog, so there's that as well) Also won't be surprised at all if they suddenly decide to add DRM on top given how true to their word they've proven themselves to be I kinda expect anything at this point. Moreover I'm pretty sure what they're doing here is illegal (at least in the EU) since they've already started taking money for pre-orders. I suspect they're just hoping that the "it's just a game" mentality will persevere and they get away with blatantly violating consumer protection laws. I wouldn't be surprised. It is an ambitious project and very much looks like one people would miscalculate the costs of. Oh, they calculated it alright, according to a screenshot from the official Discord that's circulating on Reddit they've done the math. So they very deliberately scammed their backers (also Epic must be throwing stupid amounts of money at them for how niche this game is if they can fund the studio on it for a year). Guess they didn't watch Metro close enough or they should have expected this backlash. Refunds also go through a third party instead of the same channel the original pledge went through (wonder how the GDPR factors in there). I'll see what they're planning on doing about honouring the original deal with their backers and pre-order buyers (which they legally should, it wasn't just out of the kindness of their hearts epic "allowed" it for Metro). If they don't do that I might go and talk to the Consumer Protection Agency, given how Snapshot Games is headquartered in the EU (Bulgaria) this means I'm even entitled to free legal advice, apparently.

It's even worse since they used the backer money to be able to make the game in the first place, then, when they have something they can shop around with they pull this bait and switch. Vile, just vile.

Hang on to your helmet Pretty places

Did BioWare even doing any testing at all before releasing the game? It seems like a lot of the issues are things that would easily have been caught early on in the testing phase. Doesn't look like it. Besides supposedly starting development before Destiny 1's release they seemingly managed to ignore every looter shooter for the past 6 years and learn nothing of the mistakes made by those others in that timespan. Honestly the game looks like it did an Andromeda, meander in development hell for years and then rush something out in the last year or so before release. It's mind boggling. Truly hope they can turn this ship around, but between the engine limitations, EA's reputation for shooting anything that smells remotely like it failed, and the negative press I'm not getting my hopes up.

Depending on how far they played you could just replay the "Vor's Prize" quest (which is basically the tutorial mission of the game) from the Codex, though you'll be stuck with whatever gear they chose during that quest, at least until you can get your hands on alternatives (everything can be acquired eventually). Although you'll probably miss out on unlocking all the functionality of the Orbiter if they already did all that, which isn't all that much (imho) Well, just checked ingame and turns out that, despite it being a heavily requested feature for like 6 years it's still not possible to replay "Vor's Prize" And of course you could try and see if support can reset the account, they won't on PC, as it's easy to just create another one, but I'm not convinced they might not do it on consoles. I guess you could, as last ditch effort, have them delete the account, there's some warnings attached but I'm not sure how relevant those are for the console versions (I play on PC). And in a severe act of desperation you could just play through the tutorial stuff on a PC (Warframe is rather well optimized so it'll run on most things barring a literal toaster) and then go back to the PS4 if that's your preferred platform.

re: void missions. It depends on the missions really. They're tier based (as you probably noticed) and the lower tiers are pretty easy, especially when you group up. That said, for solo play, the enemies that spawn from the Fissures can be rather nasty if unprepared (they're slightly tougher than their Void equivalents, so if those are no problem same tier Fissures shouldn't be too much of one either). Anyway, also been playing quite a bit of Warframe, given how there's a bit of a content draught I've started grabbing those last few items I don't have yet so I can maybe even make it to Mastery Rank 27 (which is the highest attainable at the moment). And while the other day I was proclaiming how Warframe, despite being grindy, respects its players' time DE decided they'd undo that feature by replacing the random "alerts" system with some sort of tiered (and time-gated) Battle Pass (or Reward Track, if familiar with GW2 PvP/WvW) type system that makes you do all kinds of random, and often annoying, stuff. It's basically MMO dailies all over again

Similar issue here. After ME3 and DA:I I didn't really want to play Andromeda, and definitely not at the release price, barring rave reviews (and we know how that went). If it had been more in my face I'd probably have picked it up in a sale by now though, if only to see what's what. But it only being on Origin and there not really being any reason for me to check Origin all the time it just never happened.

Yes, Desinty comparisons are rampant. However they ignore that (as SkillUp pointed out, I think on Laymen Gaming, not on his own channel) Destiny had "good bones" iow, the core mechanics were solid and the technical underpinnigs were solid whereas in Anthem many of the technical issues appear to be tied to the engine (eg. the incessant and long loading screens) and according to some the combat appears to be broken at a fundamental level (I didn't enjoy the combat during the demo, but that might just be me. Or me going solo and there basically being no scaling towards solo play). Anyway, another rather decent review: Didn't really comment much on all the Anthem stuff since I played the demo, game turns out kind of as I expected based on my time with the demo, unfortunately. Personally been hopping between Warframe and Skyrim lately. Warframe is, once again, in a bit of a content drought where most veteran players are mostly playing other stuff until DE releases something new. Which wouldn't be such a bad thing if they weren't making a habit of these content droughts... (I've never been this close to acquiring all the gear in the game ever before...) Skyrim's still an enjoyable exploration game, and can be made to look rather really pretty with some modding effort. For some reason I kinda lost interest in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, despite my misgivings with some of the previous reboot titles I did play through both of them at a pretty solid clip. Shadow just doesn't really grip me, unfortunately.

Not bad for a 7 year old game...

What baffles me is that they've apparently been working on this game for 6 years and this is what they've come out with..? I mean, before release I was mainly worried about EA's monetization plans (which could still sink the game, assuming the shoddy launch doesn't already) and the possibility that I just wouldn't like the gameplay or "endgame" (I mean, always a valid worry for a game you haven't played, I'd say ) But the state the game's in, the content it's apparently released with...that took BioWare 6 years? Really? For comparison DE, a small studio, started working on Warframe a little over 7 years ago, with a skeleton crew. Anyway, Ars Technica is still rather positive about the game compared to some of what I've seen (quite a few people aren't quite as positive about the story and NPCs, for example) and they conveniently dodged the micro transaction topic, so I'll share what I"ve found. Apparently at endgame "coin" acquisition dries up severely. If you do your daily challenges you can get up to a couple thousand coins per day. With epic skins costing over 60000 coins, meaning a multi-month grind for a single skin (or paying 9USD, of course). Apparently there is a higher tier of skins as well (legendary) of which none have been released yet but which, one can assume, will be even more expensive... Of course, with new content there might be new ways to earn coins as well, but still, we're getting in the vicinity of that 20USD for a skin territory that the internet threw a fit over with that pre-release store screenshot... Bugs can be fixed, the UI improved, prices adjusted and content added, of course, but there's a bunch of things in there that might not be as easy to fix like the constant (long) loading screens. Will be interesting to see where the game goes in the coming months. Game could still end up fine, after all.

Kind of surprised this one didn't make it into the thread yet, as far as trailers go the Skyrim one is pretty darn good imho: And of course Warframe's Fortuna trailer: Though I don't understand why they even bothered with that trailer when they had this:

Heh, they canned that new Unreal Tournament they were "crowdsourcing" for Fortnite and their "Epic Store". That being said, UT3 wasn't exactly great (also the only UT without DE involvement, coincidence?) so if the new instalment (which, to make things easy on everyone, they just named "Unreal Tournament") is anything like it I'll stick to UT99 and UT2k4 for my UT fixes. It's not like many of the people that made UT still work there anyway, the Tencent acquisition burned quite a few of the well known ones out, if the stuff on Wikipedia is anywhere near accurate, and the other half of the UT team (UT = Epic + DE, after all) is happily making Warframe.

Warhorse Studios has been bought by THQ Nordic as per this. So that means another studio basically owned by Koch Media...

And it's the exact same in Europe. Gambling in games is fine, if you abide by the laws (that means AO 21+ here in BE though).

Hmm, are you referring to Riven mods? That's basically the only lootbox-like thing I can think off and they're honestly closer to RNG Diablo 3 gear when the marketplace was still a thing, except that you can totally ignore their existence in Warframe and do all content more than fine. There was a lot of controversy (that DE ignored entirely) about the introduction of these things, many veterans absolutely refuse to touch them and even many of the major Warframe Partners ignore their existence when creating builds for weapons (eg. Brozime). I'm a big fan of the Hek, myself. Fun fact: the Hek is one of the oldest weapons in the game and when DE tried to modernize it by updating its fire sound (back in 2015, apparently, ouch) there was quite the riot in the Warframe community, thankfully they saw the light and changed it back to its current sound. Come to the Church of Hek, we have guns with lotsa oomph: music to my ears: EDIT: linking the correct things is hard, apparently