RANDOM VIDEO GAME NEWS

[Hurlshort]

 

I feel like people take the business of games way too seriously.  Most of the complaints are pretty petty, and consumers have the power to change the practices of these companies with their dollars (and often do.  EA has done a ton to try and change their image.  They aren't handing out all those free games on Origin for nothing.)

Are you really that naive or I am that cynical? It might look like they want to look 'good' by these 'free giveaways' when reality is that they dont give you anything you cant have for free using google for 5 minutes. They just force you to get into their 'origin' machine

 

 

Or maybe you just need to read more carefully.  I literally said they are not handing out the free games for nothing.  They are trying to improve the appeal of Origin and their image in general.  It isn't cynical to look at EA as some sort of evil empire, it's just silly.  They make video games.  They want you to install Origin so you buy their video games.  They don't force you to do anything, they aren't stealing your credit card information and selling it to the highest bidder.  Origin is just a tool, and it isn't different than Steam in any way.   

 

Also lol about pirating games instead of using Origin.  Yes, I'm sure those torrent sites are way safer to use.  

[rjshae]

Kids who played shoot-em-up games in the '90s were probably (mostly) OK.

[Mamoulian War]

About Tales of Symphonia and the sorry state of the PC port again

 

Makes me sad, because Tales of is currently my favourite series, but truth has to be told

 

http://www.pcgamer.com/broken-pc-ports-like-tales-of-symphonia-are-unacceptable/

[Keyrock]

You also don't seem to really understand their scheme, which makes sense, since I said it was overly complicated.  You pre-order once, you get to choose a reward at every level as it unlocks, which is predicated on the amount of pre-orders.  There is no reason to pre-order multiple times, unless you are crazy enough to try and unlock tiers by yourself.  

You don't seem to understand my post or how the campaign worked.  Yes, as more people pre-ordered new tiers would unlock and you get to choose one "reward" from each tier unlocked, hence how the campaign encouraged people who pre-ordered to pressure others to do the same, since the amount of stuff you got was dependent on how many people pre-ordered.  It was literally in your best interest to get others to pre-order too.  Even if every single tier was unlocked you still didn't get everything if you pre-ordered, you got your pick of 1 item out of like 3 or 4 in each tier, if I remember correctly.  So you would literally have to pre-order 3 or 4 times to get everysingle doodad at launch.  They disguised this gouging as "choice" you can "augment" your pre-order, it's up to you!  Doesn't that sound fun?  Except what they're doing is giving you small slices off the chunk they sliced off the game that would have otherwise come with your $60 purchase, because that's how games are sold nowadays because fanboys and spineless apologists have allowed it to get to this point.  This is how much we get gouged nowadays as the "standard" because we, as consumers, have allowed them to gouge us this much.  if we don't stand up to this crap they'll just gouge us even more in the very near future.

 

As for your comparison to Kickstarter.  Yeah, so what?  I'm not here to defend Kickstarter.  In fact, crowdfunding is something I've grown more weary and cynical of as time has passed.  I'm well aware they are using more and more marketing ploys and bait and switch techniques to get as much money out of people as possible.  The "others are doing it too" excuse doesn't make the practices any less distasteful to me.  If anything, the fact that others are doing it too makes it all the more disturbing.  Business, like most things, is monkey see monkey do.  The more we allow this crap to happen the more it spreads like wildfire.

Edited February 8, 2016 by Keyrock

[Hurlshort]

I'm not defending the pre-order scheme, I'm just telling you it is a typical advertising campaign for all sorts of businesses.  I went to the grocery store yesterday and they gave me a bunch of monopoly pieces and a board.  If I collect enough pieces, I can win a million dollars.  They want me to go buy more groceries so I can get more tickets, they want me to talk about it with my friends and exchange pieces.  You know what my chances of winning are?  1 in about 2 trillion.  

 

None of those doodads were important to the game, btw.  There was a couple skins, some books, and a song.  The only one that might be arguable is the bonus mission and the 4 day head start, but even that is a stretch.  These were silly doodads that weren't worth getting excited or enraged about.  

 

And guess what?  It fell flat.  People complained about it, and it got scrapped.  Mission accomplished.  That's good news for both of us, I'd think.  It was dumb, but trying to make it out to be something sinister is stretch.  They are a business and they are trying to drum up business.  That's all there is to it.  

[Amentep]

So you would literally have to pre-order 3 or 4 times to get every single doodad at launch.

Reminds me of the guy who complains when the comic shop makes him order 125 comics (~$500) so he can get that rare 1-125 variant cover because "he had to have it to sale on ebay" instead of buying 1 comic with the regular cover and reading the comic.  Its like some sort of weird one-ups-manship (WHY YES!!!!!! I GOT EVERYTHING THAT WAS EVER RELEASED, SEE HOW AWESOME MY PURCHASING POWER IS???????) where the only person completing is the person who thinks he's got to go Pokemon on everything.

 

The only one of the pre-order options that seemed important was Tier III which gave you no choice anyhow.  Given that I can't imagine that they wouldn't release all of the Bonuses as an extra purchase anyhow for those who felt they had to have it all, I'm with Hurl I really didn't understand what the big deal was; really buying a game 3 times so you can have 3 different leathery all-black costumes for the protagonist to wear - would anyone have actually considered that?

[HoonDing]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2013/04/09/ea-voted-worst-company-in-america-again/

[Hurlshort]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2013/04/09/ea-voted-worst-company-in-america-again/

 

Yeah, when EA was beating banks during the foreclosure crisis, I stopped paying attention to that competition.  

[Gfted1]

Huh, I thought it was Comcast.

[Majek]

The linked article is from April 2013 ...

[Amentep]

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2013/04/09/ea-voted-worst-company-in-america-again/

 

Yeah, when EA was beating banks during the foreclosure crisis, I stopped paying attention to that competition.  

 

 

As I recall the format for the "competition" is designed to skew any usefulness the thing has.

[Zoraptor]

 

I feel like people take the business of games way too seriously.  Most of the complaints are pretty petty, and consumers have the power to change the practices of these companies with their dollars (and often do.  EA has done a ton to try and change their image.  They aren't handing out all those free games on Origin for nothing.)

Are you really that naive or I am that cynical? It might look like they want to look 'good' by these 'free giveaways' when reality is that they dont give you anything you cant have for free using google for 5 minutes. They just force you to get into their 'origin' machine

 

 

That's true of literally every software deal in existence- you can almost always pirate instead. GOG gives away games as well, and it isn't because they're just awesome guys and it isn't like you couldn't just download Giants: CK or Duke3d or Lands of Lore or whatever 'for free' in that case either, if you felt so inclined.

 

And, of course and as always, I'd be a lot more sympathetic to people who hate on Origin if they also hated on Steam, which has considerably worse terms in their SSA than EA has in their licensing, a lot more power and a distinct tendency to nickel and dime from said position of power.

 

 

 

 

Here's a study on the topic: The Economic Benefits of Reducing Software Piracy.

 

Their conclusion is that a reduction is good for the economy (as are other reductions in theft, per your basic Economics 200 course). 

 

It's also the BSA doing the study. There's literally no chance of them saying that piracy is in any way OK, even if it were. The only difference between them and pirates doing a study is that the pirates will do it for free while the MBAs will hire a seven figure consultant to tell them what they want to hear.

 

To lend credence to your argument, can you produce a valid study demonstrating the opposite is true?

 

 

I don't need to, as it isn't really an argument, just an observation. The BSA is the Business Software Alliance, they have as much chance of saying that piracy isn't evil, wrong and thoroughly naughty as British American Tobacco would have of saying that smoking should be banned or as the US or Russian militaries would have of saying that they deliberately target civilians and laugh as they do it. They aren't going to say things that go against their interests, whatever the truth is.

[rjshae]

 

 

 

Here's a study on the topic: The Economic Benefits of Reducing Software Piracy.

 

Their conclusion is that a reduction is good for the economy (as are other reductions in theft, per your basic Economics 200 course). 

 

It's also the BSA doing the study. There's literally no chance of them saying that piracy is in any way OK, even if it were. The only difference between them and pirates doing a study is that the pirates will do it for free while the MBAs will hire a seven figure consultant to tell them what they want to hear.

 

To lend credence to your argument, can you produce a valid study demonstrating the opposite is true?

 

I don't need to, as it isn't really an argument, just an observation. The BSA is the Business Software Alliance, they have as much chance of saying that piracy isn't evil, wrong and thoroughly naughty as British American Tobacco would have of saying that smoking should be banned or as the US or Russian militaries would have of saying that they deliberately target civilians and laugh as they do it. They aren't going to say things that go against their interests, whatever the truth is.

 

Yes, obviously, but that doesn't gainsay their results. I do see a lot of self-serving arguments coming from the pro-piracy factions as well, with no documented studies that credibly back up their assertions. If there were any validity to the pro-piracy position, you'd think it could be demonstrated in a logical manner through peer-reviewed studies.

[Mamoulian War]

Here you have another study on music and movies sales are not affected by piracy.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/digital-piracy-not-harming-entertainment-industries-study-1.1894729

 

http://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/documents/MPP/LSE-MPP-Policy-Brief-9-Copyright-and-Creation.pdf

 

made by The London School of Economics and Political Science Department of Media and Communications in 2013. More studies like this were made, just use google if you want more info...

[Leferd]

Wait, what. Dave Gaider is now at Beamdog with other ex-Bios?

 

http://blog.beamdog.com/2016/02/beamdog-achievements.html?m=1

[WorstUsernameEver]

Wait, what. Dave Gaider is now at Beamdog with other ex-Bios?

 

http://blog.beamdog.com/2016/02/beamdog-achievements.html?m=1

CTRL + F

 

"Gaider"

 

0 results?

 

I'm guessing you were actually talking about Brent Knowles.

[Leferd]

Well, yes. And David Gaider. Scroll to the bottom for Dave and/or check out the twitters.

[Oerwinde]

 

Wait, what. Dave Gaider is now at Beamdog with other ex-Bios?

 

http://blog.beamdog.com/2016/02/beamdog-achievements.html?m=1

CTRL + F

 

"Gaider"

 

0 results?

 

I'm guessing you were actually talking about Brent Knowles.

We also hired a writer named Dave. He seems pretty cool so far.

I'm guessing is what he's referring to

[Tigranes]

They've got both now, it seems.

[Mamoulian War]

Is this good or bad news?

[Sarex]

Is this good or bad news?

 

It's news.

[Amentep]

So apparently GameTrailers is being shut down.  Recall the site being linked a few times here by members.

 

https://twitter.com/GameTrailers/status/696858020215586816

[Oner]

So apparently GameTrailers is being shut down.  Recall the site being linked a few times here by members.

 

https://twitter.com/GameTrailers/status/696858020215586816

I promise to try really really hard at caring. GT failed to impress when they tried being anything other than a collection of trailers.

[Amentep]

 

So apparently GameTrailers is being shut down.  Recall the site being linked a few times here by members.

 

https://twitter.com/GameTrailers/status/696858020215586816

I promise to try really really hard at caring. GT failed to impress when they tried being anything other than a collection of trailers.

 

 

I really didn't know they were anything other than a collection of game trailers until reading about them.  I mostly mentioned it because I recall about 2-3 years ago several users linked game trailers from them.

[Mamoulian War]

Well, compared to youtube, it was pretty easy to find the trailer, you were looking for. But tbh, last time, I've visited the site was when FFXV was still FFvsXIII. Not many games which were interesting enough for me to check any trailer.