Image: Filomena Scalise / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Proving once again that everything in existence hinges entirely on my participation, my return to the show this week means that there was, in fact, a show this week. Yes, like being shocked that it was the butler what did it, I have been the secret linchpin to the JTS success story this entire time. You’re welcome.
Right. Podcast.
The gang is all here for episode #165 and we get down to business by properly taking EA to task for their utter contempt for gamers and their ruination of SimCity. We even give them an award. After that, Bill gives us an update into the world of Conquistador Games and the much anticipated (by me) happenings for Abnercon. Brandon and I go on an adventure with Lara Croft and conclude that with this new Tomb Raider, unlike EA, Square has delivered on exactly what they sold us. Brandon then raves and raves and raves about Fire Emblem: Awakening. Oh, and there’s some TV Time to go along with all that. Join us for the show that almost never skips a beat… except when it does.
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Dishonored in Review
XCOM: Enemy Unknown in Review
Borderlands 2 in Review
This total disaster with Sim City made me take a second look at the Terms of Service for all shops I buy video games from. Jupiter’s cock! With non of them get the right to a refund. Not origin, not steam, not with gog.com, not with amazon (downloads or retail version). As soon as the download started or you open the box to install the game you won’t get a refund unless they are “merciful”. I have the theoretical right to return a game to the store, but if they refuse I don’t have the money to threaten them with lawyers and most stores have signs saying they won’t take the game back once the box is opened.
There is only one option left, I will never again preorder anything and wait until 6 month after releaseto buy games. Thanks to EA for requiring origin, that stopped me from buying Sim City on day 1.
The SimCity thing blows my mind because the #1 concern for people who bought is still “when can I play my game?”
FUCK THE GAME.
Seriously, EA (and Maxis) sold you a broken product saddled with DRM and bullshit “social” gaming justifications for the always online thing, you were frankly kind of dumb to pay $60 knowing about the DRM, and what you SHOULD be worried about is NOT EVER PLAYING THE GAME and working to get your money back. If you turn around and play the game next week because the servers are up, then EA has won and you’ve given them permission to do this all over again as long as they can fix it within a week or so.
You want to play SimCity? There’s lots of great SimCity titles that you can play. The old games are still awesome. And none of them require you to bend over for this kind of anti-consumer bullshit. Or spend $60, plus whatever DLC costs there are.
I saw where Maxis is saying that there’s no “possible” way to make the game offline, single player. That to me is a loss of a sale right there. And if you wanted to play the game in this way, it should have been a loss of a sale for you too.
It’s time to stop putting up with this because you want to play a certain game and just tell these bastards NO as loudly as you possibly can, unless you want ALL games to head down this path.
It’s UNBELIEVABLE that sites like IGN are running strategy guides on their front page for a game that a large percentage of purchasers CAN NOT play or at least can not play with difficulty…there are people out there still buying this piece of shit and probably wondering why the hell they can’t actually just fucking play the game offline.
DO NOT give these people your money. Not even down the line when the game is chopped to $20. Don’t give them your money and don’t give them the usage numbers.
I’ve read over at RPS that single player is possible because, surprise surprise, they (EA and Maxis) want to force players into some type of Facebook-DLC morass of crud. I do not understand the appeal or need to socialize every aspect of video games. It seems the only way to make the hobby palatable to the public is still to shoehorn ideas that would never fly in the first place but they are implemented because some MBA in a board room spoke up about Facebook and twitter metrics.
Honestly, it seems like a Sisyphean task to get consumers not to buy EA products. Notice I say consumers and not gamers; the latter are the vocal minority that can influence sales in less known, niche video games but the former are always going to purchase what seems like the next big thing. We can make a difference but its hard to stay motivated in boycotting EA’s products when others keep purchasing and consuming. I do believe there’s an impetus right now building up within the “gaming press” ripe for blasting the industry: the Aliens fiasco blew over with Sim City radiating crap all over the place, gaming websites can capitalize on this and present a strong front against terrible marketing and business practices. Either that or a website that can corral all these feelings in one place…ahem no high scores…
No one said it would be easy to topple the major publishers.
I was listening at work today, so I was in and out (giggity) so I apologize if this was addressed and I missed it, but does anyone else have a beef with ARMA III being like $35 to play the ALPHA? I mean I’ve never been a fan of ARMAII or Day Z, so I can’t speak to whether the game is good enough that even an alpha is worth paying for, but this feels a lot more weird than DOTA2 being a paid beta. At least with DOTA2 I can see the balance issues being a lot more of an issue. Not to mention that it seems like there are hundreds of beta keys available for trade for DOTA at any given moment.
Maybe this just speaks to the rabid fanbase. I suppose I would pay full price to play an alpha of a sequel/expansion to the Binding of Isaac. then again though, I think that full game, expansion and all is $7.50.
I’m willing to be convinced here, and at least they label it prominently as an alpha (at least on Steam) but this seems like even smaller developers turning the corner on tricking people into paying for a broken product.
Does that $35 get you the final product at that price or at least a $35 discount off the retail price when it comes out? If it does then yes it would possibly be worth it, if not then it’s pretty stupid to pay $35 for the “privilege” to play a game that you know is in an unfinished state.
I did some due diligence, and it appears that you do get the game once it’s done, and it has some other perks too (You get some Alpha Lite keys – whatever those are, for friends)
I can’t say it changes my opinion a ton. I still have no interest, but it at least feels more like a guaranteed-to-fund Kickstarter than a cash grab.
Well, it eventually comes down to a matter of preference when it comes to games but for those that are interested in the Arma series that is a pretty good deal. The Alpha Lite keys are probably keys that you can give to friends that only work for a few days or a couple of weeks so they can test the game with you like playing a spawned game of StarCraft or Diablo only for a limited time.