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Gaming News
Topic Started: Aug 28 2011, 09:03 AM (32,871 Views)
failureatlife
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So while I've bitched about on the IRC, here's the actual article.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive...to-the-ftc.aspx

This really is going to far and honestly really stupid.
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Romanticide
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failureatlife
Mar 18 2012, 09:49 PM
So while I've bitched about on the IRC, here's the actual article.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive...to-the-ftc.aspx

This really is going to far and honestly really stupid.

Yup.

EA advertised a fully working game, no more and no less. I'm pretty sure the customers got a fully working game. EA made no promises that customers would like the ending.

I hope this gets dismissed quickly. It has no place in court.
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MrMarill
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That is the stupidest thing I have ever seen.
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Bigcalv2002
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Life Against Death
Mar 14 2012, 11:45 AM
and after buying Twisted Metal

Say WHAAAAAAT? Dammit, we should pllay a few rounds sometime!!
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CALJR_8760
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failureatlife
Mar 19 2012, 02:49 AM
So while I've bitched about on the IRC, here's the actual article. http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive...to-the-ftc.aspx This really is going to far and honestly really stupid.

What I find funny is how some of the comments on the article actually believe that this case is going to go somewhere.




Also, on the earlier topic of subscritions and online passes. Online passes aren't that bad. Earlier games never made you have to buy these passes, but earlier games also didn't have servers to uphold. I'm sure it can be hard for developers to maintain a server and the online passes just basically pay so you can use the server. You can say that other media doesn't do this, but other media usually doesn't have servers to upload. I mean, at least I've never heard about Warner's Bros. having a server so you can watch Harry Potter with people online.
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MrMarill
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It's obviously never been a problem to keep the servers up before. Battlefield 3 and all that manage to keep them online. Hell, League of Legends does and it's free to play. It's just an easy way to get more money cuz people will pay for them.
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LifeAgainstDeath
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There are plenty of games, both from the past and from recent times, that have online features that do not have online passes.

I don't see the point of online passes as paying to use the online servers, and that seems really silly for anyone to think that's what they're for. I'm sure it's not hard for big-time companies with plenty of money, like EA, Warner Bros, and Sony (who owns the entire PSN FFS), to maintain online servers without needing to charge an extra $10 to people who buy used. No, they are used to punish people who buy used games because we're apparently scums of the earth in the eyes of publishers. If it wasn't to do that, then everyone would have to pay it, because if it's to pay for online servers, then it seems completely unfair that some people don't have to pay.

Also, no other media does this because it's the easiest to implement in video games and the easiest to get away with. DVDs, books, CDs, etc. don't have online multiplayer or DLC or whatever. Video games are the ones that have the best ability to restrict features to whoever. And since online play has become an important part of video games nowadays, people will blindly pay because they just care about actually playing online. No one seems to care that they're actually getting cheated.
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Romanticide
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The only argument you could try to make is, "if you buy used, you didn't pay for the service." Which almost works, except that the disc is bundled and always advertised with the service. If they are truly separate things, they should be treated as such for everyone, not just those who buy used.

I'm surprised that someone hasn't sued for false advertising over this. It'd be a more worthy lawsuit than the Mass Effect 3 lawsuit, though I'm not sure it'd be a winning one, especially in an age of EULAs and "corporations are people". Ah well.

They estimate the costs of running the servers before the game is even made. What, do people really think that they're going to include an online multiplayer component without having an idea of what the servers, labor, and so on, will cost? Do you think they're paying for it out of the goodness of their hearts? Fuck no. This cost is also factored into the $60 that the customer pays. It should not have to be paid again if someone buys a copy off of someone else. Once that copy of a game is sold to the first consumer, the publisher has no further control over it. This is in essence what the Right of First Sale is.

It's easier to get away with this in video games because all too many gamers are naive and idealistic as fuck. We want to "support the developers", never mind that 20% of the purchase price goes to developers, while the rest goes to publishers.

This MAKES SENSE because while publishers bankroll games, they also know that nobody has sympathy for billion dollar corporations, so they sell us the bullshit narrative that we need to support developers. The truth of the matter is, "we make huge investments in these games and need to see profit to justify making more games". But that just makes it sound like a business, and we gamers tend to respond better if we think the industry loves us as much as we do our favorite developers. Hence the necessity of the romantic (and again, false) narrative.

They don't love us. We are walking wallets to them. No more and no less. The only statement that matters is where our dollars go, and I choose to spend mine on those publishers who don't put bullshit in their games. We need to realize this.

It also doesn't help that in threads like this all across the internet, gamers do the hard work of justifying anti-consumer measures for publishers. We'll claim that other gamers should get every game new (like we do, naturally!) otherwise they're as bad as pirates, that if they can't afford a $10 online pass/the extra $5 for a new copy of a game, they shouldn't be buying games and/or have "an entitlement complex", and on and on, but all of these justifications miss the very simple point that this is wrong and we are bitching because it is wrong.

As an aside, I hate the rape of the word "entitlement" and will not listen to anyone who uses it as an insult.

It's not a coincidence that half of my new purchases this year are from Atlus. They make games I'll enjoy and don't pack them with bullshit. It's also not a coincidence I got the first Assassin's Creed used, since after all, Ubisoft is one of the biggest proponents of bullshit.

I don't want free games. I want games with no measures that discriminate based on how I legally purchased a game, games that do not take the assumption of "innocent until proven guilty" and flip it on its head with their DRM (pirates write out the DRM, leaving only legitimate consumers to deal with it), games that do not nickel and dime me to death for the "complete experience" or to "win", and games that actually work on release day and do not treat me like an unpaid beta tester. I also want an industry that thinks long term instead of looking at the first month sales figures and determining a game's success from that, then moving on to a new title and forcing a loyal fanbase to upgrade or get left behind.

These things are not a lot to ask for - These are the right things to do. I am willing to give my $60 to companies that do these things.
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Bigcalv2002
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Im more than happy to buy games first hand when im rewarded with a positive incentive to buy it, like additional dlc, but to me, online passes are a negative incentive to buying first hand!

Kinda like your boss at work saying "if you do an extra good job today, you get the rest of the day of with pay" and "if you don't bust your ass today, you're fired!"

See the difference?
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MrMarill
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MementoVivere
 
We are walking wallets to them.


That's an absolutely fantastic analogy, just saiyan.

I completely agree. I'll only buy a game new if I know it's going to be good out of the box and I won't need to rely on DLC... hence I like Nintendo games. As they don't have patches, they very rarely market an outright bad game (we're ignoring Wii Fit and Wii Party here).

On the subject of pre-owned games, the big GAME store in my county has finally gone bankrupt because of a falling out with CAPCOM and EA over online passes, meaning they got none of those companies' games. The only store left is a pre-owned store.

This is where the problem emerges. This store will just die if all this stuff goes through.

The main problem, as Romanticide says, is that video game companies think they can do whatever the fuck they want. They can make online passes for games that didn't need them before, they can release flat out broken games, they can make first day DLC that should have been in the game... the companies can DO all this because we just make excuses for them. Broken game? Ah, you'd expect bugs, right? Online passes? Sure, the servers cost a lot! First day DLC? Oh wow, I'm getting extra content over my friends!

No, that's a problem. If we keep this up, we'll be putting up with shitty company decisions until the end of time. It's the same reason I didn't buy Skyrim on release day; granted, I have it now because my cousin bought it and I was planning to buy it, but if ALL gamers just flat out said "no" to stuff they disagree with, we might get somewhere. But pfft, this is sounding like the Kony thing. If we're being cereal, we'll get fucking nowhere. And we'll have companies messing us around 'till the end of time.

If FE13 has Day One DLC, I will flip bitches.
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LifeAgainstDeath
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Three Relevant Videos

Also, I just wanna say, not all day one DLC is bad because in some cases, it is actually funded and developed after the actual game is finished and is developed quickly enough that it gets released on the same day as the game (see: ME3's From Ashes DLC). Yes, I'm sure there are those sleazy companies that'll just hack off something from the actual game and make it DLC (*cough*Namco*cough*), but there are also companies that just wanted to get their first developed DLC out as soon as possible.
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nascargo19
Still playing RB3 daily.
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Was RB1s first bundle of DLC released on day one? I think the only thing I bought from that week was the Metallica pack. Id probably also have War Pigs if that wasn't a cover
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LifeAgainstDeath
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Yeah, RB's first 15 DLC songs were available the same day it released (November 20th).
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failureatlife
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Ah, The Jimquisition. The Escapist really holds a monopoly on swearing British gamers.

Good stuff.
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LifeAgainstDeath
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Looks like angry Mass Effect fans are getting their wish

Quote:
 
Building on their research, Exec Producer Casey Hudson and the team are hard at work on a number of game content initiatives that will help answer the questions, providing more clarity for those seeking further closure to their journey. You’ll hear more on this in April.  We’re working hard to maintain the right balance between the artistic integrity of the original story while addressing the fan feedback we’ve received.  This is in addition to our existing plan to continue providing new Mass Effect content and new full games, so rest assured that your journey in the Mass Effect universe can, and will, continue.

I smell DLC...
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