[Scotty]

Ah, but I'm a game programmer. I'm going to make my own games, and I'm not going to be a douche about what a user can and can't do with them.

It's not being a douche, it's being a business.  Their entire existence is for the purpose of making money.  If this move makes them more money, they made the right choice.  The challenge is balancing customer satisfaction with decisions like this against potential gains.

[Aardwolf]

It's not being a douche, it's being a business.

I wasn't aware that those two were mutually exclusive.

[Liberator]

It's not being a douche, it's being a business.

I wasn't aware that those two were mutually exclusive.

It seems to be developing that way.

[Klaustrophobia]

we all know that it is a business decision and why they did it.  they say **** you to the consumers to make money; we are perfectly entitled to say **** you back to the producer.

[Aardwolf]

we all know that it is a business decision and why they did it.  they say **** you to the consumers to make money; we are perfectly entitled to say **** you back to the producer.

Hear, hear!

[Mongoose]

Back in my day, we had games over the internet. And they were free.

The only reason you need their service is because they're designing games nowadays so that the game won't work otherwise, not because it actually depends on the service for anything that couldn't be replicated by some other service without the bogus restrictions.

Which is exactly what bnetd was, by the way.

Again, we're talking about consoles here, not the Internet as a whole.  And consoles haven't traditionally had guaranteed free Internet play...mainly because consoles traditionally haven't had Internet connectivity until the previous generation.  It's a completely different playing field.

[General Battuta]

Ah, but I'm a game programmer. I'm going to make my own games, and I'm not going to be a douche about what a user can and can't do with them.

That's what Stardock said.

Go buy a copy of Elemental: War of Magic and tell me what you think. 

[mxlm]

That's what Stardock said.

Yeah, but...um...I...I got nothing.

Anyone want to compare the gamer's bill of rights with the gold master of Elemental?

Go buy a copy of Elemental: War of Magic

You can't make me. Oh, god, I'm so glad I held off pre-ordering. I'm also rather grateful to the qt3 boards for alerting me to the state of the game before I pulled the trigger on a purchase. I'm even grateful to Stardock for making the choice between Elemental and Civ V a no-brainer.

[NGTM-1R]

Go buy a copy of Elemental: War of Magic and tell me what you think. 

GalCiv2

[Kosh]

Ah, but I'm a game programmer. I'm going to make my own games, and I'm not going to be a douche about what a user can and can't do with them.

That's what Stardock said.

Go buy a copy of Elemental: War of Magic and tell me what you think.  

So they screwed up a game, it's been known to happen with either, douchier developers.

Again, we're talking about consoles here, not the Internet as a whole.  And consoles haven't traditionally had guaranteed free Internet play...mainly because consoles traditionally haven't had Internet connectivity until the previous generation.  It's a completely different playing field.

It's also worth mentioning that the console itself is, with the exception of the Wii, sold at a price that's far below the cost and that consoles are locked up from top to bottom by the company that made them. Not so with PC's.

[Aardwolf]

It's also worth mentioning that the console itself is, with the exception of the Wii, sold at a price that's far below the cost and that consoles are locked up from top to bottom by the company that made them. Not so with PC's.

Ooo, remind me about this if I ever decide to go into making game consoles!

[General Battuta]

Go buy a copy of Elemental: War of Magic and tell me what you think. 

GalCiv2

Was a classic.

Ah, but I'm a game programmer. I'm going to make my own games, and I'm not going to be a douche about what a user can and can't do with them.

That's what Stardock said.

Go buy a copy of Elemental: War of Magic and tell me what you think. 

So they screwed up a game, it's been known to happen with either, douchier developers.

They didn't just screw it up, they twice screwed up a game in a manner that specifically defied their own splashily enounced Gamer's Bill of Rights.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Who buys Smackdown vs Raw?

If I didn't watch WWE back when I was 11, I'd be asking you what kind of game this is.

I've never really respected THQ. At least, not after they acquired the two halves of Parallax Entertainment and decided to kill off one side. This disrespect goes down to anything that is Red Faction as well.
 

* Androgeos Exeunt owns what appears to be a used copy of Descent 3: Mercenary.

[mxlm]

(I'm up north on vacation typing on an extremely slow connection so bear with me)

I don't think people yet fully realize the completeness of Stardock's fail on Elementa's launch.

I'm going to write more about this but not only did we think v1.05 was ready for everyone but we felt v1.0 was too. That's the level of disconnect/poor judgment on our part we're talking about.

If the game had come out in February, it would still have been a disastrous launch because lack of time wasn't the issue. It was blindness, sheer blindness. We felt the game was finished. And I speak of v1.0, not v1.05. Blindness.

There will be massive consequences for Stardock's game studio. I'll be talking more about this when I get back. But the game wasn't released early. The game was released poorly. Head in the sand syndrome imo. I've read the reviews as much as possible given my hideous internet access up here and I agree with them. We just didn't see what they were talking about. We thought any complaints would be about polish points or something.

The point is, the issue here is far far worse than many of you think it is. I wish it was an issue of the game being released too early. That's an easy thing for a company to "fix". Elemental's launch is the result of catastrophic poor judgment on my part.

EVERY competent software developer knows that the programmer must never be the one deciding whether the program is done. Yet, my love of Elemental broke my self discipline and I began coding on the game itself in vast amounts and lost any sense of objectivity on where the game's state was. I normally only program the AI on our games so I can keep a level of distance from the game itself to determine whether it's "Ready". On Elemental, I was in love with the world and the game and lost my impartiality.

We'll do better.

huh.

[Kosh]

They didn't just screw it up, they twice screwed up a game in a manner that specifically defied their own splashily enounced Gamer's Bill of Rights.

And so people won't buy their stuff, which is really how it should be instead of with other publishers like EA who can get away with doing anything, including crappy games.

[Scotty]

Then don't buy their stuff.  If you think a game is crappy, don't buy it.  But seriously, don't get pissed off because they made it.

[Klaustrophobia]

i'm more pissed off because much of the mainstream idiot market WILL buy **** games, publishers DO turn a hefty profit on crap, and it screws those of us who want quality over.

[General Battuta]

They didn't just screw it up, they twice screwed up a game in a manner that specifically defied their own splashily enounced Gamer's Bill of Rights.

And so people won't buy their stuff, which is really how it should be instead of with other publishers like EA who can get away with doing anything, including crappy games.

But EA has actually been the industry good guy for a few years now, cutting down on DRM and championing new IPs.

[Scotty]

i'm more pissed off because much of the mainstream idiot market WILL buy **** games, publishers DO turn a hefty profit on crap, and it screws those of us who want quality over.

So, you're pissed off because some business, at great expense to themselves, might make a game that you don't like, that you don't have to buy, and that you don't have to play at all?

Yeah, that makes perfect sense.

[Turambar]

They didn't just screw it up, they twice screwed up a game in a manner that specifically defied their own splashily enounced Gamer's Bill of Rights.

And so people won't buy their stuff, which is really how it should be instead of with other publishers like EA who can get away with doing anything, including crappy games.

But EA has actually been the industry good guy for a few years now, cutting down on DRM and championing new IPs.

It is nice how they keep pumping money into BioWare