Voting With Your Wallet

I have a big secret for you. No matter how big or little your website is or how many people read your magazine nothing you say/post/write will have any effect on gaming companies. Your opinion is just that... your opinion.

I strongly believe that our opinions have a HUGE place in the gaming market, but it is obvious that gaming companies think otherwise. There is an endless supply of feedback, ideas, and information hiding in the world in regards to gaming. Most companies relegate it as just noise.

Why do most companies pass it all off as senseless mumbo jumbo? Because gamers vote with their wallets. They tell companies that it's all right to launch buggy and incomplete games. They tell companies that Madden 2020 is what they want. They tell companies that 50 Cents : Bullet Proof is the game of the year.

People want to play their games and they want to play the sequels. These people repeatedly buy crappy games because they've bought them before. They don't stop and think at all about what other games are out there because the game companies have marketing departments. Gamers money is as good as gone the second they see that commercial flash across Monday Night Football.

Games are marketing and there is a ton of proven data to back that up. The most innovative games in the world won't sell more than a handful of copies without advertising. This is why the whole idea of a publisher exists. There needs to be a way to get the game on the store shelves and to tell people how great it is.

I honestly feel the gamer crowd is populated by a bunch of idiots that believe the cinematic commercial for Madden 2007 is actually what they will be getting out of their first generation Xbox. These people will buy a game because the marketing is good.

And this leads me to where we are now with Battlefield 2142. EA knows that people are going to buy it. They know that it is going to sell. So why not throw in some dynamic advertising powered by malware/spyware to make an extra buck on the side? EA knows they are going to get away with it because gamers vote with their wallets. Enough idiots have proven them correct in the past. People will buy the crappiest game that EA can make simply because they can push it out the door with a slick marketing slogan or brand name attached.

Here is my point. Start truly voting with your wallet. Don't buy a game if it even hints of crap like what EA is trying to pull with BF2142. An anti-cheat program in World of Warcraft that keeps the playing field level is one thing. A spyware/malware program that feeds advertisements by sifting through my personal surfing habits in Battlefield 2142 (with no cost reduction or free features for me) is wrong. The only way that EA will stop pulling this crap is when gamers vote with their wallets.

I have little faith in that though. I see it with every Madden release and with the new Playstation 3/Xbox 360. Gamers will pony up cash for anything. It is a sad state and anyone thinking that this sort of behavior will not lead to a gaming market crash is blind. It's just like politics. You fuck with your voters one too many times and they just stop coming back to the polls and eventually even the best candidates don't get votes.

Death In the Family

There has been a death in my family over the weekend so I will be heading out of town for the funeral this week. Have a good gaming week.

The pitfalls of beta testing...

Sometimes, when beta testing, one finds out that a game they had high hopes for is too close to release, with far too many issues, that they begin to slowly erase it off their "must buy" list. It doesn't mean they give up on testing or providing feedback, but its the one time that the dreaded word "delay" appears next to the title. All, in the vain hope that the development team has an idea of how to make a better end product.

Even worse, this particular game has the potential to turn this market upside down and shake out the cobwebs.

Update: 25 Apr, 2009 - Edited post and labels.

Battlefield 2142 Demo has NO UNLOCKS!

The Battlefield 2142 demo is upon us, and EA has dropped a big surprise in it for everyone. There is no way within the demo to gain ranks, or unlock new weapons and equipment. This demo is free advertisement for BF2142, and I don't see how eliminating 95% of the game's equipment is supposed to generate positive buzz!

The unlock system in BF2142 is not like that of Battlefield 2. Every item in a player's inventory has to be unlocked. It only takes a few matches to get enough rank to have some decent equipment unlocked. Starting classes only come with the very basics. Players have to outfit them with unlocks to be successful. Grenades, C4 packs, and many other basic items, that BF players are used to, are all unlocked instead of defaulted at the start. Also, most of what makes BF2142 unique (squad beacon, stealth device, etc.) are hidden in the unlocks.

The demo is going to be very (and I mean very) dull if everyone is forced into fighting with just the basics. It will turn vehicles into un-killable machines! It will make camping the prime time activity. No one can flush enemies out with a grenade, or stealth in to collect a camper's dog tags. It really brings into question whether it is worthwhile to even download the demo. Players will end up playing a ghost of the true game.

What worries me more is that there might be something wrong with the game mechanics, and they are rushing to fix it before launch. To save face, they are putting a demo out and eliminating the part of the game that was causing issues. This is definitely something EA has pulled before with *cough* BF2 patches *cough*. The demo may run beautiful, but what does that mean for the end product?

EA knows how to screw over customers, and someday it is going to bite them in the rear.

Update: 19 Apr, 2007 - Edited article.

PSM3 Magazine gives PS3 testkit a glowing preview!

The team over at PSM3 Magazine have gotten their hands on some Playstation 3 test/preview consoles. And guess what; they absolutely love it and give it a smashing review!

1) It's quiet like a sleeping baby. A barely audible hum. With the TV on you simply can't hear it at all.
2) It's heavy like a planet. No, really. It's impossible to pick up with one hand.
3) It's shiny like a mirror. In fact, it's impossible to take a photograph of it without the flash spanging every picture into a starburst mess. And therefore it's massively prone to fingerprintage too, with the tiny amount of dust in the office magically attaching itself to its surface in seconds.
4) The PS3 joypad is very light and the tilt system is very responsive. We like.
5) The start up is amazingly fast. And game load times were faster than expected. In fact, PS3 does both at about the same speed of PSP. ie, Long load times due to the massive Blu-ray disc? Nope. Simply not an issue.
6) Andy's fingers kept sliding off the shoulder buttons. But that's because his fingers are slippery.

You would think being the Official PS3 magazine and being some of the first journalists to get their hands on a working PS3 they would be more objective about it. The quality of their writing is worse than most blogs I read. It's an "OMG OMG OMG we gotz a PS3... OMGZ daddy Sony lovez us!11!!" article full of vague features.

How long are the loading times? Last time I touched a PSP it took over three minutes to load SOCOM: Fire Team Bravo.

How responsive is the tilt system? What game is it responsive in? Last time I checked even with the Wiimote it is reliant upon the game being played and the developers ability to program properly.

A heavy system? Heavy usually means expensive...

oh snap!

Well I have to get to class, but this is just amusing to see.

Battlefield 2142 Demo Confirmed for October 4th

From GamersHell: Battlefield 2142 Demo This Week!

"Electronic Arts unveiled that a playable demo for Battlefield 2142 will be launched on October 4th, giving you the chance to try out the next installment in the Battlefield franchise, scheduled to ship worldwide this month. Team play features allow up to 64 players to enter the action on the front lines as part of a formal squad, or work behind the scenes in Commander Mode to direct the strategic assaults of their teammates. With in-game success, players increase their rank and unlock awards, including new weapons, medals and more."

I'll be on the battlefield, of 2142, later this week. I am curious to see if the demo will have advertisements within the game. The beta test I participated in did not have any sort of advertisement, but the places for it were painfully obvious. Empty billboards littered the countryside. Blank signs on the side of buildings were easily noticed. I can't imagine what it will be like with the Fanta girls dancing across them.

Update: 8 Jul, 2007 - Edited post and applied labels.

My First Raid... Ever

Now that I'm with a new guild in World of Warcraft I figure it is time to start doing some new things. However, what I thought I would be doing is something different than what I did today. I envisioned myself joining guild PvP groups for grinding faction in the battlegrounds, but today a call went out for a pick-up raid into AQ20.

While AQ20 is by far not an "uber" raid it is actually the first raid instance I've ever stepped foot into outside of doing the Molten Core attunement quest. It was spur of the moment and was a multi-guild effort. Fortunately the raid leaders were all experienced with the content and that means everything in organized raiding.

Some people that read my blog may believe I'm just a mad casual gamer. Well I am, but I know how it is to be a raid or die type player. That is all I did in DAoC. If I wasn't doing Realm vs. Realm then I was off doing a dungeon crawl in Darkness Falls or any number of Shrouded Isles dungeons. I broke that habit shortly before Trials of Atlantis launched and have not looked back since. I'm better for it.

I don't see myself becoming a raider in WoW terms, but when the opportunities arise I will take advantage of them. I plan to report on all them also because I know it can be soothing to read about other people's raids and the ph4t l00tz they obtain. So let us discuss my AQ20 raid today.

The group formed within 30 minutes which I think is pretty good for a pick up raid. We were short on priests (one to be exact), but decided to head out anyways. We had four shamans and a couple of druids to pick up the slack. We didn't have any crazy ideas of clearing the entire dungeon... just the first couple of bosses.

The start was disastrous when a rogue thought he could stealth up towards the first trash pull and aggroed a three pull forcing us to zone out and back in. Once we were ready we pulled the trash and made it to the first boss, Kurinnaxx, just fine. First attempt and he was down.

Kurinnaxx Loot

[Vestments of the Shifting Sands]
Plus some minor quest related loot.

Then we initiated the second boss fight and it went smooth as butter also. It involved seven waves of monsters which we handled very well. We held the last wave so we could regenerate a good bit of mana/health before General Rajaxx came barreling down upon us. Our General Rajaxx strategy proved to be perfect and we didn't suffer a single death.

General Rajaxx Loot

Once again a slew of quest related drops.
[Tablet of Strength of Earth Totem V]

You could imagine my surprise when the tablet dropped. Even more my surprise when I rolled a 95 on the first roll! Of course with my luck 95 is never good enough and the last shaman to roll hit a 97.

After the Rajaxx loot was split the only priest had to leave. Of course that started the flood and the raid ended. It was a good raid and only took a couple hours of my time. This is what raiding should be about, but I can't expect every pick up raid to go so smooth. Even without winning any loot I was happy about spending a couple hours in AQ20. I am quite surprised about the whole situation and I may just be going back sometime soon.

Another First For ASCN - EVE Online

Found at Kill Ten Rats.

The first Titan has been built and it was Ascendant Frontier that made it happen. It’s a pretty big deal, and an even bigger ship. Way to go ASCN! Ars Caelestis (ArsC) is proud to be a part of it all.

I’ll try to add more details as they are released.

- Ethic

As a former member of ArsC and still an active member of their community I must say I am proud also. Even though I am no longer playing EVE Online I still enjoy keeping up on my old corp. Good luck ASCN!

Old enemies; New friends

A long time ago on the Azgalor server of World of Warcraft there were two enemies. Tanglefoot, Troll Shaman of the Horde, was constantly at battle with Taozu, Human Rogue of the Alliance. Many forum f-bombs were dropped and I even made a teaser video about Taozu (which is now lost to cyberspace).

Well Taozu had a change of heart and is now fighting for the Horde as a rogue. According to him; the Alliance is just a bunch of whining bitches. Well maybe not those exact words, but you get the idea.

Of course now being a proud member of the Horde, he decided to contact me: Supreme Commander of the Horde (don't hate because I can elect myself too cool offices). During our discussion we came to the conclusion that we really aren't too horrible to be around and I believe a new friendship was born. I see a lot of PvP in our future.

Along with this he also gave me an invite to his guild Extinct. I have been on the lookout for a guild for some time. Since I usually call the lamers as I see them, I have not won many friends on Azgalor.

Anyways, Extinct accepted me and I believe I will enjoy my new home. I miss having people to play WoW with and hopefully I will find plenty of people in Extinct that share my same enthusiasm for PvP.

So I Met an MMORPG Player in Class Today

I haven't really announced it on the blog that I have gone back to school for the fall semester. If you ever met me in real life you would think that I am not a day over 18. Fact is I am approaching 25 and am just starting technical college. I am often confused as just another "kid out of high school", but that does not bother me. Anyways this is all besides the point. I am in school and go to class everyday.

Today we had a lab to do. A simple lab: install Windows 98 SE on our hard drives. While doing the lab I started talking with the older female that was sitting next to me. We ended up talking about routers while we waited for Win 98 to install. She didn't know how to secure her wireless so I told her about a story involving my roommate and how our old neighbor found out he was piggybacking for free on their wireless access. Long story short she said "As long as it doesn't effect my games."

Being the self asserted genius that I am I put some clues together. What game or type of game could be so important that you wouldn't want it to be affected? MMORPGs... duh! What is the most popular MMORPG out right now? World of Warcraft... duh!

This doesn't mean everyone I meet that talks about video games or gaming is automatically thrown in the WoW category, but for this particular instance it was my best logical guess. So I said bluntly... "You play World of Warcraft." Not a question... a statement. Of course I was correct.

Turns out she is also playing in a couple of beta tests. Specifically Lord of the Rings Online and Vanguard:SoH. And here is the meat of this post:

Me: So how's Vanguard?
Her: Sucks. Can't even kill level 1's and the graphics run like crap (she has a moderate gaming rig, but still relatively new). Death penalty is stupid.
Me: I agree.
*senseless jabber occurs about Brad McQuaid*

Me: So how is LotRO?
Her: Great. It's beautiful and runs really well.
Me: I saw a video and I think the game looks boring... combat is slow and unimaginative.
Her: You have to try it because the combat is very fun.

Now these aren't exact quotes, but it gives the jest of what she was saying. On one hand it gave me some insight into LotRO which I was surprised to hear was going so well. I just lack faith in Turbine after Asheron's Call 2. Of course the other side is Vanguard and I must say she confirmed what I've been bitching about all along.

So overall it was a productive lab even if it took me a bit longer to install Win 98 than I had planned.