VIDEO GAME ISSUES MATTER

[Oz the Gay and Powerful]

Always remember this the next time you decide to hop into the argument stream about the next great gaming blunder in history. IT MATTERS. DEFINITELY. This leads me to my main point... I guess everyone just up and forgot about Mass Effect 3 and its betrayal of everything we hold dear? I don't think so. I'm going for gold here when I say I WANT that coveted first place trophy of pettiness. This is why I'm starting up Operation Bring Back the Outrage. Because eventually people get over their petty bullshit, and that is NOT okay. Forget about Kony? I'll let it slide. Forget about some video game issue? You're ****ing clown shoes, son, and you'd best know it. Mass Effect 3's controversy was the 9/11 of video games. Have you forgotten about 9/11? No, of course you haven't, remember? Never forget 9/11. Remember that. But forget 9/11 for now. Right now it's about Mass Effect 3 because that shit was... important? You bet your ass it was. Who could ever forget that an ending wasn't good for one piece of entertainment? THIS IS HISTORY, PEOPLE. Everyone always remembers the blunders of entertainment (there's even a list, but no one knows where it is) which is why it's important to get really mad and emotional about it immediately.

Let's say Valve releases Half-Life 3 and it has a pretty crappy plot. Well... you'd better write to your congressman because it's not like you won't care a month later.

[Aaron Anderson]

You seem upset?
There's nothing you can do about it really. First off, people bought that game and, second off, people will buy the dlc ending.
Also TOR.

[AndyNPC]

Don't worry, I'm always mad about everything so you have my support. I'm just busy being pissed about Splinter Cell: Blacklist right now.

[Hey, I'm Grump]

Bioware got away with the shitty ending in the end because they're Bioware. After Dragon Age 2, cynicism replaced peoples faith in them as a developer. The ones that were most vocal were the ones who hadn't given up hope.

The thing about it that I still don't understand is the community handed Bioware a get out of jail free card in the form of the Indoctrination theory and Bioware chose to ignore it because they wanted to hold up their "creative license". I guess art and arrogance still walk hand in hand, amirite?

[Aaron Anderson]

Originally Posted by AndyNPC

Don't worry, I'm always mad about everything so you have my support. I'm just busy being pissed about Splinter Cell: Blacklist right now.

I was okay with Conviction, it was a break from the norm, a nice one-off, but the casualisation must continue I guess. Stealth is dead. It doesn't make me optimistic that Ubisoft can deliver with Watch_Dogs either.

[Banjokun]

Well, their are more important issues beside day-one dlc (which I don't give a crap about) is localization of games that deserve a chance to be released over seas and on disc dlc. First off localization of games that need to release in other places outside of japan, remember when Fatal Frame 4 didn't release outside of japan? No, maybe, well since NoA released Xenoblade Chronicles in the us only in gamestop this april (i'm still a bit mad about that) and Xseed had decided to release The Last Story for the us, don't know anything about Pandora's Tower yet but I still have hope for it, but the bottom line is no matter what console or what genre the game is every game deserves a chance to make some wave outside of japan regardless on how well it will sell. Now on to the second thing that is a big issue in the game industry on disc dlc, and no I am not talking about that one piece of data on ME 3 from that day one dlc I am taking about the locked characters on SF x Tekken. What ever happened to the days where you can just unlock characters though conventional means, now a days you have to fork over money in order to unlock everything and its just disgusting.

And yeah I forgot online passes and how it will combat used games and all that jazz but the two issues that I have talked about are the issues that should matter in some way.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by Aaron Anderson

Stealth is dead.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Thief 4, Hitman and Dishonored say otherwise.

And before you say anything else, the guys who had a part in the old Thief games are also working on Dishonored.

[Galactic Mario]

Capcom are the kings of suckering their fans for money. Sure, it was okay in the 90s, I guess, because there was no way to update your games after releasing them. But now we're in the 21st century. DLC exists. We don't need a bunch of different versions of the same game.

You want new characters? Go ahead. Release them online. New costumes? Go ahead, release them online. Super Hyper Ultra Street Fighter 4 HD 3D Anniversary, or what have you? That's not cool. I'm not paying 60 bucks for the same game with little changes. [/Capcomrage]

As for ME3? Yeah. I guess that's pretty dumb, too.

[AndyNPC]

Here, I'll post this because it's related and I like it. I feel the same thing is going on with modern Splinter Cell.

[spoondiddly]

I was never quite sure why there was so much outrage with Mass Effect 3. Yes, the big impact was what you chose to do with the reapers. Then, depending on what you did in that game and the prior games affected what happened with your characters, ie. if they survived, went off to eat burgers, or whatnot. From there came all the other little minor things, like which planets were or weren't burned, etc. You may or may not survive, and I, just like they, would concider that a big variation in the ending.

DLC for in-game unlocks is, well, a crappy way to sucker more money from players. Also, it is, in actual fact, questionably legal to nail you in the case that you artificially unlock any content in software. Galoob vs. Nintendo could be applied.
That said, I'm not opposed to releasing minor expansions via DLC.

I'm more interested in the predatory nature of publishers now, such as LucasArts' recent annihilation policies. If there is one thing that has been proven to be destructive to gaming it is predatory and exploitive business policies. Atari's original downfall, subsequently collapsing the US gaming market, is a prime example. In fact, it was their own exploitation of programmers (refusal to premit credits or work citation) that led to competition in the arcade market. Nintendo's strict NES release schedules and licencing that broke their hold at the emergence of the 16bit market.

[Oz the Gay and Powerful]

I guess my blatant sarcasm went by completely unnoticed. Sorry guys, I'll try harder next time.

[AndyNPC]

Originally Posted by Stephen Colbert

I guess my blatant sarcasm went by completely unnoticed. Sorry guys, I'll try harder next time.

Doesn't matter. Your joke argument was better than your real one. It is far worse to let bad service slide than to overreact to it.

[Oz the Gay and Powerful]

We DID let it slide though. It slid. That's the point. Gamers throw a 5-second fit, get thrown a bone, go back to the doghouse, forget anything ever happen and remain docile until their next 5-second fit. The outrage that follows as the result of the ending to a video game is a big joke. Because if Half-Life 3 was bad, they'd only hope Half-Life 4 was better and they'd buy that.

[AndyNPC]

Originally Posted by Stephen Colbert

We DID let it slide though. It slid. That's the point. Gamers throw a 5-second fit, get thrown a bone, go back to the doghouse, forget anything ever happen and remain docile until their next 5-second fit. The outrage that follows as the result of the ending to a video game is a big joke. Because if Half-Life 3 was bad, they'd only hope Half-Life 4 was better and they'd buy that.

The Mass Effect 3 controversy lasted for months and gained attention from several media outlets including Forbes. Of course EA isn't going to change their ways and there will always be a crowd of fanboys, children, and casual consumers that will buy anything that's advertised to them. But this controversy has taught many to not buy into hype and to be more wary of early review scores, so for that I'd say the mission was accomplished.