Another strike for Blizzard, DiabloIII!

[Icemage]

Re: Another strike for Blizzard, DiabloIII!

And Final Fantasy XIII for 360 comes on four discs, if I'm recalling it correctly. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was on two. Sounds like it all comes down to coding an asset creation/recycling to me

My point still stands. They could have delayed the game and made a three-disc game instead of a two-disc one. Considering the majority of ME2 is a handful of small on-rails areas, I'm going to have to say sloppy, inefficant asset usage, lousy coding and greed are our primary culprits for "running out" of space on two discs as it is.

They opted to nickel-and-dime 360 gamers while fighting the used market, that was the only reason to rush the game.

As I recall, publishing on a third disc for Xbox 360 comes with a tremendous licensing price tag from Microsoft. Final Fantasy XIII's fee got waived because Microsoft threw huge suitcases of money at Square-Enix just to get them to break their exclusivity agreement with Sony. Blue Dragon got the 3rd disc fee waived because it was published my Microsoft and they were still trying to break into the Japanese market. The only open question mark is L.A. Noire, which is also on 3 discs. However, that too was supposed originally be PS3-exclusive I think? Might be a similar situation to FFXIII.

My understanding of the situation is that Microsoft doesn't want developers regularly shoving people's noses in the fact that the DVD storage limit is becoming a limiting factor for console game development.

If you want to blame anyone for why Lair of the Shadow Broker wasn't on the original disc for ME2, you might want to aim your sights at Microsoft.

People are starting to notice this and remember how things were last gen, the resentment I show regarding this practice is starting to be echoed by many more gamers. Maybe not Bioware's fanboys, but then, DA2 did kind of shake people for the idea that Bioware can do no wrong.

You're doing it again, BBQ: pushing your opinion and acting like it's the majority opinion.

I dislike this trend of day-1-or-close-to-day-1-paid-DLC as much as anyone, but it's apparently working for publishers. Financial incentive = it's probably going to happen whether you like it or not.

It's obvious that the majority don't seem to care when Activision is selling 18 million Call of Duty map packs at $15 each..

I have a feeling TOR will show the Emperor has no clothes.

And I don't mean Palpantine... whoa... there's a thought I didn't want.

SW:ToR is a MMORPG, so it's already got subscription fees. Unless Bioware do an about face and turn it into a F2P game, I don't see this same sort of DLC fetish creeping into the game (or at least no more than we're already used to in the context of paying for expansions).


Icemage

[Malacite]

Re: Another strike for Blizzard, DiabloIII!

It's obvious that the majority don't seem to care when Activision is selling 18 million Call of Duty map packs at $15 each..

And that was only every 2 or 3 months.... as of MW3, there will be new DLC MONTHLY...

orz

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Another strike for Blizzard, DiabloIII!

You're doing it again, BBQ: pushing your opinion and acting like it's the majority opinion.

No, I'm just pointing out there aren't as many people that are mindlessly loyal as you'd like to believe. The problem really is when you have people like Malacite that could do something about it by NOT BUYING THE GAME NEW and they go out and buy it anyway, despite complaints.

I have a feeling this holiday season has a spoiler in it, too, much like GTAIII was a spoiler for MGS2. I'm thinking that the game might be Skyrim, just based on the people that have gone from "What's Elder Scrolls?" to "I'd like to pre-order Skyrim" in less that two minutes. ES has a strong fanbase, but there are still plenty of people that have never played it.

People will buy MW3 anyway, but I have a feeling splintering the community away from YouTube and charging subscription fees are going to have some serious consequences. Companies have tried to draw audiences away from YouTube their ventures tend to fail when they do this. Activision might have some limited success, but it won't be long before the video sharing migrates back to Youtube.

There's also the continuing popularity of MW2 to contend with, I don't hear anything about Activision pulling support of it. Its too popular to do that without getting a ton of shit over it. I'm pretty sure some people will trade in MW3 the second they realize MW2 was still good enough to pass the time. Hell, that was the case for plenty of people that picked up Black Ops.

So I'm kind of looking at a bigger picture here, not just whipping up fictional majorities. Infinity Ward and Bioware have plenty of serious competition from many angles to worry about.

And after all these years, whether I like it or not, I wouldn't bet against WoW maintaining his stranglehold on the genre so many have sought to break. There are some things that just don't seem different enough from WoW in TOR and there are other things about it that seem very un-Star Wars for a Star Wars game.

Like having a tank and healer, for example. And really, why does a smuggler have to even deal with hokey space religions?

I can appreciate the fact that Bioware is sticking to the lore that KOTOR established, but I have a feeling a lot of people would have been happier if they had just done another proper KOTOR game instead.

[Absentia]

Re: Another strike for Blizzard, DiabloIII!

Bullshit.

Well, it's likely a mix of both - DRM so they don't get screwed by piracy (Like that's ever really worked) and to get people on the AH. I'm telling you this has got to be kotick's doing.

Would you shutup about Kotick?

[Takelli]

Re: Another strike for Blizzard, DiabloIII!

Would you shutup about Kotick?

Ok... Why should he?

What makes them so great, that he should?

[Taskmage]

Re: Another strike for Blizzard, DiabloIII!

Ok... Why should he?

What makes them so great, that he should?

Because this concept that there's one guy who bears the fault for everything you think is wrong is an unproductive and childish oversimplification?

[Etra]

Re: Another strike for Blizzard, DiabloIII!

Because this concept that there's one guy who bears the fault for everything you think is wrong is an unproductive and childish oversimplification?

Or let's look at it that fact Kotick is pulling "news" out its ass and saying what goes on in beta will go on in live. I mean, what company would want to test their servers during a beta by locking out offline mode? Psht. Save that stress test shit for live.

{eye roll}

[Taskmage]

Re: Another strike for Blizzard, DiabloIII!

Or let's look at it that fact Kotick is pulling "news" out its ass and saying what goes on in beta will go on in live. I mean, what company would want to test their servers during a beta by locking out offline mode? Psht. Save that stress test shit for live.

{eye roll}

I'm confused. Are you talking about Bobby Kotick, president of Blizzard, or Kotaku, the gaming news site? I'm pretty sure neither one said what you're attributing to them.

[Absentia]

Re: Another strike for Blizzard, DiabloIII!

Because this concept that there's one guy who bears the fault for everything you think is wrong is an unproductive and childish oversimplification?

Thank you.

It seems as though he hates Kotick and believes Kotick is to blame for anything that he doesn't like in an Activision Blizzard game. But if he's the cause of all these shenanigans, why support him and still play/buy the product?

[Takelli]

Re: Another strike for Blizzard, DiabloIII!

Thank you.

It seems as though he hates Kotick and believes Kotick is to blame for anything that he doesn't like in an Activision Blizzard game. But if he's the cause of all these shenanigans, why support him and still play/buy the product?

I wasn't saying I hate him or anything, I was just asking why should we stop?

[Malacite]

Re: Another strike for Blizzard, DiabloIII!

How about because he's the fucking Devil and a blight on the industry as a whole?

Or am I the only one who's noticed a dramatic change in Blizzard's policies and procedures since the acquisition? Of course he doesn't literally dictate every little thing they do, but ultimately they're all marching to his tune - and the man cares nothing of what makes the industry worthwhile.

He's gone on record saying that all he cares about is milking franchises for all they are worth, and that new IPs aren't worth it if you can't. So, new, creative ideas be damned.

It's what's been killing Hollywood for the last several years and it's been the downfall of a number of IPs & Companies in this industry. Thank God that SONY & Nintendo are still willing to push the envelope and try new things, even if they end up being a huge failure. Otherwise we wouldn't see awesome, niche titles like Valkyria Chronicles or even the Nintendo DS, which was initially just a side project before the next proper game boy that no one predicted would turn into the massive success that it did.


At least Blizzard (thank God) maintains their creative rights, in so far as game design & release dates go. They aren't shitting out a new iteration of the same tired franchise each and every year like they do with COD or Rockband or what have you.

But this DRM shit? It absolutely has to be his doing. It has nothing to do with the game itself and everything to do with money and IP rights. Not that I believe they shouldn't be protecting their IP - they absolutely should, especially in this day and age - but the extremes they've taken it to are simply absurd and beyond the pale of anything Blizzard would have dared try back before the merger.

[Fliegar]

Re: Another strike for Blizzard, DiabloIII!

I wasn't saying I hate him or anything, I was just asking why should we stop?

Because it's not nice?

[Armando]

Re: Another strike for Blizzard, DiabloIII!

He's gone on record saying that all he cares about is milking franchises for all they are worth, and that new IPs aren't worth it if you can't. So, new, creative ideas be damned.

Yeah, 'cuz Kotick is the only person doing this right now! Certainly not Capcom and Square-Enix, no sir.

[Icemage]

Re: Another strike for Blizzard, DiabloIII!

Yeah, 'cuz Kotick is the only person doing this right now! Certainly not Capcom and Square-Enix, no sir.

Even Capcom tries once in a while to launch new IPs (Dragon's Dogma, Asura's Wrath).

Square-Enix gets a half-pass from me if only because Eidos is totally kicking ass and taking names right now (Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the upcoming Tomb Raider reboot, and Hitman: Absolution). They also have new IPs landing on 3DS (Heroes of Ruin, Bravely Default).

Aside from 2010's Blur, I can't recall a single instance lately of Activision publishing anything that wasn't a sequel or licensed cash-in.


Icemage

[Armando]

Re: Another strike for Blizzard, DiabloIII!

Even Capcom tries once in a while to launch new IPs (Dragon's Dogma, Asura's Wrath).

Square-Enix gets a half-pass from me if only because Eidos is totally kicking ass and taking names right now (Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the upcoming Tomb Raider reboot, and Hitman: Absolution). They also have new IPs landing on 3DS (Heroes of Ruin, Bravely Default).

Sure, but the point is they're all playing it safe. Hell, I don't know what's up with Dragon's Dogma and Asura's Wrath but the only reason Inafune got new IPs out was because he'd secretly develop them until it was more expensive for upper management to cancel the game than to finish it. Otherwise, any ideas he suggested were either shut down or twisted into some sequel for an existing game. We're also talking about the assholes that released DLC characters for MvC3 at $5 each, followed by a revision. Not to mention they turned down Inafune's offer to continue working on Legends 3 after he left, canceled the game before the demo was done and crushed the dreams of everyone that has been blueballed since Legends 2.

Square Enix has been spamming Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts up the wazoo. Like you said, they've also pushed out new games, but the trend to milk sequels for all they're worth and resorting to new IPs as a last resort is definitely there. It's also much easier for them to be adventurous on handhelds than on consoles.