E3 2013 Schedule

[Icemage]

Re: E3 2013 Schedule

Titanfall has no single player component. It's like Warhawk in that sense; a pure online multiplayer game in the vein of Planetside 2. Keeping it cloud-connected makes some sense if they're doing some sort of persisitent world behavior.

----

As far as I can tell, the Kinect connection is still required. It was not walked back unlike the rest of the DRM and region locking.

I assume this is because Microsoft still wants Kinect as a standard piece of required hardware so that developers will use it. If it's not required and is optional, most developers will ignore it or only add it when it makes interesting sense (see: PS Move integration in Child of Eden, SKyrim's Shouts for Kinect).

I still feel this is a mistake on Microsoft's part, but they've got a whole host of problems still to fix (expensive hardware, production supply issues, weaker hardware, terrible mindshare/PR, and you can add "no clear vision of the future" to that list now that they've done an about-face on one of the tentpoles of their platform). Maybe they're too shell-shocked by the public backlash that they haven't thought things through clearly yet. Certainly they've got some more time to do some damage control.


Icemage

[Firewind]

Re: E3 2013 Schedule

The news on Microsoft pulling a u-turn on the XBox One's Uses Game and Always Online policies are good news and a step in the right direction don't get me wrong. But the thing is is that I'm still unwilling to touch the thing with a barge pole held by someone else.

The underlying problem is still there: Microsoft will have the ability to reintroduce these things at some point and it is not born out of a desire to actually you know, do well for the consumer, they saw the terrible preorder numbers in the US (especially from members of the US Military since they pretty much all jumped to PS4 just so they could play games when posted away from home which is about 1 million sales gone right there), and tried to do something to salvage the situation.

The thing is, people are unwilling to forget about being treated like this. gamers are sick of being treated like criminals for owning the bloody game. Plus the Kinect is still there, and it still need to be on to operate the system. Plus not only did Microsoft treat their own fans with contempt but also anyone else that might have been interested in buying an XBox One.

So yes it is good news but gamers need to be pretty cautious here with any other crap they might try to pull and remember that they only did this as damage control. The underlying problems of the consoles: price, shit customer service, kinect forced on you, horrible treatment of indie software developers and zero backwards compatability with your old games? Still there.

Plus the console still uses Windows 8 too...

[Malacite]

Re: E3 2013 Schedule

Well as my friend and I were discussing last night, what they did just now was technically all policy - they could switch it at any time. I sincerely doubt the Xbox itself was designed in that way and then they had a million technicians busting their asses to reverse it as that's a completely unrealistic scenario.

Which means at any given time in the future, they could just go right back to all the nonsense again, though perhaps not all at once.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: E3 2013 Schedule

Xbox One already will have a Day One patch that undoes all the things we don't like about it.

That means all this was built in. All of it by design. I already have plenty of reasons not to want an Xbox One, but that these things were already built and coded in just makes me even more uncomfortable. EA swearing they're not going back to online passes doesn't earn them any confidence in my book - not when those online passes became limited editions and simulation games with always-on DRM magically became MMORPGS.

Not unlike how legislators are always redrawing SOPA and PIPA, the industry will keep trying DRM in new ways.

Personally, people like Cliff Blizzenski in particular are especially disgusting to me now. That's not some baby boomer boardroom prick, that's a developer from my generation who's lost touch with how he came into video games and he's reflecting a huge trend of studios who are growing more and more out-of-touch with where they came from. Capcom, Square-Enix, most of Konami, Sega, EA and Activision no longer have any idea how they got where they did and that's pretty disgusting. That he insists that AAA development and big budgets are some noble cause big publishers engage in for the benefit of consumers is beyond insulting to the intelligence of gamers. That they even finger blame our way for their woes is revolting.

Developers have a problem, an obsession with getting the latest tech in their hand instead of maxing the potential of what they have. I remember back when it was the SNES and PSX developers were always looking for new ways to push the envelope of what those platforms could do and somewhere toward 2005 they forgot how to do that. They forgot how to work within their means and publishers forgot, too.

The success of various indies and smaller publishers, along with privately-owned publishers, continue to prove there is a way to give gamers what they want and develop and publish within your means. I think its time for a lot of these big publishers to go private again.

[Malacite]

Re: E3 2013 Schedule

Xbox One already will have a Day One patch that undoes all the things we don't like about it.

That means all this was built in. All of it by design. I already have plenty of reasons not to want an Xbox One, but that these things were already built and coded in just makes me even more uncomfortable. EA swearing they're not going back to online passes doesn't earn them any confidence in my book - not when those online passes became limited editions and simulation games with always-on DRM magically became MMORPGS.

Not unlike how legislators are always redrawing SOPA and PIPA, the industry will keep trying DRM in new ways.

Personally, people like Cliff Blizzenski in particular are especially disgusting to me now. That's not some baby boomer boardroom prick, that's a developer from my generation who's lost touch with how he came into video games and he's reflecting a huge trend of studios who are growing more and more out-of-touch with where they came from. Capcom, Square-Enix, most of Konami, Sega, EA and Activision no longer have any idea how they got where they did and that's pretty disgusting. That he insists that AAA development and big budgets are some noble cause big publishers engage in for the benefit of consumers is beyond insulting to the intelligence of gamers. That they even finger blame our way for their woes is revolting.

Developers have a problem, an obsession with getting the latest tech in their hand instead of maxing the potential of what they have. I remember back when it was the SNES and PSX developers were always looking for new ways to push the envelope of what those platforms could do and somewhere toward 2005 they forgot how to do that. They forgot how to work within their means and publishers forgot, too.

The success of various indies and smaller publishers, along with privately-owned publishers, continue to prove there is a way to give gamers what they want and develop and publish within your means. I think its time for a lot of these big publishers to go private again.

Yeah it's rather disheartening. I mean, there's a few guys out there who have proven they still got what it takes - Kamiya, Inafune, Mikami & Yoshida, but the companies they came from/work for have lost touch as a whole. I'd like to think they can turn things around, but we'll see. Ubisoft is something of a mixed bag.

On the one hand, I detest Uplay and their bullshit DRM for their PC launches, and I'm rather fed up with AC being a yearly installment. On the other hand, things like The Division and Watch Dogs are genuinely awesome. I have zero faith in CoD at this point, and would write off Activision entirely if it wasn't for them owning Blizzard and partnering with Bungie.


Then on the flipside, you've got guys like Gearbox who depsite the odd mistep (Duke Nukem, Aliens - but they only had a partial hand in those) and 4A Games putting out gems like Borderlands and Metro. I think Rockstar may be the best example of all - GTA has continued to be one of the biggest franchises out there, but they haven't let that success get to their heads. GTA4 had some of the best DLC of any game this generation, as did Red Dead Revolution. People love Rockstar and for good reason.


As for Kojima, I honestly don't know anymore. He went on and on about how amazing the XB1 is during their presentation, when he must know the PS4 is much more powerful and he's traditionally favored Sony as well - not sure if that was all an epic trolling or if M$ just decided to bribe the shit out of him. Either way it was disgusting to watch.

[DakAttack]

Re: E3 2013 Schedule

I think Rockstar may be the best example of all - GTA has continued to be one of the biggest franchises out there, but they haven't let that success get to their heads. GTA4 had some of the best DLC of any game this generation, as did Red Dead Revolution. People love Rockstar and for good reason.

lol

[Malacite]

Re: E3 2013 Schedule

What? It's true. Rockstar has a really good rep, at least as far as consoles go - I've heard about some issues with DRM on Steam but that doesn't seem to have hurt them a whole hell of a lot from what I've gathered.

[Firewind]

Re: E3 2013 Schedule

It didn't hurt them? GTAIV is only one of three games where Valve actually gave refunds, the DRM was THAT bad.

For a good while, the PC version was considered particularly infamous, not only thanks to noticable performance issues and a clumsy interface, but particularly because Rockstar decided to package the game with an extra piece of software known as the Rockstar Social Club, a utility created to handle the game's multiplayer connectivity, which in its original iteration would run on top of the game (along with SecuROM and Games For Windows Live) and nag you to log into it not only whenever you wanted to play, but on windows startup as well. Oh and the controls can't be changed (A feature that has been standard even in the DOS era).

It only gets ignored because:

1. Ghost Recon Future Soldier and From Dust (the only other games Valve ever gave refunds for) were WORSE thanks to UbiSoft
2. It's Rockstar

[DakAttack]

Re: E3 2013 Schedule

What? It's true. Rockstar has a really good rep, at least as far as consoles go - I've heard about some issues with DRM on Steam but that doesn't seem to have hurt them a whole hell of a lot from what I've gathered.

Rockstar phones it in so hard.

You guys might enjoy this: I kind of feel bad for xbox's marketing team... - Imgur

[Malacite]

Re: E3 2013 Schedule

the MGS V one.

[Taskmage]

Re: E3 2013 Schedule

Obligatory PA Re-post

[Firewind]

Re: E3 2013 Schedule

I preferred the Emergency Jimquisition, if only because of us finding out the that glasses aren't part of Jim Sterling's face. Oh and the sleeping Willem Defoe.

[Icemage]

Re: E3 2013 Schedule

Xbox One already will have a Day One patch that undoes all the things we don't like about it.

I'm seeing this idea posted a LOT online, and I think it's necessary to point something out.

We're in June. 5 months away from launch for Xbox One. None of these systems is out of official production yet as far as anyone knows. If the issue is a firmware update, it is absolutely trivial for Microsoft to manufacture the new units with revised firmware before they ever hit store shelves.

Ergo, the reason for the initial online check-in doesn't have anything to do with "turning off DRM" - that shouldn't be necessary, even if Microsoft intentionally ships some sort of default lockdown firmware with DRM just to maintain appearances. I don't know what's going on with them or why they're so hell-bent on forcing users online at least once at system setup, but I don't for a moment believe it's to "patch out" DRM - and I recommend that everyone else stay skeptical too. It might be as simple as a last-ditch pitch to new owners to convince them to keep the system connected... "Now that you've set up your Xbox Live profile, look what other online features you can now enjoy!".

Remember, with the forced online check-in, they were more or less guaranteed that every box would be connected online, and thus could push ads in your face and make money off of you even if you didn't subscribe to XBL Gold. Of course, Microsoft pushes ads in your face when when you DO subscribe on the 360, so... eh. I'd like to believe this is the reason for the required first time check-in, because any other theory I can come up with drifts dangerously into tinfoil hat range.


Icemage

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: E3 2013 Schedule

Remember, with the forced online check-in, they were more or less guaranteed that every box would be connected online.

As with EA Accounts being converted to Origin accounts, its probably going to be used to fudge the numbers and push an angenda. In this case it will be saved for "See? Most people that bought a Xbox One connect to the internet!"

I believe the NPD was abusing such statistics when they were posting data during the heat of the SimCity debacle and, sure enough, EA ran with the data to justify the DRM. Companies love to fudge the numbers and lie about what they mean, this is just a tactic to justify future actions once they have the data.

Of course, the data didn't say when, how often or for what purpose the consoles became connected to the internet - just that they had connected to the internet at least once at some point. In EA's minds, however, you connecting your Wii to the internet to watch Netflix or download a Virtual Console game makes you a tremendous online gamer who wants always-on games.

Bioware loves to flaunt the data they collected from Dragon Age: Origins to rationalize the lack of racial choice in DA 2 and 3. Lots of people chose a default, human Grey Warden the first time around so that must mean no one ever went back and played as Elves or Dwarves, right? So they fudge the numbers to justify poor game design now. The spiritual successor to Baulder's Gate and Neverwinter Nights abandons race. Meanwhile in Skyrim you can't turn a corner without someone commenting on your race, sex and skills.

The truth is Bioware abuses the data to cut corners on their budget. Why spend more money on the character creation engine and voice actors for different shades of a silent protagonist when you can just force players to be a generic human and hire fancy actors to play a fixed, genderless protagonist like Hawke?