Selling out

[PJ'l_Master]

So some of you may have read that Infinity Ward with the release of their Modern Warfare 2 title have decided to do away with private servers, opting instead for a player hosted matchmaking system similar to XBL, PSN or L4D on the PC. This of course caused a monstrous uproar from the PC community and the Infinity Ward forums and websites were inundated with posts from people canceling their pre-orders and simply expressing their disgust in the matter.

Its reminiscent of what Epic Games did to the Unreal Tournament franchise with the release of UT3. They dumbed it down into a console FPS and took out what set it apart from the rest of the shooters out there, which any Unreal Tournament fan will tell you, was the movement the game provided, effectively tossing the community of players who made them what they are aside in favor of money. Being a long time player of both games, this will be the second time I "get burned" so to speak, but I'm not terribly outraged at what they're doing, and I can understand from a business standpoint, but with that petition growing as fast as it is, hopefully they'll fix themselves. If not though, there's a reason why if you went into a Best Buy store just a couple short months after the release of Unreal Tournament 3, you could find the console versions for 60 bucks new, but the PC version was already in the bargain bin for 30 or less. I hope Infinity Ward doesn't sell out and make the same mistake that Epic has.

In the time it took for me to compose this post the number of signatures has grown from 76750 to 77067, it seems to be averaging about 1 signature every 2 seconds or so. Obviously it wont happen, but if all 77 thousand of those people didn't buy the game for its 60 dollar retail, that's over $4,260,000 in sales alone they stand to lose right off the bat.


Heres a link to the interview where the news broke Saturday the 17th of October that sums up the changes that have most PC users outraged.
http://bashandslash.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=745&Itemid=111

If you're interested in helping out, the petition can be signed here:
http://www.petitiononline.com/dedis4mw/petition.html

[Bingo]

I will say this - I can think of 2 games right off the top of my head that tanked during a franchise. 2 games that people have really loved - and that have been popular here. Both of them tanked due to game companies disregarding the movements behind the games - both Sam and UT. Both games got dumbed down in a sequel and simultaneously seemed to ignore many if not all of the things longtime players said they loved.

Companies would really do well to learn lessons from those failed sequels. However, time has also shown that companies more often than not don't learn lessons very well. :P

[BlackWolf]

Pc gaming are really going down the drain these days, most of the games are just bad consol ports.
I was moving to UT3 when it came out but after a month or two with it, i more or less quit pc gamin and bought me a ps3.

[JIMINATOR]

pc games have become monetized. it has shifted from people building something they love to instead be people building something that generates revenue. if EA or Microsoft ever buys valve/steam, then the gamers will be totally ****ed.

[PJ'l_Master]

yea, MW2 is also a port from the 360. I can understand why though, as the consoles are much easier to develop for.

[BlackWolf]

Jep and the piracy is much lower on consoles i think there are a bit on the box, but the ps3 is still piracy free for now that is

[Bingo]

That's an interesting point. I wonder if piracy has really had an impact on where game builders have wanted to put their attention?

I don't know much about console piracy since I've never looked into it, but I know there are ROMs out there for old games so I'd have to think the same exists for new ones too, right? Is it just that no one talks about it?

[ME BIGGD01]

I really hate the piracy argument. I am sure many people steal the games but there are ways to counter that. The last game I stole was Madden 07 and that was because the year prior to it they never updated the rosters or did anything for the game so we as loyal customers for over a decade got robbed. I was just paying them back. I bought it in 08 and they did the same thing. They updated the rosters the last week of the season. I planned on downloading the game again but they never made it for the pc again. The console versions suck. The thing is these big corps are what is ruining the pc gaming industry. Companies like EA have been robbing everyone with games not finished and rushed to the market and preventing other companies to compete. I have no problem buying my games and the smart solution for any company who feels that pirating is a problem, is to go with steam. I believe Piracy is a scam and just an excuse. When no other company can put out an NFL game because the big company has all the rights to it yet does not produce one for every platform, it kinda shows where the industry is at.

Oh did I mention I hate EA?

[BlackWolf]

That's an interesting point. I wonder if piracy has really had an impact on where game builders have wanted to put their attention?

I don't know much about console piracy since I've never looked into it, but I know there are ROMs out there for old games so I'd have to think the same exists for new ones too, right? Is it just that no one talks about it?

There are roms out there from older machines like nintendo 64 and so on and ps2, dunno if they are called roms tho ? but u cant emulate a ps3 on current pc hardware, its not powerfull enough.

[BlackWolf]

I really hate the piracy argument. I am sure many people steal the games but there are ways to counter that. The last game I stole was Madden 07 and that was because the year prior to it they never updated the rosters or did anything for the game so we as loyal customers for over a decade got robbed. I was just paying them back. I bought it in 08 and they did the same thing. They updated the rosters the last week of the season. I planned on downloading the game again but they never made it for the pc again. The console versions suck. The thing is these big corps are what is ruining the pc gaming industry. Companies like EA have been robbing everyone with games not finished and rushed to the market and preventing other companies to compete. I have no problem buying my games and the smart solution for any company who feels that pirating is a problem, is to go with steam. I believe Piracy is a scam and just an excuse. When no other company can put out an NFL game because the big company has all the rights to it yet does not produce one for every platform, it kinda shows where the industry is at.

Oh did I mention I hate EA?

Agree on EA

and u can play steam games with out steam

Still i would rather produce games for xbox and ps3 where the piracy is very limited than bother producing it for tons of pcs, with different specs. and much more work to get running properly on all setups.
And after all that just to see millions downloading it of the internet worldwide.