Re: Battlefield Hardline
Yeah, I'm a sucker for a pretty spaceship.
Oh, don't misunderstand: I wasn't asking if you were serious about backing SC, I was just incredulous that they are wasting time and money developing an alien language!
I have no problem with people backing game projects they like. Back when SC started its fund raising, I was tempted to join in, too. I didn't because I decided that I rather save the money for a game that was ready now than use it for a game that would be ready who-knows-when. I have, however, backed other games pre-release - not Kickstarters, but what would now be called "early access" programs. My big winner was Frozen Synapse - a fantastic game delivered on time. Others: Kerbal Space Program, Scrolls, and a space strategy game stuck in alpha for years now. That last one would seem to be my only bad investment so far.
Shunwick said:
If there is one thing that I would disagree with in this thread, it is the thread title. I don't think that gaming is dead.
Oh, I don't think gaming will ever truly die, as books, the theatre, movies, television have never died either despite their respective industry's determined efforts to run those genres into the ground, too. I just meant that what is often referred to as "The Second Golden Age of Gaming" (2003-2008) is dead.
It is in deep trouble though.
The consolers are looking to PC as the answer to what they perceive is the problem with the console gaming. The PC gamers are bemoaning the current state of the PC gaming scene due to the self-inflicted greed culture that has overtaken the major players. The major houses are churning out mega-buggy and broken triple A clones as fast as they can then moving on to the next release after a phased DLC programme and an insincere attempt to fix the major bugs, and PC gamers are rebelling against it. Hardly anyone trusts developers these days and is it any wonder?
Well said!
The Alien Isolation forum over at steam is at war with itself between the "For God's sake don't pre-order it" crowd and the "Don't tell me what I can and can't do with my own money" crowd.
LOL! I've seen many a similar debate.
These days, unless it is a dev that I really, truly respect (Stardock comes to mind, and only because after the spectacular failure of EWoM, they made more than good with their two free games compensation deal), I am in the former camp.
Fanboys over at Star Citizen are so defensive of the game because they have invested a lot of money into it and they instinctively feel that something is fundamentally rotten at its core.
Yup. Yup. I think the story I posted above about those game devs
who blew over half a million dollars on nonsense is a harbinger of what is coming with SC. I hope not, but as I wrote somewhere else, throwing large bags of money at a wishlist-based project is exactly how the federal government works, and that hasn't worked too well.
Thanks for the vid! Jim Sterling has done some good work on this sad state of affairs. For me, the solution is to never pre-order or buy on Day 1. Instead, gamers should make it a rule to do what I have been doing: never pay full price for a title. Wait the weeks until the first real sale occurs. By then, you will know whether or not the game is worthwhile AND you will be sending a strong message to all devs that they have become so disreputable that they are no worthy of their initial price tag.
BTW: This is why I am actually a proponent of F2P games. This format has saved me a ton of money over the last few years. And despite what gamers might say, there HAVE BEEN some really good titles that are F2P (Hawken, IMO the best mech game out there, WoT, War Thunder, LotRO, Ghost Recon Online, Hearthstone, Team Fortress 2 and a bunch of others). Seeing how little trust I have for most devs, the F2P model provides me with a risk-free chance to try before I buy.
Fortunately, there is plenty of life beyond the major players and while the Triple A scene is generally imploding while promoting "Now That's What I Call of Duty 37" and its DRM-heavy derivatives, there are many indie developers who are enjoying success precisely because they ARE NOT money-grabbing, sleazy, lying, bastard, snake-oil salesmen. Glory to Arstotzka!
There have been some good indie titles, but really nothing more than the number of good AAA titles. I really haven't seen the indie scene as some sort of savior. A lot of those titles have been mediocre at launch, too, or even completely imploded during development. Again, AAA mega studio or indie garage studio, the problem is industry-wide.
