Video Games

PhoneLobster · Post by **PhoneLobster** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 6:21 am

I'm curious did no one else notice that there has been a massive debacle involving the new SimCity and it being horrendously done over by draconian DRM through the week?

For once the whole thing where they screw Australians and the EU with later release dates has come back to bite the publishers/distributors in the face for a change. I've seen their massive failure and heard the numerous horror stories and inadequacies of the game and I'm not buying it because I got two days damn warning that I might not have if I could have bought it at initial release, suckers!

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 7:03 am

Yeah, it's pretty much "So, AU and EU, you can't play it yet. Don't worry, neither can anyone else!"

Maxus took the bullet for it, saying it's their fault, but we all know they did it because EA told them to, and they took the blame because EA told them to.

Now that's not the only problem of course - there's the awful pathfinding, prioritising (if there are three fires, all fire trucks drive to the same house and cluster around it), the maps are smaller than the smallest ones prior games offered, and they've ended up disabling half the features to help with serverload.

But the actual big fuck-up that is inexcusable is releasing a game that doesn't actually work, all in the name of "But people might pirate it!"

I have full confidence in pirates to make a workaround so you don't even need to connect to their servers, allowing for constant play without delay.

Juton · Post by **Juton** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 7:18 am

The trick that EA has been doing is that it has been moving actual useful computation onto its servers. For instance there is a hack for Diablo 3, but the game doesn't work right because some of the necessary game code exists only on the servers. The pirates would have to reverse engineer the missing code.

An unintended consequence of this is that, as is, Diablo 3 is a game that will only be playable for a few years until they drop support for it. They could come along later and release a patch that replaces the missing code, but that might not be likely.

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 7:38 am

Count Arioch the 28th wrote:lmao, that's fucking hilarious. I like how they try to simulate the fact that Tali only has 3 fingers by adding a shadow effect.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/article ... k-Exchange

Avoraciopoctules · Post by **Avoraciopoctules** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 8:30 am

Looks like one of the indie adventure games I've been following might get done this year. That'd be cool, I haven't played a QFG-esque game in a while.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgzU3nybN5Y

ishy · Post by **ishy** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 11:04 am

How accepted is it by the general gamer populace that single player requires an internet connection these days?

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 11:06 am

Attributes and Skills and Timeline are SR3, but combat and Magic System ain't shadowrun at all.

edit: will teach me not to refresh before posting, this was regarding the shadowrun returns alpha <.<

and as far as i can tell, many people hate the always on drm stuff.
especially people who don't have a stable internet connection of course.

OgreBattle · Post by **OgreBattle** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 1:34 pm

ishy wrote:How accepted is it by the general gamer populace that single player requires an internet connection these days?

Millions of Blizzard fans accept it, though the meat of their games is online play in the first place.

AAA titles can get away with it.

Istred · Post by **Istred** » Sun Mar 10, 2013 2:02 pm

Juton wrote:The trick that EA has been doing is that it has been moving actual useful computation onto its servers.

Actually it seems they're only saying they've moved most of the computations there...

http://www.reddit.com/r/SimCity/comment ... nd_server/

Juton · Post by **Juton** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 4:19 am

That's a good link Istred. If that is true then the enterprising pirates should be able to eventually make a patch so that a network connection isn't needed.

fectin · Post by **fectin** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 4:59 pm

...and we come full circle to four years ago, when we discovered that pirating gave you more functionality. (and four years before that, and four years before that).

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 5:54 pm

sad, really.
all the copyprotection stuff does is make the game worse for the peolpe who actually pay for it . .

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 6:00 pm

Don't you know? People who buy games are pirates, because pirates often buy what they pirate.

So all consumers and customers are criminals. They both start with 'c', which shows the connection.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 6:02 pm

that's not too far from the truth actually . .
i first pirated FNV with all DLC's and only later on bought it, when it came out with all DLCs included on the disks . .

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 6:40 pm

I stopped paying attention to the latest Sim City after I first heard the dread words "constant internet connection". I see my fears were borne out.

I also skipped Diablo III for the same reason. Also RA3 and Tiberium Twilight.

Istred · Post by **Istred** » Mon Mar 11, 2013 11:01 pm

Well, the only game out of that list that one may regret not playing is RA3 - so you didn't loose much

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Wed Mar 13, 2013 3:41 pm

So . . yeah, seems like some koreans are trying to sell bootlegged USB Sticks that use SR:O Graphics as their main selling point O.o
http://itempage3.auction.co.kr/DetailVi ... RP_SV_0301

Maxus · Post by **Maxus** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 6:17 pm

New Borderlands 2 character coming. Along with another DLC.

Shatner · Post by **Shatner** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 6:49 pm

Juton wrote:The trick that EA has been doing is that it has been moving actual useful computation onto its servers. For instance there is a hack for Diablo 3, but the game doesn't work right because some of the necessary game code exists only on the servers. The pirates would have to reverse engineer the missing code.

An unintended consequence of this is that, as is, Diablo 3 is a game that will only be playable for a few years until they drop support for it. They could come along later and release a patch that replaces the missing code, but that might not be likely.

Turns out the "offloaded calculations onto a remote server" excuse is (likely) just so much hot air.

Modder proves SimCity can run offline indefinitely.

Ever since SimCity launched, there has been a suspicion that the need for the game to always be connected to a server was mainly a form of DRM, not for social game features and multiplayer. Then a Maxis developer came forward to confirm the game doesn’t actually need a server to function, suggesting the information coming out of EA wasn’t the whole truth. Now EA and Maxis have some explaining to do as a modder has managed to get the game running offline indefinitely.

...

In fact, it actually improves the game in some ways. City populations are actually tracked correctly and you can edit outside of your city boundaries. Those additional edits are also saved when you reconnect.

Orion · Post by **Orion** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 8:28 pm

Count Arioch the 28th wrote:The trope of "curing rape trauma with penis, lots and lots of penis" squicks me the hell out. I have done no research but I don't think that's how it works.

Also women suffering from rape trauma tend to be erratic and prone to taking extreme vengeance for minor slights. It is easy to understand why someone who feels powerless would do that, I am not passing judgement.

Oh, believe me, Jack is erratic and prone to taking extreme vengeance. It's pretty much her defining characteristic. I have to say, I felt pretty good about Jack's storyline. One thing I liked about her is the fact that she has been raped is mostly an afterthought. She's had a hard life in which every kind of shitty thing has happened, so of course it's on the list. But her storyline focuses more on the whole "isolated as a child and trained to kill" thing, which could have been a male character's plotline.

EDIT: Garrus is a great guy and all, but turians just don't do it for me. Also, although Kaidan acts like a douche in ME2 and dresses like a douche in ME3, in the early storyline of ME1 he seemed pretty thoughtful and progressive. If I'm honest though, it's the voice actor. I loved Carth too, who's also voiced by Sbarge.

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 9:03 pm

Carth? Carth Onasi? From KoTOR? Dude was a whiney wimp.

If we're talking about we I think we're talking about...

Orion · Post by **Orion** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 9:08 pm

Yeah, him.

Count Arioch the 28th · Thu Mar 14, 2013 9:19 pm

I'm going to disagree with things I said about Jack in ME2. After completing her storyline, she's not like an ex-gf I had. Because Jack has valid reason to be that pissed off and she acknowledged that the other kids at the facility had it bad when presented with new evidence of what they were doing. And seeing her again in ME3 improved my opinion of her a good bit more.

Still, I can't imagine romancing her.

I am also glad to see that Liara is not part of any of the fanon OTC for shepherd. Mostly because I feel like they insist upon her an awful lot...

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Thu Mar 14, 2013 11:15 pm

http://www.twitch.tv/gamespot/b/377701080
ok, so for 15$ Preorder and 20$ Retail, this actually does not sound half bad . .
hell, if i had not pledged on kickstarter already, i'd probably go for the collectors edition even . .

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Fri Mar 15, 2013 4:44 am

Carth was whiny, but that could be said about a lot of characters, and he was less so than Mission from the same game.

And Bastila was a total bitch.

Carth's main problem was that he was a fairly stock character compared to someone like HK-47 or Jolee Bindo (who are like the two coolest RPG characters ever;) he was about as deep as Canderous (who is a Mandalorian and also one of a few melee characters from any RPG to be old, which made him more hardcore) maybe a bit deeper than Zaalbar or Juhani (who were both aliens, which gives them the edge over him) and much deeper than T3-M4 (who doesn't speak in anything other than R2-D2 beeps and is literally just made to get you off Taris, but is also really cool.)

And that covers all nine party members (other than poor Trask on the Endar Spire.)

For most RPGs I'd say that Carth was actually a fairly decent, possibly even slightly above average character.

And gets bonus points for being so satisfying to kill after romancing him as a Dark Side female.

Fuck Mass Effect, KotOR was where it was at.