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| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=20932 |  Bjorn (17) Oct 22, 2008 - 01:23 am
| Did these IDIOTS learn nothing from Spore's PR nightmare?
I was planning to buy this game, now I will not. I might DL it to look at it, but no software which includes ANY DRM which can not be uninstalled without formatting the PC will ever be on my computer. And as wel all know, it is SecuRom which is the biggest and nastiest offender here. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=20912 | Bjorn (17) Oct 13, 2008 - 01:42 am
| » Samuel71
No, the problem is the other way around. I pirate in the limited way that I do as a response to software companies non-sense rules. I buy the games I actually play. Buying CRAP would not encourage more high end games but instead would encourage more crap.
If there were a shred of logic to what you suggest then there would also be the same approach to console games. But there is not. These are also pirated, use google and check the facts rather then just flappin' your lips, err... keyboard. Pick any recent title on the PS3, XBOX 360 or WII and google it and the word torrent. It is in fact easier to get a console cracked game to work. I checked it out and thought about it some before opting to pass on the chip. The reason being that console gamers despite the rampant piracy are still treated as well as PC gamers used to be treated. I can buy and return console games which stink. A crap PC game is mine as soon as I crack the seal. I can even rent a CONSOLE game, not so with PC ones. I can take a Console game to a friends house, no problem. This has never been "ok" with a PC game. And all this despite the console piracy.
Finally there is a problem with your timeline. You assume they started all this as a result of torrents and other p2p things. But all that is a fairly recent invention. While all the PC rules which seem mostly designed not to stop piracy but to sell crappy games (no return, no rentals, etc) began before that. Your claim that my wanting to try before I buy is putting PC gaming in jepordy is nonsense. There are also those who buy games with nonsense copy protection and keep running the cracked version just to get decent frame rates (A friend did this with Oblivion, bought it and the copy protection was soo intrusive that he downloaded a pirated version of a game he already owned, the copy protection free version had much better frame rates). Ultimately the piracy is not impacted by DRM and that sort of BS. Only purchasers are. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=20912 | Bjorn (17) Oct 11, 2008 - 04:44 pm » Edited on Oct 11, 2008 - 04:48 pm
| » exe3
Then you pay someone like me to do it. Total cost is less then 2 games.
Chip = cost of game
modding work = cost of a 2nd game.
then download all you want.
but I do not see the point. Console gamers can check out games before they buy (rental). Can return games which blow. Can take their DVD to a friends house and play it there. And, no console game has this nasty rootkit DRM that Spore for the PC, etc have.
If sucky PC games could be returned, and PC gamers were generally treated as well as console gamers, I think you would see a lot less piracy. My take on it is this many pirate because they can. These would never buy. Others pirate only because game companies act like such jerks (EA probably being the worst)that piracy is the only way to protect yourself from being ripped off. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=20912 | Bjorn (17) Oct 11, 2008 - 04:37 pm
| I am on the fence. I think 50 bucks, or even 200 bucks for that matter, for games I end up playing A L O T is fair. But for most games even 30.00 is too much.
The problem is PC gamers now get treated like 2nd class customers. While console users get head of line privileges. Console piracy is just as prevalent and actually easier (just add a chip for the price of 2 games).
Console games can be rented
Console games can be returned.
Console games can be used at your friends house.
PC games can not be rented, returned, etc... we buy it, no matter how bad it sucks (hello MOO 3) we are stuck with the POS. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=20912 | Bjorn (17) Oct 11, 2008 - 04:32 pm
| | Yeah, I own Civ4 as well. (not as nice as Civ3 btw). While I would disagree with you in part. I do not thing that the manual was worth anything. I do not think the packaging I paid extra for in the super-duper version was worth it all. In fact until the Beyond the Sword expansion, I thought of it as a poor parody of Civ3. I now only think of it as a pretty version with limited game play... although it runs better on Vista 64bit than Civ3.... Despite the warts, it is ultimately a game worth supporting (despite the warts). but, it does not compare to all the very cool extra and useful content we used to get in box during the 80s and 90s. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=20912 | Bjorn (17) Oct 11, 2008 - 04:18 pm
| » Samuel71
How do I make PC gaming worse?
I buy the games I actually end up playing with the singular exception of rootkit infested crap.
Would buying games which I hate, and never play again save PC gaming? No.
Would supporting draconian DRM help ANYONE? No.
I buy quite a lot of games. 40-50 plus in the past 5 years alone. How about you?
I will not, no way, no how, pay for a game with secure rom. Put it on there, and I will pirate the game and never buy it.
I will not buy a game before I look at it. I buy 4 of 5 I look at. The 1 of 5 I look at and do not buy was a "ah the BS reviews fooled me".
Console piracy is even easier than PC piracy. But I do not chip my consoles because console games are like PC games used to be. If I am uncertain I can rent a console game. If get fooled by a great review and the game BLOWS I can return it. No console game comes with DRM. I can take it to a friends house and play them head to head there. Console games behave like PC games used to. This nonsense of makeing us bend over and ask "please sir, might I have another" is what is really killing PC gaming. Good PC games without DRM sell very well. Good PC games WITH DRM still sell reasonable well, but not to me. DRM is only a tool to irratating paying customers. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=20912 | Bjorn (17) Oct 10, 2008 - 07:02 am » Edited on Oct 10, 2008 - 07:09 am
| » Ah the ignorant putz guy
What I do is not criminal where I live. I acknowledge the right of programmers to get paid for their work the same as I would acknowledge the right of a gardner to get paid. But I would not pay a gardner who offered to sell me a maint. package which he reserved the right to come back and mess up and other wise restrict my viewing of either.
I prefer PCs but also own two consoles, neither of which is chipped because no console game comes with this messed up form of copy protection (DRM).
If XBOX 360 games suddenly started to behave like this, I would get a chip. Also, I can still return (or even just rent) console games which are useless. Not so with PC games.
But none of this has anything to do with the thread. That is that PC piracy is what is killing PC gaming. This is BS. There is just as much (if not more) piracy on consoles. There has always been piracy on the PC. Most of the PC world will pay for games worth owning. And, DRM does not mess with pirates only purchasers. 50 bucks (or even twice that) for really good games (with reasonable copy protection) is a reasonable price. But, most of the middle of the road junk should be priced as what it is. Or better still, allow returns. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=20912 | Bjorn (17) Oct 09, 2008 - 05:00 am
| » BS
google torrent 360 and you will see that Xbox (and other consoles too) are just as pirated as PC games.
Software piracy is wrong, but has been with the PC since day 1. Nothing here has changed. And, it is not just games.
Spore has some nasty DRM, and it was still on the torrents before it was in my local store. Instead of focusing in pirates, who are not their customers, focus on those of us who are willing to pay for stuff we like. I downloaded 4 of the last 5 games I later bought. I tried them, they were worth OWNING so I voted with my wallet that I would like to see more. (Oblivion, Civilization, Madden PC, Crysis).
Games like SPORE, with SecuRom DRM, I will never buy. Games like Fallout3 and Galactic Civilizations II, Sins of a Solar Empire all come with very limited copy protection. I know I "can" get them without paying, but instead I will buy them. They are good games, worth owning and playing. Plus they come without nasty DRM which has the potential for ruining PCs, and other wise unfairly treat purchasers like enemies.
If you want to sell games, treat your customers like they are important to you. Nice games which treat their users with respect get my money every time. Nasty games with SecuRom I just download even if I do not want them, mostly to spite the publishers. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=20813 | Bjorn (17) Oct 06, 2008 - 07:40 am » Edited on Oct 06, 2008 - 07:41 am
| » Does not compare well to older versions
I played on a XBox 360, in 720p. Your experience might not match mine if you used different gear. Also, while I am a big fan of both football and my Xbox, I was not a fan of previous Xbox/Xbox 360 football games, highly preferring the game play on my PC.
I have been played every version of madden since it first started. "Back in the day", I highly preferred other PC Football games to console ones. But, I am a football junkie, so I bought every version of every one until there was only Madden left on the PC. I still bought every version of Madden. I also bought a couple of different ones for my XBox Sega 2k2 and 2k5, Madden 03 and 05. They all suffered by comparison to Madden on the PC, Front Page Sports.
Football is a combination of violent athleticism and strategy. The current Madden 09 on the Xbox 360 is “ok” at modeling the first part, but is lacking on the 2nd. Coach-mode is gone, removing the ability to play this game as a strategy game making it little more then an arcade game. I am not belittling arcade games. I prefer arcade racing games to SIM ones. With Madden 08 on the PC (and older versions of Madden on the Xbox(or so I recall), you had a choice of arcade or simulation/strategy. Even those who could live with it becoming an arcade game are gonna notice that the franchise mode is not as good as on the PC version. Teams draft STUPID. Teams trade stupid. A team might cut 4 players for old age, or what have you. You can sign them and trade them back to the same team and steal draft picks. You can trade a team a 4th string QB, 5th string HB, and 3rd string SS for a starter in some other position. Teams will draft the same position over and over ignoring that this was the position that they were set at. In the same draft a team with 3 decent to very good QBs, a team drafted 3 new ones with their top 3 picks. Huh??
Some of the other issues persist. For example, Madden 08 on the PC cheats. It bases the defense to be called in large part on what offense you called. This is also true in the Madden 360 version. You can test this quite simply. Use a single formation. Call a run play, see how the defense will often be stacked, even if you have passed repeatedly? Now do the opposite. You can use this if a game against an AI is close. Always have two plays. The one you call and the one you are actually gonna run. Having them be opposites from the same formation will dramatically influence your success. I am not recommending this, as goofy scoring can result (130 points using 10minute qtrs against all pro difficulty level).
Graphically Madden 360 is just aweful. It is WAY too dark, over saturated and overly contrasted. The detailing is very nice. Some of the added touches are good. Better stadiums. Better camera angles. Some animations are much better, Some are worse. Most are unchanged.
Audibly it is a let down. Sure Cris C. is there telling me what I did wrong. But I missed hearing maddens comments.
UI… the madden IQ thing is just retarded. Does not work well. It just gets in the way. The menu system was not as simple and well laid out as the PC version. Nor the last Xbox version I saw (I have not seen the 08 version on the Xbox, only the PC). It took me longer to get from place to place. It took me longer to call plays. This was not just a new UI, it simply is clunkier. They spent time making sure it was flashy, and forgot useability.
Over all, it was a decent if not great arcade game. I would not recommend it to any fans of the game but rather to those who are looking for a casual evening with their friends
Plus:
Better background graphics
Minus:
No coach mode
Poor AI (over all)
Extremely poor franchise mode.
Poor graphics
Poor layout
Over all 6 (+1 for arcade fans -1 for strategy fans) Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=20801 | Bjorn (17) Aug 27, 2008 - 05:50 am
| Yeah... Blueray would push be in to buying a WII. (Same with a 360, just do not want a PS3)
Graphically, I don't see them bothering. The WII as it is today is selling well. If they upgrade the graphics, they risk alienating their installed base. But, other feature adds might help attract new users or convince existing users to upgrade.
For now, I am content with my xbox (not 360) and PC. But, I do wish WII and/or xbox 360 was available w/blueray. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=20601 | Bjorn (17) Jun 27, 2008 - 01:38 am » Edited on Jun 27, 2008 - 01:43 am
| » stinkers
They did do one major change. They decided to screw over the platform that made them. This year there is no PC version. First time ever.
I have a couple of consoles, but I prefer strategy style of play and career mode, etc... all the features I liked that they added were better on the PC.
The last 3-4 years they did not upgrade the graphics on the PC version, which was disappointing. But, less important than a good sim.
I only hope someone else will step in to this vacuum and bring football back to the PC. Flag this | Edit this post |
| Video Link » /media/video/play.asp/gigabyte_factory/1 | Bjorn (17) May 13, 2008 - 05:54 am
| » nasty junk
nasty / ugly case.
The metal used looks like cheap stuff.
I HATE doors. Why would anyone want to frustrate themselves by hiding their optical drive behind a door?
I do not like the overly bright LEDS, I don't like LEDs at all.
I am not impressed by "tool-less", I am more impressed by cooling. The HD mount does not dampen vibration, so there will certainly be some buzz there.
Over all cooling was medium. In other words, who cares.
Noise levels were just plain bad. The reviewer missed that all that extra noise coming out the back would typically bounce off a wall if a hard surface wall is behind the PC (like for most of us).
Over all this case sucks.
Review format was interesting.
Basically lots of interesting feature, but a still a piece of junk. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=20243 | Bjorn (17) Apr 01, 2008 - 02:12 am » Edited on Apr 01, 2008 - 02:23 am
| So they give back a little on the Audigy, but hold the line on modding the X-FI drivers? Those were the ones I was most interested in. Those are still not allowed by Creative Labs.
I agree that Creative Labs could (and should) stop Daniel_K from asking for money for their drivers (modded or not). I think Daniel_k should not have distributed a cracked copy of Alchemy. But, there is no reason to stop him from modding drivers so they work better.
I think the wired article hits the nail on the head. They are doing this with a plan on forcing us to disgard working sounds cards to buy new ones from them. Well, it'll work but I won't be buying their cards nor cards which use their chips. Hello asus. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=20185 | Bjorn (17) Mar 28, 2008 - 03:32 am
| » Aaargh!
20th Aniversery edition, and yet they ignore where they came from. They never heard "you dance with who brung ya"?
They started on the PC, and it is the PC that made it popular. It is bad enough that they have not even ported a semi-current version to the PC, now they are not even releasing even an old lame patch for the current one?
Come on, give us a game worth buying, not everyone likes consoles.
(I own one, I just do not prefer it, and will not buy madden for it). Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/66178/730 | Bjorn (17) Mar 27, 2008 - 04:00 am
| » Missing several key areas
The most obvious comparison would have been with the predecessor. This is not version 1.0 of some new game. It is the 4th take (12th or more if you could all the incremental versions (Civ1, 2, 3 & 4 all had multiple add ons which sold seperately). And, I think when a new version of such a long lived series is released you can not just look at it by itself, how it compares to those it replaces must be considered.
In this lastest version there are a number of things which are new (compared to Civ3). Many are better, equally many are worse.
For example: Combat is broken, but AI is better. Your options to tune what units can do is much better but the method to do so if far more cryptic, error prone and even more importantly many key options are gone.
Religions, corporations and improved diplomacy make for more varied play styles.
The look of the game is quite different. Civ3 was 2.5d (quasi 3d, but not really), while Civ4 is 3d.
Other games which it can be compared to do exist. There are other 4x games such as Galatic Civilizations, the old (but still great) Master of Orion.
You mention religions but did not mention what if any impact they have in game.
If you mention it, you should at least briefly explain it. A single sentence is enough. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=19941 | Bjorn (17) Mar 12, 2008 - 02:35 am
| | I have bought one of their games in the past. I found this focus on the customer and only the customer so refreshing that I am going to buy their two most recent games based solely on that. I enjoyed the past game I bought from them as well, so it is not as if I am punishing myself. Flag this | Edit this post |
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