Also note that it's an older one that has been sitting in draft form for a few months now.
Still here? Great, let us begin.
This blog is a big FUCK YOU to the assholes who are ruining my beloved video game industry.
Let's begin, shall we?
Fuck you EA, and fuck you Activision as well. Also, Capcom, you're really starting to piss me off. Namco Bandai, fuck you as well. Shit, I better stop here, as there are a LOT more fuck you's I could be handing out right now.
I am seriously worried about the future of my beloved, treasured entertainment hobby. Goddamn it I miss the days where I could walk into the store, any store, buy a nice new 2D sidescroller, come home, insert it into my console, and play it. No codes, no DLC, no different pre-order bonuses from different stores, and no fragmenting of the online community (last gen, basically) with all this paid content and even worse, re-releases that aren't compatible with the original (of course).
Sure, a couple of generations ago, there was no online, and sure, sometimes DLC is good. Maybe even great. I will readily admit that there are some DLC releases that have been legitimately good values, but there are almost invariably the expansion packs, not little add ons, and they are few and far between. A good example: $10 for 8-12 hours of content for Borderlands, including 2 new 4 player vehicles, a huge new area, tons of new missions, an 11 level level cap increase, new enemies, new bosses, new weapons, and new items. Compare that to $15 for 3 new maps and 2 old ones with slight, slight visual upgrades for COD:MW2. Again, fuck you Activision.
I want gaming to go back to the way it was. I would GLADLY give up online play and DLC for full versions of games from the get go with no worries of having a re-release come out 10 months later for $20 cheaper with much more content, and no worries that I did not get all of the content because when I bought it at store A I missed out on the pre-order content from store B. I would gladly give up expansion packs and held back content sold later as DLC (be honest, it happens) for DRM free games that were complete out of the box.
I mean, for fuck's sake! Now, when I want to buy a game, I need to worry about which fucking store I get it from, what's going to be missing when I choose a store (and a version, with all these collector's and limiteds and shit now) and what content will be missing that I will be asked to buy later (which I likely won't, which means I will be the owner of an incomplete game).
Look at Alan Wake for example. Been looking forward to it for YEARS now, the release is finally around the corner, and guess what? All that anticipation, all that hype even......the wind gets sucked right out of my sails when I hear ''episodic content'' and ''later episodes to be sold as DLC.'' WHAT THE MOTHERFUCKING DONKEY FUCKING TITTY FUCKING CHRIIIIISTTTT!!!!! When Remedy spoke of the game playing out in episodic form a year or so back, they made it sound like the game, ON THE DISC, played out in episodes, like a TV show, with ''previously'' on and ''next time on'' in between episodes. Which sounded awesome.
Now, to be fair, that's apparently still true, except, one thing they did NOT mention then was the fact that they will be releasing MORE as DLC. Sure, you may say, ''but that's just extra, and it's actually great, because it just gives you more to do when you're done the game,'' which, on the face of it, sounds okay. Problem is, the reviews and forum posts I have read say that the game ends with several questions left unanswered.
In fact, in yet another PR debacle, Remedy tried to alleviate gamers fears regarding Alan Wake and the DLC. Problem is, I actually pay attention to these statements, and, more importantly, I read between the lines, as opposed to just taking what they say at face value. And, curiously, right at the end of their little press release, was this innocent looking little sentence:
''The DLC is something that people who really enjoy Alan Wake will probably appreciate, because it'll answer some questions....''
AH HA!!! If the DLC is answering unanswered questions, that means the GAME ENDS WITH AN UNFINISHED PLOT!!
Now, I was reading on a forum, and people were excusing this, with statements like the following:
Remember this is like a TV series...Every season of every TV series ends by wrapping up the established story arch but leaving some questions unanswered that you learn about in season 2 (S2 of Wake will be a retail disc, not episodic DLC).
And to that I say, sure, TV shows do do that, and it's a good point, on the face of it. The problem is, this won't be happening in ''season 2,'' as Remedy themselves said these questions would be answered in the DLC, NOT in Alan Wake 2 (which hasn't even been announced). More importantly, however, is the fact that this DLC was PRE-PLANNED, and is ALREADY IN DEVELOPMENT. Which means that these questions were left open at the same time that the answers were being written into the DLC.
If anyone thinks they honestly aren't leaving some things open to entice people to buy the DLC (which will conveniently contain the answers to these questions) then I have to be blunt and say they're either fooling yourselves or they are naive.I'm NOT saying that they held the ending back, but what I AM saying is that they know they need a hook to entice people to buy the DLC, and the main game leaves you with open questions, questions to which the DLC conveniently has the answers......answers that were being written at the same time that the questions were being left open (ie before release).....come on people, put 2 and 2 together.
Companies do things to entice/trick/manipulate people into spending more money, and then they release PR statements to smooth things over. And in these statements, they are not always truthful. Do you honestly expect them to have said anything other than what they did? Of COURSE they didn't say they held back for the DLC. Regardless of whether they did or not, that would ALWAYS be the answer.
I have been looking forward to Alan Wake for years now. I am still dying to play it, but alas, a lot of the excitement has been dulled. This DLC nonsense has removed most of the wind from my sails, so to speak, and now I think I am just going to rent the game, which sucks because I rent most games, and this was one of the very few I was going to purchase this year.
I just hope the main game is as good as I have been anticipating. And, in the event that I am wrong about this DLC stuff, and it is a great game, perhaps I will buy it after all.
I'm just not all that convinced that this will be the case.
Oh, one last thing: If I am correct about Alan Wake and the DLC situation, I would not be surprised it they weren't planning on doing this but Microsoft ''asked'' them to. I wouldn't be surprised for one second. If MS gets their mitts on a good intellectual property, they automatically want to milk the ever loving shit out of it. As of course, do many other companies. I'm not saying MS is alone in this. But fuck, these companies should focus more on making quality products for a good value than making something good and then trying to find ways to milk the fuck out of it.
Just like in Field of Dreams, if you build it, they will come. Make a great product, wow us and give us a good value, and you'll make your damn millions, and you'll at least have done it with some fucking honesty and some fucking respect for your customers. Is there something wrong with that picture?
Maybe I should have been an adult in the 1950's.......
We should send this to every big name publisher on the planet and force them to answer for it!
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