I mean, even for AAA publishers who have a backend set up so they can do balance changes without requiring a patch, e.g. it took bioware like three actual patches to finally fix a MP desync issue
People would bitch about not getting free stuff? Colour me surprised. Frankly, people bitch anyway. Remember when LIVE had connectivity issues four or five years ago? So MS gives away a game for free.
And people bitched because it wasn't one they wanted. You'll never satisfy people when it comes to money and free crap.
People were RIGHT to bitch about this. EVERYONE'S service went out, they should have credited 800 points to our account, not decided that this one game was free for a limited time. Guess what, if you actually bought that game? SOL, no apology gift for you. It'd be like if a restaurant screwed something up and said "oh you can have a free alcoholic beverage, please forgive us" and you said "umm, I don't drink those, can I have something else of equal value" and they said "screw you."
So any account you create on a Wii U is bound to the console, and there is presently no way to switch it so any content you buy on it is locked to that system. Nintendo still haven't learned how to do online it seems.
So far it hasn't been doing too great with the third party performance issues either.
3DS is able to transfer stuff from system to system so I imagine it's only a matter of time for the Wii U. Being Nintendo it'll probably still require you to have two systems at once to do so.
There I was, 3DS: 2621-2671-9899 (Ekera), Wii U: LostCrescendo
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
Fun fact: Both New Super Mario Bros. U and Nintendoland have day-one, required patches.
Look who joined the bandwagon.
Having played both games? No, they are not required. Nor is ZombiU's or Scribblenauts. Those patches add Miiverse/Online capabilities. They can be skipped and the game is fully functional.
Nintendo didn't ship out any retail disks with any part of Miiverse running on them. Which, honestly, is probably perfectly okay. You aren't going to be playing any part of the multiplayer without an online connection. It does suck for those with bandwidth limits or slow speeds, though.. And it REALLY sucks that Wii compatability requires the patch. But otherwise it's still a solid system.
Fun fact: Both New Super Mario Bros. U and Nintendoland have day-one, required patches.
Look who joined the bandwagon.
Having played both games? No, they are not required. Nor is ZombiU's or Scribblenauts. Those patches add Miiverse/Online capabilities. They can be skipped and the game is fully functional.
Nintendo didn't ship out any retail disks with any part of Miiverse running on them. Which, honestly, is probably perfectly okay. You aren't going to be playing any part of the multiplayer without an online connection. It does suck for those with bandwidth limits or slow speeds, though.. And it REALLY sucks that Wii compatability requires the patch. But otherwise it's still a solid system.
My guess is that subsequent game discs that come out after launch will have limited or complete patch data in order to update the Nintendo Wii U despite the lack of an internet connection. I can't imagine how they'd get Tvii implementation to offline Wii U owners otherwise.
Ahhh, Orochimaru. Or, as I like to call him, Japanese Pedophile Voldemort.
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
edited November 2012
Not sure if it's becoming a thing yet but once again video games journalism and the business PR have a clash of interest. This time it's MCV and an article about the new Hitman. And the writer of the article has ties to the game developer. Whoops!
Edit - Oh sweet, it's totally a breaking thing.
Edit Edit - Let me capture this shit before it maybe goes away somehow. Article link. Article text below including the updates.
Square Enix is preparing to release its last big release of the year, and the review embargo for Hitman: Absolution broke overnight, painting a very welcoming picture.
“This is a fantastic package – a dark, witty tale of death and retribution that can be whatever you want it to,” Official PlayStation’s 9/10 review stated in its latest issue. “It captures the ebb and flow of tension that stealth games forgot about years ago, but presents it in a way that feels utterly contemporary.”
IGN also gave it a 9/10, adding: “Like Dishonored before it, it’s actually a true pleasure to play a game that lets you tackle it from multiple angles. After several years of increasingly totalitarian games where you’re very much following a pre-determined path, it’s nice to have a game that doesn’t just encourage improvisation; it requires it. More please.”
CVG was another publication awarding it 9/10, concluding: “Absolution delivers on the anticipation of a series that has been lingering menacingly in the shadows for six long years. It does so with creativity, genuine player choice, the odd smile and an unrivalled panache for turning murder into an art form.”
Grumpy Eurogamer appears to be the odd one out at the moment, scoring the game 7/10: “Amidst the inevitable and deserved grumbling about its awkward checkpoint system, small levels and weird obsession with its daft story, hopefully those who persevere with it will be rewarded by enough of those moments to make the whole thing feel worthwhile.
“Hitman is a series to treasure for those moments, even if Absolution isn't its finest hour. Hopefully it won't be another six years before IO Interactive gets another shot at showing us why.”
Hitman: Absolution is out in the UK tomorrow (November 20th).
UPDATE 1: The internet masses seem to be up in arms that we dared to neglect to mention the reviews from the likes of Videogamer, GameSpot and PC World which were more in line with Eurogamer. The truth is we hadn’t seen them. So feel free to hunt those down for a broader perspective.
UPDATE 2: OK. After lots of comments and people engaging with us on Twitter, it’s probably right to point out that other outlets have indeed scored the game along the same lines as Eurogamer or lower. These include PC Gamer (66%), Edge (7/10), Gamespy (7/10), Gamespot UK (7.5/10) and Gametrailers (6.9/10).
We should also add that other positive reviews have appeared on the Metacritic, too, including GamesRadar (4.5/5), Spong (8/10) and GamesMaster (9/10).
The game currently has the following Metacritic scores – PS3 (83%), Xbox 360 (79%) and PC (79%).
UPDATE 3: We have changed the headline from "Critics delighted with Agent 47's return in Hitman: Absolution" to "Reviews go live for Hitman: Absolution".
Whats this about ties to SE? He's not laura wainwright (though that was CVG, who never apologized or even acknowledged it)
No but MCV has been part of the promotional thing of Eidos products, kinda like when IGN was promoting the shit out of Spider-Man.
Anyway I just saw this from the NeoGAF thread. Check out who wrote this for MCV: Linked for huge.
Edit - More on this. "The Doubt is There." Probably the more important portion that cuts right to the point:
Let’s cut the situation down to its fundamentals. One of the following must be true:
1) MCV has been writing shoddy pieces about Square Enix games, and simply not realizing it. Even after being at the centre of such a wide discussion, MCV continues to write these articles that paint Square Enix games in a hugely positive light, accidentally leaving out whole chunks of fact
2) Square Enix is paying MCV to write positive articles
I actually wasn't aware that MCV was running a history of SquareEnix favoritism. Again, if MCV was an advertisement firm fine. But they're not.
Ok, am I getting this right: Laura I've never worked for Square Wainwright wrote a review of Hitman: Absolution for MCV, straight after Doritogate?
Or am I missing something?
Lanrutcon on
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
edited November 2012
No, that image of Wainwright's article is just adding onto MCV's history of SE favoritism. The news breaking today is Ben Parfitt's article saying all reviews welcomed the game with high praise while slamming Eurogamer is the "odd one out," even though it wasn't the odd one out at all and part of the majority.
By the way the article was just updated again to include links in their update section to the sources of negative reviews.
Anyway I just now came back to the thread to post this: Not sure if I should mention his name but I was just shared this information. Nintendo's online marketing agency sent out messages to members of the VG press that contained a pre-written article with instructions to restructure or dress up as they see fit, with the caveat that all links be retained from the pre-written source. It's not necessarily some huge scathing bad thing but it's weird as fuck to ask journalists to be free PR.
Edit - Seems like the pre-written article was just a general "check out all our games" kind of thing, rather than in-depth promotion of a single product. Also, I decided it is very much a bad thing for a fucking marketing agency to ask reviewers to publish free marketing. What the hell.
Ah, ok. I'm on the same page now. This stuff is getting nuts.
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
MCV obviously have not learned a thing and incidentally, does anyone notice the distinct shot they took at Eurogamer by calling them out specifically for being outside their "norm" for the other reviews? Because that was the first thing that I picked up on.
I might get my boss to ring MCV to give them hell and hint at legal action for them being a worthless PR shill rag.
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
edited November 2012
Also I find the article you linked from the guy who was like "omg I have totally changed my mind and they are being duplicitous after this clear example!" rather hilarious. Given there is nothing subtle about threatening another journalist with a lawsuit about something they claimed theoretically, only for internet detectives to discover has clear non-hypothetical connections with said publisher and who then scrubs that from everywhere on the Internet they can.
I mean if it takes them being stupid about what review scores they post instead of obvious and clear dishonesty from one of their journalists, well... Really. Really?
Also I find the article you linked from the guy who was like "omg I have totally changed my mind and they are being duplicitous after this clear example!" rather hilarious. Given there is nothing subtle about threatening another journalist with a lawsuit abiut something they claimed theoretically, only for internet detectives to discover has clear non-hypothetical connections with said publisher and who then scrubs that from everywhere on the Internet they can.
I mean if it takes them being stupid about what review scores they post instead of obvious and clear dishonesty from one of their journalists, well... Really. Really?
Yeah the article wasn't that great, nor was the guy's attempts at being neutral on anything. I just really wanted the bit about "one of the two must be true" to be present here, because it boils down to, "Are you really this stupid or are you taking money and trying to appear innocent?"
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
If MCV is being paid by SE for all this, then what's going on is illegal rather than just nonsense bullshit. Now I'm really intrigued and Rob's tweet makes way more sense.
I was under the apparently grossly mistaken impression that sites like MCV ostensibly existed to serve and inform the consumer, not "promote and aid" game publishers and hardware manufacturers.
korodullin on
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
Well, the impression I get is that MCV is for retailers. Still, they have more reason to want unbiased info than even the end consumer.
In hindsight, all the journalists that were complaining about conspiracies theorists, etc. when this Rab first got the boot would have been far, far better off throwing MCV under the bus. All the details that came out about Wainwright and now this nonsense from MCV is so far beyond what Rab was saying that it's not even funny.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
edited November 2012
If they're for retailers they're no longer journalists and they are a marketing team. They should not be publishing articles, they should be writing press releases and mailing them directly.
It feels like they're trying to justify themselves somehow and it's just looping into an endless bullshit loop. If they want to say they serve one purpose or be something, they have to operate in that manner. It's like saying they're a car dealership but they're actually a chop shop. (MANDATORY AUTOMOBILE METAPHOR USED)
Edit - For that matter they shouldn't be publishing a fucking magazine and selling it to consumers.
Well, the impression I get is that MCV is for retailers. Still, they have more reason to want unbiased info than even the end consumer.
In hindsight, all the journalists that were complaining about conspiracies theorists, etc. when this Rab first got the boot would have been far, far better off throwing MCV under the bus. All the details that came out about Wainwright and now this nonsense from MCV is so far beyond what Rab was saying that it's not even funny.
This is what I don't get, their current "it's not for you" defence is that they're not writing for consumers, but for retailers? So therefore the complaints that their content is skewed towards the positive and comes from dubious (connected to PR/publishers) sources, is somehow nullified? I'm trying, but I really can't see why such an angle is somehow of value to retailers, where it appears shady to consumers. Like you say, they should surely be in greater need of neutral, impartial information.
MCV's twitter account retweeting random people in defence, including telling people to piss off. Very professional.
Also this in ref to John Walker earlier.
Stuart Turner @OnlyOneT 5h @BenParfitt He is king of the trolls. The amount of times I've been tempted to reply end up counting to 10 and deleting the draft.
That's the head of Capcom's marketing for Europe. I'm really not one for conspiricy theories and whatnot but I can't help but feel there's a nerve been hit here.
AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
So it would appear that Lauren Wainwright may have been let go from MCV, as she is no longer on the list of writers from the drop down menu on their website. Checking her twitter, it looks like it has been updated with MCV absent from it relatively recently. Personally this got exactly what she deserved, from the moment she was proclaiming how great it was she did media law to when she got caught out, then started scrubbing her dirty laundry off the internet where possible I lost any sympathy I could have possibly had. Good luck finding a new career, because the well is now completely and utterly poisoned when it comes to games journalism of any sort.
HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
I'm pretty sure Lauren Wainwright will do just fine getting a job in marketing. I'm not saying that to be an ass about the situation, I mean she actually has some credentials. Because she hijacked her journalism job to hone those skills.
In related news the guy running MCV's Twitter account is having a meltdown or something. It's gone into the realm of him operating the account like how Romney handled his presidential campaign.
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AegeriTiny wee bacteriumsPlateau of LengRegistered Userregular
And just as I write the above, MCV confirmed that Lauren does not work for them anymore failing to pass her probation. I am going to take that to mean that she brought a shit storm upon them so deep that there was no way they wanted any more to do with it.
Guess that study in media law didn't pay off after all, huh?
And just as I write the above, MCV confirmed that Lauren does not work for them anymore failing to pass her probation. I am going to take that to mean that she brought a shit storm upon them so deep that there was no way they wanted any more to do with it.
Guess that study in media law didn't pay off after all, huh?
It looks like the whole Hitman roundup thing made MCV finally realize they've got a problem that can't get swept up under the rug.
I seriously doubt it just happened to be determined she failed to pass her probation at the height of this shitstorm.
A day-one firmware update is causing headaches for some new Wii U owners, according to reports circulating online. Consoles that lose power while the massive new system software is being downloaded and installed are reportedly being bricked.
L.A. Times reporter Ben Fritz is one of the most prominent people to tweet that his system was rendered useless by an interruption during the roughly 5GB download, which took over an hour to complete in our tests. Other users onTwitter and gamingforums around the Internet are reporting similar issues. While most users are reporting power interruptions as the cause of the bricked consoles, some reports suggest that losing an Internet connection during the download may cause similar problems.
Out of the box, the Wii U isn't useful for much more than playing games. The launch-day update is needed to activate system features ranging from the new Miiverse social network and online eShop to the ability to play older Wii games on the system.
Nintendo has yet to issue an official comment on the bricked consoles, but those new systems will still be covered by the company's standard 12-month warranty and should be freely replaced.
Just in case you (like me) are hoping for Dragon Quest 10 to come over to the US:
That's the debug mode thing from the WiiU, listing DQX in it. A few people are taking that as some sort of confirmation that there's a US Localization inbound, possibly in alpha testing right now.
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
A day-one firmware update is causing headaches for some new Wii U owners, according to reports circulating online. Consoles that lose power while the massive new system software is being downloaded and installed are reportedly being bricked.
L.A. Times reporter Ben Fritz is one of the most prominent people to tweet that his system was rendered useless by an interruption during the roughly 5GB download, which took over an hour to complete in our tests. Other users onTwitter and gamingforums around the Internet are reporting similar issues. While most users are reporting power interruptions as the cause of the bricked consoles, some reports suggest that losing an Internet connection during the download may cause similar problems.
Out of the box, the Wii U isn't useful for much more than playing games. The launch-day update is needed to activate system features ranging from the new Miiverse social network and online eShop to the ability to play older Wii games on the system.
Nintendo has yet to issue an official comment on the bricked consoles, but those new systems will still be covered by the company's standard 12-month warranty and should be freely replaced.
Isn't the download 1GB and this is just people being dumb about OS size currently existing in the hardware?
I'm willing to give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt for the download speeds; their servers have got to be slammed right now.
But five gigs? Arrrrrgh. A patch should be, y'know, a patch, not the entire damn OS again. Apple figured that out a few years ago.
To be fair, Nintendo isn't exactly 'hip', to this online 'thing', as all you kids so like to put it. They're just getting used to the idea of 'accounts'.
Donnicton on
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
I'm willing to give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt for the download speeds; their servers have got to be slammed right now.
But five gigs? Arrrrrgh. A patch should be, y'know, a patch, not the entire damn OS again. Apple figured that out a few years ago.
To be fair, Nintendo isn't exactly 'hip', to this online 'thing', as all you kids so like to put it. They're just getting used to the idea of 'accounts'.
Hey, they nailed the "mark people who actually played a game so that when they comment on it you can know" part.
Posts
People were RIGHT to bitch about this. EVERYONE'S service went out, they should have credited 800 points to our account, not decided that this one game was free for a limited time. Guess what, if you actually bought that game? SOL, no apology gift for you. It'd be like if a restaurant screwed something up and said "oh you can have a free alcoholic beverage, please forgive us" and you said "umm, I don't drink those, can I have something else of equal value" and they said "screw you."
So far it hasn't been doing too great with the third party performance issues either.
Or perhaps it was just that one rep running his mouth.
I got a little excited when I saw your ship.
Look who joined the bandwagon.
Oh shi-
I got a little excited when I saw your ship.
Having played both games? No, they are not required. Nor is ZombiU's or Scribblenauts. Those patches add Miiverse/Online capabilities. They can be skipped and the game is fully functional.
Nintendo didn't ship out any retail disks with any part of Miiverse running on them. Which, honestly, is probably perfectly okay. You aren't going to be playing any part of the multiplayer without an online connection. It does suck for those with bandwidth limits or slow speeds, though.. And it REALLY sucks that Wii compatability requires the patch. But otherwise it's still a solid system.
My guess is that subsequent game discs that come out after launch will have limited or complete patch data in order to update the Nintendo Wii U despite the lack of an internet connection. I can't imagine how they'd get Tvii implementation to offline Wii U owners otherwise.
Edit - Oh sweet, it's totally a breaking thing.
Edit Edit - Let me capture this shit before it maybe goes away somehow. Article link. Article text below including the updates.
No but MCV has been part of the promotional thing of Eidos products, kinda like when IGN was promoting the shit out of Spider-Man.
Anyway I just saw this from the NeoGAF thread. Check out who wrote this for MCV: Linked for huge.
Edit - More on this. "The Doubt is There." Probably the more important portion that cuts right to the point:
I actually wasn't aware that MCV was running a history of SquareEnix favoritism. Again, if MCV was an advertisement firm fine. But they're not.
Or am I missing something?
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
By the way the article was just updated again to include links in their update section to the sources of negative reviews.
Anyway I just now came back to the thread to post this: Not sure if I should mention his name but I was just shared this information. Nintendo's online marketing agency sent out messages to members of the VG press that contained a pre-written article with instructions to restructure or dress up as they see fit, with the caveat that all links be retained from the pre-written source. It's not necessarily some huge scathing bad thing but it's weird as fuck to ask journalists to be free PR.
Edit - Seems like the pre-written article was just a general "check out all our games" kind of thing, rather than in-depth promotion of a single product. Also, I decided it is very much a bad thing for a fucking marketing agency to ask reviewers to publish free marketing. What the hell.
Currently playing: GW2 and TSW
I mean if it takes them being stupid about what review scores they post instead of obvious and clear dishonesty from one of their journalists, well... Really. Really?
It's crazy how much everything that has happened since that first Lost Humanity article has basically validated what was said.
Yeah the article wasn't that great, nor was the guy's attempts at being neutral on anything. I just really wanted the bit about "one of the two must be true" to be present here, because it boils down to, "Are you really this stupid or are you taking money and trying to appear innocent?"
For industry we serve, read Square-Enix?
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
In hindsight, all the journalists that were complaining about conspiracies theorists, etc. when this Rab first got the boot would have been far, far better off throwing MCV under the bus. All the details that came out about Wainwright and now this nonsense from MCV is so far beyond what Rab was saying that it's not even funny.
(Please do not gift. My game bank is already full.)
It feels like they're trying to justify themselves somehow and it's just looping into an endless bullshit loop. If they want to say they serve one purpose or be something, they have to operate in that manner. It's like saying they're a car dealership but they're actually a chop shop. (MANDATORY AUTOMOBILE METAPHOR USED)
Edit - For that matter they shouldn't be publishing a fucking magazine and selling it to consumers.
This is what I don't get, their current "it's not for you" defence is that they're not writing for consumers, but for retailers? So therefore the complaints that their content is skewed towards the positive and comes from dubious (connected to PR/publishers) sources, is somehow nullified? I'm trying, but I really can't see why such an angle is somehow of value to retailers, where it appears shady to consumers. Like you say, they should surely be in greater need of neutral, impartial information.
Also this in ref to John Walker earlier.
That's the head of Capcom's marketing for Europe. I'm really not one for conspiricy theories and whatnot but I can't help but feel there's a nerve been hit here.
In related news the guy running MCV's Twitter account is having a meltdown or something. It's gone into the realm of him operating the account like how Romney handled his presidential campaign.
Guess that study in media law didn't pay off after all, huh?
It looks like the whole Hitman roundup thing made MCV finally realize they've got a problem that can't get swept up under the rug.
I seriously doubt it just happened to be determined she failed to pass her probation at the height of this shitstorm.
BenKuchera @BenKuchera
Also, without a statement, without any fuss, they let Lauren Wainwright go last Friday
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/11/reports-botched-firmware-update-leading-to-bricked-wii-u-consoles/
That's the debug mode thing from the WiiU, listing DQX in it. A few people are taking that as some sort of confirmation that there's a US Localization inbound, possibly in alpha testing right now.
Isn't the download 1GB and this is just people being dumb about OS size currently existing in the hardware?
But five gigs? Arrrrrgh. A patch should be, y'know, a patch, not the entire damn OS again. Apple figured that out a few years ago.
To be fair, Nintendo isn't exactly 'hip', to this online 'thing', as all you kids so like to put it. They're just getting used to the idea of 'accounts'.
Hey, they nailed the "mark people who actually played a game so that when they comment on it you can know" part.