Penny Arcade

Dog · January 2019

Penny Arcade - Comic - Discretion

Videogaming-related online strip by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. Includes news and commentary.

Zovoka · January 2019

How dare you shame Cade's legacy with this! Just kidding. I can't tell if it is a shame, since it doesn't appear to have loaded.

Darkewolfe · January 2019

I also thought it was a joke about how you could never get the game to load till I went through it a second time.

Cayde would want you to move on, though.

Preacher · January 2019

One streamer I watched when someone asked if Anthem was a destiny killer said "no destiny was a destiny killer" and I can't help but agree.

Lucascraft · January 2019

I really want Anthem to fail super hard. Because fuck EA. They don't deserve any money after all their sins over the years.

Preacher · January 2019

So because you dislike the publisher you want a game to fail? So you only play like indie games not published by any major studio? Because pretty much every major studio has sins on par with EA at this point.

Skull2185 · January 2019

I'm guessing Anthem's going to do pretty well. I hope it does well, because while it probably isn't for me, I love BioWare and want them to succeed. I highly doubt EA would shutter BioWare if Anthem doesn't meet expectations, but the game doing well would certainly help regardless.

I just want the game to come out so it can be handed over to the maintenance/upkeep team and the A-team can get crackin' on Dragon Age.

Dark080matter · January 2019

Preacher wrote: »

So because you dislike the publisher you want a game to fail? So you only play like indie games not published by any major studio? Because pretty much every major studio has sins on par with EA at this point.

Right, the dialogue seems to be that other developers might be p bad but EA is super Satan. Personally less about that because 1.) No corporation is a static actor, and rational humans should be endeavouring to judge any individual action on its own merits and willing to acknowledge improvements or degradation in behavior and 2.) Bioware is also involved here, and I definitely want to see them thrive. If for no other reason than because of their past. Which sort of belies the previous point, sue me.

Anyway Anthem is actually kind of fun whenever it decides to load. So far the best guess I've got as to how it's gonna be monetized is: Eververse-style cosmetics premiums and the usual Season Pass or Pay-as-it-goes content release parade. I think we the gamer collective have mostly made our peace with that stuff by now?

Steel Angel · January 2019

Dark080matter wrote: »

Preacher wrote: »

So because you dislike the publisher you want a game to fail? So you only play like indie games not published by any major studio? Because pretty much every major studio has sins on par with EA at this point.

Right, the dialogue seems to be that other developers might be p bad but EA is super Satan. Personally less about that because 1.) No corporation is a static actor, and rational humans should be endeavouring to judge any individual action on its own merits and willing to acknowledge improvements or degradation in behavior and 2.) Bioware is also involved here, and I definitely want to see them thrive. If for no other reason than because of their past. Which sort of belies the previous point, sue me.

Anyway Anthem is actually kind of fun whenever it decides to load. So far the best guess I've got as to how it's gonna be monetized is: Eververse-style cosmetics premiums and the usual Season Pass or Pay-as-it-goes content release parade. I think we the gamer collective have mostly made our peace with that stuff by now?

Eververse specifically still gets a lot of hate though that's more due to some specific issues with Destiny 2 on launch: A lack of cosmetic rewards for in game achievements because all of it got moved to RMT and shaders being consumable items with limited inventory space for them.

Skull2185 · January 2019

I think BioWare confirmed no season pass. Cosmetic microtransactions are probably a given, unsure about paid add-ons/expansions. It hurts me in my soul when all the cool cosmetics are locked behind paywalls, but I guess it's better than slicing up a game and selling the beefier content piecemeal.

Unless you're Activision and do it both ways because you just don't give a fuck.

Preacher · January 2019

Cosmetic micros, no loot box, potentially they'll have DLC javelin (character classes), add ons and expansions are free though they said they don't want to lock content behind a pay wall and break up the player base.

KagatoAC · January 2019

by Saturday night I was able to actually get into the game anytime I wanted. Sunday I played all day with no real issues that couldn't be explained by server issues. As it stands right now as long as they get that worked out by launch, i'm all In.

Lucascraft · January 2019

Preacher wrote: »

So because you dislike the publisher you want a game to fail? So you only play like indie games not published by any major studio? Because pretty much every major studio has sins on par with EA at this point.

Yes, all of the major publishers suck. But EA sucks more than the rest.

It's called a boycott. Yes I want a game to fail. Because I want to EA to feel it. It's called voting with your dollars, and as much as I hate skipping a game by Bioware, the way to make their publisher hurt is to not buy their product. So they won't be getting my dollars. Ever again. Not after what they did to Visceral. Not after Andromeda. Not after what they did to Star Wars.

No, I don't plan to play only indie games. But thus far Ubisoft and Activision haven't reached a level of ultimate dickishness that earns them a spot on my "won't buy" list. That spot is reserved only for EA (right now).

That's the main reason right there. EA doesn't get my money. Ever.

What I'm about to say next is a side-reason and you should not take it to replace the main reason (listed above). This is just extra stuff.

I don't like online-only multiplayer shooter games. Destiny was awful, and I hate that EA is trying to compete with that. Bioware claims that Anthem is a game that they want to make but I don't buy that bullshit at all. Bioware is and always has been an RPG house, and you will never convince me that them suddenly deciding to make an online shooter to compete with Destiny is anything other than an EA corporate mandate. This smacks of meddling suits saying "let's take our money-makingest studio and put them on a new project that is sure to rival what Activision has going with Destiny."

In other words, I wouldn't be buying Anthem anyway, even if it wasn't EA because it's not my type of game, and I am disappointed with Bioware for making an online-only shooter game. But this reason doesn't matter because they're an EA game studio, so they automatically don't get my money anyway.

Jubal77 · January 2019

I think based on how good multi was in ME 3 and ME:A it is reasonable for them to make a pve based shooter. It actually makes me more excited for the shooter because they did pve online shooter so well.

Also as long as FIFA is a thing EA will not feel a thing.

Sterica · January 2019

I guess the issue with a boycott is the lack of message you can send with one.

Which is more likely: EA realizes the error of its ways and takes steps to be more employee and consumer friendly? Or they instead go “No, it’s the children who are wrong.” and dismantle Bioware?

cB557 · January 2019

I'm thinking it'll go the way most of these loot shooters seem to go where it won't make $fortnite so people on the internet will say it failed, but it'll be a pretty good game and keep a decent population, enough to keep it going for a while.

pobblebonk · January 2019

Considering they were working on Anthem for before Destiny was even released, I don't think they intended to make a clone. More likely they took their cues from their own Mass Effect combat, which also had a multiplayer component. I quite enjoyed Andromeda, though I didn't play it until well after the bugs were all patched out.

Preacher · January 2019

pobblebonk wrote: »

Considering they were working on Anthem for before Destiny was even released, I don't think they intended to make a clone. More likely they took their cues from their own Mass Effect combat, which also had a multiplayer component. I quite enjoyed Andromeda, though I didn't play it until well after the bugs were all patched out.

I played it at release and it was nowhere near as bad as the internet would have you believe. But yeah playing anthem the combat and even like mission structure feels like an open world ME multiplayer.

destiny doesn't own like multi scifi shooters that have loot.

Skull2185 · January 2019

Preacher wrote: »

pobblebonk wrote: »

Considering they were working on Anthem for before Destiny was even released, I don't think they intended to make a clone. More likely they took their cues from their own Mass Effect combat, which also had a multiplayer component. I quite enjoyed Andromeda, though I didn't play it until well after the bugs were all patched out.

I played it at release and it was nowhere near as bad as the internet would have you believe. But yeah playing anthem the combat and even like mission structure feels like an open world ME multiplayer.

destiny doesn't own like multi scifi shooters that have loot.

The only thing the internet was overblowing about Andromeda at launch were the running/walking animation "bugs". Most of the "popular" ones I kept seeing were the ones that only happened when the player was intentionally going nuts on the analog stick.

Outside of that, it was bad at launch. Borderline catastrophically so. They did fix most of the issues though, so kudos to them for that, but the internet was only slightly wrong on that one.

Grendus · January 2019

I have high hopes for Anthem. I enjoy the online multiplayer shoot 'n' loot style games, and Bioware has a good track record (don't blame them for Andromeda, that was their B team).

EA backed down on the pay2win loot crates in Battlefront 2. I'm willing to reward good behavior, if Anthem is a solid game on release and doesn't have any non-cosmetic transactions I may well get it. Still not happy with how little they've done with the Star Wars license, and pissed about them killing Maxis and Visceral, but if I held a grudge against every publisher who did something I disagreed with I'd have a pretty empty Steam library.

OctoberRaven · January 2019

Is EA really the worst though?

I mean, I'm not defending EA here, but Activision have a track record in scumminess too and as the recent controversy shows even Rockstar aren't necessarily saints either.

I sometimes wonder if EA is just perceived as the worst for a combination of reputation and exposure. In a non-gaming example, if a Goldman Sachs CEO was found to be involved with human trafficking every news media thing everywhere would drop everything to report it, but if the manager of Bank of Paris Texas was to be found involved with human trafficking it might get a couple minutes on the evening news.

H3Knuckles · February 2019

OctoberRaven wrote: »

Is EA really the worst though?

I mean, I'm not defending EA here, but Activision have a track record in scumminess too and as the recent controversy shows even Rockstar aren't necessarily saints either.

I sometimes wonder if EA is just perceived as the worst for a combination of reputation and exposure. In a non-gaming example, if a Goldman Sachs CEO was found to be involved with human trafficking every news media thing everywhere would drop everything to report it, but if the manager of Bank of Paris Texas was to be found involved with human trafficking it might get a couple minutes on the evening news.

Well, the big story that broke how bad working in western game development was, was the "EA Spouse" blog, and then there's this:
Studios closed by EA

Maxis (Sim City, etc)
Mythic Entertainment (Dark Age of Camelot, Warhammer MMO)
Bullfrog Software (Theme Park, Populous, Syndicate, Dungeon Keeper)
Origin Systems (Ultima, Wing Commander)
Westwood Studios (Command & Conquer)
Black Box Games (Need For Speed)
Pandemic Studios (Full Spectrum Warrior, original Star Wars Battlefront duo, Mercenaries)
Visceral Games (Deadspace)

and for comparison, studios closed by Activision, which is also bad, but less so?

Infocom (Zork, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, etc)
RedOctane (official publisher of Guitar Hero and maker of controllers)
Bizarre Creations (Project Gotham Racing, Geometry Wars, The Club, Blur)
Radical Entertainment (Prototype)
Neversoft (Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series, Guitar Hero post-Harmonix)

So, that's a big part of why people aren't happy with EA, there is a perception of them being actively harmful to quality game development. Just off the top of my head, there's also this example:

...of course we did eventually get more Marvel vs Capcom games after that deal expired. YMMV on how that turned out.

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