edgecrusher said:

Gaminggeek: You're not getting Monster Hunter? I was hoping you were and we could hook up for some online action finally, as this seemed like one game that could finally unite us online!.

Final Fantasy 13 reviews: Sounding good, but WTF is a tube?!

Vanquish having no multi-player: THANK YOU!! Finally someone making a single-player focused shooter, and one that has actual originality to it! THANK YOU MIKAMI!!!!

Red Steel 2: Looking really good.

Crysis 2 screens: Looks fucking amazing. I'm sure the game really does look that good, as Crysis is still the best looking game!! This is going to blow every shooter away if it plays like the first game. Its gonna make Resistance, Killzone, and Call of Duty look like a joke. Only one I can see matching it is Halo Reach if it plays as good as it looks to.

 I'm lukewarm on Monster Hunter Tri. I was interested for a long time but now its a maybe. I'm all hyped out.

FFXIII tube jokes relate to Vader saying that someone said it was like playing a game in a tube, noting its linearity. 

I like that Vanquish is single player, imagine multiplayer with all that boosting about. 

I'm using opera turbo so I see compressed Crysis 2 pics.

Agnates said:

gamingeek said:

Thats a problem with demos isn't it? If the game isn't properly introduced, or representative of gameplay, or if its a game that takes time to appreciate, learn or get into?

Sure? What does that have to do with calling something he doesn't like "poor" as opposed to "I don't like it" ? By calling it poor he's indirectly insulting all those who like it. By saying he doesn't like it, nobody's offended :-)

And personally I think the demo is fine. It's almost the same thing like the Monster Hunter Freedom Unite demo which hooked me on that game on PSP. There's no way to do a demo of the full Monster Hunter experience unless you want the demo to be 5 hours of tutorials to teach you each and every single thing you can do. The full game has lots of tutorials about what does what, but it can't teach you how to fight well any better than people here tried to explain the fighting mechanics to him. It will give the same sort of basic tips.

I don't think he'll like the full game and he shouldn't get the full game since the demo is extremely simple by comparison: you don't need to craft your potions, you don't need to craft your weapons, it has better weapons than the starter weapons, you don't need to make your flash bombs, you don't need to make your traps and barrel bombs, it's all provided to you, with loads of potions on top, and telling you hey, go kill that big ass dinosaur. It couldn't be any simpler.

So the controls don't click with him or what he wants, fine, but there's no reason to call it poor because it's not the game he wants. It's like playing Demon's Souls and saying "oh, but my character isn't as fast and agile and awesome as Dante in Devil May Cry,  or like Ninja Gaiden so this game is poor" or something.

 I dunno, it reminds me of the metroid prime series, some people hated the controls, others loved them. Things are subjective. I dont think anyone should take something like that as an indirect insult

I think many games that others find great to be average or sucky and others find games I like to be average or sucky. Its just the nature of taste. 

Infinity ward/activision

The lawsuit filed by Jason West and Vince Zampella against Activision referred to the publisher's "astonishing arrogance and unbridled greed", and claimed that the investigation leading to the duo's dismissal was more of an "inquisition".

The full 16-page filing popped up overnight on IGN and made interesting reading. "This lawsuit is solely and regrettably the result of the astonishing arrogance and unbridled greed of defendant Activision," it began.

After taking credit for "lining Activision's pockets with billions of dollars in revenue", West and Zampella's suit said that the fact they were having to sue for their pay was "not surprising, given that Activision is run by a CEO who has been publicly quoted as believing that the best way to run a videogame studio is to engender a culture of 'skepticism, pessimism, and fear,' and who prefers to pay his lawyers instead of his employees".

It then catalogued events leading up to the two executives' dismissal from their perspective. It sounds like things started to turn sour after the release of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare in 2007.

"West and Zampella were not as eager as Activision to jump into the development of Modern Warfare 2. Despite assurances by Activision that West and Zampella would have complete freedom to run Infinity Ward as an independent studio, Activision had begun to intrude upon Infinity Ward's ability to create quality games.

"For example, Activision forced Infinity Ward's employees to continue producing the games at a breakneck pace under aggressive schedules, and West and Zampella were concerned that Activision was emphasising quantity over quality.

"Given Activision's insistence that Infinity Ward continue to focus on sequels to Call of Duty games instead of new intellectual property, West and Zampella were also concerned that Activision's demands risked 'burning out' the Infinity Ward employees' creativity. Nurturing a creative environment had been one of the cornerstones of Infinity Ward's success.

"West and Zampella were not eager to extend their employment; especially as they watched their games receive countless awards and make Activision billions of dollars, while many Infinity Ward employees were not being provided a fair share."

The lawsuit then referred to a Memorandum of Understanding signed by Activision Publishing boss Mike Griffith at the end of March 2008, which would give West and Zampella "creative authority over the development of any games under the Modern Warfare brand (or any Call of Duty game set in the post-Vietnam era, the near future or distant future) including complete control over the Infinity Ward studio".

"The MOU explicitly provides that no such game can be commercially released without the written consent of West and Zampella."

After the release of Modern Warfare 2, West and Zampella asserted that Activision set up an investigation to "manufacture a basis to fire West and Zampella" and avoid having to pay them millions in royalties. (Bloomberg reported that the duo are seeking $36 million.)

When they inquired about the investigation, the lawsuit alleged that they were told in "Orwellian fashion that West and Zampella 'already have a clear understanding of what they have or have not done'". Apparently any lack of co-operation would have been deemed "insubordination" and sufficient for dismissal anyway.

During the investigation, West and Zampella "were interrogated for over six hours in a windowless conference room", while investigators also "brought other Infinity Ward employees to tears in their questioning", the lawsuit alleged.

Once it was all over, apparently "Activision offered West and Zampella less than six hours to respond" to the investigation's findings. "It was also futile because Activision had already made up its mind. In fact, Activision had already included in its SEC Form 10-K Annual Report a disclosure to that effect."

Earlier today it was reported that Activision's response to the lawsuit included allegations that West and Zampella were in contact with rival Electronic Arts. Activision has described the lawsuit as "meritless".

Agnates said:

The controls are great, you don't have to like them, but to call them poor because you don't like them or because you can't or don't want to get the hang of it is silly. I don't (usually) play poor games :-)

Agnates said:

gamingeek said:

Thats a problem with demos isn't it? If the game isn't properly introduced, or representative of gameplay, or if its a game that takes time to appreciate, learn or get into?

Sure? What does that have to do with calling something he doesn't like "poor" as opposed to "I don't like it" ? By calling it poor he's indirectly insulting all those who like it. By saying he doesn't like it, nobody's offended :-)

And personally I think the demo is fine. It's almost the same thing like the Monster Hunter Freedom Unite demo which hooked me on that game on PSP. There's no way to do a demo of the full Monster Hunter experience unless you want the demo to be 5 hours of tutorials to teach you each and every single thing you can do. The full game has lots of tutorials about what does what, but it can't teach you how to fight well any better than people here tried to explain the fighting mechanics to him. It will give the same sort of basic tips I'm sure.

The demo is extremely simple by comparison to the full game: you don't need to craft your potions, you don't need to craft your weapons, it has better weapons than the starter weapons, you don't need to make your flash bombs, you don't need to make your traps and barrel bombs, it's all provided to you, with loads of potions on top, and telling you hey, go kill that big ass dinosaur. It couldn't be any simpler.

I don't think he'll like the full game and he shouldn't get the full game since he can't get the hang of the demo, and I'm not trying to convince him to like the game, I only tried to help with the trouble he was having with the tips and explanations I gave and that example video I found on how to fight well. But that doesn't make the game poor.

I'm sorry that I offended you. It was never my intention to insult anyone. I was only trying to share my opinion of the demo, which I was excited to play yesterday. I guess that excitement led me to be too harsh in my criticism. When I said the controls were "poor," in my mind that means the same thing as, "I don't like the controls." I should have been more careful in the wording. This is why I don't review games. Don't worry, I won't write any more about the game. You guys have fun with it.

Yodariquo said:

Controls are part of the UI design.  To me, for the most part, if some people find them poor, then the controls are simply poor.  Interfaces are supposed to be intuitive as much as possible, and avoid making the user think or worry about the interface itself.  If players are getting confused or frustrated, something's wrong, even if it's perfectly usable with practice.

Using that logic, every game since...

...has had poor controls!

*This opinion does not necessarily reflect the opinions of all members of The VG Press. As such, this opinion is solely the opinion of the member whose avatar is located to the left of this statement. If said avatar is offensive or you disagree with the opinion stated within, please direct your comment or complaint to human ban-hammer: Dr. Steelio Banneurass who will follow up your comment or complaint with a swift blow to your head with a humongous man-wang. All others not fearing the human ban-hammer may freely state whatever opinion he or she wishes to state.*

Of course we can Bugsie!

Engineering hours building unbreakable DRM: $1.6M
Marketing devoted to managing customer hostility to new DRM: $800K
Lost sales due to customers boycotting your product: $2M
Having some wiseass kid from Sweden break your DRM on the first day: Priceless

bugsonglass said:

guys can we not get too PC or have to be too careful with our wordings?

can we just state opinions without too many disclaimers?

for example i want to still be able to say stuff like:

yoda is always right.  and sonic is always shite

And Iga is your God and saviour

Don't worry true believer, Iga is here to guard against political correctness by being a cosmic arse. 

Just coming in on the tail end of this (oh and 50th Podcast is up if you missed that), I rarely have a problem with controls.

I can't think of a single game off the top of my head where I had a problem with controls (at least since the 32 bit era).