Pirates don't buy the game the first time, and they're going to crack the activation anyway.
Guess what, they're trying to milk money out of the poor, honest folk who actually support the industry. It is a sad day for gamers.
I guess they figured out that if you put a game that you have to pay $60 for 3 activations on a shelf next to competing games with one time fees that more people will go for the $60 for three activations.
Especially because EA is known for their NOVEL, INNOVATIVE, NON DERVIATIVE, ORIGINAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY THAT THEY DIDN'T AQUIRE FROM SMALL STUDIOS BEFORE CRUSHING THEM OUT OF EXISTENCE. *Ahem*
Can't be too surprised there, it's the EA we all know and love, and by love I mean hate. Screw quality, they can get away with putting out shitty *Sport here* 20XX for the next few decades while steadily buying and demolishing everyone creative.
Bah. Rising cost of game development? For god's sake fire half the fucking game artists you have on your staff, then see what happens to 'the rising cost of game development'. And high system requirements. I'm really tired of games showing off their 'great physics engine' when all you do is see your little dust particles flow in a slightly better manner.
Truly commercial gaming is hitting a downswing, no?
tl;dr-ers will be shot on sight.
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"I have measured your 'fun', and science has quantitatively rated it a three." ~Lord Tim (Data Realms Fan Forums)[/size]
Normandy wrote:And high system requirements. I'm really tired of games showing off their 'great physics engine' when all you do is see your little dust particles flow in a slightly better manner.
Indeed, developers should first make a game that's fun and that's stable. They can still add the eye candy as an option for people for higher-end gaming rigs. I beleive this is one the reasons for Stardock's succeeds with GalCivII and SoSE. My computer is actually below the minimum system requirements for Sins, but I can run it fine at medium graphical settings and the only time I notice any lag is during battles with 300+ ships. By making a game that can be played on lower-end machines, you can have a larger potential market then if you make a game that can only be played on theoretical super computers from space, you shrink the potential market for your game immensely.
The walls have eyes: the shadows we throw are the shadows we try to throw off.
Normandy wrote:Truly commercial gaming is hitting a downswing, no?
This has been a continuing trend for a few years now. I can count on my fingers the games that really made me go 'wow' (not because of graphics) in past two or three years. But thats to be expected, really. With the full commercialisation of game industry, you're bound to end up with countless sequels and clones, with good (if not amazing) graphics but crappy gameplay/content. Piracy also helped, but noone really knows to what extent. Comparing the amount of console games vs pc games per year, id say it was quite a big factor - or, at least, the misconceptions about piracy were.
And then, theres independent games. Nowadays i have much more fun with them than with the mainstream ones.