Video Games

[Ibrahim90]

Surprised there isn't a running thread on this topic already. I'm sure I'm not the only one who enjoys death simulators.

When I get a few bills paid off I plan on picking up Uncharted 3 and Assassin's Creed: Revelations from this year's holiday crop. Maybe Battlefield 3. I'm protesting the Call of Duty because Activision is the worst franchise milker in the industry.

now that is a great call. I won't spoil it for you, but I will tell you, you will finally see what a so far faceless character looks like.

[VectorM]

I didn't like the anti-capitalist angle in Brotherhood, but hey, I don't get hissy about that stuff.

I still find it pretty stupid, that UbiSoft, of all companies, would  put that stuff in to the game, when they are hardly a consumer friendly companie, what with their retarded DRM and whatnot. 

[FSBlueApocalypse]

Not to mention going off the rails with the whole 2012/conspiracy theory subplot but it is what it is.

[Ibrahim90]

I didn't like the anti-capitalist angle in Brotherhood, but hey, I don't get hissy about that stuff.

did anyone? I just enjoy the game-play; politicking (and yes, 2012 BS) aside, it is a great game.

[Gumba Masta]

...
Wait, Brotherhood was anti capitalist? Was that in a DLC or did I miss that in between smashing a statist regime and stuff?

[evensgrey]

...
Wait, Brotherhood was anti capitalist? Was that in a DLC or did I miss that in between smashing a statist regime and stuff?

Just because an organization smashes a statist regime doesn't mean it's not interested in simply replacing that regime with one of its' own that would be hard to tell from the replaced one.

[VectorM]

...
Wait, Brotherhood was anti capitalist? Was that in a DLC or did I miss that in between smashing a statist regime and stuff?

You know those glyphs, that you could find around the world? Where you had to do a bunch of puzzles to reveal a secret message? Well, according to them, the Templar basically invented capitalism as the new method of control, since religion simply didn't cut it anymore.

There you go:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/996094-assassins-creed-brotherhood/faqs/61430

"They become increasingly aware of our existence. We can no longer rely on the
divine right of the aristocracy to maintain control. We need a new system,
something more subtle."

"A great empire has been established for the sole purpose of raising up a
nation of customers, it cannot be very difficult to determine who have been the
contrivers of this whole mercantile system; not the consumers, we may believe,
whose interest has been entirely neglected; but the producers, whose interest
has been so carefully attended to."

"Fellows, rulers, welcome.

I deliver this speech to you as, several floors below us, a silent revolution
begins.

Ranny Olds and Henry Ford. As many of you know, these founders gave us  the
assembly line, the device we have used to control both (those indoctrinated
into the worship of our money(?)) capitalists and workers (slaves(?)) alike.
But I dream of a future in which such ugly chains will no longer be necessary.
In 1910, our founders designed the Plan, it falls to us to see it through.

But what of the Communits, who intend to spread the bread so thin that everyone
will starve? It is our duty to (neutralize(?)) save them and their followers.
We must ensure that they continue to eat, to reproduce, to be productive
members of society. That is our burden, to shepherd those beneath us through
life, and we must embrace it, ever if (force is required(?)) they themselves do
not.

H. and S. brought on the turmoil and fear necessary, now we must strike fast to
ensure development continues in the proper direction. We will appear to concede
ground to the workers, remember the successful ruse of    Rockefeller's dimes,
but soon there will be no ground we do not own.

In 1937, we founded this Company, this enterprise, with a purpose. The time to
nurture it to fruition is upon us."

Tell the Capitalists that if they help ensure the junta remain in power, we
will pass all their corporate debt on to the Argentine people. That will ensure
they crush any popular revolt. I want the trade unions destroyed if we are to
move forward.

The free market must be allowed to prevail, F.'s visit last year helped things
along, but now all public companies need to be sold to the private sector,
ideally on the cheap. The price of bread and other staple must rise. I want to
ensure the people remain married in poverty and unable to resist.

Any traces of this plan should appear to implicate the U.S. government. The
Company's involvement must remain hidden.

For successful examples of a simliar opening of the markets, look no further
than the 1953 liberation of Iran and the 1954 liberation of Guatemala.

"Wages should be (lowered to keep the middle class subservient to us(?)) left
to the fair and free competition of the market, and should never be controlled
by the interference of (a popularly elected government(?)) the legislature"

There are more, but this is a bit of a TL; DR post already.

Just because an organization smashes a statist regime doesn't mean it's not interested in simply replacing that regime with one of its' own that would be hard to tell from the replaced one.

Well, we don't know what they want to replace it with yet. Or rather, what they are trying to return to, since, if I understand the story, humans were actually engendered by aliens, and everything we know about our past is fake 

But I am pretty sure, that the awesome system will turn out to be the typical socialist utopia, where people care only about the community, materialism doesn't exist, blah-blah-blah, etc.  A more left wing version of Star Trek.

[Gumba Masta]

You know... you describe a completely different game from the one I played.
Or maybe each of us is reading different things into what we saw.

[VectorM]

What do you make of the above quotes then?

[Gumba Masta]

Well, they certainly weren't in my game.
But maybe that is because I played the german translation. 

[Lord T Hawkeye]

Friend showed me this.  Loved it!

[Gumba Masta]

Well
One more thing about AC
Well, three more things... but they're part of the same...

[kiri2tsubasa]

My problem is that I have so many games to play, but I do not hae the time to do so.  I have a few games in my back catalog that are being pushed back due to other games that I have that are taking my time (TES V: Skyrim and Saints Row the Third).

[AnCap Dave]

Source

In an interview with PC Gamer, Ubisoft's Ghost Recon Online producer Sébastien Arnoult stated that Ghost Recon Future Soldier won't be appearing on PC for the same reason I Am Alive won't be appearing on PC: piracy.

Apparently piracy is so bad, so vicious, so company hurting that companies like Valve, CD Projekt, MineCraft's creator, Bethesda, Curve Studios and Team Meat and PlayDead are all lying through their teeth when they report financial success from PC ports. Apparently all those billions of dollars from PC digital distribution is actually just a fraud and Ubisoft is actually in the right: 90% of PC gamers are just pirates and there's no money to be made from the platform...all those stats, numbers and billions of dollars are actually just part of a conspiracy to make people believe that there are honest PC consumers out there when in reality they're all just pirates. That's according to Ubisoft.

Arnoult, with comments hinging on vehemence, stated that...

"We are giving away most of the content for free because there's no barrier to entry. To the users that are traditionally playing the game by getting it through Pirate Bay, we said, 'Okay, go ahead guys. This is what you're asking for. We've listened to you – we're giving you this experience. It's easy to download, there's no DRM that will pollute your experience.'"


Wow. Just wow. So he's bringing Pirate Bay into this then, eh? Well, his indignant attitude doesn't end there. He goes on to say that...

"When we started Ghost Recon Online we were thinking about Ghost Recon: Future Solider; having something ported in the classical way without any deep development, because we know that 95% of our consumers will pirate the game. So we said okay, we have to change our mind.
"We have to adapt, we have to embrace this instead of pushing it away. That's the main reflection behind Ghost Recon Online and the choice we've made to go in this direction."


Yeah, well that was a douche bag thing to say. I don't think I even have the stomach to say anything nice about Ghost Recon Online with that sort of attitude. More than that, his tone inflects that GRO will only be a shell of what GR: Future Soldier is going to be, given that it's free but without the same kind of quality content. I mean he literally says porting over the game without any "deep development". WTF Ubisoft? Way to spit on your consumers. You really think pirates are the ones who make F2P MMO publishers post profits every quarter?

Seriously, the guys at Ubisoft are delusional.

Let's also talk about a point they seem to be forgetting with their impetuous stance on piracy. When GOG talked about combating piracy by competing with it they didn't mean run the consumers under the bus, they meant coming up with viable alternatives to gain consumer trust and give them a reason to buy the game. If PC gamers are paying $59.99 for a digital copy of a game and console gamers pay the same price but get manuals, the box and an actual hard copy of the game, it makes you wonder what the heck did PC gamers just pay for? Bandwidth?

That brings me to the next point: WTF is Ubisoft talking about losing profits of PC ports to piracy? HOW?! Think about it: A digital copy of Ubisoft's game on PC has no shipping and manufacturing costs. There is no stocking or restocking fee. There's no cover artists involved and no one required to put together a booklet. All of that is axed out of the digital PC version of games (and I Am Alive was supposed to be a digital port anyway). Basically, there's just development and portal distribution costs (i.e., Impulse, GamersGate, Steam, Direct2Drive, etc.)

If 100,000 people pirate a digital copy of a Ubisoft game, what exactly has the company lost? Consumers? No. You can only lose consumers if you know they had intentions of buying the game in the first place. So what has Ubisoft lost exactly in digital piracy? Bandwidth? Well pirates aren't getting the game off their servers, they're file-sharing. Manufacturing costs? We've already established that there's nothing lost if it's digital; no stocking or restocking or shipping SKUs back if they fail to sell. So what then, Ubisoft? What are you losing when pirates digitally steal your game? I'll tell you what...NOTHING!

Realistically, digital releases on PC only have the opportunity to gain. There's nothing lost given that on Steam, Origin, Direct2Drive, etc., people will still buy the game if it's good and even if people pirate it there's no operating cost lost in that venture. So why all the hate for PC gamers, Ubisoft? Hm?

The conspiracy that "piracy is killing PC gaming" died amongst PC gamers who have a head on their shoulders. Every quarter-on-end MMO publishers are posting profits, or why GSC Game World, a relatively small indie company has managed success with their PC exclusive S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Realistically, I could run Ubisoft's argument into the ground constantly posting one link after another just like the opening paragraph, showing how PC titles sell enough to thwart the claims of piracy killing the platform, however it's pointless. Ubisoft will always treat PC gamers like red-headed step kids and that probably won't change at all.

You can check out the full interview over at PC Gamer. After reading it, though, it kind of makes you think twice about whether you even want to support a free-to-play game like Ghost Recon Online.

I'm not a PC gamer, but I know a lot of you guys are. A friend of mine said it best though when it comes to this kind of nonsense:

Ubisoft talking absolute shit again. So, 95% of PC gamers are pirates and the platform isn't worth developing for, they say. I guess that explains why Skyrim just made record sales on Steam, and how the PC only RPG, The Witcher 2, sold over a million copies. And guess what? That game was DRM free. That brings us to the real reason that Ubisoft is having a tantrum: their PC ports have the most infamous DRM in the industry. Ironically, in their bid to prevent piracy they ended up punishing the paying customer, so no wonder no-one gives a shit about their games. The very reason I never bought Assassins Creed 2 and The Settlers 7 was that I refuse to have to rely on Ubisoft's shitty servers being active in order to play even just the single player mode of a game. I'm not sure how any right-minded company talks like Ubisoft does anyway.

[MrBogosity]

I just have one game from Ubisoft (Gold's Gym Dance Workout), but I make the occasional trip to their website to try and register it and their servers fail EVERY TIME. Their customer support isn't. I can understand why Ubisoft is losing sales, and PIRACY ISN'T IT.