Essence_of_Meh

Essence_of_Meh, 2 dni temu

TL;DW:

• Patrick Breyer and Niklas Nienaß submitted questions to the European Commission on the topic of killing games (the latter in contact with Ross and two EU based lawyers).
• EU won’t commit to answering whether games are goods or services.
• EULA are probably unfair due to imbalance of rights and obligations between the parties.
• Such terminations should be analyzed on a case-by-case basis (preferably by countries rather than EU).
• Existing laws don’t seem to cover this issue.
• Campaign in France seems to be gaining some traction. Case went to “the highest level where most commercial disputes submitted to DGCCRF never go”.
• UK petition was suppose to get a revised response after the initial one was found lacking. Due to upcoming elections all petitions were closed and it might have to be resubmitted.
• Also in UK, there’s a plan to report games killed in the last few years to the Competition and Markets Authority starting in August (CMA will get some additional power by then apparently).
• No real news from Germany, Canada or Brazil.
• Australian petition is over and waiting for a reply. Ross also hired a law firm to represent the issue.

This is a simplified version of simplified version, watch the video for more info.

Essence_of_Meh, 2 dni temu

This has be kindasortagenerally known already, it just doesn’t really matter if nothing is done about it.

Essence_of_Meh, 13 dni temu

I might be missing something since I’m not completely dialed in with TD lore but didn’t we kill Keener? Are they bringing him back or will this just be more of his usual gloating through audio logs? I’m not sure how I feel about either of those options.

Guess I’ll wait for a full detail breakdown before thinking about coming back.

Essence_of_Meh, 13 dni temu

Yeah, I just watched the Ubisoft Forward stream with some additional details on the new update. Can’t say I’m a fan but whatever - guess they still can’t let go of their obsession with him.

Essence_of_Meh, 24 dni temu (edited 24 dni temu)

Release date: 2024.10.08

• Extended gameplay
• Game versions
• Deluxe Edition goodies
  • Game
  • 48h Early Access
  • Digital Artbook
  • Digital Soundtrack (supposedly an app rather than music download?)
  • Masks:
    • Pyramid Head (Pizza Box)
    • Mira the Dog
    • Robbie the Rabbit (PS5 exclusive)

Essence_of_Meh, miesiąc temu

That’s positively surprising, I expected them to leave it at that until petition reaches the second milestone (if that even happens). Let’s see if anything new comes out of this.

Essence_of_Meh, miesiąc temu

Because that’s what it is. I think some of it might have to do with the limited content of the petition itself (a pretty short description about “customers being robbed” without any broader ideas suggested by the campaign) and some with the fact they get plenty of petitions so the first reaction is to stick with what’s already there. That’s my guess at least.

I hope that if this petition reached 100k signatures and went to a parliamentary hearing there could be a chance for a more nuanced presentation of the topic but who knows, maybe I’m just being naive.

Essence_of_Meh, miesiąc temu

That’s cool, didn’t know that!

Essence_of_Meh, 2 miesiące temu

For clarity I’d also like to add this post by Ross who mentioned petition being “hijacked” to increase the scope to all software instead of just games. He still asks to sign it if you’re Australian.

Additionally, few Aussie users replied that this broadening might actually be a good thing due to the Australia law. Can’t say anything about that myself but seems reasonable.

Essence_of_Meh, 2 miesiące temu

On the other hand they do have a history of protecting customers (weren’t they the main reason behind Steams refund policy?) and that’s what this is about.

Essence_of_Meh, 2 miesiące temu

This specific petition was broadened to involve all software rather than just games which is why it mentions pinging home instead of focusing on multiplayer servers.

The general idea of the campaign as a whole is to force publishers to create software with a specific end-of-life plan that would include one of the few possible options:

• relase the server software to allow players host them themselves
• patch the game to not require company’s server (even if not all features would be functional)
• allow people to create their own servers after official ones are dead (think private MMO servers)

Any of those options would come into effect only when the official support for the game were to end.

How exactly would that increase the risk of creating multiplayer games? Private server hosting was a thing for years and the only reason we’re here now is because publishers decided they should be the only ones allowed to do it.

Essence_of_Meh, 2 miesiące temu (edited 2 miesiące temu)

You’re right, people shouldn’t try anything and just buy the fresh new release instead.

It may or may not work out but the only way for things to change is by bringing the issue to the lawmakers - they can’t fix something they aren’t aware of.

Essence_of_Meh, 2 miesiące temu

It’s still being processed apparently. I’ll be sure to post it when that changes.

Essence_of_Meh, 2 miesiące temu

Just so we’re clear, this is not my petition. It’s related to the Stop Killing Games campaign mentioned in the post description, though it was slightly modified by the author (one of the volunteers helping with the campaign).

I’m not sure I follow your example.

First things first - companies don’t poof out of existence suddenly. Secondly, the whole reason behind the end-of-life proposal is for devs/publishers to have a ready and easy to execute plan in case of ending the official support (whether it’s closing the developer run servers or closure of the company). The whole idea is that something like that would be planned and prepared for during the development.

Essence_of_Meh, 2 miesiące temu

Maybe, maybe not. Australia has a decent track record ruling for the customers so there is a chance (that’s also the reason why France is one of the main targets of this campaign).

At the very least the odds are better than in the US.

Essence_of_Meh, 2 miesiące temu

Fair enough. My experience is mostly tied to companies where even shutting down would be run through a process of sunsetting all projects and tying up as many loose ends as possible before that so my perspective might be a bit skewed.

I can see this being an issue for a small or indie developer but something like Embracer Group shouldn’t have any leeway in that regard - they could absolutely afford keeping a studio (at least a skeleton crew) long enough to release a single server package/patch.

Essence_of_Meh, 2 miesiące temu

That’s why the campaign is aimed at multiple jurisdictions - there’s a chance at least one of them works out.

Essence_of_Meh, 2 miesiące temu

It’s the question of both though - sure, game preservation aspect is important but it would also be nice for the law to catch up to technology and decide whether companies should have the right to remove your ability to use the product you bought.

If the law would go through in the way envisioned by the campaign, games should be designed and developed in a way that releasing a patch/server software should be possible even for a company at the verge of closing. We’re not talking about creating these releases at the last moment but baking their creation into the development process from the start.

At the end of the day all the possible solutions proposed by the campaign are just ideas to give lawmakers some kind of starting point. If this goes anywhere it’ll be debated and decided upon by people with far more law and customer protection knowledge than anyone involved in the campaign itself. The important part right now is to bring the issue to someone willing to look into it.

Essence_of_Meh, 2 miesiące temu

Some bonus questions that might help narrow it down:

• Was it an indie title? I would assume so considering the first point but might as well ask just in case.
• Is the game itself old?
• How does it look? 2D/3D?
• What about gameplay? Was it real time, turned based, mixed?
• Is there anything else you remember?

Essence_of_Meh, 2 miesiące temu

Here are the few I’m familiar with:

• Anodyne - tried it few years ago and it seemed pretty decent, need to go back to it eventually.
• Coffee Talk - still in my backlog but looks like a coffee version of VA-11 Hall-A. Nice art style, saw positive opinions about it.
• They Bleed Pixels - fun but challenging platformer with lots of bloody combat.
• Wandersong - got pretty famous for a while. Haven’t played it myself but what I saw seemed like a great little title.

Essence_of_Meh, 2 miesiące temu

From FAQ on the Stop Killing Games page.

Q: How are publishers ‘destroying’ videogames?

A: An increasing number of videogames are designed to rely on a server the publisher controls in order for the game to function. This acts as a lifeline to the game. When the publisher decides to turn this off, it is essentially cutting off life support to the game, making it completely inoperable to all customers. Companies that do this often intentionally prevent people from ‘repairing’ the game also by withholding vital components. When this happens, the game is ‘destroyed’, as no one can ever operate it again.

Essence_of_Meh, 2 miesiące temu

No problem!

Essence_of_Meh, 2 miesiące temu

That’s exactly why I posted this! There are so many open source and decompilation projects it’s impossible to know about all of them.

Essence_of_Meh, 2 miesiące temu

Here’s the campaign website with links and instructions for each region.

Essence_of_Meh, 2 miesiące temu

Happens to the best of us.

Essence_of_Meh, 2 miesiące temu

If by “still paying” you mean trying to change something about the industry using closure of a decade old game then sure, you could say that.

If you don’t care about this campaign, he still does videos about older titles - they release every 2-3 months, with the latest one being this video about “State of Mind”.

Essence_of_Meh, 3 miesiące temu

Here’s the video.

Essence_of_Meh, 3 miesiące temu

I actually thought the same while watching this trailer. I hope some of it is just an issue with how it was cut rather than the game itself but as always, better wait and see how it turns out.

Essence_of_Meh, 3 miesiące temu

Of course, but I think it’s a bit harder to defend this accusation with all of this info available and the ability to try the game for yourself for free. The latter is what I’d suggest to anyone interested in the game, even if they aren’t worried about wasting money anyway.

Essence_of_Meh, 2 miesiące temu

Just finished Drakengard 3 and feeling empty - both because the final boss fight took me 4 days to beat and because, despite many issues I have with the game, ending still managed to hit pretty hard. I love this shitty game.