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.
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.
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.
VCMI is an attempt to recreate engine for Heroes of Might and Magic 3 with fixes, new features and support for more platforms (Windows, Linux, MacOS, iOS and Android)....
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.
Just like the UK variant, this is an official government petition to look into the issue. Unlike the UK variant, the only signature threshold is 50 signatures - that said, more is better in this case....
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
So I usually browse the internet at random and sometimes stumble upon some interesting games. Today as I was going to sleep however, I remember I saw a game that I cannot for the life of me find the name again. Not even in my search history (as I regularly wipe those). Can anyone help me find it again? Here is what I know:...
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.
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”.
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.
Well, I mean, I would have launched it first (as an AAA game), but I’m no game developer. 🤷 And neither are they, from the looks of it. Good at perpetually raking in money for himself and his family, though!
On the contrary, the last few years were pretty much fully focused on Squadron, with SC being maintained by (almost a) skeleton crew - hence the slow updates.
Now updates are seemingly picking up, though it’s early to say for sure since we only got one quarterly patch so far, with next one probably targeting April-May (depending how porting some of new additions goes).
Which is why I appreciate them doing free flight events. They don’t present the game in the best light a lot of the time but it’s a great way to test if the game is for you in it’s current form (or even in general). They are also a good way to prevent new players from feeling scammed so there’s that.
I feel like a lot of us backed and stayed with this project despite all of the issues exactly because they’re trying to do something no one else is willing to risk. It’s a rough road, full of mistakes and delays but they’re sticking with it, which is more than many people expected.
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.
Have you been spending hours trying to pass a level? Or maybe you are completely addicted to a newly bought game. Do you have a question about a game or would like to share something else? In the Weekly Discussion Thread, you can do it all!...
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.
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So I usually browse the internet at random and sometimes stumble upon some interesting games. Today as I was going to sleep however, I remember I saw a game that I cannot for the life of me find the name again. Not even in my search history (as I regularly wipe those). Can anyone help me find it again? Here is what I know:...
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Well, I mean, I would have launched it first (as an AAA game), but I’m no game developer. 🤷 And neither are they, from the looks of it. Good at perpetually raking in money for himself and his family, though!
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