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Editorial Entertainment Games

Gaming Gaffes of 2004 99

Posted by Zonk from the just-makes-ya-wanna-spit dept.
jvm writes "It's about time for the "Best Games of 2004" articles to flood the web, and in preparation Curmudgeon Gamer has assembled Gaming Gaffes of 2004 (alternate link), a followup to our 2003 edition. This year we point to the the EA_spouse blog, the Driv3r review scandal, Sony's hardware missteps, and seven other less than impressive moments from the past year."
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Gaming Gaffes of 2004 More

Gaming Gaffes of 2004

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  • STEAM (Score:4, Interesting)

    by satanami69 ( 209636 ) on Thursday December 16, 2004 @03:25PM (#11108670) Homepage
    How about the Steam update from two days ago that disabled logins from Linux/Cedega users?
  • Glad the alternate link is there but it takes longer to load then the "correct" one. I suspose this will change once more people look at it. I would be interesting to see where the tripping point is.
  • Manhunt playing kids getting murdered!

  • Doom 3 sucked! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by supabeast! ( 84658 ) on Thursday December 16, 2004 @04:03PM (#11109113)
    Nice to see another person pointing out that Doom 3 was a hit sleeper -- it was a huge hit that put us all to sleep. Too bad he didn't also point out all the shining reviews given to id Software's latest over-hyped tech demo.

    And on the topic of FPS games with issues, how could he have forgotten all of the copyright stupidity surrounding Half-Life 2, the game that required online authentication, the CD/DVD to be in the drive, and to top it off, the authentication servers weren't built to handle the number of games that actually shipped at launch! Now THAT is a fiasco!
    • Someone I know made a cracking point about that after I managed to download a fully cracked version of half life 2 - no auth needed, no cd needed. He said "so the ones that go legal get punished AGAIN while the cheap bastards [i.e. me] get it easy".

      Which reminds me of a missing goof.. the sims 2 (and other games) conflict with cd writing software.

    • I think we should qualify that one as "copy protection stupidity" instead of "copyright stupidity".
    • By using the term 'tech demo' you've immediately flagged that you don't know what you're talking about. Presumably you refer to previous Id games as tech demos. So all the millions of people who have played countless hours of their games and penned almost universally positive press about them for the last decade are just bedazzled hardware nerds. Of course.
      • Yes, because they are all the same game. I want Id to make something new and deserve the "accolades" they get from the media.

        • Re:Doom 3 sucked! (Score:3, Insightful)

          by Minna Kirai ( 624281 )
          Yes, because they are all the same game.

          No they're not. Generously, I could agree that Wolfenstein to Quake2 were the same (in singleplay), and that Quake to Quake3 were the same (multiplay)... but Doom3 is different (and worse!) from any of their previous games.

          It contains far less entertaining gameplay, so in this case the tech-demo accusation is almost accurate (except that it's a bad demo too, of course... no one can watch a demonstration in pitch darkness)
          • Well, while Doom, Q1, and Q2 were complete games, Q3 didn't really feel *finished*. It was pretty much a skeleton of a game. After all, it was Q2 DM, but with more maps and models, a smaller and less versatile weaponspread, and the entire SP game just *poof* gone. I think my reaction to it was the same as most: "is this all there is?". If you're gonna release a multiplayer-oriented game like that, at least give the players good bang for their buck - hell, I'm still playing UT '99.

            So yeah, Q3 did feel l
    • I liked Doom 3. It's a very basic FPS shooter with state of the art graphics, not the second coming of Christ :) As long as you're fine with that, it's a fun game.

    • It was just an overpriced Demo for your hardware.

      Sera


      • It was just an overpriced Demo for your hardware.

        For many people it was an overpriced memo that says they need new hardware...

  • It's still 2004... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by hal2814 ( 725639 ) on Thursday December 16, 2004 @04:19PM (#11109312)
    ...so I'm going to have to vote for the NFL and NFLPA giving Madden an exclusive license. I don't think that gaffe will be realized this year, but it will in years to come.

    • I agree, this, though its' impact isn't felt yet, will have the most impact, of all I've read here. I'm eagerly anticipating sega's reaction, and I hope its' as good as midway's.
  • The Sony HDD thing really did do a lot to piss off a lot of Square fans... The only thing preventing the launch of FFXI in the US was that damned hard drive, which Sony kept delaying. Considering that getting Square on board in the early days was such a huge boost to the original Playstation's success, you'd think that Sony would be a little more thoughtful of the fans that gave them that success, and mindful of what happens when a content developer with a huge following gets annoyed enough to jump platform
    • Square needs to just ditch the console world completely and code for the PC. Better graphics, more storage and wide internet support can only be _good_ things.

  • How about the fact... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Alkaiser ( 114022 ) on Thursday December 16, 2004 @04:27PM (#11109390) Homepage
    That it's still 2004 and there's a X of 2004 List already coming out.

    If you want to make a list that truly encompasses the Best/Worst of a Year, wait until the following year.
    • Yeah, wtf?? Only 96% of the year is over. Who do they think they are??
      • Have you ever seen the results for the IDSA awards? Every year they end up giving the majority of the awards to games that were released the week before. Why? Becuase it's fresh on your mind. When people are writing this stuf up, they need to wait a couplt weeks into the new year...breathe, and then see what they can honestly remember about the year past...not the 10 most important things that happened 2 seconds ago. That's the true test of historical significance, right? How important it proved to be

  • Enough about the stupid PS2 Harddrive (Score:1, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I'm sick and tired about how people keep on complaining that the new PStwo doesn't support the hard drive. Who cares? Apparently a vocal few care, but I have yet to hear of anyone who wanted both the hard drive and the PStwo, only people who already have a PS2 and hard drive complain.

    The hard drive was used in how many games? Best count I got was 3: the always-mentioned Final Fantasy XI, Resident Evil Outbreak, and SOCOM II. There is a total of one game that requires it: Final Fantasy XI.

    So, you have a $1
    • "The hard drive was used in how many games? Best count I got was 3: the always-mentioned Final Fantasy XI, Resident Evil Outbreak, and SOCOM II. There is a total of one game that requires it: Final Fantasy XI."

      And Sony has insured that no more games will take advantage of it, either. Maybe if they weren't so short-sighted, more developers would have been willing to make the HD a must-have accessory.
    • The hard drive was used in how many games? Best count I got was 3: the always-mentioned Final Fantasy XI, Resident Evil Outbreak, and SOCOM II. There is a total of one game that requires it: Final Fantasy XI.

      While technically not a game, don't forget the Linux kit for the PlayStation 2. Perhaps the best accessory that I have for the machine. It comes with a hard drive, network adapter, but it's sold out in North America and Japan, AND it doesn't work in the new PStwo. Damn shame, in my opinion.

  • Deus Ex Invisible War (Score:3, Insightful)

    by CryptoKiller ( 78275 ) on Thursday December 16, 2004 @05:19PM (#11109881)
    A stunning first game and a buggy, glitchy, bastardized, neutered sequel.

    Please someone let Warren Spector make the Deus Ex sequel he actually wished to make!

    Stop ruining potentially good games to make them run on consoles...
    • Uh... didn't you know? That WAS the game he wanted to make. He himself said that console shooters were the wave of the future or something.

      • Re:Deus Ex Invisible War (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Txiasaeia ( 581598 ) on Thursday December 16, 2004 @06:07PM (#11110335)
        Metroid Prime 1 & 2 proved that console shooters *work* (this coming from a PC gamer since Wolfenstein and Blake Stone 3D ;) ), but Deus Ex 2 is an atrocity. If he let Retro handle Deus Ex 3, I'm sure it would be *much* better.
      • I don't know... i remember some early DX:IW screenshots that looked incredible and NOTHING like the final product; it made my mouth salivate (perhaps someone has the link; it had a couple of aliens and persons in what semeed a basement with stone walls). The interface looked the same of DX, with minor diferences.

        Thing is, the game, despite some technical flaws, was dumbed down just for consoles, and the same interface was kept in the PC version. I don't know, like console players get headaches when the
    • Absolutely Deus Ex Invisible War was a HUGE fuckup. They had what could've been a hugely profitable franchise with more sequels. They showed off some screenshots that were stunningly pretty. Fans (myself included) were rabid for this game.

      And then... the demo released. It ran so incredibly poorly and with settings geared towards the Xbox version (which seems to have been the project lead) that entire forums were filled with tips on getting just the DEMO to run properly. Instead of gamers clamouring for mo

  • No DDR for Gamecube (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Qrlx ( 258924 ) on Thursday December 16, 2004 @06:58PM (#11110853) Homepage Journal
    The biggest failing is no Dance Dance Revolution for GameCube.

    Come on, GameCube is supposedly the "kid's choice" but we're not gonna provide kids with the one video game that has the redeeming quality of making you get your fat ass off the freakin' couch.

    Ooh, Thet get Donkey Kong Bongos instead. What a joke.
  • One more thing to add to the list, what is up with game CDs comming in envelopes now? WTF? I fork out an average of $59 per game and they take away the cases and replace them with cheap assed envelopes. I can appreciate that they were cheaping out on boxes because smaller boxes are much better than those old skool monstrosities but the new cost cutting measure just pisses me off.
    • I suppose we should be thankful that most games still ship with a basic instruction manual. It's only a matter of time before they decide to skimp on that, too, and make it a crummy PDF on the CD/DVD instead.
    • Just about everything in the UK is in a standard DVD case now. I'd forgotten how much I hated those envelopes until a friend got me Doom 3 for my birthday.

      My addition to the list is software that gets in a snit because it doesn't like what else you've got installed on your machine (which is, after all, your property).

      "Oh, I don't like that DVD emulation software, so I'm not going to run. Waah, waah." Up yours, bucko. Especially when what you're calling DVD emulation software is just a region code remover

    • I dont understand why the PC game companies dont just put everything into DVD type cases (like they have for the XBOX and Playstation 2 and GameCube).
      For things that have too much stuff (e.g. multiple disks) to fit into the DVD case, do what they do with DVD box sets for TV and put them into cases like that.
      Get rid of the !@##!@@#! waste of space boxes.

  • Come on... (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    What about Steam/HL2? There are plenty of graffes with this scheme, the release, and the game.

    For one thing you have to register just to play single player, even if you legally purchased the CD/DVD. Just one more step from us not really owning our software purchases, and giving profit hungry companies even more power and control.

    The day they were suppose to unlock the game was a mess, lots of people not being able to play the games they purchased. Also these problems lasted beyond the initial unlocking
  • Nor really a gaffe. Did they underestimate the demand? Yes. Did they double their server count on the first day? Yes. And then they game people extra free time to compensate for it. Hardly one of the biggest gaffes of the year. It wasn't even like the Half Life 2/Steam server issue, the game was still playable, and I never had to wait for long in a queue line, and even those were gone after like 2 days, and only existed during prime time.
  • One of the biggests gaffes this year has to be the inability to hold a friggin flashlight and a gun at the same time. Doom 3 doesn't show it, but aparently your crack marine only has one arm.

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