Watch Dogs Released, DRM Troubles 123
Today marked the launch of Watch Dogs, a highly-anticipated action-adventure game from Ubisoft. Early reviews for the game are fairly good, but not without complaints. Eurogamer said, 'Combat encounters also draw inspiration from existing games, with slightly stiff but workable sneaking and cover mechanics and decent if unremarkable gunplay. ... There's a sense of sterility beneath the surface, though. As dazzling as the game can look, this Chicago feels like a place you travel through rather than a world you inhabit. Pedestrians gasp and gawp at car crashes, but exhibit no real life.' Polygon's review complimented the bits of structure within the open-world game: "More than any stealth game I can think of, Watch Dogs does a remarkable job in allowing for proper preparation. It creates a universal environment of constant puzzle solving, which sits cozily next to all the action on display." Rock, Paper, Shotgun added, "It feels churlish to complain about something which is only magical 90% of the time, but in some things, ten percent can seep out and render the rest infuriating and useless." It's worth noting that some users are running into problems even playing game, thanks to authentication issues with Ubisoft's UPlay digital distribution service.
Entire Article... (Score:5, Insightful)
...the entire article about "authentication issues" is a guy who failed to install UPlay correctly, and a link to "uplay down" on Twitter.
Super, super informative.
Re: (Score:1)
Agreed, that article was awful. No one should be taking advise on PC games from a guy who had trouble finding out how to buy a PC game, let alone installing it.
Re: Entire Article... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Entire Article... (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually, I am amazed that nobody had that idea yet. Install a (free) game and install a, say, bitcoin miner (or whatever you can use to make money using computer cycles) as well, which runs whenever the game doesn't use 100% of the computing speed (which is most of the time, actually).
Wanna bet that 90% of gamers don't even notice that their computer is calculating for someone else, another 9% don't care as long as the game is free and the rest at best bitches about it (while still playing the game)?
Re: Entire Article... (Score:5, Informative)
They have [zdnet.com], were caught, and sued for doing it. I'm sure that other companies thought of doing it, but realize that it's not in their best interests. Unless of course they wanted to go out of business.
I'm pretty sure another company did the same thing a few months back with a "free" download version. It was done with disclosure, so did not result in a lawsuit. I can't find that article however.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, of course if you don't tell your users that you're going to install some kind of malware on their machines, it's of course opening you to a lawsuit.
Maybe they should simply tell them next time. Nobody reads the EULAs anyway. :)
Re: (Score:2)
For every person that reads it, ten others are already wondering what's that funny taste in their mouth.
Re: (Score:2)
He is referring to this south park episode "HumanCentipad"
http://vimeo.com/24782590 [vimeo.com] fast forward to 7:00 and watch for 2 minutes and you will get the gist.
Re: (Score:2)
Actual
Re: (Score:2)
I feel like that would explain the Arma3 FPS lag issues.
Re: (Score:2)
Nah, that can sufficiently be explained by a lack of programming quality.
Re: (Score:2)
Seriously, I'm surprised this isn't already in practice!
Re: (Score:2)
Dumbest idea ever. Bitcoin miner needs online connectivity. Essentially every decent cracker team will tell you "block game in your firewall" right under the "copy crack files to game directory" in the .nfo.
Sounds like another one of those "omg, your get viruses from torrents" FUD bullshit. If you have common sense and download from large torrents posted by people recognised in that community, chances of getting something nasty are far lower than from having a browser open a page you haven't been to before.
Re: (Score:2)
The game installed fine. He should have used a crack to get rid of the shortcomings...
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah...I was going to say Uplay is down? Really? How odd that I'm logged in at the moment, I was earlier, and I was during peak last night when the game went live. Damn I must not have really been playing anno 2070 or watch dogs today, it was all a glorious figment of my imagination.
Re: (Score:3)
It genuinely was down at one point yesterday (around 7pm BST onwards... not sure when it was usable again).
I couldn't even log into the uplay website much less authenticate my game. Interestingly it was partially working as it would try to authenticate and then the uplay application would crash - I assume with some sort of null pointer error ... although I didn't bother to debug it.
Since I had already started it once earlier in the day though before uplay services took a nose dive disabling my network inter
Ya kinda news to me (Score:2)
I don't have Watch Dogs but I was playing Far Cry 3, which uses it, and it seemed to work fine.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, this part is pretty ridiculous:
The problems started as soon as I made that decision. First I had to figure out how to buy Watch Dogs digitally for PC. That took more than simple Googling, surprisingly. I had to go to the official Ubisoft site originally, and figure out that Uplay is in fact Ubisoft’s digital storefront, and then there still wasn’t any clear indicator it would be digital delivery, except for the fact that they didn’t ask for a shipping address.
[emphasis mine]
He didn't think to try Steam? Or Origin? Or Amazon.com? Or, heck, picking up a DVD from GameStop or Best Buy? This is a big release. It's not exactly hard to find.
Re: (Score:2)
Or Greenmangaming, or G2A, or CDkeys? The guy isn't exactly the smartest tool in the shed.
Re: (Score:2)
I think part of the review was of the UBIsoft online store and how easy (or hard) it would be to the average gamer to buy a game directly without a middle man.
Re: (Score:2)
He didn't think to try Steam? Or Origin? Or Amazon.com? Or, heck, picking up a DVD from GameStop or Best Buy? This is a big release. It's not exactly hard to find.
Isn't that kinda the problem? He's trying to by an ubisoft game through ubisoft's digital distribution method, and it's (apparently) not exactly user friendly.
And maybe the guy is just an idiot, which is certainly plausible. But think about all the sales Ubi is missing out on by excluding idiots from their storefront.
Re: (Score:2)
Isn't that kinda the problem? He's trying to by an ubisoft game through ubisoft's digital distribution method, and it's (apparently) not exactly user friendly.
Why would you want to? That's the great thing about PC gaming, you're not limited to buying at *their* store, you can buy your keys from a dozen plus competitors and find the best deal for you. So you're also not locked into the same price everywhere. The new wolfenstin has been out what? A week, and you can get a game key for $21 on G2A. It's still $59 on steam, origin, etc.
Re: (Score:2)
Actually, many people were "limited to buying at *their* store", because they wanted more of the initial DLC. Check out the *TEN* SKUs on the chart in this article:
http://www.lazygamer.net/xbox-... [lazygamer.net]
Re: (Score:2)
... the question should be "Why would Ubi want you to?"
Yes, we consumers have choice. But the companies should be trying to woo customers into using their service. I seriously doubt it was Ubi's intent to make a storefront that was actively user-hostile. The fact that people are choosing to use a non-ubi storefront to buy an Ubi game that's going to require the Uplay anyway (for DRM purposes) should be a good indication that UPlay is junk.
Which, as I mentioned earlier, is the actual problem. UPlay is
Re: (Score:2)
To be fair, UPlay is a right pain in the ass, even when it works properly. Even worse, it's automatically baked into every Ubi product these days, even games purchased on Steam or as a physical box require a network connection, creating an account (which requires registering an email), downloading and installing the UPlay java apple, etc. That's right Steam users: Dual DRM.
I could maybe get behind UPlay as a digital distribution method that also acts as a DRM for products purchased through its own channel
Re: (Score:3)
I hate it because I hate all DRM, but let's not pretend that Steam is any better. Steam was just early to the game and now people take it for granted.
I'm one of those people who have had a Steam account for pretty much the entire time you could (9 years according to my Steam profile), and I have never had a "Steam DRM" issue. Some games I have had problems playing because the game had bugs, or my video card drivers needed updating, but not once have I failed to be able to play the game because a Steam server wasn't available, or it believed that I wasn't authorized. I have games I have purchased on Steam, physical purchases that I could also unlock on
Re: (Score:2)
It helps that Steam doesn't need to validate games every time you play them. I think it validates them once a month.
It looks like Valve finally managed to iron out Steam's inability to switch to Offline mode if an Internet connection isn't present when Steam starts, too... so you should be able to play installed games if your connection goes offline.
There have only been a minor handful of widespread issues with Steam's system, the most notable being Half-Life 2's launch... in 2004.
Now, if only they could i
Re:Steam server wasn't available (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
There are a few multiplayer games (I think Dungeon Defenders) that will straight up end your game if the steam servers go offline, and they seem to go offline at least once a week and usually at evening hours in the U.S.
Are you sure the servers that are "offline" are really the "Steam servers", or are they servers/software that the game developer runs and controls, possibly in the steampowered.com domain, but otherwise completely independent of "Steam"?
Re: (Score:2)
Well I'm repeating myself, but what's that "install UPlay correctly"? The army of programmers at Ubisoft aren't capable of having only one way of installing UPlay, the "it just works" way?
Ubisoft and PCs... (Score:5, Insightful)
Those 'in the know' generally don't buy Ubisoft games for the PC anymore - even though they have been trying to turn over a new leaf in terms of how they view PC gamers. Many at Ubisoft apparently still see PC gamers as pirates - even those who pay for products. Not the way to garner new customers.
Sadly, these days - the only way to buy new release Ubisoft products (if you want to at all, that is) is to buy the console versions of the products.
Re: (Score:2)
Pirating also works nicely I hear. None of that DRM rubbish. :)
Re: (Score:3)
Then Ubisoft has you covered. I recently bought Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag at a deep discount and it's a terrific game. Really fun, deep story, beautiful to look at. Varied gameplay and the kind of game that keeps you playing until the end.
I'll end up putting in over 100 hours in that game. I really got my money's worth.
We've come to expect (and accept) so many problems with a game on release day, that it's never worth buying a game right away any more. By Christmas
Re: (Score:2)
Sadly, those initial month of sales are the most important. Wait a few months and it's about the same as not even buying it -- Disappears into the statistical background noise of all the other back-catalog titles.
Unfortunately everything in gamedev is designed to squeeze the most effort out of the least advantaged: From chips to memory to humans. The publisher makes nothing, they add no real value to the product. The work to make the product is done, so they leverage artificial scarcity to recoup their l
Re: (Score:2)
Only for you, and/or only if you need the multiplayer game part probably..
I'd much rather buy my games a year or so later for $20 rather than $60. I haven't finished all of the ones I already have, but still don't mind picking up more I'm interested in when they get below $20 or so.
Re: (Score:2)
Bless your heart for saying that. I've been beating that drum over at Rock Paper Shotgun for about a year and they act as if I kicked a puppy.
Kickstarter has been bad for games and for gamers. The idea is bad. It rewards bad behavior and does not reward devs who actually complete a polished, finished game. It's spawned the "early access" phenomenon, which has been another weight around the neck of gaming. Of the games released as "early access" in
Re: (Score:2)
I've been beating that drum over at Rock Paper Shotgun for about a year and they act as if I kicked a puppy.
It's the same thing if you beat the drum over "Indies" doing "continuous betas" you still pay near full price! I blame Minecraft.
Re: (Score:2)
Odd anecdote (a partial reply to you and someone else way up above):
These days I tend not to buy games when they are first released unless I think I'm really going to enjoy it (enough so that I'm willing to risk getting bit, usually reserved for certain developers and franchises). Ubisoft is not on that list, and Watch_Dogs is a new property so neither of those circumstances apply, it just seemed like something I'd dig.
I pre-ordered via Steam, preloaded prior to release and was playing within an hour of it
Re: (Score:2)
One issue I have with it is that it seems like every guard you run into on a mission so far is literally a "bad guy". These are guys working security for a major corp, and it feels like everyone of them have something negative in their profiles (child pornographer, drug addict, arsonist). Granted, I've only done one combat oriented mission so far, so maybe it's unique to that mission. I'm not sure how many people would agree with me, but I think seeing profiles like "Father of two", "Soup Kitchen Volunteer", "College Dropout" would give at least some players pause in how they would handle the situation. Overt combat or stealth? Do I really want to kill a retired kindergarten teacher? Then again, given another recent discussion here on /., I'm probably just weird.
I am sooooo with you on that one. Maybe someone at Ubisoft has a thing against security guards? Anyway, I would definitely think twice about hurting that "Soup Kitchen Volunteer" guard, for sure!
Re: (Score:2)
Sadly, these days - the only way to buy new release Ubisoft products (if you want to at all, that is) is to buy the console versions of the products.
Sound genius! Then you can turn around and spend extra money for PS+/Live so you can do things like multiplayer, watching netflix, while getting hammed with ad laden crap.
Netflix to drop Xbox LIVE Gold requirement (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I'm amazed that they don't notice that the only ones they really hit with it are those gamers that ARE actually paying to play. Everyone who gets it from some illegal source never has to worry about DRM issues. Because that same DRM has been stripped out of it.
I decided I will not buy any UBIsoft products until they reverse that policy and move away from it again, back to some saner way of protecting their assets. This is actually pretty sad, considering that some of the best game franchises belong to them,
Re: (Score:3)
>> I decided I will not buy any UBIsoft products until they reverse that policy and move away from it again, back to some saner way of protecting their assets.
I'm totally with you on that one, having made the same decision myself a while back.
Unfortunately UBIsoft mangement have apparently got exactly the same retarded mindset as the managment of a software company that I used to work for until recently. They are all used-car salesmen that clearly haven't the first clue about the technology behind the
Re:Ubisoft and PCs... (Score:5, Insightful)
The main problem here is that they're artificially lowering the value of their product compared to their competition. Yes, lowering. I know that "consultants" and other panhandlers from DRM companies claim that only with DRM you can actually retain value in your product (really, they do. The logic is that something that can be multiplied at will is worthless, and DRM keeps people from doing that), but actually, you lower the value of your product with DRM.
Since it is a non-corporal product, the usual risk management system to determine value does not apply because we neither need to consider recreating the product (recreating it is trivial and possible near free of charge to the original creator), nor do we have to take into account the value for a competitor (because he could not use it due to copyright issues). What's left is the value it has to the customer. And the value to the customer depends to no small amount on the convenience to use it.
And convenience to use it is the big advantage legal software has over illegal copies. Or rather, it could have that advantage.
Let's face it, what is the reason for Steam's success? That you can buy stuff online? Nah. You could do that with Amazon. That it's available instantly? Nah, you get the same when you go and buy it from the local store. What makes it successful is the convenience of doing it. Buying it and installing it is easy to do and very, very convenient. Not only that but your software is available at a mouseclick, too. No need to find some DVDs, just click on "install" and wait a bit. It's installed and it "just works". And that's what people go for. They are willing to pay for stuff that "just works". That's what makes Steam a success. It certainly is not the price (seriously, compare Steam to Amazon or other online stores and Steam rarely wins, usually you can get anything you can get on Steam cheaper somewhere. But rarely this convenient).
An illegal copy isn't that convenient. You have to find it, download it, tinker with the crack (which may actually be a problem for less tech-savvy people), hope that it works (and that the crackers managed to get rid of all pitfalls)... and all that has to be repeated every time there is some patch, some bugfix, some alteration to the game. Which is, btw, another thing that "just works" with tools like Steam.
DRM can now take away the most important advantage a legit copy of game has over an illegal copy: Its convenience. Its "just works" character. As this example shows, bad DRM can actually even invert this relationship between legit and illegal copies: The illegal copy works while the legit one causes its user trouble.
That's about the WORST you can do to your IP. Because that kills the most important (and some would say only) advantage a legal copy has over an illegal one.
Re: (Score:2)
I bought Rocksmith without proper research. The Uplay crap sort of works, but my word is it annoying. And they make you use their "special cable" (glorified USB sound card with a 1/4" jack for a guitar, and a non standard connector). So basically I now have two shitty antipiracy measures to contend with. The game itself isn't too bad, but if you don't have some experience, it might push you into some bad habits.
I am not buying another ubisoft game. Ever.
Re: (Score:2)
I was actually looking into Rocksmith, was about to buy it when I noticed it's from UBIsoft.
Too bad. Really looked like an interesting thing, especially since I can't push myself to practice playing the guitar and was hoping it would make me, but ... ohwell, at some point in time someone will come up with an open source version. I can wait.
Re: (Score:2)
Take a look at GuitarBots (guitarbots.com). They seem to have no label deals though so the selection of music might not be so good..
That is the big issue with this sort of thing. If you want to play music made in the last 100 years or so, the guys need a deal with the labels which is probably stupidly expensive.
Re: (Score:2)
Thanks for the link, I'll check it out!
And, bluntly, 99% of the music that is part of the music industry ain't worth being heard, let alone played.
Re: (Score:3)
I'm about to buy a graphics card. Watch Dogs comes free with it. What are my options?
1 - Ask somebody else to open the box and throw the game away before I see/touch it.
2 - Save that innocent person's soul and do the throwing away myself, even at the risk of physically touching the Ubisoft game at some point (a tear in the hazmat suit) and suffering a painful mind-death.
I'm not a bad person, but fear is pushing me towards the first option.
I don't think I'll be strong enough.
I'm sorry.
God have mercy on our s
Re: (Score:2)
Umm, sell it on ebay and get some money to pay for part of the graphics card you wanted anyway?
Re: (Score:2)
Sadly, these days - the only way to buy new release Ubisoft products (if you want to at all, that is) is to buy the console versions of the products.
But I just learned the hard way that, even the console version of games from Ubisoft will endlessly bug you for your UPlay account when you start the game. Every. Single. Time.
Child of Light is a great game, but getting a prompt for me to setup a UPlay account every time I play is ensuring that I won't buy another Ubisoft game for a LONG LONG time.
Re: (Score:2)
I don't mind paying rental prices, I just 'bought' Far Cry 3 for only GBP3 ($5.04) at that price I can put up with the game not lasting forever. (GBP16.25 on steam!!)
Same attitude with steam - steam is odd because the prices on Amazon for the DVD version are typically much much cheaper - there are many excellent PC games selling for a fiver - games that have been thoroughly patched and often have the DLCs thrown in too.
I couldn't but help notice that I had a momentary uplay connection error last night, now
Oh, this is news? (Score:3)
It would be news if it went smoothly.....
Re: (Score:2)
Of the recent ones, Tropico 5 comes to mind.
Re: (Score:2)
Standard definition of AAA game title is that it's:
1. Published by a major publisher.
2. Has a sizeable budget.
3. Is a good game.
Tropico series meets all three criteria.
Don't understand the hype (Score:1)
Looks like just another boilerplate third person action game to me.
Am I missing something?
Re: (Score:3)
No, it's basically GTA5 with less crazy shit and more techno-babble.
Re: (Score:2)
At this point, how can a new release not be compared to some other game? If it's a first person shooter people will always compare it to UT, Quake, Doom, or Wolfenstein. If it's got cars it's like GTA or Twisted Metal, if it's a MMO it's like DAOC or World of Warcraft, RPG it's like Final Fantasy or D&D, etc...
Reading the story line, it sounds more like DeusEx than GTA to me. That said, the story line is different than DeusEx and has some environment components not available in DeusEx. I have not pl
Re: (Score:2)
Well, there are walkthroughs on youtube already if you want to get an idea. As far as the story line might sound sci-fi, the game in general is much closer to GTA5 than DeusEx. The latter actively encourages a stealth approach, while in Watch Dogs you'll find yourself in the middle of (unavoidable) shootings very often, but don't worry, your average hacker can apparently take a lot of bullets...
I was also having high expectations for this game, but so far a big let down. Not plausible enough to be a good De
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
next-gen consoles.*
I think you're asterisk should have been
*for various definitions of "next-gen." Seriously, these things push a worse resolution than my phone.
What resolution? (Score:2)
Seriously, these things push a worse resolution than my phone.
Is that true only of output resolution or also of texture resolution and shader complexity? And how many people are going to buy a MOGA clip-on gamepad to control a game on a phone?
Re: (Score:2)
Which phone do you have? My Xperia Z1 does the same 1080p that the PS4 puts out for the games I play ...
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Don't understand the hype (Score:2)
Hack it. (Score:1)
People really shouldn't buy Ubisoft titles.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
You seem to think piracy is a major hurdle to PC games. Most people in the industry nowadays strongly disagree. By far the biggest problem is massive influx of games on the platform in last couple of years, meaning competition to be discovered by gamers is absolutely fierce. Steam's "new releases" page usually cycles through about ten games every work day.
If anything, ending up on top of piratebay's "most downloaded game torrents" is great for sales as people will actually find and buy your game. Tropico 5
Re: (Score:2)
Ask the CD Projekt Red people how much not having copy protection has hurt them :)
Re: (Score:1)
The game is dull. Ok, the hacking mechanics is not bad, but that's about it. As far as sandbox games in the same league go it's a step backwards even. The realism can't compete with Saints Row, and it sure as hell doesn't come even close to what GTA V delivered.
It just isn't a next-gen game, period. I understand how hard it is making a good game, hence how rarely it happens, but the whole experience of it feels like it could've come out a couple of years ago, and then maybe it'd be just right, yet another another 5 out of 10 title.
I thought there was something off about this game. A bit on the dull side for sure. I had WAY more fun in Scarface and Saints Row series. Will not even mention GTA. Hacking mechanics is interesting and fun. Cover system works as well mostly. Driving is reasonably easy on PC. Game is stable feels polished and tested if you use cracked no Uplay version. Cops can be tricky to evade sometimes until you figure out how to use subway and hacking properly. Game was obviously made for consoles so that kinda takes aw
uncanny valley (Score:2)
>> This Chicago feels like a place you travel through rather than a world you inhabit. Pedestrians gasp and gawp at car crashes, but exhibit no real life.'
>> "It feels churlish to complain about something which is only magical 90% of the time,
This sounds very much like they've hit the Uncanny Valley problem.
Re: (Score:2)
I never thought of the "Uncanny Valley" like this before. I was going to respond saying it might be the less technical not understanding the difficulties of implementing realism, resulting in a mindset of "but it can't do this!" rather than "look what this can do!"...but that's basically the Uncanny Valley problem in this context, the expectation of realism increases as you approach realistic.
Re: (Score:2)
Blowin my mind here. I wonder if this Uncanny Valley problems manifests itself in our society as a whole. I suppose if you wanted to get philosophical, you could say that cultural resistance for change and introduction of new things is an Uncanny Valley problem.
Re: (Score:2)
Fuck Ubisoft, Support Haemimont. (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Hell yeah if Tropico 5 comes to Linux it will get my money.
Re: (Score:1)
UF***D (Score:5, Insightful)
I battled with it on Far Cry 3. I still do not understand why I needed to login to UPLAY *after* I logged into Steam (where I played it from). Wasn't Steam enough of a DRM check for UbiSoft? 2 levels of login really?
AFAIK the original article was about someone who did not even install it correctly.. but still having to require it on top of Steam is just ridiculous.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
What do you mean "did not install it correctly"? Isn't it Ubisoft's responsability to make sure there is no wrong way of installing it? If there is a right way and a wrong way to install UPlay, it means that their QA failed completely. IF they had any QA.
Re: (Score:3)
Believe it or not, Half Life 2 and episodes are DRM free and can be run without Steam. Lots of steam games don't have DRM. Steam is simply a distrobution platform that provides optional DRM that actually works pretty well. On top of all this, Steam's family sharing even lets you share your games with family and friends. The only games that don't work with family sharing are those with additional DRM on top, like Uplay, GFWL, Rockstar, etc. because they require a secondary login and the key can only be regis
Re: (Score:2)
Believe it or not, Half Life 2 and episodes are DRM free and can be run without Steam. Lots of steam games don't have DRM. Steam is simply a distrobution platform that provides optional DRM that actually works pretty well. On top of all this, Steam's family sharing even lets you share your games with family and friends. The only games that don't work with family sharing are those with additional DRM on top, like Uplay, GFWL, Rockstar, etc. because they require a secondary login and the key can only be registered to one account.
If this was true, it certainly isn't as of May 2010, when HL2 was updated to the then-latest Source version so it could be ported to Mac. Like all of Valve's games, HL2 and its episodes are SteamWorks [steampowered.com] games and require Steam to function.
Re: (Score:2)
See for yourself [wikia.com]. Portal as well. It may be a newer change, but I think It has worked like this for a while.
Give the AI folks more resources, FFS. (Score:2)
As dazzling as the game can look, this Chicago feels like a place you travel through rather than a world you inhabit. Pedestrians gasp and gawp at car crashes, but exhibit no real life.
That's because they only give us AI devs 1% or 2% of the budget. If you stopped harping on about how amazing the graphics are and realized that games are interactive art and that it's the "rules and logic" (AI) that make a game happen, then we can sacrifice just a tiny bit of those graphics and physics to give you a vastly better gaming experience.
Until folks start talking about the "Immersive Environment" and including the AI, your games will feel as wooden and false as ever. Give AI More Resources! [gdcvault.com]
Re: (Score:2)
Hear, hear, as a consumer, eye candy is wasted on me, artificial behaviors are the "life" of the game. There are a couple games I experience regularly, one has really old tech (like 1990s era) with fabulous AI that keep me on the edge of my seat, the other undergoes regular development, receives compliments on it's visuals, but feels lifeless.
Idiotic reviewer commentary (Score:2)
It feels churlish to complain about something which is only magical 90% of the time, but in some things, ten percent can seep out and render the rest infuriating and useless.
It really annoys me when I read comments like that, not because I think the game is any good, but this non linear scale they apply to anything to do with rating a game. Case in point, the 7/10, which has become meaningless because mediocre games always get a 7/10. So the sentence quoted really grates because if 10% feels like as if it's more important, it's clearly bigger than 10%!
How very unususal. Not. (Score:2)
Got it with a new GFX card for free (Score:5, Informative)
I'll straighten out the details on this clickbait.
First, while uPlay is indeed a complete flaming piece of shit, it doesn't prevent you from playing the game once installed. When you launch it and press 'play', even if it wont sync with ubisoft's servers, it will still launch. It takes a good while (couple of minutes) for uplay and the sync to time out, but it works.
An actual gripe on uplay: what kind of game publisher doesn't institute predownloads for people who've already bought the game? It didn't show up in my games list until today so I couldn't even get the DL started. Their servers being crippled is partly due to not distributing downloads for pre-purchasers properly, forgivable 5 years ago but not in today's distribution systems.
Console port gripe: mouse acceleration is on by default and you must turn it off by actually going in and editing the xml settings file. If that doesn't scream lazy, I don't know what does. The menus and mouse control aren't bad overall, but that mouse acceleration makes the gameplay infuriating, felt like I had a joystick deadzone on my mouse. After googling and changing this setting, the game felt much better.
Overall though, I'm happy with the game, though I've not gotten far into it. I wouldn't have bought it straight up, partly due to bitterness about destroying the Thief franchise and partly due to their shitty company policies, but I've enjoyed it as a bundle purchase. Ubisoft is a frustrating company. Their policies and DRM money-grubbing aspects make them almost as unlikeable as EA, but they make the type of games I tend to enjoy. I prefer to stay away on principle but its hard.
Re: (Score:1)
I really don't understand this. Gaming is a luxury item, it's just entertainment. I agree that entertainment is wonderful and we all need it to remain sane, and gaming is a great example of entertainment, but the other great thing about it is that there's just so MUCH of it available now. If you really don't like the company, couldn't you just have, I dunno, played something else made by someone else? It's not like you have options.
Shit, EA's just announced yo
So you haven't learned yet? (Score:3)
Do not touch UPlay and Origin. They're Steam clones done on the lowest budget possible and basically do not work. Personally I prefer GoG style distribution, but Steam is at least functional most of the time.
And for whoever said you should buy Ubisoft games on console, there are comments on the related Eurogamer article mentioning UPlay problems on the PS4. Sounds like you need that piece of shit even on a console now, which basically rules out ever touching their games.
Re: (Score:2)
Of course he's a cracker, There isn't a whole lot of games where the default character isn't white (or a dude for that matter).