Monday, January 12, 2015

5 Gaming Industry Trends I Want To Die


I love videogames, always have and always will. What I don't love? These 5 things:

1. Poorly implemented microtransactions
The kings of microtransactions 
I understand that the F2P market is fairly large and you want to make returns on that, I have no issue with buying a few things here and there in those types of games; however, when you are making me pay for things that directly affect my enjoyment of the game, that's when I take issue. You could pretty much pay to win Dead Space 3 and let's not even talk about those games that pretty much penalize you for not buying extra crap ( Oh you want more inventory space and access to basic game content? Open up your wallet you money pig); all of this needs to just not be in non free to play games. Why can't I use in game currency to purchase things? Why do I have to spend more money to get virtual things? Why does EA exist? So many questions

2. DLC
Also the kings of crappy DLC tactics
Maybe I should specify here: I am not against DLC that furthers the narrative/gameplay of a game, I believe that is what DLC should do in the first place. You wanna know what I am against though? Day 1 DLC that should have been in the game but they took it out just to sell it back to you for more money. Look at Destiny and you can pretty much tell that the game was gutted so that they could charge you extra bucks for expansion packs that should have been in the original game ( seriously that game is freaking barren as hell out of the box). I know my picture is of EA again but they aren't the only ones who egregiously misuse the "content" part of DLC, Capcom is another company that seems to think its ok to charge like 5 bucks for 1 costume change...why not give me a character or more modes? Oh that's right, you gotta release the next superlative addition in 6 months. You know what game had DLC done right? Crackdown. I could spawn cars, weapons, barrels, go into godmode, just wreck the game and it was a blast..let's bring more of that in 2015 and less horse armor shall we?

3. Post Launch Review Embargoes
Because this game didn't get enough crap right?
If you ever needed a reason against withholding reviews, Assassin's Creed Unity provides a stellar example as to why post launch review embargoes need to embargo... I apologize for that. Relying on the name alone to sell is crappy but not illegal, however I take issue with companies that make review sites sit on a review until the sales numbers come in just so that their finances aren't hurt by bad reviews; if you put out a crappy product then the consumers should be informed of the quality of the product before they buy it, we shell out 60 bucks of our money and deserve to know if it's worth our time or not. If you're that afraid of the reviews then maybe you shouldn't rush to push out an inferior product just to make a holiday deadline, especially if you are at the helm of a major AAA franchise that has a huge fanbase that will wait for them ( just look at what Valve is doing to the Half Life fans). I know that embargoes are set so that it sorta levels the playing field for different gaming sites but they should only be in place up until launch and not a second longer.

4. Day one Patches/ releasing alpha builds as final builds
Who doesn't love needing to immediately dl a patch to play a game?
Stop.Putting.Out.Games.That.Aren't.Ready.Yet! I don't even care about the crunch for a deadline or anything like that because at the end of the day, gamers much rather have a playable game a month after it's supposed to come out than game that needs so many patches it's nominated for a purple heart medal. Again, just give us a good game that is ready to play and we will not regret giving you our money. Honestly what kind of sense does it make to release half done games? Sure you get some cash but you hurt your brand name in the long run, stop doing that dummies.

5. MAKING ME PAY FOR ON DISC CONTENT
Accurate photo is accurate
I know this is number 5, but this pisses me off the most. How dare you make me pay money for content that is already on the disc? Never mind gutting a game and selling the rest as DLC, you are actually making me pay money for a game I already paid money for in order to access content that is already there. This is like buying a car and being told that if you want the keys you'll have to pay extra, there are just certain standards that should be upheld here. Do y'all remember the whole TekkenxStreet Fighter thing from a few years ago?
Or very recently, the discovery of on disc dlc for Destiny? I don't care why Bungie decided to do it, they are just another company in a long list of companies ( (for more examples, go here) who have let their greed grow a wild amount. If the content is already on the damn game then I should be able to play it, it's that simple. 

So there you go, 5 things I don't like and want to die an terrible, agonizing death. If you want another list, pay me 10$ and I'll release the posts I've kept in my drafts.



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