Kotick is an asshole

[Xyvik]

You people still think highly of Valve after how they've handled L4D/L4D2?

I love the Half-Lifes as much as anyone but my faith has been shaken just a tad.

Oh geez, people are still on about that? Listen, even the main orchestrators of the boycott said they would stop. What happened with L4D2 is a lot of people who didn't understand what the plans were got angry that Valve, heaven forbid, should make a sequel less than five years after the original came out. Which is what could happen, and looks like has happened, with Blizzard

Kotick is, thankfully, in charge of Activision right now. Blizzard is a separate company. While I still stand by my opinion that his words could bleed into the corporate environment, so far it hasn't. Until we see direct proof of such corporate malpractice we should just avoid the products of the company we don't like.

I may not agree with Valve's long periods of making games, but hey, look what forums I'm in? The end result of Valve, (most*) Bioware, and (most*) Blizzard have been great games.


*For the record I did not enjoy Mass Effect and I have always detested WoW. Other than that, great track records.

[DemolitionSquid]

...For the record I did not enjoy Mass Effect...

I have lost all respect for you. You disgust me. Get out of my forum, heathen.

[trace wm]

Oh geez, people are still on about that? Listen, even the main orchestrators of the boycott said they would stop. What happened with L4D2 is a lot of people who didn't understand what the plans were got angry that Valve, heaven forbid, should make a sequel less than five years after the original came out. Which is what could happen, and looks like has happened, with Blizzard

I have no part of the boycott, I wasn't referring directly to it. I just think they took the sequel in the completely wrong direction. Nothing about the game interests me - which is a first for a Valve game.

[Xyvik]

I have lost all respect for you. You disgust me. Get out of my forum, heathen.

Let's see here...what did Mass Effect involve? Less character interaction than KOTOR (at least in Kotor I can actually talk to my squad members on a planet. In ME those kind of chats are relegated to aboard the ship.) A painfully cliched story that you can figure out within an hour of playing the game.

I didn't say I hated it, I just didn't enjoy it. It was touted as the next best Sci-Fi RPG and it didn't even have an interesting story. I did like some of the details of the universe it crafted, such as Krogans, and I did enjoy the combat, but overall it failed to impress me like a BioWare game should.

I'll be trying ME2, but I don't have very high hopes for it. Bioware let me down quite heavily and I haven't forgiven them for it...just yet.


And Trace: ah, understood. I was never truly interested in the whole series anyway, but it's technically being done by the team behind CS, not the "core" Half-Life Valve team. I don't really count it against them, just not my personal taste.

[DemolitionSquid]

Let's see here...what did Mass Effect involve? Less character interaction than KOTOR (at least in Kotor I can actually talk to my squad members on a planet. In ME those kind of chats are relegated to aboard the ship.) A painfully cliched story that you can figure out within an hour of playing the game.

I didn't say I hated it, I just didn't enjoy it. It was touted as the next best Sci-Fi RPG and it didn't even have an interesting story. I did like some of the details of the universe it crafted, such as Krogans, and I did enjoy the combat, but overall it failed to impress me like a BioWare game should.

I'll be trying ME2, but I don't have very high hopes for it. Bioware let me down quite heavily and I haven't forgiven them for it...just yet.

So you figured out after an hour that it was the Reapers who had built the mass relays? You didn't enjoy getting to make countless choices that dramatically impacted your story, like which of your squad lived or died, or to save the Rachni and hope it doesn't bit you in the ass?

The game was fantastic. Your standards are just impossibly high and irrational.

[Xyvik]

So you figured out after an hour that it was the Reapers who had built the mass relays? You didn't enjoy getting to make countless choices that dramatically impacted your story, like which of your squad lived or died, or to save the Rachni and hope it doesn't bit you in the ass?

Actually, yes, I did figure that out, as well as figuring out that the Citadel was a mass relay itself. I played the game expecting a great story and it wasn't there.
There are indeed parts of the game that I do enjoy, the choices and combat being part of it. But unless they come up with a better story in ME2...

Your standards are just impossibly high and irrational.

Yes. Yes they are. To be honest, I do not hate ME. It just wasn't as great as I was expecting it to be. I'm having more fun with the second-run through, though. But let me put it this way: With KOTOR I couldn't wait to get back in and try a Dark Side ending. With ME it didn't seem like it would be worth a second run-through to see what happens. Now that I'm actually going through it I'm enjoying it, I just don't consider it a masterpiece.

[Gifted]

I was talking more about the stockholders and the stock market, and how crazy is all that.


But... we're in the offtopic lounge

Thanks for elaborating, and about the topic situation, that's logic I can't fight, good sir /salute

Regarding Mass Effect: I haven't played it yet and probably spoiled a few things here. My bad Anywho, I'm not surprised that Xyrik caught some of the spoilers early on. It's weird, I've been a hardcore gamer since my early youth but since my time working in the industry and what I've learned about story dynamics and planning, it's hard to find a story that's unpredictable for me.

It only makes the more unique storylines that much better though

[Xyvik]

Lol sorry for the spoilers my good sir.

I really don't have anything against Mass Effect, it just wasn't my favorite offering by them. It didn't help matters that it was available for a console first and I had to wait for it on my PC. That irked.

Oh well. What was the topic again?

[Gifted]

We were talking about an asshole or something...

[newcomplex]

Bob is an asshole, but you guys don't get what he means.

Game developers often fail to utilize efficient if mechanical, soulless and boring devices such as QA (quality assurance). Sometimes, they get so stuck in their own asses to realize their making a unprofitable game.

His entire point is that the game industry isn't unlike any other industry. Devs need to get a positive bottom line worth the investment and time.

Nothing he said is new, and nothing he said is going to be detrimental to the industry. Every other corporate head who hasn't played a game in twenty years, probably including blizzard CEO's think on similar lines.

Heres the asshat part. Bobby knew what kind of impression his words were going to have on the gaming community. He also knew that it wouldn't harm his company. Every other exec pretends to care. Bob doesn't even care enough to pretend. He doesn't care what in his mind, a bunch of trolls and basement dwelling nerds think. That conceit is the only thing hes guilty of.