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No Patch for Dead Rising Fans

1up is reporting that Capcom has put the kibosh on a patch for Dead Rising, frustrating fans who have complained about the games's almost unreadable text on Standard Definition screens. From the article: "So, the question is, will there ever be a patch? Unfortunately, that's a no. 'Due to the amount of text and the size of the patch necessary to change the text, a patch isn't possible for this issue,' said the company. 'We had asked the team if it was even possible but ... due to the scope of what a patch would need to cover, it wasn't possible.' As it stands, no patch is coming for Dead Rising players -- but maybe they'll change their mind if you yell loud enough."

78 of 97 comments (clear)

  1. Reverse Engineer the Game by QuantumG · · Score: 1

    Write your own patch. You can also improve the gameplay. Make new levels/mods, etc. Wouldn't it be nice if we had tools that could make this easier?

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
    1. Re:Reverse Engineer the Game by Durrok · · Score: 1

      ... and then get the ever living crap sued out of you.

      --
      I keep telling myself I'm not the desperate type.
    2. Re:Reverse Engineer the Game by QuantumG · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yes, because you'll be taking money away from them by encouraging people to play their game. Oh wait.

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
    3. Re:Reverse Engineer the Game by jonwil · · Score: 1

      Only problem is that the game is for the XBOX 360 and you cant use new data/code for an XBOX 360 game at this time.

    4. Re:Reverse Engineer the Game by QuantumG · · Score: 1

      lawyers and exec types see one thing and one thing only, the bottom line, and if there's no money to be gained by suing you, they don't.

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
    5. Re:Reverse Engineer the Game by Durrok · · Score: 1

      No, that is not correct. They will sue you just because they can. Why? If they let you associate yourself with their brand (aka I'm going to make a Dead Rising patch!) and when you release the patch it fucks up your 360 or PC their name will be tarnished. Stupid, I know, but it has happened in the past. Also remember this: make all the noise on the internet you want about it, very few people will even know about it until they try to play the game on their standard def TV. Only 5-10% of your market actually reads game reviews, posts rants about games, makes internet polls, etc. The rest are made up of moms and dads who buy the games for their kids and the "unplugged" masses. You know, the kind who really just bought the 360 for the new NFL game but thought the commercials for dead rising where cool.

      Anyway, the point you can have all the good intentions in the world but a patch for a console game is not gonna happen by anyone but the people who made/released the game.

      --
      I keep telling myself I'm not the desperate type.
    6. Re:Reverse Engineer the Game by milkman_matt · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't it be nice if we had tools that could make this easier?

      Wouldn't it be nice if they had tested the game on standard TVs and realized that the text was substandard and actually fixed the issue? I think patches for -any- console game are absolutely unacceptable. I've noticed a lot of ugly text in a lot of games lately myself, almost unreadable, but then it could just be the widescreen TV, widescreen setting for the xbox/ps2 or whatever... But it makes it real inconvenient when you're trying to earn/spend money or exp in a game and you think "Hm... well I -think- I need either 20 more, or 80 more...."

    7. Re:Reverse Engineer the Game by QuantumG · · Score: 1

      Of course that would have been nice. It'd also be nice if companies were held responsible for their products, but hey, I can't do anything about that, can I?

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
    8. Re:Reverse Engineer the Game by abandonment · · Score: 1

      this seems to be a common 'issue' with these so called 'next-gen' consoles - apparently the 360 certification process only involves testing on HD tv's - this isn't the first game that has had this issue.

      Considering the ratio of HD to 'standard' tv's on the market, this is yet another reason to NOT buy a 360...

      hilarious

  2. Quick! Someone get an internet petition going! by bunions · · Score: 3, Funny

    In these our modern times, when people need to get something done, they resort to the big guns: internet petitions.

    --
    there is no need to sign your posts. this isn't usenet. your username is right there above your post. stop it.
  3. No real point in doing it... by Bones3D_mac · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ... when games become obsolete and irrelevent after about 3 months on the market. Aside from that, the text isn't vital to the gameplay itself. You can still finish the game just fine without it.

    Now if it were one of those 80+ hour RPGs, it could be an important factor. But thats pretty much a niche market here in the US.

    --


    8==8 Bones 8==8
    1. Re:No real point in doing it... by Chris+Pimlott · · Score: 1

      Good grief! After all, the graphics aren't vital to the gameplay. Nor is the sound. But they are bloody well vital to the experience of the game. After all, just finishing the game isn't the point; enjoing it is.

      I mean, hell, the words aren't vital to finishing a book. But what's the point of reading without them?

  4. Long story short.. by The+Living+Fractal · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Fans: This game we bought needs to be fixed!

    Publisher: Let me check if we can do that (pretends to be calling some programmer, faint sound of dialtone still audible through whole conversation). Ahh, we're sorry, that simply is not possible at this time. (besides, you already bought it, suckers!! *evil publisher squeal laugh*)

    On another note..
    Someone explain to me how changing out a font or two constitutes a large patch without there first being some ridiculous method of storing said text in the first place? Like maybe storing every dialog box as a separate JPEG...

    TLF

    --
    I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
    1. Re:Long story short.. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      The problem is probably in testing the patch. It's not just a question of making the text bigger, you then have to check that it all fits on screen through the entire game. Sure, in an ideal world they would have make their system clever enough to cope with that...

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    2. Re:Long story short.. by BricksAndMore · · Score: 1

      Someone explain to me how changing out a font or two constitutes a large patch without there first being some ridiculous method of storing said text in the first place? Like maybe storing every dialog box as a separate JPEG...

      My best guess is that it might not just be replacing a font or text. The change could be code related (i.e. loading a different font on a non HD T.V), which means they would have to roll out a new executable. The executable probably isn't exactly small.

    3. Re:Long story short.. by cptgrudge · · Score: 1

      Like maybe storing every dialog box as a separate JPEG...

      I was going to say separate bitmaps...

      I know, maybe each character in the font was a TIF! But then you'd think that with that kind of resolution, it would make the issue moot; just scale the font size up. Maybe not. Maybe they should have used SVG images.

      Or maybe, as you figured, they're full of BS.

      --
      Qualitas edurus commercium, nullus penitus net rimor, nullus deus beneficium
    4. Re:Long story short.. by nuzak · · Score: 1

      There's this clever thing called scrolling. Maybe they should look into it.

      And while I'm not a fan of the JRPG tradition of condensing dialogue down to "Magic doohickey lies east. Talk to Jiro. Good luck!" I can't figure out how a game about killing zombie hordes needs such a volume of Dostoevskian textual exposition that it won't even fit on a screen.

      --
      Done with slashdot, done with nerds, getting a life.
    5. Re:Long story short.. by Sigma+7 · · Score: 1
      It's not just a question of making the text bigger, you then have to check that it all fits on screen through the entire game.


      That's generally why you have multi-page notes. If the Final Fantasy series can handle it, why can't Dead Rising?

      In the rare event that multi-pages would break something, it's trivial to create a magnifying glass - even Microsoft made one with the stock install of WXP. You just need an easy-to-remember command for the users (e.g. holding down L+Z and playing with the analogue stick). Unless the actual pixels themselves are incapable of producing readable text regardless of position, you don't even have to do double rendering (and can stick with Blitting instead.)
    6. Re:Long story short.. by badboy_tw2002 · · Score: 2, Informative

      As someone who's experienced many of the joys of doing UI on a console, I can say that if its a problem with the font being too small then the issue is probably a big one. If they were smart and had nice UI widgets which wrapped text, put up scrolls and stuff then it would just be a matter of swapping out font files and checking to make sure you didn't crash. If they weren't, well, then you have a problem. Anywhere text is printed you have to go in and recheck in every single language (for a AAA title this could be 11-12 languages). Now, QA time is relatively cheap, but then you have to pay someone to go in and fix these things.

      My guess is they have a bad, kludgy UI system that makes tweaking things difficult. You'd be surprised what UI code looks like in a console game. The pain to fix would take a signifigant amount of manpower vs. what they'd expect to gain. Surprising given the buzz I've heard about it and the fact that such a crippling bug would make a lot of people think twice about picking it up, but then programmers are used to these things. Trust this: somewhere there's a frustrated young UI programmer reading this slashdot story and pulling his hair out going "I told them! I told them!" He's probably responded AC with the "real story" from home so as not to get in trouble :)

    7. Re:Long story short.. by Lectrik · · Score: 1
      Someone explain to me how changing out a font or two constitutes a large patch without there first being some ridiculous method of storing said text in the first place? Like maybe storing every dialog box as a separate JPEG...


      Don't be foolish...
      they store the texts as a bitmap... with 24 bit color. Oh, and don't forget an alpha channel as well, beause we don't want to have to use a completely different font if the text is going to be on a different background.
      --
      --- As to make my comment seem, by comparison, more intelegent... doodie doodie doodie poop poop poop!
  5. Dead Rising 2: The Reading of the Dead by Hahnsoo · · Score: 3, Funny

    This probably just means that they are working on the next Dead Rising game, which is functionally identical to the first one, except for the fact that you can actually read the inappropriately Gothic-serif fonts.

    1. Re:Dead Rising 2: The Reading of the Dead by Dr.+Eggman · · Score: 1

      Actually, That might work better than you think. Typing of the Dead. Took House of the Dead 2, put it on the dreamcast and had you type for your life! Reading of the Dead: and Edutainment game. Edutainment...now there's a real zombie.

      --
      Demented But Determined.
    2. Re:Dead Rising 2: The Reading of the Dead by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      The post title sounded like he was alluding to that. But instead of writing you're practicing reading...

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
  6. Re:This will only lead to lawsuits. by GigsVT · · Score: 1

    You want to come by my place for some hot brains?

    --
    I've had enough abrasive sigs. Kittens are cute and fuzzy.
  7. Re:Inexcusable Microsoft by masklinn · · Score: 1

    Uh? I'd say the issue's with Capcom here, but we'll see how the PS3 will fare since it's an issue of an HD game on an SD screen.

    --
    "The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
  8. Not A Bug! It's a Feature! by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 1

    Capcom don't want to make a patch to fix this. They wan't you to fix it by buying a HD TV. In this way, they can make even more de facto "HD-only" games, and hence justify higher game cost by claiming; "Most 360 gamers have/want " HD!!! (TM)", and it is more expensive for them to make HD games for whatever reason.

    --
    May the Maths Be with you!
  9. But, but!.. by Kurayamino-X · · Score: 1

    ...It's high definition!
    It's the wave of the future!
    Standard def is old and broken, nobody cares about it anymore!

    --
    ...I got nothing.
  10. Reminds me of a bug in... by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 2, Informative

    ...Rayman DS. Much of the game is in shades of dark brown on black. Completely unplayable. It's as if it was never play tested on a real DS, just on an emulator with a super bright display. Of course they couldn't release a patch for a card - but at least a fix eventually appeared in the form of the DS Lite. People really need to test the final product on consumer grade hardware because these are unbelievably obvious bugs.

    --
    Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
    1. Re:Reminds me of a bug in... by Rude+Turnip · · Score: 1

      I agree--Rayman is incredibly buggy. They can't even get the code right so that his arms and legs aren't floating away from his body!

    2. Re:Reminds me of a bug in... by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 1

      Slightly OT: What is the backstory on Rayman - why aren't his arms and legs attached?

      --
      Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
    3. Re:Reminds me of a bug in... by SpectreHiro · · Score: 2, Funny

      The same reason that Smurfs are three apples high and blue.

      Because they're french.

      --
      You can't win, Darth. If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
    4. Re:Reminds me of a bug in... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
      ...Rayman DS. Much of the game is in shades of dark brown on black. Completely unplayable. It's as if it was never play tested on a real DS, just on an emulator with a super bright display.

      Man, I hope for your sake that some 8-year old doesn't post now with the location of the torch on that level ;-)
    5. Re:Reminds me of a bug in... by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 1

      I did worry about this. But the reviews also point out that features important to the game, like the pit you're about to fall into, are very hard to see.

      --
      Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
    6. Re:Reminds me of a bug in... by WilliamSChips · · Score: 1

      Smurfs are Belgian, not French.

      --
      Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
  11. Re:So... by masklinn · · Score: 1

    *HD TV owners put their hands up*

    Yup, all less-than-10%-of-them-US-TV-owners (US HDTV market penetration is estimated to barely reach 10% by the end of 2006) (and much less everywhere else)...

    --
    "The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
  12. Ghost Recon by Colourspace · · Score: 1

    I had the same problem with Ghost Recon, so its not just Capcom. Fortunately I now have an HD set and the problem has gone away (and on Dead rising too). But I would be gutted too if I found a £50 game (not that I paid for it) that was unplayable because no one bothered to test on SD.

  13. No HD? by Is0m0rph · · Score: 1

    I thought more people on Slashdot of all places would have an HD TV. If you have a SDTV why even pick up a 360 in the first place? I thought I would skip the 360 and just get a Wii but I ended up buying a 50" DLP TV. After a couple days of playing Xbox on it I really wanted to see what HD games would look like. 360 looks great on the TV but I end up spending most of my time playing Geometry Wars and Marble Blast. When I'm not playing Oblivion anyways (which makes me happy I bought both an HDTV and a 360 since it runs like a slug on my computer).

    1. Re:No HD? by Bones3D_mac · · Score: 1

      Simple. Even in SD, the 360's superior graphics capabilities can be seen quite clearly. Aside from that, the 360's ability to handle insanely high polygon counts combined with complicated manipulation of thousands of onscreen objects simultaneously without skipping a beat makes a very noticeable difference in the gaming experience.

      --


      8==8 Bones 8==8
    2. Re:No HD? by AuMatar · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Why think that? Geeks tend to be tech lovers, but they also tend to be very smart with their money. With the first adaptors being screwed by format changed (HDMI), DRM up the wazoo (broadcast flag), and most of us owning perfectly good TVs already there really isn't a driving reason to move to the new format. Especially since geeks are less likely to watch most TV, and movies aren't truely high def (unless you get a multi-hundred dollar add on, with a format war of its own, rebuy your entire collection in that, and have the right type of connector).

      --
      I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
    3. Re:No HD? by MojoBox · · Score: 1

      Add to that the rediculous nature of HDTVs themselves. Why is it next to impossible to find a mid range(21-26") HDTV? And why does every blasted HDTV have to be LCD or Plasma? CRT is cheaper and supports both 480p and 1080i in native resolution, yet there are almost none on the market. Give me some variety to choose from and I might consider going HD. The only thing pushing me right now is a longing for 16:9

    4. Re:No HD? by Cadallin · · Score: 1
      Because if you're getting a 21-25" TV, YOU DON"T NEED HD. Let me say it again, YOU DON"T NEED HD. Are you clear on this? Now let me explain why:

      How are you going to use this TV? Are you going to be sitting with your eyes closer than 1.5 meters from the screen? Then odds are, you won't really be able to tell the difference between EDTV (which is progressive DVD resolution, 480p) and high-def at 720p or 1080i/p unless you have very good vision, in which case you have a whole other set of problems (if your vision is that good a cheap 21-26" TV is going to look like ass to you no matter what it is)

      If you are going to sit that close, you don't want a TV, you want a computer monitor. There are a number of 1080p capable computer monitors available on the market. Dell makes a 24" available for about $700 that is 1920x1200 native. It doesn't have TV tuner (they're easy to buy separately, don't bitch) but it does have: VGA, DVI, Component, S-Video and Composite Video Input.

      These are your real options.

    5. Re:No HD? by JCMay · · Score: 1

      I was going through the local SuperWalmart a few weeks ago, and noted at least two CRT-based HD televisions. They were both in the 26-inch range, if I recall, and both were around $500. Froogle lists several, including the Toshiba 26HF66, Samsung TXP2675WHX/XAA and the Sansui HDTV2600 (A rebadged Orion, apparently, and I can't find a link for it).

    6. Re:No HD? by Is0m0rph · · Score: 1

      After buying a 50" DLP HDTV a couple weeks ago I'm sold on it. 480p/720p/1080i DLP TV and an upconverting DVD recorder for $1550 was well worth it for me. The 360 on it is just icing on the cake. I think the newer 5th/6th gen DLP TVs are the way to go for the 360.

    7. Re:No HD? by poot_rootbeer · · Score: 1

      I have a 27" 4:3 HDTV CRT -- equivalent to about a 25" 16:9 in widescreen mode. I typically sit about 6' away, and I'll be damned if there isn't a marked difference between 480i and 1080i content from that vantage point (Conan O'Brien's face is much more frightening in HD).

      I'll concede that there is a lower limit below which it doesn't make any sense to have a HD display; no one needs to have 300 pixels per inch on their cell phone's LCD screen. But at screen sizes of 21" to 25" diagonal, I believe that HD resolution has value.

    8. Re:No HD? by Cadallin · · Score: 1
      Here's an experiment I'd like you to try: test watching a 480i source, a 480p source, and a 1080i source, all on your display, at your normal seating distance.

      Here's the results you'll get, 480i->480p is a BIG jump, and very noticible. That's what progressive DVD players output, and its pretty darned nice (which is why most people find a good DVD transfer quite acceptable for their movie needs). 480p->1080i? not so much. Especially at that distance, the angular resolution of the average person's vision just doesn't make HD an issue until you get to 40"+ screen sizes. I'll grant you that you see a difference difference between 480i and 1080i on your screen, but I'll bet you'd get most of that difference just by going from 480i->480p.

  14. In a nutshell... by MMaestro · · Score: 4, Informative
    Someone explain to me how changing out a font or two constitutes a large patch without there first being some ridiculous method of storing said text in the first place?

    Short version : Video games don't use wordwrap.

    Long version : Its a hold-over from the 8-bit and 16-bit days, back when text would sometimes take up more memory than the game itself. You commonly hear this problem during fan translations of SNES games. When translated into English, the text would run out of the text box and, in the worst case, off the screen where it was completely unreadable.

    1. Re:In a nutshell... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Someone explain to me how changing out a font or two constitutes a large patch without there first being some ridiculous method of storing said text in the first place?

      Short version : Video games don't use wordwrap.

      They don't? Most of the games I've played lately have textboxes or similar in them and use them to display text. They cause text to wrap.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:In a nutshell... by garobat · · Score: 1

      Well, it seems like they just don't want to bother doing it. I don't see why they can't make a tool to scan through the text, calculate the display size of each word using the font description, and put line break so each line fit the size of the dialog box it will be displayed in.

    3. Re:In a nutshell... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      I'm not saying that they used a text control that wraps text. I am saying that functionality is probably present on the Xbox360 and if they made a graphic instead then they made it hard for themselves, it's no one else's fault. I know that I have seen that functionality utilized on PC games, because I've looked in data files for some games, seen text without line breaks or other control characters, and seen it word-wrapped in games.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:In a nutshell... by AuMatar · · Score: 1

      That was true a decade ago. Nowdays processors have more power, the power needed to wordwrap is trivial. Anyone not writing a wrap function and counting on precise lengths by the content producer is not only being stupid, its likely going to cost more (it'll lead to at least a dozen bugs, I promise). The space problem is more likely to be the bottom end of the screen- not word wrap, but screen wrap. A scroll mechanism could easily be implemented, but it apparently wasn't. Very short sighted.

      --
      I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
    5. Re:In a nutshell... by TwoBit · · Score: 1

      Sorry, your explanation doesn't work. Especially with respect to a modern machine like the XBox 360. I program game text and nobody with half a brain does it like this. The representative from Capcom saying there is too much game text is either lying or their programmers are unbelievably bad.

    6. Re:In a nutshell... by Lehk228 · · Score: 1

      this IS capcom we are talking about here

      --
      Snowden and Manning are heroes.
  15. This should really be an easy change to make by hansamurai · · Score: 1

    to

    Or seriously something similar to that. They complain they have tons of text to go through, but what does the amount of text have to do with the size of the font? Cereal Capcom, what a cop out.

    1. Re:This should really be an easy change to make by hansamurai · · Score: 1

      Whoops, supposed to say:

      <font size="1"> to <font size="3">

      (extrans! *shakes fist*)

  16. Biggest insult of the whole thing by cowwie · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The biggest insult keeps getting overlooked by EVERYONE on this. Capcom has refused to patch the game.... that's a slap in the face. The kick in the teeth comes from the fact that the SAME DAY that they announced they have absolutely no intentions of supporting the game.... they're throwing another $3million at the advertising budget to market the game. As long as DR keeps going out the doors, they don't give a crap.
    TV Ad Buys Doubled to $6 Million to Increase National Exposure for Acclaimed Zombie Game

    1. Re:Biggest insult of the whole thing by derobins · · Score: 1

      If I win the lotto I'm going to pay for an ad campaign that runs commercials immediately after Capcom's showing what the font looks like on an SDTV.

  17. Proof that PC games are better by Travoltus · · Score: 1

    At least we can demand and get patches.

    I bought Dead Rising for the 360 and its text is utterly unreadable.

    This definitely calls for a letter writing campaign. This'll be the first AND last Capcom game my wife and I buy, and we will let them know that.

    Unfortunately this is capitalist America and in this economy, corporations never listen to their customers anymore.

    --
    --- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
    1. Re:Proof that PC games are better by tarun713 · · Score: 1

      I think that is a bit unfair. Capcom has been making games for a very long time, and aside from their tendency to produce sequel after sequel until a franchise runs dry (then modify it slightly, rinse, repeat), they've produced quite a few excellent games. Street Fighter, Megaman, and the Resident Evil series (especially 4) come to mind.

      Now, if they repeatedly continue to ignore customers and release subsequent games in the same fashion, then it's time to boycott. They made a mistake, and they certainly know their own software better than the game players, and know how doable it is to fix it. Don't let one mistake in one game bias you so easily. I understand it is a large mistake, but it just doesn't make sense for them to do it purposely or to not fix it if it is an easy fix.

      *shrug*

    2. Re:Proof that PC games are better by Travoltus · · Score: 1
      I think that is a bit unfair. Capcom has been making games for a very long time, and aside from their tendency to produce sequel after sequel until a franchise runs dry (then modify it slightly, rinse, repeat), they've produced quite a few excellent games. Street Fighter, Megaman, and the Resident Evil series (especially 4) come to mind.

      Now, if they repeatedly continue to ignore customers and release subsequent games in the same fashion, then it's time to boycott. They made a mistake, and they certainly know their own software better than the game players, and know how doable it is to fix it. Don't let one mistake in one game bias you so easily. I understand it is a large mistake, but it just doesn't make sense for them to do it purposely or to not fix it if it is an easy fix.

      These guys locked up the consoles with DRM so we can't patch them ourselves, they make games that are unbreakable, they jack up the price because it's a captive market, and when we get saddled with an unplayable game they tell us in so many sweet words to buzz off. Capcom, and more importantly MicroSoft and the DMCA, etc., set us up for this act of buggery, and now the buggery is afoot.

      Why not call for a boycott? I want my game fixed. I paid for this, now I'm stuck with it. Capcom needs to be hit with whatever force is necessary so that I'm not stuck with a broken product. I'm sure others feel the same way.

      If I reward Capcom with any further purchases, that is telling them that it's okay to stick me with this crap again in the future. In that case not only will I never get a fixed version of Dead Rising, but Capcom and other companies will start doing this in the future.

      I'm going to be using Dead Rising as a shining example not to buy a console or its games: consumers are completely at the game makers' mercy on these systems. Completely.
      --
      --- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
    3. Re:Proof that PC games are better by Travoltus · · Score: 1

      I stand by my claim that what is happening with Dead Rising is a taste of more egregious things to come. I'd rather deal with multiple players releasing different patches that make a broken game workable, than no hope for any patch.

      I can't get a refund on this game.
      I'm flat out stuck with it.
      Capcom doesn't care if an unhappy customer asks them for a refund.
      Capcom doesn't have to care.

      Anyone who bought Dead Rising for a standard def TV is screwed.

      How else are we gonna fix that situation? "Bend over and take it up the butt from Capcom and deal with it" is not a valid answer.

      --
      --- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
    4. Re:Proof that PC games are better by Lemmy+Caution · · Score: 1

      They could fix the mistake, as a last resort, by giving refunds. That should have been their first instinct, upon realizing the game was unpatchable.

      They did not. Even if they change their minds later, it will be as a result of public pressure, not from any consideration for their customers.

      If you do not write them off, I'm afraid that you are a slavish dupe.

  18. Re:So... by Kennego · · Score: 1

    Or maybe this way the developers can't make the n00b mistake of only testing their games on HDTV's instead of on Standard ones.

    Or at least I hope that's the reason, otherwise they're even stupider...

  19. Re:A sign of poor design if there ever was one. by zippthorne · · Score: 1

    Funny thing about computer monitors, they can't really understand the difference between "text" and "graphics" either. Fortunately that sort of thing isn't handled by the monitor. The software should've been designed so that some kind of "text-display" function would be used, separating the text from the code required to display it. That way, wrapping functions could be added & changed as-necessary to accomodate different displays. Hard-coding line-wraps and other such things is just silly.

    The game is a piece of software, a web browser is a piece of software (that happens to have solved the problem at hand quite nicely). It's actually a pretty good analogy. The game-artists should be at about the level of CSS-designers, they shouldn't have to be concerned so much with the internal workings of the engine.

    --
    Can you be Even More Awesome?!
  20. A brain dead design... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 2, Funny

    'Due to the amount of text and the size of the patch necessary to change the text, a patch isn't possible for this issue,' said the company.

    That's what you get when have a zombie designer and zombie testers instead of hiring real people to think through what they're doing.

  21. Re:Inexcusable Microsoft by joystickgenie · · Score: 1

    That was sort of my first thought about it as well. But more then being an unacceptable bug it defiantly shows the focus of the xbox360 platform and their developers.

    For this but to make its way through QA and not be caught, or more likely get caught by QA and deemed a shippable bug by the production, it means that there is very little value put on the market of gamers that do not have a HD television. It shows a dedication to supporting the hardcore gamer market (the people who will actually buy a $1000> television for games) and leaving casual gamers to fend for themselves.

    I personally know quite a few gamers that do not have HD televisions yet. The market has not been upgrading their hard ware fast enough to keep up with the software. This has always been a problem with pc games forever now, but apparently upgrading hardware in order to play the newest games is now coming to console games as well. I feel that this is just another casualty of forcing the consumers to upgrade when there is no real need.

  22. LOL, oh the irony by Travoltus · · Score: 1

    Just yesterday the console gurus were telling us how PC Games require expensive upgrades and consoles do not. This is too funny.

    --
    --- Grow a pair, liberals... stop letting the Republicans bully you!
  23. *Looks confused* by cyber-vandal · · Score: 1

    Why not take it back to the shop and get a refund or something else instead and in that way tell Capcom to shove their shitty attitude? Surely it's not the only megagame on the 360?

    1. Re:*Looks confused* by nasch · · Score: 1
      Why not take it back to the shop and get a refund or something else instead
      What you would get instead is the store clerk informing you of their return policy. Namely, software and games cannot be returned under any circumstances once opened, unless the physical media is defective. In which case they can be exchanged for an identical item. At least that's the case everywhere I remember.
  24. Sale of Goods Act by captainclever · · Score: 1

    Not sure if similar laws exist everywhere, but in the UK the Sale of Goods Act should cover this.
    If the product is "not fit for its intended purpose" the store has to refund you. (Not the publisher, the store you bought it from)

    I suppose "fit for its intended purpose" may be a bit vague in this case; I've played Dead Rising on a non-HD projector (6ft high image) and haven't had any problems reading the text. I wish they'd recorded dialogue for the characters in the game you rescue/interact with though, it's not always convenient to read whilst millions of zombies are closing you down :)

    --
    Last.fm - join the social music revolution
  25. Re:A sign of poor design if there ever was one. by Headcase88 · · Score: 1

    If Capcom made this screw-up on a console where HD wasn't even an option, what excuse would they use then? "Uh, we optimized this game for a resolution that is impossible to attain". I highly doubt they would have shipped the product with a mistake like that if the game were for, say, the GC.

    --
    "When the atomic bomb goes off there's devastation...but when the atomic bong goes off there's celebraaaaation!"
  26. Screw the text.. what about the save game system? by spectecjr · · Score: 1

    For the love of god, please get them to fix that.

    --
    Coming soon - pyrogyra
  27. OT: Re:Dead Rising 2: The Reading of the Dead by tlhIngan · · Score: 1
    Actually, That might work better than you think. Typing of the Dead. Took House of the Dead 2, put it on the dreamcast and had you type for your life! Reading of the Dead: and Edutainment game. Edutainment...now there's a real zombie.


    Actually, Typing of the Dead was ported to the PC - I have a copy of it. It's an extremely fun game to play. The character models were redone to have a huge duracell battery connected to a dreamcast and a keyboard that sticks out in front. Very cute.

    It is probably one of the few "M" rated "Educational" titles out there. If you see it, buy it - it's very good.
  28. Re:Inexcusable Microsoft by Raenex · · Score: 1
    It's an issue with TRC and conformance, which is Microsoft's responsibility. There's probably something along the lines of "Text must be readable in SD resolution". If there isn't, that's Microsoft's fault. If there is and Microsoft's conformance testing missed it, it's Microsoft's fault.

    I agree. Microsoft really dropped the ball with not just this game, but with nearly all the 360 console games. I can't believe how many games have hard to read text on a standard definition television. Really, it's turned me completely off of the 360. I never buy games for it and hardly play it.

    Tons of people still have not upgraded to high definition. It's really unprofessional that all these game companies spend millions of dollars developing a game and don't test common scenarios.

  29. Re:Yeah But... by masklinn · · Score: 1

    Don't you think gamers might be more likely to fall into a category which has a higher percentage of HD TV's in their household?

    Right on, I don't.

    --
    "The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
  30. Let people know... by Psychotext · · Score: 1

    If you feel strongly about this, don't bother mailing capcom, don't bother writing here and don't bother signing internet petitions.

    If you really want to hurt Capcom, hit up all of the retailer sites that allow you to post reviews on the products for sale. Write a polite review stating that you like / dislike the game and explain the issue with SDTV and that capcom wont fix it. Rate the game as appropriate to your feelings. Save your review somewhere and simply copy / paste it into every store you can find. When you've finished doing that, go to some of the review sites like gamespot and you can do the same.

    Of course, one person doing it wont make a difference. But a bunch of people will start to move averages and will probably get noticed.

    --
    People that believe in their opinions don't post AC.
  31. VGA cable by iainl · · Score: 1

    Buy a VGA cable, connect your 360 to your monitor, and shut up. If you didn't want to play your games in HD, you shouldn't have wasted $400 on an XBox 360, you fools.

    --
    "I Know You Are But What Am I?"
    1. Re:VGA cable by cowwie · · Score: 1

      I bought a VGA cable yesterday. As it turns out, my favorite game doesn't work with it. Project Gotham Racing 3 gets forced into widescreen mode on a normal 4:3 monitor. Makes playing almost impossible. The rest of my stuff works fine, but I have to go hook my Xbox back up to a standard TV to play PGR3 :(

    2. Re:VGA cable by iainl · · Score: 1

      Black bars at the top and bottom of the screen, to maintain the aspect ratio they designed, or anamorphic?

      Sorry, I've not got one myself; stupidly enough, by the time I'd spent the money on a HDTV, I didn't have any left for the 360...

      --
      "I Know You Are But What Am I?"