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Gaming's Biggest Blunders of 2006
Ground Glass writes "After all of the self-awarding that goes on in the games industry this year, it's nice to be reminded that there were actually some pretty big industry disasters in 2006. Who can forget that timeless Gizmondo car crash story, for example? Or the onset of microtransactions for cheat codes? One of the Curmudgeon Gamers, Matt Matthews, lays out the worst the industry had to offer this year, from game hype to journalistic screwups, and everything in between." From the article: "3. Bill of Rights -- Void Where Prohibited by Law. We should also sit back and enjoy a steaming hot cup of schadenfreude at the expense of those tireless defenders of morality and the souls of our children: the state governments of Michigan, Minnesota, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and of course Illinois. Each has passed a law restricting the sales of videogames, and each has been stopped by the courts. Apparently there are things called 'constitutions; which grant 'rights' like 'free speech' which 'activist judges' are using to strike down the very laws which will protect our children from rock and r...videogames." He also offers up some of the cut content that didn't make it into the final article.
Is "World of Warcraft Expansion missing Christmas 2006" one of the items listed there?
Nah, because it'll sell like hotcakes no matter when it's released. Sad, but true.
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
How exactly would not releasing a product that isn't ready for release be a blunder? If only more companies would spend time fixing their software instead of throwing it at the market for the holiday rush. Releasing unfinished games is a blunder, not the other way around.
Eugh. I saw the pictures from that accident. The Ferrari had 9 miles on it. Nine. One of those miles was the crash itself. My inner manly-man is crying just remembering those pictures.
Neverwinter Nights 2
Frag 'em all...
The controllers are not defective. PEBWAC.
Let's get drunk and delete production data!
Mandatory governmental ratings = chilling effect = violation of First amendment
Mandatory third party ratings = violation of due process = violation of Fourth amendment
Considering I'm 35, no, the outcry is not (just) from 14 year olds. It's from people that understand that governmental regulation screws things up more often than not.
Yes, as I was about to say :
From TFA:
"7. Nintendo Says 'when hand gets sweaty, simply wipe 'em'
The Nintendo Wii, current darling of the videogame press, has a dark side...
It's really inexcusable. If your commercials show beautiful people thrashing about in the throes of videogame ecstasy, you have to expect that consumers are going to want to do the same. But those models in your commercials are trained professionals working in a controlled environment. As soon as you take that lethal Wii remote out into the Real World, accidents are possible, even likely. "
Yes, Nintendo made a huge blunder by showing professionals using their console. We all made the same mistake: we assumed these were professional models and/or actors. In reality, they were professional "hold'er-on'er"s, who had abundant professional experience which allowed them to maintain a grasp, however tenuous, on the wiimote, instead of letting go like blithering retar... I mean, your average user.
No disclaimer Nintendo? For shame.
The state officials had to have known about the previous strike outs in other states. This was nothing more than a dog and pony show for the upcoming elections and now the voters are paying $500,000 for it.
Let's not forget how Sony Slammed Microsoft for botching a World wide launch (despite MS shipping greater numbers and actually making it world wide), and how they also Slammed the Wii for being 'just a gimmick' before adding tilt functions into their controller. I wonder how Sony's investors, (and executives) keep being "overly optimistic".
I speak for the general public when I say that it's probably a good thing you aren't an engineer or manager. From the consumer's perspective (the only one that counts), the strap IS part of the controller because it came with the controller.
Again, if you're developing for consumers, you need to assume that a significant portion of your buyers will be dummies. Smart companies spend time testing their products in "dummy" sitations precisely for this reason: to figure out what bad things can happen when consumers use their products in a way other than was originally intended around a theoretical white board.
Kudos to Nintendo for trying to fix their fuck-up, but it was a fuck-up, and one that could have been avoided with a better "beta" program.
A good comparison was brought up in an earlier newspost.
Do manufacturers of footballs or baseballs hold the liability when their product goes through a window or tossed into someone's face?
The wiimote is not designed to be thrown. When the wiimote is thrown, the strap can break, resulting in harm or damage.
Kitchens knives are not designed to be thrown, cause much more hard they are thrown, and don't even come with a wrist strap!
" Smart companies spend time testing their products in "dummy" sitations precisely for this reason: to figure out what bad things can happen when consumers use their products in a way other than was originally intended around a theoretical white board."
Only a dummy would throw knives around the house, but the product is not safeguarded against this. Are knife manufacturers now responsible for all harm caused by throwing steak knives within the home?
It was nice of them to include a wrist strap, but if they hadn't included one no one would blame the lack of one on losing their grip on the remote.
I should note that I don't own any nintendo products past the N64.
I speak for the general public when I say that it's probably a good thing you aren't an engineer or manager. From the consumer's perspective (the only one that counts), the strap IS part of the controller because it came with the controller.
As an engineer, I'm going to have to counter this by saying that when used as designed, the Wii wrist straps function perfectly fine. Even in the videos of "professionals" "flailing in video game ecstacy", they aren't swinging their arms around as fast as possible. In my opinion the original straps were fine but Wii Sports should have integrated more splash screens with reminders to use smooth steady motions and NOT swing your arm as hard as possible.
You'd think common sense would come into play in cases like this, but then again, this is the country where they have to put warning labels on lawn mowers telling you to not reach underneath it while its running in order to pick it up and use it to trim your hedges.
Last year's #5? Nintendo's Revolution's big thing was being a Gamecube with a motion-sensing controller. In 2005, derided for being underpowered and gimmicky. ... yeah, looks like that -really- screwed up Nintendo there. They made a terrible mistake, making a system that out-sold the PS3 (Yeah, yeah, they had more available... still counts!).
Makes me wonder, at the end of 2007, which item from this list will we look back on and say, "Y'know, that really wasn't a bad thing..."
Getting tired of all the PS3 bashing. A week ago, I didn't care really either way, never been an early adopter. Historically, I'm a sony guy, never been wronged by them. My oldest electronics are all Sony. Heck, my phone is Sony, it's ~15 years old. I've had a dozen other cordless phones over the past 6 years or so...and guess what the ONLY one that keeps on ticking is?
:)
Anyways, back to the point. My wife won a PS3 at her staff christmas party this past weekend. Now that I've got one in my hands I can absolutely say without a doubt that there is a TON of FUD surrounding this machine. It is not a PS2. It's a media centre plain and simple. It is a VERY impressive bit of kit. In typical Sony fashion, it's an incredibly well engineered console.
Let me list a few things:
1) Add it up. To get an xbox 360, with comparable addons to what the PS3 ships with...you are within $50 dollars of the price of the PS3.
2) You can't put a PC together with all of the features in the PS3 for the price it is selling for.
3) It Just Works
4) Yet again, it really is fully backwards compatible. (The ONLY complaints in this area is that it doesn't upsample ps2 games to 1080p very well. Cry me a frickin river. The PS2 didn't support that, PS2 games don't support that...god forbid Sony wasn't able to squeeze that 'magic' feature in there for all older games)
5) Browsing the internet within 5 minutes of pulling it out of the box.
6) Bluetooth and USB2. The number of standard PC peripherals that 'just work' with it is freaking awesome.
Oh, and know what? Yeah, it's the 'crippled' 20g version. Crippled my ass. The ONLY thing that is even remotely lacking when comparing the two is the built in network wifi. Nothing that my 40$ wifi bridge I already had in my entertainment unit didn't instantly solve.
Bash it all you want, but I'll tell you a couple things right now:
a) It's here to stay
b) It is NOT and will not be a flop
and c) All the bs bashing is really just helping Sony anyways, so keep it up
Ahh, and after doing some research into the 'overwhelming number of defective units'...bullshit. Pure bullshit. This has not been substantiated ANYWHERE. Most of the units that Sony has taken back have not actually been broken in any way. People are sending them back for being hot. (They blow a lot of heat, but aren't actually all that hot themseoves). People are sending them back because they can't turn it on. (The buttons on the front of the unit aren't standard 'buttons', they use some sort of a sensor that triggers from the electrical conductivity of your skin) People are sending them back because the composite cable 'doesn't work'.
Anecdote on that last one. Upon receiving this unit, I was somewhat biased due to all the FUD about the number of defective units etc etc (crap is everywhere). Hearing that half of all units have been returned etc etc. (Completely and utterly untrue) Plugged it in, got it up and running etc. Threw in Talladega Nights just for kicks. A few minutes into playback, screen goes blank...audio is still there. I check the usual suspects..wiggle the composite cable a bit and there we go. ARgh...I MUST have a defective unit...ah well I'll deal for a few days to see if it's a real problem. I move the unit elsewhere in my stereo unit the next day. Plug it all in, and nothing will output to my TV. Play with the composite cable, and it feels like there is something keeping it from inserting properly...must be defective. Try a bit more force...nope. Dammit. Don't want to break it...ahh fuck it.
Sure enough, if you actually push the cable in, it locks in place snugly. The ONLY reason that I didn't realize this right away is because of all the BS out there about what a piece of crap the PS3 is. I bought into it.
In fact, the truth is that it is incredibly well engineered. Now I know.
Nobody is perfect, sure they were overly optimistic with their original release plans...shit happens when you're depending on bleeding edge tech for
No Comment.
Testing includes verifying how a product performs within limits, and also beyond. After all, someone has to define what the limits are in the first place. And then what happens if someone goes slightly beyond it. I am certain Nintendo did many tests on the limitations of the strap, and its breaking point. Unfortunately, whatever assumptions they originally made were off.
If I had to guess, culture differences may be the reason. If they did much of their usability testing in Japan, then folks there may be less apt to "be retarded" in their swings, than many of the gamers here in the US. Although I'd also have to agree with a lot of folks and say that Nintendo is partially to blame for that behavior, since their own kiosk demos in the US appear to demonstrate that you can, and should actually swing the Wii-mote with the same force as you would a tennis racket or golf club.
-- jchenx
As much as I love the rest of the state, Chicago can take a flying leap.
But I agree with the rest of your post...
Which questionable tactics? Like closing (and bulldozing) a public airport in the middle of the night with no notice for no good reason? I'd say blatantly disregarding federal law and FAA regulations, spending a large sum of taxpayer money to do so, and then using more taxpayer money to pay the fines are a little more than questionable.
"Let me list a few things:"
Putting aside your entire message sounds like a Sony astroturf plant, I notice you didn't list anything having to do with the most important criteria for a video game system -- fun and games. At least the Wii can genuinely claim to deliver a new and more immersive video-gaming experience; to the layman, the PS3 is just Sony's rebranding of an XBox.
Paying $500-$600 to play the same games you can already get with an XBox 360 or a PS2 doesn't seem smart to me. But then, since you got yours for free, I guess that's moot...
--R.J.
Electric-Escape.net
I was under the impression that that's exactly what they'd done...
Sigs are for the weak.
What the fuck? These two statements mean exactly the same thing. The parent was exactly right: both launches had shortages, as well as Sony execs spewing FUD all over the place. Oh, and don't forget the shitty launch games.
A supply driven shortage is quite a bit different than a demand driven shortage, regardless of whether they sort-of have similar results; a demand driven shortage is caused because a product is so popular you can not meet demand, a supply shortage is where you can not supply enough units regardless of demand. Currently, the PS3 could only meet the demand of the amazingly popular NGage.