Slashdot Mirror
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.
Somewhere, Darwin is smiling.
PS3 being #1 makes sense ...
...
Last year at this time everyone was bashing how poor the XBox 360 launch and how expensive it turned out, many people even said "Why would you spend $400 on an XBox 360 when you can buy the more powerful PS3 (that comes with a Blu-Ray player) for less?"
It's amazing how much change 12 months can bring
Neverwinter Nights 2
Frag 'em all...
I also enjoyed GameSpot's coverage ( Dubious Honors 2006 ). If anyone's keeping track, the biggest "loser" this year was EA who was mentioned several times in both articles. I'd have to agree. Next year, everyone can get their hand on whatever hardware they want. Bad games will stay bad and be lost to history. But we're still going to be dealing with overuse of in-game ads and microtransactions for in-game cheats thanks to EA.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
When some people from Southern Illinois told me about how Chicogans were all self-absorbed snobs I thought it was bias...
I stand corrected.
Of course, I shouldn't make hasty generalizations based on one slashdot comment... afer all, most generalizations are wrong.
Yes, you can dance to Radiohead.
Looks like Mario and Luigi may have to pay this gentleman a friendly visit.
The enemies of Democracy are
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.
Killing off E3 was the ultimate Anti-blunder. The show hasn't been any good since it was in Atlanta. At least then it was fun. When it went back to L.A. it was unproductive, AND boring.
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..."
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
Nevermind that if you look at the PS2 launch price, throw in inflation, and oh looky there! PS3 launch price.
...
PS2 Launch Price 2000 dollars = $300, adjusted for inflation $348.08
Then you try to compare it to 3D0. How many games play on the PS3? Care to hazard a guess? Anyone? Lets just say that it is, right now, exponentially more than 3D0 EVER had.
List of 3DO games: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_3DO_games
Does anyone remember the PS2 launch? Anyone at all? Same pile of shit, different console. Ahh, and look at how the PS2 crashed and burned...riiight.
The PS2 launched with over 700,000 systems in Japan on day one and had sold over 1 Million by the end of its first month (March 00); in North America there were 500,000 systems at launch and they sold over 1 Million by the end of 2000 (2.5 months). The PS2 was unavailable largely because the demand was so great that Sony could not produce them fast enough; the PS3 is unavailable because Sony has produced too few of units.
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.
Sort of. X was a real rating, along with G, M, and R as the original MPAA ratings list. "Midnight Cowboy" was rated X, for example. According the good ol' Wikipedia, X was dropped in favour of NC-17 because X wasn't trademarked, and became associated with porn. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPAA_film_rating_syst em
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
"- it's like the Constitution absolves all choices, regardless of their effect."
Exactly what it is designed to do, remove choice from the Government, because Governments become corrupt. Obviously it doesn't stop the government from being corrupt (ours isn't as bad as Mexico, but it's not great either). However, the constitution does limit what stupidity they can do. If the constitution is no longer considered "right", such as not letting women vote, there is a process to amend the constitution.
It's checks and balances, the Supreme Courts biggest weapon is the Constitution, it is what it primarily uses to weigh their choices. The fact is, the parents should control their kids, not the government. The government already has too much say over kids as it is, as everybody knows... governments do a horrible job of raising kids.
This sig is the express property of someone.
Well, yes, that would be questionable.
Then again, let's not forget the politics behind that. Disneyland bought - excuse me, lobbied the Republicans - for a large no-fly zone over their grounds right after 9/11 and got it almost immediately. Daley tried to get the same over downtown Chicago, to no avail. One might speculate it's because he's a Democrat. Either way, he was pissed at the party in power - Reps. Now, coincidentally a majority of the use of Meigs airfield is by major corporations who like backing Republicans. All the small time hobby pilots were just "collateral damage" in a political pissing match.
Still, he's getting re-elected, no matter if he wasted taxpayer money or not. That would be because he keeps things running, as opposed to the rest of Illinois. Chicago politics are always foremost about keeping the electorate happy. Heck, we lost one mayor because he didn't get the snow plowed fast enough. (Daley manages that by subcontracting his buddies in the construction industry - but the majority prefers that over actually being stuck in the snow)
Christmas sales don't matter for WOW because most players don't know what day it is anyway.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
Where is the support for the real hard core gamers. The ones that run linux?
What do you mean, don't know what day it is? It's Onyxia reset day!
Well, quite a lot of people do seem to be fumbling it lately...
Real Daleks don't climb stairs - they level the building.
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.