Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Sony Dismisses Critics of Lair

Posted by Zonk on from the its-not-for-them dept.

Despite some very public, very negative criticism of Factor 5's dragon/shooter Lair, Next Generation notes that Sony remains unfazed. "Outgoing SCEA PR boss Dave Karraker told Next-Gen in a phone interview that despite poor critical reception, the flying lizard game isn't necessarily grounded. 'At the end of the day, I'll be interested in the consumers' response, because the consumer awareness for this title was so huge.'" Meanwhile, MTV's Stephen Totilo notes, with more than a touch of seriousness, that Lairs production may have been a touch cursed.

55 comments

  1. Coincidence? by Debello · · Score: 4, Funny
    From the article:

    "That was the start of one catastrophe after the other -- deaths in the family at the worst time [and] sudden surgeries for key members, which bounced the technology off-track. And just in general, every single time there was a crucial delivery, something bizarre went wrong -- all the way to power outages when writing the master disks." Not to mention art directors eaten by dragons!
  2. a dud by any other name by amrust · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't care how they try to smooth things over in the press... just rent the game. Anyone can quickly see that creature moves about as gracefully as a drunk uncle.

    Buy it? You'll be pissed you even blew a rental fee.

    --
    VOTE!
    1. Re:a dud by any other name by deep_creek · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yes indeed. a fellow complained about it at work today. The control of the lizard is like a drunk uncle or more likely perhaps to turn the poor chap into a drunk uncle. Frustrating as hell he said trying to steer the dang thing. He said the graphics were great but reminded him more of a bunch of cut-scenes put together to make you think you were playing. I mentioned the old game Dragon's Lair, and he said, "Yes, exactly like that".

    2. Re:a dud by any other name by TikiTDO · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I actually found Lair to be pretty decent once I got into it. Then I first got the game I was spitting an swearing with the best of them. The dragon would always go in the wrong directions, the dash and flip commands did not work, and it was a generally bad experience. After this I put the controller down for a few days and left it alone. Somewhat later, out of boredom, I picked it up again and I found to my surprise that the controls felt a lot smoother. No longer was I being pushed in random directions, and now I could get the special commands working most of the time. Finally, just last night I sat down to play yet again and it was honestly quite fun. I really got the hang of figuring out what I need to do, and started to get truly sucked into the story. I think enough has been said about the graphics, which are quite impressive, though not nearly enough has been said about the sound and music which are both far beyond what you are used to from such games.

      The general impression I got was one echoed by the guy at the store. It's a tech demo disguised as a game. It did a pretty good job introducing some new concepts (For the PS3 at least) and stood well enough on its own. Later on I'm sure there will be games with a similar control scheme, and they want people to get used to it. That said it wasn't a horrible experience some are playing it up to be. I do wonder if these people even bothered to get the game before opening up their cans of napalm, or if they just read the IGN review and took it as the word of god.

    3. Re:a dud by any other name by blahplusplus · · Score: 1

      "I actually found Lair to be pretty decent once I got into it."

      After god of war and god of war 2, any game is hard to get into... even when I was playing Zelda Twilight princess, I wsa thinking to myself "too bad the god of war team didn't have a hand in making Zelda TP's combat system" heh. :)

    4. Re:a dud by any other name by MikeBabcock · · Score: 1

      I had no problems with the controls from the start -- going through the training really helps though, and (as posted earlier), realizing its a dragon and not a jet fighter.

      The dragon moves exactly as my controller does, pitching and diving and turning with grace unless I tried to drive it into a wall.

      And yes, the graphics are incredible -- the dynamic mesh system is impressive (increasing resolution as you get closer to important objects) as well as the incredible score (music) and pretty good sound effects.

      Having a high quality 5.1 sound system helps of course.

      --
      - Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
  3. I am still waiting... by wamerocity · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm still waiting to see some post 1.92 firmware reviews that were supposed to have addressed the awful motion controls. Yes, the company is to blame for releasing the game with poor controls, but since the 1.92, I've heard some 'reports' that the controls were better. Any slashdotter with pre- and post- 1.92 firmware care to comment?

    --
    "Thank you for using Stop-n-Drop, America's favorite suicide booth since 2008"
    1. Re:I am still waiting... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      I've only played Lair post 1.92 patch, but what i can say is that the game is amazing. I played to 3 AM last night, and i don't think that using the analog controls to control the dragon would be even close to the feel that the motion sensing gives you. This is the most realistic dragon sim ever :) (of course if we can think of dragons as a real entities :) )

    2. Re:I am still waiting... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think you're just overlooking all the game issues, due to being surrounded in kittens.

    3. Re:I am still waiting... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      The fact that it's in 15720z resolution helps, too.

    4. Re:I am still waiting... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The game is no perfect in any way, but still it's very fun to play, and that is what matters the most i think.
      Is all the hype around it justified? Maybe a little.
      Anyways, the point is that the game has it's flaws, and i guess it would not appeal to everybody, but still it's far from the disaster that many people seem to wish it is.

    5. Re:I am still waiting... by Knuckles · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Any slashdotter with pre- and post- 1.92 firmware care to comment?

      It may be that the post that is currently directly above yours might unwittingly describe the difference.

      --
      "When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
    6. Re:I am still waiting... by MBCook · · Score: 1

      I've heard that 1.92 makes all the difference.

      --
      Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
    7. Re:I am still waiting... by PeelBoy · · Score: 1

      IMO the controls seem fine..It's just a tad slow response I suppose..

      The main problem with the game is that it's just plain fucking boring.

      No amount of changes to fix the controls will change that fact.

      This game is definitely a rental.

  4. Bad link by Sigma+7 · · Score: 1

    As of right now, the link points to the Metroid Prime 3 comic rather than the lair comic. This took me a while to figure out what was going on.

    I eventually found a review site at http://ps3.ign.com/articles/817/817117p3.html - it states clearly why the reviewer doesn't like the game. While the user reviews are slightly higher, it doesn't change the fact that the game wasn't that well received (with the people who voted.)

  5. I'm a consumer, hear my reaction! by Solra+Bizna · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I beat it the other day.

    Pros:

    • The controls are mostly intuitive and fluid.
    • The graphics are beautiful, especially in the cinematics.
    • Dragons! (You don't see them very often in games, at least not controlled by the player.)
    • Fairly hard. (Most games I pick up and breeze through, Lair actually got my juices flowing.)

    Cons:

    • The game tends to mistake a dash for a flip and a flip for a dash at just the wrong times.
    • LAG. LOTS of it on the later levels. Though it seems to be independent of resolution.
    • Minor plot inconsistencies and deus ex machina.
    • No offline multiplayer.
    • Gatling fireball makes boss fights too easy. (You can shoot fireballs as fast as you can mash the button. For me, that's fast enough to trigger Metal Gear Solid's autofire detection.)
    • Final boss fight made no sense. ("A volcano's erupting! Let's drop firebombs on it!")

    Some people have complained about the delay between the controls and the dragon, but that felt natural to me. (How responsive would a real dragon be to being whacked on the head with a blunt object?)

    Overall, I liked the game. But I didn't have to pay for it, since I borrowed a friend's PS3 and copy of Lair. :3

    -:sigma.SB

    --
    WARN
    THERE IS ANOTHER SYSTEM
    1. Re:I'm a consumer, hear my reaction! by Dachannien · · Score: 4, Funny

      How responsive would a real dragon be to being whacked on the head with a blunt object?

      Seems to me you'd only get one chance to find out.

    2. Re:I'm a consumer, hear my reaction! by TheBlackSwordsman · · Score: 1

      I haven't played Lair, nor do I own a PS3. I have read quite a few reviews of Lair however, and most of them have a big problem with the controls. Then I see people apologizing for the controls, saying things like "How responsive would a real dragon be?", etc. My response to that is: are you looking for "realistic dragon physics" in a game, or would you like it to control well and be fun? I'll take fun over realism...especially in a freaking game about dragons. If the controls take away from the fun, who cares whether they're realistic or not?

    3. Re:I'm a consumer, hear my reaction! by freshmayka · · Score: 1

      You didn't buy it... You're hardly a consumer. You're just someone who got to enjoy the entertainment for free.

      Pay $560 for the system and the game and see if you still like it.

    4. Re:I'm a consumer, hear my reaction! by MikeBabcock · · Score: 1

      The controls are extremely intuitive and excellent considering its a dragon and not a jet. I've had people complain the dragon doesn't fly like a jet. Of course it doesn't, its a dragon. If you treat it like a dragon, it responds appropriately to your expectations.

      PS, the game is really quite hard -- very fun, decent plot, excellent dialog and most breathtakingly huge battles I've been in in a game before. The game dynamics (mission-based interactive movie) are actually very good, but I still miss consequence based missions (like the old Wing Commander plot trees).

      --
      - Michael T. Babcock (Yes, I blog)
  6. sad by doyoulikegoatseeee · · Score: -1

    It all started when our cliche, protagonistic figure, CmdrTaco, woke up in a magical cornfield. It was the seventh time it had happened. Feeling scarcely pleased, CmdrTaco stroked a potato, thinking it would make him feel better (but as usual, it did not). Like a drunken sailor at happy hour, he realized that his beloved joystick was missing! Immediately he called his bed-friend, CowboyNeal. CmdrTaco had known CowboyNeal for (plus or minus) half a million years, the majority of which were eccentric ones. CowboyNeal was unique. He was attractive though sometimes a little... insensitive. CmdrTaco called him anyway, for the situation was urgent. CowboyNeal picked up to a very unhappy CmdrTaco. CowboyNeal calmly assured him that most 3-legged wallabies yawn before mating, yet man-eating capybaras usually sassily sneeze *after* mating. He had no idea what that meant; he was only concerned with distracting CmdrTaco. Why was CowboyNeal trying to distract CmdrTaco? Because he had snuck out from CmdrTaco's with the joystick only two days prior. It was a enticing little joystick... how could he resist? It didn't take long before CmdrTaco got back to the subject at hand: his joystick. CowboyNeal grimaced. Relunctantly, CowboyNeal invited him over, assuring him they'd find the joystick. CmdrTaco grabbed his whale and disembarked immediately. After hanging up the phone, CowboyNeal realized that he was in trouble. He had to find a place to hide the joystick and he had to do it skillfully. He figured that if CmdrTaco took the curb-jumping ghetto sled (Impala), he had take at least eleven minutes before CmdrTaco would get there. But if he took the a big penis? Then CowboyNeal would be very screwed. Before he could come up with any reasonable ideas, CowboyNeal was interrupted by three abrasive ligres that were lured by his joystick. CowboyNeal yawned; 'Not again', he thought. Feeling stunned, he deftly reached for his banana and skillfully groped every last one of them. Apparently this was an adequate deterrent--the discouraged critters began to scurry back toward the lemur-infested moor, squealing with discontent. He exhaled with relief. That's when he heard the a big penis rolling up. It was CmdrTaco. ----o0o---- As he pulled up, he felt a sense of urgency. He had had to make an unscheduled stop at Big Lots to pick up a 12-pack of ninja stars, so he knew he was running late. With a calculated leap, CmdrTaco was out of the a big penis and went explosively jaunting toward CowboyNeal's front door. Meanwhile inside, CowboyNeal was panicking. Not thinking, he tossed the joystick into a box of wolverines and then slid the box behind his hammock. CowboyNeal was puzzled but at least the joystick was concealed. The doorbell rang. 'Come in,' CowboyNeal flamboyantly purred. With a careful push, CmdrTaco opened the door. 'Sorry for being late, but I was being chased by some stupid genocidal maniac in a curb-jumping ghetto sled (Impala),' he lied. 'It's fine,' CowboyNeal assured him. CmdrTaco took a seat about two saucy furlongs from where CowboyNeal had hidden the joystick. CowboyNeal turned red trying unsuccessfully to hide his nervousness. 'Uhh, can I get you anything?' he blurted. But CmdrTaco was distracted. Like a drunken sailor at happy hour, CowboyNeal noticed a funny-smelling look on CmdrTaco's face. CmdrTaco slowly opened his mouth to speak. '...What's that smell?' CowboyNeal felt a stabbing pain in his scalp when CmdrTaco asked this. In a moment of disbelief, he realized that he had hidden the joystick right by his oscillating fan. 'Wh-what? I don't smell anything..!' A lie. A selfish look started to form on CmdrTaco's face. He turned to notice a box that seemed clearly out of place. 'Th-th-those are just my grandma's ninja stars from when she used to have pet legless puppies. She, uh...dropped 'em by here earlier'. CmdrTaco nodded with fake acknowledgement...then, before CowboyNeal could react, CmdrTaco thoughtfully lunged toward the box and opened it. The joystick was plainly in

  7. Takes One From The Movie Biz Playbook by aldheorte · · Score: 5, Insightful

    'At the end of the day, I'll be interested in the consumers' response, because the consumer awareness for this title was so huge.'

    Translation:

    "We knew the game sucked, but we marketed the hell out of it anyway so that suckers who don't read reviews will buy it just on the hype and then not be able to return it given the usual return policies. I'm interested to see just how many suckers we netted when the sales figures come in."

    They do this with movies that are absolute bombs by not screening them for critics before release weekend, hoping to get a good opening weekend from the pre-release marketing knowing full well the movie is terrible and once critics review it and word of mouth spreads, no one will watch it. It's a marketing scam intended to catch out initial viewers/buyers who have little information to go on.

    1. Re:Takes One From The Movie Biz Playbook by QMalcolm · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Sometimes you don't even need to hide the fact the game is terrible. Enter the Matrix sold really well despite terrible reviews and bad word of mouth.

  8. Next time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Next time a malevolent entity starts killing the families of your developers, maybe you should just cancel the game instead.

    1. Re:Next time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Next time a malevolent entity starts killing the families of your developers, maybe you should just cancel the game instead.
      Given the quality of the game, I'd say it's inaccurate to describe any entity that tried to prevent its release as "malevolent".
  9. unfazed? by gcnaddict · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Sony remains unfazed."
    Unfazed my ass! They spammed the reviewers with reviewer's guides! They seem pretty desperate to buy back the good votes of the reviewers.
    --
    Viable Slashdot alternatives: https://pipedot.org/ and http://soylentnews.org/
  10. Dirty little secret by king-manic · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Bad games sell well!

    Most movie tie ins do pretty well. So a crappy next gen thats over marketed should do as well as a good game that has a lot of word of mouth.

    --
    "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
    1. Re:Dirty little secret by G+Fab · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Halo is a great example of that phenomenon.

      So is Warhawk. I cannot stand that shoddy game. The gameplay is ok, but the weapons are boring, there is very little variety, and the server issues have been legion.

      I love Lair. It's gorgeous, innovative, and fun. It's a but tough to get used to, but it's an awesome game that I think is far more interesting than Gears of War or Halo or Resistance.

      If you were flying a dragon, you would not find a little analog stick coming out of its asshole for you to manipulate. You'd have to steer it physically, which would be a little awkward (try riding a horse). As systems get more powerful and the graphics more realistic, it's a great thing that we're seeing some control schemes that, like reality, are harder to use than a joystick.

      I am convinced for once that sixaxis is actually worthwhile (though obviously a gimmic, it's cool to see it implemented nicely).

  11. Dismissal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This shows how evil Sony are. Nintendo would have answered or commented on or even responded to criticisms, even if they had said the exact same thing in the same words. Sony, however, dismisses the critics. Why do they hate us so much?

    1. Re:Dismissal by Headcase88 · · Score: 1

      I recall that for Luigi's Mansion they (pretty sure Miyamoto) went as far as saying that it was made by their less experienced directors (about as close to saying "sorry for the shitty game" as you're ever going to get). That doesn't really excuse a game for sucking, but then again LM was actually all right.

      --
      "When the atomic bomb goes off there's devastation...but when the atomic bong goes off there's celebraaaaation!"
  12. Casual review then? by ThePhilips · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Probably somebody had to start a gaming site dedicated to casual gaming and casual reviews.

    For example me, after gaming on PC for more that 15+ year, see most console games as total suckers. And mostly they are - thankfully to terrible game utility (e.g. no save/load functionality), overloaded controls and too much backward franchises (accompanied by flameboys).

    But recently, in large thanks to Nintendo and its Wii, there were surge of pretty good playable and enjoyable games even on consoles. I normally tend to ignore console games and write off console gamers as people who grew to live in denial. But I hope that can change.

    Some casual reviews already started showing up - as for example Variety's MP3:C review. (Flamed by fanboys here). Thanks to the review written in plain human words I would save my 50 for something better than MP3:C when it hits Europe. On on side. On another side, the review had bunch of hints for hardcore folks who have time the game requires to learn to play it.

    Split - hardcore vs. casual - is inevitable. It is just better to be prepared. I would side with casual folks, since what they say makes much much more sense. And there is no the elitism aura around them too.

    What I'm trying to get to here is that probably if you would grab a random guy from street and give him PS3 + Lair to play for some time - he might like it. Not necessarily he would want to invest $600+ into something like that. Yet. To hardcore folks easy game play (or what I call "enjoyable") is of course no-go.

    Well, as Wii fan, I would omit the question about controls. Needless to add that IMNSHO classical controller - main that makes console the suckers - sucks big time.

    P.S. Notice how skillfully I have managed in the post avoid saying that console games sucks... Uhm. Stop. ... (rereading post)... Uhm. Never mind.

    --
    All hope abandon ye who enter here.
    1. Re:Casual review then? by sqlrob · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Most PC games suck too. Sturgeon's law.

    2. Re:Casual review then? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, finally I found someone who agrees with me! To bad you got moded down.

    3. Re:Casual review then? by SuperMonkeyCube · · Score: 1
      Sure, there are lots of terrible console games. There are lots of console games, and assuming some sort of standard distribution, theoretically it can be assumed that there would be lots of terrible console games.

      It would be nice to see some innovation on the PC side that didn't involve having a video card that hasn't been designed yet. One of the advantages of designing a game for a console is that the hardware is known and previous work and efficiency in software coding can be leveraged (obviously works better later in the hardware's life). Rarely have I looked at a PC game in the store that ran awesomely on the machine I already had. Meanwhile, God of War 2 looks better that GOW1 did, and it's the same hardware!

      Also, I find it very rare for a PC game to be innovative lately. It happened in the 80's, sure. Now most of what I see on PC these days is some flavor of Doom or Command & Conquer or Civilization. FPS, RTS, or um... Simulation? (Of course, I forgot Evercrack and World of Warcrack. Innovative in that lots of people are paying a subscription for what a bunch of 40 year old guys do in the back of comic book stores for free.) Other that the Sims, I haven't seen much revolutionary gameplay on PC. How about Guitar Hero or Eye Toy or Katamari Damacy or Super Monkey Ball? Where are those games on PC? And no, please don't point me to the open source ripoff of Guitar Hero seeing as it wouldn't have gotten made without GH existing in the first place.

      Anyway, it's the beginning of PS3's life, and someone took a risk on a motion control dragon game. I applaud them for taking the risk. I'm disappointed that they had to have Mr. Eggebrecht on EGM Live or 1up disagreeing with their reviewer about the crappy motion control and using the excuse that the casual gamer focus groups didn't hsve a problem with it like the reviewers and even all their play testers did. Using the casuals to justify the crappy control of a game that would appear to be aimed at hardcore games is a fairly lame move.

      I'm also fairly sure if he admitted that the controls were junk, the stockholders would set him up for a firing squad. If he delayed the game release to fix the motion control problem, same result. Damage control and excessive spin were his only realistic options. Furthermore, if Sony had genuinely felt that casual gamers were really important, they wouldn't have forced casual gamers out with the excessive price point on the machine in the first place.

      Since Sony can't have it both ways, Mr Eggebrecht should then disappear in a puff of logic.

    4. Re:Casual review then? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can see where the Variety review is coming from, but in the interest of providing another data point (which is also not a flame), I should tell you that I'm a casual gamer - I couldn't play a PC FPS to save my life, the only thing I can get a lasting high score on is Katamari - and I didn't have a whole lot of trouble with Metroid Prime 3. Switching visors was the only thing I had to make a conscious effort to get used to. Every time I've gotten stuck, I put down the game and come back to it, and I'm usually able to beat whatever I was having problems with in one go. But then again, I've had my Wii for a while and I've played a few similar games on it (Zelda, Elebits). I should also add that I haven't played any of the previous Metroid Prime games, although I have watched people play them, which is actually very relaxing.

    5. Re:Casual review then? by realityfighter · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Split - hardcore vs. casual - is inevitable.

      Ah, I disagree. As a casual gamer who really likes MP3:C (that's me in the AC comment below), I believe that the split is only inevitable in simpler games. Big releases should be able to incorporate both. Just look at Ocarina of Time and you'll see a game that was (and still is!) popular with people on both ends of the the leetness scale; any game that has the resources to build in that much optional exploration a can be designed to appeal to everyone.

      Right now, we're so insistent on the difference because casual has just recently emerged as a design/marketing strategy, and because we use the term "hardcore" as a cultural delineator. Even the Variety reviewer defined the hardcore gamer as a "13 year old boy"; our definition of the term hinges on that image, just like our definition of "mature" games used to be. (Thankfully, that meme is finally dissipating.) We're ignoring the obvious here, which is that while the packaging and the graphics on Metroid Prime 3 scream "hardcore," it's also casual - as evidenced by the fact that I can actually play it.

      --
      A strain of paranoid prevention can be worse than the disease, whate'er the intention.
    6. Re:Casual review then? by ThePhilips · · Score: 1

      MP3:C was just an example. HArdcore games are not necessarily hard to play. They just appeal to smaller group of people. Like Metroid3: it appeals primarily to people who played Metrod1, Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion, Metroid 2, Metroid 2: Echos. IOW, to enjoy game you have to belong to the elite club of people who played previous iterations of game before. (It is also not necessarily fact relating to MP3:C - they are some brighter examples like Wii's RE4).

      To me it is telling. What ever crap load of sh*t games there are on PCs, there are gems which have no analogues on consoles: Quake1/2/3, Doom3, Civ4, Alpha Centauri, NWN1, etc.

      All console "gems" I (was recommended and) have tried turned out to be some uberleet games you really need to sit N years before TV playing previous versions to even being able to understand the idea of game - least to appreciate the game.

      Why there is no simple enjoyable games on consoles???

      Take Xbox360 and shooters. Nothing comes even close to simplicity and enjoyment of Doom3. First PC has mouse - and targeting with classical controller is just plain pain. Second, somehow Doom3 got away without boss fights and locked items. Try to imaging a console game where you are not presented with screen covered with question mark boxes and only one-two items are available? Hard, isn't it. Impossible I'd tell. I yet to see console game not sprouting this "unlockable content" crap. I'd say Civilization is good example of PC games having SO MUCH CONTENT!!! which is NOT locked from you. You play the game. (Not game plays you) and you play the game ANY WAY YOU WANT IT. Try to find a single similar similator on consoles. All console Tycoons I have seen are literally bloated with locked content you have to guess how to unlock. Stupid I'd say. As somebody who pays with his own earned money, I often feel offended by the messages like "Bonus item was unlocked!!!". Bonus?? BONUS?????? Sh*t, as I would have paid for game which has only stick and stone available to play with only.

      And the crap is copy-pasted from game to game. It already requires special mind set to swallow all the load you are trying to stuff you with.

      One thing you are kid and you have only what your parents have bought you. You have to like - because you have nothing else to like. I'm working. I have money. I can buy 10 PS3s easily. Or 4-5 decent gaming rigs. Or 25 Wiis. Doesn't matter. I have money and I have choice. But the problem with console games that they give you NO choice. Straight prearranged line you hardly can deviate from.

      Console gaming degraded into self closed leet society: it all started with "console for people", but now feedback grew and it is very often "people for console".

      Well, I'm hoping for best. Because now I'm kind of in the boat - I have bought myself a Wii ^_^

      --
      All hope abandon ye who enter here.
    7. Re:Casual review then? by Gravatron · · Score: 1
      Um, Quake 1, 2, 3, and doom 1-3 were all also on consoles. And Doom 3 had boss fights, thank you very much, as did Quake 4. Pretty much all fps do, at one point or another.


      Unlockable items are a mixed bag. You shouldn't feel hampered because somethign isn't unlocked, if so, thats bad game design. A lot of times, unloackables are stuff like alternative outfits, difficulty levels, songs, etc, that are designed to keep you comming back once you've finished the game. Also gives you somethign to aim for, or some nice bonus stuff for your second replay. Wanting everythign up front isn't a bad thing, but its not earth shattering if it's not there.

      Aiming with an analog stick takes getting use to, but some games recognize the superiority of a mouse in a fps and actual incluse support. Take Ut3 on the ps3: full support there. It's always been an option to ps2/3 developers, never known why it wasn't use more often.


      As for it beign a closed leet society? The ps2 alone had sales over a hundred million, thats one heck of a closed society. Thats not counting the, IIRC, 8,000 games over it's lifespan. Consoles always had a huge variety of stuff out there. Pc's have become known as a place for RTS, wRpg's, and fps's and not much of anything else.

    8. Re:Casual review then? by ThePhilips · · Score: 1

      And Doom 3 had boss fights, thank you very much [...]

      Two of them to be precise. On in middle to get a BFG and another in the end.

      Compared to usual crap of boss fights in console games - can you believe it - monsters can be killed by actually shooting at them. No - w/o jumping around waiting moment to attack, w/o hitting some obscure combos to attack, w/o hitting even more weirder combos to temporarily disarm or make vulnerable the boss. I didn't even need to reload once to kill bosses in Doom3. How many times you usually die before you kill boss in normal console game? Ten times? Twenty? Fifty?? Otherwise it is said to be "too easy", I'm told.

      By, worth repeating, SHOOTING AT MOSTER. Show me single console game with such boss monsters. Show me single console game with such straightforward game play. End of story.

      P.S. I intentionally omit Quake4 references, since there were nothing decent in the game - except for its excellent multi-player, perfected with three previous iterations of Quake games. And Q4 isn't shooter anymore. It's more like Half-Life 2 - more of action or arcade then shooting. Running around or watching cinematics or flying in some tar or driving something took more of game time that actual shooting.

      --
      All hope abandon ye who enter here.
  13. I thank you! by Aceticon · · Score: 4, Funny

    I hereby want to thank any and all early adopters, early buyers and opening week movie-goers!

    It's you guys with your inability to delay self-rewarding and your industry-promoted belief that being the first to get something is cool, that really test out the waters for everybody else, thus saving the savy consumers that follow you millions and millions of dollars.

    You guys really are the backbone of society upon which everybody else's success stands: you are out there, bending over and taking it again and again from the industry, shoddy products, overhyped releases, buggy software and all kinds of crap products and services, serving as the shinning beacon of light that guides all others away from a good reaming.

    In the name of all of us, who thanks to your pioneering work have avoided unmeasurable pain in their behinds, I salute you!

    1. Re:I thank you! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wait, when did we start talking about iPhone buyers?

    2. Re:I thank you! by pokerdad · · Score: 1

      Though one can equally argue that if these people didn't exist all entertainment would have to sell itself by word of mouth, ergo the crap they protect us from would rarely get made.

  14. What a surprise by Leo+Sasquatch · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How much have they spent on this so far? So what are they going to do - issue a press statement that says "We know it sucks, the reviewers are right, it's broken and we hacked it about to get the rating down. We are aware that this level of ineptitude is unacceptable in what's supposed to be a triple-A title for our flagship console. Please don't buy this mess, we'll have it all fixed for the sequel. And next time, we'll actually hire play-testers like we're supposed to."

    No, they'll punt it out there, and hope it sells enough copies to people who don't read review sites - people who'll just see it on the shelves and go "Ooh! Shiny dragons!".

    Having said that, this isn't an anti-Sony diatribe. I'm sure the Cell is capable of some incredible feats of heavy lifting, once some teams of more-than-usually-talented programmers start to get to grips with it. This, however, is not one of them, and they just need to deal with it, and move on.

  15. LAG? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What lag? You've been playing the game online?
    Don't you mean a dropping frame rate? Since when is an unstable frame rate called lag?

    1. Re:LAG? by trdrstv · · Score: 1

      What lag? You've been playing the game online? Don't you mean a dropping frame rate? Since when is an unstable frame rate called lag?

      I believe he means the lack of responsiveness (or lag) between the controller and the system. If there is a time delay between the controller and the game (so it executes your commands at a noticable delay) then the game would be lagging...

    2. Re:LAG? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lag
      v. lagged, lagging, lags
      v. intr.
      To fail to keep up a pace; straggle.
      To proceed or develop with comparative slowness: The electric current lags behind the voltage.

      v. tr.
      To cause to hang back or fall behind.
      It doesn't have to have anything to do with networks, dimwit.
  16. Sigh, Sony, will you ever learn? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is the same type of arrogance that has the PS3 in such a mess. Everyone is telling them they're doing it wrong, that they don't like it yet Sony always responds "No it's fine, everyone will love it".

    Still, at least this guy is outgoing, perhaps they'll get someone more competent to replace him.

  17. PC gaming has one weakness: Cost per player by tepples · · Score: 1

    And mostly they are - thankfully to terrible game utility (e.g. no save/load functionality)

    By save/load, do you mean save/load in general, or do you mean the ability to save at any time and reload a single save multiple times?

    Even if PC gaming is better in general, what PC-native[1] games don't require the purchase of four recent PCs if you have four people in the house who want to play?

    [1] A console ROM image of dubious legality run in emulation is not PC-native.

  18. By what? by stonecypher · · Score: 1

    Meanwhile, MTV's Stephen Totilo notes, with more than a touch of seriousness, that Lairs production may have been a touch cursed.
    ... by poor development practices, naïve management who didn't know how to function without LucasArts support, the ever-present Sony marketing team (who is so bad that I don't even have to make fun of them,) production values with five years of dust, and a game design that would have seemed archaic two weeks after the release of Panzer Dragoon for the Sega Saturn?

    Yeah, that qualifies as a curse. Pretty pictures, though. Maybe someday Sony will realize that graphics and hype aren't enough (fl0w.)
    --
    StoneCypher is Full of BS
    1. Re:By what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What's wrong with Flow?

    2. Re:By what? by amrust · · Score: 1

      There wasn't much to it, once you got past the novelty of the SixAxis control scheme. Then again, the price was great. It's the only PS3 game my wife plays.

      --
      VOTE!
  19. Re: Play Rogue Squadron II instead... by trdrstv · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Seriously. Factor 5 did a real good job with that, and at this point you could buy a Used Gamecube and Rogue Squadron II (It was a launch title) for $60.

  20. Meanwhile... by binaryspiral · · Score: 2, Funny

    Critics dismiss Sony.

  21. Aforemention comments. by MrCopilot · · Score: 1
    Playing Lair is horrifying, like having a talking cyst erupt out of your genitals.

    Wow, I'll be avoiding this at all costs. Shame, I like dragons.

    --
    OSGGFG - Open Source Gamers Guide to Free Games
  22. Oh cool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Factor 5's dragon/shooter Lair
    Oh great, dragon is my favorite genre, I don't know why it hasn't done better next to RPGs and shooters.