Slashdot Mirror
Sony Dismisses Critics of Lair
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.
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!
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"
I beat it the other day.
Pros:
Cons:
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
'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.
Viable Slashdot alternatives: https://pipedot.org/ and http://soylentnews.org/
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."
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!
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.
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.
Critics dismiss Sony.
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.