Slashdot Mirror
Players Furious Over Buggy GTA IV PC Release
Jupix writes "It took Rockstar most of a year to port Grand Theft Auto IV to the PC, and while they claim this was because they wanted polish and quality with their PC release, it appears the result has been less than satisfactory. Players all over the internet are furious over numerous bugs in the release, ranging from nonfunctional internet registration and graphics glitches to completely inoperative installations. One of the game's largest retailers, Steam, has reportedly gone so far as to start handing out refunds to hordes of unsatisfied (and no doubt uncomfortably noisy) customers."
One would think that the Xbox 360 port should come right over...I'm just not sure where all the extra bugs would arise. The actual game logic and assets should be identical.
"To any truly impartial person, it would be obvious that I am right."
And you tell this because?
There are numerous (high profile) games I've been buying the past years which didn't give me any problems, and even added the advantage over consoles of being able to tinker with it (for example, mods).
The past few GTA releases on the PC were also nearly flawless, so don't know where your advice comes from. I guess you conveniently forget about the PC-games that have no problems whatsoever.
When you shoot a mime, do you use a silencer?
Money! They're going to sell a lot more copies, sometimes it might even be 10x as many. Ever hear of a game called Summoner? It was a simultaenous PC/PS2 release. The PC version sold 50000 copies, not bad for an actiony RPG type game. The PS2 version sold 500000. You can imagine what happened,the sequel, Summoner 2, was PS2 only. Something similar probably happened to CoD.
It's all part of the "value added" by Steam's DRM ... for the vendor.
Sigh.
Seriously, so many developers and publishers have been complaining about the huge rate of PC title piracy (e.g. http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20567 or http://www.videogamer.com/news/18-10-2008-9693.html) and how much more they love their locked-down consoles. Isn't this move the smartest thing Rockstar could have done?
I mean If I made 400$m with my latest game on the consoles alone and I feared I wouldn't sell as many PC copies as I could have I just make the PC version the shittiest experience you can have. Horrendously high hardware requirements, terrible online components, cluttered with spy/mal/adware. That will turn off as many PC customers as possible and make it less attractive for pirates.
I bet the console sales figures of GTA IV will go up again now that many PC gamers have realized that they'd rather buy this for their console than deal with all the crap. Watch for the spike!
Yes, Rockstar, please tell us: Why is it so hard to write good Windows code? How is the PS3 so much easier? Why don't you let us play the games at much higher resolution on much better hardware? Is it really that important to sell mediocre crap and scrape every miserable penny? Is that also the motivation behind the DRM? Why don't you just sell a good product at a good price and stop trying to coerce the market. It won't work. Eventually some other game house will make your type of game, only better, and with better graphics and performance. And people will buy that instead.
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
DLC isn't the main thing for FO3, user mods are. The reason I bought it on PC, in fact the reason I upgraded my graphics card is just so that I can spend the next three years or so playing user-made FO3 mods.
The mods are what made Oblivion and Morrowind into timeless classics.
Nick
Playing FPS titles on the consoles is like eating soup with a fork. Sure, you can do it, but it's a tedious experience if you've ever used a spoon, and there are much more suitable tools for the job.
Not the old mouse and keyboard thing, the PS2/PS3 have USB ports for a many reasons, one of them is more input options.
I don't have a credit card, actually I feel pretty good about that.
I think the last thing any gamer wants is to discourage Rockstar from making more GTA games!
Well, maybe. I know of two people who have GTA4 for the Xbox. Neither one likes it. They took the fun bits out and replace it with realism is the complaint I hear.
San Andreas had a lot of silly crap in it, but IMHO that's what defined the series. Jetpacks in a secret military base, climbing on board a Navy carrier and somehow being able to kill everyone and steal a Harrier, falling off a motorcycle at 200mph and being ok, beating someone to death with a dildo while wearing a gimp suit - that sort of stuff. Things that definitely say "yeah, you're in a videogame". Goofy fun.
GTA4, by all accounts is missing this.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.