Posts by Fletch

  • Borderlands

    Quote from dux

    Well with the mess they made of Bioshock's release I can only shudder at the name of 2k. I'm sure it won't happen again but it sure has put a dent in their name.

    While I agree that the copy protection stuff was bullshit, it didn't impact 99% of the market. The only people it affected were the ones who tried to install it more than 5 times within the first week. Hmmmmm. Wonder who those people are....

    And the fuss made about aspect ratios was also a bunch of Kotaku/Shack bullshit from whiney ass kids who don't come out of their parents' basements. It also happens to be the default rendering behavior for Unreal 3, so it's amazing how none of them cared that it happened with R6:Vegas. Let's see if people notice when it happens with Gears PC and UT3.

  • Medal of Honor: Airborne Demo

    I just ran around screaming "I'M BOYD TRAVERS, MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!" a lot. It was fun for a lark, though. I can see how they're getting away with the sandbox gameplay, because the sandbox is pretty small, and you just get a starter objective based upon where you land (can't fault them, it's a solid design solution).

  • Silicon Knights sues Epic Games

    Quote from Defrag

    I think that's a very good point. Even when modding, I'm up on my soapbox bitterly complaining about a free SDK. God knows what I'd be like if I was paying for it

    I'll be honest. UE3 crashes on me at least once a day. Some of that is our fault for stuff we've put in. Some of it is Epic's. BUT! I'm fine with it. Sure, it's annoying, but I've got autosaves and source control to backup my shit, and the ease and power of the overall workflow more than make up for the little problems.

    That being said, it will be interesting to see how the mod community responds to the new tools, because it's a huge jump in complexity for almost everything. It's like throwing modders into the deep end with weights tied to their ankles.

  • Interview with Garry on Shacknews

    First off, let's have a little history lesson: Jim Jones had a cult called The Peoples Temple in a quaint little place called Jonestown. He had them all drink poisoned Kool Aid at gun point. Hence the phrase "Don't drink the Kool Aid" being introduced into popular culture in reference to not agreeing with a position just because everybody else does. Then again, I have the sneaking suspicion you're about 15, so this is probably over your head.

    I never disagreed with Step's comment that Garry doesn't lead a big mod team. I just thought it was fucking hilarious to come up with that position coming from Insurgency. I guess you just don't appreciate my sense of humor. My utmost fake apologies.

  • Interview with Garry on Shacknews

    Well first off, I never called INS shitty in any way shape or form. I think it looks nice and has some definite room for improvement in terms of gameplay (good base is there).

    I took offense to them taking potshots at Garry just because he's not drinking their Kool Aid.

  • Interview with Garry on Shacknews

    Quote from Steppenwolf

    He doesn't know what it means to manage dozens of people and create something that is really complex in the making.

    Because a mod that took 5 years to produce anything really needs to lecture other people about proper project management....

  • Interview with Garry on Shacknews

    Quote from dux

    Garry is really popular here at insurgency.Cough.

    Quote from Steppenwolf

    Garry knows jack shit about developing a big mod.

    Just because Insurgency took 5 years to release anything doesn't mean you have to be bitter about it.

    As for all the "haters" taking pot shost at GMod and Insect Invasion for releasing buggy versions, I'll take this moment to remind you that they're doing exactly what mod's are supposed to do: release early, release often. People are so concerned with being CS or DoD right out of the gate, they completely forget that CS and DoD both started as shitty, ugly, buggy mods. CS Beta 1 could barely stay up on a server for an entire map. DoD Beta 1 would randomly spawn you at the wrong base with no weapons. If you're a mod, you can probably test with your mod team and close friends, but you can't afford a full QA staff, so just release the damn thing and let players and server admins submit bugs to you so you have real world data about what is causing breaks. Figure it out, patch it, move on to the next release. You don't have to be out of the gate with 30 weapons, 10 player models, and a dozen maps. Get a beta out with working game mechanics, a few player models, and a few maps. Grow from there. It is the one advantage that mods have over retail products. You can be nimble and release as you go. If you don't take advantage of that one thing, you're just shooting yourself in the foot. Think of it this way: who do you think is a better candidate for a job? The guy who releases a mod on a set schcedule and is able to grow it over the years? Or the guy who sits on the same mod for the same time period and only has one thing to show for it?

    But hey... go ahead and rag of Garry. I'm sure he'd be happy to compare download and server stats with you.

  • Silicon Knights sues Epic Games

    Quote from ReNo

    They aren't the only ones to complain though - Koei cite issues with UE3 as their reason for dropping/delaying/whatever they are now doing with Fatal Inertia on the PS3, and Phil Harrison from Sony also said that the engine does have troubles with the PS3. Not really related of course given that both of those are PS3 specific and Too Human is a 360 game, but figured it was worth mentioning.

    I agree that the current usability of UE3 on the PS3 is suspect. A lot of that blame is on Sony's head, though. PS3 test kits were late in coming to almost every studio I know of, and they weren't exactly stable even when they were delivered. They're also the odd-man out when it comes to development. If you can get something running on the 360, it's not a huge jump to the PC.

    But again, none of that is SK's problem. If you've gotten to the point that the only way to salvage your game is to litigate, you've got some big issues to work out.

  • Silicon Knights sues Epic Games

    Quote from Bl1tz

    It's pretty hard to imagine Epic being able to support the vast number of issues that I'm sure cropped up amongst the legions of developers who licensed the tech with only 75 people total at the company.

    They did it with a whole lot less with Unreal 2 tech for half a decade. Seriously. They're talented, end of story on that. Anybody that tries to convince you that that a game studio must absolutely have 400 people to produce a next gen title is either lazy, lacking vision, or a combination of both.

    I've read the complaint and it's a mixed bag. Yeah, SK has some valid complaints. The problem is their valid complaints are fairly minor, and happen to be floating in a sea of wild accusations and crazy demands. It makes it harder to take the valid complaints seriously when they do that.

    UE3 isn't finished. Anybody developing on that knows it. Hell, it's even in the licensing agreement. We know what's in the pipeline for the next few months, and everybody just has to make judgments about what to do with their game. It is however shippable. As with any tech, it's going to get better and faster as time goes on and efficiencies are added. The same thing happened with UE2.

    SK's problems seem to stem from the fact that they can't seem to take responsibility for their product. It's not like E3 sneaks up on anybody. You know months ahead of time what engine build you'll be running off of and what you want to show. It's up to you to take care of your shit and get it running. If it's getting close to E3 and you don't think you can make your demo shine, then hack some features and cap a video at 30 fps so that you can at least show the promise you're going for. A good video with no demo trumps a shitty demo in most cases. There were a half dozen UE3 games running at the E3 in question, and SK seemed to be the only ones who fucked up. Furthermore, the fact that they had a bad E3 and then weren't able to rectify it for this year's E3 is just sad. At some point, somebody at SK needs to sit down and say "Wait, shouldn't we try to actually have a good E3 this year and wash away the bad taste from last year?"

    It will be interesting to see this play out. If it actually makes it to court, I have a feeling a lot of complaints will be thrown out during the discovery phase because it will be difficult to prove a lot of vague things like "perceived public relations damage" in a jury trial. It would be akin to somebody not winning an Oscar so they sue the Academy for damages. IT amounts to whining, and it's hard to press that case to a jury (if they had gone to a mediator or a judge instead of requesting a jury trial, this would be different).