» Sun Apr 25, 2010 3:08 pm
the amount of unfinished games i've paid 60+ € for has exploded recently.
and the multiplayer is more often affected than not - and i really don't get that.
online gaming has been going on for years, when a new game is announced, the question "does it have multiplayer" usually doesn't has to be asked, multiplayer is standard (at least in the shooter business) and more than that, it is a main seller. so there's a lot of experience out there, when it comes to the technical side/programming a good multiplayer engine. and any publishers like EA should have zillions hours of experience with multiplayer issues, especially regarding hardware and customer connectivity AND the issues that come with those.
i cannot understand how a recent releases can have such troubles in mp when the game is finally out. i think it can and should be expected to at least be technically able to connect ingame to a server with people that match my connection as close as possible and provide a stable connectionto the server until the game is finished. gameplay should make the difference between different games, not server issues. i cannot accept a (common) connectivity/matchmaking issue, not when there's a ton of evidence-based good examples of how-to-do-it-(finally)-right out there. selling a game with issues like this is like selling a car with a faulty engine. crysis2 models tend to break down. crytek currently acts as if that's totally normal. nothing to mention.
hell yeah it is! i must not like the ride, but i can expect that it drives!
killzone 3 had a bad start too, despite one patch on release date, dealing with issues known from the beta, that didn't make it onto the disc in time. but it was available on release - fair enough. a second patch dealing with other beta and new issues followed within a week after that.
GG also maintains contact to the players/customers via their own and psn forums. even more in touch with their community: bungie. halo is constantly updated not only with patches, but also new game modes, based on community feedback.
i don't want to rant about how someone does something better (cod does almost everything wrong, btw (it get's boring really fast)), but the problems i adress are BASIC problems. with the amount of experience out there, i think, they are even avoidable and i think it's "eine Frechheit" to sell a product like this! the mp issues and the reaction from crytek are just this: an ambitious-but-not-quite-finished product and REALLY bad customer service.