What Would Matt Do

Indeed they do.

What Would Matt Do: Well, I guess I’d really like to play the game that they make that doesn’t require me to a good book to read…when they make that game, let me know. Until then, I’ll agree, HARDEN THE FUCK UP!

From /. games:

Now, Nintendo has pushed a boot2 update to all Wii users, and the results are what was expected: users are reporting bricks after installing 4.2 on unmodified consoles. Nintendo is currently attempting to censor posts and remove references to homebrew. It is worth noting that the new boot2 does not attempt to block anything or offer any additional protection or functionality. Its sole purpose is to simply replace current versions which may or may not have been modified with BootMii. Another interesting tidbit is that Nintendo is not believed to have any method to repair this kind of brick at a factory, short of replacing the entire motherboard."

So in their haste to combat those .01% Wii users (my guesstimate of homebrew users), they are releasing code that could brick a Wii AND they may not have anyway other than sending in the system to get it fixed?

Why is it all right for regular users to suffer to combat a very small percentage of the users that do things with their console that Nintendo doesn’t approve of? We all know, even Nintendo knows, that you can’t stop piracy/homebrew/etc with mere software updates. The pirates are crafty and will just release a new version of their software. So why does Nintendo spend so much time working against them, at the expense of their bigger customer base?

I don’t know. I hope Nintendo knows. Because this is irresponsible at best.

What Would Matt Do: Wonder why Nintendo is so headstrong to get pirates when they represent such a small part of their console owners… I mean, I know companies don’t like it when people steal their shit. That’s a given. But is this course worth it? What next, Nintendo will start releasing updates that make your promise you’re not a pirate before you use console? Because that’s about how effective these updates are, except regular paying customers are also being hit with the flack.

I just saw this link being passed around by Game Politics. It’s simple, short and really gets the point across:

it looks like Stardock CEO Brad Wardell has taken the boycott a step further. According to the Angry Bear blog, Wardell has announced on his Facebook page that he is now boycotting UPS because they pulled their ads from Fox. He said Stardock does "a non-trivial amount of shipping with UPS" and if they did not change their position, he was taking Stardock’s business to FedEx.

The point? Brad Wardell, CEO of Stardock, makers of great games like Galactic Civ, publisher of Demigod, and developer of upcoming Elemental is now supporting a seriously insane man.

The main point? I’m no longer advocating nor supporting anything Stardock is involved with. Sadly enough.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m for each to their own, but when you take it from your opinion to your company line, that changes things. For instance, I have a mechanic who I’ve been with for years now. One of the most honest, good mechanics I’ve ever met (Trust me, it’s hard to find a good mechanic) who also is a serious republican and a huge supporter of McCain. But at no point did he make me start supporting his views, donating to his charities, or stop using companies because they didn’t agree with his views.

If you can’t get have separation between your radically awful ideas and your company, then I can no longer support you or your activities. Maybe every company should be polliticially driven and advocate for their guys and their ideas…but until recently, Stardock wasn’t, even though Brad Wardell was.

That has changed and so has my opinion of the company. So, with that, I won’t be buying any more Stardock games. Plain and simple.

What Would Matt Do: I’ll stop anticipating Elemental and stop caring what else Stardock does. A very sad day in gaming.

I haven’t been posting as much, as you may or may not have noticed. That isn’t so much because I haven’t wanted to, but more because I wanted to shift the focus of the site. Mainly just from the angry tone to a more mindful one. It is what it is.

That said, fuck CCP. How dare they try to make me break my no MMOs on the console rule. Much less my general lack of interest in FPS (CoD4 and any FPS you can play coop exluded…of course) games on the console. How are they doing it? By do something not many in the industry are even aware you can do, trying something different. That’s right, they are going to attempt a new idea. They will take an FPS with RTS attributes and tie it into their already existing MMO. They claim the following:

The team-based game has the player "fighting in a massive war" on existing planets in the EVE Online universe, and is a standalone MMO title, "but is also connected to EVE," according to the CCP boss.

In fact, when Dust 514 launches, the map of EVE, currently divined only by player structures owned in the PC game, will also take into account infantry successes and failures within the console game. Players in the PC MMO can "fund mercenaries and give them goals" in the console title.

CCP’s Petursson hope that "these communities will meld over time," expecting specific Dust 514 corporations to start with, but eventually social structures that bridge across the two. He quipped of the new game and the relationship between the two titles: "While the fleet does the flying, the infantry does the dying."

As I’m reading The Prince even (four books all about the future of humans and the military exploits of one John Christian Falkenburg. It’s a history of the universe created in The Mote In God’s Eye, another must read. The Prince is a great read if you like military and sci fi. Also does a very interesting and greatly detailed look at future and social issues), so I’m already in sci-fi military mood. What a bunch of complete shits to try something so interesting, one MMO linked to another, with the second being the land battles of the first (at least in theory), that I’m going to have to pay serious attention and maybe break my own personal rules on console gaming.

God, I can’t stand these CCP bastards.

What Would Matt Do: So that better, right?

Or it might be titled, "How EA acts like douches and profits". Here’s the deal. EA posted a new ad campaign right before Comic Con. That particular ad campaign suggested that people at Comic Con find a booth babe and commit an act of lust. I kid you not. Now, of course, in the finer print, they define that as taking a picture with a booth babe.

If you’re new to the video game culture, you might not know that at many major shows the game industry is involved in, they get hot girls to dress up in skimpy and/or tight fighting clothes as either a) some ridiculous character from whatever game they are promoting or b) just a hot girl in small clothes. Ok, booth babe defined. They are the girls that look good to bring in the geeks to the booth and the advertising for whatever game. Yes, it’s much like a car show in that regard. Usually the girls aren’t dressed quite as racy as car shows, but the idea is the same. Whatever your opinion is regarding booth babes, they do exist and they probably aren’t going anywhere anytime soon (they were banned from E3 for one year total before being brought back). Personally, I love me some beautiful ladies dressed up cosplay costumes. I’m not saying that makes it right or that women aren’t being objectified, they obviously are. And to be fair, LOTS of people are dressing up in costumes for these cons, so it kind of fits in.

Whatever the case though, the women working there have a job to do and from what I can see, a fair number of them enjoy it. It’s not like they are forced to be there…well, anymore than I’m forced to be at my job. I do like eating and paying my bills. So, we have these women working a show in tiny clothes with…not always socially well adjusted people. They get pawed, groped, etc from to time. I’ve heard bad stories and I’ve heard good stories.

Here’s where the problem comes in… EA just asked people to commit acts of lust targeted at booth babes for some dumb marketing campaign for their new game where they destroy Daunte’s Inferno (er, bring it to gamers). So now the women working these shows have to deal with added group of people that aren’t always particular socially adjusted and are looking to get pictures of themselves doing whatever they can for a contest to win…a pretend date with some other hot ladies. Great. Go fucking EA. Pretty much par for the course for you guys. They even tried to sound somewhat contrite when it was pointed out…not very convincingly.

Here’s the real problem… the fucking ad campaign worked. Just look around the web. Coverage from the big guys, to the little guys, everyone weighing in, most saying what jackasses EA are, some defending them. Some were so over eager in their defense, the articles they had up about mere days ago have been erased from the site as if it never existed. Yeah, I’m looking at you, BioBreak. No worries, it was an exceedingly dumb article anyway. My favorite gaming blogger (and he should be yours) makes some good connections and points. We’ve also got jackass comments from people claiming to be developers even though they haven’t released a game in 10+ years about how it’s not such a big deal…

What does it all boil down to? EA wins. That’s right, it all comes down to, no matter what booth babes had to deal with or whoever won the contest (best runner up…because he’s declining the reward), EA got exactly what they wanted out of it. Publicity and coverage. That’s awesome. Congrats EA, your marketing team really knows how to generate controversy. To bad your game dev teams can’t make good games (mostly) in the 9 month development schedule you give them. You’d think for all of the money they spent marketing and loving up on this damn game, they could at least make sure the game will be good. It being EA, and the source material considered, I call it now. It’ll suck. Too bad their PR machine is just starting up, this being only the second realm of hell and all… Maybe five different annoying campaigns from now people will catch on. Maybe.

What Would Matt Do: I’ll play along obviously. I’m doing the same as everyone else, promoting EA’s bullshit. I even play their games from to time. Doesn’t mean I’m going to get all crazy on their marketing tactics or really care about the game. I think that’s the thing EA doesn’t realize. By doing all of this, they aren’t just keeping the game in the minds of most gamers, they are making themselves, and their game by extension, look cheesy and juvenile. Could, just may be, potentially, that the game won’t get enough development time and has a very low chance of being a good game. Nah, that doesn’t matter, lets just pimp it and push it out.