Today, Steam started taking pre-orders for MW2. A lot of people are annoyed about the $60 price tag, the lack of dedicated servers and so on. To those people I say: quit whinging. You could be in NZ or Aussie and pay $90 (US!) for it instead! Frankly, that sucks. It's 150% of the US price! I can just about understand that kinda disparity in a bricks and mortar store (where you have storage, shipping, staff, rent, etc), but on steam? Well, I won't be buying it. I'm sure that won't make a tiny bit of difference to Activision. I'm a pc gamer in NZ, which makes my demographic fraction of a fraction of their sales. Still I'll be off enjoying L4D2, which cost me NZ$45 instead of NZ$120. So [razz] to you activision, you're pretty much the only publisher on steam who does this. Oh and congrats, gearbox! A space just opened up in my schedule for Borderlands!

Its a bland, unoriginal, entirely dross shooter in any case. Activision is only shooting themselves in the foot by pulling a continuing string of shenanigans with it, something that will backfire when the gamers get their hands on it and pan it.

Although they may have created the Madden of the shooter world by developing a product that appeals solely to the bland and unthinking masses of the common gamer, there will come a day when even they will be unable to "fanboy it up" around Infinity Wards releases, and the series descends to join all other run of the mill, drained sequel-series'.


As for Borderlands, I have had it on my "Buy at any cost" list for several years now. But to be honest, the bullcaca they've pulled on the PC gamer by delaying it for a week solely to sell more console copies, and then using a particularly restrictive version of securom to prevent those who bought it from street-date breaking retailers from playing, has left a foul taste in my mouth.

Thus, I have canceled my pre-order and will be playing it tomorrow when the securom is broken rather than paying for it. I've no need to support such shenanigans. Dragons Age, now there is something that got my money and fast.

I <3 bobby kotick

You can always buy a used copy on amazon. If not, can't you just buy it from an online US store and pay US 60$ instead?

Quote: Original post by rian carnarvon
Its a bland, unoriginal, entirely dross shooter in any case. Activision is only shooting themselves in the foot by pulling a continuing string of shenanigans with it, something that will backfire when the gamers get their hands on it and pan it.

Although they may have created the Madden of the shooter world by developing a product that appeals solely to the bland and unthinking masses of the common gamer, there will come a day when even they will be unable to "fanboy it up" around Infinity Wards releases, and the series descends to join all other run of the mill, drained sequel-series'.

Yeah, cos the original Modern Warfare got terrible reviews and barely sold at all. Oh no wait, you're completely wrong. Even Yahtzee, who pans almost every game, gave a good review (actually he called it "really excellent gun wank", which is practically fawning by his standards). Besides, the quality of the game is not the issue.

dpadam450, I dunno if I can. Amazon have some fairly restrictive policies when it comes to selling anything that's not a book or a cd outside the states.

edit: Yep, just checked and amazon won't ship it outside the US.

Quote:
As for Borderlands, I have had it on my "Buy at any cost" list for several years now. But to be honest, the bullcaca they've pulled on the PC gamer by delaying it for a week solely to sell more console copies, and then using a particularly restrictive version of securom to prevent those who bought it from street-date breaking retailers from playing, has left a foul taste in my mouth.

Thus, I have canceled my pre-order and will be playing it tomorrow when the securom is broken rather than paying for it. I've no need to support such shenanigans.

So you aren't buying it because they aren't letting people play it before it is released? What people come up with to justify piracy...

[Edited by - Joeyotrevor on October 22, 2009 10:28:05 PM]

Quote: Original post by dpadam450
You can always buy a used copy on amazon. If not, can't you just buy it from an online US store and pay US 60$ instead?

I wouldn't reccommend buying a used copy of a PC game -- you'll likely get "CD Key in use" errors when you go online!

Australia has access to some cheap Asian importers who buy US stock and sell it over here with cut-throat mark-ups.
E.g. You can get it here for AU$62 instead of Steam's US$90!!!
http://www.cdwow.com.au/games/PC/CALL-OF-DUTY-MODERN-WARFARE-2/dp/4759415#bc=3283

Quote: Original post by ChaosEngine
Even Yahtzee, who pans almost every game, gave a good review (actually he called it "really excellent gun wank", which is practically fawning by his standards). Besides, the quality of the game is not the issue.

Totally agree, CoD4 had great a cinematic experience, a ridiculously balanced multi-player, and great responsiveness and net-code (the story is generic pulp compared to a novel, but it's a masterpiece compared to Quake ;))

CoD6 might have been the same (SP will probably be just as cinematic), but the MP is ruined for most of the world now.

You can always import your game visa a channel like Play-Asia. PC games having next to no difference from one country to the other makes it even easier.

Modern Warfare 2

I'm getting borderlands from there for a much more cost effective $60AUS. Even when you include postage it's cheaper then buying it off the shelf in my own country.

Quote: Original post by Joeyotrevor

Quote:
As for Borderlands, I have had it on my "Buy at any cost" list for several years now. But to be honest, the bullcaca they've pulled on the PC gamer by delaying it for a week solely to sell more console copies, and then using a particularly restrictive version of securom to prevent those who bought it from street-date breaking retailers from playing, has left a foul taste in my mouth.

Thus, I have canceled my pre-order and will be playing it tomorrow when the securom is broken rather than paying for it. I've no need to support such shenanigans.

So you aren't buying it because they aren't letting people play it before it is released? What people come up with to justify piracy...

I'm not buying it because they have decided to punish legitimate users, as usual, with something that does absolutely nothing to deter piracy. If I paid money for it, I expect to be able to play it. Whether the street date was broken or not matters not at all when you have shelled out $60 and have it installed and ready to go. If I bought a new car, should I be forbidden from driving it for a week just because that model hasn't "hit the street"?

Delaying it just to sell more on the 360 & PS3, and then slapping the PC version with virulent Securom, insinuates that PC owners matter dick all to Gearbox & 2K. Like I said, I had a pre-order. But since I'm going to be treated like a filthy second-class pirate anyways, I might as well download the securom purged version that will be up on TPB tomorrow and save my money for a game whose developers don't feel the need to treat the PC audience like pariahs.

I'll donate the $60 to Love instead, a far better cause.

Quote: Original post by rian carnarvon
But since I'm going to be treated like a filthy second-class pirate anyways, I might as well download the securom purged version that will be up on TPB tomorrow and save my money for a game whose developers don't feel the need to treat the PC audience like pariahs.

If you were really principled you'd actually not play it at all. As it is, the only message you'll be sending is, "I want to play things for free." Needless to say, I don't feel that piracy is a valid, or principled, response to a company's decisions.