469 réponses à ce sujet

[Morroian]

prazision wrote...

Well then, I would say that if BioWare want me to preorder the game, they should put enough information out there to give me a good idea of the quality/quantity of the story, the companions, and the gameplay.
As it stands today, I know more about Skyrim and Arkham City - games that are nearly a year away - than I do about DA2.

I've said in the past that IMHO there is clearly enough information to pre-order. If you're still not convinced then its because you don't think the game will be good based on the information to date but you're still hoping to be convinced otherwise. The fact that other games may have more information available is irrelevant. 

[AlanC9]

prazision wrote...

Well then, I would say that if BioWare want me to preorder the game, they should put enough information out there to give me a good idea of the quality/quantity of the story, the companions, and the gameplay.
As it stands today, I know more about Skyrim and Arkham City - games that are nearly a year away - than I do about DA2.

Really? Well, it's easy to know who all the companions are in Skyrim, I guess. What more did you need to know about DA2?

If preorders are their main source of revenue (which I honestly doubt, as they have said that they intend to get literally millions of new fans to buy this game, and new fans are not the ones who preorder) then why are they so coy as to not even answer simple questions as "who are all the companions"?
They are certainly not going to get preorders from new fans with this little information available.

This is a bit confused. They're not going to get preorders from new fans. But more preorders = more retailer orders, and hence more EA/Bio profit; kind of a wacky business model on both sides, but so it goes.

[prazision]

I know that more preorders = more retailer orders, but BioWare has said they want to sell nearly 10 million units of this game. Well over half of those would have to be new fans, and a tiny fraction are preorders.

Why are they being so coy about releasing screenshots, gameplay and plot info, and core system details? The average consumer doesn't say "I know almost nothing about this game, I think I'll buy it!" They're more likely to take a chance on games with demos (Dead Space 2) or extensive showcasing of features (LittleBigPlanet 2) or in-depth developer interviews which definitively answer questions (Human Revolution).

Frankly is DA2 does not even have a demo available in the next month I will begin to suspect they're doing damage control for a game that turned out worse than planned (blame it on the short dev cycle if you want).

[Morroian]

prazision wrote...

I know that more preorders = more retailer orders, but BioWare has said they want to sell nearly 10 million units of this game. Well over half of those would have to be new fans, and a tiny fraction are preorders.
Why are they being so coy about releasing screenshots, gameplay and plot info, and core system details?

They aren't being coy. All that information was released, perhaps with the exception of plot details, prior to the pre-order for SE date. And with plot being so important with Bioware games I don't blame them for not wanting to spoil it too much. I think they've released broad brush details of the major conflicts though. 

[Merci357]

prazision wrote...

Frankly is DA2 does not even have a demo available in the next month I will begin to suspect they're doing damage control for a game that turned out worse than planned (blame it on the short dev cycle if you want).

Has there been any BioWare game with a demo before release? The ME2 demo came long after release (though the PS3 has a demo available right now), DA:O had no demo, just the character creator, ME/JE have both no demo. So I guess there were doing damage control all the time?

I agree, they could and should show more footage for those who are on the fence - you can easily not watch them to avoid spoilers. But there were the two making of trailers, the combat trailer - and we are still two month away from release. Some time left to start the full hype machinery I'd say.

[prazision]

BioWare didn't do demos in the past because they weren't an industry standard. Demos are expected for AAA titles now, because statistics have shown that console gamers (the largest market by far) are buying less and less new games every year.

You can keep blinders on all you want, but some of us are old enough to remember the video game crash of 1984. Things will probably never be quite that bad again, but there are a lot of issues with the game industry that need to be addressed, and consumer unrest is at an all-time high.

[Vicious]

On the contrary, this will probably make them a lot more money.

Microtransactions are a sound business. That is why they are becoming more and more popular. They are not becoming more popular because nobody buys them, after all!

Frankly is DA2 does not even have a demo available in the next month I will begin to suspect they're doing damage control for a game that turned out worse than planned.

Looks like a troll statement to me. Literally just making things up when Bioware has never put out a demo before a game was released that I can remember.

You can keep blinders on all you want,

Yep. Troll speak. The person you are arguing with is also blind. Then you say

want, but some of us are old enough to remember

Ugh. /thread

Modifié par Vicious, 14 janvier 2011 - 03:39 .

[AlanC9]

prazision wrote...

Frankly is DA2 does not even have a demo available in the next month I will begin to suspect they're doing damage control for a game that turned out worse than planned (blame it on the short dev cycle if you want).

This is silly. DAO didn't have a demo at all. Neither did ME1 or KotOR. ME2 had a demo after the game was released. I believe NWN1 had a post-release demo as well (plus the toolset prerelease). I don't think Bio's done a prerelease demo since they put BG2's Chateau Irenicus on a CGW bonus disc.


Edit: yeah, I guess I was late there.

Bryy, you called this a couple pages ago. prazision's trying to present a moving target, I guess.

Modifié par AlanC9, 14 janvier 2011 - 03:53 .

[AlanC9]

Just out of curiosity....

prazision wrote...

Why are they being so coy about releasing screenshots, gameplay and plot info, and core system details?

... are you saying that you actually want more spoilers?

[Onyx Jaguar]

Way back in this thread before I ragequit I think that lead me to the initial my eyes are burning out of my skull



Why would plot info be important!



I don't want to know what happens in Inception before I see it! Even knowing what it was about takes away some of the intrigue.

[prazision]

Almost no games used to have demos. Now almost all of them do. How this concept is being misunderstood is beyond me.

I'm a troll because I think BioWare has released too little information about a game that's 2 months away from release, and because I think it's a dirty tactic to end the Signature Edition bonus before anyone has much info at all about the game?

Keep on cheerleading and defending your favorite company. I get the impression you guys would pay $100 for this game on Day One if they asked you to.

[Onyx Jaguar]

back in my day we had shareware which was 1/3 of the game for free, it was awesome

[Morroian]

prazision wrote...

Almost no games used to have demos. Now almost all of them do. How this concept is being misunderstood is beyond me.
I'm a troll because I think BioWare has released too little information about a game that's 2 months away from release, and because I think it's a dirty tactic to end the Signature Edition bonus before anyone has much info at all about the game?

Anyone? I haven't seen too many complaints about not enough info being available. 

[JigPig]

prazision wrote...

because statistics have shown that console gamers (the largest market by far) are buying less and less new games every year..

Burden of proof, link me to these "statistics"

[surfgirlusa_2006]

Morroian wrote...

Anyone? I haven't seen too many complaints about not enough info being available. 

It definitely picked up a lot in the last few days before the SE preorder period ended, which made me happy.


In my opinion, the way info is being released is simply a sound marketing strategy. If you give away all of the information too early, people lose interest and the game falls off the radar. If you are able to provide tidbits of information consistently until launch without spoiling the plot, you maintain that interest. 

[TheMadCat]

Morroian wrote...
I've said in the past that IMHO there is clearly enough information to pre-order. If you're still not convinced then its because you don't think the game will be good based on the information to date but you're still hoping to be convinced otherwise. The fact that other games may have more information available is irrelevant. 

Clearly enough for you and whomever else pre-ordered perhaps, certainly hasn't been enough for me to commit to a $60 game months before release.

[AlanC9]

prazision wrote...

Almost no games used to have demos. Now almost all of them do. How this concept is being misunderstood is beyond me.

I'm going to have to ask you to show your work on the "almost all" part there. IIRC Red Dead Redemption and FO3 didn't have demos. Actually, I can't remember any recent RPG with a prerelease demo.

[JigPig]

TheMadCat wrote...

Morroian wrote...
I've said in the past that IMHO there is clearly enough information to pre-order. If you're still not convinced then its because you don't think the game will be good based on the information to date but you're still hoping to be convinced otherwise. The fact that other games may have more information available is irrelevant. 

Clearly enough for you and whomever else pre-ordered perhaps, certainly hasn't been enough for me to commit to a $60 game months before release.

Woe is me, here I was thinking you could cancel pre-orders up to a day before the game ships.
I've been fooled!

[AlanC9]

TheMadCat wrote...


Clearly enough for you and whomever else pre-ordered perhaps, certainly hasn't been enough for me to commit to a $60 game months before release.

I don't have a good feeling for this since I never preorder anything. What sort of info could a developer release that would get you to preorder? Or are you strictly a wait-for-reviews type?


And yeah, JigPig, right -- there's no financial commitment in preordering.

Modifié par AlanC9, 14 janvier 2011 - 04:52 .

[TheMadCat]

JigPig wrote...

Woe is me, here I was thinking you could cancel pre-orders up to a day before the game ships.
I've been fooled!

You can, unless you're like me and buy games digitally.

AlanC9 wrote...
I don't have a good feeling for this
since I never preorder anything. What sort of info could a developer
release that would get you to preorder? Or are you strictly a
wait-for-reviews type?

I like opinions, and it's impossible to get a wide assortment of opinions months prior to release.

Modifié par TheMadCat, 14 janvier 2011 - 04:54 .

[JigPig]

TheMadCat wrote...

JigPig wrote...

Woe is me, here I was thinking you could cancel pre-orders up to a day before the game ships.
I've been fooled!

You can, unless you're like me and buy games digitally.

Which online retailer are you pre-ordering from? Because from my personal experiance you can cancel pre-orders in Steam, all you have to do is a send in a support ticket and they'll cancel it.*

*Experiance may very, I've done it twice, both times it was instantly canceled.

[TheMadCat]

JigPig wrote...

Which online retailer are you pre-ordering from? Because from my personal experiance you can cancel pre-orders in Steam, all you have to do is a send in a support ticket and they'll cancel it.*

*Experiance may very, I've done it twice, both times it was instantly canceled.

Only one I tried cancelling was from D2D, and they told me they don't cancel pre-orders. This was a few years back, maybe their policy has changed.

[AlanC9]

Hmm... didn't know that digital buyers can't cancel. That sucks. But do you have to buy digitally?What's the advantage, anyway?

[AlanC9]

TheMadCat wrote...

I like opinions, and it's impossible to get a wide assortment of opinions months prior to release.

OK -- so preorders are out of the question for you, period. You could have put that in your first post, you know.

Modifié par AlanC9, 14 janvier 2011 - 05:03 .

[TheMadCat]

AlanC9 wrote...

Hmm... didn't know that digital buyers can't cancel. That sucks. But do you have to buy digitally?What's the advantage, anyway?

I don't have to, but I prefer it unless it's simply not possible. Personally I do it for product security and ease of access and storage, I used to do a ton of moving and traveling so it made life easy then and I've just stuck with it because it still makes life easy.

Modifié par TheMadCat, 14 janvier 2011 - 05:17 .