And so the gaming apocalypse continues. Today we have a butchers at some of the more intriguing news titbits that are meandering about the halls of cassa de Internet like loitering drunkards outside a brewery. The theme of the day, and in fact most of the last couple of weeks, seems to be sadness, rage, revenge, and fan revolt. Sounds like we’ve got all the parts that add up to a fascinating equation – time for a bit of Grig-anomitry!
Backlash abound!
Now, if there’s one thing Capcom can be relieved about in the wake of being brutally exposed as scum recently, it’s that there was an even bigger giant lining up to be felled that released the same day as SFxTekken, and which absorbed even more of the fan-rage intensified heat! Mass Effect 3. Yeah, that’s right. The Grig ain’t scared to wade in on a war no matter how unprepared we are, having not played it and all. Besides, it’s by EA which rules the prospect of purchase out automatically. But with a good two hours under our belts on the pre-EA infected Mass Effect 1 (one hour on our first go… and the other replaying from the start again coz we got bored and restarted months later. And then stopped again.), could there be any fellows more suited to comment on such a news piece?!
Now its likely not escaped your attention that the Internet has been ablaze with people unhappy with the day one DLC schemery of EA. But the issue grinding the fans grig even more, seems to be the ending of ME3. And by jove, they’ve certainly been voicing their opinions! In fact, the sheer wealth of people in threads worldwide have been so numerous that they’ve even eclipsed the amount of people leaving messages calling them ‘whiny’, and in Internet terms, when you outnumber people complaining about complaining, you know somethings really up. Indeed, the fans were rampant as they let people know far and wide how let down they’d felt after three lengthly games. Yeah, we’d seen backlashes like this before, but never of this magnitude. However, in a rather spiffing twist, people who signed a petition requesting a new ending also raised $30,000 for charity in donations. Good show gentlemen!
And the results? Well, for all you furious Mass debaters out there, all your protesting may actually get you what you’re after!
A statement made over the weekend detailing how no new ending would see the light of day has been taken down and instead, Bioware have given the following statement on its Facebook page that gives angry punters a glimmer of hope.
“We are aware that there are concerns about a recent post from this account regarding the ending of the game. In this post it was stated that at this time we do not have plans to change the ending. We would like to clarify that we are actively and seriously taking all player feedback into consideration and have ruled nothing out. At this time we are still collecting and considering your feedback and have not made a decision regarding requests to change the ending. Your feedback and opinions are of the utmost importance to us. We apologize for any confusion this has caused. Our top priority regarding this discussion is to keep communication with you, our loyal fans, open and productive.”
Interesting. Smells a little like the grinding gears of pedals in reverse to me. However, bowing to pressure or not, all in all, it sounds positive for the fans hoping for more. And at least Bioware are doing something to appease their fan base, unlike current-gen super-villain Capcom. Speaking of which…
PKE readings are off the chart! This kind of slime can only be Capcom!
Not wanting to give Capcom or their terrible practices much more thought, it has at least been entertaining watching people begin to take the hacked 12 ‘new’ SFxTekken characters online, much to Capcoms displeasure. In fact, it displeased them so much that Capcom put their best man on the case, Christian Svensson! He took to Capcom-Unity to begin his investigation and fielded questions about the extent of Capcoms knowledge regarding the use of the 12 disc encased captives!
“Yes, we’re seeing news of this. Quite ballsy for folks to be taking hacked Xbox 360s on Live where they are detectable.”
Ballsy indeed. Nearly as ballsy as a company wronging and outraging an entire fanbase with greedy business practices creating one of the biggest backlashes in the history of games. Anyway…
“In any event, we already have opened channels of communication with Microsoft on these issues Friday night. If you can capture screens or video of this in action (as some have already) we’re working on bans for boxes and accounts with Microsoft for haxxors.”
Well, at least their collaborating with Microsoft on something at last. What will Sony think?! I guess a couple of extra characters while they’re at it is a little too much to hope for. Anyhoo…
So in order to catch these vagabonds of injustice, Capcom are relying… on the people who they’ve screwed over? Rather hilarious really considering a brief glance over a few threads on Capcom Unity are unanimous in their conclusions that Capcom are getting what they deserve. And needless to say, Detective Inspector Svensson didn’t quite get the support that he was perhaps looking for as he exasperatedly locked the thread meant for the grassing up of the online folk that dared to expose Capcoms money-grubbing scheme, concluding with the line “We’ll catch them ourselves.”
Its funny how people aren’t willing to help, isn’t it Capcom? Maybe its because YOU are the bad guys? Still, I bet the hackers are quaking in their boots (except they’re not).
Game over?
So to conclude today’s news of nuggetry-like helpings, it seems like the axe is well and truly hanging over Game’s head after a rescue package for the troubled outfit was rejected. Obviously, this is something that’s been on the cards for a while, but recent reports seem to suggest that the chain is now on the absolute verge of collapse. From stories of having insufficient credit to buy in stock, to rumours of buyers having come and gone, to even resorting to a fire sale (that actually could have been better), it’s certainly been a torrid time for them. Alas, these troubles have amassed to the point where all attempts to steady the ship now appear to all be in vain and the end of the line is really here.
Whatever you think of Game, it’s gonna be weird having the chain gone. It certainly served me well over the years, if at times only as a refuge from having to be dragged in to Top Shop and the like. I cant say i was a big customer, or even, a customer, as it’s true that they were brutally uncompetitive. But for all the gripes against them, it was at least a bit more inviting than Gamestation with its entourage of Kerrang toting till ‘dudes’ and barrages of indiscernible music affronting my eardrums, even if the prices were equally as bad. Sure, they’ve had bad business practices over the years, but what’s really gonna suck is that people are gonna lose their jobs. And if there’s one thing for sure, when it comes to finding work, this is not a good time to have to be looking.
The End
And to finish? Well, as the final nail in the coffin of woe, and to top it all off, if there were any more proof that we are in the darkest of days of gaming, we are sorry to report the following: FIFA Street is at No 1 in the charts.
The end is nigh? Nay! The end is here!
