Saturday, September 24, 2011

Somewhere [chat] There



Too soon, Cooper!

Friday, September 23, 2011

Diablo 3: "Ready" in early 2012

Diablo 3 shall not be released in 2011:

With every game we make, the temptation is always very strong to launch as soon as possible. However, we didn't put so many years of work into Diablo III to release a game that was almost ready. The beta test is going very well, and we look forward to making the most of the extra time we're taking to deliver an experience that lives up to our vision for the game and the expectations of our players.

Here's the thing: Diablo 3 will never be "ready", where by "ready" we mean "complete". Soon after release, Diablo 3 will be patched, modified, changed, fixed, enhanced. Soon after that first patch, there will be another patch. The game will be continually changed over time.

I mean, for fuck's sake. Diablo 2 was released in 2000. Diablo 2 was last patched on Marched 23, 2010. Diablo 2 has been patched for ten years; it was released when it was "ready" and was continually re-readied and re-completed for TEN FUCKING YEARS!

I can understand delaying a release in, say, 1993, when patches were considered to be a huge hinderance and evidence of a flaw in the game. But it's twenty-fuck-eleven, and we all know how game development works. A product is created, sold, and then patched over time.

So, why can't we have what is considered to be the Beta, released as a game, which is then patched by whatever dumbass tweaks Blizzard intends to make over the next few months?

If Blizzard intends to never patch Diablo 3, to release the game as one perfect, complete whole? Then I can understand delaying the release. But since that isn't their plan, and the fucker shall be patched for years, why the fuck bother delaying it?

As far as I can tell, this is just Blizzard saying, "We want to market it some more." And that's fine, but I wish they'd say that. Though, they've been marketing it since June 28,2008, and you would think three years would be enough.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Bramblecrush: Crushin Brambles



Think about it for a minute.

Data is a toaster



1:22 - "Data is a toaster!"

I had no idea this existed. For a couple years now whenever people talked about artificial intelligence or robots or whatnot I reduced them down to toasters. And apparently there is precident for that reduction in Star Trek.

Netflix : Streaming :: Qwikster : DVDs



Summary: Providing both DVD and streaming options was really, really complicated for these two guys. So, they decided to divide the services into two different things, to make their lives easier.

Now, you might be wondering if this division is in any way beneficial to consumers.

And to that they say, "Fuck you."