Don't Buy Global Agenda - [H] Editorial

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FrgMstr

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Don't Buy Global Agenda - Editorial - Never heard of Global Agenda? Me either till today. We are however giving the game development company a free pass here to tell you to NOT buy this new game. Confused yet? You won't be after you read this editorial, but you still will be punished for being a "Hi-Rez" user.
 
When will people learn.

You mess with the Kyle you get the horns.


In this case, messing with Kyle's eyefinity.
 
Guess I'll have to try it before i make any reasonable decision on it, i just can't see why I'd need such a wide resolution and the bezels would bother the hell out of me.

Im still waiting on a verdict for the game in terms of quality, if its better than planetside I'll probably give it a chance.

Its also an extremely hardcore level of gaming and it'll only be utilized by < 1% for years to come is my guess, so i can't "really" blame them for not supporting it, but their reasoning is plain stupid.
 
I get the feeling you'll have to put up some more of these articles on different games as time goes by. On another forum I visit people were bitching about BC2 having Eyefinity support, calling it "unfair" when the arguments you made were brought up their responce was "its not the same" and they refused to provide any reasons why that weren't giant straw-men.

I wish the big gaming press sites would get off their lazy asses and bring stuff like this to light. But no, anything remotely similar to your articles on this game and Bioshock 2 would offend PR people too much and they would never want to do that. Well, that and most of the big sites don't care about PC gamers.
 
With those kind of developer relations, I'd think this development company was a subsidary of Failcom.

Just imagine if this mentaily continued to real-world racing. 'Hey, no fair! His motorcyle is faster than my tricycle'.

"Alright, listen up! New rule. Nobody can use anything more powerful than a tricycle with training wheels."
 
Guess I'll have to try it before i make any reasonable decision on it, i just can't see why I'd need such a wide resolution and the bezels would bother the hell out of me.

Im still waiting on a verdict for the game in terms of quality, if its better than planetside I'll probably give it a chance.

You forget the bezels are there after a few minutes.

The wide resolution gives you surround gaming and more natural field of view and use of your peripheral vision like you have in real life. Gaming on a single monitor is like walking through life with a tiny window in front of your face and the rest is blocked off.
 
Never heard of this game, never heard of this studio. After this editorial, I care even less about them and have blacklisted this game and its developers.
 
It's a good game. Eyefinity is a niche market and it won't hurt them a bit.

With that said I know this is a [H]ard site and your stance makes sense from that standpoint.
 
I think the fear is more that this trend of limiting the capabilities of pc gamers (aka "console mania") is going to take hold, and pretty much stifle any sort of innovation on pc games. Why even bother if game devs aren't going to support it anyway? That really will be the death of PC gaming.
 
It's a good game. Eyefinity is a niche market and it won't hurt them a bit.

With that said I know this is a [H]ard site and your stance makes sense from that standpoint.

Even without attributing it to Eyefinity, their statement is incredibly stupid. Its the same bull DICE used when not adding widescreen support to BF2. Its only unfair to people who suck. So if they're catering to the people who suck, maybe they should gimp the weapons and controls of good players so its more "fair" to everyone.

Edit: This is also the mentality that FASA had when developing Shadowrun. They gimped PC controls and I believe they gave console users some pretty generous aiming assistance.
 
Even without attributing it to Eyefinity, their statement is incredibly stupid. Its the same bull DICE used when not adding widescreen support to BF2. Its only unfair to people who suck. So if they're catering to the people who suck, maybe they should gimp the weapons and controls of good players so its more "fair" to everyone.

I agree, but most of the people playing these games.....suck. They are only catering to their bread and butter. $$$$$$

Until multi-monitor gamers exist in numbers that matter I expect we'll see this kind of thing continue to happen.
 
while I see you point of view Kyle, and don't necessarily disagree...I think you're being a bit unfair when there are so many worse game developer offenders out there with issues that affect a much larger portion of us. I mean, I know it sucks not to be able to play with the new toy, but it's tough for me to get behind ya too strongly since it's not affecting me or 99%+ of the people viewing this forum, and won't for some time. When the market is there, I'm sure developers will be more supportive.
 
I am all for supporting of new technology..... but this editorial seems slightly harsh.
The game hasnt even been out for a month yet, its still missing patches and other goodies. Their arguement against adding support for "it wouldnt be fair" was made back during beta and eyefinity is still just emerging. Maybe they changed their tune and will be adding support in their next patch as a "surprise bonus" of some sort.



Side note: Maybe its just cause Im jealous cause I wont be able to break away from the single monitor gaming set up i got anytime soon... but I am getting sick of all the Eyefinity posts that are popping up and showing off anything more than 2 monitors. You know, the kind of sickness you get when random people come up to you and brag about how they have the "smartest baby in the world" or something similar.
 
It's a good game. Eyefinity is a niche market and it won't hurt them a bit.

With that said I know this is a [H]ard site and your stance makes sense from that standpoint.
I agree but their stance on this is pretty ignorant. no real reason to purposely screw users that want to have the best gaming experience possible.
 
while I see you point of view Kyle, and don't necessarily disagree...I think you're being a bit unfair when there are so many worse game developer offenders out there with issues that affect a much larger portion of us. I mean, I know it sucks not to be able to play with the new toy, but it's tough for me to get behind ya too strongly since it's not affecting me or 99%+ of the people viewing this forum, and won't for some time. When the market is there, I'm sure developers will be more supportive.

The market will never be there if developers keep pulling this crap. I really doubt its that much work to tell a game to support a resolution and to set the FOV to scale correctly. Its not like we even demand that they center the HUDs. I think most of us can live with it if the HUD is on the side monitors. Its annoying, but far less so than proper support for the resolution.
 
I watched the trailer and was very impressed, then the info... I'll be skipping this one for sure until they pull their bone heads out of their asses.

Are they blocking the Eyefinity resultions or just not giving any FOV adjustments? Perhaps widescreen fixer could help??
 
while I see you point of view Kyle, and don't necessarily disagree...I think you're being a bit unfair when there are so many worse game developer offenders out there with issues that affect a much larger portion of us. I mean, I know it sucks not to be able to play with the new toy, but it's tough for me to get behind ya too strongly since it's not affecting me or 99%+ of the people viewing this forum, and won't for some time. When the market is there, I'm sure developers will be more supportive.

I think "just not supporting it" would be one thing, but to passively call gaming hardware advancements cheating and making sure it does not work is another.

Also, I had a phone conference with the Rebellion guys this morning about AVP. They explained that implementing Eyfinity was very "simple to implement" and only required "minimal technical changes." They explained it was more of an issue on the art side than the tech side.

And BTW, AVP will support EF out of the box and DX11 Tesselation in a way to make a real difference. :)
 
Ok let me get this straight, you are "banning" Global Agenda because they won't support Eyefinity?

That's ridiculous, hey lets also ban games that do not support 16:9 or 4:3, or AA, Stereoscopic 3d, EAX 5, windows 98, windows vista, 64 bit OS, linux, DX9, DX10, DX11. Etc.
 
I can't wait for the day that game resolutions are just modular settings that each person can set on their own...this would eliminate all wide-screen/Eyefinity issues, period. It's also very short-sighted of "Hi-Rez" to not develop technology that will clearly become widespread. Not to mention their reasons suck.

That said, I fully support Hi-Rez's decision to do whatever the hell they want if people will pay them for it and they put out a good product. They'll just have to make do without a talented group of people that are willing to spend money on high-end products and help fuel sales. With that in mind, I will fully support their bankruptcy filing as well if they don't shape up. Until I see Eyefinity support, they've already lost one customer.
 
while I see you point of view Kyle, and don't necessarily disagree...I think you're being a bit unfair when there are so many worse game developer offenders out there with issues that affect a much larger portion of us. I mean, I know it sucks not to be able to play with the new toy, but it's tough for me to get behind ya too strongly since it's not affecting me or 99%+ of the people viewing this forum, and won't for some time. When the market is there, I'm sure developers will be more supportive.

I think the point is that less than 1% is probably going to start increasing at a fairly reasonable pace to 5-20% in perhaps six months to a years time when every after-market video card supporting it that you can buy at that time. I mean in six months, we should DEFINITELY ..i really really hope should have Fermi + 2xx series for sale from nVidia and I imagine from ATI will be the 57xx, 58xx and 59xx series, possibly heading towards a 6xxx series and the 48xx series probably moving towards retirement.

So literately every card or 'two cards in sli' will offer Surround View or Eyefinity. I think if you try Eyefinity for a while at a friend's house. Sooner or later, your going to be tempted to purchase a cheap monitor or two for yourself :). Really, you could just buy 1 extra monitor a month by saving a bit from each paycheque and find yourself with three 22" monitors in no time. Three months passes by really quickly if you have a job/have to study/have hobbies/are gaming. Heck, even young college students or young part-time job workers could afford a monitor or two.
 
I agree with Kyle.

I want to buy 2 more 24" monitors later this year, so those who sabotage multimonitor gaming wont get any money from me.

 
It's a good game. Eyefinity is a niche market and it won't hurt them a bit.

With that said I know this is a [H]ard site and your stance makes sense from that standpoint.

SLI is a "niche market" too and I can tell you very surely that NVIDIA is willing to fight to the death to keep that share. I put Eyefinity in the same category. They are both high end solutions but have tremendous marketing and branding potentials.
 
Ok let me get this straight, you are "banning" Global Agenda because they won't support Eyefinity?

That's ridiculous, hey lets also ban games that do not support 16:9 or 4:3, or AA, Stereoscopic 3d, EAX 5, windows 98, windows vista, 64 bit OS, linux, DX9, DX10, DX11. Etc.

Vote with your wallet. This is what is important.

And I do appreciate your opinion on this and respect your viewpoint. Please don't disrespect mine by calling it "ridiculous." Thanks. :)
 
I am still getting feedback from folks that seem to think Eyefinity is some kind of gimmick. Well it is not. Eyefinity is the real deal and has done more to enhance our gaming experiences at HardOCP than anything else has in a long time. 3dfx SLI brought me 1024x768. Then a few cards brought me 1600x1200 and then 2560x1200. Then Eyefinity brought me 5760x1200 and 3600x1920. Am I saying that Eyefinity is the single most important technology since 3dfx&#8217; SLI? Yes I am.

While this piece is personal opinion and far from the gospel you keep preaching it to be, I do agree with you it is bs that a developer intentionally block a technology.

Also to the person who mentioned you quit seeing the bezels after a few minutes. Perhaps you do, not everyone does. I personally find the bezels constantly in the way and far too much headache to deal with. Until bezel-less or nearly bezel-less monitors become widely available at affordable prices, eyefinity will remain a gimmick. No matter how hard Kyle and some others try to convince us otherwise. Now if we start getting a selection of monitors without or with almost no bezel (Led panels should allow for this), then I would willingly speculate that eyefinity would gain quite a bit more appeal and value. As it stands now however, it remains hindered by the technology available. Currently it is a technology that is ahead of its time.
 
"Only Up to This Much Rez Studios" :D Nice!

I have no intention of multimoning right now, but I wouldn't support someone that tried to revoke my right to do so either. I don't play MMOs anyway though.
 
Personally, I can see the annoyance not being able to use the Eyefinity stuff. But it seems a bit much to be telling people not to buy a game (a reasonably fun one at that) because of the developers stance on FOV and balance. I certainly would not avoid an otherwise great game because of it, Eyefinity or no. Plus we pretty much know how well game boycotts work.

I don't think a wider FOV has a significant impact, but I can see how a developer only looking at the situation "on paper" might think so, and I'm going to respect their decision on the matter. It is their game after all, and while it might be a misinformed decision, it's not a make or break for the vast majority of [H] users.
 
I think the point is that less than 1% is probably going to start increasing at a fairly reasonable pace to 5-20% in perhaps six months to a years time when every after-market video card supporting it that you can buy at that time. I mean in six months, we should DEFINITELY ..i really really hope should have Fermi + 2xx series for sale from nVidia and I imagine from ATI will be the 57xx, 58xx and 59xx series, possibly heading towards a 6xxx series and the 48xx series probably moving towards retirement.
.

I'm not sure with the current economic climate and state of unemployment, being able to play some video games with 3 monitors is on the forefront of 20% of the pop's mind. I may be totally off base, I just know I've gotten a little tighter with the belt. :(
 
I had never heard of the game. But I research eyefinity support on games before I buy them now every time.

For all those who think that the bezels will be distracting:
Every person I've had sit down and play a game with my eyefinity setup is amazed at how much better the gameplay is and they don't notice the bezels! My co-worker and a couple of friends thought the bezels would be untolerable. They all admitted without hesitation that the bezels didn't bother them after they sat down and started playing.

I won't be purchasing any games that don't support eyefinity now with one possible exception: Age of Empires IV (if it's ever created). Of course, AoE IV is not going to happen, so I'll stick with what I said. The only games getting my money will be the ones with eyefinity support.

Global Agenda is quickly dismissed from my mind. I'm not even going to read about the game.
 
Wow, what "Hi-Rez" said really sounds like an programmers response and not a gamers reply at all. Surely if they were gamers and not programmers they would understand that while your kit makes for the play experience it has little to do with the skills a gamer brings to a game. Yes having one interface device over another can make slight changes in play they don't make nor break the game.

The only think this leads me asking is as a developer would they have to license Eyefinity to use it or drastically alter their code in order to add this functionality? I can understand that as being a factor in why its unavaliable.

Really it sounds like there is more to this story then has developed so far.
 
I certainly see your point, but I'm a little surprised by the staunch call to boycott their products. Kyle runs one of the largest and most informative English hardware communities, and with great power comes great responsibility. Maybe there's a timeframe I'm missing, but maybe it would be better to rally the [H] to contact HiRez and bring both facts (ie When programmed correctly, a player with Eyefinity would have no more advantage over a single monitor player, than a widescreen player over a 4:3 player) and opinions (Hey, Eyefinity really makes my gaming experience better, so please don't lock it out of your game) to convince this independent studio to change? I think it would seem more credible if we requested a change first, en mass, before calling for a boycott.

That said, I guess I'm also a little confused as to why this has been picked out for such vile opposed to say... DRM, Overpriced and DayOne DLC, and software developers that not only don't support Linux, but choose to code in such a way to actually make it obstructive? These factors make a much, much bigger impact on my gaming and hardware use, than lack of eyefinity support, and are championed by nearly every developer under the sun, but seem to go without calls for boycott.

Just my opinion but the evils of Activision, EA, and Ubisoft seem to eclipse HiRez not supporting eyefinity many, many times over.
 
while I see you point of view Kyle, and don't necessarily disagree...I think you're being a bit unfair when there are so many worse game developer offenders out there with issues that affect a much larger portion of us. I mean, I know it sucks not to be able to play with the new toy, but it's tough for me to get behind ya too strongly since it's not affecting me or 99%+ of the people viewing this forum, and won't for some time. When the market is there, I'm sure developers will be more supportive.

I agree... their response was stupid and very professional, but their unwillingness to support eyefinity hardly seems like something to boycott them over. If I invested in a setup like that though, I'd probably be a little irritated too.

I'm not too interested in EF yet... Its a large purchase to make and with the rapid pace that monitors are evolving, it's hard to drop that kind of cash on 3 LCD's. It will, no doubt, become a standard in a few years IMO though
 
I'm waiting for Kyle to snap on the next person who says "bezels" lol
I'm sure it's cool as hell, but IMO not $1000+ cool as hell. Before I did that I'd like to get a 120Hz panel and 3D vision.
 
I'm a little torn in my opinion of the subject. On one hand, I agree that devs should attempt to fix issues that other users are reporting in the functionality of their games. But a fixed aspect ratio may be important for some games on the competetive aspect too. With Starcraft 2 beta right around the corner, it will be interesting to see Blizzard's take on this situation.

In WC3, they only allowed 4:3 for advantage reasons, but they're adding widescreen support for SC2. Makes me wonder how they'll deal with this.
 
Didn't the makers of Diablo say the same thing about adding support for larger monitors in there patches later on?

From looking at the screen-shots of games like TF2 I can see where having a triple monitor setup is a clear advantage over someone with 1 monitor. You can see ALOT more of the map therefore you have the advantage. So I can somewhat see there point in only allowing up to the resolution of 1 monitor, I guess. Kind of like Kyle said in the article
And let's face it, if that poor bastard setting up the turret in the video would have had some Eyefinity loving, that purple dude with the sword would not have cut his head off.
So per the above quote, someone with a triple monitor setup definitely has a clear advantage over someone else that only has 1 large monitor. So I guess that would be fair?

But at the same time I do agree with you Kyle, people who can afford a triple setup should be allowed to use it, they bought it and should be able to use it.

So with that said, I prolly wouldn't have gotten this game anyways, lol.
 
I'm not sure with the current economic climate and state of unemployment, being able to play some video games with 3 monitors is on the forefront of 20% of the pop's mind. I may be totally off base, I just know I've gotten a little tighter with the belt. :(

I can do three 22" Dells for less than cost of a used 3007. :) And I see plenty of those being bought in our displays forum. I am not sure 20% is a bit optimistic as well. Anywy, here is a list of panels that support DP.

Dell 3008 - Dell U2410 - Dell 2408 - Dell P2010H - Dell P2210H - Dell P2310H - NEC MultiSync EA231WMi-BK - HP LP2480zx - HP LP2475w - HP LP2275w - Lenovo 2440x

P2010H for $170 - You can make a bang up Eyefinity station with those. We used them at the Eyefinity Challenge.
 
$170 per monitor, that's not bad at all, do they all have to be the same brand and model to work correctly or does that not matter? I'd imagine it wouldn't matter, but I'm just wanting to make sure.

Best part is if, that's the case, you can just buy them incrementally as you go, which would be easier on the wallet as well.

Doing a side job just to get an Eyeinfinity setup? Is that really [H]? I think so!
 
I'd love an article showing how Eyefinity can be done for cheaper than it seems. It seems like a fantastic technology, but a little out of many people's price range. That won't stop [H]ardware enthusiasts, but it would be cool to get a Valuefinity setup for the other guys.

Other guys being me. Poor, poor me. :p

Deals crop up from time to time... there were PVA-based panel HP 24" 1920x1200 monitors for $220 shipped the other day each, from newegg. It's doable, but it takes a huge sturdy desk and a beefy videocard to do it well. Costs always come down though, and tech improves: I'm sure at some point we'll see all-in-one monitors with extremely thin or no bezels, for prices that most would be able to palate.

As far as Global Agenda... didn't the Battlefield 2 devs say the same thing with regards to widescreen :rolleyes:? EyeFinity/3-monitor gaming is niche still, but I am sure it will take off eventually just as widescreen did on PC monitors... my guess is they think because so few people have it, that letting them see more action at once would be imbalancing: just as it was flawed back then with BF2, it's flawed thinking now. I don't see it as reason to boycott a game, but it's certainly a strike against it for some gamers. I can VERY vaguely understand where they're coming from, but it's still BS.

Don't be preaching about a technology you don't own. Keep staring at the bezels on the side of your samsung tv. Just because your brain can't process perhiperal vision doesn't mean others can't.

You've been posting negativity about eyefinity since November and the eyefinity radeons are still the hottest selling cards right now. Maybe you should be more open-minded and get out of your "competitive gamer" socialist hardware "equalization".

They're also the FASTEST cards out now: I bet the percentage of Eyefinity-using 5870/5970 owners is extremely low: I disagree it's a gimmick, but I also disagree that it's the holy grail at this point in time. I tried putting three 20" monitors on my desk the other and didn't find it to my liking: perhaps larger ones would reduce bezel annoyance, as there would be more screen space before each bezel and a lower total area consumed by them. The 20" monitors weren't matched ones either... I can definitely see the potential but I don't personally see it being worth it at this time, for me at least. A 24" or better triple-monitor setup would probably work a lot better.
 
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