TotalBiscuit discusses review embargoes

Why when nvidia endorses a game does it suck? Shouldn't they get the early access code, and shouldn't the game be better? If Ubisoft sucks at producing quality coded games or just poor porting, then quit endorsing the damn things. AC Black Flags, Splinter Cell Blackist, AC Unity. Just to name a few. All they accomplish is bad PR. AMD has had their share of problems but as HardOCP pointed out, Alien Isolation has fantastic performance and is highly efficient. This time around.

NVidia is trying to promote there tech. The game being good or bad is an opinion not a fact and not something they care about.

In the case of the embargo of Unity as mentioned in the video. AC: Unity was original suppose to unlock at the exact time the embargo ended. [ For digital obviously ] I know this cause when I pre-ordered it on Steam I looked at the date and it said Tuesday @ 10am or something around there. When the game got closer to release they bumped it up to midnight cause players wanted this. Yet he thinks Ubisoft did it on purpose to advance sales of AC:Unity. What a joke.
 
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NVidia is trying to promote there tech. The game being good or bad is an opinion not a fact and not something they care about.

In the case of the embargo of Unity as mentioned in the video. AC: Unity was original suppose to unlock at the exact time the embargo ended. [ For digital obviously ] I know this cause when I pre-ordered it on Steam I looked at the date and it said Tuesday @ 10am or something around there. When the game got closer to release they bumped it up to midnight cause players wanted this. Yet he thinks Ubisoft did it on purpose to advance sales of AC:Unity. What a joke.

Dion sticks up for shitty AAA developer.

In other news, the sun came up today.
 
NVidia is trying to promote there tech. The game being good or bad is an opinion not a fact and not something they care about.

In the case of the embargo of Unity as mentioned in the video. AC: Unity was original suppose to unlock at the exact time the embargo ended. [ For digital obviously ] I know this cause when I pre-ordered it on Steam I looked at the date and it said Tuesday @ 10am or something around there. When the game got closer to release they bumped it up to midnight cause players wanted this. Yet he thinks Ubisoft did it on purpose to advance sales of AC:Unity. What a joke.

Of course they did it on purpose. Don't use the Steam release time as proof. The console versions (aka the versions Ubisoft actually gives a fuck about) launched at midnight and consoles games ALWAYS release at midnight so don't try to bullshit a way around that.
 
I have yet to come across a shit game that I pre-ordered.

Last game I pre-ordered was Watch_Dogs and it was shit, it actually changed my mind on pre-orders and won't do it again, you will probably run into an experience that discourages you eventually. I actually pre-ordered almost every game I was excited about up til that point.

I was also kinda pissed off with Far Cry 3 after I pre-ordered it mainly because most the enemies in the game looked identical which at the time I thought was a cheap/lazy way of pushing out a game, I haven't seen that since the 90s.
 
Last game I pre-ordered was Watch_Dogs and it was shit, it actually changed my mind on pre-orders and won't do it again, you will probably run into an experience that discourages you eventually. I actually pre-ordered almost every game I was excited about up til that point.

I was also kinda pissed off with Far Cry 3 after I pre-ordered it mainly because most the enemies in the game looked identical which at the time I thought was a cheap/lazy way of pushing out a game, I haven't seen that since the 90s.

He's the only gamer that I know of or has the lowest expectations of anybody else I've heard of to ever say that. BTW I know him on another forum and he's full of shit...
 
I don't care if people pre-order games or not. I myself don't anymore, unless it's something I'm REALLY looking forward to AND I trust the developer (The Witcher 3 is the only that currently comes to mind, although I have yet to pre-order it).

What does annoy me is when people pre-order a game, then bitch about how much it sucks. If you pre-order a game and it sucks and you admit to it, you've got nobody to blame but yourself - not the publisher.

If you pre-order a game, great, I hope you enjoy it. But if you don't, shut up and take that as a lesson that you were a gullible moron that fell for the marketing hook, line and sinker.
 
TotalBiscuit is awesome, I watch his reviews on youtube he and Angry Joe are my favorite reviewers.
 
I pre-ordered 14 games around August and September almost worth more than a grand. I saved about 35% across all preorders. I also did not have any cash flow issues in November when I plan my visits/trips outside for vacation etc. So yeah pre-orders do help.

To each their own, I guess, but good lord.

When I run my Steam Calculator, I have a backlog of over 600 games. With sales, I could buy nearly HALF that backlog with $1000.

I guess I'm just missing the point of bragging on spending $1000 on 14 games.
 
NVidia is trying to promote there tech. The game being good or bad is an opinion not a fact and not something they care about.

You do realize that nobody that works in PR at any company on earth thinks that way, right ?

You want your brand attached to quality, not shit. Promoting something that's crap does not help your company in any way, shape, or form.
 
To each their own, I guess, but good lord.

When I run my Steam Calculator, I have a backlog of over 600 games. With sales, I could buy nearly HALF that backlog with $1000.

I guess I'm just missing the point of bragging on spending $1000 on 14 games.

I agree, not sure how someone spends $1000 and only gets 14 games, I have around 380 games and I'm pretty sure I didn't spend much more than $2000. But I usually wait for sales, I'm a sucker for buying games I haven't even got around to playing yet. I need to fix that habit next.
 
Stop pre-ordering games and stop buying games that are under a review embargo.

Hear, Hear!

This also applies to movies. If there aren't reviews before a movie comes out, it almost always means the studio realizes that their movie is shit, and they don't want audiences to know how bad it is before they buy a ticket.
 
In the case of the embargo of Unity as mentioned in the video. AC: Unity was original suppose to unlock at the exact time the embargo ended. [ For digital obviously ] I know this cause when I pre-ordered it on Steam I looked at the date and it said Tuesday @ 10am or something around there. When the game got closer to release they bumped it up to midnight cause players wanted this. Yet he thinks Ubisoft did it on purpose to advance sales of AC:Unity. What a joke.

I don't hate on Ubisoft as much as a lot of people here and enjoy the AC series but even I have to admit that comment was ridiculous...they made the embargo 12 hours after release on purpose because they knew the game was going to get average scores so they wanted to keep as many pre-orders and Day 1 orders as possible...you don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure that out...for the opposite of this look at how the DA: Inquisition review embargo was handled
 
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Did Total Biscuit beat his cancer?
The last I heard him talk about it, treatment had gone well. He is past the surgery, which appeared to be successful, and is in a final round of chemo.

So not completely over it, but it's not likely to be an issue going forward.
 
For me I choose what I preorder based off of game play videos/early reviews. The only exception I did was a blind preorder of that turd Dragon Age 2 to avoid any spoilers, but that one I "trusted" the developer wouldn't screw up a revived genre for them and a new IP after putting out such a good game as DA:O. I was wrong, so no more blind buys or really much trust of any developer left in me. I took some gambles with the Witcher 3 preorder and a couple of kickstarters that I think will be great. For me the whole point of these let's play / reviews is to get them before the release long enough for me to save some cash. Most of the time, if you don't get the preorder, you're stuck to paying MSRP. For usually the first three months you aren't going to get as large a discount. So reviews/gameplay videos embargoed after the release are useless to me. This is usually how I buy new games, I preorder to get 25%-30% off the MSRP because I have some interest in the game. If I don't preorder the game, I don't bother buying it till it's a minimum of 66% off or greater. So for a buyer like me, it is in a company's best interest to get me to preorder. If I hadn't gotten ACU free from nvidia, I wouldn't have even bought it till it was 75% off because I am not that interested in the AC line anymore as I can't seem to stop getting bored of them and shelve the title after a few days.

Interestingly enough, Dragon Age Inquisition, I wasn't even considering buying till it was 75% off thanks to Dragon Age 2, but after the early release of the reviews and non developer made videos, I am kind of on the fence as to if I want to buy it or not. So they definitely got my attention to at least consider buying it rather than waiting.
 
Embattled publisher Ubisoft has said it will provide early access to some of its future games following the controversial launch of Assassin's Creed: Unity...Ubisoft said it will change the way it works with reviewers after a number of US critics complained about an embargo set after the game's North American release...

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...ollowing-assassins-creed-unity-launch-debacle

Their shares dropped 12% on Tuesday just because of Unity? Freak, no wonder they're trying to give off the appearance of trying to fix things.
 
Whole thing seems to go in cycles. People screw up and try to cover up. Then when that fails, they show fake guilt to wash away the sins and start again.

I haven`t bought anything without discount in 2 years. If game looks to be crammed with preorder and dlc stuff, it goes into blacklist until "ultimate edition" pops up.
 
Guys just don't pre order anything. It's that simple.

That works for you but not everyone looks it at as a black and white situation. It's more advisable to tell people to be careful with what you buy and do research before hand. Pre-ordering or buying something based on hype or because you're excited about it is bad, pre-ordering or buying after you've had time to research to the best of your ability and made rational decisions based on the game, the developer, and the publisher is much better.
 
I gurantee those extras will not provide you additional enjoyment. I can't name 1 bonus that stands out in my long history of collectors editions and pre orders

the GameStop pre-order exclusive Tracer Tong mission from DE: Human Revolution was pretty cool...it was a nice shout-out to fans of the original Deus Ex...Alien Isolation originally was going to make the 2 Ripley DLC's exclusive to GameStop before they reversed course after consumer outrage...so to me if they can tie their game in with some previous revered game or movie then it's a nice bonus possibly worth investing in...but stupid weapon/armor packs and other trinkets like that are useless
 
I'm don't hate on Ubisoft as much as a lot of people here and enjoy the AC series but even I have to admit that comment was ridiculous...they made the embargo 12 hours after release on purpose because they knew the game was going to get average scores so they wanted to keep as many pre-orders and Day 1 orders as possible...you don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure that out...for the opposite of this look at how the DA: Inquisition review embargo was handled

It's just people making up bullshit to bash Ubisoft. It's nothing new. FFS Totalbisucit says his 2 980GTX's can't run the game at 1080p @ 60fps. It's a crock of shit. My single 970 can do 50-60fps pretty much all the time with max settings minus AA maxed.

And its not a ridiculous comment. When I pre-ordered the game. Steam tells you the time it unlocks set by the developers. It said Tuesday morning sometime.

Then the peasants started bitching they wanted midnight release and they got it. Now they use that as an excuse for the embargo? Ubisoft can't win regardless what they do.

The gaming community is getting ridiculous.

Dion sticks up for shitty AAA developer.

I hate more of Ubisoft's library then I like them. I like maybe 3 or 4 of there games. But when these clowns make up shit to bash a dev. It's really pathetic.

Farcry 4 is even started for a morning/afternoon release.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/298110/

Lets see if that gets bumped to midnight too.. Make sure to watch the forums for the Midnight whining.
 
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It's just people making up bullshit to bash Ubisoft. It's nothing new. FFS Totalbisucit says his 2 980GTX's can't run the game at 1080p @ 60fps. It's a crock of shit. My single 970 can do 50-60fps pretty much all the time with max settings minus AA maxed.

And its not a ridiculous comment. When I pre-ordered the game. Steam tells you the time it unlocks set by the developers. It said Tuesday morning sometime.

Then the peasants started bitching they wanted midnight release and they got it. Now they use that as an excuse for the embargo? Ubisoft can't win regardless what they do.

The gaming community is getting ridiculous.



I hate more of Ubisoft's library then I like them. I like maybe 3 or 4 of there games. But when these clowns make up shit to bash a dev. It's really pathetic.

Farcry 4 is even started for a morning/afternoon release.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/298110/

Lets see if that gets bumped to midnight too.. Make sure to watch the forums for the Midnight whining.

Again, using the Steam release is crap and meaningless. Most people will buy it on consoles. The console release was ALWAYS at midnight. You're trying to twist facts here.
 
Review Embargos should:
1- Prevent Spoilers
2- Must play X hours
3- Allow the developer to respond

My check list of when to be very wary preorder:
1) No Reviews before the release of the game.
2) Developer/Publisher says don't believe a review.
3) Does a version of the game come out every year?
4) Does it have a lot of DLC off the gate or "Season Passes"
5) More than 3 Trailers showing mostly the same content and character

When to definitely Preorder?
1) Never. Always wait for two "Review" or people

Because pre-ordering Duke Nukem:Forever, SimCity, Diablo 3 (Took a week off at launch, didn't play at all), Colonial Marines resulted in such a wonderful time.

I'm looking forward to Super Smash Brothers 4, and there's a lot of hands on time from many sources. To me this a safe game to buy or plan to buy.
 
Pre-ordering or buying something based on hype or because you're excited about it is bad, pre-ordering or buying after you've had time to research to the best of your ability and made rational decisions based on the game, the developer, and the publisher is much better.

I respect your stance, but I disagree. Yes, do your homework, research before you buy. All good advice. But pre-ordering, even if the game is good still doesn't make sense. You'll be able to buy it day 1, there won't be a supply issue. So why do it? Because they may give you some content that they lock away in an attempt to guilt people in to pre-ordering? Doesn't seem wise to give these companies interest free loans. My opinion is the majority of people get so hype that they can't sit still, and end up pre-ordering to satisfy some strange urge.
 
I respect your stance, but I disagree. Yes, do your homework, research before you buy. All good advice. But pre-ordering, even if the game is good still doesn't make sense. You'll be able to buy it day 1, there won't be a supply issue. So why do it? Because they may give you some content that they lock away in an attempt to guilt people in to pre-ordering? Doesn't seem wise to give these companies interest free loans. My opinion is the majority of people get so hype that they can't sit still, and end up pre-ordering to satisfy some strange urge.

Pre-loads are becoming more popular and since games are becoming bigger I'd rather not download 30-60GB of data after working a 10 hour shift on a Tuesday just so I can play for maybe half an hour once the download finishes before going to bed. Also if you haven't noticed there are sometimes damn good deals on games when pre-ordering. 20-25% off in several cases. If I'm already planning to buy a game on release anyway I see absolutely zero downside in pre-ordering it.
 
Because pre-ordering Duke Nukem:Forever, SimCity, Diablo 3 (Took a week off at launch, didn't play at all), Colonial Marines resulted in such a wonderful time.

With the Exception of Diablo 3 (which while not great, didn't outright suck) I could have told you long before release of any of the others that you'd be disappointed preordering at full price.

I think another helpful hint about preorders is to not do it right when they open. Wait until the last possible moment that you can still get in on whatever the incentive might be. For me the only real incentive is introductory discounts. I don't need toys, cards, posters, PDF books, etc. (I admit though, that if it's an RPG, and comes with a cloth map, I'm kind of a sucker. :D ) If I plan to preorder something because I really want it that soon, I still wait until right before preorders close, which more often than not (on Steam anyway) is up to the day before release.
 
Also if you haven't noticed there are sometimes damn good deals on games when pre-ordering. 20-25% off in several cases. If I'm already planning to buy a game on release anyway I see absolutely zero downside in pre-ordering it.

Buying games shouldn't be like gambling. It seems like that's exactly whats happening though. Save 20% and take a chance or wait and be sure. Either way, pre-orders are not going anywhere. The pre-loading aspect I totally understand and makes the most sense out of any excuse thrown around in this thread.
 
Buying games shouldn't be like gambling. It seems like that's exactly whats happening though. Save 20% and take a chance or wait and be sure. Either way, pre-orders are not going anywhere. The pre-loading aspect I totally understand and makes the most sense out of any excuse thrown around in this thread.

It's not always a gamble. Sometimes it is sure, but really, for people who play as many games as we do, we should have some decent instinctual feelings about whether something is going to be bad or not. I haven't regretted any gaming purchase I've made in more years than I can remember off the top of my head. I didn't have a good feeling about Watch Dogs. Skipped it. Didn't have a good feeling about Daikatana, so I skipped it. People knew Aliens Colonial Marines wasn't turning out the way it should. There were plenty of red flags. I skipped it, because I knew ahead of time.

However, I can also just feel if a game is going to be good enough to purchase day one or before. Sure there is still a little bit of a chance for some uncertainty there, but I'd hardly call it a gamble. With the amount of prerelease media available for most games, I just don't see how people get taken by surprise so often. Most of the people on this forum have been doing this for decades. You develop a bit of a sense about things after that long. Or at least one should. I know I have it.
 
Buying games shouldn't be like gambling. It seems like that's exactly whats happening though. Save 20% and take a chance or wait and be sure. Either way, pre-orders are not going anywhere. The pre-loading aspect I totally understand and makes the most sense out of any excuse thrown around in this thread.

Given how rarely I pre-order and how rarely those turn out to be bad decisions it's not that much of a gamble for me. I've got a good handle on my own tastes and on the history of the companies involved. For example I'll never pre-order anything from Ubisoft on any platform nor would I pre-order most EA games or stuff from Activision, etc. For me it's not as simple as looking at in terms of absolutes. It's not never or always, it's sometimes when I personally feel it's worth it.
 
Given how rarely I pre-order and how rarely those turn out to be bad decisions it's not that much of a gamble for me. I've got a good handle on my own tastes and on the history of the companies involved. For example I'll never pre-order anything from Ubisoft on any platform nor would I pre-order most EA games or stuff from Activision, etc. For me it's not as simple as looking at in terms of absolutes. It's not never or always, it's sometimes when I personally feel it's worth it.

Very much agree! As much as I'm playing devil's advocate here, and talking about how I've safely preordered games, I actually don't do it all that often. Pretty much any id game is a preorder for me. I've liked every single one I've played since Commander Keen. I'll preorder games from Starbreeze and now Machine Games. I don't preorder Borderlands, but I've been happy with every soon-after-release Borderlands purchase I've made. I preordered Shadowrun. I've backed Star Citizen. I preordered Skyrim. All good purchases. There's plenty of games that I waited on a bit to see though too. More often than not actually.
 
I wish I had the time I did to play games like I've been able to in the past. Those days are firmly in the past and hopefully in my far future. Be playing call of duty at the nursing home when im older, slapping the nurses' behinds.

But really, between working sunup to sundown I just don't have the time to research games. I've been relying (somewhat) on nostalgia as a guide. That hasn't yielded too much success except for Diablo 3 (It was the launch that got me pissed off about the game). Although I have a great feeling about smash brothers for the Wii U.

I've never been really disappointed by Blizzard, Nintendo, and Bioware. Yet for all. I've been with the Gaming since Atari 2600s. I miss Sega.
 
Just came to post about his passing. RIP to one of my favorite guys in the business. I always found his opinions on games to closely mirror my own.
 
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