Re: Gothic Universe

On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:39:03 -0500, "CoinSpin"
<coin^spam^spin@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


"John Lewis" <john.dsl@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:47c72853.3251533@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
| On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:28:12 GMT, Sheldon England
| <sheldonengland@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
|
| >John Lewis wrote:
| >>
| >> Sheldon England wrote:
| >>
| >> > The only redeeming quality of G3, IMO, was the opening movie ...
| >>
| >> FYI:
| >>
| >> "The Witcher's "opening movie is the classic of all opening movies
| >> for computer games.
| >
| >Yeah. I keep looking for this game at my retailer of choice but nothing
| >yet.
| >
| >Too ... many ... games .... to play ... :)
| >
| >
| > - Sheldon
|
| Wait till May.
|
| The developer is issuing a completely revamped version of the game.
| Known as the "Enhanced Version". The English dialogue will be
| completely revamped, for example.
|
| Really ! And for a PC-only game that has already sold 600,000
| copies...
|
| Here is the key paragraph from the CD Projekt announcement:-
|
| "For example, aside from the game DVD, we are planning to include a
| DVD with a Mod Editor D'jinii, as well as two additional adventures, a
| video DVD with extended material concerning the making of the game, a
| music CD with 29 tracks from the game, a music CD with 15 tracks of
| music inspired by the game, an 80-page instruction booklet, a 112-page
| official guide written by the authors of the game, and a 50-page short
| story written by Andrzej Sapkowski. There will also be a map of the
| game world. As you can see it is quite an elaborate release and it is
| important to us that fans all over the world be able to buy this
| version of the game. Especially considering it will not be more
| expensive than the standard edition of the game! Fans that have
| already bought the game need not worry, however, because the new
| content and improvements will be available to them in the form of a
| downloadable update "
|
| Hmm....have you ever seen a game developer in recent memory do this
| sort of thing for an already incredibly-successful console or PC game?
| Cut and run with the money seems to be the developer/publisher mantra
| these days.. They are also actively working on porting The Witcher to
| both the Xbox360 and PS3... (see their recent job-postings) so no
| doubt those versions will experience all of the Enhanced Edition
| improvements as well.
|

You just answered your own question there... And it answer the big question
of WHY they are revamping so much of the game. If they are porting this to
consoles, it has to be as spit-shined and flawless as possible, or the
fickle players will just move on to some other flavor of the week. See, the
console crowd generally doesn't get the half-finished, rushed into
production, craptastic titles that we (the PC gaming population) get to
enjoy... It's really hard to patch and repatch and double-repatch a console
game, and any negative press cuts hard into the game sales... Amazing how
much *** we put up with that others never have to endure, eh?

So, if they have to make it all pretty and coherent for the console crowd,
why not just package up what they're doing and sell it to the PC crowd that
made the game a hit to begin with, and try to squeak some more money from
those that don't have it or are willing to fork out money for another
enhanced copy? It IS a very nice change of pace to see them offering it to
those that already own the game rather than forcing them to buy it. But
it's really not like they are going out of their way to do all this work out
of the goodness of their heart... It's still about money in the end.

CoinSpin



Er, the flaw in your argument is that the game with the version 1.2
patch is certainl;y sufficiently stable to port to consoles. CDProjekt
is carrying out improvements that they DID NOT HAVE TO DO at all
regardless of the console ports. In it current form (with patch 1.2)
the game has won all sorts of awards. No, this is genuinely going the
extra mile, packaging either 2 or 3 DVDs plus lots of "paper-goodies"
for the original price. The Collector's Edition of Oblivion was no
more comprehensive and cost $10 more (for the PC version).

You may be suffering under several years of cynicism with regard to
video games, their developers and their publishers. I prefer to
recognize great customer support when I witness it. The next three
months will be a great test to see whther CD Projekt and their
publishers follow through on their promise.

Er, have you actually played "the Witcher" ??

John Lewis
.

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