Re: Gothic Universe


"John Lewis" <john.dsl@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:47c77edc.1312087@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
| 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).
|

Nah, I understand just how much extra is going into this... But consider
this: if there was no revenue at all to back all of this work up, would it
ever get done? My guess is they had all of these "wish we had done this"
and "if only we could have put that in" things thrown around, and when it
was decided to make the push to consoles they decided to put them in during
the process. Then there is end revenue to count on that will cover their
work - you don't think all of the people involved in this were just working
for free on this, do you? Oh, and any polish they happened to put on the
product would only make the console versions sell that much more - again, in
the console world, you have to be damn perfect and as kick-ass as possible
to draw in the ADD inflicted crowds they pander to. If the English dialog
was a bit clunky and needed revamped, they had damn sure better do it BEFORE
they release a console port. Get my point?

| 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.
|

Oh, I'm an admitted cynic, for sure. But I'm also a realist, and game
development is a business - follow the money trail and you'll find the
motives for most actions in this cut-throat business. However, as I said, I
am very impressed with how much they are going above and beyond what needed
to be done, and it seems to be a hearty "thank you" to those that bought the
game and made it enough of a success to warrant continuation into the
console realm. My hat is off to them for this sterling effort.

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

Indeed I have. And what this enhancement is doing will make a very good
game with a few quirks into an absolutely stellar game (I hope). I liken
the whole process to that of the "Collector's Edition DVD" and "Director's
Cut" market. In the push to get a movie out to the public, certain
decisions are made (and actions taken) that can later be rectified or
enhanced by releasing a new version of the movie... The big difference here
is that owners of the original movie would automatically get this new
version, rather than forcing them to buy it all over again.

In an industry that pushes "gold box" versions to eek out that much more
blood from the consumer stone, it's refreshing to see a company that
appreciates and respects its already existing customers by giving them the
enhancements free. My point is just that there is some payback for all of
that enhancement work down the road... But these guys are putting customer
loyalty ahead of the almighty dollar, which is a trend I'd really like to
see become common!

CoinSpin


.

Quantcast