Going Way Too Far Again

Once again Blizzard show and prove that they are pioneers. Pioneers in going too far over the goddamn line. The first time was with their Real ID enforcing attempt on the forums. Yeah, we know how that panned out after one of their community staff got dox'd so hard within 15 minutes he probably had to change his name and move house. You'd think they'd have learnt their lesson right? Hah.

Here they go now, with the next episode of 'Going Way Too Far Over The Line'. Now they're banning cheaters from playing StarCraft II. That would be all fine and good, and really, that's fine... except for one rather small tidbit.

They're banning people for cheating in SINGLEPLAYER.

Yeah, you know, the mode that really doesn't affect anyone except the person playing? The mode that is, since time immemorial, the sovereign right of the paying customer to wreck their own game experience for themselves if they so choose?

Yeah, they're banning people from that.

WHAT THE FUCK BLIZZARD?!

Ok, supposedly they're doing this because Campaign/singleplayer, while played when logged into Battle.net, will still accrue achievements that are used to unlock online avatar/profile pictures. Now... Since when do achievements actually carry any tangible value?

Oh wait... Modern day gaming... Achievement whores... Right.

See this is what's wrong, this is EVERYTHING that is wrong with modern gaming today. Whether or not someone chooses to cheat in an OFFLINE, SOLO PLAY mode, should be THEIR right to decide, NOT that of a faceless corporation. Remember back 10 or so years ago, when little devices called Action Replay or Gameshark were prominently prevalent? Do you still see them today? No? Ever wonder why? Because the big corporations saw it fit to hunt and destroy the makers of these devices to stop people from fucking with their games... Even in singleplayer modes. While I completely support the use of the B&hammer on online Multiplayer cheaters... Singleplayer has always been at the sole right and discretion of the gamer in question and NO ONE ELSE. 

If I choose to 'ruin my gaming experience' as you anti-cheaters so happily are apt to label me by cheating in a single player game/mode... That is MY choice, MY right. I paid for the game, I will choose what I do with the game I PAID FOR. As long as I'm not wrecking it for anyone else, it's my right to do what the hell I want with my game.

Now, in the era of achievement whores and gaymerfagscoar, suddenly, transparent achievements are now supposedly 'worth' something, and this something must be protected, even from dirty singleplayer cheaters. If there was ever a stronger case for the achievement/trophy system needing to be destroyed outright, this is it. It's now gotten to a point where the non-existent value of achievements, are infringing upon our rights as people who PAID for a game to play in in a manner we choose to play it. If that means cheating with a 3rd party program SO FUCKING BE IT, such is our right.

But no, now even that small right has been denied us. We no longer own anything of a game we play. So should we consider ourselves blessed to be able to play games under the watchful eye of our new corporate gaming overlords? Thank you, o mighty Cocktivision and our ruler Bobby Kodick, for this latest $60 offering which only lasts 4 hours and we must pay another $150 for Withheld/Disc Locked Content to get another hour out of it... Blessed we must be indeed!

FUCK THAT SHIT

 

If this is seriously how gaming is going to go, where we do not even have the right to decide how we choose to play our games even in singleplayer/solo play/offline modes that do not realistically impact on the gaming experience of others. Then seriously, it can all go fuck itself.  Cheating, or not cheating isn't even the point here. The point is simple: Singleplayer was our LAST REMAINING SOVEREIGN RIGHT in a gaming world where our rights are fast being taken away by more and more forced online Big Brother watchdog type systems hell bent on trying to dictate to us HOW, WHERE and WHEN we should play our games.

Now, in the eyes of Blizzard, we don't even have that right.

So what the fuck are we paying for then?! Oh that's right, the EULA... We don't own anything. So for good money paid to the company, we still own nothing, and have no rights and no recourse. Why even bother buying then? Why bother paying when you have no rights in a Stalinesque police state where the overlord is always right? Why bother doing the right thing at all? 

I know for one, if this is how Blizzard's games are going to be from now, with forced lock in online to even play single player modes... Then consider me a lost customer for life, as well as a Blizzard pirate for life. If my money doesn't even buy me the basic right over my single player experience, then fuck doing the right thing. I will quite happily pirate any and all Blizzard product from now on, and I know I am not the only one holding this sentiment after this news.

After all, if you pirate, you still have your basic sovereign rights and control, away from the eyes of our watchful gaming overlords. In this generation of stolen rights, a jailbroken PS3, a jtagged Xbox360 and a PC with not a single piece of paid software is indeed the way to go.

The Cycle of Decline

This article over at Kotaku is a good example of the state of the industry nowadays. Company comes out on the soapbox crying foul over FUCKING PIIIIIRATES!!! stealing their hard scammed earned dollars and that they are refusing to release gaem on a platform due to the evils of piracy.

Well gee...

Let's take a step back here shall we?...

Let us take a step back in time, back to February the 17th, 2009, when vanilla SF4 was first released. Many were quite happy to jump on and buy the game then when it first came out, yours truly being one of them. We bought, we played, and the game... it was good.

In a happy sappy fappy fairytale world, this little flashback would have ended right here.

Instead, what should have been a near ideal game release, one to be savored and remembered fondly FOR ALL TIEM... Began to show signs of what we shall call the Modern Day Gaming Evil(tm) (MDGE).

The first evil: Costume DLC

The game featured alternate outfits for the characters, many of which were quite nice, and, if this had been a decade ago, unlockable through regular gameplay. Due to MDGE.. Capcom went on to nickel and dime us to unlock these costumes that were already on the disc to begin with.

Not only did that suck, it left a rather filthy taste in the mouth. But many gave in and decided that the game was good enough to allow Capcom their little extra profit. When a game is good enough, and if you like it enough, show support right?

Again, in a happy sappy fappy fairytale world, we'd be stopping right here too...

Now we move onto the second evil: A game upgrade 'patch' being announced and sold as a whole new installment not even 2 months after the vanilla game hit store shelves.

We can argue this utill we're all blue in the face and never get anywhere. Capcom claimed the Super SF4 upgrade was too big, and too major a revision to be a patch, therefore they had to sell it as a whole new game. Personally? I think that's the biggest load of shit since Guilty Gear 2 and it's XX #Reload Slash Final Really No It's Final This Time installments that put me off ever buying another Arksys game until the FINAL final definitive version has come out. No one's a stranger to Capcom and their magical god tier inability to count past 2 for years, instead choosing to rehash the same game as Super Champion Hyper What-Fucking-Ever Edition until the profit books no longer register the Idiot Dollar.

...Then they counted to 3 for the first time in years... and now finally to 4! AND THEY'RE DOING IT AGAIN!

But at least... At LEAST back then, they had the decency to wait until the corpse of the previous game was at least COLD before announcing the next installment. This? Not even 2 months? Sorry, that was a new low even for them. If you could announce it that soon, why not delay the vanilla version for a few more months and release it with the upgrades already in there instead?

...Oh wait, it wouldn't have scammed enough money then, my bad... Forget I asked.

But the fans, being blind, brainwashed and moronic enough they'd make Apple fanboys at a Steve Jobs keynote speech look objective and unbiased, lapped it all up and threw yet more money at the Capcom troll machine for this 'whole new game'.

...Only to find out, OBVIOUSLY, there was YET MORE DISC LOCKED CONTENT that, surprise surprise, they would be nickel and dimed for. Not only that, fast forward a little further today and now we have an announcement of... wait for it!... WITHHELD content, that was more-than-likely stripped out of the final product so they could charge YET MORE money for it later, when the Idiot Dollar from the scam DLC began to die out.

Oh sure, now I hear you say 'It wasn't withheld! They're really just developing it now!' and 'You're angry, bitter and jaded!' and whatever else you want to say.

But, prove me wrong? Go ahead. You can't.

You can't prove me wrong.

None of us know anymore, in this day and age of scam DLC, that DLC really is new addon content. History has shown ever since the beginning of the DLC era that how DLC should have been, and how DLC currently is... Are two very different things.

When in doubt, assume the worst... It hurts less later.

So... finally... All that above being said, now Capcom come out and say there won't be a PC version because the FUCKING PIIIIIIIIIIRATES are stealing their hard scammed earnt dollars. You know, if Capcom didn't have the amount of Disc Locked Content that it does in SSF4, not to mention all the other evils they pulled previously...a good number would be happy to NOT pirate. But after taking it up the ass repeatedly, can you honestly blame them?

If the industry was smart, there's a good lesson to be learnt here: Don't fucking go off and create more pirates by pissing people off, then get on the soapbox and cry about piracy. Yes, there are always going to be the piratefags that will never buy a game. THOSE PEOPLE WERE NEVER YOUR CUSTOMER IN THE FIRST PLACE. Stopping piracy there will NOT magically create more income for you! Get that through your fucking thick skulls!

But continue to pull the scams that you're pulling now, and you will be creating MORE pirates out of those who originally WOULD have bought your game and have decided not to simply out of anger at being scammed. You companies know exactly how it feels when you get robbed (pirated)... So why scam back? Two wrongs are NOT going to create a right here... It will push the cycle of decline further down to a point where everyone is going to lose at the end of the day.

But then again, looking at the way gaming currently is right now?... That may well be fine, nothing of value is going to be lost after all.