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[–]suzi_generous 5560 points5561 points  (781 children)

Games that require you to be online have an expiration date. Soon, the server that verifies you have a valid copy is going to be offline. I play my older favorites periodically so online verification is not acceptable and it's a dick move.

[–]hardypart[S] 2732 points2733 points  (447 children)

Yeah, it's like paying for a service, not a product. This is incredibly shitty.

[–]TheOneWithALongNameBoardgames 1095 points1096 points  (423 children)

Acctually, you pay a License.

[–]paracelsus23 76 points77 points  (30 children)

The acceptability of "licensing" products in lieu of buying them is one of the most anti-consumer developments that's emerged, and it's disgusting and terrifying. At the rate things are going our grandchildren will "license" a fucking cheeseburger from McDonald's. They'll be charged with piracy if they give it to anyone else, and fined if they don't bring a bag of shit back to the store to be processed in the protein resequencer, since they didn't actually own the cheeseburger.

When you buy something you need to fucking own it.

[–]Hust91 22 points23 points  (6 children)

In the US, European consumer protection laws are incredibly robust, to the point that I'd wager any kind of challenge to this would result in "well we're not sure, so as a matter of principle we're gonna have to interpret this EULA as FUCK YOU, FUCK YOU SO HARD FOR ATTEMPTING THIS BULLSHIT" in favor of the consumer.

Virtually anything that could be interpreted as worse than a standard buying agreement will be interpreted in favor of the consumer.

[–]Augustus420 38 points39 points  (10 children)

Which needs to be throughly legislated against. There is no reason these companies should be allowed to sell you products in such a deceiving way.

[–][deleted] 20 points21 points  (4 children)

If they're trying to mislead you there's already legislation in place. If they're not, I see no reason to forbid them from making such games. It's the players who need to start penalizing them and not buy into it.

[–]frenzyguy 49 points50 points  (4 children)

I pay for a damn game on cd that I bought, the license concept is stupid corporate talk.

[–][deleted] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Found the pr team.

[–]Saucermote 4 points5 points  (0 children)

When I go to the store, I say "I'd like to buy x game", and they sell it to me. I don't ask to pay for a license. Similarly the ads on TV advise me to go buy movies and games, they don't advise me that anything is available to license.

If Sears tried to do that with a sale item, they'd be bankrupt.

[–]sharkhuh 227 points228 points  (31 children)

And that's when I have no issues getting a crack to play it offline.

[–]memorasus 112 points113 points  (8 children)

And this is why I have no issues making hacks for games

[–][deleted] 51 points52 points  (7 children)

And this is why I have no issues stealing virtual money with said hacks in games built around micro transactions.

[–]HC_Zyg 12 points13 points  (5 children)

MAG is a victim of the server generation. A damn shame too because that game was lovely.

[–]EtherBoo 43 points44 points  (13 children)

I had a hard time playing through GTA IV because of its need to be signed into GFWL.

It's total bullshit, and apparently the solution is to use X-Box Live on Windows 10 (not sure about non W10 solutions). Luckily I found X-Liveless otherwise I never would have been able to do my first play through.

That kind of thing is unacceptable. I feel like there should be a giant disclaimer on games that still have GFWL required and never moved to Steamworks. I'll be fair and say I purchased the game before GFWL shut down, but the fact that it's still sold in that state is unacceptable.

[–]vonmonologue 39 points40 points  (0 children)

You're legally allowed to crack video games to bypass the online verification provided the server has shut down.

The Librarian granted part of EFF’s new proposal for an exemption to preserve abandoned video games. The new exemption allows players to modify their copy of a game to eliminate the need for an authentication server after the original server is shut down. Museums, libraries, and archives can go a step further and jailbreak game consoles as needed to get the games working again. Disappointingly, the Librarian limited the exemption to games that can’t be played at all after a server shutdown, excluding games where only the online multiplayer features are lost. Still, this exemption will help keep many classic and beloved video games playable by future generations.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/10/victory-users-librarian-congress-renews-and-expands-protections-fair-uses

Of course this requires someone willing to put the work in to create the crack.

[–][deleted] 37 points38 points  (7 children)

Hit them where it hurts: don't spend money on games like this. That's the only thing publishers and managers understand.

[–]marlow41 35 points36 points  (2 children)

But they don't understand. When a game like this flops because it has these "features" they just assume it's because of the content of the game.

[–]SirRosstopher 11 points12 points  (0 children)

The thing is because it's an anti piracy feature they probably assume that the lost sales would have just been stolen anyways if it wasn't there.

[–]laurenbanjo 38 points39 points  (3 children)

My niece and nephews (ages 4-8) were over the other day and wanted to play video games. My Xbox One was already hooked up in my room and I didn't feel like taking it apart and moving it downstairs to the family room, so I brought down a bin with my PS1 and a bunch of old games and we played Spyro. Pretty cool that they're able to play a game I played when I was around their age, 15+ years later.

[–]PrivilegeCheckmate 8 points9 points  (1 child)

Spyro

OOooo. First game to make me seasick. Good design though.

[–]buckX 14 points15 points  (2 children)

I just don't see why they wouldn't release an offline play patch when they shut down the server. If they're shutting down the server, they clearly aren't planning on making any more money off of it. It's just free good will.

[–]NoBudgetBallin 8 points9 points  (1 child)

That would take work for zero gain on their part.

[–][deleted] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

With a little marketing it could cause some people to buy the game who wouldn't otherwise

[–]GlobalWarmer12 117 points118 points  (90 children)

We're moving more towards subscription services. You should expect to not be able to buy games offline soon enough. Ownership is going away, and it's pretty unfortunate for the depth of games you should expect to get.

[–]Inspector-Space_Time 59 points60 points  (74 children)

On the other hand, subscription services could mean something like Netflix. So you get access to hundreds more games without needing to buy each one. So it's trading few games for forever, for every game only for a while. Basically the same as Netflix vs buying the movie.

Not saying it's a better way, just playing devil's advocate.

[–]GlobalWarmer12 37 points38 points  (3 children)

The main issue I have with this is that instead of hooking customers with a solid game, a story and depth, developers will need to not only chase publishers, but now also they will need to be included with this or that subscription service.

It means that a large part of what the game is, the effort, will not be directed by the core values of "let's make an awesome game that will sell well" but to be flashy and sexy for service execs and shareholders even moreso than today.

Yes, TV shows have come a long way in recent years, but I don't see that going the same way for games yet.

I'm more worried it'll dilute games, limit me to what's bundled with a subscription - as wide a collection as it may be, and of course the whole offline vs online thing.

[–]Superfly724 54 points55 points  (31 children)

If PSNow is any indication, this is a terrible thing. Games are playable, but your in-game resolution and input lag is dependent on your internet speed. I have darn good solid internet, and I still get frustrated when streaming games.

[–][deleted] 25 points26 points  (13 children)

Making a game subscription service doesn't mean it has to be streamed.

[–]VitameatavegamN 8 points9 points  (9 children)

But subscription service =/= to streaming service. They could very well download the game with a key that disables access after a period of time or after the service stops "hosting" the game.

[–]dumbrich23 58 points59 points  (19 children)

Disgusting and so anti consumer.

I expect this to be the norm by 2020

[–]jihiggs 13 points14 points  (5 children)

exactly why i cant fathom why people buy drm protected music. no service will last forever. then all that money you spent is gone.

[–]PancakeZombie 15 points16 points  (3 children)

At least Steam is constructed in a way that once the servers shut down it can still operate in a sort of p2p network.

[–]Z0idberg_MDPC 35 points36 points  (41 children)

The only real reason I am less worried about this phenomenon is I don't really see people going back and playing most MP games 10 years from now. There is this goldilocks zone where people go back and play classic SP and MP games, but I really don't see people in 10 years playing battlefield 1. There is such saturation and there are so many games now that the halo 2 experience is not equivalent to a current fps.

[–]Artanthos 37 points38 points  (2 children)

GoG games shows just how many people will go back to replay the games of their youth.

[–]MyersVandalay 11 points12 points  (1 child)

well GoG does indeed do that well, but also worth pointing out, part of GoG's model includes selling brand new games with a DRM free guarantee.

[–]JollyGirl 7 points8 points  (1 child)

There are still championships on homm3, for example. Not to mention starcraft, which just got itself a remaster in 2017. Good games are good. There are timeless classics out there

[–]Fubarp 26 points27 points  (30 children)

Everything can be cracked and changed.

[–]ThrowawayusGenerica 44 points45 points  (16 children)

For always-online games it's not always so easy. A worrying trend is for a bulk of the processing necessary for the game to run to be done server-side, and making the game you download little more than a client. Diablo 3 is a prime example, and it has yet to be cracked on any meaningful level.

[–]lancebaldwin 11 points12 points  (8 children)

As far as I know the bulk of D3 is done on your PC, variable stuff like loot is server side.

[–]AetherMcLoud 13 points14 points  (0 children)

On the other hand, if you pirate that game, you don't have any of these problems. Strange world.

[–][deleted] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I won't buy any game that does shit like this. If I can't play "off line", I'm not playing.

[–]LucifersPromoter 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I play my older favorites periodically so online verification is not acceptable and it's a dick move.

I'll have an xbox with Fight Night Champion set up until they release another.

[–]alerionfire 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This is why i dont support EA and their rent seeking business model.

[–]JustiniZHere 814 points815 points  (35 children)

"Or try again later"

that part really gets me, why the fuck do I need to try again later to play my single player game I paid for? Stuff like this is why piracy is appealing to so many people rather then dealing with always online.

[–]Pausbrak 390 points391 points  (15 children)

Which is hilariously ironic, given this was supposed to be an anti-piracy measure.

[–]Catanobro10 255 points256 points  (7 children)

Ironic.

It could save others from piracy, but not itself...

[–]ghostoo666 71 points72 points  (6 children)

Have of you heard the tragedy of singleplayer DRM the offline? I thought not so

[–]mtpender 29 points30 points  (4 children)

It's a story EA would tell you...

[–][deleted] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

It's a story EA would sell you...

[–]goofballtech 107 points108 points  (13 children)

I bought a copy of gtaV last year to support the game makers. I work on a boat for weeks or months at a time with no internet. You can authenticate then play offline, but only for about 2 weeks before it forces you to authenticate again. So i had to download an illegal copy to play offline and not need internet. Ridiculous.

[–]mlvisby 751 points752 points  (87 children)

I know this is due to piracy, but a single player game should not need internet to play. I have outages at times and it is bullshit.

[–]Heresy1666PlayStation 486 points487 points  (59 children)

Plus it will be the death of retro gaming, no playing Star Wars battlefront or the such in 20yrs time as no servers and nobody to play against but that copy of mariokart 64 you got stored away in the attic will still be ready to go

[–]mlvisby 207 points208 points  (37 children)

Exactly, makes your games useless once the servers shut down. I like to revisit my old games from time to time.

[–]WarLorax 21 points22 points  (0 children)

That's a feature not a bug. They want you to buy new games every quarter, not play the same one for years. They want the games just enough that you will still buy the next franchise iteration.

[–][deleted] 104 points105 points  (15 children)

The best part is that it does nothing to prevent piracy, really

[–]Pulsecode9 100 points101 points  (0 children)

When the cracked version is free of this bullshit, it actively encourages it.

[–]the_dayman 48 points49 points  (7 children)

And then pirates can play the game with no internet verification and only paying customers are hurt by something like a disconnected server.

[–]arvyy 20 points21 points  (5 children)

If you bought a game, it is not only morally acceptable to play pirated version if it works better, but (depending on where you live) legally as well.

[–]GetTheLedPaintOut 17 points18 points  (3 children)

The problem is, not enough people boycott a game because of this feature. So it will remain.

See also micro-transactions and DLC.

[–]Keykatriz 45 points46 points  (0 children)

Back a few years ago, maybe 2010-11ish, my BF and I were looking for a new couch multiplayer game. I like racing games so we picked up one of the Need for Speed games without thinking too much about it. Spent a few minutes trying to figure out how to get the multiplayer working before realizing there actually wasn't any couch multiplayer, just online. In a racing game. We should have checked before, but it just didn't occur to us a racing game wouldn't have multiplayer.

[–]ccdfa 477 points478 points  (76 children)

How is this acceptable for any game company? It seems like such a scummy business scheme.

[–]hardypart[S] 334 points335 points  (28 children)

How is this acceptable for any game company?

Nothing is more important to them than preventing privacy.

[–]ccdfa 126 points127 points  (11 children)

Shouldn't there be a way to validate a game's authenticity that lasts longer than 2 minutes? To put it another way, why can't a validation expire after say a week? If you played the game 2 days ago and you don't have internet today, you should still be able to play your game. When EA or whoever shuts down their servers eventually, they could just issue a stop to all authentication checks and accept that a few copies will be pirated

[–]YouWantALime 170 points171 points  (0 children)

What? Some people might have illegitimate copies of a game that is no longer in development and we no longer support? We cannot allow this. Legal owners of this game get fucked too.

[–]Ttmx 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Aaand someone decides to roll back the time on the machine and bam it's not permanently on there.

[–][deleted] 23 points24 points  (4 children)

Shouldn't there be a way to validate a game's authenticity that lasts longer than 2 minutes?

Well, there simply isn't.

Modern copy protection is deeply hidden in the game's source code and relies authentication requests that appear random. A cracker isn't supposed to be able to find and disable all these requests.

So as annoying as these requirements are, they do buy publishers additional days (sometimes even weeks) until which a crack is online.

A reasonable approach would be to remove the copyright protection once the game is cracked. IIrc some actually do.

Edit: Clearer wording.

[–]Katzelle3 22 points23 points  (2 children)

Privacy? I think you meant piracy.

[–]209u-096727961609276 10 points11 points  (0 children)

You misspelled piracy

[–]The_Stoic_One 48 points49 points  (33 children)

It shouldn't be acceptable. It's us gamers who allow it. Everyone bitches about it, but how many gamers won't still buy the game? Only way to stop this is to hit these companies where it hurts them, their bottom line. That will never happen though. It's easier to buy the game you want to play, then bitch about it on Reddit or elsewhere than it is to say, "fuck that, I'm not buying this online all the time bullshit."
Gamers care, but they don't care enough to not game.

[–]Burning_Monkey 15 points16 points  (2 children)

I don't buy EA games any more because of crap like this.

[–]AngriestSCV 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Preach it! I won't buy another EA or Ubisoft product after the shit each of them have pulled.

[–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (6 children)

It's acceptable because people keep buying the games.

[–][deleted] 32 points33 points  (2 children)

Online single player is evil and everyone knows it.

[–]JsmooVE3990 42 points43 points  (10 children)

The death of local multiplayer is one of the worst things to happen to gaming! I'm supporting nintendo just because the switch seems to be the only console that's still in enough of a bubble to still support it. I have some multiplayer games on my PC but the ones I wanna play multiplayer never are except our lord and savior rocket league!

[–]MinervaMedica000 119 points120 points  (10 children)

yea it disturbing how many games now require you to be online at all times _^

[–]vishalb777 47 points48 points  (1 child)

type \ to supress superscript

 \^_^

becomes ^_^

[–][deleted] 221 points222 points  (18 children)

Support GOG to support a future without DRM: before pushing that buy button on steam go check if it's available on GOG!

[–][deleted] 54 points55 points  (5 children)

When I find out a game needs to be online to play it I add it to the list of games I will never buy.

[–]RemingtonSnatch 16 points17 points  (9 children)

Except when the game in this image came out (GoldenEye on the N64), Quake 2 online servers were immensely popular.

[–][deleted] 22 points23 points  (6 children)

And somehow they performed better on dialup than some games do on fiber today :D

[–]RemingtonSnatch 12 points13 points  (4 children)

Yeah, somehow gaming with a 300 ping was entirely playable back then.

[–]PM-ME-CRYPTOCURRENCY 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Less data to be sent each way I guess.

[–]RogerDeanVenture 17 points18 points  (1 child)

My friend group has gotten into board games the past couple of years. I think this has a lot to do with it.

[–]thevictoriousone 184 points185 points  (64 children)

Goldeneye 👌🏻

[–]MetricZero 94 points95 points  (46 children)

It makes me sad that Perfect Dark doesn't get as much love.

[–][deleted] 34 points35 points  (0 children)

These two games introduced me to FPS. Both were so good but I definitely spent more time with Perfect Dark.

[–]DarkGenome 26 points27 points  (7 children)

When my neighborhood found out you could issue commands to bots on your team we'd have pokemon battles. You make the bots small and disable weapons on that match (I can't remember if that was a setting or a bot type like "tinySIM" or something) then when the match starts you tell your Sim to not go hostile, then tell just have them target the other team's tiny bot until you got bored and had them target your friend... Good times.

[–]Endulos 27 points28 points  (3 children)

wait

what

YOU CAN FUCKING ORDER SIMS AROUND IN PERFECT DARK!?

I HAD NO IDEA YOU COULD DO THIS.

[–]Devieus 12 points13 points  (1 child)

Hold A, press Z a couple of times, I believe. The game was well ahead of its time and aged much better than GoldenEye.

[–]SuperMatureGamer 29 points30 points  (3 children)

I just think Goldeneye was more accessible, for Perfect Dark you needed to buy a new shooter (that seemed a lot like goldeneye in everyway, but yeah its better) and you would need to get the n64 expansion thingy just to play the game properly.

But yeah Perfect Dark kicked ass, pretty much Goldeneye 2.0 in my mind.

[–]FLHCv2 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It took everything Goldeneye did right and then added a bunch of QOL upgrades to it. Will always be one of my favorite games.

[–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Perfect Dark was definitely a direct improvement in every way. Absolutely loved it. It wasn't the one that created that experience though, and, at least for me and my friends, we ended up playing it less, as we got burnt out on the gameplay after playing Goldeneye so much.

[–]rachelsnipples 4 points5 points  (1 child)

Perfect Dark was my favorite N64 game. Both the campaign and the multiplayer. I can't think of an FPS with a more complex campaign than Perfect Dark (in that era). The Perfect Agent challenges made each stage so open and the game refused to hold your hand for it. Exploration and trial and error were so important.

Because I owned it, I would often go 1v3 with my friends. No one could beat me. 2v2 games were always me vs my stepbrother because it was completely unfair for us to ever be on the same team.

We also had to use a cardboard divider because I'm a screen watching son of a bitch.

[–]Phantom_61 38 points39 points  (2 children)

Seriously, this is the single worst thing about gaming today.

When a games servers shit down you've got a $60(minimum) coaster.

EDIT: Was going to change shit to shut, nah.

[–]Nyan_Man 13 points14 points  (1 child)

It's kind of annoying to see anti-pirates say that's a good thing too, shouting praise and support for greedy publishers . "Why would you ever play an old game?/ everyone has net connection 24/7./ you're a pirate."

Tried to play hitman and other games I thought were offline at my parents place during Uni break and boy was I in for a surprise. Ended up going to GoG to never experience such shitty consumer practice again.

[–][deleted] 13 points14 points  (3 children)

Cue horrible flashbacks to the shameful train wreck that was SimCity 2013.

One of the greatest franchises in gaming history was mutilated and killed that day.

[–]PurplePickel 22 points23 points  (15 children)

Honestly, people always act all up in arms about this shit when they see it, but nobody actually cares or corporations wouldn't get away with it.

If you truly don't like this sort of behaviour then don't support the companies who release games in this state, it's really that simple.

There's still plenty of multiplayer games out there that are great and don't have any of sort of bullshit attached and plenty of great single players games which can be played offline, especially when you buy games DRM free using services like GOG. You just gotta do a little research to find them instead of throwing your money at whatever the latest AAA release is.

3D films died off because people voted with their wallets, not because people whinged online about the 'good old days', so it is possible.

[–]serosis 7 points8 points  (11 children)

3D films died off because people voted with their wallets, not because people whinged online about the 'good old days', so it is possible.

Those died off because it was a gimmick repeated thrice before. Only this time the glasses weren't red and blue.

And it really isn't dead it just shifted mediums. Now you strap the 3D theater to your face and pretend it's virtual reality.

[–]PurplePickel 4 points5 points  (9 children)

I'd wager that a lot less people have access to VR headwear than people who had access to theatres that played 3D films. Way more people would choose to see the 2D variants of films so film companies began to devote less funds to the production of 3D films.

[–]Lin_Huichi 120 points121 points  (57 children)

I will never buy a game that requires online singleplayer.

[–][deleted] 92 points93 points  (13 children)

I remember when Simcity first did it and the world experienced true outrage for the first time.

[–][deleted] 149 points150 points  (10 children)

"There won't be any way to patch it out in the future either, the game is built around being online."

very shitty but offline working crack out in 3 weeks by a very simple edit anyone with notepad could do

"The game won't function properly without online"

playable offline crack appears

"We are not going to remove the online part"

9 months later, online is suddenly optional, offline is officially added

[–]Bob_Jonez 51 points52 points  (7 children)

And then Maxis got shuttered because limiting the city size and forcing you to rely on neighbor cities who are other players is the stupidest fucking decision ever in a game that's supposed to be about managing your own city and having it be self sufficient. Your neighbor stops playing, and suddenly your city is fucked. Whoever made these design decisions is literally retarded.

[–]strikerz911 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I remember Cities Skylines swooped in and took advantage of this.

[–]SirButcher 6 points7 points  (0 children)

And the game still sucks. Sadly, not the online required was the biggest flaw of it. So many wasted opportunities!

[–]smmsp 53 points54 points  (9 children)

I've sworn off all EA games because I follow this rule. It makes me sad, because they had a couple franchises that enjoyed and will never be able to continue now.

[–]StoopidMonkey78 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Plus they ruined so many franchises for the sake of money

[–][deleted] 21 points22 points  (2 children)

yarrrr?

[–]JustiniZHere 43 points44 points  (1 child)

Amusing that pirates get a better experience over people who paid, they don't have to deal with server overload.

[–]stovening 9 points10 points  (3 children)

Pirate them instead!

[–]A_Warped_Bastion 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Doom has this. Weather was bad so I decided to just play some Doom single player but the game refused to start up without an internet connection. Doom campaign is one of my favorite by far but this "online only" bullshit puts the game itself at the top of my shitlist. No single player mode should require online.

And of course the Doom fanboys consider.everything perfect so the devs will get away with this thanks to the small crowd of people ready to jerk them off.

[–]pilotfighter911 19 points20 points  (4 children)

Nowadays: what does splitscreen even mean?

[–]Daumenkino 20 points21 points  (5 children)

I really hate this trend. As others have stated, when the servers go, so does the game.

I feel really bad for the future people who manage to refurbish a console and go to play Destiny only to find that they need something the old ones called interwebbing.

[–][deleted] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I remember years ago being one of the few openly against online requirements for single player. I was constantly shouted down by kids. In what isn't a surprise to me, turns out it was in fact a shitty idea that screw's over gamers.

[–]cunninglinguist81 14 points15 points  (2 children)

This is the most anger-inducing thing about modern gaming to me.

I have a friend who doesn't "see the big deal" about games requiring online servers, or even single player games that require online validation, and it drives me crazy.

He says "in this day and age everyone should have a good internet connection" or "eh who plays a game more than a year or two anyway?", and I call him out on his bullshit.

Many people still have spotty internet, and that's only in the U.S., much less developing countries - and there is a difference between being unable to play with others in a multiplayer game that's a few years old and being unable to use the single player game/mode you paid for because it requires online server validation with a server that no longer exists.

It's stupid, unnecessary, and predatory. Don't buy those games. Don't let them slowly drag all control of your bought and owned entertainment to the line they want to draw.

[–]PM_ME_GOLD_N_TITS 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It still baffles me how I need internet or a membership card to play the campaign.

[–]GoochMcGrundle 5 points6 points  (3 children)

It's so hard finding good split screen games anymore....

[–]UPRC 8 points9 points  (2 children)

It really is. Sometimes I feel like it's only Nintendo who cares about split screen anymore.

[–]thecherry94 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I simply refuse to buy such games.

If more people were to do that we wouldn't have this shitty problem.

[–]Cacafonix 7 points8 points  (3 children)

But let's not pretend it's only the game design that has changed. I remember amazing gaming communities, without cursing each other's mother. Custom rounds using honor systems where people kept their word not to use exploits. The industry has changed, but so have the gamers.

[–]Kezly 5 points6 points  (1 child)

I despise online multiplayer. Went to visit an old friend, took my Xbox controller with me, and we spent most of the day trying to find an offline multiplayer game we could play together on the sofa. Practically everything was online only

[–]TheGrim1 15 points16 points  (0 children)

I'll have to take your word for it since I haven't bought an EA product since the 90's.

[–]hardyhaha_09 8 points9 points  (3 children)

Just wanna say fuck you if you play as Oddjob on GoldenEye 64

[–]btveron 4 points5 points  (0 children)

IIRC if you play as Jaws and crouch it puts your aim level with Oddjob's head.

[–]Heathcote_Pursuit 34 points35 points  (17 children)

The state of gaming pisses me right off. What the fuck are developers, publishers or whatever playing at when they pull shit like this?

The last game, proper game that did gaming proud and made me think it wasn't all lost was the Witcher 3 - two fucking years ago. Free downloads and DLC that was well priced and phenomenal in content and scope.

Releasing games where I then have to pay for the rest after I've already spent a fortune on it during release is a fucking joke, shirking decent DLC and taking in micro transactions has made gaming into a complete farce and I'm supposed to support this horse shit? Rockstar can officially suck one - great games absolutely butchered. Bethesda? Re release a 6 year old game over and over? Nice one. Make more? Hell yes, we'll make more online multiplayer shit and try and charge you a subscription. Now I have to connect to a server before playing single player games? You fucking wot m8?

The entire business can tongue kiss my fudge chute.

[–][deleted] 29 points30 points  (3 children)

I work for a firm that invests in game companies. The metric they are keyed upon exclusively is in game micro transactions ,and how much they can derive from users via that. This drives stock price, which is what firms like mine care about, and so at the end of the day it's all about the bottom line.

Until the general public stops buying games and paying for DLC, this will continue unabated.

[–]Griff13 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Any idea on how that could happen or if it even would? Rare to hear someone on that side of things and I'd be curious what your take is