Just jumping into GTA again to see if anything has changed.
$8,000,000 worth of GTAV money can be bought for 60 quid....... Some of these new fighter and bomber planes can be bought for 2-4 million, with many other vehicles costing a million. Insane rip off. If a new vehicle or whatever was a pound a piece that would be another thing, sorry but seriously anyone who buys these 'Shark Cards' is an absolute mug.
Oh and it's still clearly riddled with hackers, went into a server where I couldn't move properly, really glitchy. Had something similar in the past where people can fuck with players, like spawning a few dozen cops with tazers on you that will constantly shoot you so you can never get up.
I quite like your concept actually, makes more sense than the grindy nonsense we have now.
Sixty-second idea beats grindmans, yeah. Are you playing the PC version now?
I was the first Badger to use the garage glitch, and there was a bit of disapproval at the time. It was often likened to low-level piracy across the 'net, except we'd all paid for the game. As far as the argument of funding Rockstar to produce more of what I like, this kind of fleecing makes me care a lot less about that. It was clear from its design that players would be grinded into hopeful submission. Adding a tenner to the price wouldn't have been the worst plan.
I'll still buy Red Dead 2, but only the standard (as ever), and no paid-for unlocks. I won't care about the pre-order horse or whatever it is.
The interesting part of that for me is that it's Disney who were not happy with the negative press, not EA. So were this one of their own brands, like say Battlefield they would have carried on regardless.
Anybody who buys that crap about making the best experience for the player needs their head examined. They'll shaft the players at the first moment their analysts and algorithms say they can.
It’s probably quite the conundrum about how to shaft players from here on out. If they go in hard, early on, when the game has just launched, there’s a backlash. If they wait and phase it in, they miss out on that sweet launch day action. And half your market has gone from people progressing from the standard grind. If anyone can solve that puzzle, EA can.
Radio 4 had an interview with a parent the other day. His credit card was on the console from the initial purchase of FIFA. His son then racked up £3,000 of Ultimate Team stuff in 50 separate transactions over the space of a month. He accepted, in hindsight, he should have taken his card off. He contacted MS who said it was his responsibility. He then contacted Radio 4, who contacted MS saying they were running a feature about it, and MS decided they would do a one-off refund.
The dad didn’t seem all that savvy about games. Not everyone has played them to the extent we have, and they’ve changed a lot recently.
It’s partly down to parental responsibility. But only partly. If he’d left his card on the kitchen table and his son had stolen it, that’s an issue for them. But EA are the devil on the kids shoulder here. “Do it, do it, spend it, more, more, oh we received three grand from a minor. Not our problem guv. Should have been more careful.” Fuck off.
You just shouldn't be able to spend that much on a game, absolute bullshit. I wouldn't mind seeing a cap on the amount it's possible to spend on any one game over a monthly period, with hefty penalties should that be ignored.
Kids are definitely the most at risk from this kind of stuff, when you're young you don't connect the abstraction of money to reality so easily.
Too late now, the larger players in the industry have proven that they are unable to regulate themselves, instead focusing completely on profit (even to the detriment of the game, never mind the points around gambling and vulnerable individuals) the Belgian (and reports the Dutch are following) are apparently taking this forward to the EU as well.
Whilst the Belgians would like them banned wholesale, the process (the ability to dismantle for crafting purposes) and the legislation that Nick described as working in Japan would be more ideal in my opinion.
Covering ground we've already covered, but the convo is usually good for some dispassionate reporting. (dispassionate is the one I want there, isn't it?)