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Anthem
No, I haven't been playing EA's Destiny. (Or Destiny for that matter.) This is more my thoughts on the stupid release schedule for it. One post on Kotaku had someone overthinking what makes a release date.
Go read the article to see what has him running circles.
Here's my take on it. The Release date is the date when regular players are able to start playing the game outside of a beta. By beta, I'm referring to periods of times when players are playing a game knowing all progress will be reset once the beta period passes. I'd say a beta also includes playing a "feature incomplete" game but seriously these days devs never finish their job before selling the product.
So in the case with Anthem, I'd mark the date the premium access buyers gained early access to the game as the "Release Date". They aren't limited to their time to play the game (unlike the Origin access people who have 10 hours to play - but those people haven't actually paid for the game I believe, so to them it's just a timed trial.)
As for everyone else? IE: When the main crowd finally get to play the game? That isn't the release date. That's just the penalty EA sticks to the people who won't pony up top dollar. It's like going to a convention and getting a VIP ticket so you get in first. The con most definitely started when those VIPs went in. They paid top dollar to skip to the front of the line while the rest sit with their thumbs stuck up their ass. It's the exact same thing - the only difference is that the lineup for Anthem is artificially created by making everyone wait a week while the VIPers jump ahead of them - this is a online multiplayer thing after all.
I'm not exactly interested in 99% of multiplayer games so naturally Anthem hasn't really been on my radar. Apparently load screens are an annoyance with this game though, so that would have killed my interest in it as well if I had any interest in it to begin with.
Go read the article to see what has him running circles.
Here's my take on it. The Release date is the date when regular players are able to start playing the game outside of a beta. By beta, I'm referring to periods of times when players are playing a game knowing all progress will be reset once the beta period passes. I'd say a beta also includes playing a "feature incomplete" game but seriously these days devs never finish their job before selling the product.
So in the case with Anthem, I'd mark the date the premium access buyers gained early access to the game as the "Release Date". They aren't limited to their time to play the game (unlike the Origin access people who have 10 hours to play - but those people haven't actually paid for the game I believe, so to them it's just a timed trial.)
As for everyone else? IE: When the main crowd finally get to play the game? That isn't the release date. That's just the penalty EA sticks to the people who won't pony up top dollar. It's like going to a convention and getting a VIP ticket so you get in first. The con most definitely started when those VIPs went in. They paid top dollar to skip to the front of the line while the rest sit with their thumbs stuck up their ass. It's the exact same thing - the only difference is that the lineup for Anthem is artificially created by making everyone wait a week while the VIPers jump ahead of them - this is a online multiplayer thing after all.
I'm not exactly interested in 99% of multiplayer games so naturally Anthem hasn't really been on my radar. Apparently load screens are an annoyance with this game though, so that would have killed my interest in it as well if I had any interest in it to begin with.