What might get Ubisoft in hot water is if they start taking liberties with actual incidents; scrutinising specifics relating to unfavourable events in Bolivia's past (or present?) regarding drug trafficking. Somehow I doubt this. Wildlands is a multi-million dollar production with lots of bodies thrown at it. It is unlikely Ubisoft would have green-lit this game knowing its subject matter had the potential of jeopardising their investment so readily.

The minister's heart is in the right place, but I don't believe his complaint is going to hold up as long as Ubisoft stress that this is a work of fiction.

@opt1mu5prime: Wow, I'm 'foolish'. Good to see a bit of maturity. I'm actually on your side on this one (mostly).

I am absolutely 100% for artists retaining as much creative and financial control as they can (however they can), but you have to keep in mind that there's a matter of distribution (what's known as a 'deal with the devil'). There's always going to be someone wanting to take a cut, and not every artist has the time and resources to fire up their own streaming service.

Physical media - be it film, music, gaming - isn't going anywhere anytime soon. When it does, the process will be very long, and there will be friction. What I'm getting at here is that it isn't as simple as 'Gamestop is inherently evil for ripping off developers' - we play a part in it too. And the fact that Gamestop is sweating at the moment indicates that this type of business practice is on its way out, and that there's no need to get all worked up (unless you're a shareholder - then I'd be getting in touch with my broker).

My apologies if I came off as patronising, but I see this situation as the market adapting favourably, rather than a battle between physical and digital.

@opt1mu5prime: I'm just going to side-step the video games as art debate for a second and say that it's a bit of a flawed observation you have here. There are plenty of outlets (online and brick and mortar) that facilitate the reselling of other forms of art; music CDs and vinyl are a good example of this.

Keep in mind that we're not dealing with limited editions here; by definition there will always be an opportunity to make another sale provided new copies are in circulation. I myself can opt for a brand new copy if so inclined. If GameStop do not wish to sell me it brand new, they will be losing business. Ultimately, the buck ends with the consumer - we decide the prosperity of such business practices by voting with out wallets.

I wouldn't worry too much about it if I were you, Mr. Artist. Used games have to be in decline if GameStop are feeling a burn like this. They've built their empire on sand.

@OtakuD50: Honestly, it is an interesting connection, but I'm not completely sold. Metal Gear titles (at least the one's I've dabbled in) have frequently articulated themselves within the context of the gaming landscape. Sons Of Liberty funnelled us through a funhouse mirror version of its predecessor, with Raiden (and all his naivety) serving as an allegory for the player's expectations of the upcoming events; the game thus becoming a critique on what we, the players, expect from 'our' sequels.

I'm certainly not saying the parallels you've drawn are incorrect, but I believe the real trap is drawing parallels from film at all, for the medium (film) is inherently handicapped insofar as embodying what makes Metal Gear so thought-provoking and special.

Oh man, I wish this director nothing but the best of luck (genuinely, I really do), but we're dealing with almost three decades worth of legacy that made the act of pulling the rug from underneath us idiosyncratically 'Metal Gear' - often in ways that are unique to the medium.

How much of this translates to the silver screen is a worrying issue for me, but I hope Roberts and his team can pull it off.

@Relvar: I can see what you're saying, but I don't support this 'new generation of kids' labelling as an indicator of the Switch's potential worth. Ascertaining your target market is only ever an approximation. You just can't tell what people will be interested in a few months, or even years down the line.

Take me for example; I've been console gaming since the original Playstation, but it's only until recently I invested in a PC. I could migrate back towards a PS4 (if only to play the exclusives), but even I don't know where I stand on this - and neither does Sony.

Be that as it may (if it sounds like I'm singing Nintendo's praises from the rooftop), I'm still cautious about the Switch. From what I've seen they haven't done enough to differentiate it from its predecessor.

It's still way too early to be calling shots. That analysis from Dr. Toto struck me as kind of odd; there's nothing particularly innovative about the PS4 or XBox One either, and those things aren't going to stop selling. A console's worth is in its library.

The pot of consumers is larger than it has ever been (and growing), so there's more than enough room for the Switch to have an impact on a particular segment of the market.

@heavygavel: I can't (and won't) dub all of it as far-fetched, particularly with that lack of insider perspective, but there are issues that need to be addressed.

For a scam, it's incredibly conspicuous. No Man's Sky leading up to release had gaming's biggest spotlight on it. Even non-gamers could see No Man's Sky coming over the horizon. They had cemented themselves within the gaming landscape, essentially backing themselves into a corner, so it seems less credible that they could simply slip out the back like a common thief. I'm positive, almost certain, what you described does actually happen, but the fact that Hello Games did it - especially when you consider how many eyes were on them, and with the backing of Sony (they're embroiled in this, too)- becomes a little too difficult for me to interpret as an open-shut case.

Also, the people who work at Hello Games are by no means imperceptive; they are consumers themselves (like us) who are privy as to what's expected from a title, so I think they knew in some respects that their game was lacking in content, which at least gives credence to the notion that the Foundation patch has been in production for a while, but would also give credence to the notion that they had no intention of pulling a runner once they hit release date either.

I'm not condoning their actions leading up to release. It's all too common (certainly not 'industry standard') to see the consumer being taken for a ride, but my hope is that we can at least give Hello Games a chance to make amends without putting them down in the process. I don't believe in perpetuating a climate in which developers and publishers are free to take advantage of consumers, but there has to be some kind of remission on our part when a developer attempts (whether or not you believe it to be sincere) to make things right, otherwise our bitterness and cynicism will nullify any attempt of a mistake being corrected. That's just the camp I happen to be in, that's all.

@heavygavel: I understood your analogy. I just found it to be a tad overkill given we are talking about a game here.

I see what you're going on about (I think); you believe they purposefully issued a truncated version of the game thinking they could have gotten away with it, and those who defend Hello Games' efforts to make amends for any wrongdoing is by default naive for interpreting this update as anything other than a ploy to come out the other end of this ordeal with their reputation intact (which is a little insulting to both parties, I guess).

Whilst not wishing to be a defeatist, I don't believe they will ever fully recover from this. More than any other developer in recent memory, they got absolutely nailed (I personally believe they deserved some, not all of it). The advent of the internet and subsequent sites like this one practically solidify reputations in stone.

All we have left at this juncture is interpretation. I could be flat-out wrong, but I choose to interpret their efforts (in this case) as a gesture of good will. If you believe Hello Games are pulling the wool over our eyes with this latest patch, that's fine with me. I can respect that opinion (even if it didn't sound like it several comments ago).