I ended up buying this game twice, once on console and again on PC. I absolutely love the game. I debated buying the PC version for a long time...my preferred system is the PC, and I thought that if I bought their terrible port I'd be supporting terrible ports.
But then I thought about it, and realized the only message I was sending was that I wasn't interested in a PC version, which is supposedly one of the main reasons they never bothered to make it in the first place. So I bought the PC version and explained these reasons on their forums. No idea if they listened or not, but I think it's important to send the message that if you provide what customers want you'll increase your revenue.
@shock_88 @hunteriv4 @b_o_l_h_a @Jason_da_psycho Sure you can. If someone plays Sims 3 for 20 hours a week and another plays Call of Duty for 20 hours a week, which one is a hardcore gamer? From a publisher's perspective at least, the Sims 3 is far more profitable; it's more expensive (all the Sims 3 expansions and game cost over $200), it's cheaper to make, and having played both, the Sims is a far more difficult game than Call of Duty.
"Gamer" is a silly term. You don't call someone who watches movies a "movier" or reads books a "booker" or "reader." A lot of people play video games, and like movies and books some do so much more than others, but ultimately there are only consumers.
League of Legends is one type of game. It's a game that is focused on an intense multiplayer competitive environment. It is fairly unforgiving to beginners and is rather hostile in general. I enjoy the game, but my wife couldn't stand it due to the pressure of worrying about letter her team down by not playing well enough. It doesn't surprise me that it would have a high male population.
The problem is exactly what you're talking about; we shouldn't be using market research to create games. That's the logic that creates atrocities like most Michael Bay films. Developers should be trying to make the best game they can make, and people will buy it. Otherwise you get Frankenstein games that are trying to appeal to everyone and don't actually appeal to anyone.
@MooncalfReviews But that's not what's happening. Game developers are being told by publishers that they can't have female protagonists in games. The Bioshock Infinite cover art was changed to a bland picture of Booker with a shotgun because they were worried having Elizabeth, who is just as much of a main protagonist, on the front cover would make the game sell less.
That would be like having the Hunger Games movie replace the main female character with that other guy because otherwise people wouldn't watch it. "It's an action movie, we can't have female characters on the front of an action movie because most people who watch action movies are men!"
No one is forcing developers to have more female characters. They want to, for creative reasons, because in real life over 50% of people in the world are female. Having games without over half the human population represented, often at all, is unrealistic and takes you out of the game world. Having female characters makes for a more believable story in the majority of game worlds.
Yet there is industry pressure for them to avoid this due to their perception of player demands, which the comments on this page do nothing to dispel. This topic shouldn't even be an issue; it isn't for any other creative media (at least not nearly to this extent).
@b_o_l_h_a @hunteriv4 @Jason_da_psycho Developers aren't being pressured to create female protagonists. They're being pressured NOT to make female protagonists, or even put what female protagonists they do have, that are part of the main story, on the box because apparently for some reason men are opposed to buying games with women on the cover (and if so, you're freaking weird).
What's a hardcore gamer? If I play Dwarf Fortress and you play Call of Duty, does that make me a hardcore gamer and you a casual gamer? What's the line that makes a game "hardcore?" Also, what does homophobic have to do with female gamers? If I read a book written from the female perspective, am I homosexual now? What kind of juvenile crap is that?
My wife plays XCOM, Orcs Must Die, Bioshock, Soul Caliber, Minecraft, Dishonored, Skyrim, and plenty of other games that are not the Sims or Farmville. You can't just take your own little group and assume everyone else is like that. Developers should be encouraging characters that help the STORY and the game, not filling games with white males because the publisher tells them that's what sells. It's immature and is holding the medium back in comparison to movies, books, and even comics as an art form and entertainment medium.
Would be better without all the screen glare. Hated that in Battlefield 3, hate it here. Doesn't add anything to the graphics in my opinion, is only distracting.
Otherwise, I like it. I wish it went into a bit more detail on the aspects of the game engine that are cinematic and which are procedural. For example, was that fireball created for that prerendered part, or can it happen from, say, a rocket launcher or BFG? What about the environment destruction on the surface, was the polygon deformation for the bullet holes in the metal, plus the broken ground, procedurally generated or scripted? If those weren't pre-scripted that's pretty cool. Otherwise...meh.
@b_o_l_h_a @Jason_da_psycho False. Approximately 47% of gamers in 2012 were female according to the ESA. Changes need to come when you're only marketing to 53% of your potential customer base.
Authors write characters of both genders all the time. It's not super hard to do because men and women don't think *that* differently. Go read a book written by a woman. Could you not understand it? Was the language foreign to you? If not, you just heard a "woman's perspective." Whoop-de-do.
Sometimes it makes sense for the character to be a heterosexual white male. Other times the story is better told with a different character. Why restrict ourselves because of stupid marketing data? People buy *good* games, and games that interest them. Every game won't appeal to everyone, and it's a waste of effort for them to do so. Make your game good, and in the creative direction you want, and it will sell. Restricting it due to the myth that "only dudes play games, and dudes don't wanna play as chicks" is juvenile and doesn't reflect reality.
@b_o_l_h_a @Jason_da_psycho False. See http://www.theesa.com/facts/gameplayer.asp; 47% of all gamers are women, and adult women (18+) represents a higher percentage of gamers than boys 17 and under (30% vs. 18%).
@LORD_HELLFIRE @Jd1680a @ollirg This is an example of something that women and men are equal at...why would a man be any better at architecture than a woman? You obviously have no idea what you're talking about.
@ollirg @LORD_HELLFIRE @ollirg @LORD_HELLFIRE Um, this is not true, even among different men. In a fist fight (or with melee weapons), *assuming the same skill*, the bigger guy will win unless they make a big mistake. On average, men are bigger than women, and usually have higher muscle density. Men are much better and more accurate with throwing than women (again, on average, check the studies), skills used in hunting. Men are typically better in war because, again, on average, they can carry more weight due to their larger size and better musculature.
That being said, there are certainly some women that are better than some men in these regards. But if you find the top guy in any particular physical skill he is going to beat the top woman. This is a biological restriction and it is not sexist to admit it; it is willful ignorance to ignore it.
I believe women should have a larger role in games but as women and not as men with breasts. It's just hard to do when there's so much cultural hostility around the subject.
@Nodashi I disagree...they criticized the DRM in the Far Cry 3 review itself, and then made fun of people who obviously had never even tried to play offline for complaining that it couldn't be played offline (it can). Making fun of someone for being belligerently wrong is a perfectly valid activity in my opinion.
The ONLY people who actually think DRM is a good idea are publishing executives who need some imaginary "protection" as a way to make their bosses feel like they're doing something. The developer, the tech guys in Ubisoft, and anyone who's used the internet for more than Outlook knows that DRM has zero impact on game piracy. If anything it detracts from sales since it's a hassle for paying customers.
DRM is a pain...but it's not as bad as those comments implied. Unfortunately the only message a publisher gets if you pirate a game is "that game isn't good, make something else" not "our business practice sucks" so it's not worth boycotting or pirating a game because of DRM. Which is too bad but oh well.
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