Gaming BS of the week

The unrealistic expectations are killing a lot of companies 'forcing' the idiots at the top to take extreme risks but gaming companies (well public ones) are probably hurt more than most companies. As i noted the problem with public companies is that it is not good to make a profit you have to 'grow' and a lot of very stupid execs will take company risking risks (if that make sense) to achieve expected 'growth' numbers (they get big bonuses if they miss the numbers but even bigger bonuses if they hit them and so what if a few (or many) companies go bankrupt or a lot of people get layed off in the process (btw some companies lay off people just to 'hit' the numbers as lay off improve gross margins).

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Anyway that is the true BS (laying off people to hit the numbers not improve the company).

Couchpotato said:
Square-Enix posted their Financial Results for 2018.

Link - http://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/ir/
CNBC has a new article about “Unrealistic Expectations”Hurting AAA Companies.

Link -https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/18/for...me-firms-ea-activision-blizzard-take-two.html
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Consumers: “Are you going to remove loot boxes from COD?”
Activision: “Well, yes. But actually no”



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FO76 news, first is about ban:

https://www.reddit.com/r/fo76/comments/as0aea/banned_im_the_900_hours_played_guy/
Banned. I'm the 900 hours played guy.
…
I got banned for having too much ammo.

I don't think I've once held more than 36,000 ammo at one time. 36,000 being a very specific number I am stating as that was the rough amount of 5mm ammo I had collected.
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To quote JS, somewhat:
Wait what? Someone played that atrocity for 900 hours? O_O

Second, it's not cosmetics only any more:
 
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you said:
You get banned if you collect too much ammo ?
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Apparently the banned user hoarded so much ammo they considered it cheating. One thing I learned from MMOs it's that someone will find a way to game the systems.
 
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Yeah, they seem to have a pretty stupid system to detect duped items.
They only monitor the owned amount.
 
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Now that is BS. Having admin games before I can tell you player can frequently LEGIT (without duping or 'explict' cheating) find ways to end up with huge amount of 'special' equipment (I hardly consider ammo 'special'); how freaking stupid is Bethesda's employees.

Btw in one of the games I admin an area creator banned a player because they found an easy way through the area they created. Naturally i unbanned the player and told the jackass the problem wasn't with the player but his design of the area.

Cacheperl said:
Yeah, they seem to have a pretty stupid system to detect duped items.
They only monitor the owned amount.
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you said:
Now that is BS. Having admin games before I can tell you player can frequently LEGIT (without duping or 'explict' cheating) find ways to end up with huge amount of 'special' equipment (I hardly consider ammo 'special'); how freaking stupid is Bethesda's employees.
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Don't know the details, but a possible explanation could be this:

1. To cut labor costs, Beth might use somekinda automated system for detecting misbehavior.

2. And, as we all know, automated monitoring is not reliable, and could result in some very weird results (see: questionable YT bans of recent, etc, etc)

3. Also, as we all know, proving your right to a brainless AI is nigh-on useless.

4. Furthermore, human operators are either incapable to -- or, simply do not want to (laziness, fear of job loss, etc, etc) override the automated decision.

5. Finally, as we all know, the age-old "innocent until proven guilty" paradigm does not work on-line

6. The result: any misbehaving is treated as violation and must be punished hard.

Conspiracy theories aside, if the above is correct…
… Skynet is laughing as IT BEGINS :devil:
 
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https://www.pcgamer.com/epic-halts-...after-outbreak-of-videos-exploiting-children/
Epic halts Fortnite ads on YouTube after outbreak of videos exploiting children
…

This isn't the first time companies have pulled support from YouTube in response to a major issue. As reported by Business Insider, more than 250 companies pulled their advertisements from YouTube in 2017 after a Times of London report revealed that they were running ahead of, and helping fund, "Islamic extremists, white supremacists, and pornographers."
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Ads are horros. Lootboxes are not exploiting children, no sir, they stay.

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https://www.pcgamer.com/hearthstone-designer-wants-to-know-why-people-arent-playing-it-as-much/
Hearthstone designer wants to know why people aren't playing it as much
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Why are people still playing Magic the Gathering and Yu Gi Oh? The answer is simple. Trade and card exchange exists in these two - without "house always wins" practices from gambling business.

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https://www.vg247.com/2019/02/21/anthem-mike-ybarra-whining/
Xbox’s corporate vice president says criticism of game with exclusive Microsoft marketing deal is “whining”
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Showing middlefinger, yelling FU and not buying can be anything, but is not whining. If anyone is whining, that'd be corporate suits.

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https://www.vg247.com/2019/02/20/paradox-mods-pc-xbox-one-surviving-mars/
Paradox Interactive and Microsoft have joined forces for Paradox Mods, a new Independent Modding Platform, on PC and Xbox One.
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Good luck with wishful thinking dictatorship can win over Nexus.
 
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Sims Freeplay and Sims Mobile are both, scamware. On phones.
With gambling mechanics, not as lootboxes though, EA went "creative" and in there you'll see a modern type of slot machine.
On would think EA must be very proud on the studio that bloodsucked millions of $ with these scams. Such misplaced pride won't pay bills to some of studio workers any more.

https://kotaku.com/eas-australian-studio-hit-by-massive-layoffs-1832803802
EA's Australian Studio Hit By Massive Layoffs

One employee, who spoke under anonymity, said the current atmosphere is so grim that remaining staff are operating under the assumption the whole studio will eventually be shut down. “No idea how certain tasks will be done at all if I look at who got let go,” they said.
Unofficial figures on the size of the Australian games industry placed the number of staffers at Firemonkeys at close to 200. A statement this morning from Game Workers Unite Australia originally estimated that 80 to 100 staffers were impacted, but that has since been amended to “some 40 to 50 people”.
A representative from EA stressed that despite concerns, the Firemonkeys office will continue operating. “This is a group with great pedigree in live services, and they continue to work on some of our most popular mobile games.”
The company did reply with a statement, however, confirming that the studio “entered a consultation period” to shift focus towards “more on our live services”.
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<insert JimSterling voice> LIVE SERVICES.
 
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https://www.tomshardware.co.uk/hp-ex950-nvme-ssd-2tb,review-34760.html
HP SSD EX950 NVMe M.2 SSD Review: Geared for Gaming
...
Overall, HP’s SSD EX950 weighs in from $0.20-0.23 per GB. The 2TB HP SSD EX950 blows the 2TB Samsung 970 EVO out of the water: It is about $150 cheaper and faster across the board.
...
aHR0cDovL21lZGlhLmJlc3RvZm1pY3JvLmNvbS8xL1IvODIzMDIzL29yaWdpbmFsL2ltYWdlMDE4LnBuZw==
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Should gamers seriously buy $400 NVMe M.2 ssd to gain 2 seconds of loading in some mmo? And why is the reference in the conclusion Samsung's overpriced garbage?
This article turned out even more ridiculous than PCGamer's shilling for i9.
 
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From a technical perspective the comment is misleading as it ignores three issues:

sustained write speed (if those matter to yourself) (many ssd will have fast burst write speed due to small cache); rewrite cycles (if those matter you - for gamers do you spam f5 on a small ssd then rewrite cycles might matter - and warranty period - the low end ssd usually has 3 years; mid tier 5 years and premium up to 10 years.
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I guess there is a 4th point - how large was the file being loaded and was it cpu bound - for very large of data chunks the nvme ssd is not a 10% faster but as much as 2.8x faster.
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Most ssd have decent read speed - though it is a mystery how the wd blue could manage to be so slow.

joxer said:
https://www.tomshardware.co.uk/hp-ex950-nvme-ssd-2tb,review-34760.html


Should gamers seriously buy $400 NVMe M.2 ssd to gain 2 seconds of loading in some mmo? And why is the reference in the conclusion Samsung's overpriced garbage?
This article turned out even more ridiculous than PCGamer's shilling for i9.
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https://tomclancy-thedivision.ubisoft.com/game/en-ca/the-division-2
Tom Clancy's The Division 2 is a shooter RPG …
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No it's not. +1 point to Ubisoft's false advertising.

https://tomclancy-thedivision.ubiso...-content-year-1-pass-and-monetization-details
Post-Launch Monetization
Our overall monetization philosophy is that purchasable items should always be optional to the player.
At launch there will be two ways to purchase additional content for The Division 2.
First and foremost is the Year 1 Pass, lined out in detail above.
Secondly, we have the in-game Apparel Store, where players are able to directly purchase cosmetic items for purchasable Premium Credits. This option exists for those who wish to know exactly what they are buying and are looking to acquire a specific cosmetic item.
Shortly after launch we will be adding the first purchasable Apparel Caches. These Caches will contain cosmetics only: no weapons, crafting materials or other gear. Acquiring a Cache will never provide any type of advantage.
Our intention is for players to organically earn new pieces of Apparel as they enjoy the many different activities of The Division 2; getting cosmetics from gameplay should be fun, exciting and rewarding. For those who wish to speed up this process, or acquire specific Apparel, there will be choices to directly purchase individual cosmetics in the Apparel Store, or via Event Caches post launch.
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It ain't RPG, it lootboxes scam-o-rama mmo.
 
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I have an urge to yell "live services!" instead of proper swearing in the future.

As usual, JS brings a video full of industry's bullshittery, including this one:
https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news...ames_just_a_harder_and_harder_proposition.php
"I don’t think anybody would say single-player is dead. Look at the current crop of games. It’s just a harder and harder proposition."

- Amy Hennig discusses how single-player games aren't dead.
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A consoles sellout instead of retiring is now preaching in the live services church. Well, go fu... erm, live services yourself Amy!
 
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https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47457568
Gamers suggest ways to combat addiction

Gaming "addicts" have been talking to MPs about the dangers of spending too much time online.
One told them that parents should set a three-hour-a-day limit on their children's gaming.
It is part of an inquiry into technology addiction, being held by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee.
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Critical miss or epic fail? Not sure how to call it myself. I'm reading - let kids do drugs, but set 3hr-a-day limit to smoke weed. Instead of reading - fight drug dealers (aka ban lootboxes scamware).

But well, what else to expect from ignorant politicians… There was a time I thought Brexit is a bad thing.
 
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Almost all gaming sites have an article like this one:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...ive-update-causing-major-stuttering-in-games/
Windows 10 KB4482887 Cumulative Update Causing Major Stuttering in Games
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But no, it's not causing any problems in games. It causes problems in only one milkingmachine: Destiny 2. And nowhere else.
In fact, some people claim their gaming performance is better with the update installed!

As none of us play Anthem's prequel, feel free to ignore this "scandal".
 
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https://kotaku.com/teenagers-say-ea-brushed-off-reports-of-sexual-harassme-1833166213
Teenagers Say EA Brushed Off Reports Of Sexual Harassment By Sims Influencer
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https://www.gamesindustry.biz/artic...n-dealing-with-sims-community-sexual-predator
EA apologises for delay in dealing with Sims community sexual predator
"We are disappointed in how events have unfolded and we own our responsibility to that," says The Sims general manager
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Is this really the current state of games industry? Screw ethics and care only about maximizing profits? And when shit hits the fan, only then make some damage control fake apology.

Just so you know, I had an impulse to slap this on sims forum but have no willpower to actually do it because a few weeks ago I asked for official comment on layoffs in australian company responsible for earning them millions on sims phonegames - received no answer.
 
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