ROSS'S GAME DUNGEON: ZANY GOLF

[Ross Scott]

 

Blip.tv link

 

 

I was hoping to have more time in between this episode and the last one, but there was some time sensitive information in this one. I thought it would be a fun idea to make a birthday episode, but "fun" ended up turning into spending all day Wednesday and Thursday on this, along with doing an all nighter continuing from last night to work, making this the busiest birthday I've ever had. Regardless, I'm pretty happy with how this one came out. It's actually sort of a dual review; the first half of the video I'm reviewing Zany Golf, the second half I'm reviewing Electronic Arts. Feel free to guess which one I give a better rating.

 

This game easily has the most haunting music out of all the games I've covered so far, I still can't get the "fans" stage music out of my head. Watch this one if you dare.

 

LINK TO FORUM COMMENTS

[Box Tactics]

Ugh, EA. I've hated them for a long time; I'm aware of their more explicit ethical lapses, but the situation that's most ruined their reputation in my eyes is... pretty much everything ever to do with the game Spore. Although what they did can mostly be chalked up to incompetence, I'm pretty sure that wasn't it at all. I'm pretty sure they intentionally sunk their own ambitious, highly-anticipated game because they were afraid it would make the gaming public smarter if they made it as well as they could.

[ISGC]

Happy Birthday!!!

[HLPrincess]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I wish there was a decent mini golf course where we live

[MadBadCoyote]

Happy Birthday!

 

Here's a big list of EA being a bit evil starting from 1994 up till early this year.

 

Rereading that list made me a bit sad

[scott155]

I'm pretty sure they changed their name to Evil Assholes a while ago and just didn't tell anyone.

[RandomGuy]

^^That list is quite interesting. Even if there is some stuff in there I find weird (Renegade bombed? It was awesome!). And even if most of that stuff isn't really what Ross is looking for.

 

I'd like to address one of them though, as it's the only one I really know enough about to comment on:

 

2012 - Mass Effect 3's voice acting budget was slashed, causing characters to be cut. Additionally, executive meddling has been accused of being one of the causes for that game's disappointing ending. Oh, also, on-disc DLC. And to get all of the game's in-game expansion content, you're looking at spending $170. Thanks, EA!

 

First of all, the voice acting bit is interesting. I'd like to see a source for that; it'd explain some things.

 

The other two points bug me. EA does bad things, but honestly, I think the Biodrones have demonized them too much (this is solely relating to Mass Effect 3, as I said I don't know enough about the rest to comment). The executive meddling didn't cause the horrible ending; the team has openly admitted that the ending was written by Mac and Hudson, and that they thought it was totally perfect. They honestly thought it was good. EA isn't to blame for this one. The lead ME writers are the ones who thought it'd be a good idea to give the Reapers the dumbest motivation ever, utterly screw over galactic civilization, render all choices meaningless, strand your crew, condemn the series' two most popular squadmates to a slow painful death for no reason, put in Synthesis space magic, et cetera. Thank god at least half of that stuff was retconned later, though too bad it wasn't ALL of it.

 

On the DLC point: it's quite disingenuous to phrase it like that. What he's saying is technically true, but not in the way you may think. The DLC he's referring to is redeemable multiplayer bonuses you get from buying certain tie-in toys (which is where that huge number comes from). They don't actually add content to the game, they just help you level up in the multiplayer mode quicker by unlocking a meager amount of equipment that you would otherwise get by grinding. The actual DLC for the game totals about sixty dollars all together when including the three story DLCs, the weapon packs, the armor packs, and the free ending retcon.

[RED@KTOR]

You had to go to politics, eh? I doub't that much of that is going to count towards good game reviews.

[danielsangeo]

Yer killing me, Ross! (But in a good way.)

 

I had just finished typing up the subtitles for Eternam (haven't synced them yet) and I check the site and you already have another episode of RGD up! AUGH!

 

It could be a bit before I have both RGDs up. Watch that several more Freeman's Minds will be up by then.

[Lord Sinister]

Normally these games seem to predate me so I was amazed to see a game I'd played before! I remember playing this on an old Windows 3.1 computer we had. It was the DOS version though, with the glorious bleepy music that you briefly show.

[Ross Scott]

Although what they did can mostly be chalked up to incompetence, I'm pretty sure that wasn't it at all. I'm pretty sure they intentionally sunk their own ambitious, highly-anticipated game because they were afraid it would make the gaming public smarter if they made it as well as they could.

I think it's more about the people making business decisions wanting what they perceive to be as safe bets as possible. So once a game's mechanics get too complicated or get too tricky for everyone to understand, it may make them nervous, thinking the game will be more of a great niche status. Most of what EA and many other large game companies do is consistent with them caring much more about short term profits, above everything else, especially game quality.

 

Here's a big list of EA being a bit evil starting from 1994 up till early this year.

Most of this list seems consistent with being short sighted assholes in the name of trying to turn more money as fast as possible, even if it comes at cost to the game, developers, etc. I unfortunately have difficulty calling most of this evil, just a horrible precedent for the industry. Whether any of that is evil or not would be dependent on more specifics, like if they intentionally lied to the development teams as to their intentions, created false hopes, broke promises, etc. I don't have access to that information, so I would say it's entirely possible they've been run by greedy assholes who don't realize what they're doing.

 

It was the DOS version though, with the glorious bleepy music that you briefly show.

That's actually the only version I played prior to review.

[urcousinvinnie5]

The only thing I hope EA doesn't make shit out of is mass effect and dead space. They would be PROVEN evil if they cancelled either one of them. If EA is so evil then why have I not seen any marketing flaws with dead space? I thought that dead space and mass effect were both works of genius. If they are so evil than why is dead space and mass effect so good? OR maybe....

 

update: I just read through the list and honestly... What...the...fuck. The thing that got me most peeved is that they shut down pandemic. what right do these assholes have to shut down multiple hard working companies, and even after many lawsuits involving different problems, EA always wins, even after trials that make it seem completely obvious that they were underpaying their employees. Oh, did you like all of your childhood favorites as a kid? WELL TOO FUCKING BAD BECAUSE EA HAS RUINED YOUR CHILDHOOD AND YOUR CAREER IN GAMING. What's next, halo? Are they going to turn the greatest sci-fi game into a piece of shit just by buying 343 and instantly dropping their ass? What about call of duty? Well too fucking bad because if somebody doesn't expose EA for a corrupt company intending to be the OWNERS of all video games. If EA keeps this up, there will be no more call of duty, halo, killzone , star wars, The walking dead, half-life (please no), ETC.

 

I am actually convinced that EA is in fact EVIL. Let's just hope that the EA games we DO love grow some balls and decide to leave them. If it sounds like I'm mean, I'm sorry. But I just hope that none of the video games we know and love will be destroyed by the hands of someone who doesn't know what the fuck they're doing.

[Meelis13]

Happy birthday

(even if its somewhat late)

 

But yeah, EA is evil (with some good games still being eleased though). Tho only additional example i have to show about it, is somewhat borderline of being evil and just being a dick. The thing they did with c&c 4 (goddamn, i am even raged to call it that). I mean requiring online connection at ALL times to play singleplayer portion? thats kind of like xbox one, if anyone remembers

[Dmitry]

Um, Happy Birthday, Ross! Personally I find that the best ways to spend one's birthday are the ones that don't remind us of how 'time just flies, period, and we all end up older', and I can easily see how doing the work that matters counts toward it

 

Ross's Game Dungeon seems to be off to a good start, I think it sums up into an interesting overview of what was the 'golden age' of videogames when possibilities seemed endless for many reasons, and how it relates to the present day. I might be overinterpreting the concept, but politics necessarily gets involved in such an exposition one way or another because of the inherent conflict present in demonstrating the virtues and shortcomings of old and obscure games as games to be played as opposed to merely nostalgic artifacts of yonder like many among the older generation of gamers relate to old games, or as ridiculous oddities like many people reviewing old games portray them to be. Basically, one can get an uncomfortable idea that it used to be (in the industry on the whole) that innovation was highly sought after and rampant, and game designers could get away with at least as much as, say, writers, or TV producers, but then the industry leaders gradually figured out what they thought the target demographics actually wanted from games and proceeded to crank it out as cheaply as possible in a race to the bottom. This paragraph is getting too long.

 

Anyway, when I heard of the giant burgers at the end of the previous episode, I thought it would be something like McDonald's Treasure Island but more obscure and with more giant burgers (it also seemed a good fit because of the clown thing, but that particular game already got reviewed many times, for example

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9WRmyHSCAY ).

[chrl]

I believe that EA is not really all that evil most of the time. They are just that perfect mixture of incompetence and stupidity that makes them seem malicious when they are actually just idiots.

 

Not that that makes it any better, mind you.

 

EDIT: And also, remember this one you guys: "It's not evil: it's capitalism."

[SmilingWorlock]

Wszystkiego najlepszego z okazji urodzin!

 

I always hated games that are out to kill half way through. I just get frustated and quit. I don't like golf anyway. I like the "throwing the club on people"-part. I guess everything has it's pros and cons. Except getting old, that just sucks.

Edited December 29, 2013 by Guest (see edit history)

[ISGC]

I wish there was a decent mini golf course where we live

Mini golf is really one of the big shams in the world today - just like bad breath and diamonds. Everyone thinks minigolf is so much fun when they're thinking about it, but really when you get down to it, it's just the worst part of golf with a bright carnival veil thrown over it. Nor is it as romantic as media would have you believe. From personal experience, never take your date to a minigolf course.

Maybe I'm just bitter, though.

[HLPrincess]

I wish there was a decent mini golf course where we live

Mini golf is really one of the big shams in the world today - just like bad breath and diamonds. Everyone thinks minigolf is so much fun when they're thinking about it, but really when you get down to it, it's just the worst part of golf with a bright carnival veil thrown over it. Nor is it as romantic as media would have you believe. From personal experience, never take your date to a minigolf course.

Maybe I'm just bitter, though.

Then you're bitter because Ross really likes it!

[Ross Scott]

I believe that EA is not really all that evil most of the time. They are just that perfect mixture of incompetence and stupidity that makes them seem malicious when they are actually just idiots.

I too agree not blaming anything on malice that can be interpreted as incompetence (I think Westwood and Bullfrog both fell under this category). However, I also think it's clear that the people who do make controversial decisions at EA don't care at ALL about gaming, just profit margins. So in essence you have incompetence combined with people who don't care about the consequences of their actions other than any immediate financial ramifications.

 

I might be overinterpreting the concept, but politics necessarily gets involved in such an exposition one way or another because of the inherent conflict present in demonstrating the virtues and shortcomings of old and obscure games as games to be played as opposed to merely nostalgic artifacts of yonder like many among the older generation of gamers relate to old games, or as ridiculous oddities like many people reviewing old games portray them to be.

Well I'm mostly focusing on low-res games right now, because I don't have enough faith in my system to do real-time recording at higher resolutions. I think the main thing I need is a SSD for that, once I have one I plan to expand into later games as well. You're absolutely right though in that I view these games as something to be played (or avoided) rather than a nostalgia trip. The underlying theme about RGD is I really have to have something to say in order to cover a game, rather than cover it for its own sake. If a game seems unremarkable in every way AND I can't think of any tangential topic to tie in with it, I doubt I would cover it.

[JudasPhysicist]

EA shut down Westwood studios, then proceeded to make horrible C&C sequels.

 

Ubisoft bought Massive Entertainment, my favorite RTS developer, proceeded to have them make a weird mmo-rpg-action game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_j9uKBmUEk

 

I don't know which is worse.

We'll see when Division comes out I suppose.