Gaming Advocacy Group Reports Black Ops to UK Government

[Logan Westbrook]

Gaming Advocacy Group Reports Black Ops to UK Government

The group has its fingers crossed that its complaint might result in a legal precedent against broken games.

UK-based gamer advocacy group, Gamers' Voice [http://gamersvoice.org.uk/], has made a formal complaint to the UK's economic regulator, the Office of Fair Trading, about the problems that PC and PS3 gamers are having with Call of Duty: Black Ops [http://www.amazon.com/Call-Duty-Black-Ops-Xbox-360/dp/B003JVKHEQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1295633074&sr=8-1]. This is the second attempt by Gamers' Voice to force Activision into some kind of action over these issues.

Last month, Gamers' Voice wrote Activision an open letter, detailing the problems. These included, but were not limited to: the game freezing as it loaded maps, consoles and computers locking up during play, and connection problems during multiplayer matches. It noted that none of the issues seemed to apply to the Xbox 360 version of the game, which Gamers' Voice believed had been Activision's main priority, and therefore the version that had received the majority of the QA testers' time.

Gamers' Voice thought that the PC and PS3 versions of Black Ops were so broken that they didn't fulfill their purpose as pieces of entertainment, and decried Activision's decision to release the game on these platforms in such a state as an act of "crass profiteering." In the letter, Gamers' Voice offered Activision a simple ultimatum: If the publisher didn't explain what had gone wrong with the PC and PS3 versions of Black Ops, and let consumers know how they would be compensated, Gamers' Voice would report the game to the OFT. Gamers' Voice gave Activision one calendar month to respond, but the publisher chose to ignore the letter's demands, leaving Gamers' Voice no other option but to make good on its threat.

Gamers' Voice's head of industry relations, Chris O'Regan, said that the publisher's inaction meant that it would now have to face pressure from the government department. O'Regan said that the problems with Black Ops was exactly the sort of issue that the Office of Fair Trading was designed to handle. He hoped that the OFT would initiate litigation against Activision, as that would set a legal precedent that selling games in an unfinished state was unacceptable.

He didn't expect the issue to be resolved quickly though, and said that a formal investigation by the OFT could take months. He thought that Activision might react a little more quickly, but didn't expect anything from the publisher except a rebuttal of the letter's claims.

Source: IncGamers [http://pc.incgamers.com/News/26678/unfinished-black-ops-reported-for-government-investigation]






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[Booze Zombie]

Here's hoping something does eventually come of this.

 

[Actual]

Lolwut?

There's nothing wrong with my PS3 copy of Black Ops. Seems very polished, though I'm only about half way through the campaign and have only done a few hours of multiplayer. I've not experienced a single bug. I'm a QA software tester by profession, just in case that seems relevant.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

just get it on the 360 and stop complaining. jeez. its not that hard.

EDIT: though it is a crying shame that they would release "broken" versions of the game. you do realize microsoft paid good money for their advertising of the game as being playable "better" on the 360, right? well, still. companies shouldnt release broken products. BAD ACTIVISION!

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

just get it on the 360 and stop complaining. jeez. its not that hard.

Not everyone can afford two consoles, and it should work equally on all versions.

For reference, I own a 360.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Lolwut?

There's nothing wrong with my PS3 copy of Black Ops. Seems very polished, though I'm only about half way through the campaign and have only done a few hours of multiplayer. I've not experienced a single bug. I'm a QA software tester by profession, just in case that seems relevant.

Me too. My wife, friends, and I have played quite a bit of Blops and haven't found any big issues.
Then again, I've heard some people say the same about Fallout New Vegas which is completely broken in my experience.

Has this advocacy group mentioned anything about New Vegas. That's a game I feel like I should've been paid to play as a beta tester rather than get charged $60 for.

 

[MrMoustaffa]

So where were these guys when Fallout New Vegas came out? *ba dum tish*

Seriously though, that does suck, and I think thats a pretty interesting tactic. If there actually are problems with Call of Duty's Multiplayer (I have no idea, I own an Xbox and live in the states) and they get the OFT to crack down on them, this will make companies think a lot harder about releasing a broken game and hoping nobody notices.

 

[Lucifer dern]

So where were these guys when Fallout New Vegas came out? *ba dum tish*

Seriously though, that does suck, and I think thats a pretty interesting tactic. If there actually are problems with Call of Duty's Multiplayer (I have no idea, I own an Xbox and live in the states) and they get the OFT to crack down on them, this will make companies think a lot harder about releasing a broken game and hoping nobody notices.

I was going to say oblivion, but far ninja

 

[Scrythe]

Let's hope that this amounts to something. I haven't been able to finish Black Ops on PC because it'a a glitchy piece of shit.

 

[happysock]

I wish these guys would have played New Vegas when it first came out...

OT: I've not played the ps3 or pc version myself but I've never heard complaints about this kind of thing when talking to friends about it.

 

[uppitycracker]

just get it on the 360 and stop complaining. jeez. its not that hard.

EDIT: though it is a crying shame that they would release "broken" versions of the game. you do realize microsoft paid good money for their advertising of the game as being playable "better" on the 360, right? well, still. companies shouldnt release broken products. BAD ACTIVISION!

lol ya, lets ditch our platform of preference because "it's not that hard". i never play FPS' on the xbox, those are reserved for my PC. personally, I experience no issues, but a glance at the black ops forum on steam will give you an idea of what kinda issues people are being faced with.




on the topic of it working for me and not for others, it really does make one wonder just what the issue is. i almost want to say it's geared more towards people who bottleneck their systems, have piss poor configurations, or some other user-end error. i've definitely noticed a trend with the newer video cards causing the issues, between a certain time frame of GPU release anyway. my 9800GT, before it died (RIP), played it flawlessly alongside my E8500. so many people pick up the lower-end models of the newer cards and expect wonderful results with their i7's, and sometimes the other way around (lower clocked CPU's with the higher-end GPU models), and I guess it's just general ignorance on how these things should work.

 

[Wolfram23]

Well now that would be something! A game actually needs to be finished before release? Wow. Who would have thought that would be a good idea?

 

[KEM10]

I'm more curious to see where this goes. I didn't pick up Black Ops, but if this does push through then we might see more game companies delay release dates rather than have 3 patches within the first 2 months. I then wonder if the fan fallout would be more or less intense than a buggy release.

 

[Mr. Omega]

I want them to accomplish their goal, not because of the PS3 version of Blops is that much worse (haven't played the 360 version, so I have no way to compare), but because this could set precedent for the future where there really is an obvious difference between versions.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Shitty port jobs for a game made specifically for the Xbox 360?
Sounds like Game of the Year material to me!

 

[Cyberjester]

on the topic of it working for me and not for others, it really does make one wonder just what the issue is. i almost want to say it's geared more towards people who bottleneck their systems, have piss poor configurations, or some other user-end error. i've definitely noticed a trend with the newer video cards causing the issues, between a certain time frame of GPU release anyway. my 9800GT, before it died (RIP), played it flawlessly alongside my E8500. so many people pick up the lower-end models of the newer cards and expect wonderful results with their i7's, and sometimes the other way around (lower clocked CPU's with the higher-end GPU models), and I guess it's just general ignorance on how these things should work.

Could just be they only tested on older cards. Yea, it works on this card, has to work on the newer ones, right? Sure, just ship the thing.

Happens quite a lot. Old graphics card is fine, newer one and my game is all of a sudden unplayable.


Would be good if this worked though. I have a list of games for them to look at..

 

[2fish]

While I am glad to see quality control come up as an issue in gaming why not choose new vegas? It seems to have more bugs.

 

[Senaro]

You can be punished by law for making buggy games?

 

[MGlBlaze]

should I say it?

yes, I should.


YOU bought a game.

If the game is not up to expectations of what YOU think it is, by all means sell it.


this is like someone buying a shit sandwich and complaining that their shit has corn in it.

There is a difference between not being what you expected due to fault of your own, and not being what you expected because the developers failed to do their job properly. It's not like the painful analogy you thought up; it's like someone ordering a sandwich and complaining because there was something on it they didn't want and were never told was there, or the sandwich was in an unacceptable condition.

If they failed to do their job properly then you have every right to complain and seek a resolution to the issue. You shouldn't have to sell the game; you should get what you paid for in the first place.