Age of Kotick

[mjc0961]

So how long do you think it will be before Kotick makes an ass out of himself with some kind of reply to this article?

It's this I get annoyed at sometimes. Statements that make people sound like they think that they really don't have to go near Guitar hero cos they can play the REAL LIFE guitar, and that Guitar hero is in some way just a cheap replacement for that. it isn't trying to be.

Well not Guitar Hero, not yet. But Rock Band is (see Rock Band 3), and pretty soon Guitar Hero will follow along in Rock Band's footsteps.

 

[erztez]

It's this I get annoyed at sometimes. Statements that make people sound like they think that they really don't have to go near Guitar hero cos they can play the REAL LIFE guitar, and that Guitar hero is in some way just a cheap replacement for that. it isn't trying to be. Come on, anyone can play guitar hero, granted, but anyone can play guitar as well.

True, true. Anyone can play MW2, and anyone can shoot a machine gun. Doesn't mean one qualifies you in any way for the other
About the guitar thing, I'm not saying learning how to play a guitar is in any way a defining quality in a "non-loser"...More the opposite, matter of fact. But I don't play GH because I find it boring, not because I think playing a guitar is more fun(it is for ME, but I can't really be objective on the matter).

 

[someotherguy]

Rage.

Okay, tell me this. Have you played mass effect? Any game with a sequel?

Okay, lets talk mass effect. Would you seriously think it's fair to only pay 60$ for both one and two? The same damn thing applies to starcraft, and almost every sequel. If you played starcraft 2, you know damn well that it's a long game, and isn't easily finished in a single sitting.

And getting angry about removing lan? come on, it's not that big of a deal, and i'm sure it'll be back, along with a plethora of old bnet 1.0 features soon.

Yes...yes I did.
And you know what? ME and ME2 were two separate games. SC2 and the ExPs aren't, thus rendering your point invalid. Let me make myself clearer...ME2 works fine without ME...HotS will most definitely NOT work right without SC2.
And no, it's not easily finished in a single sitting. But that's mostly because the cutscenes take FOREVER. I got the "Hurry up, it's raid night" achievement on Brutal, so...counting only game play, it's easy enough. (And no, I'm not admitting to buying the game a friend of mine managed to snag a few for almost nothing and was giving them away left and right. Paid exactly $0,tax incl. for it.)

No, LAN won't be back. They quite clearly stated several times that they have no INTENTION of bringing it back. Also, if you want to bring it back, why exactly did you take it away in the first place? Ditto for bnet 1.0...
As a matter of fact, the lack of a LAN mode IS a big goddamn deal, I actually like the occasional LAN party, having everyone have to go online to play is NOT my idea of a fun saturday evening...
Any game that requires internet connection to work in single-player/local network is bad. BAAAAAAAAAD.
Oh well, there's always the nice people who say "Arrrrrrr!" a lot, and they already made a few nice attempts at emulating a bnet 2.0 server. LAN soon enough, just not from ActiBLizz.

Alright, LAN, I had no idea on what they said, you win there.

I don't honestly see how making everyone go online for it is really that great of a deal, it really isn't.

I can maybe see your point on how the story line works, but from what i've read, almost everyone says they're going to be expansion prices, so whats the big deal?

And, are you saying you don't like marveling at the amazing CGI that was the cutscenes? Or are you talking about the ones with the in game engine? The in game ones, I can understand, yea, but it helps to build on the story, why it's called campaigned. To be honest, I wouldn't feel right paying 60$ for some 45 missions, that would probably offer more hours than you can imagine worth of play time.

 

[ZephrC]

Believe it or not, but there was a time when businesses were content to make money, and didn't have to gouge maximum profits out of every little thing that they did.

no there wasn't. The only reason you might choose not to squeeze something for additional revenue is because not squeezing it will ultimately make more.

That's both true and untrue at the same time. It has always been one of the goals of a business to make as much money as possible, but that "one of" bit is key. It used to be okay for a corporation to have multiple goals. Like, a restaurant could want to make really good food and make lots of money. A corporation could plan to pay their employees well and make lots of money.

Sadly, today's corporate attitude doesn't allow that. If your singular and all consuming goal isn't to ship every possible penny at every possible second off to Wall Street, you're doing it wrong.

The problem with Bobby Kotick and Activision is that they're proud of their transformation into a soulless money printing machine. They're in the process of learning a lesson that EA had to learn nearly a decade ago, that people don't actually like that. That maybe it's a good idea to keep your goddamned mouth shut about it, and maybe even dull the edges a bit for PR purposes on occasion.

That's actually kinda why I think people around here are practically waiting in line for a chance to slobber all over Valve's cock. Valve has managed to keep the dual goals of both making shit tons of money and making awesome video games, something which is extremely rare in a company of Valve's size.

 

[erztez]

So how long do you think it will be before Kotick makes an ass out of himself with some kind of reply to this article?

3...2...1...GO!

 

[SimuLord]

This week John Funk said in his Twitter feed, "Let's be honest here. We could write the news story 'Bobby Kotick Opens Door for Old Lady' and people would *still* be furious with him."

That's because he kicked the old lady through the door for having grandchildren that play videogames, then stole her purse to make a point.



Either way, enjoying article. Getting through all the links took me a while.

Actually, he bought the door, kicked the lady through it, then sued her for property damage, then stole her purse.

Ah, that does make more sense than what I heard. But I swore it had something to do with the lady's grandchildren playing video games...

That's Jack Thompson, not Kotick

Nah, Thompson would've sued the lady for walking too fast and thus endangering the younger generation by displaying reckless disregard for her own safety. Also, for displaying too much ankle, and thus arousing said younger generation.

If a kid helped an old lady across the street, Thompson would invoke Frogger and claim the kid was trying to get the lady killed in traffic.

 

[erztez]

Alright, LAN, I had no idea on what they said, you win there.

I don't honestly see how making everyone go online for it is really that great of a deal, it really isn't.

I can maybe see your point on how the story line works, but from what i've read, almost everyone says they're going to be expansion prices, so whats the big deal?

And, are you saying you don't like marveling at the amazing CGI that was the cutscenes? Or are you talking about the ones with the in game engine? The in game ones, I can understand, yea, but it helps to build on the story, why it's called campaigned. To be honest, I wouldn't feel right paying 60$ for some 45 missions, that would probably offer more hours than you can imagine worth of play time.

It's only a big deal because it isn't necessary for any sensible reason. It's just a BS move by ActiBlizz to monopolize the server distribution.

Yeah, everyone says that, and when ActiBlizz releases a price plan, I'll believe it. They're not giving me much cause for optimism though.

Yes, the CGI was amazing, all what, 10 minutes of it? The ingame stuff was bearable, but WAY too protracted, Raynor was really starting to get on my nerves at the end. On the other hand the AWESOME cutscene when you choose the 'toss side in the colony missions redeems all that.

And no, wouldn't have to be 45 missions for the price of one.

I'd be a happy camper if they released 3 games with 3 campaigns each, and each of the games had 27 missions total.
I'd gladly pay full price for THAT.
It's the fact that we get horribly crippled MP with little to no support from the devs(1.1.0 was a joke that should result in the QA manager getting drawn and quartered, and 1.1.1 just fixed the worst blunders of 1.1.0), and a lot of promises for fixes to come "soon". Personally, I translate "soon" as "after Heart of the Swarm and Left Testicle of Tassadar come out, so we won't have to balance the whole thing three times".
I played WoW for 4 years, EQ for 6...son, I can imagine of LOT of hours of playtime

 

[someotherguy]

Alright, LAN, I had no idea on what they said, you win there.

I don't honestly see how making everyone go online for it is really that great of a deal, it really isn't.

I can maybe see your point on how the story line works, but from what i've read, almost everyone says they're going to be expansion prices, so whats the big deal?

And, are you saying you don't like marveling at the amazing CGI that was the cutscenes? Or are you talking about the ones with the in game engine? The in game ones, I can understand, yea, but it helps to build on the story, why it's called campaigned. To be honest, I wouldn't feel right paying 60$ for some 45 missions, that would probably offer more hours than you can imagine worth of play time.

It's only a big deal because it isn't necessary for any sensible reason. It's just a BS move by ActiBlizz to monopolize the server distribution.

Yeah, everyone says that, and when ActiBlizz releases a price plan, I'll believe it. They're not giving me much cause for optimism though.

Yes, the CGI was amazing, all what, 10 minutes of it? The ingame stuff was bearable, but WAY too protracted, Raynor was really starting to get on my nerves at the end. On the other hand the AWESOME cutscene when you choose the 'toss side in the colony missions redeems all that.

And no, wouldn't have to be 45 missions for the price of one.

I'd be a happy camper if they released 3 games with 3 campaigns each, and each of the games had 27 missions total.
I'd gladly pay full price for THAT.
It's the fact that we get horribly crippled MP with little to no support from the devs(1.1.0 was a joke that should result in the QA manager getting drawn and quartered, and 1.1.1 just fixed the worst blunders of 1.1.0), and a lot of promises for fixes to come "soon". Personally, I translate "soon" as "after Heart of the Swarm and Left Testicle of Tassadar come out, so we won't have to balance the whole thing three times".
I played WoW for 4 years, EQ for 6...son, I can imagine of LOT of hours of playtime

Your tassadar line really made me laugh, and now I get your point, completely understandable.

In your mind, would a quick recap at the start of each of the expansions aid with that problem?

 

[dibblywibbles]

he's like every other CEO of every other major corporation. why should we be surprised by his ineptitude? so many of these guys are hopelessly out of touch with their customer base. the mass amounts of money they make has never been indicative of performance. there's a problem with corporations in general with how they behave, not just Mr. Kotick.

 

[someotherguy]

The one and only problem I have with Kotic is his cut and dry business attitude. When someone as powerful as he (in the industry) decides to set a trend. Everyone and their dog follow it.

Yes I understand this is how money squeezers think. And I actually kind of respect him for vocalising what he's thinking. Most companies are all 'U gaiz iz da bestes. We's dooz whatver u saeys! Coz yous is awesome an maed of candi' When what they really mean is, 'This is a really cheap product and will net us trillions. God were you born in a funny farm you fucking sheep?'

Kotic just say's the second part in public. I respect the little fucker for that.

What I'm pissed off about is that his company ignores fringe indi developers like the fucking plague. And nom's up anyone with a generic FPS idea... Because it's safe.

I understand that it's safe. I understand that from a business perspective that's about as mouth watering Angelina Jolie in spandex with the crotch and nipple areas cut off.

I'd just rather they spend at-least some of their enormous budget on funding some smaller companies with a bit of a different idea.

Hot damn, another chance to use this. What am I at now, like 5?

Ahem.

You have to understand : Indie = risk. FPS = low risk. Lower the risk, lower the return, but theres still going to be a good return.
Lower the risk, longer the life of the company. The company obviously won't prosper, but they won't instantly die out, it'll go rather slowly.

I've seen you use that comic before. It's irrelevant for one massive reason.

I never said 'am I the only one?' or indicated in anyway that I thought I was being original in saying what I did.

Plus I just hate that comic series.

It's pretentia.... It's over 9000.

As for you're comment. I'll direct you to the last part of my post.

I understand that it's safe.

Spoiler: snip

I understand that from a business perspective that's about as mouth watering Angelina Jolie in spandex with the crotch and nipple areas cut off.

I'd just rather they spend at-least some of their enormous budget on funding some smaller companies with a bit of a different idea.

So to summarise... Read better?

Saw the word sheep, buzz went off, had to post, add to my count of that, then to not appear as an ass, give some sort of reasoning to it, and bam. That's how I make one of those posts.
You must see, that when I see the word sheep, my brain is flooded with stimuli, and all of the sudden, I have to post that.

You have to understand, the count is everything. And i'm somewhere in the 5-6 range now.

You can blame whoever posted it first, they started me on this.

Wait, you've seen me use it before? Awesome sauce, i've trained myself to find sheep so well now.

Also: You hate it? I don't read it, so no sweat off my back.

You must see, it's pretentiousness is essential to it's existence (The comic) Its a never ending loop, so long as people use the word sheep, so long as this comic will be relevant in my mind. Am I probably wrong? Hell yes I am, does the count mean everything now that I made my own game out of it? You bet so.

But the 'sheep' sentence was part of a joke... I even semi-speech marked it.

Just read peoples posts though. If you just switch off at the word 'sheep' I can't be the only person you've said this to unjustly. I mean, what if they were having a discussion about agriculture?

I've seen you use it on a few people. That's the reason I know about the comic. I went to the comics site and looked around a bit there. Read about 30 pages and just left. It's such a pompous comic. It's existence is reliant on acting pretentious towards other pretentious people. The hypocrisy just makes me want to bang a kettle on my head. Ironic or not. It's still fucking retarded.

Think i'm going to stop playing that game, or have to scan for the word sheep better now, I shant abuse the patriot act.
And yea, I'll admit to one other error with though, mostly it was in movie bob discussions, where it was accurate 50-85% of the time. If only applied to bob, or bob uber fan boys.

My apologies then.

 

[Quaidis]

This week John Funk said in his Twitter feed, "Let's be honest here. We could write the news story 'Bobby Kotick Opens Door for Old Lady' and people would *still* be furious with him."

That's because he kicked the old lady through the door for having grandchildren that play videogames, then stole her purse to make a point.



Either way, enjoying article. Getting through all the links took me a while.

Actually, he bought the door, kicked the lady through it, then sued her for property damage, then stole her purse.

Ah, that does make more sense than what I heard. But I swore it had something to do with the lady's grandchildren playing video games...

That's Jack Thompson, not Kotick

Nah, Thompson would've sued the lady for walking too fast and thus endangering the younger generation by displaying reckless disregard for her own safety. Also, for displaying too much ankle, and thus arousing said younger generation.

If a kid helped an old lady across the street, Thompson would invoke Frogger and claim the kid was trying to get the lady killed in traffic.

Thompson! I almost forgot how much I hated him in all these conspiracy theories about Kotick.

I honestly think Thompson would have tried to sue the makers of GTA for somehow convincing a child through game play to help an old lady across the street, and thus trying to get her hit by a run away car that some crack addict stole. Even if there was no such car, and no such addict. But Frogger would be a good secondary scapegoat. Anything to get the extremists in a buzz against the video game industry.

Maybe the old lady that Kotick tried to kick through the door was mother to a disgruntled employee. That way he can use the lawsuit against her for property damage to further blackmail the employee into not getting paid the bonuses for their latest game release.

 

[XT inc]

He is ignorant in the fact that his things sell because they are all thats left. They sucked the life out of indi companies who did great work, but putting forth unreasonable demands and abusing their creativity for their own gains. Like allot of awesomebands who lose everything and have to call it quits due to shit contracts and misuse by their lables, Like the dead kennedys losing all their songs via contract.

the best games that will ever come out would have financial backing from big corps with little strings attached to give them the room to grow. Not being "exploited" (their phrasing) but being sold fairly. winning over hearts and minds like valve does. Its an artistic product where the devs at least want to be remembered and applauded instead of cashing fat paychecks made of the blood and sweat of the people who over pay to get their games "finished"( ie all dlc downloaded) product.

or at least it used to be

 

[erztez]

Your tassadar line really made me laugh, and now I get your point, completely understandable.

In your mind, would a quick recap at the start of each of the expansions aid with that problem?

You know what? Yeah, price them as expansions and do that, it'll be fine.
Also, don't wait with balancing, took you 6 months to fix DKs in WoW, and that's an MMO.
Please don't take a year to balance MMM in SC2...Not that I don't use it every chance I get, it's just that I'd gladly lay down the sword of rushing with basic units and WINNING EVERY DAMN TIME, if only the other guy had to do the same.
Right now, playing fair in SC2 gets you killed. Playing ZERG gets you raped.
Fix that and I'll withdraw my objections to SC2.
Changes nothing about my overall stance towards ActiBlizz though, they'll have to do a lot more than fix their own bloody mistakes for that.
I'm thinking Bob+Car battery+Clamps+National TV ad time.

 

[erztez]

Thompson! I almost forgot how much I hated him in all these conspiracy theories about Kotick.

I honestly think Thompson would have tried to sue the makers of GTA for somehow convincing a child through game play to help an old lady across the street, and thus trying to get her hit by a run away car that some crack addict stole. Even if there was no such car, and no such addict. But Frogger would be a good secondary scapegoat. Anything to get the extremists in a buzz against the video game industry.

Maybe the granny that Kotick tried to kick through the door was mother to a disgruntled employee? That way he can use the lawsuit against her for property damage to further blackmail the employee into not getting paid the bonuses for their latest game release.

Actually, Thompson would've sued if there was no lady. He would've sued if there was no child. He would've sued if there was no street. Hell he'd have sued if there was no video game. The only thing that would stop Thompson from suing would be if there was no Thompson.

Nah, Kotick had all the employees families move to an undisclosed location (read: dungeon under ActiBlizz HQ) a long, long time ago.

 

[erztez]

Mario and Pokemon, two of the most successful game series in the world. Hardly any noticeable growth over a period of almost 30 years. Grow? Rehash, rehash, rehash, rehash and rehash. What's Activision doing? same thing. Copy+paste a bland generic shooter over and over. Release veiled album packs as "NEW GAMES!" and so on. As long as every XXXULTRASNIPER and AMERICANBRAHWEED93 will keep shelling out 60 bucks for latest rehash of the month, companies like Activision will get by just fine. Why in the world would they ever try to sell games to anybody but the gamer who happens to make out society's lowest common denominator?

Sure, Nintendo, but they STARTED with their business model like this Also, they sell toys, not games(no, Wii is NOT a current generation console, take out the hardware and you barely get a last generation smartphone).

12 year olds and frat boys can collectively suck it, as far as I'm concerned. Selling to the lowest common denominator is fine, but you inevitably get down to the level of your customer base being too retarded to understand a controller(Nintendo already rented a room there).

 

[phoenix352]

Someone please email this article to the Activision board of chairmen. Plant the seed to the end of Kotick!

OT: Kotick is a train wreck i cant believe Activision cares that much about their reputation to drop him.That guy needs a one way ticket to the north pole he can milk anything he wants there to death....

 

[The Random One]

Hey remember when EA was the big evil of gaming? They barely changed since then, but they've done quite a few quiet, subtle marketing stunts (yeah not really sure how 'quiet' and 'subtle' apply to 'stunts') and managed to become at worst 'acceptable' in the gamers' minds. Of course they couldn't have done it if their number one competitor's CEO didn't have his foot surgically stuffed in his mouth.

So if you need to work at an enormous heartless moneymaking corporation... go for EA.

 

[erztez]

Hey remember when EA was the big evil of gaming? They barely changed since then, but they've done quite a few quiet, subtle marketing stunts (yeah not really sure how 'quiet' and 'subtle' apply to 'stunts') and managed to become at worst 'acceptable' in the gamers' minds. Of course they couldn't have done it if their number one competitor's CEO didn't have his foot surgically stuffed in his mouth.

So if you need to work at an enormous heartless moneymaking corporation... go for EA.

Amen.
They may be Evil, but they're OUR Evil.
ActiBlizz is an unholy hybrid of Satan and Steve Jobs sans the marketing ability.

 

[Altorin]

I still think the interplay between the big two was very interesting...

I remember when EA was the big horrible developer... There was a time when EA was the bane of the gaming world's existence, and Activision were like quiet little tinkerers next to this behemoth that was EA..

We were all calling for the downfall of Riccietello, and EA was innundated with seething hate from the internet masses...

And then a curious thing happened.. EA started taking interesting chances.. it started to show a sense of humor in its marketing.. And at the exact same time, Kotick stood up and literally started stealing the "Evil Corporate Empire" limelight from EA.. And all Riccietello had to do to erase years of bad press, was to quietly point at Kotick from across the room and mutter "Man, that guy's crazy."

Kotick is the best thing that ever happened to EA.

 

[erztez]

Kotick is the best thing that ever happened to EA.

Hell, Bob would make Umbrella Corp. look good.
And you wouldn't have to point across the room and mutter, then man wears the crazy like a badge.