Colonial Marines Developers Should Own Up to Screwing Up

[Darmani]

t's in everyone's best interests for videogames to adopt the notion that one auteur is in charge.
-

Disagree, because this is NOT the case to an amazingly relevant degree this will only create credit stealers and scape goats without increasing the fidelity and effectiveness of rewarding or punishing decent performance.


Personally I think the eagerness that games journalism taking here is sort of personal thing. Due to a large number of carefully planned events and clause backed matters the journalists up until days before launch aided and abidded in the deception even if they knew better they were by contract forbidden from calling it so. That's not even an acussation because the real fault here is the conduct of everyone. Colonial Marines did everything it could to make itself look like a good game at gaming events game journalists flocked to like flies to a rotting carcass. And so its personal. Not that it was a bad game but that it was a bad game that was made to look good at their deception/expense.

the result is that I think its less Gearbox and our entire system that needs a look at. Gearbox just cut really really redeeming trailers to a dud. I am not going to fault them for using their advertising to promote their product. But games journalism as a whole abettedthis because that's where the bulk was. They've gone from giving us the inside track to being the face that shills for the studio's products.

Not because "bribes" or "oppressive NDAs" but because we just aren't looking or caring to look. And none of the after the fact condemnation will cover for the fact the PR played you like a harp.

I use game journalism to be informed and educated on products and the complacency to that quality based on arbitrary insider events I'm not privy to has let this happen. And so Its made me re-evaluate what is the purpose of games journalism in my life especially as more and more print magazines fail, more electronic magazines consolidate and more and more places seem to quote neogaf chatter. No amount of stockade march is going to fix the real problem of Colonial Marines being a bad game that it utterly smoked a bunch of pros until the last second and even then they couldn't do a thing about it.

 

[Darth_Payn]

Honestly the share button doesn't even bother me unless they removed something else to make room for it. And I'm pretty sure they didn't.

Didn't they take away the dedicated Start & Select buttons?

OT: I really don't get the whole "share" button thing. Hands up, how many people on consoles upload LPs to YouTube? How many of us post on FB/Twitter about what we're currently playing?

Compare that to the install base of consoles. A majority of the people buying a PS4 will be using it to play games, not make videos.

<spoiler= Image of PS4 controller>http://watchusplaygames.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/front-ps4-controller-dual-shock-4.jpg<spoiler= Image of PS3 controller>https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/videogames/detail-page/ds3_wc_4_lg.jpg
Well you're right about the Start button but I think the Select has been replaced with Options.

Holy shit, they took away the START button? Is SHARE or OPTIONS the new Pause now?
By the sounds of it, this share feature sounds like something thrown in for the sake of doing something different for its own sake, not really thinking about what it should be used for.

captcha: pool boy
I think that's the next job for many of Colonial Marines' devs, but with their rep, I doubt they'll get laid for it.

 

[squid5580]

You know what these companies need to do? The need to publicly own up to a games failure and then behind closed doors they can pass out blame if they so desire, but if they do that they need to ensure all that behind closed door stuff stays off people's twitters and facebooks and whatever else; you know in the interest of maintaining the illusion of professionalism.

No. Watching the meltdown is the only enjoyment I have gotten from buying the game.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

You know what these companies need to do? The need to publicly own up to a games failure and then behind closed doors they can pass out blame if they so desire, but if they do that they need to ensure all that behind closed door stuff stays off people's twitters and facebooks and whatever else; you know in the interest of maintaining the illusion of professionalism.

No. Watching the meltdown is the only enjoyment I have gotten from buying the game.

Well it's a little late for that with Colonial Marines anyway now isn't it?

 

[squid5580]

You know what these companies need to do? The need to publicly own up to a games failure and then behind closed doors they can pass out blame if they so desire, but if they do that they need to ensure all that behind closed door stuff stays off people's twitters and facebooks and whatever else; you know in the interest of maintaining the illusion of professionalism.

No. Watching the meltdown is the only enjoyment I have gotten from buying the game.

Well it's a little late for that with Colonial Marines anyway now isn't it?

Not really. I was one of the suckers who pre ordered it based on the E3 demo. But reading the fallout over the weeks following sure was far more entertaining

 

[Roman Monaghan]

I have less friends on my PSN then Yahtzee. I feel fulfilled.

Amusingly, try reading the ending of this article and then immediately watch the Jimquisition episode "Friends."

 

[LordLundar]

There isn't a single company in the history of the world that has made any money off of assigning blame.

Untrue. Here in Canada, Maple Leaf Foods was involved in a listeria outbreak a few years ago. They instituted a voluntary (i.e., not government-mandated) recall of products from the suspected plants, and then their CEO personally apologized to customers, taking responsibility [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-growth/day-to-day/the-best-legal-advice-is-often-an-apology/article626797/], and said he was ignoring the advice of his lawyers and accountants and would be paying out fair and just settlements to the victims and their families.
While sales initially plummeted in the wake of the outbreak, within a few months they were almost back to normal.

Video games are a different matter, of course. If they're actually art, then Yahtzee's right: someone should have a unified vision for the thing, and that person (or persons) should stand by their art at least until they start their next project.

You're talking accepting blame, not assigning it. Assigning it essentially means "passing the buck" and that is accurate because it at best shows you just don't care enough apart from ducking for cover. Right now both Gearbox and Timegate are hurting and it's more because they won't fess up and instead point fingers at everyone but themselves than the bad game.

 

[Brainwreck]

Fuck you for making me remember Katyusha:
&#1056;&#1072;&#1089;&#1094;&#1074;&#1077;&#1090;&#1072;&#1083;&#1080; &#1103;&#1073;&#1083;&#1086;&#1085;&#1080; &#1080; &#1075;&#1088;&#1091;&#1096;&#1080;,
&#1055;&#1086;&#1087;&#1083;&#1099;&#1083;&#1080; &#1090;&#1091;&#1084;&#1072;&#1085;&#1099; &#1085;&#1072;&#1076; &#1088;&#1077;&#1082;&#1086;&#1081;;
&#1042;&#1099;&#1093;&#1086;&#1076;&#1080;&#1083;&#1072; &#1085;&#1072; &#1073;&#1077;&#1088;&#1077;&#1075; &#1050;&#1072;&#1090;&#1102;&#1096;&#1072;,
&#1053;&#1072; &#1074;&#1099;&#1089;&#1086;&#1082;&#1080;&#1081; &#1073;&#1077;&#1088;&#1077;&#1075;, &#1085;&#1072; &#1082;&#1088;&#1091;&#1090;&#1086;&#1081;. (etc)

All valid points though.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

You know what these companies need to do? The need to publicly own up to a games failure and then behind closed doors they can pass out blame if they so desire, but if they do that they need to ensure all that behind closed door stuff stays off people's twitters and facebooks and whatever else; you know in the interest of maintaining the illusion of professionalism.

No. Watching the meltdown is the only enjoyment I have gotten from buying the game.

Well it's a little late for that with Colonial Marines anyway now isn't it?

Not really. I was one of the suckers who pre ordered it based on the E3 demo. But reading the fallout over the weeks following sure was far more entertaining

Sure it is. They've already started playing the blame game. Any hope of saving face and maintaining any sense of professionalism has long since gone out the window.

 

[mjc0961]

It's not just the Colonial Marines developers who should own up to screwing up. It's also the publisher. In fact, it's more firmly the publisher than it is any of the developers. We can argue all day about if it's Gearbox's fault or TimeGate's fault or whatever, but there's one thing we can say without any debate: SEGA got handed this piece of shit final product and decided to put it on store shelves. You can't tell me that they had absolutely no idea about the quality of what they got handed until after it came out and reviewers and gamers started slamming it. You can't tell me that they didn't know Gearbox had been screwing them over for six years and that they should probably consider taking Gearbox to court. SEGA should have taken one look at what Gearbox gave them and immediately canceled the game and started looking into legal options. Instead, they released this piece of shit and took our money for it. Completely unacceptable.

And the thing that really gets me in this is that people are going around the internet talking about SEGA as if they were the victims in this story. They aren't. We, the hard working consumers who wasted our money on this trash, are the victims here. SEGA chose to screw us over in the pursuit of the almighty dollar. Don't feel sorry for SEGA. Be pissed at SEGA. Had they done their job as a publisher, Aliens Colonial Marines either never would have existed as something we could play or would have actually been good. They should have been making sure that Gearbox was actually making the game, not ignoring it to work on Borderlands and Duke Nukem or passing off their responsibilities to other studios. A lot of the so-called Gearbox employees posting their inside stories claim that Gearbox had to rush it out in this sorry state because SEGA was going to deny any more delays and take legal action. SEGA should have taken legal action long before this game ever reached the "I can't believe I wasted $60 on this shit!" phase. Instead they kept handing Gearbox more time and money, then turned around and destroyed consumer's trust in them as a company (or rather, that's what it should have done, but instead people treat SEGA like a fellow victim because people are idiots).

Really, this whole thing just makes me wonder about every time another publisher has canceled a game that I was looking forward to. Is THIS why they canceled it? Because the development team had been fucking around or was making a really shitty game and they knew it was better to cut their loses rather than toss even more money at the game and hope to make some of it back later by tricking consumers into buying a shitty game? Probably not always, but maybe sometimes.

 

[FalloutJack]

Your game progress is the property of the people, comrade. Now queue up for your loaf of bread.

Well now...that oddly reminds me of a certain video.


OT: If I had to argue ownership over Aliens, I'd call it a toss-up between Scott and Cameron to wrestle it out, with the others more-or-less homage artists.

 

[mjc0961]

There isn't a single company in the history of the world that has made any money off of assigning blame.

Untrue. Here in Canada, Maple Leaf Foods was involved in a listeria outbreak a few years ago. They instituted a voluntary (i.e., not government-mandated) recall of products from the suspected plants, and then their CEO personally apologized to customers, taking responsibility [http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-growth/day-to-day/the-best-legal-advice-is-often-an-apology/article626797/], and said he was ignoring the advice of his lawyers and accountants and would be paying out fair and just settlements to the victims and their families.
While sales initially plummeted in the wake of the outbreak, within a few months they were almost back to normal.

Just a future tip for you buddy: If you're going to claim that a statement saying no company made money by assigning blame is untrue, don't follow it up with a story about how a company accepted blame. Your story about Maple Leaf Foods was completely irrelevant and doesn't prove antithesis wrong at all.

 

[squid5580]

You know what these companies need to do? The need to publicly own up to a games failure and then behind closed doors they can pass out blame if they so desire, but if they do that they need to ensure all that behind closed door stuff stays off people's twitters and facebooks and whatever else; you know in the interest of maintaining the illusion of professionalism.

No. Watching the meltdown is the only enjoyment I have gotten from buying the game.

Well it's a little late for that with Colonial Marines anyway now isn't it?

Not really. I was one of the suckers who pre ordered it based on the E3 demo. But reading the fallout over the weeks following sure was far more entertaining

Sure it is. They've already started playing the blame game. Any hope of saving face and maintaining any sense of professionalism has long since gone out the window.

Oh my bad I misunderstood what you are saying. I don't think they could have saved face even without the leaks and the blaming. The demo and the TV spots vs the final product screams un-professionalism. It seems to me that the resulting he said/she said is both companies trying to regain consumer confidence they lost by doing this since they know that they showed it to us. And the company we ultimately hold responsible is gonna take a beating on their next game

 

[Canadamus Prime]

You know what these companies need to do? The need to publicly own up to a games failure and then behind closed doors they can pass out blame if they so desire, but if they do that they need to ensure all that behind closed door stuff stays off people's twitters and facebooks and whatever else; you know in the interest of maintaining the illusion of professionalism.

No. Watching the meltdown is the only enjoyment I have gotten from buying the game.

Well it's a little late for that with Colonial Marines anyway now isn't it?

Not really. I was one of the suckers who pre ordered it based on the E3 demo. But reading the fallout over the weeks following sure was far more entertaining

Sure it is. They've already started playing the blame game. Any hope of saving face and maintaining any sense of professionalism has long since gone out the window.

Oh my bad I misunderstood what you are saying. I don't think they could have saved face even without the leaks and the blaming. The demo and the TV spots vs the final product screams un-professionalism. It seems to me that the resulting he said/she said is both companies trying to regain consumer confidence they lost by doing this since they know that they showed it to us. And the company we ultimately hold responsible is gonna take a beating on their next game

True, but they could've saved some fave by owning up and admitting that they screwed up. I don't know about you but I tend to have more confidence in a company that can own up to it's failings then one that tries to pass them off one someone else.

 

[squid5580]

You know what these companies need to do? The need to publicly own up to a games failure and then behind closed doors they can pass out blame if they so desire, but if they do that they need to ensure all that behind closed door stuff stays off people's twitters and facebooks and whatever else; you know in the interest of maintaining the illusion of professionalism.

No. Watching the meltdown is the only enjoyment I have gotten from buying the game.

Well it's a little late for that with Colonial Marines anyway now isn't it?

Not really. I was one of the suckers who pre ordered it based on the E3 demo. But reading the fallout over the weeks following sure was far more entertaining

Sure it is. They've already started playing the blame game. Any hope of saving face and maintaining any sense of professionalism has long since gone out the window.

Oh my bad I misunderstood what you are saying. I don't think they could have saved face even without the leaks and the blaming. The demo and the TV spots vs the final product screams un-professionalism. It seems to me that the resulting he said/she said is both companies trying to regain consumer confidence they lost by doing this since they know that they showed it to us. And the company we ultimately hold responsible is gonna take a beating on their next game

True, but they could've saved some fave by owning up and admitting that they screwed up. I don't know about you but I tend to have more confidence in a company that can own up to it's failings then one that tries to pass them off one someone else.

Oh for sure. If pitchford had tweeted "sorry for the final product not being the same quality as the stuff we showed previously" instead of banning frustrated consumers who feel lied too it would have gone a long ways in my books. But those are my books and I'm not a shareholder so my books don't matter much. Especially now since they already got my money

 

[Anti-American Eagle]

I liked the game... so I don't feel they should have to own up to anything. In fact I believe they should be proud of their product. Gearbox makes good games, Timegate makes good games. Is colonial marines the best, no. Is it the worst, god no. So can everyone stop attacking this game and get back to being passive aggressive about otherwise mediocre games ruining the industry.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

You know what these companies need to do? The need to publicly own up to a games failure and then behind closed doors they can pass out blame if they so desire, but if they do that they need to ensure all that behind closed door stuff stays off people's twitters and facebooks and whatever else; you know in the interest of maintaining the illusion of professionalism.

No. Watching the meltdown is the only enjoyment I have gotten from buying the game.

Well it's a little late for that with Colonial Marines anyway now isn't it?

Not really. I was one of the suckers who pre ordered it based on the E3 demo. But reading the fallout over the weeks following sure was far more entertaining

Sure it is. They've already started playing the blame game. Any hope of saving face and maintaining any sense of professionalism has long since gone out the window.

Oh my bad I misunderstood what you are saying. I don't think they could have saved face even without the leaks and the blaming. The demo and the TV spots vs the final product screams un-professionalism. It seems to me that the resulting he said/she said is both companies trying to regain consumer confidence they lost by doing this since they know that they showed it to us. And the company we ultimately hold responsible is gonna take a beating on their next game

True, but they could've saved some fave by owning up and admitting that they screwed up. I don't know about you but I tend to have more confidence in a company that can own up to it's failings then one that tries to pass them off one someone else.

Oh for sure. If pitchford had tweeted "sorry for the final product not being the same quality as the stuff we showed previously" instead of banning frustrated consumers who feel lied too it would have gone a long ways in my books. But those are my books and I'm not a shareholder so my books don't matter much. Especially now since they already got my money

Well they don't have mine and that's not going to change anytime soon.

 

[squid5580]

You know what these companies need to do? The need to publicly own up to a games failure and then behind closed doors they can pass out blame if they so desire, but if they do that they need to ensure all that behind closed door stuff stays off people's twitters and facebooks and whatever else; you know in the interest of maintaining the illusion of professionalism.

No. Watching the meltdown is the only enjoyment I have gotten from buying the game.

Well it's a little late for that with Colonial Marines anyway now isn't it?

Not really. I was one of the suckers who pre ordered it based on the E3 demo. But reading the fallout over the weeks following sure was far more entertaining

Sure it is. They've already started playing the blame game. Any hope of saving face and maintaining any sense of professionalism has long since gone out the window.

Oh my bad I misunderstood what you are saying. I don't think they could have saved face even without the leaks and the blaming. The demo and the TV spots vs the final product screams un-professionalism. It seems to me that the resulting he said/she said is both companies trying to regain consumer confidence they lost by doing this since they know that they showed it to us. And the company we ultimately hold responsible is gonna take a beating on their next game

True, but they could've saved some fave by owning up and admitting that they screwed up. I don't know about you but I tend to have more confidence in a company that can own up to it's failings then one that tries to pass them off one someone else.

Oh for sure. If pitchford had tweeted "sorry for the final product not being the same quality as the stuff we showed previously" instead of banning frustrated consumers who feel lied too it would have gone a long ways in my books. But those are my books and I'm not a shareholder so my books don't matter much. Especially now since they already got my money

Well they don't have mine and that's not going to change anytime soon.

I am hopin my old copy will fill Gamestops coffers since they deserve the money more.

 

[Kinitawowi]

See, ironically enough, you used to be able to identify a single controlling influence on some games. Jeff Minter, the Oliver Twins, John Ritman and Bernie Drummond, Sid Meier, the four guys who run Introversion, and even now Shigeru Miyamoto; all guys who made games that could instantly and only be described as theirs (you could recognise a Jeff Minter game from miles away).

It seems that the quality of a game declines in proportion to the number of bodies involved in it (too many cooks and all that); the problem is games becoming more corporate. None of that list made their names in games that cost nine figures to make.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

There isn't a single company in the history of the world that has made any money off of assigning blame.

What about the Bank of America?