Jimquisition: A-LIE-ns: Colonial Marines

[Naqel]

snip

You make a lot of valid points, and the entire situation is more than fishy.
But honestly, while half the video is the valid points: missing features, different mechanics, level of polish... then the other half is you saying "this dosen't happen" about a scene/story element/plot detail.

It kinda takes away from the overall point of the video whenever you mention something that's a legitimate demo practice alongside all the actual bullshit that Gearbox pulled off here.

Then again, I might just be nitpicking, because I actually like when a demo has a dedicated sequence, instead of plot spoilers.

 

[dragongit]

I haven't seen game controversy this bad since the WarZ

 

[TWEWER]

It says it right at the beginning: "Work in progress." That means everything is subject to change.

You know what else was a fake scripted demo? The E3 Halo 2 demo. Evey smart developer makes scripted trailers, but that doesn't mean that the games themselves will be bad. Do you really not have anything better to do than make this masturbatory video?

 

[Johnny Impact]

Ouch. Glad I didn't preorder.

I was honestly looking forward to this. I was envisioning a Versus mode a la Left 4 Dead: a small team of marines who only get one life each, versus an unending horde of vanilla xenos, liberally spiced with respawning, player-controlled special aliens.

Who is responsible and how soon can s/he be sacked?

 

[Lord_Jaroh]

It says it right at the beginning: "Work in progress." That means everything is subject to change.

You know what else was a fake scripted demo? The E3 Halo 2 demo. Evey smart developer makes scripted trailers, but that doesn't mean that the games themselves will be bad. Do you really not have anything better to do than make this masturbatory video?

No, every stupid developer makes scripted trailers. Smart developers promise something and actually deliver it. This demo was a lie from start to finish, and the game was shit. It would be nice if the developers were held accountable. I'd like to see everyone return their game to Gearbox and demand a refund. See what happens.

 

[Ix Rebound]

i think i can speak for more than just me when I say that i would have preferred the game be held back for longer if it had ended up like the demo

 

[PainInTheAssInternet]

I will be buying the game regardless.
Not that I don't trust Jim... In fact the timing of it all lends credit to the idea that he has been sitting on this for a while.
I'm guessing he played the game pre-release for review purposes but had to sign some form of NDA that prevented him from telling us sooner...
But anyway, I love all things Aliens so it's on my purchase list.

Just wait until June. It'll be going for $20 max by that point.

 

[Dascylus]

I will be buying the game regardless.
Not that I don't trust Jim... In fact the timing of it all lends credit to the idea that he has been sitting on this for a while.
I'm guessing he played the game pre-release for review purposes but had to sign some form of NDA that prevented him from telling us sooner...
But anyway, I love all things Aliens so it's on my purchase list.

Just wait until June. It'll be going for $20 max by that point.

I like the reasoning... My wallet also agrees.

 

[GAunderrated]

I haven't seen game controversy this bad since the WarZ

To be fair the trainwreck of WarZ is still going strong and this while a big issue doesn't even touch the amount of scams and BS that game has made its unfortunate fans go through. lol

 

[PainInTheAssInternet]

I will be buying the game regardless.
Not that I don't trust Jim... In fact the timing of it all lends credit to the idea that he has been sitting on this for a while.
I'm guessing he played the game pre-release for review purposes but had to sign some form of NDA that prevented him from telling us sooner...
But anyway, I love all things Aliens so it's on my purchase list.

Just wait until June. It'll be going for $20 max by that point.

I like the reasoning... My wallet also agrees.

Mine as well. I was one of the suckers who pre-ordered the Collector's Edition (the bastard cost $100 and didn't include the DLC) so I could use Ripley's equipment. I so badly wanted this game to be good.

Anyways, I saw the reviews, ran into EB Games and got a refund (notably AFTER it was in stock).

I'm gonna wait. I'm not even sure it'll take until June to find its way into the bin. As for the Collector's Edition, maybe Ebay will be of assistance.

 

[Zeraki]

Wow... just wow.

I didn't even buy the game, but after seeing that I'm pretty furious. That demo looks absolutely amazing, it's everything an Aliens game should be. Could this be considered false advertising?

Gearbox must be laughing all the way to the bank with all those pre-orders they had. Well I for one hope karma hits them like a ton of Xenomorphs.

 

[Ulquiorra4sama]

Well hey, look on the bright side.

At least Gearbox have now managed to blow a massive hole in Jesse Scehll's "Demos hurt sales" theory.

This isn't the type of demo he was talking about, though. He used numbers from the Xbox Live Marketplace, actually. There's a stage demo, and a demo you, the player, gets to play at a home - the ones he was talking about. Here's an example of the difference: all Mass Effect games had a stage demo, but Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 are the only ones with a distributed demo for the masses, not just a select few people. The E3 2012 Colonial Marines showcase had a hands on demo of the multiplayer, but it wasn't distributed to the masses. In fact, only Gearbox employees allowed to play the xenomorphs, which makes a lot of sense, now that we've got the final product.

I realized that after a bit more reading. Since i hadn't been following the game at all i figured it was the "standard" definition of a demo i.e. the kind that you put out to actually let people play it. Though i was under the impression stage demos were supposed to serve the same purpose as regular demos in that they show of gameplay. So i understand the outrage from the people who were hyped for the game, 'cause i'd feel pretty betrayed as well.

 

[daxterx2005]

So, advertize a game with content that isn't even in the game....?
I want to say that's illegal, but hell everyone does it.

Look at all the fast food commercials, their food looks like delicious high tier food, and ends up being hockey pucks >.>

 

[PortalThinker113]

Lies and deception are kinda Gearbox's thing now between this, Duke and Borderlands 2. People forget how god damn amazing Borderlands 2 looked in its trailers and while the actual game got closer to its marketing yet again the ads are incredibly over selling what the game is. I'm definitely not giving any of their products a look until they are released and reviewed ever again.

Thank god I held back on CM or I'd have blown another 50 odd dollars on a lie.

As much as I love Borderlands 2, there's definitely truth in this.

I seem to recall statements made in the GameInformer cover reveal where Gearbox talked about a system in which the player would experience dynamic, branching missions that had different outcomes. For example, in a quest where you have to save a captured ally, you could save him and have the next mission go one way, or fail to save him and have the next mission go a different way. What happened to that? Obviously, it must have been cut, but it was never brought up again after that cover article. Gearbox seems to be caught over-hyping their games a lot, don't they?

OP: I was one of the poor suckers who pre-ordered Colonial Marines. I wanted this game to be good so badly. Now, I'm forcing myself through the campaign for a combination of obligation and a curious "find all the things that went wrong here" investigation. I'm trying a pacifist run where I exploit the incredibly stupid AI and try to get through the rest of the game firing as few shots as possible. Sadly, this is pretty easy to do, even on Hardened mode, which I'm playing on.

 

[michael87cn]

Sounds/looks to me like they ran into hardware limitations and had to cut a lot of things out.

I would assume they(the devs) were as heartbroken as we are about it, but the console generation is seriously out of date by now. Thems the breaks, wait until next generation for this kind of game play.

Jim goes on an angry rant as if they were just stupid or something, but I seriously doubt thats the case. They probably ran out of funding or (as I said) ran into hardware limitations. So the actual game couldn't play like the demo did.

Edit: Or time limitations. Funders don't give them "until its done" to polish these games, you know.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

You have AVP. You don't need this one. Enough games go to shit because they crowbar-in multiplayer.

AvP2 is unbalanced in the predators favor and AvP is too old. I don't know about AvP 2010 but I'm sure nobody plays that anymore as well.

 

[knight steel]

A-LIE-ns: Colonial Marines

Sterling walks through Gearbox's walkthrough of Aliens: Colonial Marines.

Watch Video

Hey Jim when you go through things like this for your job I always wonder.....is it tough to be a god?
Anyway good job loved how you exposed the lies of the corporation and the game!

 

[jFr[e]ak93]

I...I.... I don't know what to say. I was throwing money at my screen... how could such an awesome demo spawn what is probably the biggest wreck of the year so far...

I seriously wonder how Gearbox can nail Borderlands, this demo and then throw out the crap that was A:CM

Oh well, at least I still have my Natural Selection. Which is awesome.

 

[wulf3n]

snip

then the other half is you saying "this dosen't happen" about a scene/story element/plot detail.
...
Then again, I might just be nitpicking, because I actually like when a demo has a dedicated sequence, instead of plot spoilers.

I was thinking the same thing, the original half life demo was a completely separate story from the main game and it was fine, but I do wonder if a demo does need to contain the same story elements.

What if the demo shows a good story but the actual game is completely different and terrible. It would be like seeing a trailer for Star Wars, but when you go see it you get Pride and Prejudice.

 

[Goro]

I got the edition with the statue... And.... It's a pretty good statue? All else is rancid. This game is a better tie in with Prometheus - the unfulfilled promise series. I'm going to try like hell for a refund...