Tomb Raider, no embargo

[Eric]

In a world where all these AAA games want to hold off until the last minute to squeeze out sales, Tomb Raider says fuck that, here's our game, review it, and it looks like a winner.

http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox-360/tomb-raider

[SineSwiper]

Well, to be fair, it's Tomb Raider, which has had a bad rep in the past. Having good reviews stay there for a while is probably good for business.

[Eric]

I always thought the tomb raider games sucked to be honest lol. This one is radically different from the others, and is basically a clone of Uncharted, which I have no problem with if it's done right, and thankfully this seems to be the case.

But dear god from what I've read/seen this game is violent, it would make Mortal Kombat blush.

[Don]

I think the embargo is pointless because there was a lot of warning on the Net that FF14 sucked but that sure didn't seem to help anyone. Diablo 3 seems to be widely hated by the core Diablo fans but again that didn't actually stop anyone from saying, "It's Diablo, can't possibly be bad!" Tomb Raider is well established enough as a franchise that the guys who might be interested isn't going to be swayed by a negative review or vice versa.

[Eric]

Uhhh, Tomb Raider's franchise has gone into the toilet in recent years, the games stopped selling, to the point where they went ahead and rebooted the franchise with this game, and it looks and plays nothing like any of the previous games in the series. Basically no embargo is free advertising for them, since the game is actually good, and makes a fence sitter like myself go ahead and preorder for gimmicky bonuses or just because I wanna play it @ midnight.

Diablo 3 is Blizzard, What Blizzard game hasn't sold 10 million copies?! In addition while it didn't really have an official embargo, Blizzard had no servers set up for anyone including the press so they all got it at midnight with the consumer, so there was no way for early review copies or scores. I think the core Starcraft fans whined about SC2 being friendly to new comers, it's really hard to know when to listen to core fans and when not to, most of the time if you're coming into the game it's a good idea to ignore them(DMC is a good example of a good game, that a core fanbase is pissed about that has nothing to do with gameplay) and listen to reviews, and D3 in this case reviewed well.

And Final Fantasy XIV was a MMO, so it didn't have an embargo in a traditional sense, but typically those games have reviews that come out later, so if you preordered or bought it you were stuck, word of mouth certainly didn't help it's cause, and it moved less then 1 million copies save for your hardcore FFXI faithful who were trying to convert to FXIV and stuck with it. Granted, there's beta and such, but FFXIV wasn't really setting itself up to topple any other MMOs or shatter sales.

The embargo is good for a game like Dead Space 3, the previews and demo show you it might still be scary, but an actual review will tell you it's more of an action shooter, so you get the sales of the old fans who want it asap, and new fans who don't care that it's not scary because they don't know any better.

Embargo also worked for Aliens, the demo they showed off @ E3 is amazing, lots of hype, lots of preorders, $100 special editions for a very terrible game that no reviewer can legally talk about until after they have your money. If reviews for Aliens: CM was out a week in advance, they would have lost preorders right and left.

I guess you could argue about whether or not reviews actually influence anyone to buy or not buy a game depending on when a review is released, but I certainly pay attention to reviews before spending my hard earned money on a game when it first comes out. Only exception to this is if I see a game on steam months later for $5.

[SineSwiper]

I don't think I've ever bought a game in the last 10 years without seeing reviews beforehand, or at least knowing what the buzz of the gaming public says (post-playing, not demos). Pre-ordering anything is rushed and stupid. Why can't you wait one or two days more?

Well, there was one bowling game for the Wii that I bought used for $25 for my parents. It was terrible, and I couldn't even return it (since it was used). Never again, not even for a casual title like that.

[Don]

Embargo only works if you know your game totally sucks but you figure enough people are dumb enough to buy it. I mean it almost worked for FF14, but even then the word got around FF14 sucked rather quickly.

[Shrinweck]

Another Clueless Gamer review by Conan O'Brien. I really liked his review... Based on the positive press and the gaming drought currently occurring I'm probably going to pre-order this and save the $5 on Steam, especially since you get the other well reviewed Tomb Raider game with it for free.

[Zeus]

I played Tomb Raider Underworld a couple years ago. It wasn't a fantastic game but it certainly was better than the PSX ones. A solid 7.

I'm interested in seeing how this one turns out but I'll wait for a price drop. Just too much out right now

[Blotus]

Aliens, the demo they showed off @ E3 is amazing, lots of hype, lots of preorders, $100 special editions for a very terrible game that no reviewer can legally talk about until after they have your money. If reviews for Aliens: CM was out a week in advance, they would have lost preorders right and left.

I think this almost says it all.

EDIT: Well, not all -- I want to play Tomb Raider now. It looks great.

[Shrinweck]

Well it leaked for the 360 and still sounds like it has a good reputation so I'm glad I pre-ordered... hopefully the PC port doesn't suck, but Square-Enix doesn't have a reputation for completely half-assing ports recently.

[Zeus]

Well it leaked for the 360 and still sounds like it has a good reputation so I'm glad I pre-ordered... hopefully the PC port doesn't suck, but Square-Enix doesn't have a reputation for completely half-assing ports recently.

Isn't Crystal Dynamics doing this one? Squeenix may own them but I don't think they have much influence on their work, they just publish

[Shrinweck]

One would think such a big publisher would be able push standards or lack thereof by putting pressure on developers to rush games out or not. No one would produce a shitty port and then say "We had plenty of time we just didn't give a fuck" and developers don't seem to give a flying fuck about delaying PC ports for months or years.

At least I own a controller on my PC, now, worst case scenario

Crystal dynamics doesn't really have enough of a recent track record for me to hazard any guesses, so I went with the publisher.

[Flip]

At least I own a controller on my PC, now, worst case scenario

I bought a PS2 controller adapter for my PC and it works great. Was the only way i could beat super meat boy.

[Zeus]

At least I own a controller on my PC, now, worst case scenario

I bought a PS2 controller adapter for my PC and it works great. Was the only way i could beat super meat boy.

Super Meat Boy's last few levels were ridiculous enough on consoles (I got it on XBLA). They'd be Ghosts 'N Goblins Arcade Version impossible (no human being can beat that game) with a keyboard and/or mouse

I tried some of the "bonus" levels in Super Meat Boy after you beat it....screw that. I luvs my hardcore platforming but that's Asshole Mario ridiculous

[Eric]

During the emulator era of gaming, I got really used to playing stuff on a keyboard. I beat platformers, played fighting games, just about anything I was able to handle on keyboard.

[Zeus]

During the emulator era of gaming, I got really used to playing stuff on a keyboard. I beat platformers, played fighting games, just about anything I was able to handle on keyboard.

Oh, you can do it. But when you start talking about Super Meat Boy hard, it's next to impossible

[Eric]

During the emulator era of gaming, I got really used to playing stuff on a keyboard. I beat platformers, played fighting games, just about anything I was able to handle on keyboard.

Oh, you can do it. But when you start talking about Super Meat Boy hard, it's next to impossible

Impractical maybe, I'd never say impossible, I've seen people on twitch doing it keyboard only quite casually I might add lol, and alot of those super hardcore make one tiny mistake and you die games like IWBTG, or IWBTB, etc

[Zeus]

During the emulator era of gaming, I got really used to playing stuff on a keyboard. I beat platformers, played fighting games, just about anything I was able to handle on keyboard.

Oh, you can do it. But when you start talking about Super Meat Boy hard, it's next to impossible

Impractical maybe, I'd never say impossible, I've seen people on twitch doing it keyboard only quite casually I might add lol, and alot of those super hardcore make one tiny mistake and you die games like IWBTG, or IWBTB, etc

I'm sure I could eventually teach myself to do it, but I find it's much more comfortable and natural to play platformers on a console controller. I bought myself a PS2-style one back in the day when I got tired of playing Mega Man and Bass (Rockman Forte) with a keyboard. I ended up going through about 2/3rds of the game on the keyboard but it became significantly more enjoyable with a mouse. Just the style of game more than anything.

And with Super Meat Boy's last world and last few levels being assholic as they are with the insane jumps they expect you to make, I just think it's really made to be played with a controller over a keyboard. Some things are better on keyboard/mouse, 2D platformers not so much. Particularly the very difficult ones

[Don]

The only games I can't play well on keyboard was fighting games because it's hard to do a nice flowing motion for the quarter circles. I mean I can still do them but there's nothing smooth about them so it's not as responsive as you'd like.

Of course I suspect having save states also helps you to hone in your skills with a safety net.

[Eric]

I'm sure I could eventually teach myself to do it, but I find it's much more comfortable and natural to play platformers on a console controller. I bought myself a PS2-style one back in the day when I got tired of playing Mega Man and Bass (Rockman Forte) with a keyboard. I ended up going through about 2/3rds of the game on the keyboard but it became significantly more enjoyable with a mouse. Just the style of game more than anything.

And with Super Meat Boy's last world and last few levels being assholic as they are with the insane jumps they expect you to make, I just think it's really made to be played with a controller over a keyboard. Some things are better on keyboard/mouse, 2D platformers not so much. Particularly the very difficult ones

Yeah we've had this conversation before, if you're struggling through Megaman of all things I guess you really aren't gonna enjoy a keyboard.

It's all opinion though, not sweating it.

[Zeus]

I'm sure I could eventually teach myself to do it, but I find it's much more comfortable and natural to play platformers on a console controller. I bought myself a PS2-style one back in the day when I got tired of playing Mega Man and Bass (Rockman Forte) with a keyboard. I ended up going through about 2/3rds of the game on the keyboard but it became significantly more enjoyable with a mouse. Just the style of game more than anything.

And with Super Meat Boy's last world and last few levels being assholic as they are with the insane jumps they expect you to make, I just think it's really made to be played with a controller over a keyboard. Some things are better on keyboard/mouse, 2D platformers not so much. Particularly the very difficult ones

Yeah we've had this conversation before, if you're struggling through Megaman of all things I guess you really aren't gonna enjoy a keyboard.

It's all opinion though, not sweating it.

For sure, it's just a conversation, not an argument.

It's not that Mega Man & Bass was hard, it was just a lot more fun with a controller than a keyboard. It's when the difficulty is ratcheted up to extreme where I think it becomes a requirement to use the controller

[Shrinweck]

Game is fun... all the scavenger hunting is kind of a chore at times but even that's kind of fun. Keyboard and mouse controls are passable... I had a hell of a time with the first series of QTEs at one point since there was an event where I had to hit a key but the text under the KICK HIM press F to do so text was out of my 'less than a second to act, wtf am I doing' field of vision. Load times (post death) on my new PC are just a tad too long for my taste, especially on my new PC, but not to the point where it's more than a slight annoyance. I'll just have to spend less time dying, duh.

Conan O'Brien's review has kind of ruined some of the tension for me... I just keep remembering his quotes like "Whoever made this is a genius... you constantly have an excuse to be behind her... and close" as well as "This is Lawsuit Island!" just keep me grinning when I'm supposed to be anxious. And, yeah, like his reaction - Lara's animated deaths are maybe a step too far. Falling into an abyss or the screen going dark is an industry standard that I can get behind... staring into a woman's lifeless eyes with today's graphics really kind of makes me feel things I don't want to while gaming.

[Eric]

*Pat* You'll be ok. We just need to desensitize you some more.