Commentary: Game Company GREED

 

From Nydia Tungsten,

 

In Alpha… In Beta… Early Access… Pre Orders…

ARE ALL SCAMS!!

When I first started gaming, Alpha and Beta stage games ...
They weren’t sold.

 In fact, they invited you to play their game and sometimes even paid you to do so. In exchange, you helped them by telling them about bugs and problems. When they were sure of their product, they released it to the public.

A great example of that would be Rust and ARK,
 

 When Rust first started it was another Zombie shooter, Zombie People, Bears, etc, etc. But now not only is it a PvP but no more Zombies, but scientists. And the BUGS… wow… Brandi and I made a base in a hidden hill, well the hill wasn’t so much hidden as missing, the ground was flat but the ground cover went up like a hill, we just walked through it and we were under cover. 

 

They didn’t even allow you to build your character,  you you had to play whatever the RNG put you in, they caught a lot of flack about that, but they just didn’t care and changed nothing and was in early access for years, The devs were just too lazy, for the simple fact, they could milk the money train even harder while doing nothing.

 

 Ark Survival Evolved was early access… again… for years, and in a constant flux of change, then started only listening to one faction of players, the PvP crowd, and started throwing changes based on those whims at everyone. Instead of just letting us make changes on our servers, they instituted game-wide changes whether you liked it or not. Like… you could no longer pick up players with your large fliers, you couldn’t make large boat builds, and you could no longer add to your flier's speed all because it made it harder for the PvP’ers, then we find out more about why, through the scandals of the dev’s tribe being spanked so they game banned the ones raiding them, not just server banned but GAME BANNED acting like little children not getting their way. All this time they were in early access, too lazy to really do anything. Even allowing the game players to design and make better maps than they did. 

 

Then the time finally came and they fully released the game! We were all thrilled! For about a year. Then we heard they were releasing a remake of our beloved game, which thrilled us even more! Then we were told we would have to pay in full for the new re-release. So a lot of us decided we would just keep playing the original game for a while, until we were told they were taking all of the servers offline and if we wanted to continue to play we would HAVE to pay for the new game and new servers. And don’t even get me started on ARK 2 which hasn’t started yet. Turns out they took all the money and invested it in a failed e-car. They let everyone else do the work and then collect the money for it.

Let’s not forget the disaster and steaming pile of crap that was “Fallout 76” and a great example of why “Pre-ordering”  ANY type of game.  Fallout 76 was hit by scandal after scandal as well as a buggy game! They were almost sued into oblivion, because of all the false promises and outright lies! And there wasn’t enough RAID in the world to tame the bugs in THAT game on day one. But so many pre-ordered it, and their money was gone, and unfortunately, that is the norm, not the exception. 

 

So if you see a game you want coming out and have the chance to pre-order it… DON’T!   just wait, let the fallout hit, and wait for it to calm down and to see what it looks like after it is fixed, WHEN it is fixed. Because once they have your money they aren’t going to give back willingly.

Don’t just take my word for it, two of our other writers, Bixyl Shuftan and Xymbers Slade/Aegis Hyena have touched on this subject before as well…
https://othergrids.blogspot.com/2016/09/no-mans-sky-game-under-investigation-by.html
https://othergrids.blogspot.com/2019/02/reader-submitted-game-review-no-mans-sky.html

 

I was going to end it here but then so much more hit the fan since I started this article.

“Concord” where do I start with THAT one, who do you blame? It was a hot pile of DEI (Didn’t earn it) garbage. Again the Dev’s (Under SBI influence) didn’t care about gamers or even games, they just wanted to push an agenda. It went out for preorder it got a few, then it was released, and it sold more, but it was out for only a week before it was shut down hard. They spent over $400 million creating a game with UGLY characters it was pretty much a rip-off of the many rip-offs of “Team Fortress” but they only made maybe $40 million. Yeah, PlayStation took a bath on that one. Just because they couldn’t stick to what they knew, making fun to play games and NOT indoctrination games
The best way you can influence the games made is with your wallet, I would urge all of you to stop pre-ordering, and just buy once it is out. Let the decent YouTubers get advanced copies and do play-throughs and form your opinion THEN decide if you want it. 

SBI tried so hard to get this shut down. https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44858017-Sweet-Baby-Inc-detected/ Now you have to ask yourself “Why?” Why try and shut something down that shows your work unless you know it is wrong and you are ashamed of it?

Another site to help you is https://deidetected.com/games 

Let's get back to what's important with games… HAVING FUN!

Then we have pure scams, they create something pretty, take your money, and disappear without even making a finished game. And it is not as rare as one would think.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jopYqx4WKw&ab_channel=AsmongoldTV
 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsNsC9EMla0&ab_channel=LegacyKillaHD 

There are some good examples, AGAIN that could all be avoided but just being patient a few months, giving it a chance to be released, and working any bugs out before actually buying it.
Yeah, I get it, you want to be the first kid on the block to get one, but those days of getting something good straight away are over. 

Now, once you find a company doing it right like this one here https://store.steampowered.com/app/2827230/Wild_Assault/ 

They are in alpha right now, so you apply to play, and if you are lucky, you get in and play it, as they make notes as well as you. The reason you are there is to help them before it is fully released. I plan on getting that one, but I am not pre-ordering. 

Takes a deep breath and steps down from her soap box.

Sorry to preach, but let me end with this: Games should be an element of relaxation in your life, not a source of stress. So, let's all get back to what games should be: enjoyable.  

So, until next time GOOD GAMING TO YOU! 

Nydia Tungsten

 

 Other Grids MMOs and Games

So That's What You've Been Playing: Planet Crafter, Girl Genius, Palia

 

 By Bixyl Shuftan

Yours truly has been busy, both in real life and Second Life. Still, I have a little time for gaming. Over the past several months, I've been on a few. So here's a short mention of each. Oh, and trying out each of them is for free, one you won't need to pay for if you want to go for longer.

 

The Planet Crafter

 

In most space games, you blow things up and create a lot of destruction. So here's one in which you build something: creating a habitable world from a hostile one. Welcome to Planet Crafter.

In the game, you play the part of a man convicted of crimes offered a pardon if you get a hostile world terraformed to the point it can support life. But it won't be easy. Your small air tank won't allow you to step far from your craft without an infusion of oxygen, you only have a small amount of food and water on board, and your small crafting machine can only build a few items from local metal and ice. 

You can build a few basic heaters and drills to help heat and thicken the air, and windmills and solar panels to power them. As the planet begins to slowly change, more building options are unlocked. And you're going to need them, especially food growers. Exploring offers plenty of rewards, more supplies such as food, rare minerals, blueprints, and more. But don't forget to keep an eye on your air supply, and it's a good idea to keep at least one or two oxygen bottles just in case you make a wrong turn somewhere and can't get to a building of yours in time. 

Planet Crafter is available for sale on Steam. It's recommended you download the demo first. It ends when you reach your first goal. But by then you'll have decided whether or not this is a game for you. Personally, I feel it has a great theme, and an adequate challnge.

For now, the game is single player. 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1284190/The_Planet_Crafter/

 Girl Genius: Adventures in Castle Heterodyne

 

 Some readers will recall the online comic "Girl Genius," a steampunk-themed (or "gaslamp fantasy" as it's artists and writers Phil and Kaja Foglio call it) tale of the adventures of Agatha Heterodyne, a once ordinary girl who discovers she's a "spark," or mad scientist. Good news for it's fans, there's now a game based on the tale, or rather the part in which Agatha enters and tries to restore Castle Heterodyne. While reading the comic isn't necessary to play the game, it does make it more interesting. 

 

The game starts with Agatha, the character you control, having just entered the castle, impersonating one of the numerous people sentenced to the place. Unfortunately, the mechanical mind behind it is even madder than some of your relatives (which is saying a lot). Your first step is to get a tool to help you out, and you soon have your trusty wrench. You've also brought one of your creations, a trusty dingbot, to get into places you can't reach yourself.

 

You go about avoiding the castle's traps, and solving puzzles. You're soon build a bench to create more tools, such as a means to cross chasms, and a coffee machine to help you recover lost health. And your journey brings you into contact with characters readers of the comic will recognize, some helpful, others trying to stop you.

Like with Planet Crafter, the game has a free demo that allows you to try before you buy. It ends just after Agatha's first big challenge to defeat the castle's mechanical minions. But you can be assured this is only the beginning. 

Girl Genius: Adventures in Castle Heterodyne is single player, as there can only be one Agatha, as that one impostor is soon about to find out.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1789370/Girl_Genius_Adventures_In_Castle_Heterodyne/

 Palia

 

Palia is one of a new genre of MMOs, the "cozy MMO." While in other multiplayer games fighting is either a big part of the action or the big thing, and you can easily get yourself hurt or killed, this isn't the case here. Palia is a game with no player death, and you proceed more or less at your own pace.

 

Players play the part of one of a number of humans, who for some reason have been appearing around the world of Palia after supposedly being gone for thousands of years, for reasons not yet known. The player appears at a temple, and after being greeted by one of the local Majiri is shown to Kilima Village, which has been integrating other humans. The player is given a plot of land to build a home and garden, and various villagers provide some simple tools and a few words about them. 

As time goes on, you'll improve your relations with the various villagers, some who are more happy and curious to see you than others, as well as improving your various skills which range from foraging to cooking and even bug-catching. You can sell what you gather at the general store, though some people will also take certain items off your hands. And you can also improve your home from the tent you initially get. 

You'll also be going on quests, some to help out your neighbors. Others are to explore the runs of nearby structures to try and find out what happened to the humans of the old world so long ago. You'll find various clues, which eventually get the attention of people from outside and bringing in a new character interested in what's going on. 

But the game is very much an MMO. You can make friends with other gamers, and request items (to keep people from advancing too quickly, you can only request things you've had at least once). Showing off what you've done with your house is also part of the game, and you can vote on how other houses look, as well as putting up yours to be voted on. There are also occasional festivals in the game, in which you get tickets based in part on how well you did and part on how well everyone else did. Oh, and the "flow trees" that you'll need for better wood, they take at least two people to chop down. Fortunately people in public chat point out where they are, as well as nodes for pallium ore.

You can also customize your character, and house. But certain modifications such as player pets can only be done through real-life money purchases, which is how the game makers get their money. There's also games of "Hot Pot" you can play with other players.

 

 (trailer for the game)

Palia is available on both Steam, and Epic Games.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2707930/Palia/

 

Want a more detailed review of one of these games, or want to see more? Let us at the Newser know.

Bixyl Shuftan

Nintendo Sues Palword's Owner Pocketpair, Claiming Game Violates Patent Rights

 

By Bixyl Shuftan

 

The game nicknamed "Pokemon with guns" is ending up in court.

In January, the game Palworld was released by Pocketpair, a small gaming company. In the game players tame creatures with various abilities, train them, and have them go up against other creatures, or craft items at tthe player's base. Because weapons are used in the game, including by creatures, the game got the nickname "Pokemon with guns." When releasied, the game was a big success, "explosively popular," selling five million copies in three days.

But fans saw similarities to Pokemon, and there were claims that the game was a "Pokemon rip-off," though there were also survival game elements. Pocketpair stated that the game "had passed legal checks." But soon after the game's release, the claims had attracted the attention of Pokemon's owner Nintendo, which announced it was investigating the claims of copying.

On September 19, Nintendo announced it was officially filing a lawsuit in Japan against Pocketpair, claiming the game violated "multiple patent rights." Pocketpair responded the following day, saying they didn't know which such patents Nintendo refered to, and wasn't "notified of such details." It went on to say, "It is truly unfortunate that we will be forced to allocate significant time to matters unrelated to game development due to this lawsuit. However, we will do our utmost for our fans, and to ensure that indie game developers are not hindered or discouraged from pursuing their creative ideas. We apologize to our fans and supporters for any worry or discomfort that this news has caused."

BBC News quoted  gaming industry analyst Piers Harding Rolls as saying Nintendo "has a track record of suing organisations and individuals which it feels has infringed upon its IP," and that this lawsuit continues the trend, the BBC going on to say they'd won a $15 million suit against several Chinese game developers.

PC Gamer would talk to patent lawyer Kirk Sigmon. He felt Nintendo has "shown in the last couple of years a really fiery desire to enforce in a way they didn't used to. Back in the day, they turned a blind eye to fan games. ... My suspicion is they have changed their perspective on how to handle infringement, or what they perceive to be infringement, or theft, or IP theft, or anything like that. What used to be something they might turn a blind eye to, they might be looking at now—especially for something like Palworld, where it was so obviously a smash hit that invited a lot of comparisons. For them, this is a massive target that they need to declare: 'Don't do this to us ever again.'

"You can get conspiratorial and wonder if this is just an attempt to scare the hell out of Palworld. In the US, at least, these patents you wouldn't assert. They're pretty weak. They're pretty tough to assert. But the fact that they're doing it in Japan, maybe they have more confidence in the Japanese patent system to protect them. It definitely feels like a punishment. It definitely feels like, 'You can't go after our crown and now we're going to make you pay for it.'

"The thing that sucks about them is that if you get sued, it's a lot of money, no matter how you shake it. You're burning millions of dollars just trying to make this go away. It hurts, and people know it hurts. ... one of the powerful things about patent lawsuits is that they are very difficult. Your general attorneys cannot do this sort of work. You've got to go find specialists. You've got to go hire up a team to do it. You've got to find people who are very good at doing it, or else you're going to lose almost automatically. It gets extremely expensive and time consuming, and it can wear a lot of small companies out. It is designed to make you no longer play in the game. So unfortunately, that's probably a consideration for Nintendo. Palworld did very well. They made a lot of money, but getting hit with a lawsuit that, at minimum, is going to cost you a couple of million in legal fees? That sucks."

But he felt that odds were, there would be a negotiated settlement before the court date. Nintendo's case has weaknesses, and looks like it's pushing around a smaller and weaker company. Pocketpair is facing an expensive suit it can't handle as well as a giant like Nintendo. There may be some changes in the game, or "It could be something as simple as a licensing agreement. ... Somewhere in the middle, there's going to be money exchanging hands. Either way, my suspicion is neither of them want to go into a lawsuit."

So what ultimately happens? Time will tell. In the meantime, both fans of Palworld, and small gaming companies, are keeping an eye on the lawsuit.

Bixyl Shuftan

Image Credit: BBC, PC Gamer

Sources: BBC, Nintendo, Pocketpair, PC Gamer

Game Review: The Fiery Scion

 

 By Nydia Tungsten

The Fiery Scion is an AVN (Adult Visual Novel) that I found on the internet. Now before anyone goes running for the tar and pitchforks, Yes it has nudity in it, yes it has sexual content, and yes it can be a bit explicit, but if you know me, you know that is not what draws me to this type of game. I enjoy the story, before you start rolling your eyes, let me explain.

 I am not afraid of sex, nor do I shy away from stories that have it, but I do insist it has a good story. There are a LOT of games out there that have sex as their main theme, those I find a bit… meh.

But I do enjoy a good story, and I  have always enjoyed a good visual novel as a kid.

The Fiery Scion is a good example of a good story and the sex has a reason for it.

Demons have cursed the humans in this feudal world where very few males are being born, so it is a matter of keeping the human race alive.

The game starts with the main character (default name Henri) finishing his mage training so he can finally leave the mage tower after training for 13 years

You leave the tower to work with your teacher, the lord of that territory, the infamous “Black Mage”  Athagan, who helped in defeating the Demon lord, but with a terrible price, the loss of his… “Manhood”

 Throughout the game, you go against bandits, beasts, demons, Plague spawn, and even elves, but you are able to turn the elves around into allies.

But first, you build your adventurer team with three lovely ladies with different talents each.

Kes, the raven-haired Archer can thread a needle with one of her arrows.

Monica, the red-haired tavern owner/potion maker/healer.

And last but not least Erika, the bronze-skinned heavy-hitting front-line fighter is afraid of nothing.

There is a plague called the “Withering” (that reminds me of something in Minecraft, I kept waiting for someone to say they have been “withered”, never happened though)

They also have great-looking weapons like this

The wedding ceremonies look great too, I will add the picture, censored of course, IF it passes past Bix.

If not well... Bix had a heart attack and removed the picture.

The downside is most of the breast animations remind me of balloons filled with jello and slinkies. And some of the others look like they are played in fast-forward, which does detract from the overall immersion of the story.

I don’t want to get into too much of the story because it is a visual novel, a true one, not one of those that say it is then makes you make all those choices and changes the ending you get (I hate those).

If you like fantasy stories and don’t mind a lot of sex scenes you might want to look at this one.

Here is the link  https://vanderer.itch.io/the-fiery-scion there is a part one and two, so make sure you get both of them.

If you play/read it please let me know what you think, if I get enough response and a few more updates I can revisit this one and discuss some opinions.

Until next time, GOOD GAMING TO YOU!

Nydia Tungsten

 

Editor's Note: Nydia had a black bar over the last picture, though it was slightly smaller. So no, no heart attack *grins*