The unmentionable expansion gets panned in PC Gamer

[Beery]

Many of us remember the dark times when 'The Unmentionable Expansion' appeared, taking the community's free mods and selling them in Germany. More recently some of us were horrified (but not all that surprised) when the expansion got picked up by Take 2 Interactive and it started appearing on computer game store shelves in the UK and USA. Well, now the expansion has its moment in the sun - and is exposed for what it is. PC Gamer's resident simulations columnist, Andy Mahood, gives the expansion a write-up in December's issue, giving it a 52% rating and saying (in part):

"What the expansion pack's 'packagers' don't tell you, though, is that every single feature is a rehashed - and sometimes inferior - version of some readily available mods from the SH3 community. (There are allegations that X1 Software simply lifted all of the community's hard work and cavalierly burned it to a disk for personal profit. True or not, the company secured Ubisoft's legal permission in advance)... if you have a broadband connection , you're much better off with the vastly superior Grey Wolves supermod from Subsim.com. It outperforms Seawolves on every measurable level and it won't cost you a dime."

So now, finally, the evil expansion gets its comeuppance - well, sort of - at least it shows that people in the gaming press are somewhat aware of the issue and are willing to make an effort to make the truth known.

[P_Funk]

Somewhat aware? I'm pretty sure that the heart of PC Gamer is it's columist staff. They are routinely the best bit in that mag. We all enjoy reviews and scoops and Hardware stuff but when Andy Mahood tells you something is cool you know he is delivering a Gem.

It's too bad the Desktop Wargamer has moved on. He was the best.

YAY PC Gamer!

[Beery]

Originally Posted by P_Funk

Somewhat aware? I'm pretty sure that the heart of PC Gamer is it's columist staff...

He admits he's unaware of the extent of X1's theft - he says "There are allegations that X1 Software simply lifted all of the community's hard work and cavalierly burned it to a disk for personal profit. True or not, the company secured Ubisoft's legal permission in advance". That means he's only somewhat aware. Firstly, it's not true that X1 lifted all of the community's hard work - the X1 folks lifted some, but not all. If he was fully aware, he'd know the facts.

As for Andy Mahood & the other columnists being the best in the mag - maybe, but if Mr.Mahood is the best that PC Gamer has to offer I'm not impressed. He entirely dropped the ball with SH3 - it never got the respect it deserved in his columns (and I told him as much a year ago - he basically responded that they covered it in a preview and that he couldn't get into it while all the great FPS games were taking his attention) and as I recall he spent the months after its release jabbering on about old flight sims and racing games. Mind you, it's not like anyone else gave SH3 its due either. Computer Games Magazine was only slightly more responsive to it post-release. But when a simulations columnist fails to say anything about a major simulation release or the major mods that have appeared for it in... what is it, a year and a half? I just don't think that's doing his job properly. Basically it's my opinion that the guy has been asleep at the wheel for the last 18 months. But that's just my opinion.

[bookworm_020]

Maybe it will steer some people away from the dark side and bring them over where the sun shines. We who grace this site know how good it is (), now other will know too. More the merrier!!

[P_Funk]

Beery, you make it sound as if they owe us something. They're just one magasine. And last time I checked the colums go in rotations so you see one one month and a different one the next. They can't cover the whole gaming world at once comprehensively. Not to mention the fact that they're still a company trying to make money. I own two PC Gamer's with a sim column about SH3. That is aside from the Scoop one month and the subsequent preview in a later month. And whether or not the columnists want to or not I'm sure they have to approve certain ideas and Im sure they get told what to talk about alot of the time.

[Beery]

Originally Posted by P_Funk

Beery, you make it sound as if they owe us something...

You're darned right I think that. They absolutely owe me something when I pay for the magazine. When I pay for a magazine I want my money's worth. Far too often I pay my $8.99, open the package and there's virtually nothing for me in the magazine, and it's not as if I'm a niche player - I play strategy, FPS, simulations and MMORPGs, so there should be something in these magazines for me other than the demo disk. But often I find they're wasting my time with meaningless previews of games that are little more than vapourware or vapid nonsense about how awesome is some supercomputer that I'll never be able to afford, and I haven't even touched on the reams of adverts and fluff pieces that take up about 3/4 of every games magazine these days. It's not like computer games magazines are $3.00 an issue anymore. In fact, as I recall, when they were $3.00 an issue I would tend to get more of my money's worth from them. When a computer games magazine contains a simulations column I expect simulations content. What PC Gamer has been providing in recent months has not been up to its old standard. Sometimes I find Mr. Mahood going on about issues completely removed from the simulation genre. When I go to the simulations column I resent it when he wastes my time talking about peoplewatching at the latest E3 convention, FPS games or arcade racing games. It's a sim column, and if he's not going to talk about sims he should rename the column or the magazine should hire someone who can talk about simulations.

Then there's the editor. This month he's going on about the convention in Leipzig and saying that the Germans are always urging him to go to booth "zwanzig ein". If he was regaled that often, surely he'd know how Germans count, and that "zwanzig ein" is completely meaningless in German - it's "ein und zwanzig" for goodness sake. Honestly, sometimes it seems like the magazine has been taken over by a special ed class. I mean it comes to something when an editor can't tell the difference between the words "their", "they're" and "there", but I'm finding such silly spelling and grammar mistakes coming all too frequently from people whose job is to know better.

Anyway, this is off topic. My point was that Mr. Mahood is unaware of X1's activities - he admits as much. That was all I was saying. It's great that you find that PC Gamer meets your needs. I just wish it met mine more often.

[FIREWALL]

Originally Posted by bookworm_020

Maybe it will steer some people away from the dark side and bring them over where the sun shines. We who grace this site know how good it is (), now other will know too. More the merrier!!

You got that right.

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by Beery

He admits he's unaware of the extent of X1's theft - he says "There are allegations that X1 Software simply lifted all of the community's hard work and cavalierly burned it to a disk for personal profit. True or not, the company secured Ubisoft's legal permission in advance". That means he's only somewhat aware. Firstly, it's not true that X1 lifted all of the community's hard work - the X1 folks lifted some, but not all. If he was fully aware, he'd know the facts.

As for Andy Mahood & the other columnists being the best in the mag - maybe, but if Mr.Mahood is the best that PC Gamer has to offer I'm not impressed. He entirely dropped the ball with SH3 - it never got the respect it deserved in his columns (and I told him as much a year ago - he basically responded that they covered it in a preview and that he couldn't get into it while all the great FPS games were taking his attention) and as I recall he spent the months after its release jabbering on about old flight sims and racing games. Mind you, it's not like anyone else gave SH3 its due either. Computer Games Magazine was only slightly more responsive to it post-release. But when a simulations columnist fails to say anything about a major simulation release or the major mods that have appeared for it in... what is it, a year and a half? I just don't think that's doing his job properly. Basically it's my opinion that the guy has been asleep at the wheel for the last 18 months. But that's just my opinion.

I have to laugh at 'X1 did not lift all of the communities works, just some of them'...is that like being just a little bit pregnant? If you lifted just one for your financial gain you have discredited yourself. If you lift a pair of socks at the store or a TV, no matter the value, you are still a thief.

[Biggles]

hah, the buggers can take it!

Question: is it the same with "Battle in the med..." expansion, is those things mods too?

[edit] In case you want to know, the PC Gamer Sweden magazine gave SHIII 88% of 100%, which is a VERY good result. The only real thing they didn't like was english-talking germans.......

Oh, and PCG SWE has NOT reviewed the exp. for SHIII......

[The Noob]

Our empire strikes back!

I just love it if magazines bash this piece of...you are aware what.

[Deep-Six]

I have the Seawolves disk, I know bad me, but I have never installed it.

I REPEAT, I have NOT installed it.

If you want me to, I can check what mods were included. I do have ways of finding those things out.

[Beery]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

I have to laugh at 'X1 did not lift all of the communities works, just some of them'...is that like being just a little bit pregnant? If you lifted just one for your financial gain you have discredited yourself. If you lift a pair of socks at the store or a TV, no matter the value, you are still a thief.

I'm not sure what your point is. No one - certainly not me - ever said the folks behind X1 aren't thieves. My point was that Andy Mahood doesn't know whether they're thieves or completely innocent. I just think he ought to have done a bit of research and found out exactly what they're accused of (contrary to what his article says no one ever accused them of stealing all the stuff that's in their expansion) and what they are actually guilty of. What he's done is post rumour and innuendo rather than hard facts. While it's nice to see the rumours in print so that everyone can see that there might be something that deserves looking into, I think it would have been nicer to get some hard facts in print, such as what was stolen and who X1 cheated. It's not like that info is unknown - I know at least two people (one who was - perhaps still is - a member of this community) whose work was lifted by X1 and who received not even a mention in the expansion's readme file.

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by Beery

I'm not sure what your point is. No one - certainly not me - ever said the folks behind X1 aren't thieves. My point was that Andy Mahood doesn't know whether they're thieves or completely innocent. I just think he ought to have done a bit of research and found out exactly what they're accused of (contrary to what his article says no one ever accused them of stealing all the stuff that's in their expansion) and what they are actually guilty of. What he's done is post rumour and innuendo rather than hard facts. While it's nice to see the rumours in print so that everyone can see that there might be something that deserves looking into, I think it would have been nicer to get some hard facts in print, such as what was stolen and who X1 cheated. It's not like that info is unknown - I know at least two people (one who was - perhaps still is - a member of this community) whose work was lifted by X1 and who received not even a mention in the expansion's readme file.

If is written in your first paragraph that X1 had not lifted all but some......It is written in such a way as admission by X1 as lifting "some"...my point is if they lifted some they are still suspect. That is how I interpret this first paragraph. I'm sure that Manhood does not have all the facts.

[Cerberus]

Originally Posted by Beery

He admits he's unaware of the extent of X1's theft - he says "There are allegations that X1 Software simply lifted all of the community's hard work and cavalierly burned it to a disk for personal profit. True or not, the company secured Ubisoft's legal permission in advance". That means he's only somewhat aware. Firstly, it's not true that X1 lifted all of the community's hard work - the X1 folks lifted some, but not all. If he was fully aware, he'd know the facts.

We can all read this bit in different ways.

I take the phrase "There are allegations that...." to be a device intended to lessen the chance of a writ for libel from X1 - nothing to do with what he does or doesn't know.

If he claims they've stolen something, they could sue him & the side with the deepest pockets would win.

This way he stands aside from the allegation - he's only reporting on what is being said by others.

[Happy Times]

I think many members dont know who Beery is. And that may cause some misinterpretations in issues concerning mods/modding. And very nice to see Beery back, that can only mean good things for the community.