community starts to boycott Ubisoft - Page 2

The Avon Lady · 01-19-07, 07:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brag

It would seem strange that a company would have different levels of quality for their different products. They could have some bad dev. team.

Ubi buys out and subcontracts numerous development companies and shops for their products.

Konovalov · 01-19-07, 08:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Avon Lady

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brag

It would seem strange that a company would have different levels of quality for their different products. They could have some bad dev. team.

Ubi buys out and subcontracts numerous development companies and shops for their products.

Good point.

Abraham hit the nail on the head for me.

bradclark1 · 01-19-07, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abraham

Let's be gratefull that a company like UBISOFT invested heavely after the SH II misery in a far from perfect but still great game like SH III and wanted to continue the series with SH IV.

So criticising games is O.K., but talking about boycotting the industry is stupid.

UBISOFT is in this to make money. Not to be good old boys. If they didn't think they would turn a profit they wouldn't have done it. Nothing to be grateful for, it's business.

Gizzmoe · 01-19-07, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradclark1

Nothing to be grateful for, it's business.

I´m grateful that Ubisoft chose to put their money into the development of a niche product, SH3, and thus taking a certain risk. They could have easily taken the safe route and put the money into a project that guaranteed them a much bigger investment return. Yes, it´s a business and it´s about money, but I believe that Ubisoft isn´t a soulless company.

Sonarman · 01-19-07, 09:46 AM

I think that Ubi deserves our support too. Unlike all of the other software companies out there they have decided to take the risk of investing in a subsim.

SH2/DC was not great but the bulk of the blame for that lies with "The learning company/SSI" and Ultimation along with Sony the developers of RTime who would not let Ultimation modify the multiplayer engine source code. Ubi came in very late in the day and tried to make the best of a bad situation.

With Harpoon IV they learned from their mistake, even after spending a years extra dev time/money to try and fix the game to a release standard they still had the integrity to cancel the product and write it off as a loss rather than release it.

With all that in mind it is to Ubisoft's credit that they decided to develop SH3 the best subsim ever and even delayed release by about 8 months specifically to satisfy our demands for a dynamic campaign.

SH3 was relatively bugfree on release apart from the bow wake problem which was caused not by UBi but by nVidia changing elements of it's graphic drivers. Ubi then went on to release patches up to v1.4 including extra features/fixes such as the protractor etc.

They have continued to support us by developing SH4 and we should continue to support them

Vive la France!

Abraham · 01-19-07, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gizzmoe

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradclark1

Nothing to be grateful for, it's business.

I´m grateful that Ubisoft chose to put their money into the development of a niche product, SH3, and thus taking a certain risk. They could have easily taken the safe route and put the money into a project that guaranteed them a much bigger investment return. Yes, it´s a business and it´s about money, but I believe that Ubisoft isn´t a soulless company.

Gizzmoe stated what I ment. Subsim games were not a big deal. Most were like Silent Service where with a lot of imagination from the gamer you moved a blob over endless ocean squares, your biggest risk being that you ran out of fuel. Which by the way had no realistic consequences.
Aces of the Deep was the first game with a thrill; a band and girls waving your boat goodbye, "Rauchsäulen am Horizont, Herr Kaleun!", etc.
SH II promised much but it was due to modders like Vickers on this site that the game could be played at all. And many still remember the long and winding road that led to SH III.
So UBI could have stayed out of the subsim business altogether, could have made a simple product, but decided to take i'ts job seriously and came with a fully moddable game, with 'sexy' features like birds, lighthouses, nice waves AND A CREW!
With all the critic on the system of watches, I'm convinced that there will never be a sub game without lookouts on the bridge, thanks to UBISOFT. And now UBI decided to stay in the market and bring out SH IV, which should have perfected many of new features of SH III. And perhaps SH III will later be brought up to SH IV standards...
For me one thing is clear; UBISOFT is marketleader in good subsim games, and we owe the growth of our Subsim.com community largely to those games.
I don't know how much real interest the top management of UBISOFT had in subsim games, but I do know - I spoke with some - that the development team was highly motivated and enthousiastic about the project, which showed in the product.

bradclark1 · 01-19-07, 02:01 PM

I'm not saying they are soulless. What I'm saying is it's a business. Before SHIII came out all you could get were FPS's. There was a lot of bitching about no sims. Ubi saw that and filled the void which was good but they did it to fill the market which is what business is about. If they didn't see a market for SHIII they wouldn't have published it. Yes there are still companies that are enthusiastic about their product but it's also becoming or has become a fact that their is some not so good games out there as mentioned previously that support is pretty shabby.
On a side note I'd say console games are part of the problem but thats another story.

geetrue · 01-19-07, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Abraham

For me one thing is clear; UBISOFT is marketleader in good subsim games, and we owe the growth of our Subsim.com community largely to those games.
I don't know how much real interest the top management of UBISOFT had in subsim games, but I do know - I spoke with some - that the development team was highly motivated and enthousiastic about the project, which showed in the product.

Ubisoft distributes games that sell or don't sell ... the Producer's so to speak

SSI and Ultimation were the directors so to speak of SH III

Code and graphics are the actors

The script is WWII and history

Any good movie to be considered a winner has to have a good
beginning, a good middle and a good ending ...

The results aren't in yet, but I believe SHIV will be a winner ...

Out of these three faith, hope and love ... love is the strongest
ingredient of them all ...

Avon lady had the right answer:

Quote:

Ubi buys out and subcontracts numerous development companies and shops for their products.

Kapitan_Phillips · 01-19-07, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gizzmoe

I don´t get it, no one is forcing them at gunpoint to rush out and buy a game the day it comes out. They could wait a week and check the reactions on the forum. If they see that too many people are unhappy with the game they don´t buy it and perhaps wait until the first patch comes out. Then they check the forums again...

Thats exactly what I do. Before I bought Red Orchestra Ostfront, I did some pretty heavy research into the kind of support it would get, and since there's a specialised team of developers specifically for adding new content and patching the game, I went straight out and bought it. I highly recommend it, by the way.

On the subject of Ubisoft, they're nowhere near as bad with customer service as Electronic Arts. EA Games, when you go to their support section, is pretty much like:

1) Please Choose a Game
2) You have selected Battlefield: Vietnam - please choose a question that most represents the problem you are having
3) To view the answer to this question, please register.
4) You have chosen 'My problem is not displayed here' and thus, you must be reporting a problem that doesnt exist. Good day.

_Gabriel_ · 01-21-07, 08:26 AM

Well just 4 info,

i want only show you what some guys start, i dont vote for the boycott, it was only a info nothing more.

Greetings

Gabriel

Wim Libaers · 01-21-07, 03:14 PM

Can we boycott Lucasarts too?

1. Buy Star Wars Battlefront 2. Install. It works!
2. Install patch. Doesn't work anymore, complaining about the wrong disc being inserted (it's still in there).
3. Search their site for solutions. Nothing.
4. search their forum. Notice many threads of angry people complaining about the same error.
5. E-mail tech support. A reply comes quickly, recommending that several registry keys be removed. After this, the game acts as if it isn't installed. Good thing I made a registry backup.
6. Search sites for cracks. Find mini-image. Mount with Daemon-tools. Everything works!

It's a strange world when the crackers provide more help than the publisher, and game copy protections refuse to recognize the genuine disc but will happily accept a mounted fake image slightly bigger than 1MB.

Oh well, I can play without the CD in the drive now. Convenient.

Abraham · 01-21-07, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by _Gabriel_

Well just 4 info,

i want only show you what some guys start, i dont vote for the boycott, it was only a info nothing more.

Greetings

Gabriel

Hi Gabriel, no hard feelings from my side...
You just started a nive little discussion.

nightdagger · 01-21-07, 04:20 PM

I think that Ubi has made a lot of good games and some bad ones. I don't think that anyone starting the boycott is a programmer, though, because they obviously don't appreciate how much work it takes to make a patch, much less a slightly flawed full game.

I'd also agree with Wim Libaers though. Crackers are talented enough where they can get out a patch quickly that fixes a lot of problems. The only danger is the pr0n from cracker sites.

GSpector · 01-21-07, 10:42 PM

Hello Wim Libaers,

I almost agree about Lucasarts/Lucas Games

They did a great job with Totally Games when they came out with Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe.

Many had asked or hoped for a continuation of this sim. How did Lucasarts respond? They created Secret Weapons over Normandy

This was 100% all the way designed for a Console but put on a PC

Since then, they have not impressed me.

I have almost ever Flight & Space Sim prior to that release.

01-21-07, 04:20 PM	#28
nightdagger Officer Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 243 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	I think that Ubi has made a lot of good games and some bad ones. I don't think that anyone starting the boycott is a programmer, though, because they obviously don't appreciate how much work it takes to make a patch, much less a slightly flawed full game. I'd also agree with Wim Libaers though. Crackers are talented enough where they can get out a patch quickly that fixes a lot of problems. The only danger is the pr0n from cracker sites. __________________

01-21-07, 10:42 PM	#29
GSpector Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Colorado Springs Posts: 676 Downloads: 11 Uploads: 0	Hello Wim Libaers, I almost agree about Lucasarts/Lucas Games They did a great job with Totally Games when they came out with Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe. Many had asked or hoped for a continuation of this sim. How did Lucasarts respond? They created Secret Weapons over Normandy This was 100% all the way designed for a Console but put on a PC Since then, they have not impressed me. I have almost ever Flight & Space Sim prior to that release. __________________ Specter

01-19-07, 09:46 AM	#20
Sonarman The Old Man Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Ayr,Scotland,UK Posts: 1,392 Downloads: 79 Uploads: 0	I think that Ubi deserves our support too. Unlike all of the other software companies out there they have decided to take the risk of investing in a subsim. SH2/DC was not great but the bulk of the blame for that lies with "The learning company/SSI" and Ultimation along with Sony the developers of RTime who would not let Ultimation modify the multiplayer engine source code. Ubi came in very late in the day and tried to make the best of a bad situation. With Harpoon IV they learned from their mistake, even after spending a years extra dev time/money to try and fix the game to a release standard they still had the integrity to cancel the product and write it off as a loss rather than release it. With all that in mind it is to Ubisoft's credit that they decided to develop SH3 the best subsim ever and even delayed release by about 8 months specifically to satisfy our demands for a dynamic campaign. SH3 was relatively bugfree on release apart from the bow wake problem which was caused not by UBi but by nVidia changing elements of it's graphic drivers. Ubi then went on to release patches up to v1.4 including extra features/fixes such as the protractor etc. They have continued to support us by developing SH4 and we should continue to support them Vive la France!

01-19-07, 02:01 PM	#22
bradclark1 Ocean Warrior Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Connecticut, USA. Posts: 2,794 Downloads: 29 Uploads: 0	I'm not saying they are soulless. What I'm saying is it's a business. Before SHIII came out all you could get were FPS's. There was a lot of bitching about no sims. Ubi saw that and filled the void which was good but they did it to fill the market which is what business is about. If they didn't see a market for SHIII they wouldn't have published it. Yes there are still companies that are enthusiastic about their product but it's also becoming or has become a fact that their is some not so good games out there as mentioned previously that support is pretty shabby. On a side note I'd say console games are part of the problem but thats another story.

01-21-07, 08:26 AM	#25
_Gabriel_ Mate Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Germany Posts: 52 Downloads: 74 Uploads: 0	Well just 4 info, i want only show you what some guys start, i dont vote for the boycott, it was only a info nothing more. Greetings Gabriel

01-21-07, 03:14 PM	#26
Wim Libaers Samurai Navy Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Flanders Posts: 569 Downloads: 4 Uploads: 0	Can we boycott Lucasarts too? 1. Buy Star Wars Battlefront 2. Install. It works! 2. Install patch. Doesn't work anymore, complaining about the wrong disc being inserted (it's still in there). 3. Search their site for solutions. Nothing. 4. search their forum. Notice many threads of angry people complaining about the same error. 5. E-mail tech support. A reply comes quickly, recommending that several registry keys be removed. After this, the game acts as if it isn't installed. Good thing I made a registry backup. 6. Search sites for cracks. Find mini-image. Mount with Daemon-tools. Everything works! It's a strange world when the crackers provide more help than the publisher, and game copy protections refuse to recognize the genuine disc but will happily accept a mounted fake image slightly bigger than 1MB. Oh well, I can play without the CD in the drive now. Convenient.