pretty.
James
James
> There's a review of Motorsim's AMA Superbike at www.avault.com and it's not
> pretty.
> James
So when a regular game is released that's buggy and broken (not
necessarily my view of AMA) the reviewers shouldn't give it bad
reviews because it "could" be better down the road when it's
patched and fixed?
Your logic here is flawed. Sure, AMA might have dozens more
tracks, bikes, etc. added down the road. The physics might be
cleaned up and completely perfected. The network code might
be silky smooth 6 months from now. OR, Motorsim's might close
it's doors tomorrow and never issue another update. You can't
review on possibilities. You review what's been released.
I'd be willing to bet that Avault DOES take another look a little while
down the road. Even the print magazines do this for the couple
of games that currently work this way (Warbirds, Air Warrior, etc.)
Doberman
- George
> > You pay once and that's it, NO MILKING! Sound good to me.
> Actually you pay every month for online play (it isn't going
> to be free for very much longer) which in turn finances the
> evolution of the product. Or at least one would hope it
> would.
> - George
> > You pay once and that's it, NO MILKING! Sound good to me.
> Actually you pay every month for online play (it isn't going
> to be free for very much longer) which in turn finances the
> evolution of the product. Or at least one would hope it
> would.
> - George
This isn't necessarily a "regular" game, i.e. the development company
produces it, it gets published and you buy it and thats it, maybe if you are
lucky you get a patch or two or in case of some games you dont get any. In
this case its more like id and Quake2 where there were something like 20
patches to support it, modify it and upgrade it. This was designed to be a
game that gets updated fairly frequently [one of the reasons they spent a
bunch of money on the castanet download] and get improved over its
lifecycle, which is designed to be much longer than most retail games.
Thats not an excuse, AMA really could have been a lot more solid when it
went retail.
This is true. But you MUST review on the type of game it is and you should
mention the company's plans for the product. This isn't a game that is
meant to be a standalone never touched again code, its meant to be
continually updated with new features, better code, better driving model,
options, etc. as time goes on. And FYI, something that wasn't mentioned, is
that a demo was available with the BIR track, and the game, minus the AI and
single player scripting, will be available, ala Warbirds, for download FREE
if its not already. If someone felt ripped off, perhaps they were too
impatient [a common trend in today's society] and should have checked out
the demo first when it came out or even waited for the downloadable version
of the game before plunking down money.
Perhaps, but I doubt it. Warbirds, should be noted, wasn't particularly up
to par either when first released. And AMA is almost identical to Warbirds
in its business model.
> > > You pay once and that's it, NO MILKING! Sound good to me.
> > Actually you pay every month for online play (it isn't going
> > to be free for very much longer) which in turn finances the
> > evolution of the product. Or at least one would hope it
> > would.
> > - George
Of course, only those who are absolutely and utterly impatient are paying
ANYTHING. No one made anyone buy it in the store, if people had paid
attention and done some research they would have found out that the game is
or will soon be available online for download and the only thing missing
will be AI and offline racing scripts. Online, for the time being until it
gets to a suitable level as determined by Motorsims and feedback of the
users, is free too [unlike NROS]. I've yet to see anywhere where someone
has to pay anything for the time being.
Obviously there are only about 1% of us that bother to actually do research
and find out about products and not just believe what you hear.
> I doubt its going to be dead within a year; Warbirds was not made overnight,
> nor will the Motorsims network.
> Of course, only those who are absolutely and utterly impatient are paying
> ANYTHING. No one made anyone buy it in the store, if people had paid
> attention and done some research they would have found out that the game is
> or will soon be available online for download and the only thing missing
> will be AI and offline racing scripts. Online, for the time being until it
> gets to a suitable level as determined by Motorsims and feedback of the
> users, is free too [unlike NROS]. I've yet to see anywhere where someone
> has to pay anything for the time being.
> Obviously there are only about 1% of us that bother to actually do research
> and find out about products and not just believe what you hear.
> > That review better come quick. Motorsims will be dead within a year.
> > There's only about 1% of you who are convinced that paying to test beta
> > software is a great deal.
But Warbirds entered a very different market when it was started up than
Motorsims does now. Also, the possible market for an online WWII fighter
sim is much larger than for a motorcycle racing sim. If Warbirds entered
the market now with questionable physics, low poly graphics and missing
features, people would probably shun it in favour of a retail sim with
online capability.
Stephen