Civilization IV - AKA Another Crappy Product
Okay, so I'm not a huge gamer. I don't have the biggest computer with all the cool joysticks, gamer keyboards and mouse, or any of that stuff. What I do have is a small weakness for sports and strategy/simulation games. I can't remember what the last game I bought was. I believe it was The Sims. After playing the "Interactive Dollhouse" (term coined by Mark) for more hours than I should have, I quit playing. I never got the expansion packs or any of that stuff. I played, I lost sleep, I moved on.
Now, my favorite game of all time has to be Civilization (followed closely by SimCity). I love how you control a race of people, starting from 1 person to eventually nuking the world (or flying to Alpha Centauri). There hasn't been a new Civ game in a long time, so I was pretty excited to see the new one come out. I've been bored lately, and nothing passes time like destroying countries while building spaceships.
So, I drop $55 on the game, get home, load it up, and wouldn't you know - an error. Now, Since I have been a gamer for some time, I'm pretty comfortable with the fact that there are several prequalifications in order to play new games. Number One: Go buy the newest, fastest, most expensive computer system out there. This will ensure you can play the newest games at the minimal settings and experience a fairly choppy gameplay. Number Two: Update everything - drivers, Windows, drivers, drivers. Number Three: Read the hell out of some forums (in this case the Civ IV Forum) to join in on the misery of the other thousand with your problem.
Well, I refuse to upgrade my computer. I just got upgraded it 6 months ago (if that) and I really don't need much more. So, I get some unknown error and read the boards. Sure enough, it's a capatibility issue with my card. Now, the manufacturer might be cheap, but the brand is ATI, one of the most popular video cards out there. So I'm reading about the ATI Fix, do everything they say, and still can't get it to work.
My point of the rant is this - Why do companies continue to put out products that they know have problems with? This entire Civ IV launch was a disaster. One of the key inserts is printed in French (I wanted the Freedom version Damnit), The CDs are mislabeled, and you can't even play the game! I can't think of one thing right that they did. Don't they realize people are going to revolt against this product and future products because of this blunder? Game Developers are notorious for this behavior. They figure they can release the game "on time" to hit whatever goal they set, and just create a patch for the problem(s) later. It's sloppy, lazy, and pathetic.
This is the reason people pirate stuff. Here I am stuck with a $55 doorstop with 3 mini frisbees. Meanwhile, some kid in Thailand is making sure everyone gets to play this game for free.
Now, my favorite game of all time has to be Civilization (followed closely by SimCity). I love how you control a race of people, starting from 1 person to eventually nuking the world (or flying to Alpha Centauri). There hasn't been a new Civ game in a long time, so I was pretty excited to see the new one come out. I've been bored lately, and nothing passes time like destroying countries while building spaceships.
So, I drop $55 on the game, get home, load it up, and wouldn't you know - an error. Now, Since I have been a gamer for some time, I'm pretty comfortable with the fact that there are several prequalifications in order to play new games. Number One: Go buy the newest, fastest, most expensive computer system out there. This will ensure you can play the newest games at the minimal settings and experience a fairly choppy gameplay. Number Two: Update everything - drivers, Windows, drivers, drivers. Number Three: Read the hell out of some forums (in this case the Civ IV Forum) to join in on the misery of the other thousand with your problem.
Well, I refuse to upgrade my computer. I just got upgraded it 6 months ago (if that) and I really don't need much more. So, I get some unknown error and read the boards. Sure enough, it's a capatibility issue with my card. Now, the manufacturer might be cheap, but the brand is ATI, one of the most popular video cards out there. So I'm reading about the ATI Fix, do everything they say, and still can't get it to work.
My point of the rant is this - Why do companies continue to put out products that they know have problems with? This entire Civ IV launch was a disaster. One of the key inserts is printed in French (I wanted the Freedom version Damnit), The CDs are mislabeled, and you can't even play the game! I can't think of one thing right that they did. Don't they realize people are going to revolt against this product and future products because of this blunder? Game Developers are notorious for this behavior. They figure they can release the game "on time" to hit whatever goal they set, and just create a patch for the problem(s) later. It's sloppy, lazy, and pathetic.
This is the reason people pirate stuff. Here I am stuck with a $55 doorstop with 3 mini frisbees. Meanwhile, some kid in Thailand is making sure everyone gets to play this game for free.
posted by Thomas at 8:39 PM
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