The current method of anti-piracy prevention where you need an internet connection to play games irk us terribly. Not that there's a lot of games that do this, really, so far it's only with Steam that we have our gripes against but with games like Assassin's Creed 2, C&C4 and now even Starcraft 2 requiring an internet connection to play, we get a serious case of the irritables.
You're paying some RM250 for an original copy and there's still more hassle? In order to install, you need to connect once and create a Battle.net account and link your CD Key to your account, then you're able to play? In order to save your achievements in the campaign, you need to be connected. In order to play multiplayer, you need to be connected because there is no more LAN multiplayer.
Well. At least it's a mite improvement compared to C&C4, where in order to play even the single player campaign you need to be connected.
We have this notion that if we buy Starcraft 2, we're buying a game that we can play as we like at any time we like provided we have a PC that can support the hardware requirements. We kinda see Starcraft 2 as a single-player strategy game with additional multiplayer options, hence we think of it as a game where you can play offline and only connect online should you want to play with/against other players. Not, as it partly looks like, a multiplayer online game with a single player campaign story mode thrown in. Perhaps if we think of Starcraft 2 as a multiplayer online game then we wouldn't gripe over the internet requirement for gaming. But it's hard to think of it that way when Blizzard is releasing Starcraft 2 over three campaigns for the story!
So what happens if internet connectivity goes down again? No multiplayer then, yeah?
It's interesting how Starcraft 2 gets our goat while C&C4 doesn't. Sadly after Red Alert 2 we haven't really had any of the Command & Conquer games make us feel like how Starcraft 2 does - like we're back in college or university and off to visit the cyber cafe after lectures almost every day. We put this down to nostalgia and the love for Zergs.
You can label us as being 10 years in the past where 'connecting online' was an option limited by the speed of the modem and data charges, nowadays everyone is on broadband. But we don't like to take our internet connection for granted as being 'always there'.
7 comments:
Saya jauh lebih ketinggalan. Haha. Wired is the Way forward! Blame it on our "jalur sempit".
OMG What language doth he speaketh!
Gosh, I'm surprised they do that!
Under the impression that they had to do all those funny marketing gimmicks that due to spending waaaaaay too much time and money developing the game.
William: Offline mode play and networking play shouldn't be neglected at any time, William!
Savante: L33t5p3ak this is not!
Ban: Sorry? Marketing gimmicks?
splitting up the same game into 3 parts = marketting gimmick, no?
Well as you know I'm a Blizzard fanboi, and they've rarely gotten anything wrong. Splitting up the game into 3 (very expensive) games looked bad, but it's generally agreed that the game is better for it. After all, you'd still be paying for "expansion packs" right? There will be new units added for each race with every campaign, trust me.
The connectivity isn't so bad, now that internet is ubiquitous. Why, you don't have a 24 hour connection? Besides, connecting via LAN is harder nowadays than just hooking up to the internet. Granted, I do miss the halcyon days where we'd spend our youth (and allowance) in the cybercafe but we're adults now, tech changes and we must too.
Ban: ...what did that have to do with the subject of the online requirement for proper gaming?
Wingedman: From what we've been hearing, we'd like a patch for the Zergs to be more balanced first. Hopefully the Zerg campaign will bring make more units available for multiplayer.
It's not that we have bad connection, but here's some issues:
1. Klang Valley isn't fully covered, so it's area-dependant for a stable connection. A friend had to replay an episode again because just as he got some hard-to-get achievement, his got disconnected. Pushes our point more, why does single-player need to be connected online for a game that's not considered an online game?
2. If we were staying with other housemates, why shouldn't LAN connection be an option rather than needing to go roundabout and connect online?
3. For both single- and multiplayer, say some disaster happens that causes us all to lose internet connection ie disruption due to broken sea cables in Taiwan end 2006. We'll have to play something else instead.
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