Batman: Arkham City Catch-All

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Why is the immediate response to this is not "they're delaying the PC release to make sure it's up to standards" but "it's a conspiracy to get people to buy the console version"? Isn't it just as likely that the game has been delayed due to some bugs that they need a bit more time to stamp out? After Dead Island and Deus Ex both had poor launches on the PC, you think people would be happy to see a bit of extra TLC put into the PC version to make sure it's solid from day one. If they can't get it stable by the announced release date, isn't it better to delay it slightly than to push it out the door and leave people waiting for a patch? It's just a couple weeks, and it's not like this is a dry season without exciting games to play.

It's clearly a conspiracy to get me to buy multiple versions, which certainly wouldn't have happened under other circumstances!

Eh. It's a Single player game for me which means I'll wait for a sale and by then there will have been a few patches. I'm fine with whatever delays they're making political or otherwise.

Scratched wrote:

The other thing about Batman:AC is that it's a continuation of work from Batman:AA. There could always be improvements and work I'm not aware of, but it seems to me that most of the work on the new game is content that will be the same across all 3 platforms, on a well known, well supported multiplatform engine, rather than making a brand new PC port.

Occasionally bad things happen, and technical problems occur that delay a port, but not as often as you see from the PC ports of a lot of professional multi-million games. Something like Batman should be a very predictable and 'easy' PC port (there's my internet expert moment).

I'm looking at it from this perspective: people are far more likely to be stupid than to be evil. Maybe this should be an easy port job, but maybe someone made a stupid call and decided that Nvidia Feature #47 needed to be tacked-on at the last minute, delaying things by a month. It seems that if Eidos were delaying this for a month to get people to buy the console version, they just wouldn't have made a PC version at all. They're under no obligation to support the platform, so why shoot themselves in the foot if they don't have to?

Prozac wrote:

Eh. It's a Single player game for me which means I'll wait for a sale and by then there will have been a few patches. I'm fine with whatever delays they're making political or otherwise.

I'm torn between my desire to Batman and my being a cheap bastard. Secret Stan, you know what to get me this year.

Jeff-66 wrote:

Anyone want to lay odds that it's got something to do with GFWL?

**Puts on my tin foil hat**

This is all a conspiracy. Since most publishers insist piracy takes off the second the PC version becomes available, they're pushing the PC release back to maximize console sales.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

It seems that if Eidos were delaying this for a month to get people to buy the console version, they just wouldn't have made a PC version at all. They're under no obligation to support the platform, so why shoot themselves in the foot if they don't have to?

As Hobbes mentioned, the cookie-cutter answer is: it's all about week-one sales. Most of the money the publisher makes comes from the first week of sales. If PC version is available on release day, it gets pirated within the first day and the d/l of pirated version starts eating into the first week of sales. If they delay the PC version until week 3, then they have unhindered 2 weeks of sales on the console, and combined with peer pressure of needing to have the shiny at the same time as your friends results in additional sales at full console price.

They still want whatever gravy they can get from PC sales, they just don't want gravy accessiblity to spoil the meat and potatoes that are the console sales of the first couple of weeks.

If they're that worried about PC sales lost to piracy, they won't make a PC port, plain and simple.

Boo =(
Disappointed by the delay. I've got it pre-ordered and it's the only game out of the big releases this fall I was 100% getting.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

If they're that worried about PC sales lost to piracy, they won't make a PC port, plain and simple.

Tell that to Ubisoft who ports to PC and then "protects" the game with Nazi-level DRM that requires you to be constantly connected to the internet to play it. Clearly they are worried about PC sales lost to piracy but realize there's enough money in it to go ahead with the ports.

Yeah, kinda expected it. I'm with Scratched, I expect it for Assassin's Creed Rev too. It's just something the publishers seem to do these days. Hold their glorious consoles up for all to see and shun those horrible peg legged people on the PC. Because, you know, it's not like anything gets pirated on the consoles.

I'm not too heartbroken by it as I was going to wait for end of year sale, but it's still disappointing to be a PC gamer that constantly gets beaten with the stick from every publisher every time we buy a game.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Why is the immediate response to this is not "they're delaying the PC release to make sure it's up to standards" but "it's a conspiracy to get people to buy the console version"? Isn't it just as likely that the game has been delayed due to some bugs that they need a bit more time to stamp out? After Dead Island and Deus Ex both had poor launches on the PC, you think people would be happy to see a bit of extra TLC put into the PC version to make sure it's solid from day one. If they can't get it stable by the announced release date, isn't it better to delay it slightly than to push it out the door and leave people waiting for a patch? It's just a couple weeks, and it's not like this is a dry season without exciting games to play.

It's possible it's not ready. It's also been pretty common for publishers to delay PC a bit to get sales on console first, where it's harder to pirate, then release PC later. So who knows.

Not a problem at all. I have enough games to play. I'll get around to playing this when I'm given internet access and it's on Steam.

Vector wrote:

Not a problem at all. I have enough games to play.

That's my thing, I only pre-ordered because of the great Green Man Gaming deal where I saved nearly $20. I'd have waited until early next year with all the other stuff coming out.

Not that I don't want to play this really bad, there's just a ton of games with multiplayer that I'll play first.

MannishBoy wrote:
Vector wrote:

Not a problem at all. I have enough games to play.

That's my thing, I only pre-ordered because of the great Green Man Gaming deal where I saved nearly $20. I'd have waited until early next year with all the other stuff coming out.

Not that I don't want to play this really bad, there's just a ton of games with multiplayer that I'll play first.

B:AC wasn't at the top of my shopping list, but having enjoyed AA I was definitely keeping an eye on it. With the various shenanigans (pre-order bonuses, DLC, PC hardware favoritism, and this delay) they're giving me reasons to think twice, to move it down the list, wait until it's dirt cheap and packed with all the expansions.

I really don't see how this makes more people want to buy their game, especially at this time of the year. The best case scenario is that people buy a different (console) version, but that's hardly bulletproof with used sales.

Jeff-66 wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

If they're that worried about PC sales lost to piracy, they won't make a PC port, plain and simple.

Tell that to Ubisoft who ports to PC and then "protects" the game with Nazi-level DRM that requires you to be constantly connected to the internet to play it. Clearly they are worried about PC sales lost to piracy but realize there's enough money in it to go ahead with the ports.

Because we know that the Nazi's insistence on high-speed connections were their worst crime.

Come on - the drm is obnoxious, but I don't think that it is a crime against humanity.

Ahh, first-world problems.

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Jeff-66 wrote:

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Sorry - I get overly annoyed by people's (over?)reaction to drm.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

If they're that worried about PC sales lost to piracy, they won't make a PC port, plain and simple.

Except they are not worried about PC sales lost to piracy. They are worried about Console sales lost to PC piracy--or so the claim goes. Clearly they still make enough money from PCs to bother porting, piracy or not.

MoonDragon wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:

If they're that worried about PC sales lost to piracy, they won't make a PC port, plain and simple.

Except they are not worried about PC sales lost to piracy. They are worried about Console sales lost to PC piracy--or so the claim goes. Clearly they still make enough money from PCs to bother porting, piracy or not.

Something else I'm wondering about which might be related is MS currently making it harder to get on XBLA if your game is released on another platform first, that's known about publicly now, but I wonder how long that's been going on, and what other things aren't known about publicly. It would seem like a small jump from that to perhaps a platform holder not giving support to a multiplatform full-price title if they don't play ball. Big-money games aren't just simple develop - publish - collect cash, there's a ton of factors and I'm sure there's room for politics and agendas in a lot of them.

SallyNasty wrote:

Sorry - I get overly annoyed by people's (over?)reaction to drm.

np. I'm actually pretty friendly towards most of it, and understanding that they need to protect their product, but I think Ubi goes (way) over the line. Perhaps "big brother'ish" would be a better word choice than Nazi, though.

Jeff-66 wrote:
SallyNasty wrote:

Sorry - I get overly annoyed by people's (over?)reaction to drm.

np. I'm actually pretty friendly towards most of it, and understanding that they need to protect their product, but I think Ubi goes (way) over the line. Perhaps "big brother'ish" would be a better word choice than Nazi, though.

All I know is that if it has achievements, Bonus will be buying the PC version.

Spoiler:

Frankly, I agree with you on Ubi's drm - but I am a console gamer so it doesn't really affect me.

SallyNasty wrote:
Jeff-66 wrote:
SallyNasty wrote:

Sorry - I get overly annoyed by people's (over?)reaction to drm.

np. I'm actually pretty friendly towards most of it, and understanding that they need to protect their product, but I think Ubi goes (way) over the line. Perhaps "big brother'ish" would be a better word choice than Nazi, though.

All I know is that if it has achievements, Bonus will be buying the PC version.

Spoiler:

Frankly, I agree with you on Ubi's drm - but I am a console gamer so it doesn't really affect me.

So you see how they're Nazis?

I think a lot of the DRM noise comes from people being loud because the internet allows them to wail against the man at no cost, but I think there's also an aspect of "First they came for the _____, but I was not a ____ so I stayed quiet". Sure consoles are fine for offline singleplayer, but what of the future? People taking a five-finger-discount on games isn't the only reason for DRM, and what publishers want is part of what gets designed into consoles, as they're all part of the picture (no games being made, no consoles sold).

Concerned about those 'online passes'? I'm sure that's the sort of DRM they'd love to have at a system level.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Why is the immediate response to this is not "they're delaying the PC release to make sure it's up to standards" but "it's a conspiracy to get people to buy the console version"?

Because in the history of PC port delays, they never seem to help fix the obvious, crippling problems.

WalMart is offering a copy of the GOTY version of Batman:AA with pre-orders of Batman:AC, at least on PS3. Also a $10 gift card, and 97 cent release-day shipping.

Granted I already have AA GotY PS3 and platinum-ed it. So I really have no reason to get it again. But that's still an amazing bonus, if anyone doesn't already have it.

First review is in.

Batman: Arkham City AUS OPM Review 10/10

"Batman: Arkham City is not only the best superhero game ever made, it's one of the best games ever made full-stop. It takes the already superlative original and gloriously expands on it. It's a deeper game, more complex, more inventive, more mature. It brings the caped crusader's world to life better than any comic, movie or television show before it."

Oh my.

Aaron D. wrote:

First review is in.

Batman: Arkham City AUS OPM Review 10/10

"Batman: Arkham City is not only the best superhero game ever made, it's one of the best games ever made full-stop. It takes the already superlative original and gloriously expands on it. It's a deeper game, more complex, more inventive, more mature. It brings the caped crusader's world to life better than any comic, movie or television show before it."

Oh my.

Don't you dare enable me!

Hype!

Scratched wrote:

Hype!

I'm used to hype... This is something else altogether!!

Duoae wrote:
Scratched wrote:

Hype!

I'm used to hype... This is something else altogether!!

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