OverClocked ReMix...

Kenogu Labz · #**521** 12-08-2011, 06:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zircon

Well, first of all (to Clefairy) I wouldn't call myself 'fortunate'... I just have standard cable internet service. Something like 95% of Americans have access to broadband internet. I think a very, very small portion of the 5% that doesn't have access would actually be interested in a game like Diablo III. Just hazarding a guess on that last one though. And, I dunno, even though I've used Comcast for years (supposedly the worst ISP / worst company in America) I've had virtually no problems with outages, dropped connections, etc. Maybe a few hours out of every year. Is that really such a problem? Penny-Arcade put it best:

http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/08/08

I guess I just think the response is a bit overblown. If it were some other company, like EA with their crappy Origin service, I'd be concerned. But I've had nothing but good experiences with Blizzard and I don't mind being online and using their servers when I play.

I just see it as being an issue if you want to play at a location where there is no internet connectivity, such as on a plane, commuter train, etc. Then it's not so much about how much you're on the internet as when you're able to access it. Steam has an offline mode, for example, that allows you to access games, as long as you let it know _before_ you go offline, which is a logical solution to the problem: you have access to all games until you have internet access again, since you already authenticated them before you went offline.

And to tackle the Comcast tangent, believe me, I've seen far worse ISPs, many of them local to an area. Comcast has its hiccups, glitches, and intentional oversights, but that's because they're a business, and they have to weigh decisions like any other business. They're not perfect, but we can't really expect any business to be perfect, and Comcast usually provides a better option by far than the alternatives, in my (limited) experience. (How they handle the customer-facing side of the business is another matter, for sure...)

This is purely based off of personal experience, so there's probably a dozen counter-examples I haven't heard of.

EDIT: I guess zircon already sorta touched on the loss of portability earlier.

Gario · #**522** 01-12-2012, 06:02 PM

Aww yeah, they got their own website, now.

http://extra-credits.net/

I think that'll be easy enough for most of us to remember off the top of our heads.

Also, bumpity bump de bump bump.

Clefairy · #**523** 01-12-2012, 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zircon

I wouldn't call myself 'fortunate'... I just have standard cable internet service. Something like 95% of Americans have access to broadband internet. I think a very, very small portion of the 5% that doesn't have access would actually be interested in a game like Diablo III. Just hazarding a guess on that last one though. And, I dunno, even though I've used Comcast for years (supposedly the worst ISP / worst company in America) I've had virtually no problems with outages, dropped connections, etc. Maybe a few hours out of every year. Is that really such a problem? Penny-Arcade put it best:

http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/08/08

I guess I just think the response is a bit overblown. If it were some other company, like EA with their crappy Origin service, I'd be concerned. But I've had nothing but good experiences with Blizzard and I don't mind being online and using their servers when I play.

Comcast tech support was my first job out of high school. I worked in the same building as Grey Ninja, if anyone's been around long enough to remember him. Pretty sure I figured out who he was, but never met him personally.

For the most part they're pretty good at maintaining infrastructure. But when they fail, they fail hard.

Anyway, as I see it, until broadband penetration reaches 100% worldwide, you're fortunate to have reliable access. That's just how I look at the world, though. Count your blessings and all that.

The response seems overblown now, because Blizzard still carries an enormous amount of good faith in the gaming community. Nevertheless, disallowing offline play is a blatant attempt to control how we use their product. If the product were inextricably linked to the servers that support it, like an MMO, that would be one thing. But the first two games weren't online only, so obviously that's not true.

As consumers, we're conditioned to find more options preferable to less. Even if the option is largely unnecessary by today's standards of available internet, some people would prefer to have it. Myself included. That's really all there is to say.

The Damned · #**524** 01-13-2012, 12:50 AM

I gotta say, the new site looks nice.

Does this mean the Penny Arcade honeymoon is over?

sephfire · #**525** 01-13-2012, 03:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Damned

I gotta say, the new site looks nice.

Does this mean the Penny Arcade honeymoon is over?

Not at all! We just wanted to create a central hub for the show and community. We're still happy as can be with the PA guys. They've been awesome.

The Damned · #**526** 01-13-2012, 04:48 AM

Totally over. I expect the divorce papers any day now.

Do some pokemanz stuff!

Liontamer · #**527** 01-22-2012, 04:03 AM

Following up on the live show (Much love for spinning the ReMixes, Dan!):

http://www.ted.com/nominate/speaker - TED Talk speaker nominations

Anyone hear have any TED connections?