DO NOT BUY BFBC2 - Buggy as hell
Just wanted to let others who are tempted know. I bought Battlefield Bad Company 2 off steam over the easter weekend.
My god its buggy! I mean like literally CTD every game or two. Lots of lockups, CTD, or dropping randomly from servers. I managed to get like 5 hours in on one server, but then cant get 2 minutes on others.
Given the size of EA and its manpower, you'd think it would be easier for them to actually make non-buggy software. But it seems like it really doesnt give a damn for PC builds at least.
I'm not isolated in having this experience either. Maybe both activision and EA are doing this to literally kill off their PC builds altogether? Naah, maybe not, but it certainly cant be doing any good. PC builds have been pretty much free money for a while now, but with this kind of stability, I doubt I'll buy any of the newer FPS that DO support PC. Sadly the demo was actually MORE stable than the release, so cant even say "you should have tried the demo".
Its shocking that people release games in this state, especially since they had months of beta testing.
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Launch week was bad. Couldn't even play launch day. I've not had any serious problems since though (occasionally nothing works but that's just a sign to get back to work), and never have the guys who I play with! Find some good servers, and play with friends if you can.
This is what happens when you have management that don't understand about that thing where you pick two items from "faster, better, cheaper". Repeatedly they make the same mistake of trying for all three. How do these guys keep their jobs?
Cas
I think some of the blame is ati and nvidia. Both companies churn out new FEATURE PACKED drivers every other day that are riddled with bugs and changes to older APIs.
Its bad enough having 10,000 different pieces of hardware WITH stable drivers, but with drivers changing all the time and hald the gamers running 'beta' drivers that are coded by monkeys, making crash free software on PC is more art than science...
Nah, I lay this one firmly at the door of EA.
The last two games I bought were both EA titles, and even though they were from different actual developers, neither game ran on my bog standard video card without dreadful artefacts ruining the display and random crashes when the flashy crap didn't start up for a minute or two.
Regardless of any "I hate EA just because" sentiment, I won't ever buy any of their products again because they rush them out unfinished, clearly perform little if any compat testing and basically just don't seem to give a shit.
I know that like all large companies they're run by accountants managing a bottom line, but you'd think that somewhere in the management heirarchy you could drill down to a guy who does actually think that the products they sell should be fun and fit for purpose.
I know ahead of time that their games won't run properly, so I save some dissapointment and look elsewhere.
EDIT: The really annoying part for me is that about a decade ago I was involved developing a rally game for them as the engine lead. The shit I (rightly) got from their tech and QA people over the least little thing was quite exhaustive. How come now I don't work for them it feels like they don't even check the build once a month...
Well, as a fun little sideline, I tried to get a refund from steam citing the instability issues. I got a "we dont refund" message basically.
So I'm wondering what the situation is here. I know I can try and get my credit card to refund the money. Under consumer law I would expect that I'm covered because the product is "unfit for purpose".
I'll not be buying a big FPS again I think. I bought BFBC2 because I didnt want to give activision money after the MW2 fiasco. But it ends up that neither of these huge companies gives a damn about their customers.
Paul: I've heard that EA basically hires in temps en-masse when theyre doing tests. One tale has them literally bussing in temps from london into chertzey to test a game a friend was working on. QA is a hard job at the best of times, getting 300 random joe's from off the street isnt going to cut it. But I guess thems the times.
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And the moral of the story is; if you want a working PC game, then purchase the console version.
That's certainly an option, but if it were me I'd be afraid of being denied access to my Steam account and any other games in it in retaliation for the chargeback (see here, here, and straight from the horse's mouth). Perhaps chuck it up to bad luck and next time don't buy any games you can't demo up front?Originally Posted by zoombapup
Last edited by Adrian Lopez; 04-05-2010 at 05:44 PM.
You can also wait until EA creates some patches and in the meanwhile see in user forums for potential fixes. That's what i did with BioShock 2 which was basically unplayable but after patches + manual tweaking it i got one of the best games released this year :-)
As for Valve's policies, well you know what you're getting into when you're buying from them. I don't mind it because i don't plan on breaking their policies or asking for funds back. When i make a purchase i have in my mind that the purchase is final. With this in mind i always check the forums for people having issues with the game. If the game is cheap, i might buy it anyway (and most of the time i had no issues). Otherwise i'll just wait for the price to drop. Or other games to come out :-).
Hmm, so I bought something faulty and have no recourse with the seller. Great job if you can get it.
I'll chalk it up to experience I guess. I was probably incredibly naive thinking that EA would actually ship a game that works. But I had such positive feelings about previous BF games, that it didnt occur to me to check the forums. I also tried the demo on console, so that gave me a false sense of security.
Cliff: I dont mind the game crashing, but it should at least give me some way of finding out WHY. A logging mode that you can enter, an error message of WHY it quits from a server (other than connection lost) would help. At least then I could investigate issues that might be due to my setup/hardware. Right now its impossible to know where the fault lie, but it feels like its definitely at EA's door.
www.mindflock.com - social AI-based games
I had the same experience with the "Game" shop I bought the last one from (Red Alert 3, btw). Won't be going back there either. I told them that too and they cared not a jot. Can't wait for them to turn into a charity shop like the rest of the high street now.
One day someone is going to cotton on to the fact that people aren't buying games anymore not due to the "credit crunch" but because they're pissed off with zero percent service. Or maybe not.
I played the Beta, definitely buggy but not game breaking.
Try NHL '10 then (on PS3). Online multiplayer works excellent.I was probably incredibly naive thinking that EA would actually ship a game that works.
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...buy Just Cause 2.And the moral of the story is; if you want a working PC game...
Anyway, I'd just wait until the game gets patched. I'm willing to bet that because it's new enough and popular enough things will get sorted out. It's a shame it's in that state (I'm still annoyed Ghostbusters hasn't received a simple patch to fix its numerous issues after all this time) but you take the good with the bad on Steam.
Jeez, I never realised all that about Steam's "ToS". To think of the nerdrage cooked up over simple online activation DRM by various titles, and then the Big Daddy of Them All, Steam, can simply erase hundreds of quids worth of software from you for daft reasons... it beggars belief. Hmm.
Cas
I don't think most people realize that Valve can deny them access to the games they've purchased through Steam. Losing access to hundreds of dollars worth of games is so outrageous that people assume a big company like Valve wouldn't do such a thing, but sadly that's just not true.
What people seem to like most about Steam is the ability to install their games onto as many computers as they want to along with the ease of restoring all their games once they buy a new computer -- apparent benefits that lead them to forgive the fact that it's still a form of DRM. While a DRM system that lets you install onto as many computers as you like is better in some respects than DRM that ties your games to a specific computer, it's still DRM and can therefore result in loss of access to legitimately acquired games.
Happened to me with Silent Hill 5. Basically I just told them that if the game doesn't work on the minimum spec they specificed, then it isn't fit for purpose and therefore I am legally entitled to my money back under UK and EU law. I told them that if they refused my refund request I'll:Well, as a fun little sideline, I tried to get a refund from steam citing the instability issues. I got a "we dont refund" message basically.
So I'm wondering what the situation is here. I know I can try and get my credit card to refund the money. Under consumer law I would expect that I'm covered because the product is "unfit for purpose".
A. File a complaint with UK trading standards
B. I'd never purchase another game from them. I usually spend about 30 quid per month.
C. Initiate a chargeback. This is probably the most important one. They will want to keep their chargeback percentage low in order to avoid being flagged as a "high risk" merchant and incurring extra CC processing fees. They will also lose an additional $20 on top of the price of the game. Essentially they are far better off giving a refund.
Once I said all that they gave me the refund.
Last edited by Nexic; 04-06-2010 at 09:11 AM.
Issuing a chargeback on Steam will get your account locked... just so you know. If you try to login you will get a friendly message explaining that you owe x with a way to pay that.
No comment :S
Cas
And if they did that I'd chargeback everything I ever paid to them on grounds of non-deliveryIssuing a chargeback on Steam will get your account locked... just so you know. If you try to login you will get a friendly message explaining that you owe x with a way to pay that.
Am i the only one worried that customers can force you pay back what they gave you?
Happens to me all the time. Someone can spend $2000 on your site, come back 6 months later and just take it all back, claiming that they didn't authorize that payment. In most case there isn't a great deal you can do to stop it unless you sent them some kind of physical item via a courier that gave you a delivery receipt.
As a company it can be pain to deal with, but at the end of the day:
More protection = More people happy to use credit cards online = More money for me
Last edited by Nexic; 04-07-2010 at 11:05 AM.
Right now, steams inabiltiy to let my account log in means I cant even play or even INSTALL a game I bought from someone else.
yay.
And people think I'm weird for refusing to get a Steam account...
I have one but only because of those chrismas promotion/sales. Most new games are still x2 cheap if bought as retail in online stores like play.com ...
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Steam has its issues, but I think I prefer playing games than being paranoid about what could go wrong. The same goes for my iPhone.
Why can't you login?Right now, steams inabiltiy to let my account log in means I cant even play or even INSTALL a game I bought from someone else.
I never got to play HL2 or TF2, just because I'm so hardcore against steam ( and the prequels were in my top 5 of all times favorite video games)
Can you explain why?I never got to play HL2 or TF2, just because I'm so hardcore against steam ( and the prequels were in my top 5 of all times favorite video games)
(yes, I ask why a lot. Don't ask why)
I like playing games too, which is why I generally avoid wasting my money on things that seem too likely to STOP me from playing games, and buy things that I can trust to work.Steam has its issues, but I think I prefer playing games than being paranoid about what could go wrong.
There are too many news stories lately of people getting screwed because the products are tied to servers that are turned off when a company goes under, or because the company is tired of supporting a title, or because the software is glitchy, etc...
Doesn't mean I won't make exceptions. If you read my blog you'll have noticed I recently bought a DRMed title from a company I do not completely trust to stay afloat or to provide a solution if they go under. Why? It was on sale for a steep discount.
Second that... I don't understand the animosity directed at Steam especially from developers. I use Steam all of the time and really never have problems with it (as a service). It may have sucked at some point, but not so much anymore.
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