Balboa • Comments

• Ubisoft clarifies "93-95%" PC piracy rate comments

• Balboa 05/09/2012

  Companies never do anything for the customer unless it gains them money. Always-on DRM was probably costing them more money than piracy. Reply +1

• Ex-Mass Effect dev pleads: "judge DLC based on what it is"

• Balboa 12/03/2012

  @Rogueywon You're right, and I agree that it's inevitable, but EA needs to man up and admit that they're hiking prices instead of hiding behind marketing spin.
  
  Pretending that basic editions are the same value for money as always, and the collector's/digital deluxe/dlc versions are extra side content isn't fooling people any more.
  
  Alternatively they could reign in the budget a little, and stop launching copies into space and shoehorning in gimick "actresses". Reply +8

• Assassin's Creed 3 will be "back to basics"

• Balboa 09/03/2012

  @GhostPig Probably not. Washington had the Apple during this period, and is friends with Connor & Assassins. I'd be very surprised if the British are anything but Video Game Nazis. Reply +11

• Sony confirms Journey goes live for EU PS Plus subscribers a week early

• Balboa 05/03/2012

  Journey's reviewed really well this week. Delaying sales during this natural marketing period is a fantastic idea, and by "fantastic" I mean "bewildering". Reply +1

• Tribes: Ascend open beta release date announced

• Balboa 22/02/2012

  I have a couple of keys if anyone wants to get in before friday.
  
  V2CBD-935E2-A2BC4-96087-51BF4
  V21A6-AA45D-775B4-A13B3-0CEFC
  
  Use them here. Reply +1

• GSC denies Stalker 2 cancelled rumour

• Balboa 09/12/2011

  That tweet seems to be missing now. Reply +4

• Sony makes PSN Pass official

• Balboa 06/07/2011

  @lewiep Nice catch Reply +4

• SW:TOR "highly derivative" of WOW

• Balboa 13/06/2011

  Jeff Gerstmann was saying similar things in Giantbomb's day zero E3 bombcast (around the 2h25m mark). They both arrived at these conclusions after playing a hands-on.
  
  This doesn't mean you have to stop being excited for it - just don't expect the mechanics to break new ground. They've pumped a lot of money into this, it's the MMO equivalent of mainstream manshooters. Reply +1

• LOTRO to relaunch as free-to-play

• Balboa 04/06/2010

  @hiddenranbir - look lower down, for "I have a lifetime subscription to LOTRO. What will Free-to-Play mean for me?"
  
  "You will receive 500 Free Points every month like the other VIPs, but you do not have to pay a monthly fee since you are a lifetime member." Reply 0

• Face-Off: Red Dead Redemption

• Balboa 25/05/2010

  re: pier shadow - it's in the background of the boat shot, center left. The boat's top section is missing shadow too. Reply -1

• Gravity Crash

• Balboa 02/12/2009

  I couldn't disagree with the tone and score of this review more. At worst it has some interface shortcomings, but for £6 Gravity Crash is an awesome game. Reply +11

• Gearbox discusses Borderlands ending

• Balboa 25/11/2009

  @penhalion To be fair, you're probably getting -1s because you've misunderstood the ending. The guardian angel explained why. Reply +1

• Balboa 25/11/2009

  You'd think people would be happy you saved the universe, but all you sods want is dark orange loot. Greedy buggers :)
  
  The idea is that you were tricked; The Destroyer isn't guarding anything. The Eridians forced it into the "vault" to stop it from destroying all life.
  
  It's not explained why it opens every 200 years, but I'd imagine it's got something to do with it weakening the portal, or needing to beat it down regularly to stop it growing too strong.
  
  The Bioshock phrase right at the start was a tip-off. I pretty much expected to get the shaft at some point. Reply +2

• Free DDO boosts subs by 40 per cent

• Balboa 19/10/2009

  You need 50k XP to hit level 5, and you get between 1 and 2.5k base XP per quest. There are 5 level 4 quests available. I'm not going to total up the number of purchasable quests and XP, but I'm willing to bet it covers the deficit.
  
  This is what I'm talking about when I say DDO FTP isn't less frills. There is plenty of content at the start (18 quests at level 2), and then it drops off rather quickly.
  
  I'm sorry if this seems critical of a game you like, but I think the numbers speak for themselves. Reply -1

• Balboa 18/10/2009

  Sure, but there are diminishing returns, and you need a lot of XP to level past the Marketplace. Grinding isn't really DDO's thing, unless you want more than one of the quest rewards (or a levelling token).
  
  When you have fresh stuff to explore, the game is pretty awesome. The quests are it's strong point; and if you don't buy them, you're not losing frills, you're missing out on the core game. Reply 0

• Balboa 16/10/2009

  It's not really a "less frills" thing - it's very hard to level once you reach the marketplace if you don't buy some extra content. It's more of a really generous demo than free-to-play.
  
  Buying this content ends up more expensive than subbing, unless you sub for years. Actually I guess they admit that in the article, heh.
  
  The problem with the store model, for players, is that it reduces incentive for the company to roll out content as part of subscriptions. You can see this happening with Lotro; Mirkwood has about the same level of content as some previous book updates, but they're charging for it. Subscriptions are becoming access fees, rather than funding content updates. Reply 0

• Risen

• Balboa 02/10/2009

  @sneetch Jeff Gerstmann said recently (in a Bombcast, I think), that reviewers typically just get software; no manuals or other retail-package stuff.
  
  I don't think the lack of a manual invalidates the review, personally. In fact, I hate having to look up stuff in manuals, because it usually means the game isn't doing a good enough job at informing you. Reply +1

• APB beta opens next week

• Balboa 01/10/2009

  It's not coming out for console at this time, last I heard Reply +1

• LOTRO: Mirkwood in December

• Balboa 30/09/2009

  Yeah, cross-character storage was originally part of the expansion.
  
  Splitting it out and charging another $20 seems a little tight to me; I think the DDO store has gone to their heads. Reply +2

• Balboa 30/09/2009

  Apparently they're still finalising details. Reply 0

• Brutal Legend demo now on Live

• Balboa 24/09/2009

  @MrChallacombe Out of the 19 stories in the main list on the front page, 10 are Sony-centric.
  
  So if EG are biased towards the 360, they're about as good at is as they are telling the difference between the US and EU marketplaces :p Reply +7

• Aion trumpets 400,000 pre-orders

• Balboa 18/09/2009

  @Kremlik Yeah, they need to remove it permanently.
  
  The worst thing is that it only screws up honest players. It's piss-easy to circumvent. Reply 0

• LOTRO's new Skirmishes mode detailed

• Balboa 09/09/2009

  Massively stated 3, 6 and 12, but slightly earlier coverage said they support solo characters as well. Reply 0

• Balboa 09/09/2009

  @hiddenranbir Never going to happen. They said it's designed around the Turbine account system, which Codemasters replaced with their own. Which is probably why they're not doing anything with DDO in Europe.
  
  Hopefully Siege of Mirkwood will work as a code-based expansion, otherwise we probably won't see that either. Reply 0

• D&D Online relaunch a success

• Balboa 08/09/2009

  @joe90 The client is specifically blocking Europeans now? Reply 0