Screw you, Firaxis and Take Two Games!

The BBQ Pit
1

First, you go ahead and announce the release of Civilization IV, making it the first computer game I’ve ever pre-ordered.

Then, you delay the game one day, making me get even more impatient.

Then you release the game, and to my joy, I pick it up from the local geek shop and rush home to install it.

First off, Firaxis/Take Two, you mislabeled the play and install discs. No biggie. I can handle that.

You also shipped a French tech tree document with my English version of Civ 4. Okay, I Can get the PDF file off the net, but really…

…and then, you just happened to have overlooked a major game error that makes it so that most people with ATI cards can’t play your fuckin’ game.

Add to that hte fact that I called your US customer support, and after being put on hold, was told by an automated voice that the previous few that said my call was greatly appreciated and that I would be helped as soon as possible were basically lying, because this automated voice told me that the lines were too busy, and that I should call back in 24 hours time, followed by a nice -click- letting me know that I’ve been hung up on.

So now I’m sitting here with two CD’s, having tried every half-ass suggestion thrown out by the Firaxis team that still doesn’t have a fix, craving my new Civ fix, and pissed at myself for being trusting enough to actually pre-order something instead of waiting for the 1.1 patch.

Screw you, Firaxis, for your shoddy coding. Screw you, Take Two, for publishing such shit. And screw you game Devs everywhere who feel that it’s all right to push an unfinished product out the door and patch later.

2

Join the club.

The vast majority of users using ATI cards cannot start the game. It’s also happening with some GeForce cards, too.

From the running commentary on various forums, the Firaxis developers haven’t a clue what’s wrong with it. No idea whatsoever. It’ll be weeks before they can fix it, if they ever do. The game may be irretrievably screwed. It’s one of the most disastrous releases in PC game history.

3

I wouldn’t say the most disastrous…that title belongs to numerous MMO’s.

But yes, it’s stupendously bad, and if it takes weeks to fix it… I don’t care how good the game is. I’ll be returning it.

4

Aren’t games usually beta-tested by a select random group first? How could they have missed that?

5

This one supposedly was beta-tested, according to the list of forum and IRC handles in the back of manual.

Apparently they got the super-seekrit working copy that half of the purchasers of the game didn’t get.

Then again, beta testing today is stupid. Most people sign up because they want to play the game for free, and have no testing skills whatsoever, nor the hardware to do proper testing.

6

Another goddamn problem: “play and install discs.” Where the fuck is my DVD version?

If it helps though, Omega drivers seem to fix the problem.

7

Giving it a shot…

8

Thanks for the head’s up on this, my husband likes to play Civ 2, so I might have gotten it as a surprise for him. Probably won’t now.

9

Omega drivers didn’t fix the problem, either.

Fuck you, Firaxis.

10

I don’t have an ATI card. But I’ve read something suggested at another site I frequent that might help. I’ve heared it suggested that reinstalling directX 9.0c can prevent the problem.

See this thread here for some people who tried it with good results.

As I said, I can’t try this myself since I’m an nvidia girl but it’s a pretty simple step to try. IIRC, there’s even an option to do it while you’re installing the game.

11

But like how could you possibly miss that your game doesn’t work on a whole lot of machines? I am not a software guy but I just simply can’t imagine how you could possibly release a game that simply just doesn’t work. I mean, don’t you actually have to run the game at some point to see if your code actually works?

12

I’ve reinstalled Direct X 9.0c approximately 7 times tonight, including making sure I got the installer one of the programmers used to install it in their box that it runs on via email.

It didn’t work. Neither did updating to the newest Catalyst or Omega drivers, or reinstalling the game, or any of the other fixes that Trip threw out in the Apolyton chat room.

Apparently they’re having a tech meeting early Thursday morning, and going to be conferencing with ATI to work out the issue.

And normally, I’d be an nVidia girl too, but this card was a gift and it beat the crap out of my old GeForce 3 Ti200. :stuck_out_tongue:

13

There’s no reason why it shouldn’t have been caught, besides a shoddy QA team and beta testers that don’t have the hardware or qualifications to actually be beta testing.

Unfortunately, releasing unfinished games then patching appears to be the norm nowadays.

14

Seriously. Get ready for the first patch that’ll nuke six other things. At least, that’s how the Battlefield 2 patches worked. The second patch got recalled and the third broke the game for a great number of people (including the mighty Arsis) for a week. Makes you want to try console gaming instead, but then you see junk like Madden for the PSP.

15

If there’s any justice in the world, someone will write a modification that will allow you to choose Firaxis as an opponent, so you can nuke the crap out of the Firaxians whenever you like!

16

Sorry the directx fix didn’t help. :frowning:

Take Two pushed this game out the door early but it’s still pretty mindboggling that no one caught this. Hopefully tomorrow’s meeting can get results.

17

Man! That sounds even worse than the Master of Orion III launch! Hope you guys can get your money back.

18

Ain’t that the truth. I think that the manufacturors should have to give out cash rebates for every patch a game requires. You want your customers to do your real beta testing? You’re going to have to compensate them for it. It’s damn sloppy of the makers to rush out half-finished games, and I hate having to download and install patches before I can play a new game.

I love some computer games, but this is one reason I primarily play big games on my console.

19

Note that Take Two also released Battlecruiser 3000 AD in a half-finished state, making Derek Smart a household name to thousands of gamers in the mid-nineties. Anyone who read comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic back then will remember the years-long flame wars.

20

You pre-ordered Civ4? Hah! I’m still pissed about Civ3. When they finally release a working version, get ready to be confronted with numerous major bugs that disable key elements of the game (ex: airstrikes in CIV3), along with a multitude of assorted annoyances (ex: border control in CIV3).