Nothing helps alleviate frustration like qouting Transformers, I feel better already. Well down to brass tacks. Yet again we have collectively placed trust in Microsoft and in an afront to classical conditioning have not learned a damn thing. Microsoft mass produced untold copies of the Fable 2 Limited Edition, the limited edition that was supposed to contain a special code the upon redeeming gets you a few extra weapons, spartan armor, and an extra dungeon. But someone must have been goofing off at the assembly plant and forgot to put the code card in about 3/4 of the cases. Sounds awesome doesn't it? Now not only does the drastically undercut Limited Edition no longer have the fancy swag as originally promised it has no special content. We paid $10 for a cardboard slip cover for the game.
A week after launch in timely fashion Microsoft quietly raises its hand and says it will fix the problem for you, that is put a fairly well hidden page in the support section of their website saying if you tell them your e-mail address associated with your GamerTag they will send you your code......in 10 business days. Thats two weeks folks, added on top of the original week from launch till the application form for the code launched. Thats three weeks for a game that can be beaten in 2-3 days.
Well today Friday November 14th will be the 13th business day, and so far no code. Microsoft has done or said nothing outside of the initial page in the support section of Xbox.com, made no advertisement of the page so unless you frequent forums or stumble upon it you would never know it was their tack on the deadline date of 12/31/08. Now days late and nearing a month after release noone has gotten their measly content and what ever hope I had for Microsoft is gone. While my outrage is limited to losing patience combined with my moving on to other games some gamers on the Xbox.com forums have actually began sending complaints to the FTC (Federal Trade Commision) and BBB (Better Business Bureau) regarding the false advertising and lack of customer support from Microsoft regarding this issue.
After experiencing this and seeing my friend get jacked around by customer service for three days regarding his RROD experience (on a Halo 3 LE console mind you) any last glimmers of hope for Microsoft has been lost. I've heard varying stories about their service most actually positive but this takes the cake. After being swindled out of $10 and seeing them refuse to take someone's console for repairs when obviously under warranty I've lost quite a bit of respect for Microsoft.
Happy Halloween everybody! Hope everyone had a fun time. I worked then went to the bar so that filled out my day pretty nice
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Just finished up Fable 2 a few days, a little short but quite an amazing game. And I picked up Fallout 3 today on a whim but only got to put about an hour into it, but so far its lookin great. I've been hearing a lot of good things and can't wait to see the rest of it.
Resistance 2 Beta closed and now after experiencing what may be one of the best online shooters yet on PS3 I have to wait, I decided to to put off two of my most anticipated releases this fall Gears 2 and Resistance 2 till Christmas. Thats all for now, till next time.
Well now that I've got to play the Resistance 2 and Call of Duty World at War Betas for a bit might as well port my impressions of the games so far.
Resistance 2
For the most part the game is great, the multiplayer gameplay is much more fun than the original and the 60 player online works surpisingly well and pretty devoid of lag. Only major problem is the occasional network error which halts the game and does not save your stats, and it either ends by taking you back to the menu or requiring you to reset yoru PS3. As for gameplay my only dislike is the controls, Insomniac mixed the outdated PS2 FPS style R1 controls and made a hybrid of it and CoD4 style controls. Its awkward to me and doesn't feel right and I wish there was more customization. Having crouch and sprint both on L2 is weird but moving crouch to L3 and leaving Sprint on L2 seems just as weird as an alternative considering most new FPSs adopted the L3 sprint which is much more natural. The gameplay itself is much smoother, players are bullet sponges anymore and the new weapons/retooled weapon balance is good.
Call of Duty WaW
This game really surprised me, mainly because its Treyarch. The Beta seems like it was ripped straight from Final Build its that solid. Theres only 1 glitch I've seen and no network issues either. The glitch is major though but its purely player exploited not game crashing, just an easily patchable exploit allowing players to get underneath one of the maps.
As for the game itself its only downfall is Treyarch tried to hard to copy CoD4, alot of the weapon attachments and and challenge structure is ripped from CoD4 completely. But the bad thing is its WW2, they didn't have silencers and the stand in for the red dot (even though the aperture sight in WaW is more like real life aperture red dot then the fake made up one in 4). It all seems out of place and unneccessary but the alternative to historically accurate weapons is few custimization options.
Also the weapon balance seems off and the rifle hit detection is questionable. All issues that are either patchable or so minor it becomes an afterthought. One year later CoD4's weapon balance issues are still glaringly present but its become second nature. Eventually the inconsistancies with WaW if it sticks will too.
The changes to the kill streak bonuses are my favorite addition, the air strike has become an artillary strike that is more accurate than the previous games while being over a smaller more easily escapable area if your on the receiving end. And the cheap as hell helicopter has been switched out for releasing a pack of attack dogs that behave similarly to the ones in the Campaign for CoD4, they are deadlybut killable in a few shots and reward XP for taking them down. And the reworked assist system which rewards assist XP based on damage done to the opponent by you before your team mate killed them, not a fixed 2 points that didn't change even if your did 90% of the work killing them.
Thats it for now, maybe once I put some more time in before their release here soon I'll post my final opinion on them, especially R2. I've been putting more time on WaW right now since I'm breaking in the new 360.
