Another Reason why Activision Sucks

[Maximum Carnage]

Agreed!

 

[Maximum Carnage]

So.. this thread died pretty quickly.

 

[ChrisBaleBatman]

You respect him after reading that letter?!?! He sounds like such a whiney b*tch in that letter, he thought his daughter would be better off without her father?!?! So he didn't like performing? Fine, quit the band. Activision, bravo for you, getting Kurt's likeness and making his digital version sing songs the real person wouldn't like

I wasn't aware people commited suicide because they felt happy.

I don't know what you, or anyone, would expect from a suicide note.

he could have quit, moved to Iowa, and become a farmer or something

Yeah. It kinda sounds, through the letter atleast, that he just needed some time off. Do what so many artists do now, and take like a 5-year hiatus.

there's a documentary called 'The Corporation' that people should watch....people expect a corporation to act like a person, when it's really not

Yeah, that was a great doc.

Corporations are ****ing evil, fyi. Super. ****ing. Evil.

Bobby Kotick seems to be driving that home, I think. It's interesting to see how Activision has just quickly turned out to be the *****ebags of the gaming industry, even starting to look worse than the "Evil Empire" days of EA.

I wonder, if Guitar Hero 5, DJ Hero and Tony Hawk fail...maybe that'll knock 'em off they're ivory tower.

If either of those three make a ton of cash, it'll probably make things worse. If all three do, well then..."God help us all".

 

[Electro UK]

GH5 won't fail, but the other 2 are bigger risks than Activision realises, I think. Their mind set has been Peripherals = Money. Alot of people I know think Ride is dumb, and DJ Hero (which is actually the one Activision game I have a lot of respect for) doesn't have anywhere near as much mainstream appeal as GH.

I'd like to see Ride bomb, so maybe it'd teach Activision not to shovel quite so much crap our way, but I doubt it'll effect them too heavily. They'll want weekly subscription fees of a CoD MMO next.

 

[amazingfantasy15]

GH5 won't fail, but the other 2 are bigger risks than Activision realises, I think. Their mind set has been Peripherals = Money. Alot of people I know think Ride is dumb, and DJ Hero (which is actually the one Activision game I have a lot of respect for) doesn't have anywhere near as much mainstream appeal as GH.

I'd like to see Ride bomb, so maybe it'd teach Activision not to shovel quite so much crap our way, but I doubt it'll effect them too heavily. They'll want weekly subscription fees of a CoD MMO next.

I really don't see Ride succeeding, they should've waited for Natal before releasing Ride. It would be a perfect "launch title" for Natal.

 

[Electro UK]

That's a great point actually. I guess we'll definitely be seeing Natal Hawk at some point.

 

[Why Are You Crouching Spock?]

They'll want weekly subscription fees of a CoD MMO next.

Given the amount of crap being marketed, I honestly wouldn't put that past them.

 

[ChrisBaleBatman]

I wonder if for GH, just doing "good" counts as fail for them just because of the money one would expect them to rake in.

DJ Hero seems to have been presented as one thing early on, and as time's gone by it's looking like a pop-thing and not a hip-hop thing. Atleast, that's the impressions I've heard from hands-on. That, and that the learning curve might be a bit steep with the peripheral.

I think they're just over saturating the market, really.

Ride, I hear, will probably lead to injured gamers. I can't wait to see the first news story of some kid falling off of it and shattering his hip or something.

CoDMW2 is really getting a ton of treatments too. The regular (and ****** edition, as I remember the community manager just tossing it like laundry in that Reveal vid a while back), the Hardened Edition, the NVG Edition and that 360 MW2 Designed 360 with the COD regular edition along with it.

 

[ChrisBaleBatman]

Given the amount of crap being marketed, I honestly wouldn't put that past them.

It's going to happen.

Wasn't the survey that circulated calling it like "paying for exclusive MP content" or something?

Which will probably mean that if you want all the perks, all the maps, etc. you'd need to pay the fee.

 

[Electro UK]

There's a UK exclusive version with a statue of Soap too. They completely spoiled Modern Warfare 2 for me, personally. I'll be buying it preowned, but they've even soiled the memory of the original masterpiece of CoD4, a real shame.

 

[ChrisBaleBatman]

Aren't they jacking up the price in Europe, just 'because', too?

 

[Electro UK]

Yeah, which is the main reason I'm not buying it. Activision totally screwed me over, and even if they won't fall to the ground without my £55, doesn't mean I'm going to give it to them.

 

[ChrisBaleBatman]

Yeah, I remember when that news story broke it just seemed like Activision was saying "**** you" to people with it.

I think I may have felt differently about all the MW2 lovework it's getting, if it wasn't propped next to the other stuff. The juxtaposition of it is probably what's got me scratching my head.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

I hate Activision as much as anybody, but they didnt raise the price in Europe, "just cause". They had a reason to do such. If that was the case they would of done it everywhere(unless Activision just feels the consumers in Europe arent as bright as other consumers and felt they wouldnt notice the price hike). Gamers like to pretend that the industry isn't a business like other business and then are shocked when a video game company does something that another business would do.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

So why did they raise prices in Europe?

 

[Tron Bonne]

That's not true, plenty of gamer's fully realize that the industry is a business, but what you and others seem to fail to see is that not everyone sees that as an instant pass on anything and everything that is done. It's pretty much common sense that Activision raised MW2's price 'just cause' to make more money. They hid behind currency conversion, but it's ********, otherwise it would be a problem with every company. Or at least games published by the same company, but yet do not have the same issue. The main reason they probably didn't do it here is because there wasn't a good scape goat reason they could use to blanket the idea.

'It's a business' is true, but that somehow doesn't blanket people and companies from criticism

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Ehhh I ain't bothered. I'll pick up MW2 for 40 quid in Tesco or Asda.

 

[Tron Bonne]

So why did they raise prices in Europe?

As far as I know the only real reason given has been the vague 'currency conversion'. There's been no details or explanations outside of that I am aware of.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Why would having to convert to another currency affect the relative price of the game?

 

[Tron Bonne]

I don't know. To be fair, I really know nothing about currency conversion and it's effects on importing products. However, this isn't a big problem or anything that I can see. There's a pretty relative base price other there from most other publishers, including Activision themselves, and all of a sudden it becomes a problem when a guarnteed best seller is involved from a company that's being run by a CEO who's gone on record as saying that if he thought he could get away with it, he'd raise prices even more? I don't know, awful coincidence going on there if you ask me.

If someone could find more accurate info and a less vague explanation of why this price hike happens I'll gladly retract what I say, but for now it seems like a pretty clear case of gouging to me

 

[amazingfantasy15]

CoDMW2 is really getting a ton of treatments too. The regular (and ****** edition, as I remember the community manager just tossing it like laundry in that Reveal vid a while back), the Hardened Edition, the NVG Edition and that 360 MW2 Designed 360 with the COD regular edition along with it.

I really don't see a problem with this, almost every big release these days gets a collector's edition version. Also Halo 3 had it's own specially colored 360. I never feel the need to get a collector's edition, I only have one for Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe that I got for Christmas, actually don't like it because the case looks so awkward with all my other games. Would've rather had the regular edition.

 

[ProjectPat2280]

So why did they raise prices in Europe?

No idea. But if they were going to raise the price of a massively popular game, why would they not raise it in the place thats its going to be most popular, the US? There has to be more to it.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Pricing seems to be pretty standardized in the US. All new PS3 and 360 titles that I've looked at are always $60 unless they have extras like the Rock Band/Guitar Hero peripherals. Maybe they were afraid they'd create a backlash if they tried to raise the price here but figured a few extra dollars in Europe wouldn't raise too much of a fuss because it's not the primary market for them.

I don't know either, to be honest. I don't think it's unreasonable to assume Activision would price gouge, given that the head of the company is on record basically saying, "I would price gouge if I could." But I also don't know the intricacies of currency conversion or whether there would be some justifiable reason for a price increase in one specific area.

 

[Tron Bonne]

No idea. But if they were going to raise the price of a massively popular game, why would they not raise it in the place thats its going to be most popular, the US? There has to be more to it.

That's not true, plenty of gamer's fully realize that the industry is a business, but what you and others seem to fail to see is that not everyone sees that as an instant pass on anything and everything that is done. It's pretty much common sense that Activision raised MW2's price 'just cause' to make more money. They hid behind currency conversion, but it's ********, otherwise it would be a problem with every company. Or at least games published by the same company, but yet do not have the same issue. The main reason they probably didn't do it here is because there wasn't a good scape goat reason they could use to blanket the idea.

'It's a business' is true, but that somehow doesn't blanket people and companies from criticism

Currency conversion is a decent enough scape goat to raise prices since it's vague, but when you look at other prices and previous statements from the CEO of Activision it adds up to something more. If Activision can provide more explanation or detail that would be fine, but they haven't, and most likely, won't

 

[ProjectPat2280]

That's not true, plenty of gamer's fully realize that the industry is a business, but what you and others seem to fail to see is that not everyone sees that as an instant pass on anything and everything that is done. It's pretty much common sense that Activision raised MW2's price 'just cause' to make more money. They hid behind currency conversion, but it's ********, otherwise it would be a problem with every company. Or at least games published by the same company, but yet do not have the same issue. The main reason they probably didn't do it here is because there wasn't a good scape goat reason they could use to blanket the idea.

'It's a business' is true, but that somehow doesn't blanket people and companies from criticism

Eh i dont buy that, i think most gamers feel their precocious industry is somehow, more, noble compared to other industries. Its why you have people whining over Gamestop or other retailers getting a special preorder bonus. They b***h and moan over why its not fair and why the devs/publishers do that, when the answer is super simple. Its a business.