12-05-2004, 02:08 PM
[rant]
Well, after that interesting read about how those filthy money-grabbing weasels at EA treat their employess I just encounterd a way how another company (Activision in this case) deals with QA...
One member of our RPG group (a real World of Darkness fan) mentioned how he liked the new Vampire: Bloodlines game (obviously, it seemed to run on HIS comp <_< )
So another friend of mine went to the store and grabbed a localized copy (I wanted to order the original version as I HATE translated games). It crashed his comp each time. After reinstalling *everything* he managed to "run" it in safe mode, in an unplayable and completely choppy way.
His system (P4 2000, 512 MB, GForce4, XP home, DX9.0c) meets system requirements (even if not spectacularly well)...
He brought it to my house and I tried the thing on my new gaming machine (AMD 64 3400+, 1Gig, GForce5900, XP Pro, DX9.0c) and guess what? It started in a video mode that my monitor doesn't support (needless to say, all my other games work fine) and crashes even in safe mode...
Third attempt today: went to another friend and tried it on my old comp that still serves there (Athlon XP2000+, 512 MB, GForce4, Win98se, DX9.0c) and guess what: no way to get the #*+&%$ pile of crap running.
So, there's a game that I'm supposed to pay 45 ⬠for (about 55US$) and that does not run on 3 outa 4 randomly picked PC systems - all REGULARLY and primarily used for gaming - that ALL are equipped with latest drivers and meet system requirements?
The only advice on their support page is to lower resolution to 800x600, set an override command for monitor refresh rate in DXdiag, and close all programs running in the background (gee, pure genius :P )
Note: the program cannot be configured from a launch menu or something (like other games), if you want to change the resolution the game runs in, you have to manipulate the registry...
And those folks at Activision dare to waste precious oxygen? B)
[/rant]
Well, after that interesting read about how those filthy money-grabbing weasels at EA treat their employess I just encounterd a way how another company (Activision in this case) deals with QA...
One member of our RPG group (a real World of Darkness fan) mentioned how he liked the new Vampire: Bloodlines game (obviously, it seemed to run on HIS comp <_< )
So another friend of mine went to the store and grabbed a localized copy (I wanted to order the original version as I HATE translated games). It crashed his comp each time. After reinstalling *everything* he managed to "run" it in safe mode, in an unplayable and completely choppy way.
His system (P4 2000, 512 MB, GForce4, XP home, DX9.0c) meets system requirements (even if not spectacularly well)...
He brought it to my house and I tried the thing on my new gaming machine (AMD 64 3400+, 1Gig, GForce5900, XP Pro, DX9.0c) and guess what? It started in a video mode that my monitor doesn't support (needless to say, all my other games work fine) and crashes even in safe mode...
Third attempt today: went to another friend and tried it on my old comp that still serves there (Athlon XP2000+, 512 MB, GForce4, Win98se, DX9.0c) and guess what: no way to get the #*+&%$ pile of crap running.
So, there's a game that I'm supposed to pay 45 ⬠for (about 55US$) and that does not run on 3 outa 4 randomly picked PC systems - all REGULARLY and primarily used for gaming - that ALL are equipped with latest drivers and meet system requirements?
The only advice on their support page is to lower resolution to 800x600, set an override command for monitor refresh rate in DXdiag, and close all programs running in the background (gee, pure genius :P )
Note: the program cannot be configured from a launch menu or something (like other games), if you want to change the resolution the game runs in, you have to manipulate the registry...
And those folks at Activision dare to waste precious oxygen? B)
[/rant]
With magic, you can turn a frog into a prince...
With science, you can turn a frog into a Ph.D. ...
and still keep the frog you started with.