Raff

Dishonored - or - GIFs By Breckon

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Is that thing real?

As Newt Gingrich is insane.

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I would have pre-ordered the game immediately if that had been an in-game item.

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Nick "Congrats Nick" Disbreckoned introduces you to some schmucks who run you through a level in the game in two different ways.

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Nick "Congrats Nick" Disbreckoned introduces you to some schmucks who run you through a level in the game in two different ways.

it looks like a lot of fun. I enjoyed seeing the player character jump and mantle up onto a hanging light fixture.

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I'm totally looking forward to this. As someone who played through all of DeusEx:HR without killing an enemy (excepting bossfights) I can't wait to see how what amazing tools I will have at my disposal to do the same here. What especially excites me is the ability to make murders look like accidents, a la Hitman. Cannot wait to see what options there are in that respect.

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I was also warmed to the game after reading the history of its current developers:

http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/6/27/3115822/arkane-dishonored-bethesda-origin-crossing-deus-ex-arx-fatalis

They all seem to really care about making good games and have succeeded in the past. If they stick to their original conviction of putting game quality over making money they should put out one helluva game in Dishonored. Let's hope it doesn't break them as has clearly happened in the past and they can keep on making awesome games as a legendary team.

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Well, I've been keeping a closer eye on Dishonored's dev video series since I posted that last link, and went ahead and prepurchased. I didn't go for the Best Buy thing, as great as that lamp would be, but I'm expecting good things here. After a summer of heavy action games and deep strategy like Endless Space and Dark Souls, it'll be nice to have another RPG to sink my teeth into.

Also they have Brad Dourif so I really had no choice.

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Whoa whoa whoa—is F. Nick actually Ratsofatsorat?? I need to reprocess a whole lot of internet history here.

That whole process of retroactively trying to merge two personas in your mind is awesome. There's also the one where you think two internet people, say a Twitter user and an Idle Forums person, are the same person and then you discover they're not. Internet stuff, I guess.

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I made some horrible internet decisions as MC Kingsley—so I initially planned explicitly not to fold Mr Hoatzin back into my other selves—and then I did. Because discipline is hard.

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Whoa whoa whoa—is F. Nick actually Ratsofatsorat?? I need to reprocess a whole lot of internet history here.

I always read that as "Rat, so fat, so rat" so I was disappointed to hear it was more like "Ratso Fatso Rat"

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I guess this game has a super strict embargo, because it seems like nobody's even allowed to talk about it openly. I don't know what's more annoying: the fact that publishers place embargoes like this, or the fact that the media complies so completely.

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I guess this game has a super strict embargo, because it seems like nobody's even allowed to talk about it openly. I don't know what's more annoying: the fact that publishers place embargoes like this, or the fact that the media complies so completely.

The media doesn't really have a choice. You can't play a game early without a publisher's consent. It's not the same thing as a journalist digging up a story--in such a case, it would be extremely unethical to allow a publisher to dictate terms. But we're talking about something that the publisher owns 100%--early access to a game--so it's within the publisher's rights to control access.

You may be taking issue with the system as a whole, in which case the only feasible alternative for press would be to say, "We refuse to participate in this at all, and will only buy the game retail when it is released; until then, we will not provide you publicity, since the assets or builds required to do so must come on your terms." However, I can't imagine any outlet taking this position, and I can't imagine readers being happy about it.

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I can't imagine readers being happy about it.

Oh, I don't know, having one such site would be nice. All the others would still be there so it wouldn't be a big loss that the site wouldn't have much pre-release content. I'm not claiming it would make money, but there could be a niche there.

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The media doesn't really have a choice. You can't play a game early without a publisher's consent. It's not the same thing as a journalist digging up a story--in such a case, it would be extremely unethical to allow a publisher to dictate terms. But we're talking about something that the publisher owns 100%--early access to a game--so it's within the publisher's rights to control access.

You may be taking issue with the system as a whole, in which case the only feasible alternative for press would be to say, "We refuse to participate in this at all, and will only buy the game retail when it is released; until then, we will not provide you publicity, since the assets or builds required to do so must come on your terms." However, I can't imagine any outlet taking this position, and I can't imagine readers being happy about it.

I understand. I've been on the media side of embargoes, and of course when you agree to it, you abide by it. If you wait until release, you forfeit a ton of potential site traffic, which is pretty much the worst case scenario for most websites.

I don't fully understand the thinking that goes into it from the publisher's side. I imagine part of it is that they want people to make a purchasing decision prior to reviews coming out (which is further incentivized by pre-order bonuses), which has an undercurrent of consumer-hostile shittiness, but seems to be considered fair play. I don't know if outlet-specific exclusive coverage is still a major thing, but that could also factor in.

The reason it's getting my hackles up in this case in particular (and why I was admittedly a bit terse in my earlier comment) is that based on how people are trying to talk around it, it seems as if part of the embargo is that people are not even allowed to say whether or not they're playing it. Holding back the review is one thing, but that seems a bit extreme.

In other cases where reviews are embargoed, you'll still see the odd twitter comment along the lines of, "Hey, the review is forthcoming, but… this game is pretty fun so far," or, you know, the opposite. Instead, the discourse is more like:

LE2pX.png

It seems crazy to me. If Bethesda is confident in the game, wouldn't they want a little word of mouth starting already? Do they know the game is a steaming pile of shit, and don't want word to get out? Based on the little bits we've been able to see so far, it looks terrific, so why keep such a tight grip?

You're completely right that the publisher has the right to control access to the product before it's released to the public, and it behooves media outlets to play along, but I think it creates a weird, unpleasant atmosphere around the game. That's my gut talking, rather than my brain, I suppose.

It may simply be that I'm personally sick of the super-controlled PR drip-feed methodology, but (like the insane state of pre-order stuff), it must work. Halo 4 is being promoted with a series of videos about the weapons… I mean, that used to be the joke about shooter coverage, but they're seriously doing that.

That's the kind of stuff that made it hard for me to enjoy writing about games, which probably accounts for the chip on my shoulder. Going into an interview with a list of good questions and walking out with the same exact shit that was on the PR info sheet is really disheartening, and I imagine a lot of people right now feeling awfully constrained about how they can and can't talk about this coming wave of fall games. I can't say with any authority, but I would imagine that it's disheartening for developers, too.

Sorry, this came out pretty disjointedly; it appears that I have unresolved personal issues regarding marketing and PR.

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It seems crazy to me. If Bethesda is confident in the game, wouldn't they want a little word of mouth starting already? Do they know the game is a steaming pile of shit, and don't want word to get out? Based on the little bits we've been able to see so far, it looks terrific, so why keep such a tight grip?

This is just a guess on what constitutes a small part of your complaint, but I imagine that they don't comment even when a game's good because then the absence of a comment would only indicate a bad game.

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Rumors abound of a 4 hour campaign.

#BargoBusters

Huh. Well, replayability seems high.

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