Positech Games and Vale are offering Gratuitous Space Battles for 75% off this weekend as part of the weekend deal on Steam. The three pieces of DLC are also available at a discounted rate as well.
The games industry air is turning blue once again as Cliff Harris of Positech Games (Gratuitous Space Battles and Democracy 2) relates a rather unpleasant encounter with Epic's Mark Rein.
In response to Rein's apparently derisive attitude at a Develop Conference panel at which Harris was speaking, the developer says: "If Mark [Morris] from introversion suggests I'm doing it wrong, that's cool ... But Triple-A studio bosses trying to lecture me on how to communicate better with gamers? Fuck off."
Interesting. I don't know how to feel about this. Mark Rein is the head of a very large company so obviously he doesn't have one on one conversations with customers and he has the right to think it's pointless but he was just being a dick at that press conference. At the same time, if Microstudios wish to find greater success they need to expand their horizons. If they're going to listen to the wishes of a single customer, then what's the difference between that customer and the design leader for the game. Might as well hire the customer, eh?
Mark Rein is has been out of touch with gamers for years. My beef with him is that he blames piracy for that crappy generic shooter UT3 on the pc.
Nevermind the fact that before UT3. We had Unreal, Unreal II, Unreal Tournament, and UT2k4. All the same damn game. with a higher resolution and better textures. At that point the pc community had moved on.
We had TF2, Cod4, ET: Quake Wars, Crysis, and UT3 release within 2 MONTHS of each other. Guess which games we didn't want (coincidence the ceo's of the 3 games we didn't buy blamed piracy???? though Crysis did go on to sell a couple million when the hardware caught up). TF2 and Cod4 will easily make an insane amount of people's top5 fps games of all time lists.
so in short.
"hey Mark Rein... Fuck Off"
I don't believe it myself. Who is this guy. I heard from a guy, who was sitting next to a guy who's brother works for a person who saw Mark Rein from epic make a comment I didn't like...lol.
Everybody wants to hate anybody who is successful. There are alot of recorded interviews with Mr Rein. He seems to know a thing or two about making money and making games that people like to play. I never heard of the guy complaining. Is this the new way to get attention for your crappy games???
Well ... you can suggest Harris made it up I guess, but he's relating a first-hand account and was on a panel with three other people. I think it would be unwise to fabricate a story in those circumstances.
he's a fairly successful indie developer who makes fairly good games
They make a lot of simulation games and he used to work for lionhead. He is the developer that asked pirates why they pirate games and he then decided to lower the prices of his games and remove all drm from them
These' too many examples of big publishers either churning out crap, or stealing then ruining IP from small dev houses. Just so they can sell to more people.
A game doesn't have to make enough profit to buy stockholders a yacht.
yes it does.
Otherwise people wouldn't invest in your games if there's no attractive return...
Games are business, businesses make money quite simply
but its too easy for a game like Gratuitous Space Battles to be ignored if they have to go though an EA or Activision. Especially Activision.
If the guys who make the game then make enough back to reward what few investors they had to go to and live off, that should be enough. It shouldn't have the money-hats dictating how the game is made so it sells to the most people.
good point :-)
but then the market dictates what sells a truckload and what doesnt. im always baffled why people buy COD, guitar hero, fifa and smackdown year in year out....last COD game i bought was modern warfare, the others are too much of the same.
What happened to devs respecting each others work too? im sure this has all been blown out of proportion by the 'media' though. If you can call a bunch of bloggers, enthusiasts and corporate sites that
Well fucking said Positech's Cliff Harris. Mark Rein wanted to be a jerkoff and you called him out on it. I'd clap but I'm typing and that would seem weird. You sir deserve an Old Spice scent named after you.
i cant stand arrogant people in general. the industry's "greats"should nuture and help indie developers and who knows they could gain a massive new ip one day from creative minds of those who trully have passion for the industry.
mark rein- FUCK YOU
Gratuitous Space Battles is a solid and interesting strategy title. The game offers some relatively unique gameplay elements which come together to create an enjoyable package. However it would have been nice to see direct multiplayer, and possibly a few more challenges. Also the price, for some, may be above that 'impulse buy' region which many indie games fall into. That said the value for money really comes down to what kind of player you are. If you enjoy the ship customisation/perfection style of gameplay then you'll have a great time with Gratuitous Space Battles.
GamesRadar writes: "There's something compelling about lasers across a backdrop of nebulae. It reeks of science fiction: the delight of things burning and exploding in space. But 'gratuitous' might not be quite the right word for this particular imagination-stoking conflict in the stars, because there's something clever going on behind all the fireworks."
Great Deal! Might have to get it.
Sweet! The price is right Bob.
I just watched the trailer for this on STEAM, sweet deal, SOLD!!
Been looking for an excuse to pick this up. Looks like I just got it. Woo!
Steam gives out a lot of big discounts. That's why they are the best.