Ostriig on 19/8/2010 at 00:32
Yeah, it's a pity, all that customisation tech is pretty cool. Unfortunately, after having put some time into APB now, after launch, that's pretty much the only thing it got right. The game suffers from plenty of minor problems, which could be addressed in a reasonable timeframe, but also some major ones on both design and implementation levels. Keeping to the here-and-now, my personal top gripes are with amateur-night-coded controls (not even talking about the server-side driving, that's less of a hindrance for me), the subpar performance, especially as it relates LOD concerns, the poorly designed matchmaking system and to top it all off, the inexcusably dimwitted idea of putting MMO-style
gear in a purely PvP game. Just to clarify, I'm not talking about different cars and weapons having different stats but that are roughly all balanced to some degree; I'm talking about having seemingly minor but ultimately significant no-tradeoff
upgrades that you bolt onto your guns or vehicles.
But I'm starting to digress. There's a commenter that popped up on RTS claiming to be a former RTW employee (
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/08/16/redundancies-at-real-time-worlds/#comment-491791) who goes into what's happened there, and how APB ended up "torpedoing" the studio. Also in light of this, I'd like to pick at that article you've linked to - while I'm totally in favour of taking any opportunity to push for that UK games industry tax cut that got cancelled quite douchelly right at the last moment, it should be made clear that poopy didn't hit RTW's fan because of that or the overall shoddy economy, but directly because of the precarious state they launched APB in. And to nitpick a little further, while certainly a large studio and quite possibly a noteworthy player in their local economy, I'm not aware of any achievement to have propelled RTW to the position of "one of the biggest players in the global computer games market" etc.
Truth is I'd like to see them turn it around, fix some of the game's problems and start making a profit off it, but I'm not getting my hopes up.
Jason Moyer on 19/8/2010 at 00:51
I bet if they had just spent like 1/50th the money and made a modernized version of APB they would have made out like bandits.
catbarf on 19/8/2010 at 01:15
Quote Posted by Jason Moyer
I bet if they had just spent like 1/50th the money and made a
modernized version of APB they would have made out like bandits.
I don't follow.
Jason Moyer on 19/8/2010 at 01:59
What don't you follow? Or you're not familiar with the old APB game? I guess they're not related in any way, I sort of assumed from the moment I heard about the MMO that they were basing it off a license from the old game, but I guess Atari would own that still.
Tonamel on 19/8/2010 at 02:30
A modern version of (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTDy9qXzT0M) the original APB (which was awesome) would basically be the same as Need for Speed: Most Wanted, except you're the police. Which would be awesome.
catbarf on 19/8/2010 at 02:40
Ah, I never knew there was another APB.
Matthew on 19/8/2010 at 09:44
To be honest, I was kind of disappointed when I found out it wasn't based on the old one too.
EvaUnit02 on 22/8/2010 at 12:55
So whilst Australian right wing politicians are ruining the gaming past time for their adult consumers, (
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=261177) Pommy right wing MPs are ruining the industry for their developers.
GG conservative politicians, keep living in your reality proof bubbles.
