No quality control

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: No quality control

Postby VideoGameCritic » May 1st, 2018, 7:40 pm

GTS wrote:Critic, I think you have become so scorned about "online" that you are connecting dots that aren't there. We have had TV programming "as a service" (Netflix, Hulu, etc.), but the quality hasn't suffered. Have you seen Stranger Things? Modern games have bugs because they are complicated. Mario Odyssey is a wonderful game but it's the most bug-ridden Mario game ever. There are 717,000 videos on Youtube showing glitches in Odyssey. Even with Nintendo's rigorous quality control, things are going to be missed in the code. It's a gigantic game.


Thanks to my lousy Xfinity service I struggled to watch any streaming content for most of last year. After giving me the runaround several times on the phone Comcast finally told me to exchange all of my equipment. As you can imagine it took the better part of a day (doing it all myself of course) and a few more days to get everything working. Things are a little better now (I can stream) but I notice a lot of the Netflix are shown in low-res due to my bandwidth constraints. Not everyone has good internet, and I would hate to have a company like Comcast standing between me and my ability to play video games.

Sonicx9
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Re: No quality control

Postby Sonicx9 » May 1st, 2018, 8:44 pm

VideoGameCritic wrote:
GTS wrote:Critic, I think you have become so scorned about "online" that you are connecting dots that aren't there. We have had TV programming "as a service" (Netflix, Hulu, etc.), but the quality hasn't suffered. Have you seen Stranger Things? Modern games have bugs because they are complicated. Mario Odyssey is a wonderful game but it's the most bug-ridden Mario game ever. There are 717,000 videos on Youtube showing glitches in Odyssey. Even with Nintendo's rigorous quality control, things are going to be missed in the code. It's a gigantic game.


Thanks to my lousy Xfinity service I struggled to watch any streaming content for most of last year. After giving me the runaround several times on the phone Comcast finally told me to exchange all of my equipment. As you can imagine it took the better part of a day (doing it all myself of course) and a few more days to get everything working. Things are a little better now (I can stream) but I notice a lot of the Netflix are shown in low-res due to my bandwidth constraints. Not everyone has good internet, and I would hate to have a company like Comcast standing between me and my ability to play video games.


Agree!

bluenote
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Re: No quality control

Postby bluenote » May 2nd, 2018, 11:28 am

GTS wrote:Critic, I think you have become so scorned about "online" that you are connecting dots that aren't there. We have had TV programming "as a service" (Netflix, Hulu, etc.), but the quality hasn't suffered. Have you seen Stranger Things? Modern games have bugs because they are complicated. Mario Odyssey is a wonderful game but it's the most bug-ridden Mario game ever. There are 717,000 videos on Youtube showing glitches in Odyssey. Even with Nintendo's rigorous quality control, things are going to be missed in the code. It's a gigantic game.


I have to agree with this. Heck, look at all the glitches in NES games! Those were pretty simple games compared to current gen.

Even Family Guy referenced NES glitches in Double Dribble and Tecmo Bowl:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu3wSElngCs

Man, the above clip actually makes me laugh out loud!

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ptdebate
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Re: No quality control

Postby ptdebate » May 2nd, 2018, 2:23 pm

I’m not so sure about the internet argument in 2018...

That’s just like saying you don’t want to have to depend on electricity for gaming. Internet is just as much of a core utility these days.

David
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Re: No quality control

Postby David » May 4th, 2018, 2:09 pm

ptdebate wrote:I’m not so sure about the internet argument in 2018...

That’s just like saying you don’t want to have to depend on electricity for gaming. Internet is just as much of a core utility these days.

I feel the same way, mostly. There are lots of parts of the world, and even the US, where decent internet is hard to find. And in some places there are download caps, which sucks. And of course, broadband service can be expensive and I get that not everybody can afford it. But generally, yes, I agree with you. It’s just not somehing I concern myself with. I think my power has gone out more times in the last five years than my internet has stopped working.

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Re: No quality control

Postby VideoGameCritic » May 4th, 2018, 4:49 pm

Utilities are regulated by the govt. You internet is not. Comcast is a private company.

You are basically at the mercy of your internet provider who can decide on a whim how much to charge, how fast your speed is, and what you can or cannot access. And my monthly internet costs a LOT more than my electricity bill.

And the idea that there is competition in this arena is a joke.

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Stalvern
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Re: No quality control

Postby Stalvern » May 4th, 2018, 5:06 pm

Yeah, ISPs are universally loathsome; it's impossible to overstate their greed or their disdain for the people who pay them. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the arbitrary online-only BS that's become so commonplace now is the result of direct collusion between them and the game industry to maximize "demand" and revenue for the service, as if people don't already use it enough.

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ptdebate
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Re: No quality control

Postby ptdebate » May 4th, 2018, 6:45 pm

I hear from friends up in NYC about the monopoly Comcast has up there. Not to veer too close to politics, but I strongly feel that competition and availability of services should be mandated by the government, just like it is for electricity.

Capitalism is great, up until the point at which it is allowed to destroy itself.

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pacman000
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Re: No quality control

Postby pacman000 » May 4th, 2018, 9:21 pm

Given the huge sums of money it takes to develop a network, & the relatively small profit margin, I'm inclined to say ISPs might be better as monopolies, highly-regulated monopolies licensed by the government, like the power, water, & telephone companies used to be. (Of course that leads to other problems.)

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Atarifever
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Re: No quality control

Postby Atarifever » May 6th, 2018, 8:22 pm

ptdebate wrote:I hear from friends up in NYC about the monopoly Comcast has up there. Not to veer too close to politics, but I strongly feel that competition and availability of services should be mandated by the government, just like it is for electricity.

Capitalism is great, up until the point at which it is allowed to destroy itself.


But these monopolies are only temporary. Remember when Microsoft had to fight against Netscape? Because of the big bad Microsoft monopoly on operating systems? Sure you do. Go look it up on your iPhone or Android device. And at the time, there was only a thousand types of Linux for free, Mac OS, and some big company specific operating systems competing with Microsoft, so it was really an intense monopoly, what with one alternative costing zero dollars. All the folks who will be out of work at Microsoft because they were tied up in legal battles so long they became too slow to keep up sure are glad they could be tied up for years over a monopoly that never even existed I'm sure.

I don't think this is any different. There are mobile options, satellite alternatives, etc. waiting in the wings to make this a non issue. Right now is not all the technology we will ever have, ever. The future always breaks monopolies.

And if you want to see the results of Government intervention in the telecom markets, go look at the prices we pay here in Canada. Not. Good. Here are some great TV packages I get to choose from:
https://www.bell.ca/Bell_TV/TV-Programming-Packages
This is the TV and internet package I actually use (note there is no mobile in this):
https://www.eastlink.ca/bundles.aspx


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