2K Server Fiasco

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VideoGameCritic
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2K Server Fiasco

Postby VideoGameCritic » April 7th, 2015, 7:23 pm

I catch a lot of flack for being so reluctant to play games that rely on an online server, and stuff like this is one reason why.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/04/s ... n-nba2k14/

The thing is, when your system is online you don't know what it's saving to some server that might go away at any time.
There have been times when my Xbox One has FORCED me to go online, and that's infuriating.
If I'm playing single-player mode, I'd like to think I could resume my progress at any time in the future.

And the people who make excuses for these companies just perpetuate this type of behavior.
Let's hear your thoughts.

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Gentlegamer
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Re: 2K Server Fiasco

Postby Gentlegamer » April 7th, 2015, 8:53 pm

When did your Xbone force you to go online?

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: 2K Server Fiasco

Postby VideoGameCritic » April 7th, 2015, 10:54 pm

With both Forza Horizons and Sunset Overdrive it make me put the system online just to install the games. Later it made me go back online to check for updates to these games. Otherwise it was totally blocking me from playing them.

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Re: 2K Server Fiasco

Postby Gentlegamer » April 7th, 2015, 11:31 pm

Forced authentication. I wonder if that is legacy code from the original Xbone "always online" garbage.

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Rev
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Re: 2K Server Fiasco

Postby Rev » April 7th, 2015, 11:49 pm

Nobody's making excuses for these companies, but being online is simply a natural form of progression in the industry, that's just where it's headed, though this incident does make me wary of online-only games.

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Re: 2K Server Fiasco

Postby Gentlegamer » April 8th, 2015, 9:51 am

Rev wrote:Nobody's making excuses for these companies, but being online is simply a natural form of progression in the industry, that's just where it's headed, though this incident does make me wary of online-only games.


It's not a progression to ship broken games relying on patching them later or to cripple functionality of single player content.

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ptdebate
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Re: 2K Server Fiasco

Postby ptdebate » April 8th, 2015, 6:37 pm

VideoGameCritic wrote:I catch a lot of flack for being so reluctant to play games that rely on an online server, and stuff like this is one reason why.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/04/s ... n-nba2k14/

The thing is, when your system is online you don't know what it's saving to some server that might go away at any time.
There have been times when my Xbox One has FORCED me to go online, and that's infuriating.
If I'm playing single-player mode, I'd like to think I could resume my progress at any time in the future.

And the people who make excuses for these companies just perpetuate this type of behavior.
Let's hear your thoughts.


I don't like the way 2K handles their servers at all. Even 27 months is pretty paltry, but I guess it works for people who always get the latest release. I don't really play sports simulation games so hopefully I never run into something like this.

I play very few games that depend on an online mode. In fact, the only ones I can think of are MMOs. The Souls games are some of my favorite online experiences but those are fully offline as well. Nevertheless, the original Demon's Souls server is still online with no foreseeable shutdown in the future. Dark Souls doesn't rely on a server at all, but rather peer-to-peer connections that never go down.

As for the issue expressed in the following statement--"when your system is online you don't know what it's saving to some server that might go away at any time"--that's not something I've ever heard of, at least until this 2K business. Are there any other examples of games that hold your save files hostage (other than MMOs and similar PC games which explicitly present themselves as online only?) Was there another console game that pulled an NBA 2K14 on you?

There are three major factors in modern gaming that have created today's predicament. Gamers at large care a lot about things like image quality, game length, and inclusion of multiplayer. Businesses want to make money, so why wouldn't they do whatever they can to capture the largest possible audience?

The second issue has to do with cost. As technology and consumer expectations march on, so does the expense of keeping up. Destiny alone, which many of us here would agree is pretty mediocre, allegedly cost Bungee $500 million to make. Where did all that money go? Certainly not in art direction or voice acting--it was in developing a complex net infrastructure that would be able to accommodate millions of simultaneous logins from day one. Where most developers failed, Bungee succeeded in delivering an almost perfect launch (from a technical perspective) of a hugely anticipated online title.

What does an online failure look like? Recent history furnishes numerous examples, from Sim City to Battlefield 4 to Halo: Master Chief Collection. These games work okay now, but even giant developers struggled to provide an experience that worked right out of the box. Why so many grave missteps when millions and millions of dollars were at stake? Because it's very, very hard to compete with the big guys in this industry. So difficult that a success seems almost like a miracle.

The third problem is time--and time is money. HD textures and models take exponentially longer to design than lower-fidelity ones. CG cutscenes, fully orchestrated music, and high-quality acting all add time and expenses to the development cycle.

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Rev
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Re: 2K Server Fiasco

Postby Rev » April 8th, 2015, 10:32 pm

Rev wrote:Nobody's making excuses for these companies, but being online is simply a natural form of progression in the industry, that's just where it's headed, though this incident does make me wary of online-only games.



Well... I didn't write that. No idea why my name showed up for this...

Vexer6
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Re: 2K Server Fiasco

Postby Vexer6 » April 9th, 2015, 12:19 am

Slight correction about Destiny, the 500 million was intended for more then just one game, Destiny was envisioned as a franchise from the beginning, the budget of the first game was more like 125 million(though I will admit it didn't look as impressive as less expensive games like Watch Dogs by comparison) with other 375 million being allotted for the planned sequels.

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Re: 2K Server Fiasco

Postby ptdebate » April 9th, 2015, 1:18 pm

Vexer6 wrote:Slight correction about Destiny, the 500 million was intended for more then just one game, Destiny was envisioned as a franchise from the beginning, the budget of the first game was more like 125 million(though I will admit it didn't look as impressive as less expensive games like Watch Dogs by comparison) with other 375 million being allotted for the planned sequels.


Thanks for the clarification on that. In any event, modern games can be very, very expensive to make.


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