Wednesday, August 15, 2012

I've recently noticed that there's a bit of a gap in the whole PC gaming news department.  At first, I didn't feel it was anything worth commenting upon, because it seemed to be a case where it was a game that wasn't going to be all that popular on the PC to begin with.  But within the course of 24 hours, PC gaming media failed me again with a different game.  So now I think it's worth talking about.  Allow me to describe these two issues, and my ensuing problems with them in regards to the PC gaming media.

The first occurred on the morning of August 10th.  I remember seeing an article on RPS back in June stating that The Amazing Spider-Man game was coming to the PC on August 10th.  RPS was irritated by this, because it was several weeks after the release of the console version of the game, and also several weeks after the release of the movie into which it is tied.  Their argument was, understandably, that even if the game was good, no one was going to care about the PC release due to the buzz from the movie already fading by the time August rolled around.  They were right in that regard.

So August 10th rolled around, and I took a look on Steam because I actually did want to play that game.  It's been years since I've played a Spider-Man game.  And, from what I could tell from the console reviews for this one, it wasn't terrible.  Probably not great.  Maybe a bit meh in places.  But for Spider-Man fans it was probably an enjoyable experience.  I was willing to accept that, except that it was no where to be found on Steam.  (Did you like that whole "accept that, except that" line?  I chuckle at my own plays on words sometimes.)

Since it was no where to be found on Steam, I took to PC gaming news websites to see if any of them reported on a delay in the release.  I found nothing.  I checked the Wikipedia page, and the release date for the PC was still listed as August 10th.  Puzzled, I finally looked up the official website for the game.  They posted a comment on August 9th stating that they wouldn't be releasing the game on Steam on August 10th as they had planned, but were looking into releasing it at a later date.  Further puzzled, I then looked to see if I could purchase a physical copy of the PC version of the game somewhere, such as Amazon or Gamestop.  None to be found.  No listing for it at all.

So basically, I have no fucking clue what is going on with the PC release of this game.  That in itself is rather worrisome, but what bothers me even moreso is that fact that no one seems to even care.  It's been 5 days now, and still no major PC gaming websites have reported a thing about it.  This really bothers me, because it makes me wonder just how good of a job are these people actually doing?  If I'm noticing this about a game that I would think would have quite a large audience, what else am I missing?  Spider-Man is Marvel's flagship super hero.  He's one of the most popular super heroes in the world.  Yet there is utter silence when this game is delayed...and not just delayed, but delayed with NO mention of a new release date.  What the hell is going on?

The next example involves the whole release of Legends of Pegasus.  If you thought the launch of Diablo 3 was a disaster, the LoP release will make you think that you lead quite the sheltered life.  It's upsetting enough that I paid money for this game and I actually cannot even play it even today.  But again, what irritates me the most is the fact that NO ONE has reported on it.  Sure, the Kalypso forums are filled with unhappy customers.  Same with the Steam forums.  Kalypso has even released a statement acknowledging the problems and stating they are working on resolving the issues and will be giving their customers a free gift as an olive branch.  That's all well and good.  But where are the news articles regarding this?  Why aren't gaming websites, blogs, et. al. keeping us informed?

Perhaps one of the reasons for this is because LoP just isn't that big of a release to warrant writing about.  But I have a feeling there's another reason at hand.  It just so happens that Gamescom has begun this week in Cologne.  All off the staff for, say, PC Gamer and Rock, Paper, Shotgun are busy covering that event, and trying to be the first to get the scoop on all the AAA titles that are on display there.  And THAT is something that I have a major problem with, and it bothers me even more than not knowing what's happened to the PC release of Spider-Man and not knowing when the hell LoP will be playable for me.


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