Exactly. I can't at all understand any anger from this announcement.
The absolute worst possible outcome is that Valve doesn't filter shit well, most of the offerings are overpriced, and so no one uses it. Then it'll disappear and people will make and download mods as they have in the past.
Folks seem to conflate their feelings about "I don't think this will be an effective pursuit", with "OMG! How could they ruin everything like this! AHHHH!". Just because something might be implemented poorly doesn't make it also some kind of war crime.
I think Steam trading cards have proven that selling useless and overpriced shit can be a very effective pursuit.
Selling huge mods like that one Skyrim mod that adds a whole island with dozens of quests and voice acting makes sense. It's weird, but it makes sense.
Considering a lot of people seem to have no problem selling and buying fucking hats that do nothing for way too much money though, I'm guessing this is bad news.
Update 1.3, nicknamed "Powerplay", has finally been unveiled in this week's newsletter. The big new feature is what they call "Powers", which are essentially factions. You will be able to chose one that fits your playstyle, help it invade and capture systems from neighbouring powers, rank-up and gain various rewards like perks or faction-rep bonuses, vote with other players to decide the next course of action (higher rank means you have more votes). It's a bit like a game of Civilization in space. Without Gandhi...
The newsletter goes into a lot more detail, and it sounds like this will add a lot of depth to the game, which it desperately needs right now.
Senator Patreus, looking baller as fuck.
When Powerplay launches, you'll be able to ally yourself with any one of a number of galactic Powers, earning valuable perks, reputation bonuses and credits for your allegiance.
As a trusted ally of your chosen Power, you will be able to guide their strategy, take on special objectives to advance your shared cause, and dominate human space. Your choices and actions will have a direct and visible impact on the balance of galactic power.
[...]
Every Power is a fully fleshed-out organisation or character with a figurehead, biography, political leaning and faction-specific perks. Each one dominates an expanse of human-occupied space and your actions will see their influence grow as they overthrow neighbouring systems, or collapse as other players move against them.
[...]
In the Powerplay update you'll find a new tab on the galaxy map, displaying the current state of galactic control among all the Powers.
"We've had to add a lot to the galaxy map," User Interface Head Jon Pace says. "Powerplay is like a massive strategy boardgame, but our conflicts play out in three dimensions, and we have to make that readable for players. You can see all their borders, what kinds of systems they control, who their neighbours and enemies are, and how the map changes every week as the Powers make their moves.
"And we've added new screens to your ship's UI," Pace continues. "So you can get an immediate overview of the Powers and their standing in the galaxy."
[...]
Players will even have a hand in creating new Powers. The initial selection of factions will rise to a maximum of twenty as players provide assistance to minor local forces; as those forces establish a foothold across a handful of systems, they may rise to become Powers in their own right.
You can choose to defect if one of those new Powers is more appealing, but you should weigh the benefits of joining a new power against the consequences for your treachery. You may find yourself wanted by your former friends.
"Powerplay is a huge feature in its own right, and a huge change to the game," Sammarco continues. "Players have always been able to influence the background simulation and affect change in the galaxy, but Powerplay gives you control over these charismatic entities and wage war on a truly massive scale. It's a chance to choose a side, earn great rewards and reshape the galaxy in a really cool way."
A spaceship. It's a ship that goes into space.
Powerplay also comes with two new ships, an overhauled mission system (not sure what that means, but I'm hyped for this one), drones that will help collect cargo and mining resource, and a few other minor features. Pretty exciting stuff! Not sure how I feel about drones being single-use, and I sort of hope that they have a few more things to announce. Actually there's only one thing I want. I just want to see humans in other people's ships and in stations. The game feels completely lifeless right now. That dude in the newsletter is the first human being to appear in the game. it's just weird...
Anyway, Frontier hopes to release the update in May.
Update 1.3, nicknamed "Powerplay", has finally been unveiled in this week's newsletter. The big new feature is what they call "Powers", which are essentially factions. You will be able to chose one that fits your playstyle, help it invade and capture systems from neighbouring powers, rank-up and gain various rewards like perks or faction-rep bonuses, vote with other players to decide the next course of action (higher rank means you have more votes). It's a bit like a game of Civilization in space. Without Gandhi...
The newsletter goes into a lot more detail, and it sounds like this will add a lot of depth to the game, which it desperately needs right now.
Senator Patreus, looking baller as fuck.
When Powerplay launches, you'll be able to ally yourself with any one of a number of galactic Powers, earning valuable perks, reputation bonuses and credits for your allegiance.
As a trusted ally of your chosen Power, you will be able to guide their strategy, take on special objectives to advance your shared cause, and dominate human space. Your choices and actions will have a direct and visible impact on the balance of galactic power.
[...]
Every Power is a fully fleshed-out organisation or character with a figurehead, biography, political leaning and faction-specific perks. Each one dominates an expanse of human-occupied space and your actions will see their influence grow as they overthrow neighbouring systems, or collapse as other players move against them.
[...]
In the Powerplay update you'll find a new tab on the galaxy map, displaying the current state of galactic control among all the Powers.
"We've had to add a lot to the galaxy map," User Interface Head Jon Pace says. "Powerplay is like a massive strategy boardgame, but our conflicts play out in three dimensions, and we have to make that readable for players. You can see all their borders, what kinds of systems they control, who their neighbours and enemies are, and how the map changes every week as the Powers make their moves.
"And we've added new screens to your ship's UI," Pace continues. "So you can get an immediate overview of the Powers and their standing in the galaxy."
[...]
Players will even have a hand in creating new Powers. The initial selection of factions will rise to a maximum of twenty as players provide assistance to minor local forces; as those forces establish a foothold across a handful of systems, they may rise to become Powers in their own right.
You can choose to defect if one of those new Powers is more appealing, but you should weigh the benefits of joining a new power against the consequences for your treachery. You may find yourself wanted by your former friends.
"Powerplay is a huge feature in its own right, and a huge change to the game," Sammarco continues. "Players have always been able to influence the background simulation and affect change in the galaxy, but Powerplay gives you control over these charismatic entities and wage war on a truly massive scale. It's a chance to choose a side, earn great rewards and reshape the galaxy in a really cool way."
A spaceship. It's a ship that goes into space.
Powerplay also comes with two new ships, an overhauled mission system (not sure what that means, but I'm hyped for this one), drones that will help collect cargo and mining resource, and a few other minor features. Pretty exciting stuff! Not sure how I feel about drones being single-use, and I sort of hope that they have a few more things to announce. Actually there's only one thing I want. I just want to see humans in other people's ships and in stations. The game feels completely lifeless right now. That dude in the newsletter is the first human being to appear in the game. it's just weird...
Anyway, Frontier hopes to release the update in May.
Keep in mind that Telltale released 6 games in 2010, long before their mainstream success (one can assume the company grew a bit after Walking Dead made them a trillion bucks). If I'm not mistaken they released exactly 17 episodes between april and december of that year, and some of them were among the best they've done.
They've always been juggling between multiple projects, and they still make quality games (except that disaster that was Jurassic Park), so I'm honestly not too worried... The golden rule is to not buy their games if you're the impatient type, because the waiting period between each episode did increase significantly since the Sam & Max days.
I'm more worried about what they chose to make lately. Minecraft was already super weird but this is something else...
Oh, you have to overwrite the default timeline in Dragon Age Keep? That's why it didn't work for me I guess. This thing is a neat idea but the execution is a little dodgy... I don't understand why it's not built into the game.
It took me 35 hours to notice something was wrong, so I suppose it's not that important, but if I was only 10 hours in I would totally start over.
It's especially crappy to see Sony and MS turn a blind eye on big pulishers, when you often hear stories about small indie devs having to go through cert multiple times because their title screen animation is .2 seconds too long or whatever.
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