Game News In 2008 his swords become sharper still!

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: Witcher, The

Adding to the pile of utterly useless trailers, <a href="http://www.actiontrip.com/rei/video.phtml?id=4896">ActionTrip have one up for The Witcher: Enhanced Edition</a>. Here's the text:
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<blockquote>In 2007 CD Projekt brought you The Witcher.
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In 2008 his swords become sharper still
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Engrossing new adventures
<br>
Refined storytelling
<br>
Superior gameplay
<br>
Exclusive luxury box set
<br>
The best reaches perfection</blockquote>
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So, how long before the "we fucked up, so let's re-release a new version" becomes a standard industry treadmill? Behold, the future... BioShock: Enhanced Edition. Fallout 3: Enhanced Edition. Yet More Marketing Exercises™ for games we all bought last year.
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It won't be long before we hear "It's okay, they'll fix it in the Enhanced Edition".
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Thanks <b>Rebel Blob</b>!

 

[Blind Eye]

Don't be so cynical. Remember all the EE stuff is free for anyone who already bought the regular version. I doubt you'll see any other developer/publisher ever do that. CD Project rocks for doing this. So put that in your pipe and smoke it.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Other developers have been doing that for years. They call it a patch and they don't hype it to the moon and back with awesome new trailers from the marketing department.

 

[Fez]

Perhaps you've a point there, DU.

They could have easily have left the game as it was though. At least in this case they are claiming to put a little more effort into it than the usual basic patch. I am not fond of this trend of releasing unfinished games and then zero day patches or shipping and just assuming they can finish it with patches. Dishonest and sloppy.

I've played games before that were promised patches but ended up needing to buy an expansion to actually get the fixes. Lame.

 

[Jedi_Learner]

Anyone interested in the enhanced edition should just read this page instead of waiting for that crappy trailer to download. Just try not to laugh at some of the sentences.

The Witcher: Enhanced Edition is the ultimate version of the ultimate role-playing game.

Ultimate!

The Witcher represents the pinnacle of storytelling in role-playing games, shattering the line between good and evil with a world where moral ambiguity reigns.

Yes.

 

[Volourn]

oVERRATED.

 

[Fez]

Caps lock is cruise control for cool - but remember that even with cruise control you still have to steer.

 

[sportforredneck]

Caps lock is cruise control for cool - but remember that even with cruise control you still have to steer.

FEZ YOU ARE SO AWESOME, IF I WAS LIKE JASEDE I WOULD YIFF WITH YOU.

 

[LarsTheSurly]

Jesus Christ.

These guys are going out of their way to add in all the content that was cut from the game before release (at no extra charge) and some people still bitch about it. They're even offering it as a fucking download, so you don't have to haul your fat ass to the store and get it or wait for a CD in the mail.

Would you be happy with the original version? Because I was. Now they're giving me all this extra stuff FOR FREE.

The proper way to react to this would be with a "Thank you," not "You should have given me this earlier."

 

[Gerrard]

Other developers have been doing that for years. They call it a patch and they don't hype it to the moon and back with awesome new trailers from the marketing department.

You know, they don't "hype it to the moon" because more often than not their patches change jack shit besides fixing bugs.
I don't see re-recorded dialogues and de-shittied animations for Obloomvion, or deconsolified UT3, or optimized engine for NWN2.

Speaking about Epic, they did it before. It was called UT2004. And you HAD to pay for it.

 

[Gragt]

I can understand it in their situation: they are a new developper and want to establish themselves and also establish The Witcher as a stable franchise. It might be too much advertisement for my tastes but the fact that I'll be able to get the enhancements for free weights on the other side of the scale.

I also do not like unfinished games being released but again these guys are new at this and releasing the game allowed them to get a lot of feedback from players (or is it testers?). Still they addressed most glaring issues (load times for one) rather quickly with patches. That they decided to re-release the game with enhancement is a marketting device but an acceptable one with the current conditions.

I might not be that forgiving though if the TW:EE has many bad issues at release or even if they redo the same thing for the second game, as I said I find this stuff acceptable because they are new and seem to do the right thing even if it is only to win popularity.

 

[Carrie Underwood]

Jesus Christ.

These guys are going out of their way to add in all the content that was cut from the game before release (at no extra charge) and some people still bitch about it. They're even offering it as a fucking download, so you don't have to haul your fat ass to the store and get it or wait for a CD in the mail.

Would you be happy with the original version? Because I was. Now they're giving me all this extra stuff FOR FREE.

The proper way to react to this would be with a "Thank you," not "You should have given me this earlier."

You talk as if this forum isn't full of whining little bitches.

 

[Dandelion]

Jesus Christ.

These guys are going out of their way to add in all the content that was cut from the game before release (at no extra charge) and some people still bitch about it. They're even offering it as a fucking download, so you don't have to haul your fat ass to the store and get it or wait for a CD in the mail.

Would you be happy with the original version? Because I was. Now they're giving me all this extra stuff FOR FREE.

The proper way to react to this would be with a "Thank you," not "You should have given me this earlier."

*
(not to mention the actual game, at least from the 1.2 patch, is far beyond the average quality of the VGs standards)

 

[Brother None]

These guys are going out of their way to add in all the content that was cut from the game before release (at no extra charge).

You mean...like a patch to the original game?

Methinks DU wasn't complaining about them patching their game, more about them presenting their patch as if it is worth hype.

I agree that EE is a good thing, and am happy CD Project is responding to negative feedback for the Witcher, but DU is right that:

- If this becomes an industry trend, it is worrying. The industry is already getting too lazy releasing unfinished games for later patching and "additional" (often paid) content, we really don't need to start seeing publishers releasing unfinished games and then doing a fixer-upper later as a good thing. I doubt it'll become a trend, tho', no money in it.

- The hype is unnecessary.

 

[Murk]

i thought the heype was mainly for the packaged goodies - which knowing of convinced me to wait for the ehanced edition instead of buying the original and downloading the patch

i mean, this has been happening for a while now, in video games and in other media - like enhanced albums being re-released or DVD specials

 

[Helton]

Hey DU since you liked Riddick and this thread now maybe, I think, you should check out "Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena"

 

[DefJam101]

Have we really run out of things to whine about?

Honestly, where the hell did this come from?

 

[Talby]

I bought the original game, but I think I'm going to get this version too. CD Projekt is a good company and I want to support them.

 

[Micmu]

I'll just torrent the patch!1 Lollergagz!

 

[Jeff Graw]

So, how long before the "we fucked up, so let's re-release a new version" becomes a standard industry treadmill?

More like "Our publisher fucked up the voice acting and translation so we're going to go out of our way to completely redo it, out of our own pocket, and add a bunch of other extra stuff, for no cost to the consumer." If that doesen't give them the right to hype up their 'enhanced edition', I don't know what would. It's a business for fucks sake, you don't work for half a year on something as big as the enhanced edition patch/re-release and let it fly under the radar. That would be stupid, stupid.

God dammit DU, I knew you were a bit slow, but I didn't know you were capable of idiocracy at this level. You've become a silly little poser -- trying as hard as you can to sound like an angry RPG nerd -- but you just aren't pulling it off.

 

[Mantiis]

How do i become a Patron!? Donate?

 

[sportforredneck]

How do i become a Patron!? Donate?

Si.

 

[Sarvis]

I didn't know you were capable of idiocracy at this level.

You realize this is RPGCodex, right?

 

[Sovy Kurosei]

Witcher EE sounds like it is in that awkward zone where it is more than a patch but less than an expansion. Since it is all coming out for free I don't get the nerd rage against it, especially so with the climate that gaming is heading to where it is an accepted business practice of removing features from a game to later sell as downloadable content.

 

[Silellak]

You know, I've been visiting the Codex for awhile to get my RPG news, and while the ridiculously over-negative tone about any game ever released ever has bothered me, I've never felt the need to waste my time speaking up.

Until now.

Are you kidding me? CD Projekt goes out of their way to release a free "patch" that completely redoes the dialogue and voiceovers as well as updating the graphics and subtantially improving performance, and you feel the need to drop your pants and take a crap all over it?

They deserve every bit of hype for what they're doing, and then some. This is how you treat your customers. You say you're worried other game companies will follow suit? Yeah, it would sure suck ass if companies continued to improve their already-great games nearly a year after release.

It'd be one thing if the Witcher was an unplayable mess of a game and the EE was going to be the only thing that made it playable, but it wasn't. It was hands-down the best RPG of '07, and yet CD Projekt is still going back and saying "You know what? That was't good enough. We're going to make it better." And for that, they can hype this "patch" all they want. God knows this "patch" deserves more hype than most full-fledged games that come out these days.

I realize this is RPG Codex, and it seems to be designed entirely around finding any negative spin you can about every piece of news that comes out of the RPG-area of the gaming industry, but this is a new low for you people. Seriously.