Topic: Demigod Thread

[idolminds]

Announcement

PLYMOUTH, MI (APRIL 6, 2009) - Stardock (www.stardock.com) announced today that the highly anticipated real-time action strategy PC game, Demigod, has gone gold. Demigod is set to hit store shelves in North America on April 14 and will also be available for download on Stardock's digital distribution platform Impulse (www.impulsedriven.com). Pre-orders are now available on Impulse for both the standard edition ($39.95) and the collector's edition ($49.95.)

Developed by renowned gaming studio Gas Powered Games, Demigod delivers an epic game experience by combining elements of its acclaimed strategy game Supreme Commander and its award-winning Dungeon Siege role-playing game series.

In Demigod, a god has fallen, leaving an opening in the Pantheon. Players take control of a Demigod, waging war in spectacular arenas against others to ascend to godhood.

Each battle takes place in an arena, where players earn gold and experience in battle which can then be used to acquire new abilities, learn magical spells, purchase better equipment and improve their faction's Citadel with the goal to lay waste to the opposing faction.

Demigod makes use of Stardock's Impulse Reactor which provides intelligent match-making, on-line tournaments, player skill ratings, and much more.

"We are extremely happy with how Demigod has turned out," said Stardock's CEO and president Brad Wardell. "Demigod is the kind of game that we think players will be playing years from now. It has a really fun single-player tournament, and it has online features that let both casual and competitive players create their own fun and unique gaming experiences."

"We're proud of what the Demigod team has accomplished," said Chris Taylor, CEO of Gas Powered Games. "They've created an original world and setting, with spectacular art direction and characters, and have matched it with unique gameplay that seamlessly mixes elements from multiple genres."

While most PC games are released at $49.95 or more, Demigod has been priced at only $39.95 due largely to Stardock and GPG's confidence that Demigod is a game that will appeal to a very broad set of PC gamers.

For further details about Demigod, please visit www.demigodthegame.com.

See the box contents here. Collectors edition contains: Minature Rook figure (looks like an unpainted mini similar to a Warhammer figure. Should be cool to see people paint them.), CD soundtrack, and a Demigod Desktop. I guess thats like the Sins of a Solar Empire Windowblinds skin.

I wasn't planning on the collectors edition but the Rook looks cool.

[Pugnate]

*yawn*

I just don't think Taylor has it in him to make a great game. Let's see.

[Quemaqua]

I think enough other awesome people are helping with this project that even Taylor can't fuck it up.  Only time will tell, but I'm still pretty excited about it.

[sirean_syan]

Oh crap. Of course they use the one thing I can't resist.

[Pugnate]

While most PC games are released at $49.95 or more, Demigod has been priced at only $39.95 due largely to Stardock and GPG's confidence that Demigod is a game that will appeal to a very broad set of PC gamers.

I just find that entire line so hilarious!

As for the game, let's see. I've been disappointed enough times by Taylor's games, and his aloofness, that I almost want this to be bad. Kinda like I was somewhat pleased when HG:L turned out to be a disappointment.

I know, I am bad.

Obviously if the game rocks, I will buy it straight away.

[idolminds]

Demigod released a little early.

Gamestop were apparently dicks and broke street date. What I read was GS asked Stardock if they could sell the game early, and SD said no. GS then cut 2/3rds of their order and broke street date anyway. So the SD folks had to work over the holiday since they weren't expecting people to have the game yet. Apparently after finding out GS was selling the game, Best Buy started as well.

Anyway if you can find a retail copy early, go for it. It'll be available tomorrow either way. If you were a beta tester or pre-ordered the game from Impulse, its now available for download.

[Pugnate]

Wow that's bullshit. Imagine being dragged from the holiday for that. I read that little link and suddenly want to buy the game.

[MysterD]

Wow...I wonder if Stardock and Gas Powered will sue them.
They can, right?

Will GameStop get fined for breaking street date WITHOUT permission?
Will Best Buy...?

EDIT:
You know what would be funny?
If nobody buys any copies IN STORE from BB and GS, and instead they just buy it directly from Stardock....

[Pugnate]

This sort of thing happens very often, and lawsuits never seem to happen.

[Quemaqua]

I always wondered why that is.  Legal fees aren't worth it for whatever the recommended damages would be?  I dunno'.

I really want this.  I'm not a huge fan of Gas Powered Games, but I'm a pretty huge fan of Stardock, and I really like everything I've seen on this so far.  I just don't know if I have the money this month.  But as soon as I have some spare cash, they're getting my support.

[idolminds]

Wardell speaks:

Just a quick update. So here's the situation:

Gamestop released Demigod last week instead of waiting for the street date which is tomorrow).

We had only kept up a single Demigod server for the Easter holidays because the only people who would be playing would be a few partners, reviewers, etc. So no biggie.

But the early retail release not only resulted in thousands of customers we weren't expecting but also tens of thousands of pirates (there's no copy protection or DRM whatsoever on the retail DVD). So that 1 server has become horrifically bogged down.

So what we've been doing tonight is setting up the day 0 servers but doing something a little extra: We're also updating the game to make use of the new servers exclusively so that people with the older version (the pirates) will be left with the old version and customers will update to the new version (the download will be like 5 megs or so via Impulse).

And, because we're updating it, we're rolling in some new features based on feedback from reviewers (like how the friends stuff works and a connectivity status dialog that shows who's connecting to your game even from within the lobby of a custom game).

So all that should be up and ready in the next hour or so. Then we'll be all ready for some Demigod on Demigod action! (well not me, I'm going to bed).

[Quemaqua]

Wardock ftw.

[MysterD]

Idol, where's the link to where Wardell said this?

[Pugnate]

Reply #5

[idolminds]

Right here

Also, reviews!
Neoseeker: 10/10
Cheat Code Central: 4.3/5

[MysterD]

Reply #5

It ain't connecting there.
I bet it's b/c Stardock's servers are probably getting slammed as we speak...

EDIT:
Oooh, the Quartertothree forums.
Thanks for said link, Idol.

EDIT #2:

I found this interesting answer from Wardell on the forums Idol linked us to.

Any word on whether Gamestop broke the release date out of incompetence or greed? I'm just curious.

Clever idea to stop the pirates. Are you able to track server hits to try to get a count on who is trying to play with an illegitimate copy?

We can't identify individuals. The game has a "check for updates" call at the menu so we can see how many people are playing. We also know how many copies Gamestop ordered and how many beta testers + pre-orders we had.

Suffice to say there are a lot of warez copies in use right now. So this will be an interesting experiment of the effect of piracy on sales. I still maintain that while piracy is a major issue, one shouldn't treat a pirated copy as a lost sale.

[Quemaqua]

I really need to get this.  Damn it.  Stop talking about it, and please don't tell me how awesome it is.

[MysterD]

Can't tell you how awesome it is or isn't.
I don't have it.

After reading CCC's review....no SP Campaign?
Just a SP portion that is just like its MP side?
Did they just pull an Iron-Clad here (i.e. Sins of a Solar Empire)?

[Quemaqua]

Why is that surprising?  It's much more common for games of this type not to have campaigns, I'd think.  This is very obviously a competitive, score-driven, "boxing match" sort of game where teams compete.  Most games like that that I'm thinking of off the top of my head dispense with single player campaigns and simply allow you to play against AI opponents in the usual match setup.

[MysterD]

Wait...Did SupCom have a SP campaign?

[Quemaqua]

Yes, but that was more traditional RTS.

[idolminds]

Well, its pretty sweet. I don't have the Day 0 update yet, but I just ran a quick skirmish. I played an Assassin type, the dude with the crossbow vs the General type lady riding a giant tiger. She can heal and stuff, but I went with easy AI since I'm a n00b.

This demigod seemed to work out a bit better for me. I messed with the Rook for just a little bit and died horribly. The crossbow guy is all about range. His Snipe attack gains power the further the arrow travels. You can't totally hang back since your regular "autoshot" doesn't quite have the same range, but you can at least be behind your waves of minions helping them kill and not getting into too much melee yourself. The enemy demigod didn't like that so she chased me down a lot. I would run back by some defensive towers so they would hit her and she'd run off when low on health, then I'd snipe her and finish her off.

It's going to take me a little learning still to figure everything out, such as which of the armor pieces I want for whatever demigod. There are helmets, gloves, boots, breastplates, and rings...and I'm probably forgetting some stuff. And theres like 10 of each. So you can really deck out your dude (though it doesn't show on the model, its strictly a stat boost thing). There are also citadel upgrades that boost your towers, or minions, or other things that aren't directly related to the demigod. Plus knowing when to run back to the home base area and make these purchases/upgrades. Since I was on Easy I think I wasn't getting hurt as much so didn't have much reason to head back there. When I died I'd respawn there and do whatever upgrades I could.

I like this game since it seems almost "laid back" in how you play. Retreating is actually a viable option, and since thats the fastest way to heal (in your base) you'll probably do it often in a harder game. Capturing flags around the maps can give you more mines for gold and a mid-field shop to buy potions and stuff. It also helps to remember that the minions you'll be fighting aren't the real enemy, its the towers. Lots of health, they regen, and its how you proceed. Once a tower is destroyed its gone for good, so you eventually push into the enemy base. The minions won't be able to take down towers by themselves usually so if you get caught up in minion killing you won't get very far.

Anywho, its late and this post probably sucks. Long story short: I'm digging it.

[Quemaqua]

So I cracked, and so far... this game is bloody awesome.

[MysterD]

What Edition did y'all buy?
Reg?
Collector's?

[Xessive]

Damn.. Now that Que and Idol have picked it up, and MyD will quickly follow, I might just hop on the boat too.

I checked out some videos and I am tempted.

[MysterD]

Damn.. Now that Que and Idol have picked it up, and MyD will quickly follow, I might just hop on the boat too.

I checked out some videos and I am tempted.

I don't know if I'll follow *that* quickly...
Since I kinda really am eyeballing the Collector's Ed and wanting that to drop a little bit.
Yeah, I know...sometimes I can be *really* cheap.

The release of a demo might make up my mind quicker...
That's what made me so sure on Sins; the demo rocked.

Also, I really do wish there was SP campaign here.
When Sins came out, I bought Sins at $25 sometime back and waited for a sale like tyhat b/c there was no SP campaign; just skirmishes.
Even though skirmishes can last you a good while, in that Sins game.

Well, for those interested, on Amazon w/ Free Super Saver Shipping...
Reg Edition is $34.99 on Amazon.
Collector's Ed is $46.99

[Pugnate]

Waiting on reviews.

[MysterD]

Me too, Pug.

The game only comes with 8 maps...will there be more?
Does the game pack a SDK?

[idolminds]

They plan of releasing more maps. So far there is no SDK, which is a shame. Would be fun to see a bunch of new arenas.

Though the maps are actually 3D models made in Max, so its not a simple matter to create or edit them. Still, game communities are resourceful. Even if it was hard, you'd still see people doing it.

[MysterD]

They plan of releasing more maps. So far there is no SDK, which is a shame. Would be fun to see a bunch of new arenas.

Given what I know about this game since this looks like a game that will be skirmish-fest, this just really looks like this is the kind of game that would really thrive like crazy off a SDK and maps be constantly added by the community and (of course) Gas-Powered.

Though the maps are actually 3D models made in Max, so its not a simple matter to create or edit them. Still, game communities are resourceful. Even if it was hard, you'd still see people doing it.

Let's hope Gas-Powered releases more maps, a SDK gets released, and/or the community decides to be resource enough to get their own maps going.

[Quemaqua]

I do hope they don't charge for DLC.  The game is really stellar, and after several hours with it I can say I'm totally happy.  It was exactly what I wanted it to be and what it looked like it would be.  Tons of fun.  The maps are indeed very pretty and would be hard to do, and I know they plan to do official ones... I'm just really praying for free, or at the very least that they do really cheap packs with a bunch of stuff for little cash.

[idolminds]

Demigod Review Postponed on 1UP

Delayed because the online play is having troubles. Wardell explains:

The challenge we're running into is that our NAT facilitator servers are getting hammered by the number of requests. That's the most significant issue as it results in users not being able to connect to each other. The solution to this is partly more servers (which we're doing right now) and partly a code update to connect users without using so many resources. We expect to have this largely resolved in the next 24 hours or so.

The other thing we have to do is isolate the warez users off the main server branch so that legitimate customers aren't competing with the 100k+ warez people playing the game for database resources.

The only reason why we haven't had this happen on other games is because we've never had anything like this many users in such a short amount of time. Sins of a Solar Empire was a huge hit but its success came not from an immediate burst of users but rather sustained long term growth which allowed us to keep enhancing the infrastructure as needed with minimal issues for users.

Earlier Que and I got into a game, and it was a blast.


*EDIT*
Gamespot didnt wait. 6.5

[Quemaqua]

Lame.  I know how bad it sucks for something to be broken out of the box, but that seems overly harsh.  Lots of games are in worse shape.  This one is technically competent from a programming standpoint, at least, and it's much easier to blame a big AAA developer or publisher for something like this than Stardock, who are still more or less a mom n' pop operation.  Too, it's one thing to have a company issues lame statements that they're working on this or that and not see much action, but here you've got the CEO in the freaking chat seemingly 24 hours a day addressing concerns and giving updates on what's happening, so you can be sure the problems are going to be rectified before long.

Eh.  Whatever, it's just a review score.  I just hope the negativity surrounding this doesn't affect sales and such.  This is a good game that easily deserves the money they're asking (which really isn't much).

But yeah, idol and I got into a game, and even though dialup ain't supposed to work, we made it all the way to the end of a game and only disconnected literally about 2 seconds before victory (and who knows what the problem actually was).  I think a couple days will fix this puppy up fine.  And hopefully they'll want to smooth over any ruffled feathers and will offer DLC for free after this!

Far as I'm concerned, Chris Taylor has redeemed himself.

EDIT - You know, I think what's pissing me off more than usual about this is the fact that my experiences with Left 4 Dead were really fucking awful initially, and I didn't see a single review ding it for that.  Their server code is totally jacked, and setting up a dedicated server was an absolute fucking nightmare, and to this day it doesn't yet work properly.  And this is on old tech where all they really had to do was tweak netcode, not rewrite an engine.  And does anyone complain?  No.  It's an awesome game, no doubt, and lots of fun, but this situation is very similar except Stardock and GPG actually have legitimate reasons for what's going on where Valve have no excuse whatever.  Dearth of content... as far as I'm concerned, Left 4 Dead is *still* only half a game, but very few reviews dinged it for that, either.  It would have been nice if Demigod shipped with a few extra maps, I'll grant that, which is why I'm really hoping for some free downloads, but it shipped with 8 really well balanced, different-feeling, impressive-looking maps, and the different game modes change the fundamentals of each one pretty substantially.

Eh.  Anyway, I'm just trying to turn the tide a little, I guess.  I don't think the game deserves to be overlooked, and I'm hoping most of you guys will be willing to check it out despite this.

[MysterD]

From The GameSpot Review, it sounds like VanOrd loves the gameplay, presentation, graphics, atmosphere, and style, but is looking for more so than anything here: content -- especially given the game's price. This sounds like the L4D issue, if you ask me.

Van Ord is looking for a SP Campaign (like many other RTS's/RPG's offer). Well, that's probably even more so true, since there's only just EIGHT maps to play on - fair enough, I say. If the game say had EIGHT MP maps and a fairly lengthy SP campaign (let's say 10 hours or more is normal these days), VanOrd might not be bitching like he did.

I don't blame VanOrd here, but if there's online connection issues with a MP-based game -- yeah, I'd want them to go way away, too. I'm sure many of us here felt that about Left 4 Dead, when we were playing online and suddenly got kicked or we just couldn't connect to any game. It's a damn shame the Demigod game is riddled with these issues -- thanks to GameSpot releasing the game before street date; Stardock not being a super-big operation in the first place to handle this craze of gamers wanting this game (as Que pointed out); the GS early release really caused Stardock to rush to get things up for people who bought the thing early from them and/or had pre-orders; and pirates also deciding to jump into the party to play the game over SD's servers. Stardock really did the best they could, given the disastrous circumstances thrown their way here...

Can we really fault VanOrd for slapping the crap out of the game in his review with all these issues he has with the game? I think really most of his review just goes back to the L4D adage -- for $40-50, where's the content?

If the Demigod game shipped with no SP campaign, but say came equipped w/ say 20+ maps to play in either SP or MP for skirmishes, I doubt VanOrd would be bitching about lack of content and connectivity issues. I mean, if you have that many maps to play with on the SP side, you could really go to town -- even if the MP portion is having connection issues...

EDIT:

EDIT - You know, I think what's pissing me off more than usual about this is the fact that my experiences with Left 4 Dead were really fucking awful initially, and I didn't see a single review ding it for that.  Their server code is totally jacked, and setting up a dedicated server was an absolute fucking nightmare, and to this day it doesn't yet work properly.  And this is on old tech where all they really had to do was tweak netcode, not rewrite an engine.  And does anyone complain?  No.  It's an awesome game, no doubt, and lots of fun, but this situation is very similar except Stardock and GPG actually have legitimate reasons for what's going on where Valve have no excuse whatever.  Dearth of content... as far as I'm concerned, Left 4 Dead is *still* only half a game, but very few reviews dinged it for that, either.  It would have been nice if Demigod shipped with a few extra maps, I'll grant that, which is why I'm really hoping for some free downloads, but it shipped with 8 really well balanced, different-feeling, impressive-looking maps, and the different game modes change the fundamentals of each one pretty substantially.

Que, you are absolutely right. L4D did NOT get dinged in reviews for its poor Net Code and absolutely major lack of content. For $40, is L4D really worth its pricetag? Honestly, no -- not enough content there to justify the price.

L4D has a regular style campaign to progress through "episodes" (Duke Nukem 3D style, baby!), which can be played SP or MP -- which is though only 4 hours total, in most likelihood. But, its the damn versus mode that is actually 1/2 of a versus mode -- so, that's another 2 hours here. To see everything, this makes it feel like the game is only now say 6 hours worth of gameplay total now, one time through everything. You can't do ALL the maps on that one, or it'd be 8 hours to see everything once -- well, at least for right now....

As much as I love L4D, thank God it only cost $10 for (my parents for) that one. It was definitely worth that much. I'd say $25 is a fair price of L4D, myself -- if you can get it for that.

[Quemaqua]

It's still a little more justifiable here than elsewhere.  When you see the maps you'll understand why.  They're obviously all hand-modeled, where with most games you get a lot of maps that have maybe some modeled terrain and a bunch of prefab stuff put on top of it.  So even though they're technically more sparse here (i.e. you don't have miles of bulrushes and trees and whatnot), you get the impression a fair bit of time went into them.  Like idol said, they're done in Max and aren't the kind of thing a dev can just slap together an editor for.

[idolminds]

Wardell is chatting with folks in IRC/in-game chat (same thing). New patch will be released tonight, they are working out issues. Then this was interesting:

<@Frogboy> Blitz, yea it looks like there's at least 18,000 purchases out there.
<@Frogboy> about 18,000 different people played yesterday who actually bought the game.
<@Frogboy> And something like 120,000 pirates.

---

 <@Frogboy> We're going to put it up tonight.
 <@Frogboy> I locked the doors from the outside.
 <@Frogboy> New NAT fascilitator that is decoupled from the one the pirates are using.

---
[00:51] <TorchedGeek> Frogboy, I know you've got alot on your plate right now, but are you/GPG expecting to release an SDK for Demigod in the future?
[00:53] <@Frogboy> I expect there to be modding.
[00:53] <@Frogboy> Depend son sales which influences budget.

---
[01:18] <@Frogboy> Okay.
[01:18] <@Frogboy> we're packaging the update.
[01:18] <@Frogboy> it's going to be a bit
[01:19] <@Frogboy> (we have to package a 2.7gb thingie)
[01:19] <@Frogboy> Not sure how long it will take, bandwidth limited.
*In here someone asks if they have to download the whole thing. You don't, but they have to package the whole thing as well at the patch. Patch is only 17MB*
[01:25] <@Frogboy> The NAT fascilitator is no longer tied to any resources that the warez users are using.
[01:26] <@Frogboy> And we now allow hosts to eject players who are not connecting.
[01:26] <@Frogboy> So far, perfect connections.
[01:26] <@Frogboy> Oh and we fixed some crashes.
[01:26] <@Frogboy> Mainly in the join game area.
[01:27] <@Frogboy> And it's faster getting into the game.
[01:27] <@Frogboy> And there shouldn't be any disconnects during game.
[01:29] <@Frogboy> The freezing won't be cmopletely gone wtih this build as it's not a game issue it's a server issue but nat won't be affected anymore.
[01:29] <@Frogboy> i.e. your ability to get into games isn't going to be cmopromised anymroe.
[01:30] <@Frogboy> which is a huge issue.

[idolminds]

Interesting exchange on the Demigod forums regarding the Gamespot review.

Let me ask those who think we should get a 2 or whatever this:

The Gamespot review will live on forever. But the problems connecting in multiplayer will likely be gone in another few days. And, I should point out that a lot of the problems people are experiencing are due to having so many more users on day 1 than we had expected.

If we had, for instance, sent out review copies of Demigod say tomorrow, we would likely end up with a very different score.

So I ask you, do you really think that's a fair review?

Yes, I believe it's a fair review. It's accurate on the date we posted it and it's based on the same version of the game that people are paying money for right now. You might not be aware of this, but we actually implemented an "After the Fact" feature that we use to update reviews as games are being improved (or in some cases, finished) after they arrive in stores. If and when Demigod's current problems get fixed, we'll be sure to add an update to the top of the review stating that, thus giving potential buyers an opportunity to make their decision based on info that's as up-to-date as we can make it.

Oh, and @gaping_maw, you're absolutely right, doing this doesn't get us a lot of "clicks" - but we do it anyway.

Justin Calvert, Section Editor, GameSpot Reviews

Ok, let's put some perspective here:

When Sins of a Solar Empire launched (Gamespot score: 9.0), the multiplayer services of the game consisted of a single EXE (Ironclad Online) running from the Startup folder of ONE machine.

However, unlike with Demigod, Sins didn't instantly have 140,000 bumping into it.  Instead, it had a few thousand. Over time, as the userbase grew, Ironclad continued to improve it and we were able to provide more infrastructure.

But with Demigod, the game's street date (18 hours ago now) was broken and while only a few thousand legitimate copies got out there, it turned out to be a favorite of pirates resulting in 120,000 (yesterday) connections at its peak.

Visit: http://store.steampowered.com/stats/ and click on View Steam players per game to get a comparison.  That means in a 24 hour period, our servers had to deal with more users than all the Counter-Strike servers combined had to deal with.  Our system wasn't set up to handle 140,000 users. It was setup to handle a fraction of that.

Now, this isn't something that we can't address. We can slowly eliminate the pirates from using the resources but we have to do updates to do that and we have to make our NAT connector not so dependent on those resources. But it's not something we can do overnight, it may actually take a full 24 hours from the official street date to address.

At the end of the day, your position simply makes the case that it was a mistake to send Gamespot a review copy early. If we had sent out the game on release day via 2 day Fed Ex, you would have gotten it tomorrow and all the connectivity stuff would have been largely contained.

One can only imagine what the fate of Sins of a Solar Empire would have been IF its launch day resulted with tens of thousands of users connecting at once rather than a few hundred at once and the review was a snapshot of that moment.

[Quemaqua]

Some will probably take this as Stardock fanboyism, but I feel bad for Wardell and more or less agree with him.  I understand the frustrations of broken online systems as I've dealt with them before like everyone else, but it seems to me that giving a premature low review score when you're plainly aware that something is going to get fixed is just stupid, because then your review will stand there for all time having been accurate only for a day or two, which actually makes you a shitty journalist.  This isn't print, so there's really no excuse for having something that inaccurate go out and sit there.  Even if you add a blurb to the top of the thing, that really isn't going to change the tone of the review or the score that your subhuman monkey readers are going to be looking at.

I'd feel differently if it was a big company who failed to properly meet the needs of their expected number of customers, because that's just shoddy.  I can't quite take the same view with this.  Granted, it would have been nice if they'd had a little more foresight and anticipated what potential problems might be, but hell, I didn't anticipate that level of piracy either.  If a company shows as much good faith as Stardock has, and so much dedication to getting things fixed within the shortest timeframe possible, outrage simply doesn't seem like the right sentiment.  There are other games that have had great launches but have then been totally neglected when things went south later on as the user base expanded, yet where are the updates to those reviews saying "Guess what?  Game's fucked now"?

Eh.  I actually like Calvert, but his comments strike me as a cop out.  Again, this isn't print, dude, and people don't read your publication as though it is.  Don't try to act like throwing a blurb at the top of an obsolete review makes you a hero.  All you're really doing in this case is spreading misinformation.

Back at AOG, I rewrote a review of one game that was buggy upon release because the major issues people reported were addressed within a day or so by a really comprehensive patch, and while it was irksome to have problems at release (and these weren't even server-related problems, which are far more justifiable than crash bugs and quest-breakers), they did such a tremendous job of rectifying the problem, it would be a very poor thing to let a review go out where the major strikes against the game were about bugs that were fixed for 99% of the life of the game.  Again, I expect that Demigod will be less buggy, more stable, and will host games more reliably in a week or two than L4D has managed nearly 6 months after release.  And the updates won't be delivered by a buggy DRM system, they'll be delivered by Impulse, which maxes my connection speeds every time I download anything at all from it.

[Xessive]

If things get fixed and it's significant enough that the original review becomes redundant then Gamespot ought make a "Demigod: Revisited" headline, clearly marked on their homepage too.

EDIT:
I do feel that Gamespot rushed the review. They should have waited a bit and given a complete review.

[Pugnate]

Demigod Review Postponed on 1UP

Delayed because the online play is having troubles. Wardell explains: Earlier Que and I got into a game, and it was a blast.


*EDIT*
Gamespot didnt wait. 6.5

Yea that's fucked up. Why the hell didn't those dickheads wait? God, they wait a month to review MMOs... so what the f?

And it seems insane to punish a game for one day of connectivity issues when those issues could be non-existent for the game's lifetime.

Que, you are absolutely right. L4D did NOT get dinged in reviews for its poor Net Code and absolutely major lack of content. For $40, is L4D really worth its pricetag? Honestly, no -- not enough content there to justify the price.

To be fair every review I read of the game mentioned the game's lack of content. But you are right, L4D was hardly penalized in the final score.

<@Frogboy> Blitz, yea it looks like there's at least 18,000 purchases out there.
<@Frogboy> about 18,000 different people played yesterday who actually bought the game.
<@Frogboy> And something like 120,000 pirates

That's pretty shitty.

The Gamespot review will live on forever. But the problems connecting in multiplayer will likely be gone in another few days.

My thoughts exactly. Makes no sense.

Yea I feel pretty sad for Wardell. That kind of level of piracy does suck majorly.

I guess this sorta explains what the "PC GAMING ALLIANCE" meant by trying to stop day 1 piracy.

And while none of this justifies some of the anal practices of EA, the bigger picture is a bit more clear.

Granted, it would have been nice if they'd had a little more foresight and anticipated what potential problems might be, but hell, I didn't anticipate that level of piracy either

Really? I mean if you look at all the major releases of the past few years (Crysis etc etc etc), this is the level of piracy their publishers/developers have been complaining about. Unfortunately, they've been getting mocked for their complaints across the vast majority of gaming forums by "hardcore" gamers.

The only difference between the AAA titles of the past few years, and Demigod is that Demigod has the online stats to prove it, while those other AAA titles were mostly singleplayer and didn't have evidence as concrete.

Anyway, 120 000 pirates on Day 1 has probably left Chris Taylor fuming.

I wonder how long it will take for Stardock to wipe out those illegitimate cd keys.

At the end of the day, your position simply makes the case that it was a mistake to send Gamespot a review copy early. If we had sent out the game on release day via 2 day Fed Ex, you would have gotten it tomorrow and all the connectivity stuff would have been largely contained.

The whole thing is just ridiculous.