Letter of JEFF BRIGGS to the CIV COMMUNITY

[player1]

To all:

Come on people.

It's just stupid to spend all time discussing about was out-of-box PtW MP "broken" or "not perfect".

I mean it not realy important anymore (we have the patches).
And, you are all smart people, so I don't see why would you waste your time on such kind of discussion.


I mean, it's thing of preference.
(broken VS not perfect)

Noone could convince anyone in the opposite.

[Velociryx]

Hmmm.....forgive me for saying so, Player1, but the situation you just described does not sound like it's "plays perfectly well" to me.

Rather, it sounds like it plays.....contingent on disabling game features (no music, no more than 8 players, standard maps only).

-=Vel=-

[FNBrown]

I agree with Vel... PTW was a flawed product at shipment, and the greatest selling point was also the most glaring deficiency.

That said, I think the horse is dead, gentlemen. Let's stop beating the old nag and let it rot in peace, shall we?

[player1]

dp

[player1]

Originally posted by Velociryx
Hmmm.....forgive me for saying so, Player1, but the situation you just described does not sound like it's "plays perfectly well" to me.

Rather, it sounds like it plays.....contingent on disabling game features (no music, no more than 8 players, standard maps only).

-=Vel=-

It does say that it's MINIMAL needed conf. NOT the optimal one.

You are SUPPOSED to have better conf. in order to get OPTIMAL preformance.

Now, I could play at huge maps with more players, and it WOULD work, but it would be way to SLOW.


And if they have just written higher minimal conf. that would be simple unture, and I would have not have Civ3, which I am playing now (and ejoying).

MINIMAL is suppsed to be playable and NOT optimal.

And it plays almost optimal to me if I take out music and play smaller maps.

[player1]

Originally posted by FNBrown
I agree with Vel... PTW was a flawed product at shipment, and the greatest selling point was also the most glaring deficiency.

That said, I think the horse is dead, gentlemen. Let's stop beating the old nag and let it rot in peace, shall we?

OK!
Was MP broken in out-of-box PtW or not is really not much important anyway.

Since we do have patches.

[Coracle]

Originally posted by FNBrown
I agree with Vel... PTW was a flawed product at shipment, and the greatest selling point was also the most glaring deficiency.

That said, I think the horse is dead, gentlemen. Let's stop beating the old nag and let it rot in peace, shall we?

What I WANT is a game that is a worthy succesor to Civ 2. Even after five patches (more to come?) for Civ 3 and PTW combined, we do not have it.

[Alexander's Horse]

I don't know how long Infogames will continue to get away with it - forget what the fanboys here say - to knowingly sell a defective product is illegal in most Western countries.

Just wait until some influential person's Little Johny buys this crud and finds out it doesn't deliver what's stated on the box.............oh dear for Infogames

[WarpStorm]

Except that according to the EULA they didn't sell a product. They gave you a limited license. In the USA and Canada (I don't know about other jurisdictions), installing it makes you subject to the clauses, including the big one that says you agree not to sue them for more than the retail price of PTW even if they knew there was something wrong with it. What lawyer is going to take that case? There's no money in it.

[Alexander's Horse]

Originally posted by WarpStorm
Except that according to the EULA they didn't sell a product. They gave you a limited license. In the USA and Canada (I don't know about other jurisdictions), installing it makes you subject to the clauses, including the big one that says you agree not to sue them for more than the retail price of PTW even if they knew there was something wrong with it. What lawyer is going to take that case? There's no money in it.

We're talking about countries with decent standards of consumer protection, not the U.S.

And that licence thingy? They can wipe their arse with it. Blanket disclaimers like that never stand up in court.

[Velociryx]

There is a news item here on 'poly that would suggest that there *is* some importance to a piece of software's out-of-box status:

It appears the problem in New Zealand (and Australia) is that it does not pass consumer standards in its current out-of-the-box status, that is to say, the box is false advertising! So most shops will have a "cleaner" version in shops at about mid-January.

(news item references Civ3 - PTW)

-=Vel=-

[notyoueither]

yeah? And how many times has Microsoft been prosecuted?

[notyoueither]

Oh, for Christ's sakes Vel! That was a user writing a bit on his getting the game.

Give me a king sized break. Show me the interdictions of computer industry products. Please.

[Alexander's Horse]

You miss the point - the industry was cut a lot of slack in its early years.

But its no longer possible to justify releasing products in the defective condition of PTW onto the market. Worse still, and this where they run into real legal problems, they did it knowingly.

But their lawyers would have briefed them about that.

[notyoueither]

Give me a source please, Mr. Blowhard.

I hardly think they would start with a game that has a patch on line to fix problems.

Try backing it up, Horsie. Till then you are talking out the wrong end of your beast.