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United States47024 Posts
On April 21 2015 01:39 AlterKot wrote:
I wish Blizz would let more people in right off the bat, but at least there will be footage to watch once the alpha starts. Hopefully they'll start adding big batches of people shortly after the start of alpha.
Once upon a time, game alphas weren't public and even a public beta was exceptional.
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On April 21 2015 01:46 TheYango wrote:Show nested quote +On April 21 2015 01:39 AlterKot wrote:
I wish Blizz would let more people in right off the bat, but at least there will be footage to watch once the alpha starts. Hopefully they'll start adding big batches of people shortly after the start of alpha. Once upon a time, game alphas weren't public and even a public beta was exceptional.
Once upon a time game alphas didn't have microtransactions, didn't give large ammount of people a headstart in a competitive game and games weren't a permanent work in progress which makes terms like "alpha" and "beta" very arbitrary.
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Having lived through it all I can honestly say that the current paradigm is an improvement over the old one. Yeah, some alphas/early accesses are lazy excuses to bilk impulse buyers of money, but I think the positives clearly outweigh the negatives.
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United States23745 Posts
On April 21 2015 01:54 Seuss wrote:
Having lived through it all I can honestly say that the current paradigm is an improvement over the old one. Yeah, some alphas/early accesses are lazy excuses to bilk impulse buyers of money, but I think the positives clearly outweigh the negatives.
This opinion isn't old and curmudgeonly. Does not compute.
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On April 21 2015 01:39 AlterKot wrote:
I wish Blizz would let more people in right off the bat, but at least there will be footage to watch once the alpha starts. Hopefully they'll start adding big batches of people shortly after the start of alpha.
Remember when compagnies wouldn't reveal stuff from their games and also release them once finished?  Also the joke about DotA 2 being in beta.
Edit: that'll teach me not to notice there was another page.
I'm on the same as Yango's, though: open beta are a thing, but companies making announcements of announcements before the game's even really entered alpha is kinda ridiculous, considering how previously sometimes you wouldn't know a game is in its alpha, or you'll get the announcement once the game is already quite into it.
Can we even call these "alpha" stages anymore when they're not that different from previous closed (sometimes even open) betas?
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United States47024 Posts
I mean, the main problem is the terminology "alpha" and "beta" at this point. At this point calling the product as such only serves to remove developer liability when they release a game that receives poor consumer and media review. "The game is still in beta" becomes an excuse.
The business model itself is fine, it's just the way the games are marketed has gotten ridiculous.
In a way, the Valve-coined term "Early Access" is actually probably more aptly describes how these games should be called.
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You'd think Blizzard would be more careful after Ghost and Diablo 3 stunts. I joked with friends that Valve was just going to silently release HL3 on steam, not even feature it. It'll appear in the store. Come valve I know you can do it
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mmm my burrito place was selling burritos for $4.20 today
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Alpha and Beta are kind of meaningless since different companies use the terms in different ways.
On the one hand you've got betas like Google's, which are basically production-level programs that are just missing a few ancillary features. On the other hand you've got betas on Steam Greenlight which have all the polish and usability of a old, rusty doorknob.
Edit: Yango'd
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On April 21 2015 02:10 Numy wrote:
You'd think Blizzard would be more careful after Ghost and Diablo 3 stunts. I joked with friends that Valve was just going to silently release HL3 on steam, not even feature it. It'll appear in the store. Come valve I know you can do it
To be fair, they kept Overwatch a complete secret until the Blizzcon announcement, and you could hear the pure glee and excitement in the voice of the dude announcing it. Sure, they could have waited to announce it, but from what I've seen at PAX, it looks pretty polished already.
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That's a fairly normal feeling Monte.
Also, I never noticed how much EGAD likes JPop o.O
Oh well, at least it isn't bad rap and a TLLD player is being supported.
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United States23745 Posts
Did anyone post about Little Devil Inside in this thread? Interseted to see more about the gameplay but man it looks nice.
+ Show Spoiler +
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United States47024 Posts
On April 21 2015 02:10 Numy wrote:
You'd think Blizzard would be more careful after Ghost and Diablo 3 stunts. I joked with friends that Valve was just going to silently release HL3 on steam, not even feature it. It'll appear in the store. Come valve I know you can do it
Well the way games are developed and released now by necessity demands more public/media knowledge earlier in the development process. For example the Kickstarter model essentially requires the developer to publicly release information about the game at the pitch stage, where normally the pitch would be made to a publisher behind closed doors, before any real production of the game has been done.
On April 21 2015 02:14 Seuss wrote:
On the one hand you've got betas like Google's, which are basically production-level programs that are just missing a few ancillary features. On the other hand you've got betas on Steam Greenlight which have all the polish and usability of a old, rusty doorknob.
On the one hand you have a reputable software development company following established standards and on the other you have a guy working in his own basement with little-to-no quality control?
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My examples were extreme, but the point remains. One developer's "beta" is another's "pre-alpha", and it's up to consumers to look before they leap.
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On April 21 2015 02:31 Seuss wrote:
My examples were extreme, but the point remains. One developer's "beta" is another's "pre-alpha", and it's up to consumers to look before they leap.
sorry, I've only been taught "ready, fire, aim"
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Baa?21244 Posts
On April 21 2015 02:13 ComaDose wrote:
mmm my burrito place was selling burritos for $4.20 today
MFW I paid 9.50 for a burrito. D:
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I always define it like: its alpha till its feature complete, its beta while its being debugged/tuned. Closed tests are when they only let certain people play it, but as soon as they give away random keys its an open test.
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On April 21 2015 02:32 jcarlsoniv wrote:Show nested quote +On April 21 2015 02:31 Seuss wrote:
My examples were extreme, but the point remains. One developer's "beta" is another's "pre-alpha", and it's up to consumers to look before they leap. sorry, I've only been taught "ready, fire, aim"
When did you become a cop?
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On April 21 2015 02:34 ComaDose wrote:
I always define it like: its alpha till its feature complete, its beta while its being debugged/tuned. Closed tests are when they only let certain people play it, but as soon as they give away random keys its an open test.
That definition doesn't really work in todays standards though. Alpha is when it's super incomplete, beta is when it's pretty incomplete and live is when it's mostly finished but still kind of incomplete.
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On April 21 2015 02:35 wei2coolman wrote:Show nested quote +On April 21 2015 02:32 jcarlsoniv wrote:On April 21 2015 02:31 Seuss wrote:
My examples were extreme, but the point remains. One developer's "beta" is another's "pre-alpha", and it's up to consumers to look before they leap. sorry, I've only been taught "ready, fire, aim" When did you become a cop?
Wei2coolman on point with social commentary recently.
I don't want to go to work today. I'm sure everything is still broken from the storms this weekend.
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EPT
