They deserved to get tea-bagged

YES!

I'm not a game developer myself (though I'm about to begin working with a couple as a musician for their work) but for me, in EVERYTHING from games, music, plays, etc... A product like that is unacceptable. Bethesda has long been on my list of most hated things... On the other hand, I don't love Skyrim, I would call it the most highly anticipated and thoroughly disappointing game of the year. It's just so DULL... My opinions aside though, I enjoyed every moment of your post, heh, it was better than Skyrim.

As much as I love TES, I have to agree with you about how horrendously bugged Bethesda's games of late are, at release.

Jesus Christ, I can't tell you how many times my PS3 crashed playing Fallout: New Vegas. It crashed a lot during Fallout 3, too.

The lag in the PS3 version of Skyrim does eventually become horrendous and crippling, and I have found several bugs already (re-entering areas you can't leave, clipping issues, etc.) Bethesda does need to get their act together. However, I do love the game, and it's only crashed on me once or twice.

I'm surprised Skyrim beat Batman: Arkham City. I've yet to play it, but I heard awesome things..

i'm not suprised it won but i was hoping for portal 2 to win. the other game that i thought might win if it was not skyrim was batman.

the graphics look good but it looks more of the same. is there any differences from this installment from the previous one.

Even as a massive Skyrim and Elder Scrolls fan, I say it should have been Portal 2.

Skyrim is in no way undeserving, however. A lot of work went into it, and it's a vast game with near infinite replay value. TES releases are monumental and Skyrim is no exception.

Yes. Combat is much better. You can dual wield weapons and spells, now, and as you progress in each skill (and some skills have been dropped or merged) and level up, you can put points into a skill tree, and unlock more powerful and effective ways to use that skill. (This did exist somewhat in Oblivion, but it has been expanded upon greatly.)
For example, with archery, you can strengthen bow attacks, slow down time when you zoom, draw your bow faster, pick up more arrows off of corpses, move faster with your bow drawn, paralyze enemies with a shot, stagger enemies with a shot, etc.

Factions really do make a difference in this game, and make certain characters react toward you totally differently. You can get involved in political affairs, and hold coups... Overall, it's much deeper and way better than Oblivion.

I was going to vote Batman as GOTY, but then I took an arrow to the knee.

Indie dev eh?

who and what exactly?

on topic I would note that this is spot on. I own the PC versond and I get the odd glitch and the odd crash but it is a playable and fun experience.

as for development teams. I'm sorry bro. but a money driven industry will throw out more broken games as long as people buy them. Its called "Fuck it let the fans fix it, where's my paycheck?" syndrome.

Welcome to 2004 and beyond.

We're just starting up and don't have a name yet... but we have playable prototypes of two types of games... one of which is very much in the style of Metroidvania games.



And I'm not going to stand for that. People act like "that's the way things are" and never do anything about it. Any game I work on, I create with the interest of my players in mind, not my wallet, because this isn't just a "money-driven" industry... it's an industry of passion and talent and imagination.

I have stories I wish to tell, worlds I wish to create, art I wish to share, music I want people to hear, and emotions I want players to feel...

If I get paid well for that, I consider that a PLUS... but not the end-goal.

A company like Bethesda already has made over $160,000,000 off of Skyrim so far... they could've afforded spending the money to give players a better-made game.

It's not like I stand for that, I just realize that there isn't a whole lot I as one person can do. I missed the game development boat a long time ago as it is and it seems to me like a sinking ship as far as morals are concerned.

Rage and John Carmack's complaints about ATI and Nvidia rather than some of his team's own failures prove to me that the most logical and passion driven man in game development can fall to the demands of the all mighty dollar. If that is the case, then of course other companies are doomed as well.

Netherrealm's hard work on MK was a life/death situation for their team. they needed the time they needed the funding and if they didn't have both and they didn't take their time MK would have dropped off the map. I'm thinking we will find out if Boon and Co are in camp Bethesda when the next MK game hits the shelves.

Battlefield 3 continues to have server issues patches or no patches.

Its all money man. at least it is the more Incorporated you get.

Gaming needs a consumer protection agency. we just need to figure out how to get it done.

This may sound a bit weird, but I kinda like the glitches. Not the lag, screen clipping, or anything like that. But glitches that make dead bodies do weird things or your character falls through the floor and ends up in unprogrammed areas. To me this gives the game an extra spice that is unique. Thats one of the reasons I like Bethesda games, because they can be really glitchy sometimes.

Although I do sort of agree with you about them winning studio of the year.

Well said, and I completely agree. It's become obvious that they knew of these problems before the release. They knew there was no way in hell a reviewer would play the game up until around the 40 hour mark(about the time the game apparently goes to hell) to make their review. They likely assumed they'd just patch it away, but dependent on who you ask, it's being said something like this can't be patched. I was pretty disappointed to see patches carry over to consoles for this very reason.

How these guys could even accept a studio of the year award is beyond me.

1. complaining about bugs in a Bethesda game is like remarking the sky is blue. People may protest if they receive a Bethesda game without bugs.
Anyway, they are not good with the programming part.

2. Spike is not the equivalent of the Oscar for gaming. It is a glorified award show that's focus is on announcement, showcasing and advertisement, the wards themselves are meaningless.

3. Neither Portal 2, Arkham City or Skyrim deserve GOTY. Not by a FAR.





In all seriousness games like Limbo should get that nomination out of sheer simplicity, return to form, immersion and atmosphere. Not to mention making you think while playing. Out of the others only Portal 2 does that.


And before you interject, NO, various "strategies" and options in Batman and Skyrim do not substitute the type of abstraction, comprehension and problem solving thought processes that those two games have.

Mind you, fun games, but but only glorified expansions upon previous titles and are pretty conservative in their content.

PC and Xbox fans are the ones who voted for Skyrim ;)

I haven't had many problems with it. Pop in textures and it has frozen on me 3 times in total since launch, but other than that it's pretty good.

Skyward Sword though would be my pic for game of the year. It's gameplay is near perfect, and its story very well done. Only thing I could have asked for is voice acting with characters that aren't link. Not English, mind you, but full Hylian speech.

Since when has Spike's VGA been credible? It's always been a commercial cash-in a la the MTV Music Awards in an effort to appeal to a very specific demographic. I'm surprised MW3 didn't win everything.

I do agree that Skyrim doesn't deserve GOTY since it launched with so many problems (being a PS3 user myself). A few bugs are expected but launching gamebreaking bugs should rule you out of "Developer of the Year".

I wouldn't even sweat it, the whole thing is a huge joke. The video game awards don't even matter. It's pretty much The Kids Choice Awards but for video games. The reveals were the real stars of the show.

Hey, Garlador. If you guys need voice acting and/or a music guy, put my name in a hat?

I think your full of shit dude. I have been a bethesda fan forever, and I feel like they gave us exactly what they asked for. Followed the forums for a very long time, and bethesda listens to us and gave us exactly what we asked for.

I play it on the PS3 and have not experienced any such glitches. Once in a very very very great while it will freeze, but Oblivion had that problem too, and its so rare that Im OK with it, just save often like ya should with any RPG.

Right now their are a lot of asshole teenagers ripping on the game because it's popular now and thus excellent trolling material.

It's the best Single player experience ever (gaming since 1992 here).

People bashing it, are idiot kids that thought they were buying Call of Duty:Fantasy Warfare, and old crotchety daggerfall fans that want pixelated D&D.

Skyrim is awesome, haters just gotta hate.

what in the fuck. The VGAs are to the gaming industry what the Teen Choice awards are to the music industry. VGA is garbage, holds no prestige and only appeals to one demographic.

Skyrim is great and all, but Arkham City and even Mortal Kombat were definitely superior imo. Still love all three games. This has been one of the better years of gaming that's for sure.

Also, I totally didn't even know the VGAs were going to be on yesterday =|

I'm not trying to make excuses for Bethesda, but sometimes its also beyond the developer's control. Bethesda may have developed the game, but it's usually the publisher, if I'm not mistaken, that fund most game projects and they are the ones that push for developers to ship buggy games, in order to meet deadlines just to turn a profit.

While the game industry is supposed to be about the games, there is also a business aspect to it as well. Most developers can't take on publishing duties, and I'm sure a lot of them struggle to find funding for projects as it is. I'm sure if more developers could, we wouldn't have such an industry where developers didn't have to worry about deadlines, and shipped games "when they are done".

I think Skyrim as a game is defiantly deserving of game of the year, but while I haven't followed any news on the game since it came out, and really this past week is the first I've heard anything beyond the normal quest bugs for the PS3 version. I can't really fault Spike for awarding Bethesda developer of the year if a lot of this stuff is just coming out this week about the game. If this is all true with Bethesda's public relations, and basically knowing they shipped a buggy PS3 version that's defiantly wrong, and they definitively don't deserve developer of the year.

I also wouldn't be so quick to jump on Bethesda's public relations though. You know they have to balance things between their relationship with their fans and the publishers. Just look at NRS and Ed boon in particular, who got a crap because the PS3 got a demo, and XBL didn't. It wouldn't have made things good for Ed if he went mouthing off about whose fault it actually was.

I'm a pretty darn good writer if I do say so myself. if you guys need any help I'll be happy to join in.

Skyrim is great and all until you hit into a game breaking bug which i did!

Guess who now has to start the game ALL OVER again ... ME!

Yeah thanks for rushing your game so it could come out on 11,11,11!

I understand that, but if the game wasn't ready (and it wasn't), they should have delayed the game. Fans, sure, would complain a bit, as they do about any delay, but a delay is a GOOD thing for a game studio and every smart person knows that a delay means the game is getting BETTER.

Nintendo games, as an example, are often given 1 WHOLE year dedicated just to ironing out any glitches and bugs and polishing the game to supremely high standards. Ocarina of Time, Mario Galaxy, Skyward Sword, Pokemon Black & White... all spent over 12 months EXCLUSIVELY in that testing phase.

Skyrim could have been delayed a year, or a few months, or even just a few weeks... because the problems the game has are not rare or uncommon; they're easily found, easily replicated, and have affected high numbers of users.

Would it have cost them a bit of pride and money? Yes. But they would have rebounded with stronger sales, better consumer relations, and a lot more positive PR. They put their short-term profits ahead of their long-term reputation and fan relations... and I think that was a very, very poor thing to do.


And here we go...

I've been a fan of Bethesda too, since the DOS days. What I am NOT, however, is a Bethesda apologist. Just because I love many companies does not mean they are beyond reproach or criticism.

Bethesda may "listen", but they don't always act upon the feedback they receive. Worse, they did NOT, I repeat, NOT give many players what they were promised... which was a working game. Bugs and glitches are one thing, but thousands of people's copies do not WORK after a set amount of time.

If I went to a restaurant and ordered steak, got a great salad, some delicious rolls, a tasty appetizer, and even a good desert, but the main course meal, the steak, was raw, undercooked, and inedible, I would say I did not get what I was promised. "You ordered steak, and you got steak," they'd say, making it seem like their only promise was a steak... not that it had to be prepared in a manner that I could enjoy and eat it, though.


And here comes the "I don't have this problem, and thus the problem does NOT EXIST" post that I see so often in rebuttals to Skyrim's problems.

Listen, these are NOT just glitches. Not just funny bugs. Not just the game freezing and crashing. The game is UNPLAYABLE and the cause of this is UNAVOIDABLE. Understand that, please. You cannot avoid it. You cannot fix it by saving often and loading up a new save.

Here, let Eurogamer explain and show you why so many of us are pissed off: Digital Foundry vs PS3 Skyrim Lag

Read that report, watch those videos, and get back to me... I'll wait.

Those problems, the severity of them, and the pervasiveness of them, affecting a high margin of PS3 users? That's INEXCUSABLE. Any other developer with problems that severe would be met with a critical thrashing and be laughed out of any sales or respect... and that was the fate of Alpha Protocol, a game that was LESS buggy but didn't have the brand name hype to excuse its mistakes.


No. It's a lot of adults that paid upwards of $150, professional journalists, fellow game creators (such as David Jaffe, Gabe Newell, and Tim Schaffer), and plenty of others.

And we're ripping on it because we WANT to love the game... but for many of us, we outright cannot play the damn game we paid them for. You seem to fail to understand that... and if your copy is working, fine.

But when the game stops working after 50 hours, then corrupts your save data, then corrupts your entire PS3's memory and needs to be wiped clean, I wonder if you'd still be so quick to defend them. It's easy to defend them when things are working well for YOU, but that's not the case for a few thousands of people, and journalists, developers, and critics are weighing in on it very heavily. It's FAR from just internet trolls (unless you're implying that I'm a teenage asshole that's ripping on the game just because it's popular...)

I'd strongly disagree (I've enjoyed single-player games such as Ocarina of Time, Resident Evil 4, Mass Effect, Sands of Time, Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime, and RPGs like Chrono Trigger/Cross, Final Fantasy VI, and Golden Sun FAR more than SKyrim...)

... But I still love Skyrim. Don't get me wrong. I would just like it more if the game would let me play it and "experience" the single player experience. Citizen Kane may be the greatest movie ever, but if half the movie disappeared and became a black screen of emptiness I wouldn't say it should keep that title when it's impossible to watch the whole thing.



Again, I wonder if you're implying I'm just an idiot kid that loves COD, when I'm a grown man and have never played a Call of Duty game in my life (I'm not a fan of FPS... I'm more cerebral-minded...)

People bashing the game are MOSTLY fans of the series that waiting in line for the release of the game on launch day and were super-willing to give it a shot and love it... and loved it... until the problems I've mentioned reared their ugly heads. Most people who are upset are the most passionate Bethesda fans; there's the saying that the people you love and trust most hurt you the deepest.

IGN, Gamespot, Eurogamer, Kotaku, Destructoid, Digital Foundry, 1up, Joystiq, GiantBomb... all these sites have criticized Bethesda for their actions, posted their disappointment at the state of the game (mainly on PS3), and some have even outright demanded an explanation and full disclosure. Those are not idiot kids; those are game journalists that want to know what the hell happened. And I'm right there with them.



The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword was also nominated, and that very much involves a large amount of abstraction, comprehension, and fiendish puzzle solving thought process. Skyward Sword, IMO, has some of the best, most thought-provoking dungeons in series history.


Funny you should say that, since not only have I and my friends said the same thing (concerning Hylian language), but the current creators also agree with you; they wouldn't speak English or Japanese, but Hylian (something ICO and Shadow of the Colossus did with a made-up language).


We very well might. Consider yourself considered.

Indie games? I am always in for some cool volunteery jobs, so if you desire: I have the voice of Mike Patton with a hint of Finnish flavor - put my name in the topper* too.
*