Titanfall

Technology and Gaming
#81

Again, that’s not the point of what I was trying to say.

I’m not saying Origin is superior to Steam in any way, shape or form, or that EA is doing everything right, hell, far from it. If it depended on me, all PC games would be on Steam, no exception.

But given that the nature of all markets is to develop competition between their agents, I’m just pointing out the double standard of giving a blind eye to the practices of the most popular agent while criticizing the exact same thing when the competition does it.

How hard is it to not see this in terms of black and white but shades of grey?

#82

The problem with Origin doing it is people don’t like to use Origin and don’t want their games on Origin. People don’t mind Valve doing it because we all like Steam, it’s not a matter of some silly moral right or wrong, it’s just what annoys us and what doesn’t.

#83

Oh look, Garth is generalizing. That never happens.

#84

Valve is a far nicer company that EA. EA has bullshit DRM that requires an internet connection to play games released in 2007. Valve is working on a solution to keep PC gaming open while literally everyone else seems to be working toward making it less open and more restrictive. That is why imo there is so much origin hate

#85

I’m not contesting that at all.

Just pointing out the ridiculous double standard.

Come on, throw me a bone here.

#86

If some people do have a moral argument against what Origin does than yeah sure, it’s a double standard. But I think most people are just annoyed with being forced to use Origin while they actually like using Steam.

#87

Thank you for not generalizing for once.

Yeah, I’m not oblivious or impartial to the reputation of Origin. Like I said, I’d rather everything be on Steam, but you can’t stop competition from happening and one of the staples of competition is creating an appealing reason to use it over the other services or at least as a second service.

In this case, EA is using the popularity of their games and pushing them as Origin exclusives as an appealing reason for people to use Origin. It’s a legit reason to complain about. Meanwhile, Valve does the exact the same thing, but since their reputation is much more positive than EA’s, that seems to not anger most people at all while that happens constantly when EA does it. It’s a completely subjective view of things but objectively speaking, is a double standard.

But is the hate for Origin so intense that it invalidates any type of objective discussion? That’s what I’m trying to do here and what some people didn’t seem to get, rather continuing to focus on the bad reputation.

#88

I hope it’ll go well for Origin, because if Valve gets a dangerous competitor, they’ll be forced to step it up. As a wise EA employee once said; “competition drives innovation”.

#89

To be fair, things involving any form of network or collections are often natural monopolies. With something like Steam or say Facebook, competition hurts the users. It’s especially anti consumer when features are made artificially exclusive. It’s in consumers best interests to punish companies that practice artificial exclusives. I forgive Valve for it because their first party exclusives are a minority and I like Steam anyway.

As for Titanfall, I’ve been having a lot of fun with it on the infantry end. Kinda wish there were an infantry only mode.

#90

Funny, they don’t seem to be following their own advice. :stuck_out_tongue:

#91

Graphics / platform comparison post ahead, skip if you don’t care

Images link to full-size:

Titanfall on my PC
1920x1080 16xQ CSAA, max settings
Looks similar to the loading screen for this scene.


Image from Eurogamer’s Digital Foundry analysis of the Titanfall beta (PC)
1920x1080, 8x MSAA, max settings
Missing some shadows, lighting is different/wrong in places. Just like the Xbox One shot it’s compared to in the article…
Bloom also seems limited or absent.


1920x1080 8x SGSSAA
Specular went a bit weird on the blue object at bottom-left, but the effect on the lighting in the rest of the scene is interesting.

#92

The game crashes for me any time I have the textures on insane mode. Gives me an error like “cannot create vertex” something something.

Edit: This game is pretty fun. I’m surprised.

#93

What kind of expectations were you having for it?

I always had confidence that the actual talent from IW could pull off another amazing online shooter as a new team free from Activision’s claws.

#94

Could use more than 6 vs 6 though.

#95

At least 2 more players per team wouldn’t likely break their map balance, would probably need a limit on the number of titans tho. Maybe a queuing system.

#96

I am astounded by how much fun this game is - you have so much freedom of movement and it’s so natural, and the titans are a slower but more tactical, but still require quick reflexes and good timing.

My friend finally got it working and we ended up spending several hours playing without even realizing.

#97

…out of one tyrant’s grip, and into another…

history’s gonna repeat itself, i’d give titanfall about 2-3 sequels before it gets ruined

#98

Not sure if I’m getting it, is it a shot from your PC compared to another PC compared to Xbox One?

#99

Ah see, you’d think that, but Respawn’s deal with EA only comes down to which platforms it will launch on and how it will be marketed.

Other than that, EA has little to no control over the development of the game. The IP belongs entirely to Respawn and its fate is Respawn’s to decide. Even if EA started demanding annual sequels or something, Respawn could just say no and look for another publisher or just self-publish, as they are an independent studio like Crytek or Valve (who, btw, hold the same kind of retail publishing deal with EA).

They’re all PC shots with minimal differences in lighting and different AA methods.

#100

That is soooo good to hear.

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