By Alec Meer on October 5th, 2009 at 7:59 pm.
Come on everybody! Climb aboard! This is the Angrytank Express, headed direct to Stop Screwing Over The PC You Massive Bastards city. Like pretty much every fuggin’ thing that has a multi-platform release, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on PC has, it now transpires, been delayed. Only by a fortnight, but still – for God’s sakes. Toot toot! The Angrytank Is Go!
The facts – Modern Warfare 2 is released on November 10th for the consoles, but November 24th for PC. LOAD THE RAGE TORPEDO.
On its own, it’s not something I’d be firing up the Angrytank for, but the number of other games that have been delayed, most especially their PC versions, means us merry bunch aren’t going to have the merry time that those merrier console types will in November. No official reason’s been given for this betrayalette of the platform that launched Call of Duty, but it’s horribly easy to conjecture wildly and recklessly.
Bitter Theory Number One, Activision-Blizzard doesn’t really give a monkey’s epiglottis about PC, compared to the mega-sales it’ll surely lure on PS3 and 360. That we at RPS have essentially never had any communication with anyone at Actard about any of their games certainly makes me reach for my tinfoil hat in this regard. They don’t do much these days to suggest the PC is an important platform to them anymore. Could it be a case of get the console launches as right as possible, and grudgingly finish up the PC version and whatever packing/DRM/whatever is necessary once that’s all done?
Bitter Theory Number Two, could it be fears of piracy – making sure leeched launch-week copies of MW2 PC don’t disrupt the -ahahahahah – torrent of console sales? It’s possible, and a theory that’s frequently raised in response to this kind of news. Forever a contentious argument, but not one that looks like it’ll go away in a hurry.
Or is it to ensure MW2 PC is absolutely, bang-on perfect right? I’d hope for the latter – and it’s certainly fair to say Infinity Ward have never let down this platform in that regard. Even MW1, for all its barnstorming console success, had a robust and beautiful PC version rather than a case of Pull The Magic ‘Port’ Lever. Hopefully we’re on track for a similarly shiny experience, and perhaps that extra fortnight is necessary to ensure it. So if MW2 turns out to be a wobbly port, I’m adding an extra turret to my angrytank.
Or it’s just a manufacturing/distribution snafu, in which case I’m being quite the drama queen. Still, this is the biggest games publisher in the world – surely they can work out how to make a bunch of plastic discs on time?
And so the Angrytank pauses for a moment, unsure whether or not to roll furiously onwards. What should it do?
05/10/2009 at 20:00 Some Guy says:
let me on, i dont smell that bad.
05/10/2009 at 20:02 Duffin says:
will there be a buffet carriage?
05/10/2009 at 20:02 CMaster says:
I pretty much never get things on Launch, so not a big concern for me (HL2 and Defcon being the only exceptions that come to mind). Still, it does seem rather ridiculous the amount of very short PC delays out there.
05/10/2009 at 20:03 Jorlin says:
Well, since MS killed “Games for Windows” at the E3 by not supporting it in any way… who wonders that PC does not play the role in games it should deserve?
05/10/2009 at 20:05 Senethro says:
Can we get a confirmation its been actually delayed? Someones been saying Activision is retracting this in some places.
05/10/2009 at 20:05 jsutcliffe says:
This means that I will have to boycott the internets between console release and PC release because, and I never thought I’d say this about a feckin’ video game, I don’t want to see spoilers.
05/10/2009 at 20:44 Jad says:
I hear you on that. I’ve been avoiding most promotional videos and previews for this game — I know I’m going to get it, so why spoil the surprises? Especially because the couple of big twists for COD4 were some of my favorite parts of that game.
05/10/2009 at 20:08 jsutcliffe says:
Also, angrytank is my new favourite concept. Maybe I need to re-dub one of my orks’ tanks.
05/10/2009 at 20:10 subedii says:
Can’t say I really care. Although to be fair, I wasn’t really interested in MW2 in the first place.
05/10/2009 at 20:10 Jon says:
Before you guys reach Full Travelling Speed, which I suppose depends upon the number of people inside, I submit that our platform requires rather more testing and optimizing than our homogeneously hardwared brethren do.
05/10/2009 at 20:29 Shalrath says:
Actually, removing TRC’s and language issues alone makes PC actually take less testing. A good half of console testing is TRC violations, followed by about a quarter for LOC.
05/10/2009 at 22:10 Stuk says:
For anyone else: TRC = Technical Requirements Checklist. Had to look it up.
05/10/2009 at 20:12 Greg Wild says:
Care much?
I know I don’t.
05/10/2009 at 20:13 Alexander Norris says:
Alec broke my sarcasm detector by turning it all up to 11. :(
05/10/2009 at 20:13 mezz says:
Perhaps it’s because Valve asked really nicely? So CoD is now a week after L4D2, rather than a week before. :)
05/10/2009 at 20:18 subedii says:
Left 4 Dead is NOT going to have a nice time releasing in the same window as CoD4. I’m guessing the console release of L4D2 is on the same day as the PC release, which would mean it comes out one week after CoD4.
Still, PC specific delays or not, everyone else has delayed their game into next year in fear of the big bad cod, so aside from that it shouldn’t be facing too much competition.
05/10/2009 at 20:28 Shalrath says:
Keep in mind that Valve games sell on a more plateau sort of line, as opposed to a COD style ’90% of sales in the first month’ kinda thing.
05/10/2009 at 20:50 subedii says:
True, but that’s on the PC where they control the distribution (Steam). On the consoles it still very much follows the 1 month sales period.
On the PC side it’s not just that PC games tend to have a naturally longer tail, Valve are very intelligent in how they market their games. There are constant and meaningful price cuts and snap sales, each time bringing in a new raft of buyers who were interested but not keen enough to buy before. When L4D1 had its first weekend sale (half price), Valve actually made more revenue during that week than the opening week of sales. Plus anything they sell on Steam is something like 50%-90% profit, as opposed to something more like 30% from standard retail.
However, on the console side, Valve don’t have the power or control to affect pricing like that. They can’t announce snap sales or combo deals with other games. So it ends up following the standard retail model of the game going down to a trickle of sales over time where the Steam revenues are still earning them significant money.
05/10/2009 at 20:14 Rohit says:
This is ridiculous.
05/10/2009 at 20:14 Ben L. says:
The COD games will interest me if they start to move away from the cinematic, carefully scripted shooting galleries that they are. Until then I really don’t care too much.
But about the delay, I mean come on. At least you’re getting a port. You wanna play console games, you gotta wait.
05/10/2009 at 20:26 Shalrath says:
I think people have really interesting ideas of how ports work, and what a ‘console’ game is.
If it’s on the 360 and PC, they’re identical games essentially. Differences are almost solely removing constraints on RAM/etc usage. Basically, if you’re making a game for 360 and PC simultaneously, there’s no need to ‘port’ anything, really.
The PS3, however, is a whole other bag of suck, I mean worms.
05/10/2009 at 21:54 Optimaximal says:
Pfft, only idiots believe that these games are developed on PCs running development kits…
Seriously, it’s fun writing computer code on a PS3 or Xbox360 pad!
05/10/2009 at 21:54 Clovis says:
@Shalrath: Please explain how awful GTAIV was when it first came out then. It seems that it is much more complicated. Maybe something to do with the near infinite combinations of hardware that exist.
05/10/2009 at 20:15 Legionary says:
Delaying PC launch so people buy legitimate copies on console rather than being able to download it on PC instead. That’s their logic, but it has the opposite effect by alienating PC gamers and damaging good will towards developers.
05/10/2009 at 20:17 Tei says:
I could be, maybe, that console games are more expensive, so this delay if for these of you guys that have both PC and Console, so you guys buy the Console version (and maybe the PC version latter?).
I could be that numbers show this is the best strategy.
05/10/2009 at 20:26 subedii says:
The console versions usually cost around $10 IIRC, but that’s because devs need to pay the system owner, and that ends up increasing the price of the unit being sold.
Funny thing is that even if it’s being sold cheaper, DD still usually provides equal or better profit margins per unit sold, simply because you’re not giving a large chunk of cash to third party retailers to stock it on shelves. DD isn’t big enough yet to make that meaningful though, ultimately it’s still a fraction of the sales on the platform with the lowest sales numbers.
05/10/2009 at 20:26 subedii says:
Bah, $10 more I meant to say.
05/10/2009 at 20:18 cyrenic says:
It’s the piracy reason, almost certainly.
A release This Big doesn’t sneak up on you, the suits probably saw some projected dollar signs on what Piracy could possibly do to their console numbers, and decided on the two week delay. There’s no way they’d let quality concerns delay the game at this point.
05/10/2009 at 20:18 ChaosSmurf says:
That’s some proper rage you got there sir *tips hat*
You might wanna add PC-Exclusive SC2 and Diablo 3 to the list of cares though.
05/10/2009 at 20:19 Wooly says:
Angry tank is GO! I’m thinking I’ll be getting L4D2 instead, and waiting till MW2′s price isn’t 60 *twitch* dollars.
05/10/2009 at 20:19 Sir Forkington says:
Angrytanks: Like very angry houses?
To be honest, I can’t be surprised. PCs just don’t seem to be respected as a gaming platform. The problem I see is this though, the recent adverts I’ve seen for the PS3 (the only consoles in my house is the wii quickly gathering dust after the rest of the family disregarded my advice, and an old PSX. Somewhere) are promoting the idea of it being a multimedia platform. Which just seems to me like they are trying to make the PS3 into something to rival a computer, with less functions, more expensive etc. And for a price tag of somewhere around £250, which is about the price you could use to upgrade the household computer to something able to play games…
05/10/2009 at 20:21 Shalrath says:
If you add another turret, does that make it a Mammoth tank? ;)
I think, given who is doing this (activision), and what it’s directed at (PC’s), we can pretty easily surmise that this is due to ‘piracy.’
Am I right?
05/10/2009 at 20:24 klumhru says:
Ah, well. The console owners have their own share of problems though.
Like owning a console.
05/10/2009 at 20:26 rubntug says:
I’m very impatient. Thus, if MW2 happens to pop up online before November 24th, I’ll most likely cancel my pre-order and download it illegally. I wouldn’t have done this if it wasn’t for the delay. I don’t know how many other people will have the same though process, but hopefully it’s enough to make Activision realise that delaying a PC title to prevent piracy is definitely the wrong thing to do.
05/10/2009 at 20:30 subedii says:
Um, going this route only reinforces that behaviour. Publishers are skittish about the PC as a platform specifically because of the ease and frequency of piracy. Your pirating the game doesn’t make a “point”, it doesn’t stick it to the man, it just proves they’re right, even if their logic is completely skewed.
Just buy something else.
05/10/2009 at 20:35 Senethro says:
Pah, Activision have personally offended me, so I’ll obtain their product illegally. That’ll show em. Heh.
05/10/2009 at 21:42 rubntug says:
I know it’ll reinforce that behaviour, but that doesn’t mean Activision have done the right thing. Surely if they don’t want people to pirate the PC version, they should give potential buyers more of an incentive to pay full price? I’ll be paying for L4D2 because I know how much value for money I got from L4D1, but also because I’m a fan of Valve and hope they can continue to make great games. If Activision want to charge more money for the same franchises again and again, I’m not sure I really want to keep funding that. I don’t know, I’m being hypocritical here – I don’t like being treated like a criminal but when I am I’ll take the illegal route. Piracy hurt brain.
05/10/2009 at 21:57 Optimaximal says:
GO PRO-PIRACY ARGUMENT – YOU KNOW WE LOVE YOU, FALLACIES AND ALL!!!
05/10/2009 at 22:01 Vinraith says:
“hopefully it’s enough to make Activision realise that delaying a PC title to prevent piracy is definitely the wrong thing to do.”
Actually it just tells them (and everyone else) not to bother with a PC port at all, because we’re all thieves.
Thanks for that.
05/10/2009 at 20:33 Jad says:
I am legitimately angry about this. MW2, along with L4D2 is the only game this season that I am looking forward to in a “this will be good, and I will buy it immediately” way (I’m hoping that Borderlands and Dragon Age will be good, but I don’t know).
The original release date was a few days before my birthday, and I’ve already requested it as a gift. Now its well after my birthday, and I’ll need to think up something else to ask for.
Think is, I usually don’t care about release dates. I usually laugh at all the “Day One Purchase!”-ers. I usually wait for reviews/demos. But this one was as close as a sure-fire purchase for me as it gets, with perfect timing right before my birthday, and now its delayed.
Grrrrrr.
05/10/2009 at 20:38 Jimbo says:
“Or could it be fears of piracy – make sure leeched copies of MW2 PC don’t disrupt the -ahahahahah – torrent of console sales? It’s possible, and a theory that’s frequently raised in response to this kind of news.”
Yes, it’s this one. It must just be industry standard now – I can’t even remember the last big multi-plat game that didn’t end up having a staggered PC release (anybody?).
Have any journalist types asked the publishers (or ‘sources’) if this is what they’re doing?
I’m not too worried about it; I can wait a couple of weeks if the alternative is to pay twice as much for a console version.
05/10/2009 at 20:40 seras says:
bah, we’ll get all the map packs for free, i don’t mind waiting an extra week or two.
plenty of other games to keep me busy in the meantime.
05/10/2009 at 20:44 Seth says:
The theory that this is being pushed back because of piracy concerns sounds totally ridiculous to me. The number of people who own both a console and a gaming pc has to be vanishingly small.
The much more logical assumption is that these things get pushed back because the jungle of pc hardware is a costly pain in the ass to QA for in comparison to consoles.
05/10/2009 at 20:53 subedii says:
It’s difficult to call it a “theory” when other developers have outright said that they’re delaying the PC version because of piracy concerns (Endwar, Bionic Commando).
It’s rarely a good idea to have staggered releases if you can possibly avoid it. Unless you feel that having a simultaneous release would be more damaging to the product.
05/10/2009 at 22:01 Optimaximal says:
The game is essentially a carbon copy of the 360 version – if it works on one, it’ll work on the other, especially as the engine is the same as it was back in Call of Duty 2.
Also, just how much QA do you think a monolithic blockbuster shooter can feasibly get in 2 weeks, especially when it’s probably gone gold by then anyway.
05/10/2009 at 20:49 Rei Onryou says:
Angry Tanks: Like Angrier Houses?
This dissapoints. I already wasn’t planning on buying it on release thanks to Mr. Kotick’s new RRP plan, but this just takes the biscuit. I have no doubts that Kotick’s reasoning is to maximise console sales (and “reduce piracy”), but I strongly believe that PC sales aren’t as pathetic in comparison as they make it out to be.
Give us PC guys a chance, we’re not as bad as you make out. In related news, L4D2 pre-orders are showing a 300% increase on L4D1′s (even with the boycott). That equates to…..shitloads. Look here, a PC game selling many copies! Oh wait, Kotick is too busy rolling in piles of console-gained money. ¬_¬
05/10/2009 at 20:52 Seth says:
L4D isn’t a pc game. It’s a cross-platform game that actually sold more on console.
Guess where the bulk of that 300% increase is coming from.
05/10/2009 at 21:06 subedii says:
Sold more initially on the console. Problem is, it dropped off the radar of the console market soon afterwards, where it’s continued to sell on Steam due to some adaptive marketing by Valve.
An interesting little piece that showcases some of the divergences. This primarily deals with player statistics, but Gabe Newell already stated elsewhere how the snap sales drastically affected revenue from L4D (I can try and dig that piece out as well if you’re interested, IIRC it was to do with the end-or-year sales in general but L4D was a part of the talk).
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=24112
More importantly, last sales statistics I saw didn’t include Steam numbers, only retail. Which even at a percentage of overall retail, you must bear in mind that Valves profit margins on L4D are far, far higher on Steam, since they’re the platform owners.
By all means, I’m not saying that all companies find the PC as a platform more profitable. However, I’m pretty certain that for Valve it is, they own the key DD channel which means they can have their games selling for much longer periods of time with a little intelligent marketing, and they make much larger profits per unit sold as well.
05/10/2009 at 21:14 Seth says:
It’s great that Valve has continued to sell stuff with innovative marketing and weekend sales, but let’s just say I don’ think they’re buying tv ads in front of football games so that they can sell the game to a pc gamer on weekend ten months after release for fifteen bucks.
05/10/2009 at 21:19 subedii says:
They’re buying that advertising to advertise the game and get more initial sales.
Doesn’t change the fact that when Valve had the half-price weekend sale they made more revenue (not sales number, actual revenue) than the entire opening week.
You jest about piffly price points, but Valve really know what they’re doing.
05/10/2009 at 21:28 Rei Onryou says:
My assumption is that the L4D2 pre-order stats are based purely on Steam pre-orders as these are the numbers that Valve would have easiest access to.
I do hope the delay is caused by QA for different hardware, but the way I see it is that they should’ve actually allocated time for it, rather than throwing it on in the end, figuring that no one would care.
05/10/2009 at 20:53 Lack_26 says:
A you sure you can’t pirate games on 360, someone I know, his collection of 360 games were mostly in little white sleeves and looked a bit like those blank DVDs you can buy.
Anyway, my interest in COD:MW:2 is pretty low, I don’t think I’ll play it for a year or two.
05/10/2009 at 21:19 malkav11 says:
Console games can be pirated, sure. (Certainly 360 and Wii games can be. PS3 games are on BluRay, which is not really very practical to pirate at the moment even if you can get the console to run pirate copies, something I could not tell you.) But on the PC, you directly download the game, you install, you copy over a crack. On consoles, you mostly have to buy a piece of hardware that you manually solder into it (voiding your warranty). Or get some shady outfit to do it for you, in which case I for one would run into trust issues, and it’s more expensive. For 360, you also lose Live, which is kind of a big deal.
05/10/2009 at 22:28 D says:
Hi malkav11. What you’re saying is that to pirate on Xbox, you need to pay someone to fix your machine first (a one-time thing that pirates do right away anyways) and then just burn a disc and play the single player, whereas when you pirate on PC you need to find the crack (and the right one), maybe use a few technical guides to get it working properly, and you can still only play the single player. Additionally you’re incorrect that the places that fixes your Xbox are unreputable, they are just like every other company in our capitalistic system. Often I think you can buy your pre-fixed Xbox straight from such vendors, with warranty (unless you open it subsequently ofcourse).
I think the main statistical difference between these two forms of piracy is that to play pirated games on a console, you’ll use a PC to download it first anyways, so ofcourse if it’s already out for PC, pirates will get that instead. This must scewer the numbers on the PC-piracy side.
After the trailer I had a genuine interest in buying this on launch day, for that crazy amount of money, but now I am on the verge of LOST SALE, simply because this company misunderstood their market once again. Listen more to Stardock plz.
05/10/2009 at 20:55 Larington says:
None of the above.
If they put the £55 console versions on sale at the same time as the £40 PC version, more people will opt for the PC version.
That means less ripped off pounds going into the corporate coffers, I have no doubt they wouldn’t like that… Actually, it does also leave me wondering if this is a factor in many PC game release delays.
05/10/2009 at 20:59 Senethro says:
The £25 PC version, if you look around enough!
05/10/2009 at 20:58 Dreamhacker says:
Contrary to popular opinion, the reasons behind the delay might not be a petty desire to piss of PC gamers, rather technical issues related to QA for the metric shitload of differing PC hardware that needs to be compatible with the game
But by all means, rage-rage-rage!
05/10/2009 at 20:59 Seth says:
I’m not really sure what reality you guys are living in where you think a significant portion of the public is sitting around wondering if they should play a new release on pc or console.
05/10/2009 at 21:00 Po0py says:
I’m gonna echo what Larington just said. Its a cynical ploy to maximise console sales and we all have no choice but to deal with it. I think I’m gonna become a game journo so I can get these games early and free and, more importantly, play these fuckers on time.
05/10/2009 at 21:03 Alex says:
Well, at least that gives me almost another month to finish MW1 – I’ve been playing it in pretty small intervals.
05/10/2009 at 21:04 ChampionHyena says:
Am I pissed that my beloved PC is getting singled out for these ridiculous, nebulous date-changing shenanigans?
Yes.
Does it affect my purchase of MW2 in the slightest?
HELL no.
You see, I come from a country called America, and here in America, shiny new poorly-understood economic wrinkles mean that college-age white kids like myself have less money to blow on games then ever before.
So MW2′s coming later in November, which would be a big deal if I were getting it in November. As it stands, it’s gone from a hopeful Christmas item to… a hopeful Christmas item.
05/10/2009 at 21:21 malkav11 says:
As for me, I was never going to play it on console anyway, and I’m not much interested in paying $50 for a few hours of shooting action, if admittedly almost certainly stellar shooting action, so a couple week delay doesn’t affect me much.
05/10/2009 at 21:23 Gandy says:
I have a friend who works for one of the major developers, and he confirmed it’s definitely piracy based. Something like 95-98% of the installed base on PCs is pirated, and they know there’s no way to stop it. So all they try to do is buy them a few weeks of sales for consoles so they can make some money back on their investment. As a non-console gamer, I’d rather wait 2 weeks and still have PC games coming out, rather than the publishers just walk away from the PC market.
05/10/2009 at 21:28 subedii says:
That is the other side of the fence. To be honest, even if I was interested in MW2, I don’t think two weeks would make much difference to me. It’s not like the ridiculous 2 month window they put on Bionic Commando (which with all that extra time they still somehow managed to provide a pretty poor port job).
05/10/2009 at 21:34 CJohnson03 says:
Well, $60 is way too much for a video game anyways, so I’m already planning to wait for the Steam 50% off sale, and spend my money elsewhere in the meantime.
05/10/2009 at 21:36 dsmart says:
Nothing to do with piracy I don’t think. No matter when it is released, PC pirates will wait to get their hands on it because I console version is not going to have them going out to buy it because they have to have it on day one.
05/10/2009 at 21:38 dsmart says:
oops, didn’t finish my first post.
This has more to do with wanting gamers who have a console and PC, to go out and get the more inferior console version if they can’t wait two weeks.
For me, I’m disconnecting myself from the Internet on release day so I don’t get tempted to go out and by the console version. :D
05/10/2009 at 21:39 dsmart says:
OK listen up, you mofos better bring back the editing button!!! Lazy bastards.
06/10/2009 at 00:58 JKjoker says:
i second that
05/10/2009 at 21:40 RyePunk says:
Tragically I only have an angrytrain. It goes choo-choo! and is fueled by coal that has been forged from pure rage.
05/10/2009 at 21:47 GlennS says:
MW2 stands for Mechwarrior 2 damn you people. Don’t forget the classics.
05/10/2009 at 21:56 D says:
What was that really great, really long and thorough website about PC piracy, EU/US pricing differences, rentals, console sales and everything else under the category of current market concerns? Found the link from a previous piracy thread on RPS and lost it again. Would like to read it again now after having suffered through some of the comments here.
05/10/2009 at 21:57 BabelFish says:
Honestly, I’m kinda happy about it because this means it’s delayed a couple days past one of the big 300 man lans I attend.
More TF2 and less CoD at lan parties is never a bad thing in my eyes.
05/10/2009 at 22:01 Monkeybreadman says:
I’m on the SlightlyMiffedTrain going to Fuck It City
06/10/2009 at 05:18 futage says:
I’m on the not really fussed train as this game looked a bit wack. But Fuck It City sounds like a nice place so now I’m wondering whether my ticket is transferable and whether I’ll have to pay to cancel and whatever.
05/10/2009 at 22:08 XM says:
M$ wants PC gamers to buy a 360 to win the PS3 battle.
I will not be pushed around, you cannot, I repeat “cannot “play a FPS with a gamepad.
Intel, Nvidia and AMD should kick off big time to show PC gaming will not be pushed around like this.
And the sales crap is what really gets to me, FFS the figures do not include downloaded games. I have not bought a PC game in a shop for years as they pushed them out the back door years ago. If you want a PC game then online stores or services like steam are the only way.
The cost of PC gaming is cheap look at how much the games cost. Each game you save at least £10. If you buy 100 games every 3 years you save £1000 to put to your kick ass PC every 3 years.
Intel, Nvidia and AMD should have a simple PC game spec that works without driver updates. This will win everyone back to PC gaming.
There’s not one thing I can think of that’s not better on PC. I even have a PC in the lounge hooked up to the TV for after pub gaming with mates. Look at all the years worth of games to choose from too.
The game industry needs a big wake up call and stop M$ and Sony’s money ending good games.
I do not care how long I got to wait for CODMW2 I’ve got lots of kisk ass games to play, PC gaming is far from dead Activision remember.
05/10/2009 at 22:12 gulag says:
Is Borderlands still coming out at the end of the month? Grand, then I don’t care.
05/10/2009 at 22:12 Bantros says:
Who cares? I’ll be playing Borderlands and L4D2 which I will purchase through Steam
05/10/2009 at 22:14 OutOfExile says:
Thank god I’m not buying this.
05/10/2009 at 22:15 Dagda says:
I’m guessing it’s to work against piracy, and I rather suspect it’s justified. Remember how insane the piracy numbers for COD4 were?
05/10/2009 at 22:18 Adam says:
They’re doing this to stop piracy hurting console sales?
Well I guess since the delay stops the hurt I can pirate it then?
05/10/2009 at 22:27 kafka7 says:
Of all the things in life to get angry about, I would say games are the least important.
05/10/2009 at 23:26 Ziv says:
But we’re angry internet men! that’s what we do!
nah but seriously this probably just means I’ll have more time on it because it won’t be interfering w/ other games released in that month.
05/10/2009 at 23:40 Gorgeras says:
You’re posting this on a blog about games. I’ll leave you to consider the implications of this obvious logiwang.
05/10/2009 at 22:44 TheLordHimself says:
I really don’t get all the hype behind this game. Modern Warfare one was good but I don’t understand why it was tauted as the best game ever by so many people. Was it just because the caliber of FPS games on the console is so crap in comparison to PC that it made it look like God: The Game?
05/10/2009 at 22:46 Rinox says:
The answer to that would probably be: yes
06/10/2009 at 05:21 hitnrun says:
Basically, yes. It’s the same thing as it was with Halo, and Goldeneye.
“Console shooter” is its own genre. They’re perfectly enjoyable and I’ve even grown to love them since I’ve converted back to consoles, but they aren’t really a rival to the traditional FPS. They emphasize the strengths of consoles (matchmaking and sideways-8 compatibility and accessibility) and use crutches to get around the weakness (actually fucking aiming at and shooting things).
COD4 was certainly the best yet of that genre, but it isn’t really a definitive experience of shooting guys.
06/10/2009 at 09:11 pignoli says:
Yeah, pretty much meh. Okay, a meh delayed by two weeks. Oh well.
06/10/2009 at 11:06 Dante says:
I both agree and disagree with this. While the game’s largely multiplayer based success could well be linked to the ‘Halo Effect’, the single player of the first game was genuinely excellent in terms of narrative. Making COD4, bizzarely, one of the most overrated and underrated games of our time.
06/10/2009 at 11:42 Rinox says:
I dunno. The magic health regeneration thing still rubs me the wrong way and breaks the immersion for me. And I can’t even blame the consoles for that. :-(
06/10/2009 at 17:33 lumpi says:
@hitnrun: I couldn’t have said it better. I love Goldenye. But the thought of playing it with a keyboard makes me cringe…
05/10/2009 at 22:45 Rinox says:
As much as I like making a good AIM rant, the CoD series has long outrun my interest in it. :-(
I’ll spare my bile for the next Dragon Age teaser/trailer.
05/10/2009 at 22:49 ZIGS says:
As long as obscure Eastern-European developers keep releasing obscure PC exclusives that no one else knows about, I’m happy
05/10/2009 at 23:01 Dood says:
Speaking of obscure Eastern-European PC exclusives… Does anyone know a release date for Men of War: Red Tide?
06/10/2009 at 00:01 ComVlad says:
@ZIGS Seconded, I think the only big name games I care about at this point are Borderlands, Dragon Age, and Mass Effect 2, the rest of my interest is taken up by 1c’s catalogue. And on that note:
@Dood 1c’s website lists MOW: REd tide as October 30th along with KB:Armored Princess and Star Wolves 3–clearly these people have no clue how hard it is for a college student to procure bout a hundred bucks and sufficient time to play 3good strategy games
05/10/2009 at 22:49 Nick says:
I’d just like to thank you. “Adding an extra turret to my angrytank” actually made me laugh out loud.
05/10/2009 at 23:06 Tunips says:
While it’s hardly surprising – everyone else is doing it – the certainty or the release date has been a big part of their marketing from the get-go. The only useful piece of information in the announcement trailer was that very date. That really grinds my gears.
05/10/2009 at 23:10 Corion says:
If they’re going to treat us like second-rate customers either way, we might as well act like it.
05/10/2009 at 23:22 LoopyDood says:
ALWAYS ANGRY.
Ahem. Somebody finish that.
05/10/2009 at 23:39 Icarus says:
ALL THE TIME
Yeah, I’m pretty dissapointed at this considering that pretty much ALL of the major PC releases have been delayed to avoid the release of this. And now the game that caused all the delays is delayed itself!
ALWAYS ANGRY ALL THE TIME
06/10/2009 at 05:32 Dorian Cornelius Jasper says:
Activision’s gone and done it again. This calls for a WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!
05/10/2009 at 23:32 Railick says:
Though games are the least important thing to get angry at I’d rathet get angry at games than my wife or kids (the only other thing that makes me angry)
05/10/2009 at 23:34 autogunner says:
who cares? deathmatch multiplayer is soooo 2005
06/10/2009 at 09:14 pignoli says:
who cares? deathmatch multiplayer is soooo
20051999.FTFY
05/10/2009 at 23:35 Buemba says:
I don’t mind the delay. What does bother me is that Activision is gonna sell the PC version for $ 60.00, and that also makes me think that this time around we won’t be getting the DLC packs for free.
Now that I think about it, the only high profile multiplatform game I can think of that is being released on the PC at the same time as the console versions is Dragon Age, and that’s a PC-centric title to begin with.
05/10/2009 at 23:43 Railick says:
Don’t worry Buemba they’ll delay Dragon Age too
06/10/2009 at 00:04 The Colonel says:
I’m in bored with the don’t care committee I’m afraid. Another boring console shooter?
06/10/2009 at 00:21 Persus-9 says:
My general theory of short multiplatform PC delays is that a lot of these are down to the certification processes on the consoles. They have to get the console versions finished early to pass certification weeks before release. That means that if they’re going to make things in an efficient fashion they have to delay a large portion of the PC work until after they submit the console versions to certification. That in turn means that if there’s any slip in the schedule then the bit at the end of the schedule, which is putting the finishing touches to the PC version, slips passed the date they’d need to get it too the printers in order to make the release date and so they delay the PC version of the game a couple of weeks. There might be more sinister things going on in some cases but in general I reckon that is the explanation.
06/10/2009 at 00:23 pilouuuu says:
It’s all consoles and consolers fault! I wish I could play a mod with the sniper mission in which you could shoot an Xbox360 or PS3. Or even better, shoot one in real life! Stupid consoles! They are the reason we have dumbed down games and have to wait more for them.
Developers must think: “if we release the console version and release the PC version which is cheaper, has better graphics, the chance to play with mouse and keyboard and Nvidia 3d Vision, there would be no one insane enough to buy the console version”.
Don’t worry developers. Console gamers are THAT dumb and you will sell a lot of console versions even with the enhanced PC version available at the same time.
06/10/2009 at 02:40 Seth says:
See, the reason I started reading RPS was because it was a place to read and talk about pc games without having to read asinine shit like this.
07/10/2009 at 04:25 Psychopomp says:
So, how do you explain the good, original, innovative console only games?
06/10/2009 at 00:27 NeonBlackJack says:
I’m confused. Are we in a tank or a train?
06/10/2009 at 00:30 Alec Meer says:
The Angrytank does not conform to your simplistic views of transportation.
06/10/2009 at 00:59 Starky says:
Does the angry train-tank look anything like this?
http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/4235/armoredtrain.jpg
06/10/2009 at 03:34 DarkNoghri says:
But with an extra turret.
06/10/2009 at 20:31 GameOverMan says:
Yes, because the rear section lacks the necessary firepower to be properly defended :P
06/10/2009 at 00:34 subedii says:
I realise this is the “angry thread but…
See this guy? Don’t be this guy.
Of course I am ignoring the possibility that this is sarcasm, but it’s unfortunately difficult to tell since you see even less cohesive rhetoric expressed with absolute sincerity every day.
06/10/2009 at 00:35 subedii says:
Also, why does the reply button only work half the time?
06/10/2009 at 00:36 Duffin says:
Maybe they will use this time to make the single player campaign more than 4 hours and 3 minutes and 6 seconds long. Does anyone actually know the estimated length of the single player?
06/10/2009 at 00:49 Serenegoose says:
the fact that call of duty’s single player offerings have becoming decreasingly lengthy with every sequel is why this 2 week delay is inconsequential to me. I’ll be only picking this thing up when it hits £20, to actually get what I can, with great reluctance, call my moneys worth. And I don’t imagine it’ll be that cheap for a while.
07/10/2009 at 04:37 Vinraith says:
Exactly. At this point I wish they’d pull a Valve and just divide the series into SP and MP components. If your game is going to be 95% MP, just go ahead and make it MP only. Make a separate game with a real amount of SP content, and release it whenever it’s done. That I would buy.
06/10/2009 at 00:50 Impossible says:
Yep, because by delaying the game a week they can build another 15-20 hours of content easy.
06/10/2009 at 00:52 Starky says:
In a way though, for all the huffing over it in this thread, it will promote piracy.
It’s a self defeating strategy, one I understand It’s to push the PC + console owners to buy on console. A console where DLC earns money; PC gamers get it free because PC owners won’t pay for 3 badly designed (but pretty) maps. Maps using recycled single player content that if the game had a SDK/modding tool set the community would have created in about 2-3 weeks from launch – speaking specifically of CoD4 here.
Now, this game is a 100% buy from me, Activision will get my money (if there was a way I could pay infinity ward bypassing Activision I would in a second).
That said if this game leaked I’d download it – downloading it would take me about 4 hours (go-go 50mbit line), and I’d play the single player quite happily.
Then when it was available to buy, I’d buy it – maybe (as I usually do) wait a 2 or 3 weeks for the price to drop a bit. Though probably not with this game – It’s a first day buy short of it sticking up the metacritic and getting universally panned by gamer and critic alike.
Just like I do American shows I Iike; because it takes them 3-6 months to get to UK television.
Stargate Universe, airing only a week (less than?) behind US airing, means I watch it on Sky. Usually live but I have it on series link.
Flashforward airing on channel 5 only a week behind the US means I watch it on TV. Watched it live tonight, and Sky+ed it.
Supernatural on the other hand will be a good 8 or so Episodes behind the US by the time it airs in the UK. I can’t wait, so I download it.
The makers of the show won’t lose out, they’ll get their money from ITV (I believe) and from me (when I inevitably buy the box set), but ITV will lose out as me as a viewer.
When it comes to PC games, it works much the same way – often if a game is delayed on the PC I’ll rent it for the 360, intending to buy it later for my PC.
Often, quite often indeed that means I’ll never buy it.
Morals are debatable, copyright infringement isn’t stealing and as far as I care I’m doing nothing wrong – It’s almost 2010, and if companies want to make money in the busy consumer market they need to be able to provide entertainment on the consumers terms.
I’m willing to pay, I have the means, but when the companies involved refuse to offer me the legitimate means to do so in a reasonable time frame from market availability (usually US market availability, but just as often with Japanese games) I’ll use whatever means are at my disposal to get the content I want.
Legal is preferable (renting, importing, playing at a friends, or borrowing it – which is perfectly legal) – but I’ll go illegal if I have too and download it.
Irony is I’ve probably “pirated” more things I legally own than things I don’t.
I can’t be the only one who downloads movie DVDrips from torrent sites because it’s easier and faster doing that than ripping the DVD I legally own so I can have a digital copy to watch on my various stuff.
Same thing is true for games sometimes, my laptop doesn’t have a dvd drive, and some games are a bitch to successfully rip, so I download them.
Good thing that isn’t illegal – Still, I’m in the “pirate” statistics for grand theft auto 4, CoD4, Rone Total War (+ expansions – seriously someone made a “unzip and run” version of that game + expansions, much better to have than installing via CDs…) and many more games I legally own.
Final note, I’ll pay for content – I’ll reward creativity – but I’ll be damned if I’m paying for the same product several times based simply on the format it’s on.
06/10/2009 at 00:58 El_MUERkO says:
BAKBLKJFHFUHEIUHFOHGOU!!!
/pram != toys
06/10/2009 at 00:59 Kadayi says:
Delay suits me fine tbh as I’m expecting/hoping that Alpha Protocol will eat up most of November game play wise.
I’d say probably there is some degree of truth to all 3 theories. Delaying the PC release and thus ensuring a lack of launch day piracy on the platform that might impact upon sales certainly seems like a viable theory. MW2 is a likely to be a day one purchase/must play by any means necessary game for most people, so removing the pirate opinion for a couple of weeks might break the wills of a few people who might ordinarily pirate the title to go out and buy a legal copy, though it does rely upon them being console owners, which isn’t a given. Polishing and not giving a shit about the PC probably factors into it a lot more though I suspect.
06/10/2009 at 02:26 Gentacle says:
Alpha Protocol’s probably been stealth delayed so I guess november’s fucked for ya. :(
06/10/2009 at 08:12 Kadayi says:
@Gentacle
A rumour that’s not been remotely confirmed. If it was truly down for an alleged 8 month delay, I’d expect it to have been pulled from Steam Pre-order by now.
06/10/2009 at 08:34 mrmud says:
Obsidian devs have said that they are unable to speak about whatever is going on with the game so that at least implies something
06/10/2009 at 21:45 Gentacle says:
Said rumor got confirmed. Pessimism wins out any day.
06/10/2009 at 01:00 etho says:
I’d guess a combination of the last two theories. The first one seems flawed by virtue of the fact that the “ard” in Actard comes from a hugely successful PC-specific developer that shows no signs of decamping for the land of the console. And sure, Blizzard surely has nothing to do with this decision, but the company they are a part of could hardly be accused of not caring about PC’s, considering the sheer gobs of cash they make off of WoW.
06/10/2009 at 10:51 DK says:
Stuffing their mouths with PC-derived cake does not mean they care about the PC – they care about the cake. This is Activision-10-Guitar-Hero-skews-per-year-or-bust-Blizzard. The only thing they care about is: Quote “that a game can be made into a franchise”
06/10/2009 at 01:31 Sagan says:
Come on RPS, you’re baiting the AIM a little too often recently.
I for one still intend to buy this game. I don’t care about the delay. It doesn’t affect my views about the game, and I probably won’t remember it in a couple months.
06/10/2009 at 02:00 Zerotime says:
Honestly? The 360 I bought in February has very much been making up for the graphics card that died in my PC back in March. Hopefully I’ll still remember how to use a mouse by the time Diablo 3 comes out.
06/10/2009 at 02:01 Zerotime says:
Honestly? The 360 I bought in February has very much been making up for the graphics card that died in my PC back in March. Hopefully I’ll still remember how to use a mouse by the time Diablo 3 comes out.
06/10/2009 at 02:55 drcancerman says:
I see no reason to buy it, I’m going to wait for a review, if this doesn’t get a 92% or more in score, I will only spend my hard earned money on a second hand copy, or when it lowers the price considerably.
No collectors edition, not even the other “collectors” edition that is coming out.
Do they hate the PC this much? Piracy is as rampant in the consoles as it is on the pc, cheap excuse from Activision.
Anyone remember Prototype? That POS is the buggiest port I’ve ever layed my hands on! Yeah, Boiling Point was as well, but at least it was playable, Gears of War? Still playable! Prototype… I can’t even use the bloody menu!
I used to respect Activision so much… now with even $10 more? Games here in the UK is going at about £25 to £30 on launch date… but mostly £25. The bloody thing is £35! What? Am I paying a console game for my pc with console prices?!
Yes, I’m just one more passenger of the forgotten PC hate train.
06/10/2009 at 03:31 Psychopomp says:
“Piracy is as rampant in the consoles as it is on the pc, ”
BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
06/10/2009 at 03:42 malkav11 says:
I love how people confuse “piracy exists on consoles” and “piracy is exactly as prevalent on consoles as on PC”. The two are not synonymous.
06/10/2009 at 04:03 drcancerman says:
malkav11:
You are right, I wrote that in anger… Well I still am, but slightly calmer.
06/10/2009 at 03:31 CaseytheBrash says:
Roll.
06/10/2009 at 04:15 TheRealCJ says:
What really gets me is that this is probably the biggest release… Scratch that, THE biggest release this year.
So now I’m going to have to avoid all the Game and tech websites and blogs just to avoid spoilers.
06/10/2009 at 04:25 Nobody Important says:
Where do you load the Rage Missile?
06/10/2009 at 06:15 Jayt says:
I should be angry, but these games are shithouse
06/10/2009 at 10:39 neems says:
Isn’t that one of the new CoD4 maps that Nvidia made?
06/10/2009 at 06:44 MD says:
I’m not going to be the guy who comes in here and has a whinge about people taking games too seriously. But even in this context, and relative to other game-related issues, what is the big deal about waiting an extra couple of weeks?
06/10/2009 at 08:05 Kommissar Nicko says:
Because the waiting is the hardest part.
06/10/2009 at 08:06 Kommissar Nicko says:
Oh sweet! I linked it correctly! HTML IS AWESOME!
06/10/2009 at 09:22 Quercus says:
I think it is a superficial delay requested by Activision to promote the console versions more.
Two weeks certainly isn’t long enough to do anything with it and I suspect the PC version will go gold at the same time as the console versions anyway.
Here’s a wacky thought – Maybe RPS (being journalists and all that) should have a word with “Actard” about why they haven’t had any communications from them regarding PC games.
Maybe you should start a campaign of asking tough questions to games developers and publishers and be a bit more demanding about why PC gaming, despite being a bigger market than console gaming, despite causing most of the innovation within software and hardware development and despite being the platform most of these games are developed on, always seems to be treated as the poor cousin to console gaming and we as gamers feel like second-class citizens and pariahs all the time.
And if any of them start off by mentioning piracy, you should beat them about the head and neck with a cracked console.
And if any
06/10/2009 at 09:27 G10Ki says:
Thats ok. I’ll cancel my preorder and spend the money to mod my 360 and buy some DVDs. Thanks Activision.
06/10/2009 at 09:28 Crush says:
The delay is almost always down to trying to stop 0 day PC piracy, pirates are popularity whores and MW2 is whats wanted most. Some wont be able to wait simply because everyone else is playing MW2 and go buy console version instead of pirating it – plus if pirates have bought it then theres a chance of selling DLC to them too.
06/10/2009 at 09:44 sana says:
Sigh.
06/10/2009 at 10:14 Miles of the Machination says:
I guess 0 day piracy is a huge issue, but is releasing it a little while after the console version going to stem piracy at all since the PC crowd is still going to consider its release to be just as important as if it was released with the console version?. This will do nothing but rile up fans and increase piracy due to the tension surrounding this event and the further neglect we have been shown due to such things as special edition exclusivity. Lets hope this delay is purely to do with technical polish and not some ridiculous paranoia surrounding piracy. And if MW2 on the PC is a wobbly port of a console version, I’m adding a fortress made of pure contempt to my angry tank.
06/10/2009 at 10:43 DK says:
I’m pretty sure this piece of news is actually not true – Activision have confirmed that it was a misunderstanding and the PC release is not pushed back.
06/10/2009 at 10:57 neems says:
I imagine the delay is caused by piracy concerns, but anybody who wants to play online – which is a lot of people, especially on the pc side of things – is going to need a genuine copy. I know many people who have (genuine) pc copies of Cod4 and who (a) have never played the single player game; and (b) in most other circumstances will literally laugh in your face if they learn that you actually paid for a game.
06/10/2009 at 10:59 mrmud says:
Plenty of pirate servers for CoD4 around
06/10/2009 at 11:02 GRIMDARK says:
Does waiting 2 weeks knock that extra 10 dollars off the price that they decided to take on? No?
Fuck em then.
06/10/2009 at 12:32 dodo says:
Dragon Age was already delayed. It was supposed to be released back in April for PC, remember?
06/10/2009 at 12:33 dodo says:
What’s wrong with the respond system? It never works! :\
06/10/2009 at 13:37 VelvetFistIronGlove says:
> PICK UP CABBAGE
There is no cabbage here.
> SHOOT ACTIBLIZZARD
The angrytank shoots (in a purely metaphorical way) the obscene half-Activision half-Blizzard mutant, and feels so much better.
> GO NORTH
The angrytank has driven off a cliff. Game Over. You earned 3 points out of a possible 111,009.
06/10/2009 at 13:38 Ado says:
Not sure that’s the right way to go about it, but I feel your frustration.
I think it’s probably more to do with people who own a console and a PC (which seems many these days). The impatient majority will pay the extra £15-20 for the console version. Then be locked into paying for the online play (i.e. through having an X-Box Live Gold account) and the DLC for the life of the game. As opposed to the £30 you pay for the PC version and possibly a little more for an expansion pack.
We lose but Actiblizion, MS and Infinity Ward win… more so…
06/10/2009 at 13:56 Cal says:
It is probably right they care more for the console releases since it will make them so much money. But as you say, unless they give us a shitty port (doubt it), it will probably end up being a better version than both of the console versions. Like most PC games are. They only ever seem to delay PC games case in point would be Star Craft 2, the delays may make the games so much better and that is what the time is put into, not trying to stop piracy to hurt their multi-billion dollar companies.
If delayed they should: a) Give us free DLC, not like the consoles that have to pay for it. Or if they are already giving the DLC for free b) they should release a PC demo so we have something to play in the 2 weeks.
I doubt either will happen and it will just be delayed. But there is hope, so maybe put the angrytank into idle mode for the time being.
06/10/2009 at 13:59 dsmart says:
@ Persus-9
Bollocks. They have dedicated teams working on each version of the game. Cert for the console versions has nothing to do with the PC version – which my source tells me was finished since Aug.
Just wait until the masses find out that it is a GFWL game, thats when the fur is really going to fly.
@ drcancerman
…and you are the problem with the current “review” system.
06/10/2009 at 14:15 Junior says:
Sod ‘em.
Who cares about this fancy future war nonsense?
The franchise was great during WWII, but people popping up at windows and streaming forwards endlessly makes less and less sense during modern times.
I’m going back to Stalingrad.
06/10/2009 at 15:04 bookwormat says:
Hi Junior,
“Who cares about this fancy future war nonsense?”
Many, many people. I mean lots of them. Call of Duty 4 sold very well. I would say that if you want to make people care about a game, going for “fancy future war nonesense” is the way to go.
I hope this answers your question!
– Ben
06/10/2009 at 15:31 Andy says:
I’ve been playing Modern Warfare multiplayer for a while now, I struggle to find good servers though where people use voice chat etc. Can anyone recommend any servers or communities that I could get involved in? I’m tired of playing with random foreigners who never talk.
06/10/2009 at 17:23 Bluepixie says:
@ Andy – Most people don’t use the in-game chat, I for one use Vent with my gaming chums. You should probably do the same. :)
AngryTank is GO! I shall happily attach some malevolent lasers to your vehicle of destruction.
07/10/2009 at 14:01 Tiron says:
195.242.236.67
06/10/2009 at 17:06 zeropotential says:
l4d 2 will be out on time so nothing else matters.
06/10/2009 at 17:35 underproseductor says:
Ok, I will pirate it two weeks later then.
06/10/2009 at 19:46 Kadayi says:
Because as gaming enthusiasts we applaud that.
06/10/2009 at 18:09 Dante says:
As opposed to magic medipacks?
I for one love health regen, it’s as sensible as any other option and frees up dev time spent carefully placing health packs at suitable intervals.
07/10/2009 at 04:12 KAAAAHN says:
Angrytank, FULL SPEED AHEAD.
Damned consolefags!
08/10/2009 at 03:28 Scootpogo says:
L4D2 is sure to be a repeat of the first a new set of 4 characters walking and shooting theres no real depth to the story.
12/11/2009 at 18:59 lamellama says:
Yeah? So?
08/10/2009 at 06:42 [BBF]*Death* says:
Hey Andy come play at Baptized by Fire server 64.27.21.104 port 28940. You will have an enjoyable experience.
As for the Angry tank, I’ll provide you with all the ammo and ill sit on it with a minigun. It just sucks bananas, how the platform which gave birth to the game is gonna be the only one which is gonna be delayed. Pinky Pony them, bananas in their fluffy bunnies, and umpa lumpa in their purple puppies!
02/11/2009 at 03:28 Cameron MacDonald says:
I am Going to School on November 12th With Fists Loaded to Any Consoler that mentions MW2. And Btw. I just Checked Some Torrent Sites. Their is No PC version (to download it is a disgrace) But The Xbox 360 Version Is up and Real. People Have Beaten the Game Already. RAWG!
03/11/2009 at 23:29 Knowledge says:
It is not delayed all y’all are retards.
10/11/2009 at 10:23 Chris says:
to this post please come and join us on epicdot.com we have serveral servers and a big comunity (including cod waw )
And CoD MW 2 for the pc will only be active frrom the 12th on november so yes not a 2 week delay but a delay never the less
11/11/2009 at 01:10 Fatal Error says:
Where did the information that the PC version will be delayed come from? I have my PC copy and I have already played online with a ton of other people. If you preordered the game, you would have it today. This delay business seems to be a bit unclear. If it only affects non preorders, then it’s probably a supply chain issue due to the huge demand for the game.