By John Walker on August 18th, 2011 at 11:28 am.
Update: Ubisoft have deleted the forum post which was saying the DRM would not require an internet connection! Just removed it from history. Fortunately, we took a screenshot.
Update again!: Now the post is mysteriously back, with a disclaimer saying the details are being checked, and a statement should be coming shortly.
It’s hard to know what to say. After their insisting that From Dust, the delayed PC version from Ubisoft, would not require an internet connection to launch after the first time, of course it does. It’s impossible to launch From Dust, even from Steam in offline mode, without being online. Launching the game fires up their new Ubisoft Game Launcher, which refuses to work unless it can find a connection. And that’s ignoring the fact that the game is in no way properly ported.
After someone alerted us to the GetGames site carrying a warning that you required a permanent internet connection to play, we got back in touch with Ubi on Monday to check. Came the reply,
“I can confirm that From Dust won’t require a constant internet connection, as before.”
This obviously leaves things ambiguous. However, Ubisoft’s forum manager, back on the 1st August, made a very clear statement on the matter, that’s pinned to the top of the From Dust forums:
“We are aware of some confusion over the inclusion of DRM in the release of From Dust on PC.
To prevent any on-going confusion we would like to clarify From Dust PC will release with DRM requiring a one-time only online activation. After which you will be able to play the game offline.
We hope this clears any outstanding confusion on the matter”
They hoped wrong, sadly.
And then, the struggle to get the game to play (there are myriad issues being reported with the game, especially the menu screen’s not loading which I experienced on one launch) isn’t rewarded by a proper port. The first thing to notice is that the game is capped at 30fps. With PCs offering four times that, being locked off at a crappy console limit is good evidence of how little effort has gone into the PC version. Worse is the lack of options. Yes, it can be run in a window (for some reason not at the largest resolutions though), but beyond that you’re on your own. Anti-aliasing? No chance. The game is made of staircases on a machine that could be making it look beautiful. So what were they doing during the eleventh hour delay?
What is this? Outright lying? Complete disarray at the company so no one knows what’s going on? One maverick employee posting nonsense on the forum? Whatever it is, customers are being deceived and buying a product that comes with inherent flaws they’ve claimed wouldn’t be there. Which is absolutely unacceptable.
Of course we have contacted Ubisoft to ask when the DRM will be removed, and whether the porting will ever be finished. In the meantime, we can only suggest that you do not buy From Dust.
Edit: It’s worth noting that commenter Sheng-ji reports below that he was able to get a refund from Steam over this.
Also, Ubisoft are now suggesting that you contact their support team to pursue refunds.
18/08/2011 at 11:33 JackDandy says:
A damned shame how a game like that suffers from some company’s dumbass policy.
18/08/2011 at 12:10 Sheng-ji says:
I would like to report that after an exchange of only 3 emails I have been refunded for the game by steam because of this. I’m not going to post a how too, because identical requests damages the chances of people getting one.
Ask and you just might get (Obviously, my key has been cancelled, I can’t now play the game)
EDIT: I will say that I work in the justice system and know how to word requests properly. If you are going to do this, DO know the law, research it fully first and know exactly which law gives you the right to request a refund. Take your time writing your request and be clear, concise and professional. Then read your letter back to yourself, put yourself in a retailers shoes and work out how they would deny your request. Then seal up that opportunity. Repeat until it is airtight.
EDIT2: Stuffed Cabbage a few posts down in this thread got a much easier refund – I’ve never had any luck that way myself, but do try it first, it’s so much quicker and easier.
18/08/2011 at 12:34 thebigJ_A says:
For those of us who don’t know, what exactly is the law that allows us a refund in this particular instance?
(And is it a US law? UK? EU? USSR? Ok, maybe not USSR.
18/08/2011 at 12:35 k37chup says:
Or don’t rush in to buying games or pre-order
18/08/2011 at 12:40 Alegis says:
“DO know the law, research it fully first”
that’ll take a while. And if Valve has to issue a refund by law I don’t see why you should make the law in question a treasure hunt or why identical requests would remove one’s chances of Valve upholding the law.
18/08/2011 at 13:04 Sheng-ji says:
We are dealing with civil law so it will be different in everyone’s circumstances and there are no absolutes. For instance I used the sale of goods act (uk), but equally you could use consumer protection regulations or the consumer credit act, there are any number of eu laws which are relevant. I don’t doubt a clever enough lawyer could use something really obscue. They are not required by law to give any one any money back – civil law is all about disputes. If you feel strongly that you should be entitled to it back, make your case firmly, with no hint of stroppiness and quote the relavent law to why you feel you deserve your money back. If I wad to tell you what I did, they would get a thousand identical requests and actually use the number of identical requests against you.
So you may feel you are entitled to your money back because the product was mis-sold. You need to check first that it was (here’s a heads up, it wasn’t, so don’t try to follow this one, you’ll get exactly nowhere). First you need to find the law which deals with this – contract law, specifically misrepresentation. You will spend as long as you need before you understand it completely.
Write your email next, save it and read it. Work out how they would get out of it (in this case, it’s very clear in steams T&C that a third party may require this DRM, which is why you’ll get nowhere) and seal up the cracks.
Next you need to know where to send it. There are many people who can cancel your key, I wouldn’t bother with steam, they won’t read your email for a couple of weeks and likely ignore it until you’ve sent two or three.
So that leavesUbisoft and Ubisoft Montpellier. If you’re canny, you’ll manage to avoid customer service. I won’t be publishing anyones personal email addresses, suffice to say if you get out of your chair and use the phone, you’ll easily find the right one.
Send, sit back and await a responce. If you’ve done everything well, enjoy that £11 refund you worked for 3 hours to get – maybe more if you have to do lots of complicated research.
Personally I did it to make a point.
EDIT: And for goodness sake, back up your statements with facts, don’t just write “The laws of misrepresentation say that this product was poorly described”, write:
“According to the misrepresentation act of 1967 and backed up by the 1986 case of Gordon v Selico (link here), when an UBIsoft employee negligently posted false information on the date of xx/yy/zz at http:\whateveritwas.com, I took that to be a factual statement concerning the game and was one of the deciding factors as to my purchase of the game.”
18/08/2011 at 13:11 Slade says:
Did you send back the TF2 hat as well ?
18/08/2011 at 13:20 Sheng-ji says:
As to why a couple of thousand identical requests will have less impact than one thousand personalised requests – they will recognise a cut and pasted letter after the third or forth and just start to ignore them.
EDIT: I’ve never played TF2 so have no idea if I had a hat and if it’s been returned or not.
18/08/2011 at 13:20 d3vilsadvocate says:
@Sheng-ji
I live in Switzerland and bought the game via Steam. What kind of law is applicable in this case, since both Valve and Ubisoft are involved? After all I bought the game in an US online store. Is Swiss law still applicable? How come UK law was applicable in your case?
18/08/2011 at 13:26 Sheng-ji says:
Swiss law will be your best bet. The order to go through is your particular countries law first. You will always get the best results this way – I used UK law because I live in the UK.
Next to try if (and this will not be the case for you as swiss law is solid) your countries laws don’t offer you enough protection is your regional law – EU law in your case.
After that try the laws of the country of the shop you purchased from.
18/08/2011 at 13:27 The Hammer says:
Yeah, I might pursue a refund. Thanks for the advice, Sheng-ji!
18/08/2011 at 13:34 Sheng-ji says:
No problem and good luck. I did it not for the money but to make a point in the best way I know how. Sorry to send you on a very time consuming treasure hunt, but please trust me – by job is for the justice system. I’ve worked in law all my life and I’m telling you, you have to do the legwork to get heard. I could post up what I did but it just wouldn’t work for nearly enough people. I don’t want to be cryptic, If I could I’d give all of you personal advise forever until we clean this industry up – however I have a screaming toddler who wants his lunch and just squeezed a mango smoothie all over my laptop power supply, so I must go!!!
18/08/2011 at 13:35 d3vilsadvocate says:
@sheng-ji, ok thanks for the tip.
This article states that I could sue them in a Swiss court:
http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/sr/291/a114.html
And this one states that Swiss law is applicable:
http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/sr/291/a120.html
Unfortunately the text is only available in German, French or Italian…
Anyhoo, I tried to login to my Ubisoft account and it just wouldn’t work, not even after resetting the password to something I defined. Instead of spending 3 hours on getting a refund I’ll probably just play the game for a while memorising following sentence:
“Do not buy Ubisoft games ever again. Do not buy Ubisoftgames ever again. Do not… etc”
18/08/2011 at 13:35 StuffedCabbage says:
I will tell you all how to get a refund from Steam. First I want to say that I was refunded 3 games. Those games being From Dust, Might and Magic(pre-order) and Call of Juarez(pre-order). Bear in mind that I also received, as did eveyone who pre-ordered CoJ the earlier game as a bonus. I even suggested that they subtract the price of the bonus game from the refund. They did not do this. They just downgraded it on my system to a demo, even though I played the game for about 4 hours.
Now, all you have to do is tell Steam that the company you purchased the games from(Ubisoft) broke a promise made prior ro releasing the game and that this is unacceptable. That’s all there is to it. It was that easy.The idea is to be polite and straight to the point. Obviously you have to word it properly and expand a little.
There were a total of 1 e-mail (per game) sent by me and 1 sent by Steam. There was no need for extra curricular communication between us. I have never experienced customer service a s good as Steam.(No I am not a fanboi)
edit: I shoud also mention that the refund was issued prior to the release of the game(FromDust)
18/08/2011 at 13:46 johnpeat says:
For UK customers, Steam are based on London (says so on my card statement) so this would be covered by UK Law.
UK Consumer Law (SoGA) really does not cover software well – you could try using it’s definitions of “merchantable quality” (nothing falls off) and “fit for the purpose” (works as-described) but I think you’d struggle tbh
The Distance Selling Regulations specifically do NOT cover things like software/music/ring-tone downloads – they’re not ‘physical goods’ and so are excluded.
Last option is to just ask for a refund based on your “not being aware” the game required an online connection (despite the Steam page telling you otherwise).. Steam appear to operate a 1-time-refund system whereby they’ll refund ONE game per account as a goodwill gesture – but that’s your goodwill used-up, so choose wisely!
p.s. Steam are usually happy to refund pre-orders before release but it gets harder once the game has been made available…
18/08/2011 at 14:06 Sheng-ji says:
The only exceptions to the distance selling laws are, as far as I can remember – land sales, sales of construction services, vending machine sales, financial services and those conducted over a telephone call. The reason for these exceptions is because they all have better, more specific legislation
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2000/2334/regulation/5/made
18/08/2011 at 14:29 johnpeat says:
From this
http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/business_leaflets/general/oft698.pdf
Section 3.39 discusses ring tones/music (which are digital downloads) and suggests they are services rather than goods (physical products).
The key thing with services is that once they commence, the right to cancel is removed if you’ve specified that to be the case – the wording is
“for the provision of services, if the performance of the contract has begun with the consumer’s consent before the end of the cancellation period and the supplier has provided the written confirmation and additional information (including information that the cancellation rights will end as soon as performance of the contract begins);”
Does Steam actually make any such assertion – something like “your right to cancel ends when you download the game?”
That would explain why pre-orders are refunded without question but once a game is released, they feel they don’t have to honour the DSR any longer?
18/08/2011 at 14:44 johnpeat says:
p.s. I just attempted to read Steam’s “Subscriber Policy” (available in the checkout if you choose to buy a game) and it confirms that they view all purchases as ‘services’ and not ‘goods’.
All other sections relating to refund and cancellation are marked as “may not be applicable in the EU” which suggests they’re aware of the law here – frustratingly tho, they don’t then qualify their position.
What I could NOT see was any wording which suggested that your right to cancel ends when you download/install/play the game – and that would be required if you follow the strictest letter of the DSR.
Only thing is – as sheng-ji suggested originally – if everyone suddenly decides to invoke the DSR and demand a refund – you can bet those words will appear in there sharpish!!
18/08/2011 at 18:24 wengart says:
You could probably just tell Steam Support that the description of the DRM was false.
19/08/2011 at 15:22 Alegis says:
thanks sheng-ji, nice write-ups
19/08/2011 at 18:06 Buzko says:
Sigh. Right.
For those in Australia, the state and Commonwealth legislation was recently standardised into the Australian Consumer Law. It’s found as a schedule to the various Fair Trading Acts and the national Competition and Consumer Act 2010.
Section 18 of the ACL prohibits corporations from engaging in misleading or deceptive conduct. Section 29 prohibits specific types of false or misleading representations about goods or services, for instance regarding performance characteristics (29(g)). There’s also a specific Consumer Guarantee stating that goods* must match the description they were sold under (section 56). Consumer Guarantees cannot legally be excluded (section 64). Consumer can take legal action to enforce Consumer Guarantees (section 259) and force the supplier to give them a remedy, which can include a full refund (section 261).
For more information, see the ACL website.
TL;DR version: if you’re in Australia you probably have rights to a remedy, should you choose to pursue it. You probably have rights elsewhere too.
* I don’t know whether software has been held to be a good or service in Australia. IANAL, but I work in this area.
18/08/2011 at 11:33 oceanclub says:
Between this and the Deus Ex HR debable, it’s really not a good week for PC gaming. I’m far more annoyed at the UK/EU region split than any previous DRM nonsense, since this means that an Irish buyer I’m forced to buy bricks and mortar retail (even then, we’re still unsure as most of those have UK stock).
P.
18/08/2011 at 11:45 Paul says:
Hey, at least there is still awesomeness that is CDProjekt and Mojang. Their PC news this week have been great.
18/08/2011 at 11:52 Gaytard Fondue says:
And Tripwire Interactive, ahem
18/08/2011 at 12:20 Gnoupi says:
Well, PC gaming had Bastion (nice console port, aside from the keyboard control, ok), and Space Pirates and Zombies this week.
It has Rock of Ages coming by the end of the month, and Renegade Ops by mid-september. So far the best period of the year! (well, for me at least)
18/08/2011 at 12:20 KingMudkip says:
Don’t forget Supergiant. (Yes, I bought Bastion yesterday. Yes, it is epic. Yes, I am biased.)
18/08/2011 at 12:26 evilmatt says:
Paul: CDProjekt are dead to me until they treat all customers equally regardless of which vendor’s graphics hardware they bought.
18/08/2011 at 12:39 skocznymroczny says:
Blame the players. If a lot of gamers didn’t join the valve worship cult, publishers wouldn’t have the technical means to reach a lot of gamers with stuff like regional locks. Now that steam is adopted pretty widely (I don’t use it), they can do nasty stuff and all gamers will say is “GREAT THX FOR STEAM”
18/08/2011 at 12:46 Paul says:
evilmatt – what are you talking about ? Witcher 2 runs amazingly on AMD 6950 as well as on nVidia GTX560Ti ! Tested it on both, identical experience.
18/08/2011 at 13:20 DrGonzo says:
Sorry but your conclusion makes no sense. If publishers chose not to be twats we wouldn’t have those problems, it’s absolutely nothing to do with Steam. Steam is simply the most popular platform so it obviously ends up suffering from it.
And stop being such a fucking hipster. It’s apparently incredibly fashionable to hate Valve right now for no rational reason. Just as it was popular for people who had never used Vista to hate it a few years back. Ignorant morons unfortunately.
EDIT: I have a Radeon 4850 which I play The Witcher 2 on fine as well. Sound like it could be another case of blaming a company for one’s own incompetence.
18/08/2011 at 13:21 evilmatt says:
Nvidia Surround works in Witcher 2, Eyefinity does not. The way that both technologies work (by tricking windows into seeing one large screen rather than multiple screens) means that coding the graphics engine to properly support any aspect ratio should allow it to work with both. Therefore it is likely that the graphics engine is coded deliberately to detect AMD hardware and fail to render properly in multiple monitor resolutions – this is alleged as Nvidia provided support and sponsorship of the game.
18/08/2011 at 13:25 DrGonzo says:
It’s actually far more likely it is a mistake, but you’re very angry and cynical about it I’m guessing.
18/08/2011 at 13:34 evilmatt says:
It’s been pointed out to them as a bug in their tech forums and the response was “we never claimed to support Eyefinity, so suck it up” basically. However their engine handles aspect ratios incredibly poorly even in single monitor resolutions so maybe they just have shit coders? See http://widescreengamingforum.com/forum/15293/witcher-2-fov for a nice debate on the topic.
18/08/2011 at 14:21 Prime says:
“And stop being such a fucking hipster. It’s apparently incredibly fashionable to hate Valve right now for no rational reason. Just as it was popular for people who had never used Vista to hate it a few years back. Ignorant morons unfortunately.”
No, Dr Gonzo, we keep trying to tell you our reasons for both but people like you keep jamming your fingers in your ears, shouting “IT’S FINE, REALLY IT’S FINE” and calling us morons when we don’t suddenly march in step with your truth. But that’s okay, you delude yourself into thinking this is all just some kind of mass “hipster” brainfart. Whatever helps you sleep at night.
Berk.
18/08/2011 at 15:02 ResonanceCascade says:
Calling out Valve for legitimate problems is fine, and should be done frequently since Steam is so ubiquitous.
But claiming that it’s Valve’s fault for creating the technological infrastructure that allows things like region locks is like saying antibiotics are bad because sometimes they lead to drug-resistant strains. That’s just one negative externality of an otherwise mostly positive technology.
18/08/2011 at 15:37 sneetch says:
Blame the players. If a lot of gamers didn’t join the valve worship cult, publishers wouldn’t have the technical means to reach a lot of gamers with stuff like regional locks. Now that steam is adopted pretty widely (I don’t use it), they can do nasty stuff and all gamers will say is “GREAT THX FOR STEAM”
The idea that it’s Steam that’s enabling them to add region locking is just wrong. They obviously kept track of which sets of CD keys they sent to which region it’s a trivial matter to add region locking to any online activation system.
You may as well blame the internet for this “GREAT THX FOR INTERNETZ”
18/08/2011 at 15:59 Commisar says:
Ah well, at least we have Bastion
18/08/2011 at 11:33 Iska says:
Fair enough. Was only somewhat interested, due to the reviews, even though the concept grabbed me when it was originally revealed.
I’ll just get bastion instead.
18/08/2011 at 12:21 KingMudkip says:
Do. Get the soundtrack as well.
18/08/2011 at 11:34 Crimsoneer says:
Thank god. I was hesitating between spending my spare cash on this or Bastion, and Bastion has proved to be the FAR SUPERIOR choice. So at least no regrets on my part, and now I just need to buckle down and save up for DX:HR
Still, it’s such a shame. People really need to stop relying on the “shit out rubbish port” button on the Xbox dev kit.
18/08/2011 at 16:28 unangbangkay says:
Isn’t DXHR a Square Enix joint?
18/08/2011 at 11:35 piphil says:
I once emailed Blue Byte about how I would have loved to play their latest Settlers game, but couldn’t the customer-punishing DRM. I never got a reply.
Maybe RPS, with your myriad of tendrils dug deep within the gaming world and the contacts that brings, could ask Eric Chahi, for the benefit of those interested in his game, why he chose to publish with a company that so clearly has lost the plot?
Edit: Out of interest, is the From Dust/Bastion choice due to the ZeroPunctuation double-review…?
18/08/2011 at 11:43 mickygor says:
For me, it’s the price point. I’m poor at the moment.
18/08/2011 at 12:22 LionsPhil says:
I would love to hear Eric’s opinion on this mess.
18/08/2011 at 13:26 malkav11 says:
Blue Byte probably has no control over the DRM whatsoever.
18/08/2011 at 13:38 Edawan says:
Why Eric Chahi choose Ubisoft ? I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s as simple as : Chahi is french, Ubisoft is french, easier to work with them.
And Ubi as “lost the plot” only if you care about PC.
18/08/2011 at 18:01 tyrsius says:
@Edawan:
Yea, it does only matter if you care about the PC. Oddly enough, you will notice that you posted your comment on a PC GAMING SITE, where folk tend to care about the PC.
18/08/2011 at 11:35 Sian says:
I wish I hadn’t pre-ordered it. Won’t do so again with Ubi’s games.
18/08/2011 at 11:41 James says:
Same, Ubisoft have next to nothing to offer my tastes anyhow.
18/08/2011 at 12:22 KingMudkip says:
Aside from Beyond Good & Evil, yeah, I can’t think of a single Ubi game I’ve enjoyed.
And BG&E had a worthless port as well. Hmm… I smell a trend.
18/08/2011 at 12:27 LionsPhil says:
Why would anybody buy, let alone pre-order, any new Ubisoft titles?
This behaviour is not exactly new. They have been repeatedly sticking a middle finger up at their customers since introducing this hideous DRM system.
18/08/2011 at 13:03 skinlo says:
Speak for yourselves, I like a lot of Ubisofts IP, its just the stupid publisher getting in the way.
18/08/2011 at 13:23 KenTWOu says:
@KingMudkip
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory is one of the greatest PC games of all time. And it was very awesome ‘port’. Actually the game still looks better than recent PS3 HD remake.
18/08/2011 at 13:35 mythmanlegend says:
The reason I pre-ordered it was I hadn’t realised it was by ubisoft until I installed and the games loader came up. Didn’t ubisoft break steam t&c with From dust because the game itself downloaded Updates not steam.
18/08/2011 at 14:15 LionsPhil says:
@mythmanlegend: Doubt it; Champions Online does the same thing, and was one of the opening lineup of Steam’s Free to Play games.
18/08/2011 at 11:35 Moni says:
Can you at least play it with a mouse? A frame cap and no anti-aliasing aren’t the worst problems.
18/08/2011 at 11:40 Sian says:
You can, but the controls are a bit iffy. As soon as your cursor is just a bit off-center, the screen starts scrolling. It’s very annoying.
Also, the options menu: As in most games, you select “options” and are presented with a selection of controls, display, what have you. You select display (for example, it happens with every submenu), adjust your resolution and press done – and get thrown back to the main menu instead of the options menu. It’s not a big deal, but annoying enough for me.
18/08/2011 at 11:45 John Walker says:
You’re right it’s a small thing, but you’re also right that it’s bloody annoying. It demonstrates a serious lack of care.
18/08/2011 at 11:56 talon03 says:
Re Sian: yeah, I noticed the exact same thing, almost as if someone had applied the constraints used for an analog stick to the mouse. Oh wait, that’s exactly what they have done.
From start to finish the game reeks of shoddy console port. Lack of camera control, shoddy mouse control, unintuitive buttons, lack of anti-aliasing… this list goes on
18/08/2011 at 11:56 merc-ai says:
I can confirm that the mouse is “possessed” in this game. Try not moving it to enjoy a scene, and the cursor (and screen) will start moving on their own. Annoying, and definitely a sign of bad port.
Which is sad, because the game is interesting and engaging (also notice I did not claim that it is “fun”).
18/08/2011 at 12:25 ludde says:
I won’t touch a game that’s locked at 30 fps. It’s simply not enjoyable.
So for me, I’d be very annoyed if I had bought it not knowing.
18/08/2011 at 12:32 Magnetude says:
“I won’t touch a game that’s locked at 30 fps. It’s simply not enjoyable.”
Oh, come on now, you’d live.
No AA is pretty inexcusable though, the only reason I didn’t pick this up on Xbox was so I could play with a mouse, and AA is pretty important when you’re 3ft away from the screen. Well, because of that and the ridiculously exploitative Xbox system of selling MS dollars in quantities slightly less than the price of a decent game.
18/08/2011 at 12:42 LionsPhil says:
Y-you guys are joking about not playing a game because of a perfectly normal framerate and no AA, right? This is a parody. You’re mocking that kind of shallow idiocy. Your real objection is the iffy controls and DRM that means you can’t play at all, right? Right? Got to be, right? Agh.
IT DOESN’T SUPPORT THE DIRECTX 9000, WHY U HATE PC
18/08/2011 at 12:43 thebigJ_A says:
Ugh, don’t get me started. I’ve had a leftover 80 points on my Live account since 2008! It’s a dollar. WTF am I going to get with a dollar? No, I am not buying s friggin’ hat for my stupid avatar. The only time I care at all about clothes for that thing is when I earn it in a game, and then not very much.
I think I could get something from the indie games section for a dollar, if I knew where they hid the indie games section, or if there were any way at all to judge what’s good, if there’s anything good at all. What a shame. It was a cool idea to try and get some of PC’s indie love on a console, but MS just left it chained up in the basement to starve to death.
18/08/2011 at 13:06 Sian says:
@stupid_mcgee: This is actually worse than edge scrolling. Just being slightly off-center is enough for the view to shift. This makes it hard to dump stuff precisely where you want it to go – heck, it makes it annoying to just stop and look at the (quite neat) landscapes, because you can’t hide your cursor somewhere out of the way.
18/08/2011 at 13:12 Eclipse says:
“A frame cap and no anti-aliasing aren’t the worst problems.”
What? O_o
30 fps means the game is almost unplayable, and no antialias means it also looks fugly.
Also a 30fps cap means it would probably run without a proper vsynk, and that leads to visible tearing when you move the camera around
@LionsPhil: sorry but perfectly normal framerate my ass, 30fps is the MINIMUM playable framerate, a perfectly normal fps value is 60.
18/08/2011 at 13:16 Kaira- says:
“30 fps means the game is almost unplayable”
Wait what? For me, 12 FPS means almost unplayable (as in barely playable), 30 FPS is smooth enough for me. Don’t know about you guys, though.
18/08/2011 at 13:58 Lewie Procter says:
Perception/tolerance of framerate varies wildly between individuals, and is highly subjective.
18/08/2011 at 14:25 enshak says:
You can uncheck mouse scroll in the options menu, for some reason it does not work for everyone, and crank up mouse accelaration to go from my opinion an unplayable control scheme to a tolerable one.
18/08/2011 at 14:26 LionsPhil says:
60 is pretty much a maximum—physically so, in the world of flatscreens, 75 at a push. The display simply isn’t capable of updating more often than that.
Sure, for twitchy old UT99/Quake 3, I want a rock-steady 60. This is a strategy game. It doesn’t demand that kind of framerate, and a above-cinematic 30 is entirely sufficient.
This is pure “I AM A PC GAMER SO I NEED BIG NUMBERS” wankery.
18/08/2011 at 14:32 johnpeat says:
“Perception/tolerance of framerate varies wildly between individuals, and is highly subjective.”
That may be true but it has nothing to do with the sort of people who rage on the internet about how a game not doing 100s of fpsssss which makes their PC’s rumble and glow, so hard are they working, is “crap” :)
Anyone who struggles to play a game running at 30fps has a serious physical defect – and clearly didn’t play any games before about 2000 ;)
18/08/2011 at 19:26 Aninhumer says:
It’s not that 30fps and no AA makes it unplayable, it just makes it much less enjoyable for me. It just means I will be slightly annoyed by the graphics throughout the game, most likely preventing me from getting any kind of immersion. And as I have plenty of other games which do support these features, I’d much rather play them than subject myself to those minor irritations.
18/08/2011 at 11:35 Sunjumper says:
And another game by Ubi-Soft that I was very much looking forward to that I will now not buy. (It must be around five now) The incompetence evidenced by them time and again is quite impressive.
18/08/2011 at 11:35 vanilla bear says:
There are three fairly clear strands of DRM -
(1) Activation – one-time only online registration.
(2) Launch verification – online log-in every time the game is launched.
(3) Always-on – permanent internet connection required whilst playing.
Ubisoft really need to stop exploiting the ambiguity of saying “one-time only online activation. After which you will be able to play the game offline” when they mean that’s what happens each time you play – it shouldn’t be hard to explain what they mean more precisely.
18/08/2011 at 11:43 Shadowcat says:
The term “DRM” may have been coined since the internet became popular, but the concept and implementations thereof pre-date that time quite considerably. It’s not all “online”.
18/08/2011 at 11:43 Donkeyfumbler says:
To be fair, it does look as though they were being quite clear – “one-time only online activation” means option 1. The only problem here is that the person giving this info was either lying, mistaken or badly informed by someone else within Ubisoft, because From Dust obviously uses option 2.
18/08/2011 at 11:50 vanilla bear says:
Sorry, I meant DRM of the sort that companies like Ubisoft seem to want – obviously there are lots of other possibilities both online and off.
I think that what they said is capable of being interpreted as launch verification – but the natural interpretation is as “one-time only, ever”. I suspect that whoever wrote that was seeking to be misleading.
18/08/2011 at 11:36 deanb says:
I’d already put off a pre-order because whispers from the console release had suggested it’s not very long and rather restricted with what you can do. A tech demo for some fancy water physics. But to hear about this I’m rather glad I had put off the pre-order now.
It’s a shame, the game looked really pretty and I thought it could have been really interesting. I’d rather Ubisoft just didn’t release games on PC at all than attempt to catch out a few stragglers with their shoddily made PC games.
18/08/2011 at 11:42 Kdansky says:
Never preorder.
It can only go wrong.
18/08/2011 at 11:36 edwardoka says:
Important consumer advice; thank you.
I was wavering about buying this last night, despite my deep disdain for Ubisoft’s behaviour, which has just become more pronounced.
18/08/2011 at 11:40 Serekh says:
That’s the only way this will ever change. It’s going to be tough passing up the next Assassin’s Creed, but f**k that noise.
18/08/2011 at 13:11 wonderpookie says:
“It’s going to be tough passing up the next Assassin’s Creed, but f**k that noise.”
Preach it brother! The last AssCreed game was a pretty shoddy port in this humble gamer’s opinion. Worse than that was the lack of support in helping to correct various issues.
18/08/2011 at 13:38 KenTWOu says:
Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood was an excellent port.
18/08/2011 at 17:31 Spider Jerusalem says:
And on time, too!
18/08/2011 at 11:39 Keilnoth says:
Just don’t buy that game. No need to complain. That is the best lesson for Ubi anyway. Nobody buying their game anymore. Consumers are us and we have the final word on their politics.
What already makes me LOL is that within one year they will start complaining : “We are being pirated a lot. See how much less we sell games. Boo boo…”.
18/08/2011 at 11:39 Delixe says:
I’m sorry but Ubisoft outright lying to customers, surely that is illegal it has to be? They were asked repeatedly about the DRM and repeatedly lied about it. It really doesn’t matter who’s fault the misinformation is, the end result is customers are being deceived and there has to be a case here?
18/08/2011 at 11:44 Theory says:
The way things are going with the major publishers, government/EU intervention is inevitable. The question is how soon.
18/08/2011 at 11:40 The Sombrero Kid says:
Ubisoft are doing a really good job of teaching me not to bother buying their games, that’s what they’re trying to do right?
18/08/2011 at 12:28 evilmatt says:
No what they’re trying to do is make you buy the console version.
18/08/2011 at 11:41 Ondrej says:
Meh, Ubisoft. Not interested in any of their games anymore. I just read the news for the kicks.
EDIT: also, props to RPS for saying the most needed words out loud (DO NOT BUY)
18/08/2011 at 11:42 Maxheadroom says:
First and last time i spontaneously pre order anything. Stoopid TF2 hat taking advantage of me being drunk with access to a credit card
18/08/2011 at 11:45 Sian says:
I wanted to save money and bought when the exchange rates were at their best (accessing Steam from Switzerland sends you to the European store page). Ended up throwing money out of the window…
18/08/2011 at 11:42 Hides-His-Eyes says:
How about ubisoft just cut the bullshit and stop these awful PC ports altogether?
18/08/2011 at 11:43 Skorp says:
Not to mention the Kb/m controls which are horrible. I was really looking forward to the PC Version of this because of the complaints i heard about the controls on the console but now I wish i hadn’t bought it :/
Well, at least i got Bastion which is amazing
18/08/2011 at 13:43 mythmanlegend says:
I gave up with the keyboard and mouse after minutes and swithched to gamepad.
I did it to for bastion but that was only so I could move diagonally, but with from dust it was almost unplayable without the gamepad. I was very disapointed.
18/08/2011 at 11:43 Paul says:
30 fps cap is even worse than DRM for me. SO GLAD I read this before buying.
FUCK YOU, UBIFOCK.
18/08/2011 at 11:45 Bilbo says:
Much more likely someone ballsed up, either between the forum poster or the (most likely individual) developer who’s handling the online component, than that they’re deliberately lying to consumers to purposefully destroy their credibility and confidence in their company. Lets’ forget for five seconds that everything happens instantly on the internet and give the poor buggers a chance to explain themselves, eh?
18/08/2011 at 12:05 Magnetude says:
The fury in these comments might be a bit overblown, but it serves a purpose. If we don’t get angry about it they’re not going to come out and explain themselves or fix it out of the kindness of their hearts.
Angry Internet Men can be a force for good, sometimes.
18/08/2011 at 12:39 DeathHamsterDude says:
Maybe if this was a one time only problem, sure, but Ubisoft have been getting progressively worse and worse over the past few years. Maybe it was a mistake, presonally i doubt that, but it was still a major mistake to make, that resulted in a lot of people buying a game they wouldn’t have otherwise. And let’s not forget the horrible porting, which I thought was something that might have finally been changing now that PCs aren’t the pariahs they were a few years ago.
18/08/2011 at 13:01 Bilbo says:
I’m not disputing that the outcry isn’t justified – Ubisoft take the piss and are pretty much indefensible – it’s really just the timing and the logic I’m questioning. They’ve not had much of an opportunity to answer for this mistake yet and yet people are leaping to the conclusion that they’re deliberately lying to their customer base for the sake of a couple of sales, which is a heck of a jump to make in no time at all in my opinion and too kneejerk to really credit as coming from the mouths of the well-versed paragons of the games industry and monuments to responsible consumption that rock paper shotgun commenters all are
18/08/2011 at 11:45 Antsy says:
Ubi! You IIIIIIDIOT!
18/08/2011 at 11:45 Jumwa says:
I’d love to see some (preferably all, but let’s be realistic) game sites refuse to cover Ubisoft releases until they give up this nonsense. The way they are attacking consumers? They don’t deserve our sales, they don’t deserve your promotion for anything other than their blatant mistakes.
18/08/2011 at 12:31 Xercies says:
I really feel sorry for the developers at Ubisoft to be honest, they don’t really have a say in this and so aren’t getting any money from us for there interesting ideas because they are with such a horrible company. It kind of makes me sad :(
18/08/2011 at 11:47 willfarb says:
Goddamn it, just bought From Dust an hour ago, been playing it since then. Didn’t realise it had the pain drm :-(
Wonderful game, awful controls, no good graphics options – which is a shame as on some computers this could look truly amazing. Didn’t know I had to use some stupid Ubisoft login thing as well. Very sad now.
Edit to say: Not blaming RPS for “not telling me” or any such nonsense :) Also, the controls really *are* awful. Should have bought Bastion instead – I almost had to flip a coin.
18/08/2011 at 11:50 Ultimanecat says:
By the by, it is not a stretch to say that this opens Ubisoft to legal action in any country with robust consumer protection law.
Obviously this will vary by where you live and the ease of access you have to complaint apparati. For instance, in Australia this is very likely grounds for standing for a complaint under s 18 of Australian Consumer Law (specifically, for misleading or deceptive conduct).
Not like I actually expect anybody to hit the courts over this. Just letting you know that it’s pretty much illegal in many parts of the world.
18/08/2011 at 11:50 Jnx says:
I agree and disdain the Ubi DRM, but still this a bit harsh.
The game really is a lacking port though, I can stand the lack of AA but not having vertical sync is pretty bad. Screen tearing is disturbing. Controls feel a bit off too, might be more enjoyable on a pad. Still the tech is impressive so if you’re into that sort of stuff it’s not a bad investment for its low price. I haven’t run into any problems other than it being not as good as it could.
Also note that this isn’t a godgame in the style of populous and such. More like a terraformer puzzle game.
(Long time lurker joining in too btw..)
18/08/2011 at 11:52 Preyer says:
The game seems to have some issues, but I’m still loving it.
Ubi-DRM hasn’t bothered me.
The controls are a little weird, but I just plugged in my PS3 controller.
And even if the framerate has been locked etc., in my opinion it’s still beautiful and plays nicely.
I actually enjoy it so much that I just spend time in each level changing where the rivers flow and building walls and playing with the world.
18/08/2011 at 11:53 theloz says:
Glad to see Ubi is persisting in using their cutting edge DRM technology – horrible PC ports that nobody would want to illegally download. That’ll show those filthy pirates!
18/08/2011 at 12:32 evilmatt says:
A cracked version is available in the usual places already. No idea if anyone’s actually bothering with it though. Amusingly I found the cracked version whilst googling “from dust pc demo”. Of course there isn’t an official demo available, as then people would find out how shit the port is before spending their cash.
18/08/2011 at 11:54 manveruppd says:
Good on you for making a stand on this, RPS! It’s time publishers learned that consumers are not sheep that can be made to buy anything and swallow any indignity if they just throw enough marketing dollars at us! We have plenty of options for our entertainment and we don’t need to give money to companies that treat us like crap, like a confused Stockholm Syndrome sufferer.
18/08/2011 at 11:54 JackShandy says:
Ashes to ashes…
18/08/2011 at 19:30 Arglebargle says:
Dust to dust
If the Camels don’t get you
The Fatimas must…
18/08/2011 at 11:54 Ice-Fyre says:
I like this post, seems to have abit more bite to it than normal
18/08/2011 at 11:58 JackShandy says:
I wasn’t a fan of the nutty aftertaste, but I loved the way the fruity flavour lingers on the pallette.
18/08/2011 at 12:15 Jody Macgregor says:
It’s got a wonderful mouthfeel and a pleasantly piquant bitterness.
18/08/2011 at 12:34 wintermute says:
THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID, AMIRITE?!?!11
18/08/2011 at 11:55 Jams O'Donnell says:
What happens if you disconnect your internet while playing? Does it boot you out or let you carry on?
18/08/2011 at 11:58 Theory says:
It carries on. It’s the same as what Driver “will” have.
18/08/2011 at 11:56 sneetch says:
Oh Emmm Gee.
No wait, that’s not enough: Oh My Tap-Dancing God! I think they’ve just deleted the post from ms-kleaneasy where she said:
“We are aware of some confusion over the inclusion of DRM in the release of From Dust on PC.
To prevent any on-going confusion we would like to clarify From Dust PC will release with DRM requiring a one-time only online activation. After which you will be able to play the game offline.
We hope this clears any outstanding confusion on the matter”
Edit: ah, John Walker spotted that before I did. Good work that man, glad to see your action-man eagle-eyes are fully functioning!
Edit: And it’s back. Wow, amazing how the computer temporarily “ate” the post them recreated it, computers huh, who knows?
18/08/2011 at 11:58 Voight-kampff says:
The port is laughable and the controls are terrible. I’m in a bit of a fix as I will always suport Eric Chahi and I will always support BlueByte, but i HATE giving money to the shitheads over at UBI.
18/08/2011 at 12:00 SirKicksalot says:
I bet the framerate is locked because that’s the framerate the physics engine works at.
18/08/2011 at 12:00 Lemming says:
See it’s stuff like that this that makes me buy a game on my PS3 instead. From Dust, Deus Ex and Diablo 3 will all probably get bought on my PS3, not because it’s my preferred medium but because I feel like it’s the only way I can play a game without all this insidious bullshit.
It was only a couple of years ago I wouldn’t have dreamed of playing these games on anything but my beloved PC.
18/08/2011 at 12:04 Ultimanecat says:
I’m pretty sure this is what Ubisoft would prefer you did anyway.
18/08/2011 at 12:04 Sian says:
I wouldn’t touch Diablo 3 with a ten-foot pole, even on the PS3, because I really can’t support Blizzard’s decisions anymore. And Deus Ex… I just can’t stand shooters on consoles. I’ll still play it on the PC, though, because I don’t see the problem with the region locking thing right now.
18/08/2011 at 12:20 cmi says:
“I’m pretty sure this is what Ubisoft would prefer you did anyway.”
this. and it works. you don’t care about pc anymore, you buy console games.
18/08/2011 at 12:00 Kefren says:
Yay for screenshot evidence!
18/08/2011 at 12:00 Kaira- says:
What a shame, I was kinda looking forwards to this.
Also, I found this a bit ironic/funny coincidence.E: wait, what do you mean it wasn’t a video, but a picture?
18/08/2011 at 12:00 somnolentsurfer says:
Disappointing. Had been quite looking forward to this.
18/08/2011 at 12:02 arienette says:
Careful John, next they’ll be disappearing you.
18/08/2011 at 12:03 Bilbo1981 says:
I want to know about the legality of selling something and not informing about the DRM. There was no mention you need a UPLAY account to play. I’m going to ask for my money back, the games a broken POS, I suggest others to do this also.
18/08/2011 at 12:03 cmi says:
Don’t buy anything from Ubisoft until it’s on sale. One day, they might shutdown the pc at all because of bad sale numbers (“pc = pirated to hell!!!!”), but seriously, I don’t care.
18/08/2011 at 12:04 Nero says:
Ubisoft is such a joke.
18/08/2011 at 12:04 Inigo says:
Our game has always had online DRM.
We have always been at war with Eurasia.
18/08/2011 at 12:46 Chauvigny says:
+1 for Orwell.
18/08/2011 at 12:49 Jimmeh says:
I see what you did there :)
18/08/2011 at 12:05 ZephyrSB says:
This is getting shameful. EA, 2k, THQ, Squeenix, Ubisoft….I think I’m running out of triple-A publishers that haven’t done SOMETHING to make me re-consider buying games from them at some point. No wonder I’ve been buying nothing but indie games the last few years…
Well, at non-bargin bin prices, anyway.
18/08/2011 at 12:09 ru_disa says:
It is simply impossible that the people in charge at Ubi don’t see this kind of treatment of PC customers as abusive, just as we do. Thinking that would imply a level of ingenuity and naivety on Ubi’s part that pretty much puts them out of touch with reality.
This lying their way around the issue they do every time seems to prove this point…
It seems to me much more plausible that these “measures” are taken in response of investors’ request. Some asinine, ignorant man with a giant cigar and a cowboy hat threatens to stop showering Ubi with the money he derives from his 1000 oil wells, unless Ubi (and I quote the conversarion exactly as I imagine it happened) “Stops this piracy thing now, with this new method my son, who’s a goddamned EXPERT of videogames, came up with!”
After all, we are talking about a huge corporation, not some kind of uncompromising lovers of art and fair-play…
Am I being absurd?
18/08/2011 at 12:14 cmi says:
Either too many people “decide” stuff at Ubisoft without talking to eachother. Would consider this an serious option, even though it’s not a healthy one.
Or all this shit is intentionally to dry out their pc branch and cut it off one day because it’s no longer worth the “effort”.
18/08/2011 at 13:05 VelvetFistIronGlove says:
I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such an analysis. If the directors of Ubisoft don’t think producing games for PC provides an adequate return on investment, or if they decide it’s not going to be part of the company focus, or for any other reason, they can just shut it down. There’s no need for an elaborate conspiracy of shoddy PC ports to make a case for it.
18/08/2011 at 12:09 Corrupt_Tiki says:
I am glad that I stopped buying full price Ubi games a long long long time ago, my last one was, Chaos Theory, I think. I got conviction on the summer sale for like 9$ or something, but that was just more because I fell in love with the first two so much (never really played pandora’s box or rogue agent – heard RA was shit anyway.)
But yeah, boo hiss!
Thank you for eliminating all your inventory of games/future games/ips from my list of “must have games”
Guess I’ll just have to put up with DX, Skyrim, BF3, SSBFE3, D3 and all the other great games coming out.
E:@ updates, lol, but seriously Ubi, get your head right, and then come back with something absolutely mind-blowing, and maybe, just maybe I might buy it, but, judging from these latest moves by ubi, that might be too optimistic.
18/08/2011 at 12:10 Mitchk says:
There are simply not enough faces and palms in this world to illustrate how silly all of this is getting
18/08/2011 at 12:10 deadstoned says:
Advice heeded thanks RPS! Will not even think of buying this during a sale til they get their DRM out of this.
18/08/2011 at 12:10 Deadpool46 says:
Deleting forum posts to cover up for their mistakes is just poor, poor form. What is Ubisoft playing at?
Could you imagine the uproar if this treatment was experienced by Xbox or PS3 owners?
18/08/2011 at 13:47 diamondmx says:
The uproar would be simple but effective, mass returns of the game for full price refunds without argument.
Only PC has to take it up the ass like this. Carpe Diem, PC gamer.
18/08/2011 at 18:22 Fitzmogwai says:
Carpe Diem, or Caveat Emptor?
18/08/2011 at 12:11 NaFola says:
I was really looking forward to this game when I first saw it. Then came the reports of the launch delay followed by the somewhat disappointing console reviews. I was still thinking about persevering with it, but decided to wait until it launched for PC and get the initial impressions. Now i’m glad I waited, and shall continue to wait until a demo is released. My expectations are now quite low, so maybe i’ll end up finding it somewhat enjoyable regardless.
The thing that bothers me though, is that this kind of situation can put developers/publishers off of putting titles out for PC full stop. If they feel it’s “too much hassle/cost” to “cater” for the PC, then they won’t do it. It’s much simpler for them to shoehorn everything into a workable pipeline, where they wont have angry internetters banging on their doorstep. I know the PC seems to be slowly making a resurgence, but what happens come the next generation of consoles? This is far too big a topic to be discussed in the comments section of a news site, but it does make me wonder what the future holds for PC gaming, and gaming in general.
18/08/2011 at 12:30 mihor_fego says:
Worry about PC gaming? Sorry, but PC gaming is doing perfectly fine. If some publishers decide they won’t make the effort or just not release games on our platform, no problem. There’s a lot of console games I’d wished I played over the years but I can live without them. If a few more add up to the list, that doesn’t mean PC gaming suffers as a whole.
18/08/2011 at 13:17 NaFola says:
Yeah I know it’s doing well at the moment, and I didn’t say it was “worrying” as such, although the tone of my post was pessimistic due to initial reason for posting. I agree with you that it doesn’t mean PC gaming suffers as a whole, but it may still change what PC gaming has to offer (for good or bad). That’s why I said it is too big a topic to be discussed here. There is far too broad a scope for the long term potential outcomes. Also I can’t claim to have enough knowledge of the influencing factors or having analysed history enough to make a decent judgement on what may come though. Hence my “wonder”, rather than opinion.
18/08/2011 at 13:23 InternetBatman says:
Who cares if Ubi stops supporting the PC. Their games, even Assassin’s Creed, are uniformly mediocre now. Their ports are always sloppy and indie/ other AAA developers can pick up the slack. I’ve spent more time playing indies this year than AAA games.
18/08/2011 at 12:12 Teddy Leach says:
People expected more from Ubisoft? Really?
18/08/2011 at 12:13 Jody Macgregor says:
For some reason, the idea of you taking that photo of the dustpan and brush just for this post pleases me immensely. I can’t see it on the first page of Google image search results, so I choose to believe you did. Nice one.
18/08/2011 at 12:13 MrMud says:
Well this is a massive bummer.
Delay it a month and still cant give it a proper treatment, really ubisoft?
18/08/2011 at 12:15 GenBanks says:
It’s incredibly deceptive to change an official stance on something so important after lots of people preordered…
anyway, I’m glad I waited. Will spend the money on Bastion instead.
18/08/2011 at 12:16 Cinnamon says:
Not too long ago I did not care if a game had dodgy copy protection and just bought it and played it with a crack. Now I just won’t buy it and it appears other people try to get a refund. It’s funny how these things work.
18/08/2011 at 12:18 faraany3k says:
Thanx for the update RPS. I was actually planning on buying it once i was going to the Hill station for summers. I guess i wont be able to play it cuz there is no internet there.
18/08/2011 at 12:18 Exo says:
This is an excellent example of why we could do without impressions of a game from the console version, regardless of how caveat ridden they are.
18/08/2011 at 12:19 Dao Jones says:
It seems the post was “accidentally” taken down when the one moderator edited it to say there will be an official statement later on.
http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9751064939/m/5561081249
18/08/2011 at 12:22 shoptroll says:
Thanks John for raising the alarms on this one.
It’s stuff like this that makes me wary about pre-ordering games these days. I really really wanted this to turn out well after the mysterious delay and this is what happens :(
If I could return the game in disgust I’d have done so by now. Pronto.
18/08/2011 at 12:25 Tei says:
On my copy of the game the “Save game” function don’t work.
It don’t feel like a bad game. Feel like a good game with a faulty DRM staped on it.
The game need to login to a server wen you launch it. And wen you “logoff” from the game, it connect again to the server, and upload your savegames.
Since my copy of the game fail to syncronize with the server, my savegames are lost.
There are absolutelly no reason to do that, copyright protection, or other.. Steam also have a cloud system for savegames, but I don’t lose my savegames
I have this problem connected to the internet.
Ubisoft, you owe me 2 hours of my life, and 1 videogame.
18/08/2011 at 12:31 Dao Jones says:
Ubisoft made Tei sad. I don’t like Ubisoft. :(
18/08/2011 at 13:20 Tei says:
@Dao Jones
I like the game. And is cheap enough, I can deal with it.
My other option is to check the warez networks, and download a version of From Dust where the “Save game” function work. But I don’t want to do that, since I don’t want to risk to install a rootkit.
Humm… *checks warez site*
“From Dust-CLONEDVD-P2P
Posted on 16.08.2011 at 23:14 in Games, PC by Sinapse”
The game was already warezed yesterday at 23:14 hours. About ~5 hours after release.
18/08/2011 at 12:27 Jockie says:
John essentially convinced me to buy Bastion yesterday, I was on the fence, but his ‘WIT’ convinced me to take the plunge and it’s been worth every penny.
Now he has saved me from grabbing this disgrace of a port. I am around £11 in your debt sir.
18/08/2011 at 12:32 zeroskill says:
been watching this, have been wondering if I should pick up Fron Dust or Bastion, looks like im going for Bastion then. Anybody can confirm?
Edit: Im guessing from the comments that Bastion would be a better investment of my money right now if I was to choose between From Dust and Bastion.
Opinions?
18/08/2011 at 12:33 Ertard says:
I was the one that saw that Getgamesgo thing. Yay, I’m useful! Well, maybe I was just one of many.
I don’t understand why Ubisoft are so terrible at both marketing and in some regard their porting. It’s like they really, really want their PC games to fail, so much so that I’m starting to think it’s deliberate – so they can ditch the format. That would be a brilliant PR plan, but right now it just looks like no one gives a shit and no one within the company is talking to eachother – they just expect to get money while being dicks.
18/08/2011 at 12:34 DuckSauce says:
“In the meantime, we can only suggest that you do not buy From Dust.”
I suggest, do buy it, unless the DRM poses an issue, or you really hate DRM, because despite the lack of graphic options, capped fps and some control problems, it’s an amazing game, though I’m not expecting to get much more than 10 hours of it, the experience is what matters to me here, it’s a nice concept, with some nice challenges, badly ported, yes, for me it’s fully playable though.
18/08/2011 at 12:39 Jnx says:
I agree with this.
18/08/2011 at 12:58 Avish says:
Or just wait a couple of months for a sale and a patch.
18/08/2011 at 14:49 pistolhamster says:
+1 I am quite surprised at the high level of Angry Internet Men this has caused. I bought it and played it yesterday. I acknowledge and agree on the criticism, but they are way, way out of scale except for the DRM bit. It annoys me a bit, but I am having a good time playing “From Dust” and I would not recommend anyone to avoid it. That is too harsh a verdict, too nerd-ragey-I-have-RIGHTS-you-know Angry Internet Man-ish.
18/08/2011 at 14:57 Prime says:
@Pistolhamster – taken as an isolated case this is all true. What I think is happening here is the culmination of many weeks of stories telling us that Ubisoft just don’t care about PC enough to give us decent, timely product. It hurts particularly with this one because most of us will have been entranced from the moment it first appeared on our radars – we wanted this one to be a bit special, a bit old skool, something we could support and rally behind. But now Ubisoft’s appalling publishing behaviour is over-shadowing it.
So, yes, an over-reaction for one game but this isn’t solely a reaction to one game, although there are specific disappointments being aired; for many it’s the final straw in being treated so poorly by Ubisoft.
18/08/2011 at 12:36 LTK says:
I was going to cut Ubisoft some slack and buy this game anyway for the sake of the devs, on the basis that it has an original premise and interesting gameplay. But now they can just suck it.
18/08/2011 at 12:36 PatrickSwayze says:
What a shame. Really glad I got this on le X-brick.
For those of you with gamepads I’d say its worth investing in still.
And I’m sure you’ll be able to force AA on via graphics card software.
18/08/2011 at 12:36 Earl-Grey says:
Goodness, Ubisoft make me cross eyed with rage these days.
A steady supplier of breakfast gall.
If I wasn’t such a feeble, delicate little thing I’d crush my cup in my hand in a dramatic fashion.
I’ll have to settle with looking broodingly out the window instead.
18/08/2011 at 12:40 danteGideon says:
And er, don’t call me shorty.
18/08/2011 at 12:41 f4Ri says:
It’s a very disappointing game with far too many limitations. The player is walled in and there’s no chance of escape. I was hoping for a newer Black & White and this was nothing like it, not even enjoyable. In the end I deleted it and went back to Anno 1404.
18/08/2011 at 12:42 Mechanicus_ says:
Bugger – pre-ordered this based on seeing it on the 360; ironically many complained they thought it would play better with a mouse.
Anyway; this is blatantly misleading, so I’ve dropped in a Steam support ticket asking for a refund. I think in this case even Steam may make an exception and offer refunds – their own system requirements page does not list the online connection requirement or DRM (while it certainly does for game like Assassin’s Creed 2 which has the same system).
I suggest anyone else disappointed do the same.
18/08/2011 at 12:45 MaxMcG says:
I was actually thinking of buying this. Until now.
No doubt this lost sale will just be interpreted as a sale lost due to piracy.
18/08/2011 at 15:01 Prime says:
…unless you write to them, explain why? Just a thought. :)
http://www.ubisoftgroup.com/index.php?p=69
18/08/2011 at 12:46 staberas says:
I don’t see whats the fuss all about , I’m playing the game right now and its fine :D
18/08/2011 at 12:47 MrThingy says:
Badly ported, but I am enjoying it.
I’ll have to install ATI Tray Tools to force VSync as the screen tearing is making me hallucinate badly. (I don’t see an option for this in-game anywhere?)
18/08/2011 at 12:47 Eclipse says:
I love Eric Chachi and his games, and I’m sure I’ll love From Dust, but the possibility of an aggressive DRM took me away from preordering the game. And boy I’m so glad I didn’t.
A game that runs at 30 fps means “barely playable” in my book, it can be the standard for console players but my eyes just can’t enjoy a game that runs so sluggish for too long
18/08/2011 at 16:06 mejoff says:
How are you with TV and cinema?
18/08/2011 at 17:20 Pointless Puppies says:
You do realize TV/cinema and video games are two completely different things, don’t you?
18/08/2011 at 12:48 feighnt says:
i bought this yesterday, didnt know about the DRM.
fine, Ubi – you’ve got my purchase this time. and for pulling this crap, you’ve lost any future purchases until i find out you’ve *definitely* turned away from this stupidity.
18/08/2011 at 12:50 Coins says:
So, they’re basically lying to us now? Well, gee, who’d expected that. I actually do like From Dust, it’s a charming little game and not the new Black and White (but we knew that). It’s sad it’s chained to the bully that is the UbiDRM.
Also, I’m rubbish at networking, but I’m kind of certain it does indeed require always on.
18/08/2011 at 12:54 Ravious says:
Honestly a poor port enrages more 10x more than a DRM. At least the DRM was created FOR THE PC people. As much as I am interested in the gameplay, that is an absolute deal killer for me. My new price point is $0.99.
18/08/2011 at 13:08 VelvetFistIronGlove says:
Wait, you’re happier to be actively abused than just neglected?
18/08/2011 at 14:51 pistolhamster says:
Actively abused is sometimes more amusing than completely ignored :)
18/08/2011 at 12:55 Jimbo says:
I can at least sort of understand the lack of effort when a PC version is only intended to pick up scraps, but this is a game I would have expected to easily do better on PC than on XBL (if they hadn’t screwed it up). A strange one this.
18/08/2011 at 12:59 Tom says:
ha! if this isn’t a huge pile of WTF and LOL I don’t know what is.
18/08/2011 at 13:03 Stompywitch says:
Saw a friend playing this on their consolebox on the weekend and was interested, despite it being Ubisoft.
Glad I didn’t purchase it, though. WILL NOT BUY.
(And, obviously, will not pirate.)
18/08/2011 at 13:06 Diziet Sma says:
I had to point this out to their own support staff last night:
http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9751064939/m/8741001249?r=5181032249#5181032249
18/08/2011 at 13:07 MadTinkerer says:
Woah! This is GREAT NEWS!
Don’t you see: when it comes to vague what-if scenarios and creative goofing around with sales figures vs. imaginary piracy statistics, they can spin all they want. “Yay! This was a triumph! Making a note here: huge success!” But when it comes to customers demanding refunds, that’s a whole other matter!
A good video on the matter: We’re The Enemy
18/08/2011 at 13:27 Prime says:
This is, indeed, something to celebrate. A wee touch harder to spin mass refunds into something positive, isn’t it, Ubisoft?
Makes me all the more certain that I’m not buying any more Ubiisoft games until they change their policies and/or fire the guys running the PC department just now. I mean, From Dust is one of the few games that most PC gamers actually wanted (or had expressed an interest in) – all they needed to do was do it justice, ease back on the DRM, and the money would have flowed in. Now….it’s a mess that no-one wants.
The DRM is unacceptable. Poor ports are unacceptable. Being thrown scraps from your table is unacceptable. Lying to consumers is unacceptable. LEARN, Ubisoft!
18/08/2011 at 13:10 Zanchito says:
Yet I’m sure there’s a version around that doesn’t need any of this crap. Pirate versions just give a better experience, this kind of DRM is self-defeating, alienating PAYING customers and making them jump through hoops while freeloaders can just double click install and play as much as they want. When will distributors realise this?
18/08/2011 at 13:15 skinlo says:
School boy errors preordering, I’ve only done that for two games ever, Portal 2 and L4D2, and haven’t been disappointed by either.
18/08/2011 at 19:52 Fiatil says:
Kind of a silly thing to say don’t you think? Only naive schoolchildren pre-order, but look at me I did it twice and it was awesome!
18/08/2011 at 13:22 nootron says:
Its a decently fun game. This is no Fable III port. It looks good and runs well. Sure there is a framecap, etc, but its mostly good.
That all being said, what REEEEAAAAALLLY irks me is that you control the dirt/water/lava moving cursor with the keyboard and the camera with the mouse. I swear the person in charge of porting has never even seen a PC.
Ubisoft head: “Sacrebleu! We need someone to port ze game to ze personal computer. Who will do zeese?”
Jaques: “Is zeese ‘personal computer’ somesings from Nintendo?
Ubisoft head: “no, its like zee macbook pro only is rectangle and has un paquet du case fans”
18/08/2011 at 13:23 Diziet Sma says:
If ubisoft fail to release a patch I will happily forgo updates and crack my copy of the game. :/ This is a lovely little game to tinker with and perfect for whiling away time without a net connection.
18/08/2011 at 13:27 reticulate says:
It’s a bloody $10 XBLA game, why bother loading it down with crappy DRM to start with?
I don’t understand the mindset of these publishers.
(All that said, picked this up on the Xbox and it’s a great little diversion, especially some of the later levels. It’s not really a god game though, more a terrain deformation puzzler.)
18/08/2011 at 13:31 Bilbo says:
Hi! It looks like you’re discussing a game based on its merits, and not on the distribution policies of its’ publisher. Are you new here? Do you need some help?
18/08/2011 at 17:50 Pointless Puppies says:
@Bilbo:
You do realize what article you’re posting in, don’t you? Not exactly surprising that people are complaining about Ubisoft’s poor PC port on an article about Ubisoft’s poor PC port, is it?
18/08/2011 at 13:28 Zaxwerks says:
Pity. I was looking forward to buying this. Glad I didn’t pre-order. Honestly Ubisoft appear to be getting more and more incompitent with every game they release. Unless it’s for console or has “Assassins Creed” in the title they don’t seem to care.
18/08/2011 at 13:30 Bilbo says:
Lol, incompetent with an i. Better call the irony police
18/08/2011 at 14:06 Coins says:
Oh no! Someone made a tiny typo. My life is ruined!
18/08/2011 at 14:11 Bilbo says:
an ironic typo.
18/08/2011 at 14:13 DiamondDog says:
Ha, you pointed out his inability to spell incompetence was ironic and then forgot to use a full stop!
Better call the irony polise.
18/08/2011 at 14:42 Prime says:
He also started his second post lower-case.
18/08/2011 at 14:59 Zaxwerks says:
Help! I’m feeling picked on! You’ll be after my dinner money next!
18/08/2011 at 16:43 Bilbo says:
If I’d been calling someone out for being incompetent you’d have a point… sort of… but I was just poking fun at OP so humorous putdown denied move along
18/08/2011 at 13:29 Chris D says:
I bought it last night. It did not make a good first impression. Had to run the separate launcher as an adminsitrator to even get started. Then it told me it was patching the launcher. Then it told me it was patching the game. Then it told me it was checking for updates. Then I had to make another F-ing account, with the old, try to come up with a name that hasn’t already been taken game.
As has been said the controls are not good. In fact they’re abysmal. Very limited options. I tried to change the camera within about 2 minutes only to find out it’s not possible.
Having got past all that I actually do like the game itself quite a lot. It’s pretty, inventive and some very nice ideas. There is one hell of a difficulty spike about halfway through. (Tides level)
If it was just the lousy controls I could live with it but the nonsense DRM makes it very hard to recommend. Which is a real shame because it looks like there’s a real interesting game under there being suffocated by a thick layer of shit.
18/08/2011 at 13:43 piecoughed says:
Pretty annoyed/disappointed with this shoddy port. Poor AA/textures really makes it feel like it was upscaled from 720p. And the controls are hilariously stupid.
At least I got a dumb hat. (Which, depending on silly virtual hat market values, sadly might offset or completely pay for the price of the damn game itself.)
If you’re looking for a game till Deus Ex I’d recommend Bastion or SPAZ.
Stay le~~~~~~~~~~ heck away from From Dust.
18/08/2011 at 13:44 sassy says:
Ubisoft, I hate you. Please stop existing for the good of all gamers! You have long since gone past the realms of forgivable, no longer can you just take back what you’ve done. So please do the honourable and close the business and have the board of directors commit seppuku, it is the only way to gain absolution.
18/08/2011 at 16:21 mejoff says:
Oh come now, I really don’t think we’re at the point of wishing actual death on people are we? I mean, this is a fucking awful way to treat customers and I would hope for legal as well as fiscal consequences for the dishonesty, but demanding self evisceration is going a little far.
18/08/2011 at 16:42 sassy says:
The seppuku remark was meant to be going too far, as was most of the comment. I did only wish the board of directors to do it though, whom seem to have given up their humanity anyway so it’s no loss.
I just hope they push gamers too far soon and get a massive backlash, the whole industry needs a shake up.
18/08/2011 at 14:01 Hmm-Hmm. says:
This isn’t facepalm-worthy.. come on, it’s Ubisoft. Why do we even bother with them again? Oh yeah, the actual games seem rather nice. Huh.
18/08/2011 at 14:04 lcpong1 says:
Well…
What’s the point of DRM when it can barely stop piracy and bring huge rage from the legit/genuine buyers?
This game seriously needs to improve it’s awful control…it’s a pain to move around. Also graphic options pls !!! Let us turn on/off DoF, adjust graphic quality pls, and remove the frame limiter definitely, it lags really bad
I had much greater expectation on this game than Bastion, yet it turns out Bastion is a much much more successful title than this port.
18/08/2011 at 14:08 Napalm Sushi says:
I just got out of bed, because I was playing this from just before midnight last night until 6:30 am this morning. All of the statements about how poor a port it is are 100% true, and my regret for purchasing it is precisely zero. If you’re willing to see through all the aliasing and screen tearing (and I won’t deny feeling some longing for what could have been), there’s an absolutely sublimely beautiful game here.
18/08/2011 at 14:09 The Hammer says:
What’s horrible about this is that From Dust is evidently a very fresh, unusual game – a game rightfully championed by Ubisoft, while at the same time one that is shackled to a stupid, stupid DRM system.
So the great reception this game could have garnered is tarnished by commercial non-thinking and downright deception of customers. For once, that isn’t hyperbole.
18/08/2011 at 14:45 Prime says:
It’s the sense of crushed hope that is most tragic in this thread. From Dust should have been special.
18/08/2011 at 15:25 Tei says:
NoooooooooOooooooooooooo!!
18/08/2011 at 14:15 mehteh says:
i really have to stop looking forward or being hopeful of any Ubisoft made/published game. This was one in a very long time that looked worth getting. not anymore. Im glad i never bought it because i knew it would still require a Ubi account to play the game for its activation
18/08/2011 at 14:23 Ezhar says:
Almost bought it last night, but read several reports about it being a fail port on Metacritic and now I’m glad I reconsidered. Should’ve remembered never to trust Ubisoft.
18/08/2011 at 14:30 Skusey says:
I’ve waited for the PC version as I thought it would be better. Just going to ignore it completely until I hear it’s fixed now.
18/08/2011 at 15:31 Tei says:
yea :-/
18/08/2011 at 14:52 RyuRanX says:
The lamest port this year, don’t buy it. No graphical settings, terrible controls, always online DRM and a 30 FPS lock. Usually 30 FPS is smooth enought to enjoy a game, but not here. From Dust appears to be running at 20FPS or lower, it’s really bad.
Buy Space Pirates and Zombies, Bastion or Avadon: The Black Fortress instead. Support developers who deserve your money.
18/08/2011 at 15:51 Napalm Sushi says:
The issue here being that the developer does deserve the money, because the game itself is really quite something, while the publisher deserves a masive fine and non-chemical castration. It’s quite the conundrum.
I just hope that this debacle convinces Chahi to take the indie road in future.
18/08/2011 at 16:49 karry says:
What is so good about that Bastion ? Looks like shovelware to me, especially with those kinds of system specs for what can only be described as unimpressive level of graphics.
18/08/2011 at 17:11 Jim Rossignol says:
@Karry. It is the actual opposite of shovelware.
18/08/2011 at 17:31 magnus says:
If I could ever psychicaly project a mexican face-palm now would be the moment.
18/08/2011 at 18:01 Zarunil says:
+1 for Space Pirates and Zombies. Excellent stuff.
18/08/2011 at 18:08 UncleLou says:
Now there’s a lot of … strange … comments one comes across on a daily basis on the net, but Bastion being shovelware is 2011′s winner so far. But seeing how you also said the game has an unimpressive level of graphics, I’ll just assume he confuses Bastion with something completely different.
18/08/2011 at 15:04 SuperNashwan says:
I thought I was going to be tempted to break my boycott of Ubisoft games for this, guess I should’ve known better. Sales -1 you loons.
18/08/2011 at 15:16 chabuhi says:
I had no troubles running From Dust (my standing protests against pointless DRM notwithstanding).
My real problem with From Dust is that, although it cost “only” $15US, I was able to play through it in one sitting.
18/08/2011 at 15:20 magnus says:
This is one car-wreck which I can’t look away from.
18/08/2011 at 15:37 Soram00 says:
From Dust? More like From Stairways and Screen Tearing.
Bad joke? Perhaps… Or maybe the joke was purposely made poor, to reflect the PC release of this abomination.
18/08/2011 at 15:39 Zarunil says:
Glad I didn’t pre-order. I really wish they’d stop this silliness. If they care at all about their image, they won’t implement asshat DRMs that only hurt consumers in future releases. Ubisoft’s image is down in the dumps.
18/08/2011 at 15:43 jonfitt says:
Never pre-order. That’s number one right there.
If you also never buy a game before reading a good review and you’ll be fine.
18/08/2011 at 15:46 JoeFX69 says:
I never bought the game so this issue doesnt bother me directly, (although I have serious misgivings of Ubisoft as a “company”) but let me personally just give a massive thank you to Sheng-ji for all his help with everyone….
You sir are a great human being
18/08/2011 at 15:58 Urthman says:
and a above-cinematic 30 is entirely sufficient
Anyone who compares pc framerates with film frame rates has absolutely no idea what they are talking about. Film is an analogue medium.
18/08/2011 at 15:59 terry says:
I like the game! But really not being able to turn off some of the eyecandy is making my computer cranky, despite being well above minimum specs. I *know* that if I could turn shadows to low it would run just fine for my tastes, but there’s no slider. So I’m playing in 800×600 :-(
18/08/2011 at 16:02 Urthman says:
The really sad part is that the gameplay and art style seem to be a much better fit for mouse controls and high-resolution monitors and graphics cards. The Xbox reviews have all complained about the muddy graphics and the awkwardness of using a controller.
I’ll bet they would have made a lot more money if they’d just focused on making this a good PC game.
18/08/2011 at 16:15 rocketman71 says:
Fucking Ubi. Goddamned Ubi. Why the hell did you have to buy Nadeo?!?!?. WHY!?!?!. Now I’m completely torn about Trackmania 2. Do I buy it and give money to these utter bastards?. Do I pass on what can be again my game of the year?. Damn Guillemot and his ilk!!!.
PS.- Hey, John, when you get screenshots of walls of text in your browser, use PNG instead of JPEG. You don’t lose any quality, and usually the size is way smaller (unless the screenshot includes lots of images).
18/08/2011 at 16:20 MadTinkerer says:
You know what’s really great? An online launcher that doesn’t work with the Steam overlay and thus forces you to go hunting for your activation key. I quit, then copied & pasted the key to Word before starting the process over again. Also: LOVE that I must register ANOTHER whole new account before I can even activate the game. Chantelise didn’t try to pull this shit, I’ll tell you that.
…
And it crashed when i finally tried to play it.
And then the sound quit on an apparently unskippable intro when I finally got started. But after that bit it finally started working.
Three levels in and there haven’t been any more headaches, but I’ll remember how much of a pain it was to actually start the game next time Ubisoft tempts me with an exclusive TF2 hat- er, I mean new game.
18/08/2011 at 16:25 Hardtarget says:
Launched the game last night when I got home and wasn’t surprised that it needed uplay and what not with my cdkey so that didnt’ bother me really but i was kind surprised at the lack of graphical options.
I had no problems going through the first few levels though and had quite a fun time with it.
18/08/2011 at 16:45 SpakAttack says:
It’s almost like they want us to hate them!
18/08/2011 at 16:52 jokomul says:
I am absolutely furious over this release. I was looking forward to this game possibly more than any other game this year… and it’s a freaking shitty port with (unacceptable, for me at least) horrible DRM.
I’m going to contact Steam and do my best to get my money back.
18/08/2011 at 16:57 D3xter says:
I saw this after I bought and was moderately pissed right away (Pre-Ordered LIMBO, Bastion, From Dust, Avadon and Rock of Ages as I planned on buying them anyway).
It required some UbiSoft Launcher Account… it updated itself a few times instead of using Steam and then it did some other stuff, including a circle going round and round InGame probably indicating this “Requiring of Internet”.
It’s damned retarded too is what it is, after all it IS a Steam game and it already requires a Unique CD-Key, WHY put this on top of all of that?
Not sure if I should go through all the trouble of refund and all that now :/
18/08/2011 at 16:58 Pointless Puppies says:
I say someone needs to throw a lawsuit on Ubisoft’s asses. They clearly have no regard for the consumer whatsoever, and now blatantly lying about a required internet connection can most definitely land them in legal trouble in several countries.
They need to be whipped back into line. Ubisoft is completely out of control.
18/08/2011 at 17:24 Stochastic says:
I just want to applaud RPS for standing by their guns and refusing to look the other way when Ubisoft tries to squeeze in another obtuse DRM scheme in their PC games. This is the sort of chastening that all gaming websites should be doing on a regular basis. Instead, we get sites like Eurogamer trying to defend Blizzard’s decision to implement an in-game store in Diablo III.
18/08/2011 at 17:59 Zarunil says:
I’ll wait for the PC version.
18/08/2011 at 18:13 Bilbo1981 says:
Hey chaps
I thought its all well and good ranting in here but Ubisoft are less than likely to look. So I took the liberty of posting them a link to this article and comments on their forum:
http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums?a=tpc&s=400102&f=9751064939&m=2771083249&r=2771083249#2771083249
18/08/2011 at 18:15 JohnnyMaverik says:
Ubisoft, now PC enemy n.1
What’s really dumb about this is everyone who’s played it on console have commented on how much better they expect it to play on PC, and from the ones who really liked it, how much they are looking forward to playing it a second time with the superior version.
Nice one Ubisoft, real fking smooth, twats.
18/08/2011 at 18:34 MattM says:
I am willing to admit that I can see only moderate differences between 120fps and 60fps, but the difference between 30 and 60 is huge. I played spore (another 30fps locked game) and it was functional but always looked choppy.
18/08/2011 at 18:59 Cryotek says:
Extra DRM, in addition to Steam, FOR A $15 FUCKING INDIE GAME?!
18/08/2011 at 19:13 feda says:
Hey, guess what, Ubisoft. THIS IS WHY I PIRATE MOST OF MY GAMES. There, I said it. Wanna blame me? Go ahead, but you won’t get a cent. I don’t wish to throw money at developers who would defraud me. Keep on angering your honest (albeit at this point I’d add the word gullible) customers. I’ll download a free version of From Dust when it’s out — without the pesky DRM. The only games that I plan on buying this year are Railworks 3, RO2 and BF3.
18/08/2011 at 19:50 psyk says:
“With PCs offering four times that, being locked off at a crappy console limit is good evidence of how little effort has gone into the PC version. ”
What limit? the console bashing is getting worse.
18/08/2011 at 20:10 shiajun says:
Well, just to add to this comments section (in the improbable case someone at Ubi sees this): I still dont’ get what’s going at Ubi. A game whose gameplay seems to be tailored to PC gaming tastes gets a shoddy port and DRM restrictions that have gotten the company in ugly PR with the community before. Yeah, nice going there, you hardheaded fools. I don’t think they have any more feet or bullets to shoot them with.
19/08/2011 at 01:20 Bungle says:
John Walker, this is an awesome article. I will always love RPS for having the balls to write the truth instead of sucking up to their corporate overlords. Love you, Mr. Walker!
19/08/2011 at 06:06 Reikon says:
I can’t say I’m surprised. It’s Ubisoft.
I’m more sad that I have to make a list to keep track of all these PC games lately I need to avoid because they screw PC users. And that buying a game on release can be a really bad choice. I really want to preorder Saints Row 3 but I just don’t have faith the PC version will be good.
19/08/2011 at 09:21 stillwater says:
I couldn’t give a rat’s arse about always-on internet connections, since my internet is always on anyway, just like it is for almost everyone who is nevertheless whining about this issue. But being capped at 30fps – that’s a total deal-breaker for me. 30fps tends to give me headaches.
19/08/2011 at 11:37 RegisteredUser says:
In the fiercely competitive sports of “Piss off as many of your actual and prospective customers as fiercely and quickly as possible”, Ubisoft is still winning by an arm and a leg and a fist to the gamer’s balls.
24/08/2011 at 11:18 wujj123456 says:
Looks like the thread is gone, again.
29/03/2012 at 08:05 dellphukof says:
Just realized that ‘jellify water’ also prevents earth from settling, enabling construction of insanely high earth walls, which can be ‘fixed’ by adding a thin layer of lava on top before the jellify effect ends. Pretty neat. Funny how Black and White, a 10 year old god-game still surpasses this POS on every level.
That comparison is a bit weird.
Black and White was a full retail game; From Dust is a budget-priced downloadable title.
Black and White had really good AI (which was the game’s focus); From Dust has pretty good physics (which is this game’s focus).thoi trang giay