By John Walker on June 28th, 2012 at 6:00 pm.
Yeah, yeah, Jim posted about this yesterday too. But he forgot to be rude to Activision. And what are you going to do about it? Fight us? You wouldn’t stand a chance.
So apparently Activision doesn’t want to sell any copies of The Amazing Spider-Man on PC. With the film coming out next Tuesday, it’s a timely release for the console versions this Friday. But in six weeks time when the game finally deigns to appear on Steam, we’ll all have moved on.
No reason is given, but as Eurogamer spotted, the game’s website sells this announcement as something worth of exclamation.
“ASM SWINGS TO STEAM IN AUGUST!”
it excitedly declares.
We know our PC fans have been eagerly awaiting news. As of today, we can announce that The Amazing Spider-Man game will be releasing for PC on August 10th, 2012.
Lots of fans have asked if ASM would be coming to Steam, and we’re very happy to confirm that it will be!
Additionally, ASM on PC will be integrated with Steam Achievements.
Steam Achievements you say! Well fuck me! It’s worth getting the game a month and a half later, after the film’s in limbo between cinema and DVD!
So many who would have preferred to play the promising-looking game on PC will likely opt for the inferior graphics, framerate and fidelity of the console version, and Activision will throw up their arms and declare the PC sales so very poor. And we’ll stare.
28/06/2012 at 18:03 Jim Rossignol says:
*Cough*
28/06/2012 at 18:04 clownst0pper says:
RPS, must we continue this crusade against release dates? And specifically against a game such as this? The films received luke-warm reviews and the game will be unquestionably shit, so who cares? Let it launch late, and let it rot.
28/06/2012 at 18:07 John Walker says:
The film’s getting good reviews, and the game is scoring strongly too. And apart from that, no, we won’t stop. So there you go.
28/06/2012 at 18:15 clownst0pper says:
Perhaps “good” is praising it a little too much; 76% on RT’s and 74% on Metacritic for the game. I’d lean more towards distinctly average, but then I’m no supporter of this reboot, considering the original spider man reboot only seems 5 minutes ago :-)
28/06/2012 at 19:06 magnus says:
Well Metacritic is rubbish anyway, the one thing people don’t point out is that it’s never consistant as to what magazines it derives it’s averages from.
28/06/2012 at 23:40 MSJ says:
So 76% of critics like it. If this is voting, that’s more than 2/3 majority.
28/06/2012 at 18:20 x1501 says:
“The game is scoring strongly” is a bit too optimistic. According to Metacritic, the game’s average rating is 74 for Xbox 360 and 73 for PS3. It looks like another mediocre movie tie-in to me.
By the way, Activision has PC fans? Now that’s actual news!
28/06/2012 at 18:28 SirKicksalot says:
Since when is 75 considered average?
28/06/2012 at 18:30 clownst0pper says:
Because games rated 70-80% are ten-a-penny?
28/06/2012 at 18:38 Gap Gen says:
Because a) average means at least 3 things and b) because game scoring tends towards the high end because 50% in magazines tends to mean it’s a bit broken and not all that good.
28/06/2012 at 18:43 Ultra-Humanite says:
Average does not mean at least three things.
28/06/2012 at 18:45 SirKicksalot says:
What’s easier to believe – that there are many games with redeeming qualities or that there’s a major conspiracy to rate everything higher than it deserves according to some nebulous standards?
28/06/2012 at 19:03 SF Legend says:
@Ultra-Humanite
Mean, mode, median and range.
There’s four things right there.
28/06/2012 at 19:04 BarneyL says:
Mean, median and mode are three diffe
rent meanings of average…
bah beaten to it.
28/06/2012 at 19:06 x1501 says:
First—I can’t believe I’m doing this—at least according to Oxford, the adjective does indeed have several meanings:
1. constituting the result obtained by adding together several quantities and then dividing this total by the number of quantities
2. of the usual or ordinary standard, level, or quantity
3. having qualities that are seen as typical of a particular person or thing
4. mediocre; not very good
Fascinating stuff, isn’t it? If you need more dictionary definitions of everyday words, just ask.
Second, SirKicksalot , did you just come out of a coma or something? The game rating system has been heavily skewed for years. Out of 13.5 pages of all rated PC games on Metacritic, the games listed on the first 12 pages ALL have ratings above 50. See for yourself:
http://www.metacritic.com/browse/games/release-date/available/pc/metascore?view=condensed&page=13
28/06/2012 at 18:20 Eddy9000 says:
I think you need to qualify your request with a reason why late PC release dates should not be posted about. One that trumps the fact that this is a PC gaming site and late PC release dates put PC gaming at a disadvantage so should be campaigned against.
28/06/2012 at 19:44 PoulWrist says:
Because SOME people do care about this game? Because why should it be such along wait when there’s no “approval process” for PC, but there is for both consoles?
28/06/2012 at 23:41 MSJ says:
The reason we shouldn’t mind that this launches late is because the game spoils the plot of the film in the intro and first hour of playing.
28/06/2012 at 18:06 John Walker says:
Jim did such a TERRIBLE job of this post yesterday, I thought I’d show him how it’s properly done.
28/06/2012 at 18:07 Jim Rossignol says:
That’s fair enough, John. I often show your mum how it’s properly done, after all.
28/06/2012 at 18:10 Njordsk says:
We said not the moms !
28/06/2012 at 18:10 John Walker says:
That’s funny, because just yesterday your mum was telling me that you are… a… a smelly poo face.
28/06/2012 at 18:25 chuckles73 says:
This is why we can’t have nice things!
28/06/2012 at 20:18 svge says:
what an original thing to say.
28/06/2012 at 18:53 Xardas Kane says:
What a come-back ladies and gents, what a come-back!
28/06/2012 at 19:02 Unaco says:
Eery… That’s exactly what John’s Mum said last time I saw her.
28/06/2012 at 18:55 Unaco says:
Will John’s Mum be doing a WiT/Diary on this when it’s finally released on PC?
28/06/2012 at 23:57 Eddy9000 says:
“A Jim in the John’s-mom”?
28/06/2012 at 18:06 alexsanchez508 says:
“Our PC fans have been eagerly awaiting news!”
lololololol
29/06/2012 at 13:39 EPICTHEFAIL says:
Since when does Evilvision have a PC fan, let alone multiple ones?
28/06/2012 at 18:09 Njordsk says:
Well, batman AA/AC were cool, so why not. But on the other side 95% of movies’ game production are garbage, so.. why?
28/06/2012 at 18:14 Brun says:
So many who would have preferred to play the promising-looking game on PC will likely opt for the inferior graphics, framerate and fidelity of the console version
This is exactly what they’re counting on. Or rather, they’re counting on many people who might have pirated the PC version buying it on a console instead since it will be available earlier.
29/06/2012 at 10:59 BillyIII says:
>Or rather, they’re counting on many people who might have pirated the PC version buying it on a console instead since it will be available earlier.
Or rather, they’re counting on many people who might have pirated the PC version pirating it on a console instead since it will be available earlier.
FTFY.
28/06/2012 at 18:16 Squirrelfanatic says:
I have no idea how this kind of thing works, but I assume the PC version will be a port of the console one. So, it does makes kind of sense to release the console version as soon as possible, right? To get in all the money for big fancy cars, new shoes for the kids, titjobs, etc. . So, do I see it correctly, that the sad truth is that every ported game comes out later than the original, as long as the port isn’t somehow developed in parallel to the original?
28/06/2012 at 18:18 svge says:
I don’t see why it’s necessary to get a single player game in a specific time period, the experience will be the same whenever you get your hands on it.
28/06/2012 at 18:18 Alexrd says:
Steamworks? Sorry, no sale for me.
28/06/2012 at 20:05 top8cat says:
Wow, all the games you must miss out on………..oh well, more power to you.
28/06/2012 at 20:51 Alexrd says:
Everyone is missing out many games, whether you like/use Steam or not. Yes, I’m not playing Steamworks-exclusive games, but at the same time I’m playing/discovering games that I wouldn’t have the other way around.
In the end it’s their loss, not mine. If they remove their DRM, they’ll gain one more customer (and probably more).
28/06/2012 at 21:06 TwwIX says:
So brave!
29/06/2012 at 13:40 EPICTHEFAIL says:
User alert! Loud hipster detected!
28/06/2012 at 20:53 aliksy says:
Steam is so horrible with the cloud saving, in game overlay, in game chat, redownloading, screen shot manager, patching, driver updating, integrated mod support (for some games), great and regular sales, in-game promotions.. so horrible. If only I had none of those things.
29/06/2012 at 09:20 MerseyMal says:
All right, but apart from the cloud saving, in game overlay, in game chat, redownloading, screen shot manager, patching, driver updating, integrated mod support (for some games), great and regular sales, in-game promotions, what has Steam ever done for us?
29/06/2012 at 10:27 Saiko Kila says:
I see you were trying to be ironic here, but unfortunately literal meaning of your words stands true, at least partially. Based on my experience:
- cloud saving is as likely to mess with your saves as to help
- overlay can cause problems with some games (thankfully it is becoming more and more rare), besides the builtin browser has very limited functionality, so I need to switch to external browser anyway
- screen shot manager is best described as “crappy”, and shots taken with screenshot functionality are poor as piss. I use external program for screenshots, but this “manager” can’t work with that. I disable screenshot feature in Steam by default
- patching causes problems if you don’t want it to take place – and there is no possibility to disable it globally. I need to disable it manually for every game I had problems with patching, and they still can force it to take place. Generally patching gives me most grief of all “features”
Other things, which may be better, but not always are:
Sales aren’t too good for European market, when you compare it to N. America, and almost all titles can be bought cheaper in brick-at-mortar stores. Some sales are good, but all kind of shops have sales, so that’s hardly a defining property.
Driver updating – I don’t use, but I know I wouldn’t like it. I had too many bad experiences with performance lagging and other problems after update with supposedly superior version of drivers. This may be problem of graphics card manufacturer (nvidia in my case), but they seem to be unable to write drivers which don’t mess up with some older titles. And I have quite a collection of titles installed. To automatize it means to break it. I don’t understand why this is at all listed as an asset.
Redownloading has nothing to do with Steamworks or Steam per se, it’s a basic premise of services like Steam – you don’t have a physical copy after all.
29/06/2012 at 13:41 EPICTHEFAIL says:
Are you sure we live in the same Europe?
29/03/2013 at 02:34 Vercinger says:
If you live in a former USSR country, you’ll get awesome deals. If you live in the rest of Europe, you’ll typically have to pay the highest regional price on Steam, about 30% higher than what americans pay.
29/03/2013 at 02:32 Vercinger says:
Exactly. Combine that with the online DRM and it becomes very hard to defend Steam.
28/06/2012 at 18:20 Linfosoma says:
I know that not many will probably get the following random rant but the terrible job the riggers did on the vertex weights connecting the pelvis with the legs annoys me.
You would think that a company with as much cash as Activision would be able to come up with an IK setup that can compensate for these kind of deformations considering that SpiderMan is known for twisting his body in complex ways.
28/06/2012 at 18:46 rockman29 says:
This is the first Spiderman game that really looks great since like Spiderman 2 on PS2 and Dreamcast or something. I welcome this release! Should look great on PC.
28/06/2012 at 18:47 StingingVelvet says:
I’ve honestly never cared about this stuff because I only game on PC. When it comes out is just when it comes out, and I evaluate then. If it came out on something I don’t use I don’t really care, like an iOS gamers’ reaction to a previous PC release I suspect.
I guess I am a niche though, only gaming on PC.
28/06/2012 at 21:12 Bork Titflopsen says:
I totally agree, if only there was a website where PC-only gamers like us could come together and talk about our common interest!
28/06/2012 at 19:04 mckertis says:
I’ve seen the game, and it plays rather mediocre. Sure, its hard to make a game as good as S-M:TM, but it doesnt look like they’ve even tried.
28/06/2012 at 19:06 Hoaxfish says:
“ASM” just sounds like some form of deviant sex act
28/06/2012 at 20:27 NailBombed says:
Unlike dressing up in a full-body stocking and shooting sticky white stuff out of your………… arms?
28/06/2012 at 19:24 Shuck says:
Steam, you say? Well then, I look forward to eventually being able to buy this game for $3.
28/06/2012 at 19:44 Kayden says:
My thought’s exactly!
28/06/2012 at 19:26 Wisq says:
Well that’s handy. They can save me the trouble of continuing to boycott them. :)
Seriously though, they’re actually barely producing anything of worth these days anyway, at least on PC. There’s CoD (ugh), Prototype 1/2 (decent but flawed), and some Spider-Man games — and frankly, this one looks to be worse than the old ones.
I’m sure it’ll sell well, just based on name. Seems like that’s all they have for Kotick to “exploit” these days.
28/06/2012 at 19:50 Etherealsteel says:
Maybe it being delayed is a good thing, usually games that go along with movies usually don’t fair well. I personally don’t care for the game, nor the movies because both are overdone.
28/06/2012 at 20:05 Yosharian says:
Really though, people care about this game? 0-o
28/06/2012 at 22:46 Mana_Garmr says:
Didn’t even know it was being made. Hell, until about 2 weeks ago, when I saw a trailer on TV, I hadn’t even realised the film was out this year.
28/06/2012 at 23:38 MSJ says:
Uh, yes?
28/06/2012 at 21:21 TwwIX says:
Should i care? The game looks as medicore as the previous Spiderman games from the gameplay footage that i have seen so far. It’s just another forgettable experience by Beenox. I assume Activision keeps churning out these lackluster Spiderman games so that they continue to keep the rights to it. Business as usual at Assholevision.
If you are not going to put any effort and resources into the PC versions of your games, don’t bother releasing them at all. I’d rather invest my money into a dedicated Indie developer or an ambitious Kickstarter project.
28/06/2012 at 23:35 MSJ says:
The game has been getting good reviews. Also yes I want to play this.
29/06/2012 at 00:00 TwwIX says:
Then you are an idiot for supporting this asshole of a publisher.
28/06/2012 at 21:32 SpoonFULL says:
They have delayed Prototype 2, and now Spiderman. Activision have no support for the PC platform in any way and you can see that from their announcement: except for CoD games, they are the only publisher that never bother to put their PC games on Steam (I mean integrate them as in Steamworks).
Now they have closed Radical Entertainment so the future of the PC version of Prototype 2 is not clear.
28/06/2012 at 22:35 povu says:
It may be late, but the PC version will be on Steam! Wow, Steam! It’s not like just about any major release can get on there! What dedication!
28/06/2012 at 23:50 cowardly says:
“So apparently Activision doesn’t want to sell any copies of The Amazing Spider-Man on PC. ”
At least they are making a bigger effort this time around.
Spider-Man: Edge of Time wasn’t released for PC -AT ALL.-
And Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions was released for PC for a VERY small window of time at Walmart stores (but only in store, and not on their website).
So the fact that they are releasing ASM on STEAM is a big deal, IMO. It also means I won’t be getting a console version (which I was debating—until I heard this news). Maybe I’ll just rent it from Redbox for a few bucks (for the console).
29/06/2012 at 01:52 wuwul says:
You don’t need to be the Amazing Spider-Man to predict PC gaming’s future. The hand writing is on the wall: PC gaming faces a bleak future. In fact there won’t be any future at all for PC gaming because PC gaming is dying. Things are looking very bad for PC gaming. As many of us are already aware, PC gaming continues to lose market share. Red ink flows like a river of blood.
04/07/2012 at 00:33 Rukumouru says:
Except EPIC is developing a PC-exclusive, Tribes Ascend is one of the best shooters released in the last five years, CAPCOM saw such good profits from SFIV that they said all future Street Fighter games would be available on PC, Metal Gear Solid 5 will also be on PC, the PC is actually GAINING market share at an incredibly fast rate (seriously, look it up), etcetera.
29/06/2012 at 12:52 bill says:
It really doesn’t matter that much if you have to wait 6 weeks more than other people. I’m sure there are other games to play.
I get that the continual delays for PC are annoying overall, but it’s really not that big a deal. The game won’t be worse 6 weeks later. And it’ll give people a chance to consider their purchase and check reviews.
It’ll give a chance to work through those 100 unplayed games you all have in a (digital) pile, or all those indie bundle games.
29/06/2012 at 12:57 bill says:
PS/ If it makes you feel any better, the movie came out 2 weeks ago over here… so you are all two weeks behind already! hah!