Comments on: Editorial: The Positive Side of Early Access http://lusipurr.com/2014/01/31/editorial-the-positive-side-of-early-access/ Mon, 10 Mar 2014 21:43:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.1 By: James 'Gyme' Pagel http://lusipurr.com/2014/01/31/editorial-the-positive-side-of-early-access/#comment-66514 Sun, 02 Feb 2014 02:33:31 +0000 http://lusipurr.com/?p=11029#comment-66514 I think that Early Access has a good chance to become the next idea abused in the gaming industry. Right now it is being put to use in, for the most part, a respectable manner. I wish the prices were a bit lower for people willing to take a chance on an unfinished game, but I can’t have everything.

However, I can easily see this being abused in the same way that DLC was. What’s to stop a developer from straight up abandoning an Early Access game if it doesn’t sell well? This could happen to the second half of Broken Age because Tim Schafer is a cunt that can’t stick to a budget.

]]> By: Andrew 'Mel' Melcon http://lusipurr.com/2014/01/31/editorial-the-positive-side-of-early-access/#comment-66511 Sat, 01 Feb 2014 22:09:05 +0000 http://lusipurr.com/?p=11029#comment-66511 Yeah, I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about kickstarter. I think it’d be great if we lived in a world where everyone was honest, but obviously we don’t. The same criticism could be levied against Early Access, I suppose, but at least with that you can verify that the game is in some playable form from others who have played it. Kickstater is just an idea with a lot of hopeful dollars behind it until it releases and even THEN that’s no guarantee *you* will like it.

I’m also getting tired of hearing about all these really cool games getting announced only to discover it’s just a kickstarter and there’s no telling if or when it’ll come out. *grumblegrumble*

]]> By: Scott 'Imitanis' Mundy http://lusipurr.com/2014/01/31/editorial-the-positive-side-of-early-access/#comment-66501 Sat, 01 Feb 2014 09:45:06 +0000 http://lusipurr.com/?p=11029#comment-66501 I have bought several Early Access games myself, and while the majority play fine, there are some that just have bugs that make the game unplayable. Spacebase DF-9 is the best example of this as I can have a fully functioning base, only for my oxygen to randomly cut out. My O2 generators are all at about 65% functionality, but do my technicians do anything about it? No, they run around with their hands flailing like the rest of the population before dying in the vacuum.

Let’s no forget the kickstarted games that have charged extra for people to get early access to the game. When these appear on Steam’s service, the price starts high and comes down over time as they allow people who funded lower tiers entry to the game.

Lastly there are games like Dungeon of the Endless which are almost bug free, but limit how much content the player has access to. These are my favourite, because I can keep an eye out for content updates, much like I would with a full release, and be sure that there is something new to do.

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