That ship has long since sailed. More than that, it has long since crashed, sunk, and been recognised as a bad idea.

??????

Well, we can always just swear off the new stuff and enjoy good old games. Honestly though, I feel that there are probably too many bro gamers for these knuckleheads to ever be able to pull off what they are attempting.

“In order to make the game more appealing to people who are not interested in it, we are doing our best to ensure that, no matter who picks up the controller, they will be able to play through the game–even the blind, the lame, the mentally incompetent, and the profoundly disinterested.

We will probably make obtaining good weapons and levelling up your characters something that can be done without effort, just to make sure.”

@Julian: Moonspeakers, perhaps? Politicians, most likely. They’re highly adept at doublespeak. Come to think of it, perhaps you could forward it to an EA rep.

“In order to widen its appeal, we’re developing the game aware that anyone can immediately be able to play it, however the game as a whole is not casual. Because it’s a core game, we have casual controls. If you obtain good weapons and level up, you won’t have to worry about clearing the main scenarios.“

At least it will then be the consumer’s choice, and not the progressive leftist cult that is modern ‘gaming journalism’ determining the future.

The problem, of course, is that the ‘journalists’ try to rig the system by denying/inflating coverage to suit their aims, by ‘adjusting’ review scores, and by subtly editorialising their news presentations. The end goal is to manipulate sales and market trends.

For example, let us assume a Journo doesn’t like a game because he has some sort of ideological axe to grin. If he can convince enough people not to buy that game (using whatever means: lowering scores, reducing coverage, negatively tinting the news about it), then that could force the developer to do what he says in their next game so as to avoid the reviewer’s ire. And, when the reviewers are all colluding and fixing their scores and reviews together, the result is nothing more or less than strong-arming of devs by a tiny circle of internet demagogues.

This.

Tabata at this point is a one man wrecking machine for his own PR attempts. The more he talks, the more confused the narrative seems to be. I honestly think that we won’t have a real idea of how this thing works until the demo lands next year. Still hoping for the best, but not expecting much.

“Protip to EA: the kind of idiots who would sign up to something like this never posed a risk to women in the first place”
— This right here. This exemplifies the sort of reaction most of us had when this White House generated, distractionary nonsense emerged as a public initiative.

I did in fact applaud Mancil’s statement when it first came out and hoped it was perhaps a sign of a big publisher (perhaps the most notorious) about to make a serious statement or perhaps explain what the hell they let happen to Bioware in recent years, but it is, as you say, nothing more than an attempt to keep both sides of the coin appeased and ensure their financial quotas are met. Bioware is all EA had that interested me in any way, and they’ve certainly lanced it right through the soul. Cisquitision indeed.

I do hope that ultimately the free market casts the verdict on what thrives in the industry. At least it will then be the consumer’s choice, and not the progressive leftist cult that is modern ‘gaming journalism’ determining the future.