… and all the people who CANNOT PLAY v-mate games are ever so grateful to you for abandoning them and leaving their fight looking ever more futile. Should I just leave?
(Edit - Partially kidding. Thus the smiley.)
[This message has been edited by papillon (edited 04-03-2005).]
I do wonder what is going to happen when V-mate is no more. I mean, most B-game companies go out of business after a few years. Or get shut down by their parent. So what happens then? I am very doubtful “patches” will be released in that case. That is money wasted for the parent company. That’s my main concern with VM. How do you play a VM game when there is no more VM? I’ll have to go find the cracked versions then. And I so dislike having to go into those dark, dank, and skanky areas of the Net. They tend to be infested with malware just aching to infest another machine.
Well, it’s still Interlex and not G-Collections that runs the verification servers. And IF the worst came to happen, I think patches would be released. If G-Collections themselves don’t do it, I’d imagine they’d at least let Peach Princess do it for them. After all, Peach Princess can’t continue selling games that can’t be played.
That’s what I think too. If GC can’t renew their contract w/ Interlex, patches will be released to bypass the VM system.
It’s the logic thing to do
Hopefully. Depends on the contract GC has with Interlex, I suppose. Other companies (or maybe even GC) might not be able to modify the program depending on the terms. Releasing the patches might have been a joint effort with Interlex, and in that case we might have a problem. On the other hand, I would think that the contract would involve some sort of period of service, and Interlex would continue to maintain the servers for GC (so V-mate games will continue to function normally). But the question is…for how long?
[This message has been edited by Dark_Shiki (edited 04-10-2005).]
quote:
Originally posted by Dark_Shiki:
But the question is...for how long?
That's the point exactly!
... and of course, there is nobody wo is able AND willing to give away this vital information.
What in turn makes V-Mate-games currently less marketable than before...
And taking all the comments regarding Figures of hapiness into account, that is really a shame for all the people who COULD play V-Mate-games, but now have to fear that their game-CD turns into a worthless piece of junk within an unknown period of time.
But taking the patch announcement one year after end of sales into account, I would guess that the extended service-period of Interlex is a year.
quote:
Originally posted by The Unholy Avenger:
It's the logic thing to do
Didn't you actually want to write here: "That's desirable"?
Not knowing how the contracts between G-Collections and Interlex work exactly, we have no firm ground for any speculations in this matter.
EDIT:
... and assuming that PeachPrincess would make and release the patches without any contracts to G-Collections or its parents in Japan is absurd. That would be like expecting them to illegally crack the games they are selling.
They will only be able to do one thing as soon as the games are no longer playable: remove them from their catalog.
The same goes for all other resellers!
[This message has been edited by Unicorn (edited 04-11-2005).]
I’m not really worried about V-mate crashing. The only V-mate game I will have is Figures of Happiness. (when it arrives) It looks like a really good game and I am looking forward to playing it. If I can’t play it a year from now, that would be a shame, but I’ll get most of the enjoyment out of the game the first time I play through all the paths. This really isn’t any huge investment for me. The thought that one game might not be playable sometime in the future isn’t going to stop me from enjoying it now.
Whereas I keep things like books and computer games because I enjoy them. And I intend to enjoy them again. Yes, I still play games that are 10 years old.
I wouldn’t buy a book that would fall apart in a year. Why bother? Just take the thing out from the library. If you don’t get to KEEP it then buying it is ridiculous. If the game is just a rental, then we should be playing rental prices…
quote:
Originally posted by bishounen_blue:
The thought that one game might not be playable sometime in the future isn't going to stop me from enjoying it now.
You have a valid point there.
However, I have a loooong backlog and one of the oldest entries in this list is Kana - Imouto with still 2 endings missing.
Now, if one year after the game was released the license to play would have expired, I would have right now no hope for ever seeing endings 1 and 6.
Or I would have been coerced to use a kouryaku for a game that I think deserves to be played fair and square in order to enjoy it to the fullest.
quote:
Originally posted by Unicorn:
Didn't you actually want to write here: "That's desirable"?
Mhhhh, no, i really mean Logic
G-C getting out of business and not releasing any kind of patch (assuming the other company wont work anymore the V-M for G-C games) is what i would take as "Lets screw every b-game fan that bought our games not letting them to play them anymore" (not to mention that those games wouln't be "sell-able" (??) anymore because who would pay for something unplayable?
I think that there are some morals, and, taking them into consideration, you will also find that releasing some kind of "patch" for the games is the logic thing to do.
------------------
"The reason we think the flowers on the precipice are beautiful, is because we are standing on the precipice as well.
Do not fear, because we are like the flowers,
We did not step off."
quote:
Originally posted by bishounen_blue:
This really isn't any huge investment for me. The thought that one game might not be playable sometime in the future isn't going to stop me from enjoying it now.
Speak for yourself, even if i pay $0.10 for something, i want to be able to use it a year after, 2 years after, 10 years after (well, maybe not that much, but you get the point).
I still have my copy of c&c red alert, my copy of doom and many others that, even when most of them i dont play anymore, i still want them to work (if "I" didnt break it)
also, local coin, 60 dolars are some good money, so it IS an investment from my part (believe me, b-games are on the most expensive side of games i have ever bought) and i want it to now become "useless trash" in a year or so...
I agree that i would get the most excitement playing it the very first time, but i do like to replay my games (when i have time) and i really enjoy replaying them.
EDIT:
Oh, damn, i really screwed up with this msg, i'll just double post [img]http://princess.cybrmall.net/ubb/tongue.gif[/img]
------------------
"The reason we think the flowers on the precipice are beautiful, is because we are standing on the precipice as well.
Do not fear, because we are like the flowers,
We did not step off."
[This message has been edited by The Unholy Avenger (edited 04-11-2005).]
quote:
Originally posted by The Unholy Avenger:
Speak for yourself, even if i pay $0.10 for something, i want to be able to use it a year after, 2 years after, 10 years after (well, maybe not that much, but you get the point).
Uh, I was speaking for myself. Don't you see the word "me" in both sentences that you quoted? Also, I didn't try to force you to take my side.
quote:
Originally posted by The Unholy Avenger:
Mhhhh, no, i really mean Logic
G-C getting out of business and not releasing any kind of patch (assuming the other company wont work anymore the V-M for G-C games) is what i would take as "Lets screw every b-game fan that bought our games not letting them to play them anymore" (not to mention that those games wouln't be "sell-able" (??) anymore because who would pay for something unplayable?
I think that there are some morals, and, taking them into consideration, you will also find that releasing some kind of "patch" for the games is the logic thing to do.
Release of a patch isn't really "the logical thing to do." We're not talking about logic. As you said, we're talking about morals, ethics. It's not nice to screw your customers over, but then again if they're going out of business, our support doesn't matter to them anymore, right? So actually the "logical thing to do" would be to forget about us, in that case.
quote:
Originally posted by Dark_Shiki:
It's not nice to screw your customers over, but then again if they're going out of business, our support doesn't matter to them anymore, right?
* nods *
That's why I insinuated "desirable" instead of "logic".
After all, we don't even know any names, only "G-Collections". So, if one year "after end of sales" (= "company's berakdown") no patches are released, whom would we hold liable?
G-Collections isn't like Peach Princess where we know the name of the boss and he also openly communicates here with us, even if he doesn't do it too frequently.
[This message has been edited by Unicorn (edited 04-12-2005).]
@Bishounen_blue:
My mistake then
@V-M Patch:
I still believe that’s the logic thing to do, because you have to repect your customers even after you are out of business.
For me, it would be “Illogical” that after we supported certain company, it fuck us up saying "look! we dont care anymore! **** YOU!"
BUT, if we go back in time, we’ll find that, as other people said, of g-c we only know a company name, and, if we remember when V-M started, they weren’t exactly working wipping out their costumers fears and bla bla bla.
Hmm…I ordered this game from GC April 1 and I got charged but no game. I’m starting to get antsy here…
[This message has been edited by Dark_Shiki (edited 04-16-2005).]
There is a slight chance that it came today. I’m not sure. I went to the school all day to work on my report. If I were at home I’d probably be playing FFXI instead of working on it. I think BillyBob had been waiting longer, though. I don’t expect it to be there when I get home.
quote:
Originally posted by Dark_Shiki:
Hmm...I ordered this game from GC April 1 and I got charged but no game. I'm starting to get antsy here...
I'm the same as you. Charged for it but no game. Pretty lousy treatment of it's ever dwindling customer base.