Video Game News and Miscellany

Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Anyone remember Hatred? That controversial game in development where you play as a mass shooter killing people? Well, Valve has pulled it from Steam Greenlight.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/12/16/hatred-removed-from-steam/

I'm of two minds about this. Hatred isn't a game I would play, but I also don't believe in censorship. Valve is a privately owned company, and so they can do whatever they want, but since they are the premiere market for pc games, I don't think they should put it upon themselves to censor the content on their service. If a game is broken, illegal, breaks terms of service, misleading or otherwise malicious towards the consumer, then yes, Valve should pull it, and has done so a few times before. But I think this is the first time a game has been pulled due to the content of the game, not the quality. And it seems especially odd when games like Postal are still fully available on Steam.
 
Frank

Frank

I find Hatred slightly less distasteful than the hundreds of broken pieces of shit early access titles Valve is happy to take money for.
 
Tress

Tress

If Valve thinks the sales aren't worth the headache, they're going to pull it. It makes sense from a business standpoint, and I don't fault them for it one bit.
 
AshburnerX

AshburnerX

Valve is a de-facto monopoly, but not an actual one. As such, it only has as much responsibility as it takes on. If it doesn't want anything to do with this game, I don't feel comfortable making them sell it just because the dev can't make money otherwise.

And yes... this would feel more consistent if they actually fucking cleaned up the trash too.
 
CynicismKills

CynicismKills

Also, Epic wants the dev to remove their (Epic's) logo from any ads/copyright lists within the game and promos, even though it uses the Unreal Engine.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

I disagree with that, purely because valve has said time and again that they want to be a hands off store front, and it's up to the consumer to decide what to buy. This isn't the same as a game getting pulled for being broken (The War Z) or because the developer broke the law and made death threats (Paranautical), this is a game pulled because they didn't agree with the content, despite selling very similar games like postal and manhunt. Why not go ahead and pull GTA V as well?

All that said, so far Hatred has only been pulled from greenlight, a self publishing route for Indie developers, on the basis that valve would not want to publish it (though, I still find that suspect, as nothing in the greenlight rules says they will do that.) If the game can get another publisher to pick it up and submit it to Steam, I wonder if they would still refuse.
 
fade

fade

Staff member
The linked article asks what the criteria are, too. Why does Valve need a hard and fast line? They may not be able to quantify exactly why Hatred goes too far, yet they still know it does.
 
AshburnerX

AshburnerX

Ravenpoe said:
I disagree with that, purely because valve has said time and again that they want to be a hands off store front, and it's up to the consumer to decide what to buy. This isn't the same as a game getting pulled for being broken (The War Z) or because the developer broke the law and made death threats (Paranautical), this is a game pulled because they didn't agree with the content, despite selling very similar games like postal and manhunt. Why not go ahead and pull GTA V as well?

All that said, so far Hatred has only been pulled from greenlight, a self publishing route for Indie developers, on the basis that valve would not want to publish it (though, I still find that suspect, as nothing in the greenlight rules says they will do that.) If the game can get another publisher to pick it up and submit it to Steam, I wonder if they would still refuse.
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Manhunt has an actual coherent story if you play it. I usually give it a pass for this, despite the uber violence.

And again... Valve owns the Steam storefront. They don't NEED to give a reason at all... especially after the mess that Greenlight has been. Some quality games have gotten made because of it. Hundreds more crappy ones have gotten made too.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

AshburnerX said:
Manhunt has an actual coherent story if you play it. I usually give it a pass for this, despite the uber violence.

And again... Valve owns the Steam storefront. They don't NEED to give a reason at all... especially after the mess that Greenlight has been. Some quality games have gotten made because of it. Hundreds more crappy ones have gotten made too.
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I did point out that, as a private company, they can do what they want. I'm expressing my disappointment in this decision, both as a pc gamer and someone that views games as art. Valve has long been a champion for pc games, and I think this goes against their interest. But again, I don't think this is as bad as it could be if they still refuse the game after it finds a publisher, assuming it does.
 
bhamv3

bhamv3

I had no idea this game existed until I heard about Valve's decision to pull it.

I will admit I am rather interested in playing it, so I will be tracking its future developments.
 
Frank

Frank

Looks like Steam is region locking all games from now on according to a Eurotruck developer. Sucks. I know @Jay and I both used foreign sites for better deals.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
AshburnerX said:
Why? Should a Ukrainian student not be allowed access to his Steam Account because he's in the US ATM? That would be draconian.
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I like valve and all, but I wouldn't put it past them. Also I'd expect them to do things like match registration IP and payment info to see if accounts overlap.
 
Terrik

Terrik

AshburnerX said:
Why? Should a Ukrainian student not be allowed access to his Steam Account because he's in the US ATM? That would be draconian.
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I couldn't access my Old Republic account after I activated it in the US on a visit home and went back to China, and it wasn't China blocking the access. "Travelling customers" usually aren't priority for a game company.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

Frank said:
Looks like Steam is region locking all games from now on according to a Eurotruck developer. Sucks. I know @Jay and I both used foreign sites for better deals.
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Well, that sucks, because I was enjoying my foreign deals. But I expected that was a loophole that would eventually be closed.

Nice while it lasted.
 
Frank

Frank

On the other hand Hatred is back up on Greenlight. Unfortunately I was kind of hoping they'd start policing the complete garbage on their storefront better as a result. Instead they're just stepping back.
 
ThatNickGuy

ThatNickGuy

Frank said:
Looks like Steam is region locking all games from now on according to a Eurotruck developer. Sucks. I know @Jay and I both used foreign sites for better deals.
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I'm confused. What do they mean by region locking? Does that mean I can't get games through Humble Bumble or GreenManGaming?
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
ThatNickGuy said:
I'm confused. What do they mean by region locking? Does that mean I can't get games through Humble Bumble or GreenManGaming?
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Unless the Eurotruck developer has more details, it's impossible to know exactly what they mean until it's announced.

EDIT: According to some speculation, it's games from Russia, Brazil and Indonesia that are being region locked, because of the devaluation of currency there.

I've already got more games than I can play, and Steam sale prices are cheap enough for my tastes, so I'm not so worried about this.
 
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Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

ThatNickGuy said:
I'm confused. What do they mean by region locking? Does that mean I can't get games through Humble Bumble or GreenManGaming?
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No, it means that steam keys purchased in a region must now be activated on an account from that region. It's similar to consoles, and how a japanese game won't play on an american console.

Some people (myself included) would shop around at online stores in other countries to find better deals on releases. I got some games pretty cheap by buying them from brazil.
 
bhamv3

bhamv3

Ravenpoe said:
No, it means that steam keys purchased in a region must now be activated on an account from that region. It's similar to consoles, and how a japanese game won't play on an american console.

Some people (myself included) would shop around at online stores in other countries to find better deals on releases. I got some games pretty cheap by buying them from brazil.
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Wait, so if I'm in Taiwan and I buy something from, say, Humble Bundle, will I be able to activate it?
 
filmfanatic

filmfanatic

This just in: Duck Hunt is showing up in the Nintendo eShop (at least in North America) on December 25th. They're making it so you use the Wii remote instead of the Zapper.
 
Ravenpoe

Ravenpoe

filmfanatic said:
This just in: Duck Hunt is showing up in the Nintendo eShop (at least in North America) on December 25th. They're making it so you use the Wii remote instead of the Zapper.
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My NES and Zapper both still work, so ha!

Though... I actually don't know if the zapper works with lcd tvs. I've never tried it.
 
filmfanatic

filmfanatic

GasBandit said:
That... That... That's a complete inversion of the game type. It's like if you made a bullet hell Cooking Mama.
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Honestly, I'm just as perplexed as you are. If it turns out to be awesome, then that's good, but of all the properties that Telltale could make a point-and-click adventure game based on, Minecraft has got to be one of the least-expected options.
 
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