Ion Storm Responds To Deus Ex : Invisible War Criticisms

[hal]

Since Ion Storm released the Deus Ex: Invisible War demo several days ago, it'd be safe to say there has been a mixed reaction. Charges that the game has been 'console-ized', and that the system requirements are unbelievably high when weighing the look vs. performance factors.

I personally think the latter charge is true, and that the Unreal Engine is capable of far more using far less resources. But what we really want to know is what Ion Storm has to say about it, right?

In this thread on the Ion Storm boards, you'll find a response from none other than Warren Spector and other Ion Storm developers, as well as a handy FAQ on improving your performance and gameplay.

We hear you loud and clear on issues related to performance and interface. The FAQ below outlines some things you can do Right Now to address some of these issues. We have programmers, artists and designers looking into some of the problems you're seeing (though it may take a little while before we can say whether or when a revised demo and/or patch will be available). Rest assured we ARE investigating the issues you've raised.

 

[GeneticFreak]

ah... that enlightens my heart... hope is on the horizon...

 

[MachDelta]

Eh... im not getting my hopes up. Thats a BIG mountain of doo-doo they're trying to climb. And they've already said that some things aren't changing (like unified ammo). I sincerely doubt that even Warren's magic has the power to turn this one around.

 

[Wowbagger]

Is it the old UC/UT2003 problem again?
The game made or optimized for Xbox and THEN ported to PC.

I dont like where this is going tbh

 

[MachDelta]

Yup, thats exactly the problem.

 

[thewalkingman]

So pc gamers are now second class gamers?

 

[EvilVey]

PC gamers who have GeForce4 MX cards certainly are...

What the hell's up with that?

 

[RegularX]

So pc gamers are now second class gamers?

Well, are they? An XBox gamer won't give you any complaints about compatibility, won't warez your game, are usually willing to pay top dollar for even mediocre games, and have a very straightforward expectation of graphics and performance.

PC gamers represent thousands of hardware combinations, hack jobs and overclocking, pirate like mad, and it seems if a game doesn't support every finagly thing on their $500 video card AND is compatible down to a Voodoo 2 they don't think the game is technically worth their time.

Spector's games have always been critically praised but commercially mediocre. Everyone says how much they loved DX1 or Thief 2, but at they same time - they just didn't sell like gangbusters. So few people latched onto the DX1 multiplay patch that it pretty much killed SS2 having MP at all. So why would a console focus surprise anyone?

I'm sure Ion Storm wouldn't come out and say any of this, but seems like the PC crowd had their chance to vote with their wallets a while ago.

And tbh, there's very little about the demo I didn't like and certainly not enough to shy me away from the game. But I didn't have any of the performance issues that seem to be the big complaint. Last night I used the demo tweaker to try out some of the suggestions, set my HUD to opacity 0 and put the game on realistic. I'm still not a big fan of the unified ammo, and will miss Spector's amazing skill system, but I'm definately getting this over the holiday season.

 

[TossMonkey]

PC gamers who have GeForce4 MX cards certainly are...

What the hell's up with that?

No idea, but the fact that I paid over 100 quid for my MX card when I could have bought an X-Box for the same price means something is f***ed up there, including all the other stuff I've spent over 600 quid on my pc over the last 12 months and I feel like I'm getting treated unfairly.

Buck up your ideas Ion Storm or you'll be seeking jobs at monkeystone making crappy portable pc games.

 

[tool]

It's your fault Tossmonkey, that is what you get for not reading reviews first of what you are buying. You should have known that the MX series cards were the low quality versions of the GeForce 4 line, did the price not make that obvious to you? You get what you pay for, and in the case of hardware, it is not worth going cheap. If you cant afford the good stuff, then start saving, dont just spend your money on the first piece of hardware you come across and can afford, you will be kicking yourself 3 months later. Let this be a lesson to those that actually thought the MX cards were a good deal, even Nvidia says it themselfs on their own website that these cards are not meant for gaming.