Why the low UT3 adoption?

[_Lynx]

Here's what I send to people as a private message on the Epic forums whenever someone asks a similar question about UT3:

[...] consolitus virus [...] consolized [...]

[...] consolized, [...] (consolized, [...]

------------------
[...] consolized [...]

[...] consolized-- [...]

[...] consolized. [...]

[...] consolization [...]

If the game was "consolized", like you mean it, gameplay would have been also affected. I understand that it's a common and loved trend to blame consoles for the state UT3 was in when it was firstly released, but it's largely wrong. Of course the fact that the game was simultaneously released on PC and PS3 did affect some of the stuff, but it does not mean that everything you didn't like was made so, because it's a console way doing of things.

 

[Severin]

Frankly, the game was "targeted" at a spring 2006 release along with Gears of War. I don't think it's being thin to say that it wasn't done when they released it, though.

I don't disagree that it was released in an unfinished state. But M.Rein (or Possibly J.Morris) did specifically come out and say that the game was essentially finished and that they were only delaying release for polish and single player enhancements.

I don't think it was a restrictive deadline that caused the release to be as it was. My personal conspiracy theory is that the development was essentially dropped or put on a very low back burner allowing G.O.W to be what it was.*


*[edit] That is not a condemnation. They are perfectly entitled to make such choices.

 

[Elegnaim]

Better question. How long did it take them to get UT3 patched?

 

[UBerserker]

Better question. How long did it take them to get UT3 patched?

Depends what patch you're talking about. The biggest one, Titan Pack (Bonus Pack + Patch), was released in March 2009... so, more of one year after the game's release. Then it was during that time that they finished wasting time on developing the PS3 and mostly the X360-fail version.

Here's a list of all the UT3 PC Patches:
Patch 1.1 - December 10, 2007
Patch 1.2 - February 21, 2008
Patch 1.3 - August 13, 2008
Patch 2.0 - March 5, 2009
Patch 2.1 - May 4, 2009


Oh, and I also have to put on ignore Whipperblabber or something since seeing always his same goddamn message talking about the same goddamn crap has annoyed me. Just put it on a rest and stick to your lovely UT1 or UT2004, or just something else.

 

[Hideinlight]

I'm currently having trouble connecting to servers, brings back memories.

I'm from South Africa and the UT3 population was always on the low side.
The worst part of all I've met about 15 different people on various local forums with the legit version of the game who just couldn't connect to the local servers to even try the game.

There was another 7 I did get to play with a few games until one day they simply could not connect to any server anymore for no apparent reason.

UT3's online system is just simply put: ****

 

[Sir_Brizz]

I don't disagree that it was released in an unfinished state. But M.Rein (or Possibly J.Morris) did specifically come out and say that the game was essentially finished and that they were only delaying release for polish and single player enhancements.

I don't think it was a restrictive deadline that caused the release to be as it was. My personal conspiracy theory is that the development was essentially dropped or put on a very low back burner allowing G.O.W to be what it was.*


*[edit] That is not a condemnation. They are perfectly entitled to make such choices.

Okay, sure. I don't really disagree. I think the thing is, though, that given the state UT3 was in, it should have been obvious to all parties involved that releasing it when they released it was releasing it at the wrong time. At least, the wrong time to ensure a steady level of online players.

So the real question is, what pushed them to release it? And there are a couple of possibilities. First, Midway was already in a bad state. They needed money in a bad way, and they still even owed Epic a large amount of money when they declared their debts prior to being sold. Second, Epic had Gears 2 prepped for a Winter 2008 release and extending UT3's development even longer could have put too much pressure on that game.

I don't think we can reliably place blame there, though. There are probably a hundred things we DON'T know about that could also be to blame for it. The simple fact of the matter is that 6 months of heavy production could have done nothing but good. If that production were diverted again, it probably wouldn't have done anything.

 

[Severin]

So the real question is, what pushed them to release it? And there are a couple of possibilities. First, Midway was already in a bad state. They needed money in a bad way, and they still even owed Epic a large amount of money when they declared their debts prior to being sold. Second, Epic had Gears 2 prepped for a Winter 2008 release and extending UT3's development even longer could have put too much pressure on that game.

I don't think we can reliably place blame there, though. There are probably a hundred things we DON'T know about that could also be to blame for it. The simple fact of the matter is that 6 months of heavy production could have done nothing but good. If that production were diverted again, it probably wouldn't have done anything.

Probably some of both imo. Epic needed to fulfill their contract with Midway (and Midway badly needed a Christmas Hit title) but were not prepared/able to put the required resources into the game possibly for the reason you mentioned. Possibly they just saw where Midway was headed and decided to stop putting money into the project.

But its all just speculation and as you say the full truth of it will stay between Epic,Midway and maybe Ms.

 

[WHIPperSNAPper]

So you are contributing to reduce the number of UT3 players and putting the franchise at risk. Thank you

I don't think I'm doing anything of the sort. I just try to explain the situation to newcomers so that they understand why UT3 has low player counts and know a little bit about the history of the game. I suggest that people try UT 2004 if they start to lose interest in UT3. Besides, even if I commanded people not to play UT3, it wouldn't have any effect. People will play what they enjoy regardless of what someone on a discussion forum says.

 

[WHIPperSNAPper]

I don't think we can reliably place blame there, though. There are probably a hundred things we DON'T know about that could also be to blame for it. The simple fact of the matter is that 6 months of heavy production could have done nothing but good. If that production were diverted again, it probably wouldn't have done anything.

Do you think the real behind-the-scenes story will ever come out?

 

[Sir_Brizz]

Do you think the real behind-the-scenes story will ever come out?

I doubt it, though some of the production woes were mentioned in a 2008 GDC keynote.

 

[Benfica]

I don't think I'm doing anything of the sort. I just try to explain the situation to newcomers so that they understand why UT3 has low player counts and know a little bit about the history of the game. I suggest that people try UT 2004 if they start to lose interest in UT3. Besides, even if I commanded people not to play UT3, it wouldn't have any effect. People will play what they enjoy regardless of what someone on a discussion forum says.

Newcomers (starting from UT3 Black at least), have no clue what's consolized in UT3. Could you care to explain how they are affected ?

otoh I understand how suggesting UT2004 may be a good idea. Not sure that I really agree, but at least I can see a few reasons why.

 

[Sir_Brizz]

I just don't understand bothering to write some lengthy PM about how consolized UT3 is to people who are new to the series with UT3. If they want to try other games in the series, they will. The only possible outcome you could be looking for is to get UT3 even less played to make some kind of retarded point about how low the player numbers are (and, for the record, UT2004's numbers, while better, are not much better on the stock gametypes).

 

[brdempsey69]

I think some of you are missing WHIPperSNAPper's main point, which is, newcomers to the UT series should try them all out & decide which one they like best & I agree.

Newer isn't always better & like it or not, original UT & UT2004 are much more well-rounded packages than UT3.

Fact is, the PC version of UT3 could have stood at least 2 more years of development time. Had that happened, people would have been hungrier for it at this point in time, plus the PC hardware needed to run UT3 can be had for cheap, now.

It would have had a much better launch & the number of online players would have been booming for a fully finished & polished up PC version of UT3.

But, of course, that wasn't the case, unfortunately.

R.I.P. UT3

 

[UBerserker]

I always suggested UT3 over UT2k4. Yes, I just hate UT2k4's gameplay with all of those ugly hitscan battles and new players being owned. So not.
At least Epic will get a publisher which doesn't suck monkey balls too.

 

[Sir_Brizz]

I think some of you are missing WHIPperSNAPper's main point, which is, newcomers to the UT series should try them all out & decide which one they like best & I agree.

Newer isn't always better & like it or not, original UT & UT2004 are much more well-rounded packages than UT3.

Fact is, the PC version of UT3 could have stood at least 2 more years of development time. Had that happened, people would have been hungrier for it at this point in time, plus the PC hardware needed to run UT3 can be had for cheap, now.

It would have had a much better launch & the number of online players would have been booming for a fully finished & polished up PC version of UT3.

But, of course, that wasn't the case, unfortunately.

R.I.P. UT3

That's a really sorry point then. He's presuming he can tell other poeple that they are NOT trying out the best of what the series has to offer when they play UT3, which is, simply put, stupid.

It really doesn't matter "what might have been" with UT3. The game is in a perfectly suitable state right now. If you don't like the gameplay, that's your own problem. But don't assume that everyone on plenty earth would agree that UT3 has horrible gameplay.

It honestly just seems ridiculous to me to even consider telling people that they are playing an awful "consolized" game and that they need to go try some other games out. What's the end goal there? Is it to get people trying other good games? Because it seems like it's to get less people to play UT3, which must make you feel like a superstar.

 

[WHIPperSNAPper]

Newcomers (starting from UT3 Black at least), have no clue what's consolized in UT3. Could you care to explain how they are affected ?

They're affected in that the player counts for UT3 are pathetically low. I just want people who are new to the game to realize that the previous versions were once very popular and to understand why UT3 was a failure and to know that a better UT game is possible. I'd prefer that new players say, "Oh, it sounds like Epic really f****d the duck with UT3 but I have heard that UT99 was the greatest online multiplayer FPS of all time," rather than "The UT series is garbage, if all of the UT games were like that with an awful user interface and server browser and low player counts I can't understand why a third one was made."

 

[brdempsey69]

That's a really sorry point then. He's presuming he can tell other poeple that they are NOT trying out the best of what the series has to offer when they play UT3, which is, simply put, stupid.

Sorry, but that's pure rubbish. He's not making a presumption, he's telling it like it is. It's just simply not what you want to hear, so therefore you're calling it stupid. That's just your opinion & many don't share that opinion.

It really doesn't matter "what might have been" with UT3. The game is in a perfectly suitable state right now. If you don't like the gameplay, that's your own problem. But don't assume that everyone on plenty earth would agree that UT3 has horrible gameplay.

Neither of us ever said UT3 had horrible game play. I don't know where you're deriving that from. What we're saying is the PC version is a broken, bug-infested, unfinished product. You're taking what's been said and ripping it out of context. And it may be suitable for you, but that doesn't mean that it is for the next guy. And it obviously does matter "what might have been", it's the very reason for the low adoption to UT3, because of the plain & simple fact it wasn't what it could have been & many have voted on it with their feet.

It honestly just seems ridiculous to me to even consider telling people that they are playing an awful "consolized" game and that they need to go try some other games out. What's the end goal there? Is it to get people trying other good games? Because it seems like it's to get less people to play UT3, which must make you feel like a superstar.

As WHIPperSNAPper stated "I just try to explain the situation to newcomers so that they understand why UT3 has low player counts and know a little bit about the history of the game." There's no goal involved, I don't know where your deriving that from, he's simply telling the gospel truth. If you object to that, that's your problem.

Oh BTW, as for the statement about "getting less people to play UT3", the game itself has done a right fine job of doing that on its own. Doesn't need any help from anybody in that regard, LOL.

 

[Benfica]

WHIPperSNAPper, I see the point about player counts and your concern about make them also discover UT2004 and UT

I just don't understand why you need to elaborate on UT3 problems to do so. You don't need to say that it's bad, just say that UT2004 is good. This 2x negative is really not a good idea: some guys bad mouth UT3 to make UT2004 stand out, others trash UT2004 to do the opposite. The end result is that both games go down the drain before anyone starts to have a consistently positive opiniion.

"The UT series is garbage, if all of the UT games were like that with an awful user interface and server browser

However I insist, you don't seem able to show why a new guy would consider that UT3 Black has a bad UI, or why he would be bothered about it. Arent you by any chance still living in the past, I mean, maybe you aren't able to get rid of the bad first impression.

 

[Fuzz]

So, if people are not playing UT3, what are they playing then?

I know there are tons of Quake Live players, I am one of them. I would like to play something similar, Unreal related. Let's call it Unreal Online, basically a free web based replica of Unreal Tournament.

 

[Molgan]

We now have the answer to the question " Why the low UT3 adoption?"

WHIPperSNAPper scared them all away. =)