With the release of the First Strike DLC map pack for the Xbox 360 edition of Call of Duty, the team at Treyarch have been doing the rounds to update everyone on what is happening behind the biggest-selling game around (in addition to sharing some stats). And three main topics have appeared:
First Strike, More Problems:
As you’d imagine, introducing DLC content to the world’s most popular game is always going to be challenging. First there were some problems reported which claimed to be affecting anyone trying to download the DLC via the Xbox 360 Xbox Live Game section (Not from within the Black Ops store, or via Xbox.com on the web). A support message was posted on the Xbox Live Support page but has since been removed, suggesting the problem has now been rectified.
Anecdotally, either the map pack or the resurgence in people playing yesterday, seemed to be causing significant connection errors – both in joining the Xbox Live CoD Black Ops server, and actually getting into a game, with several friends of FPSP, and our own team, all having problems in connecting and getting into matches. Hopefully this will ease slightly as obviously many people were logging on when they got home from work, for example.
And finally in the First Strike specific updates, it appears that a First Strike playlist has been added, due to comments and feedback from gamers who spent the entire evening trying to play on the new maps, only to be forced to endure the original maps as part of the playlist for every game type. Nothing better than paying 1200 MS Points for 4 new maps, only to spend an hour playing Arrary, Nuketown and Jungle! The original omission was from a claimed desire to avoid splitting the gamerbase (Despite the fact it would always by split by those willing to pay for new maps), but despite upweighting the First Strike DLC locations, it appears Treyarch have given in, and created a specific playlist for those just wanting new maps. From our own experience, the new maps were definitely appearing more often, but some maps appeared several times and others just once in the space of 2-3 hours.
The existing problems:
There’s currently no update on either the PC Theatre Mode problems, or the Playstation 3 connectivity problems which have been a major complaint since launch – despite patches intended to solve the PS3 issue, it appears to still be causing significant problems for a large number of gamers, and in the UK, an independent pressure group, Gamer Voice, has reported Activision to the Office of Fair Trading as Call of Dut:yBlack Ops is not ‘as described’ or ‘fit for purpose’ due to the following issues:
- Sudden disconnections from online multiplayer game sessions
- Inability to join servers that play host to multiplayer game sessions
- Freezing of PlayStation 3 console, forcing the user to reset it
- Main menu freezing as the game is started on the PC version
Angry, entitled fans:
In light of the above issues, it probably wasn’t the best time for Community Manager Josh Olin to claim ‘angry, entitled gamers’ and the social culture of videogames are the biggest problem with the games industry today. In a lengthy and interesting interview with NowGamer, he talks about a number of points before being asked to name the biggest problem with gaming and how to fix it.
‘I think the social culture of video games is moving in a more negative direction as technology and social media continues to grow. Rather than growing with it, the trend seems to be devolving. More and more gamers seem to forget what this industry is all about.
It’s a creative industry – the most creative form of entertainment in existence. Too many developers who try new things are getting burned by “pundits” and angry entitled fans who look to be contrarian, sometimes simply for the sake of being contrarian’
Whilst he may have been talking about developers who try radical new gamestyles or concepts, it’s all too easy to make the leap to ‘angry, entitled gamers’ owning Call of Duty and having connection problems with the radical new sequel to a series which began in 2003, and now has 14 PC, console and handheld titles in the franchise!
And while we wouldn’t try to claim gamers aren’t prone to air complaints about their latest purchase, it’s probably just the fact it’s more visible online than it was when a letter might get printed in a magazine a month later, and the rest of your complaints were just heard by friends and family…
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