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The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV and the housing mess, part 2
Wait, part 2? When was part 1 a thing? January, my friends. And while I had prayed for sun, I planned for rain, and that turned out to be a wise move. What happened in the end was unpleasant but entirely unsurprising, as Final Fantasy XIV's second implementation of housing went little better than the first. In the interests of full disclosure, yes, I am one of the vanishingly small number of people with an in-game house at the moment. I work at home and happened to have both the money and the time to grab myself a place to live in-game. That doesn't mean the system is anything remotely approaching good or even acceptable, which is why I want to spend this week talking about the mess that has been made and what, if anything, can be done to correct this fact. Housing in Final Fantasy XIV is a sore spot right now, and that's a problem, especially when it doesn't have to be.
Derek Smart responds to Line of Defense early access mishaps
So guess what happens when you flag a game as both early access and free-to-play on Steam? Apparently, everyone can get in and play with or without buying the founder's packs that your game is selling. That was the lesson that the Line of Defense crew learned last week when that exact scenario took place. Some players were a little miffed by that turn of events, which led to Derek Smart's penning an explanation and response to the situation. Smart lambastes those who peppered the game's store page with negative reviews based upon the unexpectedly revoked access, claiming that those who did not own the game but submitted negative reviews were violating the terms of service for Steam. He stresses that the game is currently still very much in testing and access is not being given away to any form of media simply because the game is far from feature-complete at this time. You can read the full update on the official site.
The Daily Grind: What advice would you give to SimCity fans?
Everyone in the games industry and community has been watching in fascination as EA has bungled SimCity's release almost every way possible over this past week. From servers losing city information to always-on DRM practices requiring internet connections to massive user review backlash to lengthy server log-in times to Amazon even pulling the title from its digital sales department, EA is facing what we've often seen in the online world: a disastrous launch. While SimCity isn't an MMO, the multiplayer component, online servers, and horrible queue times certainly have a lot in common with our industry. Frustration amongst SimCity fans was high-pitched this week, especially at the slow and incomplete response on behalf of the mega-game publisher. As players who have undoubtedly seen a bad MMO launch or two over the years, what advice would you give to SimCity fans? Should these fans attempt a refund, wait patiently, voice their concerns, or consider a different course of action? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
TERA's store experiences massive failure, En Masse sending out beta invites by hand
While TERA's second closed beta event is in full swing right this very second, plenty of potential testers are raging at the heavens because the online store won't complete pre-order purchases and deliver the codes. Pre-ordering the title was the guaranteed path to beta, so it's understandable that players who had hoped to be giving this title a test drive are disappointed. En Masse responded with an explanation and solution for the store snafu. According to the studio, the store provider experienced a "massive systems failure" yesterday, which caused the issues with saving purchases to the hard drives. The vendor is attempting to fix it, but there is no ETA on when the task might be completed. The good news is that En Masse is watching the purchase logs and will be sending out game codes manually every two hours to pre-order customers. The studio assures everyone that his purchase will be recognized when the system is fixed and that if anyone accidentally purchased more than one copy by accident, the additional copies will be fully refunded.
En Masse 'communicating directly with retailers' over TERA pre-order blunders
Those of you who've been waiting to pull the trigger on a TERA pre-order because of the uncertainty over retail collector's edition versions of the game will have to wait a little longer. En Masse Entertainment's Evan "Scapes" Berman posted an official statement on the TERA website a short time ago that basically says the company is aware of the problem but has no time-table for fixing it. In a nutshell, the En Masse website has been advertising physical collector's edition packages for the better part of a week, but when gamers go to the various retail partner websites listed on the page, the CEs are nowhere to be found. Some TERA fans are a bit anxious because pre-ordering guarantees a slot in the fast-approaching closed beta period, and the only alternative thus far is to buy a digital version of the game directly from En Masse.
Two arrested for iPad security breach
Two arrests have been made connected to the security breach that exposed thousands of iPad users' email addresses and other info last year. Daniel Spitler and Andrew Auernheimer (yeah, that guy again) have been taken into custody and charged with conspiracy to access a computer without authorization and fraud, for allegedly using a custom script (built by Spitler) called iPad 3G Account Slurper to access AT&T's servers, mimic an iPad 3G, and try out random ICC identifiers. Once a valid ICC was found, one could harvest the user's name and email address. Of course, the hackers maintain that this was all done to force AT&T to close a major security flaw, and we'll be interested to see what exactly the company does to make things right.
iPad still has a major browser vulnerability, says group behind AT&T security breach
You know that tiny little security snafu that allowed over a hundred thousand iPad users' email addresses out? The one that the FBI felt compelled to investigate? Well, Goatse Security -- the group that discovered that particular hole (stop laughing) -- isn't best pleased to be described as malicious by AT&T's response to the matter, and has requited with its own missive to the world. Letting us know that the breach in question took "a single hour of labor," the GS crew argues that AT&T is glossing over the fact it neglected to address the threat promptly and is using the hackers' (supposedly altruistic) efforts at identifying bugs as a scapegoat. As illustration, they remind us that the iPad is still wide open to hijacking thanks to a bug in the mobile version of Safari. Identified back in March, this exploit allows hackers to jack in via unprotected ports, and although it was fixed on the desktop that same month, the mobile browser remains delicately poised for a backdoor entry -- should malevolent forces decide to utilize it. This casts quite the unfavorable light on Apple as well, with both corporations seemingly failing to communicate problematic news with their users in a timely manner.
Sony places twice in list of business blunders
Given the PS3's precipitous fall from presumed console war winner to a seemingly perpetual runner-up status in domestic and foreign sales, we could probably fill a list of 101 dumb business moments using Sony alone. While Fortune's list of 101 dumb business moments of 2007 isn't so narrowly focused, Sony still manages to show up twice for two separate PR blunders.Fortune gives the 61st position on the list to Sony's over-the-top God of War II launch party and the furor it drew from animal rights groups. Never mind that the reality of the event was much tamer than the media sensationalism -- in public relations, perception quickly becomes reality (In fact, even now Fortune repeats the Sony-denied claim that journalists were invited to "reach inside the still-warm carcass of a freshly slaughtered goat to eat offal from its stomach.")Trailing right behind at No. 63 on the list is the Church of England's vocal objections to the use of Manchester Cathedral in Sony's Resistance: Fall of Man. Again, it doesn't really matter that Sony apologized twice or that the cathedral's use wasn't any worse than that seen in popular movies. Once the story is out there, the PR damage is hard to undo. Dumb, but true.[Via GamesIndustry.biz]
