the one and twenty
Ha! hold my Brain; be still my beating Heart.
Chances are, most of you have already heard about the lawsuit against Gearbox and SEGA on behalf of those who bought Aliens: Colonial Marines on or before its release date—as there had been imposed a news/review embargo, gamers couldn’t possibly be warned about the looming assault by this phenomenal crapfest.
Polygon broke the news first:
“Each of the ‘actual gameplay’ demonstrations purported to show consumers exactly what they would be buying: a cutting edge video game with very specific features and qualities,” the claim reads. “Unfortunately for their fans, Defendants never told anyone—consumers, industry critics, reviewers, or reporters—that their ‘actual gameplay’ demonstration advertising campaign bore little resemblance to the retail product that would eventually be sold to a large community of unwitting purchasers.”
Here’s Videogamer’s comparison between the demo and the final product:
What the hell happened to Aliens: Colonial Marines?
And to refresh your memory, here’s the whole mind-melting story (but beware, some of these video images cannot be unseen):
YoVideogames Aliens: Colonial Marines Review (WTF HAPPENED?!)
“The gaming community had a strong reaction to the release of Aliens: Colonial Marines,” indeed.
My favorite comment on this mess-cum-lawsuit comes from RPS’s reviewer Craig Pearson:
I didn’t buy it, but I would like to have the time I spent playing it refunded, and the sad hole it left in my heart repaired.
Amen to that, brother.
If you have something valuable to add or some interesting point to discuss, I’ll be looking forward to meeting you at Mastodon!