APB Beta Fail

Hamma · 2011-02-21, 02:42 PM

Check this out:
http://apbreloaded.blogspot.com/

First and foremost we want to be clear that Beta Application Keys guarantees that you will have a chance to APPLY for access to the APB Reloaded Closed Beta, regardless of how you received your key (from us, through one of our media partners like IGN or from fan sites, since we will be handing out application keys in the next few days to select partner sites as well).

So the application you have on their site only grants you the possibility to get a "Key" which then allows you to apply to beta where you may or may not get a "Key" to actually beta the game..

Then there is this gem:

NO - we will NOT have any of your original payment data on our side, and therefore you also will have no RTW points or cash-equivalent credits. We simply have no information about anything you bought via EA, Digital River nor Steam. So we will have no idea what you did or did not purchase back during the original run of the game. No point in asking us. We simply don't know. If you tell us you spent a bizillion dollars we might feel really sorry for you. And the best sad story might very well win you some sympathy and recognition from our development team. But we simply don't have the data (nor the money) from whatever happened back then. Remember, that company simply does not exist any longer. I know I am going to have to repeat this information many times

This means that people who PAID for the game the first time don't get into beta at all. Which means they will likley be required to BUY the game again (if they so choose..)

As if this game wasn't enough of a clusterfuck already these guys are doing an awesome job of making it fail again.

Lartnev · 2011-02-21, 04:03 PM

There's got to be laws against this kind of crap. Did these guys get stuck inside a dot com bubble time warp and haven't realised it's burst? Sounds just like something those start-ups would have done.

Arcka · 2011-02-22, 03:58 PM

While what happened with this game the first time around does suck (yes - I bought it), I don't think it's fair to blame the new developer for anything more than having a slightly unusual beta application process. They'll bear some responsibility for how their version of the game turns out but it is a different company. Just like Gearbox can't be blamed for all the bullshit concerning DNF which 3D Realms spread around for years.

Regarding the beta application process, it seems to me that there is only one "key"; which would be associated with your account to complete the application. If you're accepted, they probably just activate your account with no additional keys needed.

As for those of us who paid for the game previously...
It looks like their current games don't require purchase, and are just 'download and play'. I hope APB will take that direction also. It'd be good for server population.

With the game hopefully being completely free to play, they can focus on a beta for actual testing purposes and not trial purposes.

That blog post could have been written a bit better tho. It seems that their company is based in Irvine, but is anyone sure that English is these guys' first language?..

Arcka (TR Emerald)

Baneblade · 2011-02-23, 01:31 AM

Irvine, CA? California's official languages are Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin), Korean, and Japanese.

English is reserved for the small print.

Canaris · 2011-02-25, 06:43 AM

Can't really blame a company for the mistakes of RTW
I'm not to worried about APB coming back, before PSN was announced I was happy to hear another publisher took up the game, I liked the potential the game had and it was coming back I was lined up to be involved but after Mr Smedlys bomb shell, we'll have better

Hamma · 2011-02-26, 03:23 PM

hah.

So I go to fill out the beta application and it asks me questions like who is my cell phone provider, who is my favorite payment provider.

None of that BS is at all relevant to a beta application for an online video game.

Hell they even have an NDA in place for a game that was ALREADY OUT ONCE. WTF?

I'm chalking this one up as fail #2

Lartnev · 2011-02-26, 04:04 PM

Originally Posted by Hamma

hah.

So I go to fill out the beta application and it asks me questions like who is my cell phone provider, who is my favorite payment provider.

None of that BS is at all relevant to a beta application for an online video game.

Hell they even have an NDA in place for a game that was ALREADY OUT ONCE. WTF?

I'm chalking this one up as fail #2

But if you already knew it was fail... and you started signing up for it anyway... doesn't that mean that you fail too?

Canaris · 2011-02-26, 04:16 PM

I didn't even fill out the form

Hamma · 2011-02-26, 05:05 PM

Well I got invited and looked at the form..

Pennybags · 2011-03-19, 02:45 PM

Originally Posted by Hamma

hah.

So I go to fill out the beta application and it asks me questions like who is my cell phone provider, who is my favorite payment provider.

None of that BS is at all relevant to a beta application for an online video game.

Hell they even have an NDA in place for a game that was ALREADY OUT ONCE. WTF?

I'm chalking this one up as fail #2

To be fair, those questions seem perfectly relevant to a game based on microtransactions. It lets them figure out which carriers to work with for mobile payments, and which payment brokers to work with for traditional online transactions.

krnasaur · 2011-03-06, 09:42 PM

APB reloaded was a really big letdown. With a few tweeks this game can be nasty(in a good way). lets just hope the new dev steps closer in the right direction, not further. I thought about buying the game on release, i was glad i passed on that one

Hamma · 2011-03-06, 10:32 PM

You talking about the beta of the new game?

Arcka · 2011-03-08, 12:21 PM

Tho I haven't had the chance to play the closed beta yet (too busy in Rift, heh) there was something interesting on their dev blog:

One thing to keep in mind with APB Reloaded is that there can be as many as 100 players engaged in a single thread. For comparison, most other FPS games don't permit more than 16 v 16 or in some cases 32 v 32. In theory we could actually turn on 50 v 50 in APB in all-out war mode (which is essentially what Chaos mode is) and for future hardware upgrades go even higher in a single district and still maintain good FPS style performance.

It isn't PS level battle numbers, but it isn't bad either.

krnasaur · 2011-03-08, 12:35 PM

hamma, what I meant was, release 1 was a big letdown, lets hope that release 2 with the new devs goes better. (i havent followed the press on reloaded so im not sure where it is going)

Hamma · 2011-03-08, 12:55 PM

ah ok. Yea I had a sub to it during its first iteration and it needed a ton of work. The progression and huge advantages older players had was a major turnoff.

I hope they can improve the game in that regard, it looks like they are doing some nice things with the driving mechanics also.