NHL 13 GLITCH: Injured BaP Players Not Returning To Roster

So last night, this happens to me;

Not fun. And the problem is so easily verifiable, I’m surprised Electronic Arts did not catch this. This is why I never pay more than $30 for a game. The fact I only paid $25 for NHL 13 is the only thing taking the sting out of such negligent programming and product testing.

This glitch breaks the Be A Pro game mode. So much so I even contemplated scrapping my BaP altogether and concentrating on season/GM mode gameplay instead.

THE PROBLEM
This happened during the REGULAR SEASON not the playoffs. When your Be A Pro player gets injured he is removed from the roster. When the medical staff reports his/her well being and inevitable return to the roster, your BaP remains in injury limbo until another player is injured, THEN you miraculously appear on the roster again.

This not only happens to your BaP but to the CPU controlled players on your team (and presumably on the other CPU controlled teams) as well.

HOW I VERIFIED
I made multiple saves of the game after the problem appeared. At first I simulated one to the end of season and verified that at some point my BaP returned to the roster. I loaded again and simulated a couple of weeks at a time. At some point the game informed me that Right Wing, F. Roy was injured and some changes to the lines were in order. I paused the simulation and verified that I had returned to the roster. F. Roy’s injury lasted a couple of weeks. When the game informed me that he was well and would be returning, he too remained in injury limbo until Defensemen, R. Culkin was injured several weeks later.

SOLUTIONS

• EA Sports fixes this glaringly obvious coding error. (whispers) Good luck with that.
• Simulate until you see an injury and are put back on the roster.
• Temporarily max out your injury sliders and simulate until you see an injury and are put back on the roster. Hopefully maxing out the injury sliders will get you back on the roster quicker without demolishing your teams chances for a playoff spot.
• Turn off injuries.

Need a new direction ’round here…

While Gina keeps me very busy these days, I’ve had plenty of time to think about what I want to do with this space.

THE ENIGMA OF GAMING… I’m just not that into it anymore.
Nothing has garnered more hits on this blog than my gaming articles. On December 17th 2011 I posted Can’t connect to EA Servers? SOLVED… maybe. Since then it has had 17,656 views. That’s almost 20,000 people who have had a problem with Electronic Arts’ servers in the past 8 months (mostly connecting with FIFA 12 from what I can tell by the search stats) and somehow managed to find my little backwater hole in the darkest depths of the world wide web to try and find a solution. That’s roughly 20,000 people that could not find a solution directly from EA. That’s roughly 20,000 people who will undoubtedly purchase FIFA 13 despite the precedent EA has set with them. On January 1st 2012 I posted FIFA 12 Control Reference Sheet for Xbox 360. It has had 13,266 views and counting. More than half that number downloaded the reference sheet. Only two people (so far) have bothered to take a moment of their time to thank me for creating something useful for them. I posted it on reddit and gamers bitched that I hadn’t done a PS3 version and gave me the thumbs down. Are gamers so bleeding stupid they lack the common sense to correlate the buttons from two distinctly similar controller layouts together?

I grow more jaded and disillusioned with every exercise of corporate pomposity and bureaucratic nonsense I read about, with every nauseating example of fan boy sycophancy I come across, with every ass kissing rim job article by so called “professional” gaming journalists I have the displeasure of uncovering. I no longer feel much of the industry deserves the love, loyalty and respect someone like me is capable of giving. Developers are ego-driven tyrants (all corporations are these days), the journalists all graduated Summa Cum Laude from Rupert Murdoch’s School of Unscrupulous Reporting and, with the exception of roleplayers, most of the community leaves a lot to be desired. I’m done wasting a majority of my efforts in this area. In the future the focus around here will be less on games. I’m still a gamer, born on the Atari 2600, will be till the day I die…

SNEEEAKIN’?

THAT BEING SAID… recent gaming experiences!
In Fallout 3 I couldn’t blow up Megaton no matter how nice the apartment in Tenpenny Tower. I can’t play a bad guy, it’s not my nature. At least not these days, I don’t think I’ve ever been a bad guy in my lifetime, definitely an asshole from time to time–but never a bad guy. Got my wisecracking “red-headed, punk stepchild of the wastelands” up to level 20 before I realized I was utterly bored with him. I padded his stats (sacrificed his charisma at creation) and by level 20 he was just sneakin’ around the wasteland one shotting everything with bad ass lasers he found on an alien spaceship… So I re-rolled, didn’t pad the stats and went for a more charismatic approach to the game. Called him J.T. Kirk because I really couldn’t think of anything better at the time and got him to level five before I became preoccupied with something else…

For my b-day I picked up Driver: San Francisco for $18. Best f—ing driving game I’ve played on the 360 yet! I’m only an hour or two into the game (thank you Gina!–joking, anything you need doll face, anything at all, you’re more important) and I’ll be doing a brief write up on it in the future. It brings to mind the great time I had playing Interstate ’76 on the PC back in the 90′s. It also brought back faded memories of playing the original Driver (another all-time great driving game, but overshadowed in my recollections by I-76). And because my wife is a gem that I certainly do not deserve, she gave me Batman: Arkham City GOTY for my 43rd, another game I’ve been salivating to play but can’t talk too much about right now because I’m only about an hour or two into it.

No, I’m not giving up gaming. Just relaxing a bit on the love I show it around here.

WRITERS NEED TO READ…
Something I have not been doing much of for a while now. I’ve been reading a lot of web related material, shorts and stuff but I haven’t opened a book in a while. I promised my good friend, Eric Swett, I’d read and review his first novel Apocalypse Rising. I read it piecemeal when he had it going on his blog and now I get the chance to just sit back and enjoy it in its entirety. So you’ll all have that to look forward to soon.

Unlike most gamers, writers are kind and encouraging people. I started a Twitter account (@ajbeamish) to ask Electronic Arts why all the official servers disappeared on Battlefield 3 when they implemented their rental servers even though I knew the answer was “because we’re a bunch of greedy twats and you’re stupid enough to keep throwing your money at us,” and thanks to the charming and rather witty Nicole Chardenet (@nchardenet) giving me a wee bit of undue praise (gaming guru, Nicole? like I need to be pigeonholed!) I have 18 followers, most of whom I don’t know from Adam but I’m sure they are writers so they can’t be all that bad.

That brings me to Michael R. Hicks (@KreelanWarrior) a kind soul who has decided to give us all a couple of his works absolutely free. I’m looking forward to reading them over the coming weeks (after I get done with Eric’s Apocalypse Rising first, of course). Get your copies from Michael’s web site.

AND NOW THE PLAN IS…
Self publication (after I get the first drafts up). Eric, Nicole and my other new found writing buddies along with the many courageous souls who have decided to brave self-publication in this digital age have inspired me. I’ve already started putting up more of my writing on this blog and there are more draft posts waiting to be edited and cued up. My fear of getting published, whether it was of failure or actual success is diminishing. Exposing my talents (or lack thereof) here has helped me with that, along with the likes, comments and subscriptions they garner.

ADVENTURES IN TECH…
We took a leap into uncharted territory–for us anyway. My wife and I went out and got a couple of smart phones. The HTC Amaze to be exact. While I was doing research for peripherals and appropriate apps for my new phone, I noticed there wasn’t any dependable information out there for much of it. Any blog I found regarding accessories for the device seemed to be a cut and paste “Amazon will pay me if you click this link” job rather than an objective, independent review. And there is no decent documentation regarding many of the apps and utilities you need to run on the phone. Expect to see me writing some useful (I hope) pieces on this.

SpiderBite talks about his hacked Diablo 3 account.

Even though SpiderBite confirms he did not have the authenticator set up, there are people out there saying they got hacked even with the authenticator running. I’m starting to believe these people are full of it. I’m pretty sure it’s people sans authenticators getting hacked. HOWEVER, this possible fact does not alleviate any responsibility off of Blizzard’s shoulders. There is something glaringly wrong with their security code.

Even if I had a PC that would run Diablo 3 I still couldn’t get the game because I don’t have an iPhone. I’d have to buy a $6 “keychain” from Blizzard to secure my account. ASININE. No offline mode and having to buy extra security to protect your account… This whole deal reeks.

I’m no coding genius but I do know enough to get me into trouble and it sounds to me like the problem is with the way Blizzard has the system set up to take advantage of the authenticators. The hackers could be tying into the signals looking for authenticators that are not there. I’m not buying the key logger bullshit at all. If a hacker has a key logger installed on your system, why would he go after your gaming virtual items instead of your bank account?

The State of Gaming: There are no fan boys, only paid trolls.

A week or two ago I wrote about Electronic Arts and how they pay people to troll forums and thwart discussions that could lead to adverse representations of the company. Not to be outdone, Blizzard is currently making Electronic Arts look like Elizabeth Warren portraying Mother Theresa in the Lifetime movie of the week.

Just a few short weeks after Diablo 3′s long awaited release–sans offline mode–people are logging into their accounts only to find all their hard earned (well, hard clicked for) items disappearing. Diablo is all about the items. The hunt for rare treasures to equip your avatar in the most uber-duper way possible is the only point in playing. Without the items Diablo is one mindless f—ing click fest.

In typical corporate fascist fashion, Blizzard–whom I honestly expected better from–is in an extreme state of Rupert Murdoch inspired denial.

“It’s an incredibly serious allegation and the ramifications would be so much more far-reaching than what you’ve witnessed. Again, I understand you’re upset, but I caution you not to perpetuate this nonsense any further.” ~ Zathym, Blizzard Community Manager

I caution you not to perpetuate this nonsense any further? I caution you?

In an obvious effort to make AOL (a company that should have died with dial-up) look even less credible than it already is, Michael Sacco from Joystiq wrote a shining example of unadulterated sycophancy titled, you cannot get hacked by playing public games in Diablo 3. Mr. Sacco rammed his pablum through the gamer continuum despite ever growing evidence that people getting their Diablo 3 accounts hacked, regardless if they paid extra for an authenticator or not, is a reality. To further assist Mr. Sacco’s quest for the quintessential Toady Twat of the year award, SpiderBite of NextGenTactics also got hacked.

I’m pretty sure SpiderBite knows how to secure his PC. Or maybe SpiderBite let himself get hacked to contribute to the conspiracy against the Almighty Precious Blizzard… I highly doubt it, the only evidence the undistinguished author offers in support of his theory that no one can get hacked in Diablo 3 public games is “Blizzard said so.”

Way to report there, Geraldo Rivera. Your job application for Fox News has been received.

Not only has Blizzard let loose its army of paid forum trolls, they’ve obviously authorized double plus good overtime for them as well. The message boards are so full of fertilizer the house plants near my PC have started to perk up. How do I know they are all paid forum trolls? Simple. Humans will only ever whine and complain (hence why you are reading this.) Very few people, if any, will ever log onto a web site or type up a letter of good will and praise of their own accord.

I’ve worked every customer service job known to man. From face to face sales to phone sales and support to managing large corporate accounts. I’ve bent over backwards for every customer I’ve met (even the rude ones) and they have all thanked and praised me for my efficiency and attention to their needs (even the rude ones.) To my face. Not one ever called my supervisor or manager to say what a wonderful employee I was and how it was a pleasure to deal with me. The only time your bosses will hear from your customers is when they are pissed off. It’s basic human nature.

I’m sure there are a few fan boys out there, but these jokers are more aptly described as sad sycophants. Losers looking for a job with a game company and figuring sucking ass is the best way to do it. What else can one do when competency eludes one in life? The sheer amount of “fan boys” not only on the Blizzard forums but on the gaming news sites as well is mind boggling. Do you honestly think that many gamers would take time out of their hectic and busy gaming schedules to troll forums in support of their beloved gaming corporations?

Firemen, people who have actually saved lives, don’t get this amount of praise and glorification.

The reason gaming companies resort to such nefarious methods of misinformation, control and manipulation is simple. They do not respect their customers. You are a joke to them. Their corporate egos are so huge any rational argument that you deserve a safe, reliable and dependable quality product for your hard earned cash is met with a response of “stop being entitled.”

This is not capitalism people, this is crapitalism and fascism and it won’t stop until you stop throwing your money at them.

Electronic Arts releases BF Premium details. Bend over everyone.

Cost: $49.99

WHAT YOU GET…

Not even a reach-around, and you better bring your own K-Y gel.

• WOOT, play expansions early. Seriously? This gets you excited? Pathetic.
• Exclusive in-game items. Like a knife only you can see. And dog tags and camo that make you clearly stand out as a complete and total fool with far too much disposable income.
• 5 themed expansion packs INCLUDING KARKAND (something you idiots already paid for.)
• Reset your stats… … … Someone please explain to me the point of having stats now?
• Increased platoon emblem layers and 10 “unique” decals. In order for this to be truly unique, you’d have to be the only one who bought the service.
• Save up to five of your favorite Battlefield reports. For those of you who haven’t figured out how to use a printer yet. Is the clock still blinking on your VCR?
• Strategy guides from the same dumb-asses who completely fail at testing their own game and patches. A feature that has been available for ages now on YouTube for free and delivered by more qualified people that know how to play the game.
• EXCLUSIVE“events,” “videos,” and double XP weekends. You know? So you can gain another pointless level and pad your now completely irrelevant stats.
• Undefined “additional bonus content.” In-game exclusive flip flops maybe?
• More frequent patches… Yeah, NO, not really. I’m just fucking with you.

Good luck with that.

P.S. @Battlefielders, you don’t have to worry about your game turning into CoD anymore. At this rate it would have to lap the track quite a few times to run neck and neck with CoD.

Shibby talks EA’s BF3 shenanigans…

Is it you?
Is it you who’s been orchestrated?
Is it you?
Is it you who’s born frustrated?
~~~ Rancid, Born Frustrated

Apparently there was a rumor floating around that the Close Quarter DLC was going to be $30.

Rumor my ass.

Let me ‘splain this to you, Lucy. The rumor wasn’t floating around, it was floated around. EA’s paid forum trolls circulated the $30 DLC rumor to gauge how the community would react. They probably went into overtime replying to their own posts with comments like, “Hell yes I pay that! Wotta deal!” and “WOOT! dis DLC is gonna be like a boss!” and let’s not forget the ever popular and largely ignorant, “stop being poor and pay the $30.”

I guess the mindless consumer masses weren’t having it because according to an official EA press release the DLC is going to be $14.99.

That’s still a far cry from “We don’t ever want to charge for our maps and insisted to EA that this attitude was crucial when it came to keeping our community happy and playing together.”

Shibby talks about it and some other BF3 bullshit in the following video.

I’m so glad I pulled my “mule out of this trace.”

The State of Gaming: What’s Happened to Electronic Arts?

We’re not the artists, they (the developers) are… ~ Steve Hayes, EA’s Glory Days

I’ve been an ardent fan and supporter of Electronic Arts since the late 80′s.

NBA Basketball (multiple yearly purchases on multiple platforms,) NHL (multiple yearly purchases on multiple platforms,) Madden (multiple yearly purchases on multiple platforms,) Mutant League Hockey and Football, FIFA (multiple yearly purchases on multiple platforms,) Road Rash (and that skater offshoot I can’t remember the name of,) Desert Strike & Jungle Strike, PGA Tour (multiple yearly purchases on multiple platforms,) James Pond, Zany Golf, UEFA, Medal of Honor (multiple yearly purchases on multiple platforms,) SSX (multiple yearly purchases on multiple platforms,) The SIMS, SimCity (multiple yearly purchases,) Rugby World Cup 95, Rock Band, Populous, Need for Speed (can’t remember which ones exactly but I’ve had one or two of these,) NASCAR 2000, LOTR: Return of the King, LOTR: The Third Age, Jane’s Combat Simulations (multiple versions, can’t remember exactly which ones but at least 3,) The Immortal, The Godfather: The Game, Freekstyle, Fight Night (multiple yearly purchases on multiple platforms,) Dungeon Keeper, Command & Conquer (multiple yearly purchases on multiple platforms,) Clive Barkers Undying, Burnout (multiple yearly purchases on multiple platforms,) Budokan: The Martial Spirit, and most recently BF3.

These are all games I’ve purchased with my hard earned cash. And those are just the ones I distinctly remember playing. There’s many more I’ve forgotten about or didn’t realize were EA. My game library, especially on the SEGA GENESIS, has always maintained a healthy dose of EA gaming goodness.

But the Electronic Arts I fell in love with no longer exists. They used be the Steve Jobs of gaming. True innovators. These days they are more like the Vogons. A senselessly bureaucratic entity serving the villainous bidding of Wall $t.

Now, before you go rattling off your Faux Newz talking points, I’m not jealous or envious. I’m not anti-rich and I don’t hate people for being successful. It’s just that I don’t define success as wasting perfectly good MIT engineering and science degrees coming up with Gaussian copula functions and other fancy statistical math to crash the economy with.

According to an article over at Gaming Blend, a former EA employee was purportedly paid to troll forum discussions and somehow ease off the heat that could potentially lead to adverse representation of the company. Apparently he wasn’t the only one employed to do this. You can read all about it here. This is all part of EA’s $747 million marketing budget (we all know how I feel about marketing by now, don’t we?)

I find this mind boggling. Instead of addressing the concerns and criticisms of their customers honestly and openly, they hire tools to troll and belittle them. What’s next? Huge mega corporations paying lobbyists billions of dollars to avoid paying taxes when it would be cheaper for them to pay the taxes in the first place. Oh, wait…

The article goes on to talk about rumors surrounding EA’s dissatisfaction with the numbers Mass Effect 3 and Star Wars: TOR is netting them. Holy cow! If only I had their “problems.”

Mass Effect 3′s story was obviously rushed, the writers got bored and they hacked at the ending. EA was resting on its laurels. Why wouldn’t they? They had you hooked with the first two, they knew you had to buy the third. One thing you can count on from the mindless consumer masses is behavioral consistency. They can hire all the forum trolls they want, it won’t stop the truth in the information age. Thanks to the internet, word of mouth is a very contagious thing these days, and lets face it, the trolls they’re hiring aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed. I’m pretty sure the tool posting “stop being poor and buy the game” over and over isn’t applying to MENSA; ever.

As for the Star Wars MMORPG, the fact is many people in the USA and across the world are under-employed if they are employed at all. The working-class jobs in America have been shipped to China (thank you Mitt Romney) and the Chinese are still very busy farming WoW gold. To get by, people are working more than one job and therefore more hours, who has got the time for the endless level grind of the MMORPG skinner box? To expect the success of EQ and WoW after everything that has happened is asinine.

I hear tell that the Avengers film has grossed billions, if the sequel doesn’t gross zillions it will be considered a failure. I’m no economist, but one thing I’m sure of is if you want a steady, growing and stable economy–slow and easy wins the race. The expectations that Wall $t. and stockholders place on production these days is highly unrealistic. These people just don’t live on the same planet as the rest of us. Like I said, Vogons.

I vividly remember the day I purchased and installed NHL 96 for the PC. Back when everyone only had dial up (internet a lot slower than cable or DSL, kids.) I found other people that appreciated the game on EA’s forums and we started a local NHL 96 league. Man, we had so much fun. We’d play games on our 56k modems. Mano-a-mano. Just two fellas, some beer and a game. We didn’t throw temper tantrums when disconnects happened (and they happened a lot,) we simply redialed and got back to gaming. Good wholesome friendly competition. No power or skill boosts, no golden helmets or tribal tattoo goalie equipment. Those were the good old days. EA’s glory days, when the game mattered more. Radiant gaming memories lost to time like tears in the rain.

These days EA’s sports multiplayer is all about who’s willing to pay for the unlocks. The amount of mindless consumer masses that fork out hard earned cash on virtual items that should come as part of the initial price of the game is stunning. If I buy an EA sports game these days it’s just for single player, thank God they haven’t botched that mode up yet. Because of EA greed, the MP sports experience is unbalanced and almost entirely pointless.

What’s happened to Electronic Arts is the same thing that’s happened to all America’s titans of business. There is no need for them to court the customer anymore because we idiots will buy anything. It’s all about the stockholder these days, and the stockholder knows bugger all about gaming.

No, EA, it’s no longer in the game, it’s in your bank account.

Battlefield 3, The Final Cut

I’ve cut my losses and pulled my horse out of this race.

EA does not respect me. They don’t respect us. I’ve given a lot of money to Electronic Arts during my lifetime. Customers like me made EA the power house it is today. Are we owed something? Hell yes we are. We are owed respect. We are owed honesty.

No other industry can treat its extremely loyal customer base so poorly as the gaming industry does and still retain its customers. No other customer base in the world is as willing to roll over and die as gamers. Gamers are appeased so appallingly easy it’s pathetic.

Is it entitlement to expect the best customer service possible? The best quality product possible? The best bang for our buck possible? Is it entitlement to expect a company honor the original terms of the (implied) contract and purchase? Hardly. If you believe that, you need to turn off Faux Newz for a bit. People spend their hard earned cash on these games, just because it’s entertainment does not make it any less important than any other household expense. I’ll blog more about this entitled gamer bullshit at a later date. For now, lets stay focused.

I honestly expected better from DICE. They have lost my trust. I honestly expected more from the BF3 YouTube community. Seeing that all of them are using rental servers as advertisements for their YouTube ventures it only benefits them if official servers disappear, forcing people to use their servers. Not really a problem with the YouTubers that produce quality content. It’s really annoying when Johnny Dickwad pesters you every few minutes to go check out his awesome montages of which you will undoubtedly be starring in in the most demeaning manner possible.

You change your business model for a product at the beginning of the products cycle, not in the middle of it. That’s what CoD did. They didn’t release MW3 and then, 6 months after the fact, say “oh, here’s ELITE, you really need to purchase this if you want to play.”

You have to ask yourselves where is EA taking BF3. To find the answer to this all you need to do is consider their sports titles. In order to compete on-line in an EA sports title you pretty much have to sink more money into the game (on top of your $60 investment) to purchase the unlocks that have very drastic affects on your virtual sport persona’s abilities. The only good thing about EA Sports titles is they still have solid single player gameplay.

Did anyone really enjoy the single player campaign in BF3? Did anyone buy BF3 for the single player campaign? No. You bought it for the multiplayer as did I. And it’s a wonderful multiplayer experience. One of the best games I have ever played. Hands down a far better game than MW3 (currently.)

But for how long? EA started selling unlocks that have an affect on gameplay as far back as BF2 (something I was not aware of when I purchased BF3.) They sold BF3 on the consoles under the precedent that official, dependable and balanced servers would be provided for the life of the game. Six months later they pass this cost onto the consumer in the form of rental servers. Rental servers that were marketed to the community as optional, as a great addition to the BF3 experience, never as a replacement to a feature the customer paid for when they purchased the game. Should we discuss on-line passes as well? I don’t believe I need to at this point.

“It’s only business,” is the battle cry of the unscrupulous, the motto of the dishonest.

You want to know which blog piece I wrote gets the most views? It’s this one:

Can’t connect to EA Servers? SOLVED… maybe.

I published that piece on December 17, 2011. It’s had over 8,211 views and climbing. That’s over 8000 people that have had issues at one time or another with EA servers and looked elsewhere for help because EA’s customer service is appallingly lax. That’s just on my tiny little insignificant blog in the middle of nowhere.

So, I have to ask everyone including myself, all things considered, why are we still purchasing games with EA’s logo on them?

Interesting enough, when I posted this on the Battleog forums I was met with such inane comments as, “you suxxors that’s why you’re mad,” and other childish derogatory flames that only serve to solidify one of my points. Who in their right mind would want to play on servers administered by these jackasses? If you’ve got five minutes to waste, go check out the thread. The shear stupidity will not disappoint. What’s really sad is EA is after the casual gamer market with these illiterate, egotistical idiots cheering them on and now representing them as server admins… You do the math.

BF3: I’m not the only one that thinks EA made a dick move…

I said it before, out of all the YouTube commentators out there, SpiderBite is the only one that can claim any journalistic integrity. Not only is he saying all the things I’ve been saying all along, but he’s even considering not renewing his rental server in support of the community.