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GAF Votes FOTY 2013 Thread: Fail Of The Year

A

Apdiddy

Member
Microsoft's Xbox One initial reveal press conference. Totally baffling how they design a console around things people didn't want/were disinterested (NFL exclusive content? Halo: The TV Series? The console functions as a cable box?) in while saying 'no it's not just TV/sports, it's also games.'

Followed by a lot of great games being sent to die by Nintendo, Sony & Microsoft.
 
H

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE
The Xbox One DRM reveal.

Everything about it was amazing: the DRM system itself, the way Microsoft didn't even care about pretending it was a good thing for consumers, the way they bitterly tried to say "it would have been so awesome check out this feature you morons" after they were forced to cancel it, and the way the gaming press reacted by coming down against gamers for speaking out against it.
 
U

Uno Venova

Banned
XB1 DRM, people make jokes about a book needing to be written about it and sometimes I wished that existed. Every time I opened up Neogaf there was a new exposed flaw in the system, or a new insulting PR statement by Microsoft execs, and they still make stupid statements defending it to this day.
 
SirNinja

SirNinja

Member
The Xbox One, from reveal to release.

Sorry, EA: you put up a good fight, but Microsoft's awfully-named, badly-marketed, Mattrick-sabotaged, backpedaling mess was a fiasco for the history books.
 
H

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE
I mean, the fact that it looks like the Xbox is "winning" this by a landslide after EA's absolutely terrible Sim City showing says it all.
 
S

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
The golden turd's gotta go to Sim City. It's not even a bad game, but compared to what it could, and should have been, it's a tremendous disappointment. The online focus wasn't a bad idea, it could have been something great, but EA/Maxis's fucked up priorities and horrible execution soured the entire package. It's legacy will always be that disastrous launch, deservedly so.

I'd love to see player activity from launch until now, but I'm sure we won't see those numbers for a reason.
 
D

Delusibeta

Banned
Xbone thread? Xbone thread.

The Xbone reveal (TV! TV! TV!), subsequent announcement of its DRM system utterly torpedoing Microsoft's E3, and ultimately having to u-turn on said DRM system was hands down the biggest failure of this year in gaming. Even the multiple duff EA games at launch couldn't compete with the sheer carnival of a company performing a PR equivalent of dropping your pants and defecating on a neighbour's lawn over the course of three or four memorable months.

Dishonourable mentions goes to EA, for shipping multiple games largely broken, and to the Ouya, which over the course of the year utterly vindicated its critics. Also worth mentioning: Aliens Colonial Marines (not even once) and games journalism in general (with special references to Penny Arcade Report and Polygon).
 
A

axisofweevils

Holy crap! Today's real megaton is that more than two people can have the same first name.
Xbox One has got to top the list, with EA a close second.

A special mention for the whole Truth and Trolls / Kickstarter fail / Sending a kid to RPG camp saga.
 
R

RibMan

Member
Failure of the Year: Xbox One used games/always on. Historical moment in videogaming and consumer electronics.

Honorable Mention 1: EA. I didn't think it was possible, but they outdid themselves this year by getting rid of their CEO and offering numerous non-functional products. With BF3, they successfully created the first true competitor to COD. With BF4, they completely failed to capitalize on BF3's success. They blew it.

Honorable Mention 2: Wii U. There were signs that the console was off to a rough start, but 2013 cemented the fact that the console was struggling. From the abysmal marketing to the specs revelation to the software drought to the lack of 3rd-party support, 2013 was a very bad year for Nintendo. Given the console's performance, it's fair to say that Michael Pachter was right all along; the successor to the Wii should have launched in 2010. It's unbelievable how all of the Wii momentum and popularity seems to have evaporated.
 
T

Toxi

Banned
I'm surprised people here forgot Gearbox's wonderful Aliens: Colonial Marines. They lied to consumers with a straight face last year and released a broken and terrible game this year that was nothing like the "vertical slice" trailer footage. And then there was that amazing leak that Gearbox was so fucked up that when Sega gave them money to make the game, they instead worked on Borderlands 2 and outsourced some of the work for Aliens.
 
G

Grisby

Member
1)Xbox One DRM

I swear MS seemed to do everything in their power to piss off gamers. A shame, since I'm really enjoying the final, released product.

2)Sim City Gate

I didn't even play the game and I felt pissed for all involved. Way to shit on your fans.

3)Battlefield 4

See above answer for Sim City.
 
S

spindoctor

Member
Delusibeta said:
That reminds me: dishonourable mention to games journalism in general, with special mention to Penny Arcade Report (thankfully killed off) and Polygon.
Click to expand...

I'd put this on top of my list.

For all it's stupidity, the Xbone DRM plans amounted to nothing when the console actually came out. They embarrassed themselves thoroughly during the whole saga but the net effect on consumers of the final product was zero.

Now the gaming press in 2013... man this was the year they demonstrated without any shadow of a doubt how their interests do not align with the audience they are supposed to serve. They defended every fucking greedy and unethical attempt from publishers to screw over paying customers (including the Xbone stuff). The showed open contempt for the very people who give them the clicks and video hits that sustain their business.
 
F

Finalizer

Member
Xbone DRM debacle. Sure, they reversed it, but what a carnival it was until then.

Runner up is EA with SimCity & BF4 of course.
 
Dirk Benedict

Dirk Benedict

Member
I would love to add my passionate vote to this. Mods? Can I get a bone? If not, another year or two as junior is o.k with me too.

Xbox One Reveal/180/DRM/XboxPR would be my vote.
 
C

Cutebrute

Member
Xbone reveal and DRM of course.


My runner-up is the Fucking Donkey Kong reveal. I'm looking forward to it, but goddamn if that wasn't a massive disappointment at E3. This choice isn't that bad, I know, but I had already learned to avoid any EA games by 2013 ;)
 
G

Gartooth

Member
Xbone DRM was the biggest fail/screw up by far due to bringing down the whole industry with it.

Honorable mention to Phil Fish's twitter rampage and Fez 2 cancelation.
 
N

Novocaine

Member
My vote goes to EA.

The XBOne reveal no doubt was awful, but they listened to the consumers and made changes for the better. EA pushed out multiple games out as broken messes and/or riddled with micro-transactions, and I would put money on them continuing the trend throughout 2014.

I'm almost tempted to vote for the gaming community because we continue to blindly throw money at EA even with their horrible track record.
 
Forsete

Forsete

Gold Member
1. Sim City - Biggest disappointment of the century.

2. EA - SimCIty, BF4? Phail after phail.

3. Microsoft - Looked unbeatable.. now? Pfft. And the DRM shit they tried to pull.

4. Nintendo - WiiU is a bomba, will they survive?
 
B

BPoole

Member
MS in general. Completely abandoned the 360 outside of Gears Judgement(lol) and then had negative headlines for literally the entire year regarding the XBone. Their PR Dept has been smacked around by message boards and have been completely exposed as frauds and deceitful scum.
 
A

Aarglefarg

Member
1. The Xbox One pre-180.

Problems with a major console are a bigger deal than problems with individual games. They gave contradictory statements in interviews, they didn't know their audience for the reveal, people had concerns over the Kinect requirement, something else (something about 24-hour check-ins?), price, weaker specs (and not in a difficult-to-compare way) and they didn't do a good job of communicating benefits. The NSA disclosures and Adam Orth gave context to some of these to make them probably seem worse than they would have otherwise.

Post-180 might still be in the top 3 or 5.
 
E

electroshockwave

Member
Yeah, the Xbone reveal and the subsequent back-pedalling and whatever the fuck was going on with their marketing. In the reveal they didn't even show anything that would make you want their DRM future and it was hilarious when Major Nelson was sticking to his guns (and shills like Kuchera and Gies supporting it too) only for them to backtrack the week after E3.

Those #getthefacts things where MS was trying to correct misconceptions that were based on policies they actually had and flip-flopped on were as sad as when Nintendo has to go out of its way to let people know that the Wii U is a new console. Did you know that you can buy used games on the Xbox One? Did you know you that you don't have to have Kinect plugged in all the time? (but of course we're still upping the price by including one in every box even though we have no appealing software for it!) You wouldn't have to do that shit if you had some sense in the first place. "Beta tested in the future", what does that even mean? Is that meant to be appealing? It sounds like it should have been Battlefield 4's tagline.

And on that note the runner up would be Sim City if not EA in general this year.
 
P

Prompto

Banned
Yeah its the Xbox One pre launch fiasco. I was going to say Wii U based on its sales but it at least managed to have some great games this year.
 
C

Chocolate & Vanilla

Fuck Strawberry
It's been a year full of fail. If only the FOTY could go to multiple recipients. I think my vote has to go to MS's PR spectacular both official and unofficial. From "Why would I want to live there?" to TV TV TV its like they couldn't have come across worse if they tried. And even after they 180'd the worst of the policies the "we still think we were right" arrogance and the whole 1080/720 "its not about the graphics except for the ones about the graphics but its not really about the graphics why can't we seem to shut the fuck up about the graphics".

My vote goes to Xbone PR for all of the above and a whole lot more besides.
 
A

Azure Phoenix

Member
Xbox One DRM, hands down.

Microsoft pretty much wanted to throw most of the world (and potentially the industry) under a bus in a pathetic attempt to try and take complete control of the used and rental markets.
 
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