Read ‘Em And Weep

Being as interested in the tech industry as I am, it should come as no surprise that I enjoy playing video games whenever I have the time. There is however a disconcerting trend in the video game market where publishers are forcing the developers to make ever-grander projects with less and less time to do so. Most recently, this has manifested itself in almost every “big“ release in the last holiday season. Unfortunately for me, I saw it coming and still made a purchase.

I knew it would be bad, but that would have been fine as long as I was playing with friends. Or so I thought, as “bad“ ended up being the least of my worries. There were so many performance issues, so many hang-ups mixed with too many bugs to count. It wasn’t just a chore to play, it was unplayable for me and my friends altogether. I could have avoided this entirely if I simply waited to see how good it was before I bought it by reading the reviews of others who bought it. While at this point reading reviews couldn’t save me, they could at least confirm that my experience wasn’t uniquely bad.

It just goes to show that reading reviews goes a long way. That, and not blindly trusting a big company just because they have more money than an independent game developer. The game and company in question shall remain unnamed, though you would not have to look far that come across multiple examples that fit this description. I urge you, especially if you fell victim to the same gambit I did when you were looking for some easy thrills, do some research the next time you want to take the plunge on something approaching $100.

Thanks for reading and I hope you learned something from my own lesson in life.