IGN: Ubisoft Chief: X360 Kong May Be Too Dark — I got this game the other day and I asked my daughter about it and she said point blank “It’s too dark!” I was thinking that she meant you know, like depressing or grim. “NO, Dad. It’s too dark! You can’t see it.”
OH! Then this news shows up online. This should do wonders for sales.
Speaking to the BBC, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said that Kong on the X360 can appear too dark on standard TVs, making the game “unplayable.” The development team apparently didn’t notice, as it was testing the game on high-definition sets.
“I’m a bit disappointed that we didn’t see it when we were developing the game,” Guillemot told BBC News.
What? Incredible.
What’s incredible about this is that this could be the first instance of a patched console game. Assuming they do fix it, of course.
Check to see if HD-TV is on the side of the box under system requiurements. If not, the manufacturer should supply one.
Reminds me of some websites before cable or DSL, with 150Kb or larger individual pages. They worked fine on the developer’s computer, and on the local LAN, but were useless in the real world where 95% were on dialup. Even today we still see bonehead websites with 3MB flash intros and no bypass.
Class action lawsuit coming?
The most interesting detail of this post is it implies Dvorak (of all people)doesn’t have the Xbox360 connected to an HDTV!
John, Best Buy has 2years same as cash. Go get one.
This, for those of you not familiar with the gaming industry, is the result of rushing to get a product out by holiday shopping season, or to coinside with Movie or T.V. show release. The developers who actually make these games often keep secret lists of likely problems with the product that they weren’t given time to inspect. Often they begin working on patches and workarounds before the publisher even hears about the problem. PC games are the worst for this, as the ability to patch is treated like a license to rush a game out the door and finish it with patches.
It’ll probably wind up being no big deal, assuming the game is a good one… Making the game “brighter” shouldn’t be too hard, and the media replacement cost is relatively small.
Still, it is pretty amusing….
A bit dissapointed?
I think Jeff is right. Maybe we should start up a collection for John.
Thanks for clearing that up Jack. I remember way back before the Xbox was released when the company promised that the hard drive would NOT be used for patches. Yet another lie from Microsoft.
Can’t wait until they release a “Please adjust your brightness” solution statement.
Wait you mean people will have to actually get up and go brighten their televisions?
How terrible for Ubisoft.
This sounds like the old Lucas Arts games in the early 90s, every new game they released then required you to buy the newest 2000+ US$ (then.)
I like the idea of a collection for me for an HDTV for the Xbox. Here’s the reality. I use an HDTV projector because I like 100-inch screens to watch movies in the house. No matter what they tell you these projectors are best when it is dark — like at night. So I have a nice old 36-inch tube that is just fine for everything during the day and the kids use it for the Xbox360 most of the time. For the multiplayer or other game we switch to HDTV — at night!