Editorial: I want to get off Mr. Murray's Wild Ride

I want to get off Mr. Murray’s Wild Ride

          Almost two months after release, No Man’s Sky is still a topic that comes up a lot in discussion. I feel that the game will live on in infamy for a really long time after this. After what was one of the craziest pre-releases of all time, the game launched to middling reviews and a large divide in the games community.

          There were three camps: those who loved the game, those who hated it, and those who just found it dull. I myself liked the game for what it was, but I haven’t picked it up since I realized that the game was an endless cycle of repetition. Eventually the dust settled, and everyone agreed that the game was “meh”.

          However, as the saying goes, it’s better to reign in hell than serve in heaven, and it seems No Man’s Sky, lead developer Sean Murray, and Hello Games are trying their hardest to make as many mountains out of molehills as possible.

          Once the game launched, Murray and Hello Games thanked the early adopters for playing, and then unceremoniously leapt into radio silence. Aside from some update notices, we haven’t heard from them since a few weeks after launch, which is pretty shady for a developer.

          That’s when people started to pick up on things. A lengthy Reddit post started making the internet rounds, detailing everything that was missing from the game that appeared in the trailers. Everything from landing on asteroids to giant sand snakes to allying with factions to complex crafting was detailed here. This is to say nothing about what the much-hyped “center of the universe” turned out to be.

          And of course, we can’t forget the multiplayer issue. Several times in interviews, even months before launch, Murray continually confirmed the existence of multiplayer. He always maintained that it could happen, but it was extremely rare. Sure enough, on Day 1, two streamers figured out a way to meet up, and all eyes were on them to see what would happen.

          Upon arrival, they were invisible to each other, and couldn’t interact in any way, shape, or form.

          I distinctly remember Murray explaining that the only way you could see what your character looked like was to see someone else. Well, that’s kind of difficult when other people are basically ghosts in No Man’s Sky. Just chalk that one up to another lie made to sell people on the game.

          When people got wind of what was going on, requests for refunds began en masse. Gamers begged online realtors for their money back, to the point where some platforms like Steam had to put out a “No Special Treatment” notice on No Man’s Sky’s page, just above the purchase button.

          People argued back and forth about the ethics of full refunds for games you’ve played extensively, as most realtors refused to return the game at full price, and Hello Games were still nowhere to be found. Then, just as before, it all blew over. Everyone was stuck with this game they weren’t advertised on.

          As August turned into September, I figured this was the end of No Man’s Sky. It blew it big time thanks to some awful advertising, and with Sean Murray and Hello Games seeming to have taken the money and headed for the hills, it was doubtful it would ever bounce back. The Steam page’s reviews sit at an overall rating of Mostly Negative, with an Overwhelmingly Negative recent rating.

          Something else to notice on the page is that the trailers and screenshots you are presented with are all from the E3 2014, featuring several things that don’t exist in the final product.

          And now we arrive at the latest update, where the UK’s Advertising Standards Agency has swooped in and is investigating the game for false advertising. This is honestly something I haven’t seen since Aliens: Colonial Marines happened. And after all this, there’s still no word from anyone at Hello Games.

          So what went wrong here? Well, I think that Sony president Shuhei Yoshida said it best: “It wasn’t a great PR strategy, because he didn’t have a PR person helping him, and in the end he is an indie developer.” Ultimately, Murray promised the moon, and when it was revealed that he didn’t deliver, he made a run for it while everything crumbled around him.

          I feel the tragedy of No Man’s Sky will serve as a warning for years to come. Don’t get overhyped about something that you know nothing about, don’t pre-order video games, and don’t believe everything you hear from a developer’s mouth. At this point, no one can know what’s coming next from the most controversial release of the year, but I will say that I hope Hello Games eventually comes out of its hidey-hole and faces the music themselves.

          I want to get off Mr. Murray’s wild ride.

The NX Roundup

          Yes indeed, it’s time for more news from your favourite console ever! The NX was back at it again this week, giving us vague statements about a vague console, vaguely.

          We started off the week with an interview with some representatives of Nintendo of Canada. Immediately after the interview started, everyone asked for some news on the NX. The representatives refused, stating that Nintendo is not ready to discuss it yet, but will hold a Nintendo Direct “sometime before launch”. I mean, one would hope that we’d get some news about a presumably $300 console before launch so we’re not throwing money at something we don’t know anything about.

          Later on, Ubisoft made a return with some more nice things to say about the NX, specifically that it’ll “put Nintendo back in the race” with its competitors at Sony and Microsoft. Considering the failure of the Wii U, I’m hoping that they can pull in the third-party releases this time, because that was their ultimate downfall last time. Unless you wanted to play Nintendo’s exclusives, there was no reason to buy a Wii U over a PS4 or an Xbox One.

          So that’s all for this week’s NX Roundup. Maybe this week we’ll finally learn something substantial, but until next time, you never know where it’s going to pop up next!

Song of the Week

          This week is featuring a song from a much better space exploration game: the main theme from FTL. While the game itself is tough as nails at times, the 8-bit soundtrack is one of the best of its kind, and I highly recommend it.