Brink gets patches, lag investigation promised

Brink's game director details some of the fixes that have already gone live on all three platforms, and details patches currently in the works to address other issues.

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Brink has only been on the market for a couple of days, but it's been inundated with players complaining of lag and other issues. Game director Paul Wedgwood has responded to the concerns in a new blog post, explaining that they're working to squash the bugs.

On the Xbox 360, Splash Damage has already issued one game update to address some issues from reviews. Mostly it deals with texture loading and multiplayer rubber banding, and fixes a freezing bug. The PlayStation 3 version also received a day-one update to fix the same issues, and you can get the update even though the PSN is still down. Wedgwood says they're "urgently investigating" lag on the Xbox 360, and will "closely monitor" player feedback on the PS3 once PSN returns.

The PC patch improves crash reports so the team can track and address problems faster, and it fixes an issue that could corrupt character data if you close the game during start-up. Players are reporting low frame rates with many ATI graphics cards, so Wedgwood also promises that the team is working on another PC patch, and keeping an eye on hardware compatibility issues.

Editor-In-Chief
From The Chatty
  • reply
    May 12, 2011 8:00 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Brink gets patches, lag investigation promised.

    Brink's game director details some of the fixes that have already gone live on all three platforms, and details patches currently in the works to address other issues.

    • reply
      May 12, 2011 8:04 AM

      A day late, a dollar short.

      • reply
        May 12, 2011 8:13 AM

        It's the new normal. I'm surprised when a game actually does work out of the box. Like Portal 2.

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          May 12, 2011 8:20 AM

          It just amazes me how a company doesn't test their game on graphic cards that have a good percentage of the market.

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            May 12, 2011 8:21 AM

            You can only have so many test bed machines with so many different configs/drivers/etc. I agree it's sloppy though.

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              May 12, 2011 8:23 AM

              About 90% of Radeon cards have issues. Its almost like they didn't test on any Radeon cards.

              Don't get me wrong the gameplay is great! This should have been a PC only game.

              • reply
                May 12, 2011 8:24 AM

                I saw a lot of 4xxx series, does it affect 5xxx and 6xxx as well? If so, then that is truly crap testing.

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                  May 12, 2011 8:25 AM

                  It seems like the only cards that are working are some 5850's, and one line the 6xxx series.

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                    May 12, 2011 8:26 AM

                    Damn. Some interesting quotes here by Carmack with regard to Nvidia/AMD http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/05/11/id-softwares-john-carmack-picks-a-side-in-the-nvidiaamd-gpu-war/

                    • reply
                      May 12, 2011 8:31 AM

                      Awesome read. Makes sense.

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                      May 12, 2011 11:15 AM

                      "Nvidia does have a stronger dev-relations team. I can always drop an email for an obscure question. So its more of a socio-cultural decision there rather than a raw “Which hardware is better.” Although that does feed back into it, when you’ve got the dev-relation team that is deeply intertwined with the development studio."

                      This is something I've suspected for a LONG time. And it makes sense. ATI always seems behind the curve, always trying to fix bugs here and there while Nvidia doesn't seem to suffer as badly from that issue. I'm a big fan of ATI, but I have to be honest and say my next card will be Nvidia, I'm just tired of this issue.

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                        May 12, 2011 11:39 AM

                        Nvidia's commitment to working with game devs has been mentioned in a few other articles/interviews over the past 2-3 years. It's why I keep buying their cards.

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                        May 12, 2011 8:34 PM

                        I've had 5 or 6 video cards over my gaming years and they have all been nvidia. Not that I have anything in particular against ati/amd, but I always get the feeling I see more problems with ATI cards/drivers in forums than nvidia.

                  • reply
                    May 12, 2011 8:29 AM

                    5970s as well. It only runs on a single GPU, but that's the same for a number of games (WoW, for example, 4 years on)

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                      May 12, 2011 8:32 AM

                      It does run, but you shouldn't have to turn things off to get 40 fps on a 5970.

                  • reply
                    May 12, 2011 3:58 PM

                    The 6970 cards are working perfectly.

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                      May 12, 2011 4:06 PM

                      i've seen at least one person reporting issues with a 6970 on the splash damage forums

                  • reply
                    May 12, 2011 4:37 PM

                    I have a 5850 and have super low FPS :(

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                      May 12, 2011 6:17 PM

                      tried the 11.2 catalysts?

                      • reply
                        May 12, 2011 9:09 PM

                        I tried 11.2, 11.3, 11.4, 11.5 and 11.5a. Um, and Im installing the CAP1 that came out today. None have helped. Used Driver Sweeper in safe mode in between.

                        • reply
                          May 12, 2011 9:15 PM

                          Yep still fucked. 18 FPS just looking out at shipyard. Going back to my ugly hacked no shadow config.

                          • reply
                            May 13, 2011 1:46 AM

                            I'm running a 6970 with drivers dated 11/25/10 and it has been running perfectly for me. I'm not sure which catalyst drivers that equates to, 10.11 maybe?

          • reply
            May 12, 2011 8:26 AM

            I'm running on a HD4850 and only had the sound bug on that one map. It's not all ATI users that are having problems, so it may have been tested on a couple systems with ATI cards.

            • reply
              May 12, 2011 8:29 AM

              You just wonder, why in the hell didn't they have a closed beta.

              • reply
                May 12, 2011 8:38 AM

                As far as I can tell, betas don't do much. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 was a mess in it's Beta, it was released in almost the same condition as when the Beta closed and then required a few patches. Open betas also require funds, and a large team. Splash Damage is a pretty small studio by modern standards, and it looks like they were running short on funds. Basically, open/closed betas aren't always an option. Games have always shipped with bugs too. I remember having issues with Quake 2 for awhile when it was released.

            • reply
              May 12, 2011 1:57 PM

              I have a 4850 too, though I have some graphical glitches on some characters, weapons, and certain terrain, but it's nothing unplayable. If anything it's ATI's drivers and not the game's fault.

        • reply
          May 12, 2011 8:21 AM

          I thought a lot of people were having problems getting texture quality settings to stick in Portal 2? Granted, nowhere near the severity of Brink issues, but still important for a game that places so much focus on exploring your environment.

          • reply
            May 12, 2011 8:23 AM

            I saw a few threads on it. No idea what % of player base it was. Seemed somewhat limited. As well, I think all that was patched rather quickly.

      • reply
        May 12, 2011 8:26 AM

        Like with BC2? That game was fubar for the first week. Master servers going, hit detection was horrible. It was horrible for some months actually. Friends list was reset multiple time.

        • reply
          May 12, 2011 9:07 AM

          Bad Company 2 doing this and still becoming a very popular PC title certainly gives dev houses a bad benchmark, IMO. Long term game sales do get hurt by releasing buggy games and not patching them quickly. As a multi-player focused game, Brink needs to maintain a large playerbase, so now they need to fix the game and repair the image. Brink isn't as awesome as BC2 was though, and it's counter-trend of the arcadey military sims.

      • reply
        May 12, 2011 9:32 AM

        It's seems there are more Brink threadshitters than any other game in recent memory.

        • reply
          May 12, 2011 9:34 AM

          I enjoy the game play, but testing was almost non-existent. Its almost like they ran out of funding and had to release the game before doing extensive testing.

          • reply
            May 12, 2011 9:35 AM

            My theory is most devs code until they can't pay the light bill and then they decide it's gone gold.

            • reply
              May 12, 2011 9:37 AM

              Your theory is probably true, especially with a small dev like Splash Damage. Heck, I remember when they were modding QUAKE3, Quake3 Fortress was a lot of fun.

        • reply
          May 12, 2011 9:58 AM

          Well, it was hyped as the next big team-based shooter but the 360 multiplayer code is a big, stinking pile of turd.

          • reply
            May 12, 2011 11:10 AM

            So bitch about the port? The game is pretty good on PC, it's not another cod or ww2 reroll. The dev's are doing their best. Keep chewing and spitting guys like this out and you can enjoy nothing but Cod for the rest of your life.

            • reply
              May 12, 2011 11:26 AM

              Should have been tested, or just a PC only game.

            • reply
              May 12, 2011 5:45 PM

              "Doing their best" is great and all, but at the end of the day if you release a technically flawed game on day 1, you deserve to get dinged.

        • reply
          May 12, 2011 4:36 PM

          At its heart, the Shack has deep Quake roots. This is a quake descendant. Quake mod team -> RTCW:ET -> Quake Wars -> Brink.

          I remember when BF2 was coming out, the shack did some serious threadshitting on every BF2 thread claiming that Quake Wars was going to blow it out of the water.

          Quake Wars was delayed a year and then came out to a poor reception. Too little too late.

          Its pretty polarizing. There are some quake die hards which will defend ET to the death, and then there are people who don't get the 'unfounded' praise and decide to drop their opinion.

          Historically the shoe was on the other foot so maybe this is just karma.

    • reply
      May 12, 2011 8:10 AM

      I wonder how they are prioritizing. As with the debacle of the BLOPS launch, there are so many huge issues with this game. the sound system completely cutting out on one map, FOV hitching, nvidia problems, epic huge omg wtf ATI problems, invisible players, port forwarding drama.... yikes.

    • reply
      May 12, 2011 8:18 AM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        May 12, 2011 8:24 AM

        I know right!!! Fucking assholes are forcing customers to buy it too. Maybe if people stopped blinding buying games that are unplayable publishers would stop releasing games in an unplayable state. Both parties are at fault here.

        • reply
          May 12, 2011 9:21 AM

          How would would you know the game is unplayable? Reviews? Black Ops got 9/10s on the PC and was unplayable at launch.

          • reply
            May 12, 2011 2:44 PM

            There was an ars editorial/psa that cautioned not to buy the game, except many of the shack didn't take heed (for various reasons).

            • reply
              May 12, 2011 2:46 PM

              not to buy the game on the first day.

        • reply
          May 12, 2011 2:01 PM

          No demos, embargo on reviews. 2 very bad signs usually.

          • reply
            May 12, 2011 3:47 PM

            Pretty much every single review for every single game is embargoed. When press get a copy sent to them early, then they have to wait until a certain time on a certain date before they can post it. It's not like this is a one-off with Brink, or anything.

            • reply
              May 12, 2011 5:43 PM

              No but this was a day-one embargo unlike other games which have reviews out up to 2 weeks in advance.

              The demo thing was as-expected.

              That being said, some publishers have a strict day 1 embargo for every game. Rockstar typically doesn't allow too many reviews ahead of release day.

          • reply
            May 12, 2011 7:02 PM

            By that logic, LA Noire is gonna blow, too. Good thing you're making the wrong assumptions.

            • reply
              May 12, 2011 7:33 PM

              Well, they haven't released LA Noire yet, or have they?

      • reply
        May 12, 2011 2:16 PM

        This logic is so flawed. There are tons of shitty movies or movies with poorly fleshed out stories.

        You don't deserve to steal it just because it is bad. You just don't buy it or go see it. Simple.

        For the people bitching about no demo. No one was forced to buy this day 1. They could have waited a week and read the harsh reviews.

        I bought it day 1 and got what I deserved.

        • reply
          May 12, 2011 4:14 PM

          [deleted]

          • reply
            May 12, 2011 5:35 PM

            Creating a shitty product is not stealing. I saw Thor the other night. Wasn't a huge fan. OMG MARVEL FUCKING STOLE RIGHT OUT MY POCKET.

            No. They created a mediocre product that I wasn't a fan of and now their reputation with me has been damaged to the point where Captain America now becomes a wait and see.

            There is no hypocrisy . Fucking entitled gamers is why this demographic gets shit on by all other parties.

            Next time, wait 2 days and read a fucking review. Splash Damage and Bethesda did not feel entitled to take their customers money before delivering a finished product. They just delivered a mediocre product. Companies don't have to look out for the consumer (unless its going to cause actual harm), consumers have to look out for themselves.

            In essence, you are advocating piracy by supporting this ass backwards argument.

    • reply
      May 12, 2011 8:22 AM

      i love the game, but this many failures out the door makes me wonder how flawed their testing process is

    • reply
      May 12, 2011 8:42 AM

      Wedgewood has staten on the official forums that installing to HD on xbox360 fixes texture issues.

      Also, I've heard 8v8 no bots on old school mode (on xbox) has considerably less lag. Can't confirm it but it's worth a shot.

      • reply
        May 12, 2011 10:50 AM

        if people arent installing to HD then they are behind the times lol

    • reply
      May 12, 2011 8:43 AM

      I still haven't noticed a single problem. Maybe I'm the luckiest guy in the world.

      • reply
        May 12, 2011 9:26 AM

        I've had the game crash to desktop about 3-4 times (over the 14+ hours I've played so far.) but haven't really had any other problems. My girlfriend and I have been having a blast with the game over our LAN. We haven't played with anyone over the Internet as of yet because most of our friends don't like these types of games, (ET, ET:QW, Battlefield 2/2142 etc.) because they feel they are too complicated. Too bad for them. That said, I'm confident that SD will get everything fixed in quick order.

      • reply
        May 12, 2011 9:38 AM

        No problems for me either, and I've even got an ATI card.

      • reply
        May 12, 2011 11:02 AM

        no problems here either

      • reply
        May 12, 2011 1:18 PM

        Only problems I'm having is can't get a co-op game going, grid pattern on everything when in the actual game, and the sound cut out once when playing online.

    • reply
      May 12, 2011 8:48 AM

      I really like the game, but an i5 750 and a 5850 shouldn't be getting 20fps on low :(.

    • reply
      May 12, 2011 8:51 AM

      I see they fixed my multiplayer connect issue. I just connected to the shack server for the first time.

      • reply
        May 12, 2011 9:38 AM

        oh god I hope this is true.

        • reply
          May 12, 2011 2:35 PM

          So far it's working for me. Here's to hoping for continued fast patching... I hate being a beta tester...

    • reply
      May 12, 2011 9:10 AM

      I'm not a PS3 owner, but I'm curious, can the PS3 users obtain this patch?

      • reply
        May 12, 2011 9:11 AM

        Nevermind, I didn't read the article, I'm dumb!

    • reply
      May 12, 2011 10:12 AM

      I got it for PC yesterday and definitely had the rubber banding lag. It got really frustrating over the course of several hours, making me quit out.

    • reply
      May 12, 2011 11:17 AM

      I'm disappointed that this game has polarised people the way it has, some see the true nature of the game as a fun team game and others see it as a fairly weak FPS. Personally I'm really looking forward to playing it and plan to buy it as soon as my exams are over; the first online game I ever played was Enemy Territory and loved it. Left 4 dead 1/2 and Enemy territory are for me in a class of their own when it comes to online games I truly enjoy, but still I would be happy if it was a better "game" by the time I get it.

      • reply
        May 12, 2011 11:58 AM

        I think the people upset over it are more pissed that it's buggy and runs like shit than they are anything else, just from what I've read.

        • reply
          May 12, 2011 12:19 PM

          I'm more upset that it feels like a shallow Modern Warfare with weak guns. I've seemingly dodged all the bugs, and after the initial newness it's gotten pretty boring.

      • reply
        May 12, 2011 12:01 PM

        [deleted]

        • reply
          May 12, 2011 12:27 PM

          It is a really NICHE game. If your online name is some version of "-=SK8RB0|=-" you are probably going to hate it. Running and gunning will get you nowhere. If you like teamwork, and would rather heal your buddy than get a kill, you are going to love it.

          That being said, I can understand the poor reviews. The general public wants to shout racist epithets, not cooperate, and reviewers have to write for the general public. This is not a casual game.

          • reply
            May 12, 2011 12:44 PM

            Seems pretty casual.

            People keep claiming teamwork and such but it's a lot less then TF2, plus with the disadvantage of having totally defense biased maps.

            At least in TF2 you can play symmetrical maps instead of this weird offense/defense game that reflects exactly the same problems as Goldrush/Dustbowl but with the added complication of attackers now having no cover and no accuracy for their guns going against entrenched opponents.

            • reply
              May 12, 2011 12:53 PM

              I wonder if there will be HUD mods for brink like their are for TF2. the objective reticle and I are about done already, and I don't know if I can even play anymore until the FOV hitching gets fixed.

              TF2 and WolfET are so fun to play with objectives, it's very fluid and very obvious where the team at large needs to go. Brink is a constant A.D.D. struggle with each player and the objective reticle in a little micro-game.

              I really should record Mumble while we are playing. For now we're all in the same channel regardless of team, so a lot of hilarious stuff is said. "DON'T YOU SEE THE YELLOW GUY? MEDICS REVIVE HIM NOW" " NO I SEE SOMETHING ELSE" "GOD DAMMIT" hahahaha it's so awesome.

              at least brink has a few push leetle kart type of maps. some engineer go fix the leetle kart for me. I will push leetle kart. I played TF2 and it was a breath of fresh air

              • reply
                May 12, 2011 1:11 PM

                I'm sure there will be. Splash Damage never seemed to have a problem with people modding their stuff.

            • reply
              May 12, 2011 1:09 PM

              [deleted]

              • reply
                May 12, 2011 1:13 PM

                Easy to get into. Hard to master.

              • reply
                May 12, 2011 1:19 PM

                All maps are variations on Dustbowl/Goldrush and there is only attack/defense. All weapons are hitscan effectively.

                Seems pretty casual, perfect for the people that love Battlefield Honor: Modern Operations for it's innovative gameplay.

                Assuming interesting maps come out, then add in some real differentiation to the weapons and some actual differences in class other then cosmetic junk and maybe it'll have a shot at being decent.

                • reply
                  May 12, 2011 1:26 PM

                  mechanically this game is on another level above TF2.

                  I know youre a pros only TF2 fanboy, but you are completely talking out of your ass.

                  • reply
                    May 12, 2011 1:37 PM

                    So standing around mashing buttons next to team members is "another level"?

                    The complaints are summarized as follows:

                    1) Maps have no variation in objectives.
                    2) Class skill distribution as such means soldier and medic are the only viable team core components.
                    3) Weapons are entirely hitscan and accuracy degrades on movement.
                    4) Defense is absurdly easy relative to offense.

                    Item 2 will not change without some significant adjustments regardless of how good players get because the class choice does not affect weapon loadouts. The choice only represents what skills are available. Skills are valuable certainly, but the power of unlimited ammo and unlimited revival is so absurdly better then anything an engineer or operative can do.

                    • reply
                      May 12, 2011 1:53 PM

                      1) Its an attack/defense game at its core. It has variations from map to map on attack/defense, along with multiple side objectives to complete that vary from map to map. I'm not quite sure what you expect.

                      2) map objectives often require an engineer at all times, the damage and armor boosts are also incredibly valuable. Operatives are essentially useless outside of objective requirements right now, but that will probably evolve as the game grows.

                      3) would you rather them be 100% accurate all the time? this just doesnt make sense.

                      4) On a server with two good teams it is much closer to being balanced. Defending is easy, but an attacking team that knows how to take advantage of map design (which most dont yet) buildable shortcuts, and capturing supply posts will always even the battle.

                      This game is hardly casual, and has a very steep learning curve. TF2 is insanely easy to get in to but is still hard to master. You write of Brink and hold TF2 on a pedestal as the pinnacle of competitive gaming, which it really isnt.

                      • reply
                        May 12, 2011 2:01 PM

                        So a TF2 map that required a team of 4 spies would be the ultimate game for you? Sounds pretty stupid to me.

                        TF2 doesn't have 100% accuracy. It has fixed variability constraints. There is a difference. The main problem that stems from this is defense advantage grows exponentially with these sorts of choices made in development. You are given for free cover and the maximum accuracy allowed by the game.

                        Breaking a defense that has this advantage in addition to covering very narrow chokepoints means offense is so much more difficult.

                        Steep learning curve. Pfft, whatever. This stuff is pretty obvious after only a few maps.

                    • reply
                      May 12, 2011 3:09 PM

                      [deleted]

                      • reply
                        May 12, 2011 3:18 PM

                        Sure, way more survivability and ammo in all cases. The fluff provided by the other classes is pretty useless relative to that.

                        Obviously the designers try to prevent this by creating game mechanics that force the other classes to exist but that is a band-aid at best.

                        • reply
                          May 13, 2011 5:22 AM

                          Engies and Ops have a ton of uses, but they're less obvious. Playing on a high level map you'll see disguised ops marking VIP enemies, essentially giving their team wallhack. The caltrops are seriously vicious- I'm frankly surprised how much damage they do, and how much map control they give.

                          Turrets need good placement and serious babysitting, but a couple engies with upgraded turrets can make chokepoints a nightmare- they're also great for defending attackers flanks on escort missions, they just need to get ahead of the group.

                          The gameplay is very different when you have a team full of people with rank 5 abilities.

                    • reply
                      May 12, 2011 3:45 PM

                      #4 will change. it was like this with quake wars at first too.

                  • reply
                    May 12, 2011 1:54 PM

                    I'd like to hear how it's above TF2.

            • reply
              May 12, 2011 1:13 PM

              alias post

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            May 12, 2011 1:08 PM

            [deleted]

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            May 12, 2011 6:51 PM

            oh for fucks sake.

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        May 12, 2011 1:54 PM

        Its super niche and flawed in many regards but still fun. At the same time it offers a poor value proposition as there are smaller $20-$30 downloadable MP games that offer just as much, if not more value.

        If you liked ET, you will love this. But those are the only people I can strongly recommend this game too. There are too many issues (not just technical, but poor design decisions), and not enough content to make this an easy recommendation.

        The majority of reviews are off-base since they didn't (I hate saying this) "play the game it was meant to be played". I like Jeff's reviews on GiantBomb, but it sounds like he weighed his experience too heavily on the bots. Yes, they are a legitimate component of the advertised package, but in honesty its not what you go there to do. After reading a lot of reviews, it seems a lot of the reviewers only dabbled in a few live matches that were scheduled and the rest of their time was with bots.

        Bethesda kinda fucked up. They shouldn't have gone XBOX only for the review copies. Secondly, this shouldn't have ever been a $60 retail game. I got it for $37 via the D2D deal and I'm still feeling as though this is not a rich value. They should have made this a $30 downloadable package on Steam and XBLA and left it at that. Splash Damage's team must be really small because I don't know why this took as long as it did to put together.

        But in the end, since you loved ET. You will do right by this game. It is essentially ET with a new coat of paint. 2011 production values with 2001's design initiatives.

        • reply
          May 12, 2011 2:12 PM

          I really like Giant Bomb quicklooks, and usually they're a good way of getting an idea how a game actually plays, but I've watched them make a number of multiplayer games look really shitty (and unfairly so) in quicklooks because those guys are monumentally bad at video games sometimes.

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            May 12, 2011 4:13 PM

            Ya it doesn't help that they are pretty bad at some games. Jeff is typically competent at FPS's though. It just sucks that he was bitching about bots the whole time as god knows no one buys this game thinking, "Ya, I can't way to sit down and play this game offline the whole time."

            Ya, the whole "seamless online-offline narrative" was a marketing bullet point so he deserves to ding them for the shitty bots, but I just get the overwhelming sense that these reviewers BARELY touched online. Even on the podcast it seems like they phoned in the online MP review sessions (not GB specifically but the way he talks about the other reviewers too. Ars harped on this too).

            MP-focused retail games and MMOs are the two types of games that typically have poor representation in reviews. Go look at BF BC 2 reviews, and most of them spend 3/4ths on the SP campaign. I've put in 180+ hrs in that game and NEVER SEEN SINGLEPLAYER.

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        May 12, 2011 3:27 PM

        I loved ET:Quakewars, but the lack of post launch maps really sucked.
        It wouldn't have been so bad if the game included a decent amount of maps to play with.
        Are there any plans for Brink to have more maps down the line? cuz from what I heard
        the game also has very few maps

        • reply
          May 12, 2011 3:53 PM

          Only has 8 maps. :( and they aren't that diverse in a lot of cases.

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          May 13, 2011 5:28 AM

          ETQW got dropped like a bad habit by Activision after release. Community mapping scene was killed by people who only wanted to play on ranked servers.

          I suspect if they get enough sales to release an SDK, people will be able to make fun maps. They need to get the SDK out plus a map pack before BF3 hits, in addition to fixing these bugs pronto.

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        May 12, 2011 6:50 PM

        The only people who think it's polariozed are the people who already bought it. It has a 69 on mertacritic. That is a TERRIBLE score. You think it's not that terrible? you're wrong, shut up.

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      May 12, 2011 12:36 PM

      My biggest question is, how the hell did this game get it's release date pushed early ? It so clearly was not ready at all. It's a fun game, when it's playable but how can you possibly let this product out ?

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        May 12, 2011 12:42 PM

        First few hours, I noticed the invisible player and sound bugs. Installed directx drivers from the game folder (noticed it did not install but I wanted to play when it launched). Never had a problem since. Sucks that others are having crash issues, because it truly is a fun game.

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          May 12, 2011 12:46 PM

          that auto installed for me after i played it for the first time. i still get the sound bug and i think i've encountered the invisible player one, but it's hard to be sure of that with no killcam.

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            May 12, 2011 12:59 PM

            the sound bug has become more odd for me. if i'm playing with headphones when the soundbug hits, it pushes the sound back to my speakers.

            installing the directx redist didn't help me :(

      • reply
        May 12, 2011 12:43 PM

        L.A Noire, the witcher 2, and fable 3 pc all come out next week

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          May 12, 2011 12:49 PM

          Game isn't ready, its releasing at the same time as other games, we have to move its date.

          AI is god awful, Servers are pretty laggy, 90% of ATI users can barely play it, one level crashes everyones sound, invisible players bug and countless other things wrong.

          We've got to move the release date, should we push it back or forward ?

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      May 12, 2011 12:59 PM

      Is the game itself any good? It's getting mixed reviews on Metacritic but some of those reviews are being pretty unfair.

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        May 12, 2011 1:01 PM

        its very good, especially if you were a fan of Enemy Territory

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          May 13, 2011 2:05 AM

          it is very good. but the bots are horrible and its a little buggy (maybe the bots sucking is part of the buggy stuff)

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        May 12, 2011 1:20 PM

        Reviews are based on the out of box experience, which in this case are quite fair.

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          May 13, 2011 5:09 AM

          out of the box, on xbox. This game runs awesome for me on PC.

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        May 12, 2011 1:23 PM

        I'm having a blast with it. Cant wait to get home & play some more.

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        May 12, 2011 1:25 PM

        [deleted]

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        May 12, 2011 1:43 PM

        ATI 5870 Radeon Mobility here. Game runs smooth and the multiplayer is quite fun. If you want a strong single player game then look elsewhere. The story is interesting, the cut scenes and voice over work are top notch, but it all unravels due to horrible bot AI. The sound being broken on the 'Refuel' map is annoying and will basically kill a server population as people bail when their sound cuts out. The invisible player bug is hugely annoying and can also result in people leaving a server in droves when it happens, which I've only seen on two occasions.

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        May 12, 2011 1:52 PM

        The game is awesome fun. If you have an Nvidia card, you can play it and it's a good experience in spite of some minor issues (the biggest being a bug that makes the sound cut out). It looks good, the framerate is high, etc.

        Give it an hour or so to unlock some of the cooler toys and learn the maps. If you like ET style games, you'll like it.

        If you have an ATI card you should probably wait and see what the next patch brings. Currently it sounds like ATI dudes are having very bad framerate, graphical weirdness and crashes. The first patch was a day 1 thing that primarily fixed a bug that would delete your save if you exited the game during the intro movie, and improved the crash reporting they were getting from Steam.

        Hopefully the next patch hits soon.

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          May 12, 2011 4:10 PM

          yeah, it's really rough on my ATI card. sucks

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        May 12, 2011 2:15 PM

        The game is good (I love it) but there are fair reasons not to like it. I think Sgt_Boomstick summed it up pretty well a few posts above, including the mixed reviews.

        http://www.shacknews.com/chatty?id=25878133#itemanchor_25878133

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        May 12, 2011 2:19 PM

        i think it is great

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        May 12, 2011 3:10 PM

        Other than the lag, I'm really enjoying it. Wish I had the PC version, though.

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        May 12, 2011 3:34 PM

        Got it on PC and loving it.

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        May 12, 2011 3:43 PM

        If you loved ET. You will definitely enjoy this. If you come from BF or COD, its iffy.

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          May 12, 2011 7:13 PM

          What if I thought ET was "meh" but I love Quake/TF2? :)

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        May 13, 2011 12:16 AM

        Once the major problems regarding AMD GPU are ironed out and some netcode fixed, all will be fantastic.

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      May 12, 2011 1:37 PM

      They got a patch to make it fun? Cause this game blows chunks.

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      May 12, 2011 1:57 PM

      From the Catalyst guy on Twitter:

      "Aiming to get a Brink CF profile in the Catalyst 11.6 release"

      So this basically confirms that Crossfire, at the very least, won't be working until next week, and that's if they continue their Tuesday/Wednesday driver releases and hit 11.6 in that timeframe. I think.

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      May 12, 2011 2:42 PM

      Anyone running it on older machine?
      AMD 2.2 ghz with an nVidia 9600, can I play it?

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      May 12, 2011 2:44 PM

      PC vs Xbox Question:

      What do the grenade and explosion effects look like? On the Xbox, there is hardly any. Especially the GL...a small white trace, a small little puff, and some guys falling down. Extremely weak. Just wondering if it is a LOD on the console decision, or if they're bad everywhere.

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        May 12, 2011 3:13 PM

        iirc the explosions on the PC aren't very large either. but it kind of makes sense since the grenades are so weak.

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        May 12, 2011 3:21 PM

        Thats by design, not a technical reason.

        Poor choice imho.

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        May 12, 2011 3:26 PM

        yea the explosions are pretty disappointing

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        May 12, 2011 8:06 PM

        [deleted]

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          May 12, 2011 8:42 PM

          I can sort of appreciate them wanting to end grenade spam that's so prevalent in Call of Duty style games, but it demotes the grenade to something to only use to knock down a group of enemies in a choke point or cove, and not as a lethal weapon. Hopefully they'll increase the strength and effect enough to make the grenades feel significant without unbalancing them.

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          May 12, 2011 9:54 PM

          Yeah. Grenades are only good for knocking people down in this game. Although I think that they are implemented pretty well.

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        May 13, 2011 7:35 AM

        Grenades are super weak, except for the Soldier's molotov I guess.

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      May 12, 2011 2:58 PM

      Grid bug is still there. Till it's fixed I won't play.

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      May 12, 2011 2:59 PM

      Playing on PC and I have yet to experience any type of issue with the game. It has run flawlessly for me so far with about 10 hours logged.

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      May 12, 2011 3:29 PM

      Is this below $30 yet? Want to buy it

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        May 12, 2011 5:41 PM

        Honestly, I think the perfect price point for this game is $29.99, and download-only.

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          May 12, 2011 7:43 PM

          Just for shits and giggles what do you think L4D or L4D2 was worth at release?

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      May 12, 2011 4:49 PM

      if only there was some sort of severely abridged version—for demonstrations?—they could release beforehand to gain technical insights before the official launch dates.

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        May 12, 2011 5:39 PM

        Releasing a beta is not the same as a demo. And in most cases, demos actually hurt sales.

        Even in this case, a lot of the 360dudebros who bought this would have tried the demo and realized it wasn't for them. So, even in the short term Splash Damage is a head by not creating a demo even with all of these technical hitches.

        They are just royally fucked for their next game as this is 2/2 lemons they have produced.

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      May 12, 2011 6:10 PM

      The only issue I have is that I want mouse filter, but I'm probably a small minority. The mouse movement for me is all jittery.

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        May 12, 2011 6:16 PM

        Tried lowering your settings? Half the time when I have silly mouse problems it's because some weird/buggy setting is too high.

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          May 12, 2011 6:43 PM

          I lowered my res, and I'm getting a constant 70fps now, but it's still jittery. I'll try turning more stuff off tonight.

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      May 12, 2011 6:18 PM

      Oh no, their new patch made the steam overlay kill my FPS D:

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        May 12, 2011 6:51 PM

        i hate sounding like a broken record in these threads but assuming you have a radeon have you tried the 11.2 catalysts? tangles was reporting this exact same problem and going back to 11.2 fixed it for him.

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      May 13, 2011 3:08 AM

      I'm glad they're fixing the lag, since it makes the game almost unplayable on Versus matches. Hoever, they need to fix the AI as well. It only has two modes: Staring at their shoes in a firefight, or shooting you in the face with impossible accuracy. The game is really fun, when it works. But in its current mode, it's one of my biggest dissappointments of the year.

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      May 13, 2011 11:38 AM

      Im getting tons of lag playing versus on the 360 with this game. Its classic Wolfenstein Enemy Territory and Im loving it...just not the lag!

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      May 13, 2011 4:09 PM

      I'm really trying to like this, big SD fan. Loved Q3F, ET and ETQW... but wtf have you guys done to this engine? (as if the animation fps bs in ETQW was not enough.)

      The engine chugs, everything tears and lags. Shows 120 fps feels like 20. Come on guys, wtf. Same shit with Wolf MP... did you use the same branch of dodgy engine?

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