Batman Arkham Asylum

[Red Irish]

It seems that Nvidia and Eidos have teamed up to disable AA in Arkham Asylum on ATI cards:

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2341161&enterthread=y

If you own an ATI card, you are best advised to avoid this game, which, in any event, includes Securom.

 

[alcoholbob]

It's a little old now, but anyway, the game was from a small foreign developer, they had to suck up to nvidia big time...bigger companies like Crytek couldn't care less about proprietary physics.

 

[Red Irish]

Originally posted by: Astrallite
It's a little old now, but anyway, the game was from a small foreign developer, they had to suck up to nvidia big time...bigger companies like Crytek couldn't care less about proprietary physics.

It is a little old, but such marketing practices still deserve bad publicity and the subsequent loss of sales.

 

[Nik]

A little old? It JUST came out the end of August. :roll:

Disabling AA in a videogame is almost as petty as trying to start bad publicity and the sebsequent loss of sales because of it.

Who cares if I can't use AA using an ATI video card? The game is still fun as hell. A great game. :thumbsup:

 

[Bateluer]

This is still bad publicity and the developer/publisher should be ashamed. Another reason Nvidia needs a good slapping.

 

[Red Irish]

Originally posted by: Nik
A little old? It JUST came out the end of August. :roll:

Disabling AA in a videogame is almost as petty as trying to start bad publicity and the sebsequent loss of sales because of it.

Who cares if I can't use AA using an ATI video card? The game is still fun as hell. A great game. :thumbsup:

So bad publicity isn't warranted because you enjoy the game regardless? :disgust:

 

[ibex333]

Guys.. the game can be hacked to enable everything that has been disabled. You just have to look around a little bit and be willing to do it.

 

[Red Irish]

Originally posted by: ibex333
Guys.. the game can be hacked to enable everything that has been disabled. You just have to look around a little bit and be willing to do it.

Workarounds, whilst useful, do not excuse the behaviour of the two companies in question.

 

[rivan]

Originally posted by: Red Irish

Originally posted by: ibex333
Guys.. the game can be hacked to enable everything that has been disabled. You just have to look around a little bit and be willing to do it.

Workarounds, whilst useful, do not excuse the behaviour of the two companies in question.

This.

It seems almost like antitrust material, though being totally unfamiliar with the letter of the law I've got no idea if it meets the definition.

 

[tk149]

Originally posted by: rivan

Originally posted by: Red Irish

Originally posted by: ibex333
Guys.. the game can be hacked to enable everything that has been disabled. You just have to look around a little bit and be willing to do it.

Workarounds, whilst useful, do not excuse the behaviour of the two companies in question.

This.

It seems almost like antitrust material, though being totally unfamiliar with the letter of the law I've got no idea if it meets the definition.

Probably not antitrust material. Pretty crappy of Nvidia though, and I hope the consumer backlash slaps them down.

I'm not buying B:AA for PC, but I'm not buying anything Securom anyway.

 

[BenSkywalker]

It seems almost like antitrust material, though being totally unfamiliar with the letter of the law I've got no idea if it meets the definition.

Paid exclusitivity is commonplace in the gaming market, very much so actually. In terms of Batman on the PC, there is nothing exclusive at all to the nV version, it's just that the in game AA system won't work on ATi boards(AA can still be forced on in the control panel, it's just slower). Batman on the PS3 has an exclusive over the PC and 360 version too, the ability to play as the Joker. The 360/ATi versions are the only ones that don't get anything special built in for them(they didn't pay).

This game is published by Squenix(they own Eidos) who is one of the better known companies when it comes to offering up exclusives for the right price.

It is a little old, but such marketing practices still deserve bad publicity and the subsequent loss of sales.

As it is looking at the moment, Batman is going to be one of the top five selling games of the year, and it is a front runner for GOTY from a lot of publicatons right now for the PC. If anything, they have likely learned that they would do the same thing again in an instant.

This is still bad publicity and the developer/publisher should be ashamed.

On the tech sites it is, go to the gaming sites and it is really bad PR for ATi which I'm sure was the goal in the first place.

 

[Red Irish]

Originally posted by: BenSkywalker

It seems almost like antitrust material, though being totally unfamiliar with the letter of the law I've got no idea if it meets the definition.

Paid exclusitivity is commonplace in the gaming market, very much so actually. In terms of Batman on the PC, there is nothing exclusive at all to the nV version, it's just that the in game AA system won't work on ATi boards(AA can still be forced on in the control panel, it's just slower). Batman on the PS3 has an exclusive over the PC and 360 version too, the ability to play as the Joker. The 360/ATi versions are the only ones that don't get anything special built in for them(they didn't pay).

This game is published by Squenix(they own Eidos) who is one of the better known companies when it comes to offering up exclusives for the right price.

It is a little old, but such marketing practices still deserve bad publicity and the subsequent loss of sales.

As it is looking at the moment, Batman is going to be one of the top five selling games of the year, and it is a front runner for GOTY from a lot of publicatons right now for the PC. If anything, they have likely learned that they would do the same thing again in an instant.

This is still bad publicity and the developer/publisher should be ashamed.

On the tech sites it is, go to the gaming sites and it is really bad PR for ATi which I'm sure was the goal in the first place.

As much as I hate to say it, there is probably a lot of truth in your appraisal of the situation. The problem is, we can bitch and moan all we want, often with reason, yet if enough people are willing to purchase in spite of any issues, our voices remain unheard. I sincerely hope that I never have to walk into a shop and enquire whether a given title is optimised for ATI or Nvidia, we already have enough to contend with.

 

[Golgatha]

Originally posted by: Red Irish
It seems that Nvidia and Eidos have teamed up to disable AA in Arkham Asylum on ATI cards:

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2341161&enterthread=y

If you own an ATI card, you are best advised to avoid this game, which, in any event, includes Securom.

No, nVidia paid to have AA added to the Unreal Engine 3 for it's hardware. The UE3 doesn't support AA natively. The fruits of these labors work on ATI hardware too, but ATI didn't pay for the software development, thus the ATI lockout.

 

[shortylickens]

I dont care about this shit anymore.
If Deus Ex 3 sucks I wont be PC gaming ever again.
And not having Anti-Aliasing in NO WAY affects the quality of game play. I play games to play games. Not sit and stare at them, looking for jaggies. If the game play sucks the jaggies wont matter.
Having said that, Arkham Asylum was actually kind of fun, and a good time-killer until Deus Ex 3 comes out.

 

[TheVrolok]

Originally posted by: shortylickens
I dont care about this shit anymore.
If Deus Ex 3 sucks I wont be PC gaming ever again.
And not having Anti-Aliasing in NO WAY affects the quality of game play. I play games to play games. Not sit and stare at them, looking for jaggies. If the game play sucks the jaggies wont matter.
Having said that, Arkham Asylum was actually kind of fun, and a good time-killer until Deus Ex 3 comes out.

Does DX 3 even have a tentative release date yet?

 

[Soundmanred]

Awesome game, one of the best I've played in a long time.
Didn't use AA, didn't care.
Would play again.++

 

[alcoholbob]

Originally posted by: Golgatha

Originally posted by: Red Irish
It seems that Nvidia and Eidos have teamed up to disable AA in Arkham Asylum on ATI cards:

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2341161&enterthread=y

If you own an ATI card, you are best advised to avoid this game, which, in any event, includes Securom.

No, nVidia paid to have AA added to the Unreal Engine 3 for it's hardware. The UE3 doesn't support AA natively. The fruits of these labors work on ATI hardware too, but ATI didn't pay for the software development, thus the ATI lockout.

The DX9 version does not have AA support natively. DX10 does. Unfortunately, it makes zero difference in this game because the option is not available to ATI.

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: BenSkywalker

It seems almost like antitrust material, though being totally unfamiliar with the letter of the law I've got no idea if it meets the definition.

Paid exclusitivity is commonplace in the gaming market, very much so actually. In terms of Batman on the PC, there is nothing exclusive at all to the nV version, it's just that the in game AA system won't work on ATi boards(AA can still be forced on in the control panel, it's just slower). Batman on the PS3 has an exclusive over the PC and 360 version too, the ability to play as the Joker. The 360/ATi versions are the only ones that don't get anything special built in for them(they didn't pay).

This game is published by Squenix(they own Eidos) who is one of the better known companies when it comes to offering up exclusives for the right price.

It is a little old, but such marketing practices still deserve bad publicity and the subsequent loss of sales.

As it is looking at the moment, Batman is going to be one of the top five selling games of the year, and it is a front runner for GOTY from a lot of publicatons right now for the PC. If anything, they have likely learned that they would do the same thing again in an instant.

This is still bad publicity and the developer/publisher should be ashamed.

On the tech sites it is, go to the gaming sites and it is really bad PR for ATi which I'm sure was the goal in the first place.

I don't care if some smacktard gamers on an obscure forum are calling out ATi/AMD. In no way should it be the responsibility of the hardware designer to pay to have something basic like AA included in a game. Don't you see what kind of path this leads down? Why stop at AA? Heck, if I'm a good game developer, or even a poor one, I should solicit money from hardware companies to include anything over 1024x768. I mean why not, if someone will pay for it I might as well go for it.

Yes, I understand the basics concepts of the "free market" and yes, the main goal of any company is to make money. But this is getting crazy and hopefully a few and far between occurrence. I don't think in general people will tolerate this if it continues and with enough boycotts guess what, they will change. It's funny, I never figured gamers actually sticking up for something would come to anything but lo and behold check out The Sims 3... no DRM except for a basic serial check. Who would have ever though EA would do such a thing... could be all that negative press on forums like this and enough people boycotting them.

 

[Red Irish]

Originally posted by: Spike

Originally posted by: BenSkywalker

It seems almost like antitrust material, though being totally unfamiliar with the letter of the law I've got no idea if it meets the definition.

Paid exclusitivity is commonplace in the gaming market, very much so actually. In terms of Batman on the PC, there is nothing exclusive at all to the nV version, it's just that the in game AA system won't work on ATi boards(AA can still be forced on in the control panel, it's just slower). Batman on the PS3 has an exclusive over the PC and 360 version too, the ability to play as the Joker. The 360/ATi versions are the only ones that don't get anything special built in for them(they didn't pay).

This game is published by Squenix(they own Eidos) who is one of the better known companies when it comes to offering up exclusives for the right price.

It is a little old, but such marketing practices still deserve bad publicity and the subsequent loss of sales.

As it is looking at the moment, Batman is going to be one of the top five selling games of the year, and it is a front runner for GOTY from a lot of publicatons right now for the PC. If anything, they have likely learned that they would do the same thing again in an instant.

This is still bad publicity and the developer/publisher should be ashamed.

On the tech sites it is, go to the gaming sites and it is really bad PR for ATi which I'm sure was the goal in the first place.

I don't care if some smacktard gamers on an obscure forum are calling out ATi/AMD. In no way should it be the responsibility of the hardware designer to pay to have something basic like AA included in a game. Don't you see what kind of path this leads down? Why stop at AA? Heck, if I'm a good game developer, or even a poor one, I should solicit money from hardware companies to include anything over 1024x768. I mean why not, if someone will pay for it I might as well go for it.

Yes, I understand the basics concepts of the "free market" and yes, the main goal of any company is to make money. But this is getting crazy and hopefully a few and far between occurrence. I don't think in general people will tolerate this if it continues and with enough boycotts guess what, they will change. It's funny, I never figured gamers actually sticking up for something would come to anything but lo and behold check out The Sims 3... no DRM except for a basic serial check. Who would have ever though EA would do such a thing... could be all that negative press on forums like this and enough people boycotting them.

:thumbsup:

 

[schrewkathy]

Arkham Asylum brings the universe of DC Comics' detective to life with stunning graphics

 

[BenSkywalker]

Yes, I understand the basics concepts of the "free market" and yes, the main goal of any company is to make money. But this is getting crazy and hopefully a few and far between occurrence. I don't think in general people will tolerate this if it continues and with enough boycotts guess what, they will change. It's funny, I never figured gamers actually sticking up for something would come to anything but lo and behold check out The Sims 3... no DRM except for a basic serial check. Who would have ever though EA would do such a thing... could be all that negative press on forums like this and enough people boycotting them.

You can use AA in Batman with an ATi card, it's just slower. You can use PhysX on an ATi card, it's just slower. The developer didn't lock anyone out of being able to use these features, they just didn't support the hardware's capabilities inside the game engine. Honestly, given the performance of Batman, is it really a major issue if an ATi part is a bit slower then nV's parts? Are people honestly so hell bent on epissing that they are worried that they lose a benchmark to another part? Seriously, why would anyone outside of a tech enthusiast that wants to stare at spread sheets in a benchmark care? Oh no, you only get 94FPS instead of 184FPS, that really a deal breaker?

Batman has been a huge sales hit, and overall the feedback has been exceptionally positive. Given Squeenix's track record, I wouldn't expect them to even consider making a change when the titles they do this for are massive hits that make them tons of money, while games they lose money on are the ones that do everything in an open fashion. Part of this could have something to do with who actually buys the games, it seems that the gamers spend a staggering amount more buying games then the tech enthusiasts, and game publishers are first and foremost businesses.

In no way am I saying any of this is the way it is supposed to be, but the reality is overwhelmingly the people buying the game are happy with it, very much so, and the publisher is very happy with the sales numbers. If this continues to be the case, don't be surprised if these types of deals become increasingly common.

 

[AzN]

Screw AA. I can't for the life of me play this game without completely locking up my computer. I need a hard reset to get out of the freeze. What a crappy made game.

 

[lupi]

flipping through the latest pcgamer, gave this a pretty high review fro graphic/play quality and uniqueness.

 

[BFG10K]

Originally posted by: Azn

Screw AA. I can't for the life of me play this game without completely locking up my computer. I need a hard reset to get out of the freeze. What a crappy made game.

If the game is locking up your system then I?d be looking elsewhere for the source of your problem. The first thing I?d be doing is dropping your CPU and GPU back to stock speeds.

 

[SirStev0]

Just putting in my two cents:

I thought it was an amazing game. Having an NVidya card, I have no idea what you are talking about, so I guess I don't really care. Actually probably going to play it again.