Fable 2 Shipping W/O Xbox Live Co-op
So the damage control team from Microsoft has announced that Fable 2, which comes out October 21st, will not include online co-op. The online co-op will end up being patched in after the game's launch. Considering this game was declared "Gold" several weeks ago it seems odd that this one feature wasn't included. This one feature was shown several times at trade shows and was one of the biggest features announced in Fable 2.
I tend to think that anyone reviewing this game will have to take into consideration this missing features that was promised. This really does seem like typical over promise and under deliver which was a large issue with the original Fable. But still should we get too upset over this? The folks that play online should be getting a patch enabling online co-op within the first couple weeks after the launch of the game. Does this really matter then?
I tend to think this is a big deal and the fact that Microsoft isn't pushing the release date is significant. Fact is most people that will play Fable 2 don't read game sties or game blogs. They have no idea that Fable 2 is not shipping with online co-op and won't probably care. What would happen if Microsoft pushed Fable 2 buy a couple weeks is people will be buying Fallout 3 before Fable 2. Both of these games will be epic action RPGs that will have tons of replay ability and areas to explore. Since both games will be targeted at the same audience it's clear that some may not buy the other just because of the timing of their releases. If Fable 2 slips I'm sure store clerks will be pointing those potential customers to Fallout 3 which very well might be a lost sale of Fable 2.
Some may complain that patching Fable 2 with online co-op after launch is a travesty. They may say that we are walking down the slippery slope of PC gaming. This may be true but I think we have already gone down that path and online patches are nothing new. Adding a major feature like online co-op is significant but I expect that instead of releasing a buggy co-op experience the Fable 2 development team is just disabling the feature till a patch is ready. Plenty of developers ship buggy games and patch them after the fact. Often those patches are fixing online play too so I can't get too bent out of shape over this patch. I think the real issue is if the ship date slips they will lose sales for the game and by providing an online patch allows then to ship the game on time.
I tend to think that anyone reviewing this game will have to take into consideration this missing features that was promised. This really does seem like typical over promise and under deliver which was a large issue with the original Fable. But still should we get too upset over this? The folks that play online should be getting a patch enabling online co-op within the first couple weeks after the launch of the game. Does this really matter then?
I tend to think this is a big deal and the fact that Microsoft isn't pushing the release date is significant. Fact is most people that will play Fable 2 don't read game sties or game blogs. They have no idea that Fable 2 is not shipping with online co-op and won't probably care. What would happen if Microsoft pushed Fable 2 buy a couple weeks is people will be buying Fallout 3 before Fable 2. Both of these games will be epic action RPGs that will have tons of replay ability and areas to explore. Since both games will be targeted at the same audience it's clear that some may not buy the other just because of the timing of their releases. If Fable 2 slips I'm sure store clerks will be pointing those potential customers to Fallout 3 which very well might be a lost sale of Fable 2.
Some may complain that patching Fable 2 with online co-op after launch is a travesty. They may say that we are walking down the slippery slope of PC gaming. This may be true but I think we have already gone down that path and online patches are nothing new. Adding a major feature like online co-op is significant but I expect that instead of releasing a buggy co-op experience the Fable 2 development team is just disabling the feature till a patch is ready. Plenty of developers ship buggy games and patch them after the fact. Often those patches are fixing online play too so I can't get too bent out of shape over this patch. I think the real issue is if the ship date slips they will lose sales for the game and by providing an online patch allows then to ship the game on time.
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