Epidemias, wars, environmental disasters, political shocks – the reality of 2020 will give odds to any horror. But the game industry, on the contrary, as if hibernated. Exhibitions are canceled, large releases endlessly tolerate … Boring, sad, but certainly not scary. But is it possible in Halloween? By no means! Therefore, it is time to recall the most terrible events in the history of the gaming industry are those who at one time really managed to worry about the world.
Mining boom and taking prices for video cards
Ten years ago, in May 2010, Laszlo Hanch from Florida made the first deal using cryptocurrency. Delivery of two pizza cost him 10,000 bitcoins. He hardly thought that in the near future the price of one bitcoin would jump up to $ 20,000, and they would begin to extract them on an industrial scale. And the most affordable tool for this will be graphic processors.
At some point, game cards ceased to be exclusively assistants in entertainment and turned into real means of production. Of course, cunning dealers could not pass by such an opportunity to earn. In 2017, when cryptocurrency mining suddenly became the most fashionable – and very profitable! – Business, suitable for this case, GPU was sold out faster than new. Remember the story with the "leaf" buckwheat in 2014? The same thing happened to video cards. Some went up and a half times, some-in two, and some in four. Say, GeForce GTX 1060 3 GB from Gigabyte, which cost $ 200 on launch in 2016, jumped up to 700 in price up to 700. It got to the point that the manufacturers of video cards began to support gamers under the slogan “We make a GPU for gamers, and not for miners!".
Fortunately (and unfortunately for someone and unfortunately), the Bitcoin course collapsed as quickly as it grew, and the prices for video cards returned back to normal. But the moment when the graphic processor suddenly began to cost more than the rest of the computer, made a lot of fans of PC-gimming turn gray.
"Damaged blood"
This year World of Warcraft Performed 16 years old. During this time, many events occurred in the most popular MMORPG world, but the most terrible of them happened when the game was not yet a year. A tiny technical mistake led to the fact that the curse of Hakkara, the main raid boss Zul’gurub, was preserved on the players' pets even after they left the instance. And when hunters (and warlocks), returning from the dungeon to the cities, let their pets “breathe”, they instantly began to transfer “spoiled blood” to everyone around.
Someone spread the disease by chance, someone on purpose-it does not matter. It is important that this debuff had two properties. Firstly, he sucked his health quite quickly-and if the characters of the high level could endure it, then the "young" heroes died literally after a couple of seconds. Secondly, the curse was transmitted from one medium to another at an unthinkable speed.
Infected everything – and everyone was infected. The characters were dying and resurrected only then to die again directly at the Renaissance point. In a matter of hours, Azeroth’s open spaces were littered with the decaying remains of the victims of the epidemic. The situation saved only quarantine on infected servers and operational patches from programmers Blizzard. Everything has been gone about everything about everything, but by the standards of the virtual world it is an entire eternity.
Even those who never played the epidemic of “spoiled blood” were heard: it got to the point that real epidemiologists use data about this incident in their studies. Like a real situation with Covid-19, this story even gave rise to its conspiracy theories. For example, that the developers launched it intentionally – either for the sake of an experiment, or just for laughter. However, three years later they really launched another epidemic intentionally, already within the framework of a special event. Not everyone liked the event, but most veterans who survived the “spoiled blood” accepted with enthusiasm to get into the skin of plague zombies and engage in the legal spread of chaos. What Blizzard definitely cannot refuse is the ability to learn lessons (and profit) even from the most losing situations.
"Gamers Are Dead"
This story began simply – with treason. Zoe Kuinn, an independent game designer from America, changed her boyfriend Eron Gzhony with a game journalist, which the ex-boyfriend has not failed to tell her in his blog. But the main thing here is not adultery itself, but a potential conflict of interest. Someone suggested that Kuinn went to the side for the promotion of his debut game Depression Quest – And it rushed.
The game community has become furious. Quinn poisoned incredibly cruelly. Her social networks were hacked, and personal data was instantly leaked to the network. She was promised to rape and kill her, which is why the girl was forced to escape from New York to Canada. Soon, threats were already rained down by other developers-and then "warriors of social justice" joined the conflict.
It turned out quickly that the game community is an extremely toxic place where everyone who differs from white cisgender heterosexual men. A whole series of articles united by the common name: “Gamers Are Dead” was published on this topic in large Western publications. On the "dead gamers" themselves, however, the message did not affect at all as expected. Especially after the existence of a closed Gamejournopros group was disclosed, in which the authors and editors of the largest game publications were. And far from harmless things were discussed in it: for example, custom -made materials and manipulations by public opinion. It is not surprising that journalists received charges of engagement and venality. This scandal was called “Gamergate” (by analogy with “Watergate”), it was discussed even in the non-core press and … he, in general, did not lead to anything terrible. At least for the gamers themselves: the fact that more gender and racial diversity gradually appears in games is not a terrible thing, but quite logical.
But for the media this story was not without a trace. Some of the journalists received a hat, some publications forced to revise their ethical policy, and in the USA an active struggle with cyberstalking at the state level even began.
Bad porn attack
Typical frame from Hentane SHOVELWARE-GGRA
The game industry has the term "Shovelware Games". They are denoted by cheap third -rate crafts, gathered in haste, not particularly scrupulous developers in pursuit of light money. Almost all trading platforms are clogged with such garbage, but its main seedlings are rightfully considered Google Play And our beloved Steam. It's all about no quality control, which allows you to place almost anything in these services for a modest bribe in these services. And for some time now – even pornography.
In 2018, once the Puritan Steam changed its policy, allowing you to publish games with erotic contents, and it started! The platform was instantly flooded by the same SHOVELWARE GAMES, and not what, but hentai. For the most part, these were primitive puzzles, somehow collected from ready-made asses and stolen arts. From the titles like Hentai Fantasy, Hentai Energy And Hentai Halloween Literally rippled in the eyes, and a logical fear settled in the hearts of gamers: what if it will never end at all at all?
It ended. Now on Steam you can already go without fear, and the most repelled projects are simply banned. Although, on the request of "Hentai" there you can still find a lot of interesting things.
Personal data leakage from PlayStation Network
Life path PlayStation 3 It was very harsh and full of adversity: from problems with reverse compatibility to a bug with a clock, which rewall the system time ten years ago and forbidden to launch online games. But all https://sister-site.org/cocoa-casino/ this was nonsense compared to what happened in the spring of 2011.
PSN stopped working at the end of April. The reason for this, as it turned out, was network attacks, as a result of which hackers stole confidential information of almost 25 million accounts, including 12,000 encrypted bank cards numbers. Moreover Sony It took a whole week to recognize the problem and tell people about it!
The corporation then did not scold only the lazy. And she seemed to even endure a valuable lesson from this: she paid a fine of a quarter of a million pounds, handed out to all victims free games and subscriptions PS Plus … and then again hit the center of a similar scandal – already in early May of the same year. The company is smaller from such a blow, probably, I would never have recovered. Sony just received an indelible spot on reputation.
Paid mods in Steam
The strangest mods for Skyrim. And you would pay for them?
Of course, any creator has the right to demand money for his work. And we, in turn, have the right to pay – either not to pay and not use the fruits of his works: the main thing is that both the buyer and the seller arrange the ratio of the price and quality of the goods to monetize creativity. At least I thought so until in 2015 I saw in Steam paid mods for Tesv: Skyrim.
As you like an ordinary apple for $ 29.99? Or gold potatoes for only $ 9.99? Joint experiment Valve And Bethesda , During which they allowed everyone to do and sell modifications to Skyrim, failed, not even really starting. The innovation did not last even a week: the experiment was turned as soon as Steam Workshop Apoil cadavres with inadequate price tags overwhelmed, and the moaning of outraged gamers flew to heaven.
True, Bethesda with her Creation Club So she did not abandon the idea of paid modifications, but this is a completely different story – much more positive.
Regional restrictions
Nes And Famicom – two versions of the same console that are not compatible with each other
Perhaps the most vile that the publisher or holder of the Platform with the game can do is to ban someone in it. For example, on a territorial basis. Now they rarely recall this, but not so long ago, the policy of regional restrictions literally rules the game world.
The main force with which it all started and which has been afloat for decades – of course, "Big N". All home consoles Nintendo , except Switch , not only had a technical opportunity to block “inappropriate” games, but it was also actively used. It was first tested on the first home prefix Nintendo in 1985. Its versions for Japan and the United States seemed to differ in general: the name (Famicom and Nintendo Entertainment System, respectively), appearance, and even hardware filling in places. A similar situation was with Sega Mega Drive And Genesis. The segregation participated and Microsoft With Sony.
Fortunately, with the spread of the Internet, the Regional Coding issue fell by itself. For example, for PS3 there were only two games with this restriction, and for PS4 – In general, not a single. However, the technical opportunity to plant players in different corners has console giants so far – and it remains only to hope that they will never use it again.
Kodzima leaves Konami
With the conventional opinion that Hideo Kojimi Genius can still argue. But with the fact that he is one of the most expensive, wayward and inconvenient for the authorities of creators in the history of the gaming industry, is unlikely. And he was lucky to work not somewhere, but in Konami : This company seems to be a Japanese version Electronic Arts – and can easily compete for the title of the most evil game corporation in the world. In general, a worthy opponent to the eccentric game designer.
The conflict between these two heavyweights was brewing for a long time, but at the end of 2015 he finally banged in full. The publisher removed the name of Kojima from the cover Metal Gear Solid V. Forbade him to appear on The Game Awards To receive awards. Announced the closure Kojima Productions and the abolition of current projects of the studio, including potentially chit Silent Hills. Removed it playable – and extremely popular – teaser P.T. From the PlayStation Store (after which the console with a pre -installed game even began to sell on ebay for completely insane money). And in general pretended that no kodzim never worked there. In a word, gamers were horrified: how now without a genius?
Fortunately, what could become a professional death of an almost the most famous game designer in history turned out only to a small adventurous twist. The very next day after the Konami strike received from Konami, Kojima announced cooperation with Sony. In memory of this story, we were the controversial "game of dreams" Death Stranding, Patinka automatic Silent Hill and the proof that any of us can be quickly thrown away in the cold – no matter how cool we could not consider ourselves. But in order to return triumphantly, you need to be a kozy.
The red ring of death
In fairness, the problems of launch were not only PlayStation 3. Her main competitor in the seventh console generation – Xbox 360 – I also managed to remember a couple of unpleasant moments. For example, “error E74” or a tendency to tightly scratch the discs directly in the DVD drive.
But the most famous failure of the console was the "Red Ring of Death". When, instead of four green lights, three scarlet lights began to blink around the power button, this meant only one thing: Xbox in a step from turning into a very expensive and completely useless brick. Microsoft characterized this error as “General Hardware Failure”, but in practice it most often meant power problems that could not be eliminated without contacting the service. Moreover, these problems arose most often when the guarantee for the prefix was already ending, and they affected almost every fourth console – mainly the first audit.
Microsoft eventually recognized the problem, expanded the console guarantee of up to three years, and even returned the money to those who were forced to pay for servicing defective consoles. However, Red Ring of Death is still one of the most tenacious gaming memes. And the updated versions of the Xbox 360 S and E instead of four LEDs received only one.
Transition from 2D to 3D
The worst part EarthWorm Jim, actually killed a brilliant series
Evolution is a thing as inevitable as rain in October. In most cases, progress, of course, is for the better, because if video games had not developed, we would still play in Galaga Or unicellular “Well, wait!" from "Electronics". But sometimes evolution gives out such that it is better to sit in “well, wait a minute!".
When in the mid-90s the fourth generation of game consoles was replaced by the fifth led by the first PlayStation , Three -dimensional graphics came into fashion. Nobody wanted to lag behind the trend and lose the audience. Therefore, flat, but pretty classical games quickly turned into ugly three -dimensional monsters. It all started with a remake Frogger – Very lousy, but dispersed by a circulation, as much as one and a half million copies. Following 3D versions of other games from arcade machines arrived. And then this disaster touched almost all game series without exception. EarthWorm Jim heroes turned into low polygonal degenerates, Castlevania, Sonic the Hedgehog.. Super Mario 64 was almost the only example of a normal transition from two measurements to three.
All these projects were terrible cadreas: ugly, with crooked management and inadequate complexity. It is not surprising that today, recalling classic console games, they try to talk about their three -dimensional options in an undertone. Well, personally, the main character is still in the nightmares Bubsy 3D. Who would have thought that after many years it was her authors from Bend Studio They will make a zombie chorror Days Gone?
The collapse of the American video game market
E.T. For Atari 2600 It is considered a symbol of this disaster, although in fact it was only one of many
There are only three large forces in the gaming prefix market: Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft. It is not surprising, because the console business is a difficult and risky business. But the situation was completely different 40 years ago: in the early 80s, dozens of console models in which hundreds of games produced in the early 80s in the early 80s. True, the dialectical transition of the quantity into the quality never happened: the latter, in fact, controlled the latter, but to understand this chaos and find rare pearls in the ocean of the consumer goods was almost impossible.
It is not surprising that at one point the market of game consoles burst, like a soap bubble. For three years, from 1982 to 1985, the American gaming industry squeezed at 30 (!) one: from three billion to a miserable hundred million dollars. Games have never been so close to complete disappearance. The consequences of great collapse were reflected in the entire industry – and are still felt. Say, the release of NES, completely different from the original Famicom, was due to this problem. Nintendo needed a game console, not like a game console and not causing negative associations with recent events. Then a normal licensing system arose, without which no console platform cannot be imagined today: it is thanks to it that we can play decent decent projects.
Game dependence – mental disorder
Gambling discussed this topic five years ago
The fact that the games cause dependence was always known, but officially they began to develop this topic relatively recently. In 2013 alone, the American Psychiatric Association began to consider the "Internet game disorder" as a category requireing further study. But the World Health Organization went on and two years ago included a “game disorder” in the international classification of diseases.
ICD-11 will enter into force only in 2022, and the depth of study of the concept of "game addiction" today is doubtful. However, this does not interfere with many institutions around the world with varying success to treat it. There are specialized clinics in England and China, a whole state program is working in Korea to combat this misfortune … But soon they will begin to diagnose it officially – as a full mental disorder. Although, the heart is on the heart: well, which of us did not feel the symptoms of this disease? Who did not suffer from the syndrome of the "last move" in Civilization? Who has not canceled the meeting with friends for the Raid in World of Warcraft? Who did not forget to submit a report, carried away by the study of tombs in TES? Let the first throw a stone at me, as they say.
On this slightly crazy note, perhaps, we will finish. And what scared you the most in the history of the gaming industry? Tell us in the comments – and cheerful to you Halloween!
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