So who’s telling the truth? With the recent release of the anticipated Mass Effect 2 demo on the Playstation 3, comparison sites Lens of Truth and Digital Foundry seem to find themselves at odds over performance of the PS3 demo versus the 360 retail code.
Recently Bioware unleashed the demo of their RGP masterpiece, Mass Effect 2, on the Playstation 3. As Mass Effect 2 had previously been an Xbox 360 exclusive title, its launch on Sony’s platform peaked gamers’ interests. Both Sony fans who had never experienced a Mass Effect title on the Xbox 360 or the PC, and those who had already played Mass Effect 2 but wondered what might be in store for PS3 owners eagerly awaited information regarding any differences between versions.
The latest game in BioWare’s fantasy role-playing series went through ten years of development turmoil
In early November, on the eve of the crucial holiday shopping season, staffers at the video-game studio BioWare were feeling optimistic. After an excruciating development cycle, they had finally released their latest game, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and the early reception was largely positive. The role-playing game was topping sales charts on Steam, and solid, if not spectacular, reviews were rolling in.
Its easy they called the die hard fans people in their nerd caves who will buy anything and then went woke to reach modern audiences....insulting the nerds in their caves along the way showing utter contempt for their fan base. very hapy it failed and any company who insults their fan base and treat their customers with contempt and insults, in future, i also hope fail.
It’s disappointing but not surprising to see what's happening with Dragon Age: The Veilguard and the broader situation at BioWare. The layoffs are tragic — no one wants to see talented developers lose their jobs. But when studios repeatedly create games that alienate their own fanbase, outcomes like this become unfortunately predictable.
There’s a pattern we’re seeing far too often: beloved franchises are revived, only to be reshaped into something almost unrecognizable. Changes are made that no one asked for, often at the expense of what originally made these games special. Then, when long-time fans express concern or lose interest, they’re told, “This game might not be for you.” But when those same fans heed that advice and don’t buy the game, suddenly they're labeled as toxic, sexist, bigoted, or worse.
Let’s be clear: the overwhelming majority of gamers have no issue with diversity, LGBTQ+ representation, or strong female leads. In fact, some of the most iconic characters in gaming — like Aloy, Ellie, or FemShep — are proof that inclusivity and excellent storytelling can and do go hand in hand. The issue arises when diversity feels performative, forced, or disconnected from the narrative — when characters or themes are inserted not to serve the story, but to satisfy a corporate DEI checklist. Audiences can tell the difference.
When studios chase approval from a vocal minority that often doesn’t even buy games — while simultaneously dismissing loyal fans who actually do — they risk not just the success of individual titles, but the health of their entire studio. Telling your core customers “don’t buy it if you don’t like it” is not a viable business strategy. Because guess what? Many of us won’t. And when the game fails commercially, blaming those very fans for not supporting it is both unfair and self-defeating.
Gamers aren’t asking for less diversity or less progress. We’re asking for better writing, thoughtful character development, and a respect for the franchises we’ve supported for decades. When you give people great games that speak to them — whether they’re old fans or new players — they will show up. But if you keep making games for people who don’t play them, don’t be surprised when those who do stop showing up
I thought the writing and character development were fine. Sometimes things just dont resonate with people.
BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk reveals his unrealized dream of transforming EA from within, with hopes pinned on SWTOR’s success.
for us gamers
Dragon Age 4: A Dream Unrealized
SWTOR was a great game on a bad engine.
Agreed, SWTOR still has some of the best dialogue from any Star Wars work. I think we all miss this old Bioware the most.
Former BioWare executive Mark Darrah says "be a human being, have some empathy."
Fans don't know who is actually to blame.
Darrah throws up a hypothetical that someone might not like how an actor delivered a line. Sure, it could well be down to the actor, but it also might be down to who was directing them, how the writer asked their work to be delivered, or maybe that was the only take they got.
This line from the video though
"Maybe the CEO of the entire company really wanted his nephew to be hired as a script consultant and this guy with literally zero experience was coming in and pushing for mandatory changes"
Like others have said that seems far too specific to just be an example...
Exactly. And the crazy part about this is that the people there just doing their job and trying to make a living are the one's getting hurt and losing their jobs. I am also not a fan of targeting specific individuals. Its poor form. These are video games.
If only there was a single problem with this game, it was a train wreck waiting to crash and burn.
As usual, common sense falls on deaf ears. I mean, he thinks this article is about Dragon Age Veilguard. He rejects logic and evidence.
What possible logic or evidence can you provide to convince him otherwise.
@Thorstein
Cant expect people to see reason now a days.
@Notellin
Sure. Go ahead and bury yourselves beneath your own ignorance.
Then don't use it for the thumbnail. It's misleading on purpose to draw this reaction.
Personally, i think we should always blame and criticize the management (especially top management; like with EA - every screw up should be blamed on Andrew Wilson and his goons). They're the ones with the power, the ones who have the last say in the matter - whatever is the plot details, gameplay, microtransactions, budget and «It's ok that it's buggy and crashes constantly, release the game ASAP, we'll fix it later».
Harrasement is not ok in my book, although, nowadays, many people paint every type of criticism (whatever warranted or not) as harrasement. Which is a very narrowminded and waters down actual harrasement problems. But, i guess, it makes it easier to ignore everything bad you see aimed towards yourself.
I would also like to add, that this topic is a double-edged sword, some developers are being mean to their customers, calling them names or any sort of -isms, that happens. In that case, don't be surprised, that, when you're «firing shots», customers are «shooting back» at you.
No you don't. Everything is criticized by somebody these days. By that logic everything is bad. Thats just more fuel for the echo chamber. The way you get games you want is by supporting the types of games you want by buying them. You want more games like Astrobot? Buy Astrobot. Recommend it to others. Its not about bashing what you don't like. its about supporting what you do like. Money talks.
Absolutely, I buy my games cause subscriptions are also part of the problem. I don't criticize myself personally, but by observing criticism by others, I avoid purchasing games with problems.
No we don't. FIFA and Madden get criticized every year and the games get worse and more overpriced.
Lack of profit is the only way to do it, but people are fine buying shit games every day, just not the shit games we talk about regularly here. We distract ourselves with this stupid 'social mirage' issue and the corporations get to keep doing less and less but selling it for more and more.
Says the only guy in the world that likes vanguard, I bet you like avowed aswell huh
Empathy always has value when dealing with other human beings. This includes empathy towards the fans who feel scorned and the devs who worked their asses off.
LoT just got owned.
Wow Lens of Truth is an absolute disgrace...
"Lens of Truth was quick to post comparative screenshots and it seemed obvious from their comparison that in certain scenes the 360 version of the game seemed to have a graphical edge over the PS3 demo. Lens of Truth staff concluded that “Xbox 360 version still looks to have the graphical advantage,” and suggested that perhaps the PlayStation3 demo was an older build. Over at Digital Foundry, gamers were treated to a side by side video comparison of the two versions. In stark contrast to LOT’s screen shot gallery, the PS3 video posted on Digital Foundry clearly showed superior textures, lighting effects and reflections not seen on the 360 version. Forum posters suggested that Lens of Truth was “cherry picking” their screenshot comparisons. These comments were quickly erased from LOT’s forums by moderators."
"While both sites noticed more screen tearing in the PS3 demo version, there was a huge discrepancy in the analyses of frames per second on each version. LOT concluded that, “the PlayStation 3’s frame rate appeared un-locked allowing for sporadic frame rate spikes and dips, especially while in-game. On the contrary, the Xbox 360 version had the frame rate locked down at 30 frames a second in most cases.” Digital Foundry found that the PS3 version and 360 retail versions both seemed to hover around the 30 fps mark; they also observed, however, that the PS3 demo code often jumped to a much higher to 38 – 44 fps, while the 360 retail code routinely dropped below 30 fps to low twenties during in-game cut scenes. Digital Foundry noted, “There are many instances in the game that drop down to the lower frame-rate, especially in the cut-scenes,” while in the PS3 demo code, “a great many of the drops to 20FPS in the cut-scenes appear to have been ironed out, running nicely at the default 30FPS.” Considering LOT’s article was titled “frame rate analysis,” more focus seems to be on screen tears then actual frame rate."
and the best part of all...
"Did Lens of Truth simply conclude that this level of detail was not worth mentioning? Forum users again asked the same question on LOT’s forums and again found their comments not only moderated, but their accounts permanently banned. "
I'll never read another LoT comparison ever again, they don't deserve the hits!!
the truth about all this pixel counting is that the ps3 is the most powerful console to date and with exclusive games like uncharted 2 killzone 2, heavy rain, gran turismo 5, god of war 3, metal gear solid 4, ratchet acit, resistance 2, little big planet and others which are unmatched then its no doubt the ps3 is superior.
the majority of the gaming media will negate the superiority of the ps3s power by scoring ps3 exclusives technological achievements on the same level of multiplatform or other console exclusive games when the ps3 exclusives are clearly of higher and better quality. halo 3 or reach isnt comparable to killzone 2 on a technological level. fun factor is all subjective by the player so i wont even try to talk about which is more fun. nothing is really comparable to majority of the top ps3 exclusives but because the majority of the gaming media are biased or payed off, gamers cant get the truth unless they are wise enough to see it themselves.
all one has to do is play a few move games and play a few kinect games then research the scores of each product and games from the top gaming sites. or better yet just play the games on each consoles, especially the exclusives and see who has the higher quality exclusives. my point is not to say which console is better but to have players form their own conclusions about which is better.
trying to pixel count in order to chant which console is more powerful is the silliest thing ive ever seen and is akin to the idea of driving a nissan gtr and a mustang gt down a pit lane together where there is a speed limit so theyll be driving the same speed but out on the track where there isnt a speed limit the nissan gtr will destroy the mustang. multiplatform games are often times mediocre to a lot of core gamers and the games are made to be equal or close to equal so pixel counting in order to claim some misguided victory is null. look at the games where developers arent restricted to make degradation or cutbacks in order to match the common denominator, look at the exclusive games.
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I was saying before that the PS3 version looked better (I have the 360 version) when this was first brought up, and couldn't believe that anyone could disagree, check my past comments.
I'm baffled that people thought the 360 version looked better, it's like fanboyism actually blinded them.
LOT is officially a 360 fanboy site.