There is no question 2013 was a fantastic year for gamers. We saw the birth of two new next gen consoles, played some epic games like GTAV and we saw the rise of so many fabulous indie titles. It is really a great time to be a gamer and 2013 was arguably the best year yet for us. With greatness however comes many failures and many moments that left us a little disappointed. So a few of us at COG decided to take a look at some of the biggest fails from 2013. We call them COG’s Biggest Suck Moments of 2013. So without further delay, enjoy:
Attack of the Fanboys
“For me it wasn’t a game that was the biggest failure, but it was the FANBOY wars over the next generation consoles that left me disappointed. Although I have no issue with people being in “one camp vs. another”, the hatred, insults, and darn right ignorance I saw in forums all over the interwebz was a HUGE disappointment. In an industry where competition breeds excellence, to have people wanting one console to fail over another was just ridiculous, and to insult one another in the way people did was just ugly.” Kirby Yablonski (The Outcast)
Microsoft’s Utter Mismanagement of the Xbox One Announcement
“The single biggest gaffe in 2013 was Microsoft’s complete mismanagement of how the Xbox One was officially announced. Microsoft did a piss-poor job communicating their vision for Xbox One. The backlash from media and consumers alike was immediate. Not one to miss an opportunity, Sony pounced on this marketing softball and knocked it clear out of the park with one of the most brilliant E3 press conferences ever. Microsoft finally succumbed to the pressure and changed their stance (some may argue this was another mistake) but the damage was done and Sony’s been riding a wave of momentum ever since.” Shad Forsyth (Fiftyspeed)
Future Shop and Best Buy Trade–in Fiasco
“I still recall the day like it was yesterday. There I was at my local Best Buy retailer standing in a never ending line. The line barely moved. I was literally standing in one spot for 15 to 20 minutes at a time. I mean this line didn’t budge. It was frustrating to say the least as I watched my days off from work slip away. I regretted every minute I spent standing in that line as I stood there looking like a schlub. The chatter from others in line was that Best Buy was trading in games as they normally do which is a convoluted process that takes about 10-minutes per person if the clerk isn’t all that experienced trading in games. This particular Best Buy didn’t have a streamlined expedited process that would allow the masses to take advantage of the ‘too good to be true’ free game deal the Financial Post and Post Arcade reported. Instead, I waited and I waited. Eventually I gave up, had a little chit chat with the manager and made my way out the door. I never got a chance to take advantage of the November 9 to November 11 trade in your crappy game for either Call of Duty: Ghosts, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag or Battlefield 4 deal. Many others walked away disappointed that weekend as well. Sure in the grand scheme of things this is certainly a first world problem and many others could point to more significant gaming fails in 2013; but for me this was a stinker and managed to grind my gears.” Trevor Houston (MRBIGCAT)
Watch Dogs Postponed Until Further Notice
“For me, Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs not being an Xbox One or PS4 launch title was the biggest 2013 fail. It was one of the only games I was looking forward to playing the most at launch. When Ubisoft announced it was delayed, it was like a punch to the kidney as the prospects of a great title to play on my Xbox One seriously dwindled. Thanks Ubisoft, you dangled that carrot long enough so that Sony and Microsoft could capitalize on all those pre-orders directly due to gamers who wanted a next gen system so they could play Watch Dogs from the get go.” John Elliott (JohnnyXeo)
Broken Consoles From Both Parties at Launch
“I was in the very fortunate situation to be able to get my grubby mitts on both consoles at launch. Giddy like a school girl I waited around for the UPS guy to drop off my PS4 on release day. Sadly, as excited as I was, I couldn’t get rid of the nagging thought of ‘what if I have a busted console with that HDMI issue?’ and it was seriously messing with my ‘I’m getting a new toy’ high. Luckily, I wasn’t one of the many PS4 owners sending mine back to the factory. I wasn’t as lucky with the Xbox One mind you as my Day One console had that nasty optical drive issue where it sounded like a strangled cat every time I tried to insert a disc. I’ll give Microsoft credit that they upped me with a free game and their customer service people were fantastic every step of the way but regardless it was still a pain in the ass. Now I get it, there’s a certain amount of broken bits with nearly every release of an electronic device but what really grinds my gears is that we’ve been taught to just accept it. It goes past consoles too as I had a 1 year old iPhone 5 completely brick with no chance of repair and was forced to replace it. A 3 year contract with a device that barely passed its first birthday? Thankfully with the console launch it wasn’t quite Red Ring of Death levels of failures but I think it’s ridiculous that we as consumers have been groomed to accept the fact that after we spend $500 or more on something that there’s a likely chance that something will be wrong with it. I don’t know about the rest of you but $500 is a lot of money for me. That’s two full nights of working corners and turning tricks for an ugly guy like me and I expect more. To be honest I think you’d be insane not to go and drop that extra hundred bucks on the extended warranty when you buy one of these things too because as I said, we’re groomed to expect it to fail. That’s another 3 hours working the corner! All in all this is 100% a first world problem and I know it but regardless of that fact I think we as consumers should be able to feel comfortable in dropping our hard earned money on a device that will work.” Shawn Petraschuk (CanadianBoarder)