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No unofficial Duke shots?
January 21st 2001, 06:36 CET by Andy

As you've probably heard already, 3D Realms may try to stop reviewers from using unofficial DNF screenshots. Otherwise, they wouldn't be thinking about suing them, would they?

This story has been neatly dodged by 3D Realms, which is partly my own fault due to some poor wording in an article I wrote. To set the record straight, there has been no official 'announcement', just some info provided by George Broussard during a PlanetCrap chat a few days ago.

But the fact remains that 3D Realms is considering how to stop reviewers from taking their own DNF screenshots, possibly by crippling the game or using a license agreement.

And according to George, he hasn't ruled out taking legal action against reviewers who break the rules.

Asked if 3DR "would sue a publication if they didn't use official DNF shots in a review", he replied:

Not sure. We only plan to release a handful and would prefer those were used like in the Duke 3D reviews. We really don't want web guys finishing the game on day one and posting 40 shots of DNF in a review. So, we'll have to think about that one a bit.

As was pointed out during the discussion here the other night, one potential problem with forcing any publication to only use official shots is that sometimes those shots don't accurately represent the game.

For instance, I noticed this comment over on Glide Underground, a site which also picked up on George's comments:

I for one want to show the shots that I as a reviewer saw rather than stuff that looks like nothing like the game. We saw one case of this already -- Trespasser preview screens, released by Dreamworks, looked nothing like the final game and yet were still placed on the shipping box.

Consider, also, the screenshots for Giants. If only official screenshots had been used by people reviewing that game, they'd have included all of the gore and much-touted nudity, even though these features were toned down at the last minute.

And ironically, a screenshot on the Duke Nukem 3D box -- in my opinion the best screenshot -- featured a level that apparently wasn't even included in the game. I certainly don't remember the level, which has a rather distinctive building, but have a look for yourself.

So of course, this all comes down to a few questions:

Should reviewers, or any other journalists, be prevented from posting their own screenshots of a game? It has been well-argued by now that such a rule would be difficult to enforce, but is it right for a developer to even try enforcing it?

Can we be sure that developers will provide shots that give a true impression of their game, showing both the good and the bad? Do we want to see screenshots that give us a good idea of what we'll be getting for our money, or do we want to see only the best bits, along with features/levels/models/weapons that possibly aren't even in the finished game?

Or if you just don't care about sites being hit with rules like this... why not?
C O M M E N T S
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#314 by "PainKilleR"
2001-01-25 01:08:32
painkiller@planetfortress.com
<b>dsmart</b> (#310):
<quote>Not true actually. I have one rig here with a Soyo SY-6BA+IV (Intel 440BX chipset) hosting a PIII-800 cpu. That board is 100Mhz FSB I think. In fact, I have an old Asus P2B-LS (Intel 440BX chipset) mobo also hosting a PIII-600 cpu. That too is 100Mhz FSB. You're not alone. Can you feel the love? :-)
</quote>

lol, I have an ASUS P2B-LS running with my P2-400 (well, it's actually not running, I stripped the RAM and hard drive out of it for some quick cash a while back), and that's the only motherboard I've ever purchased that would actually cost more now to replace than I originally paid for it (due mostly to the on-board SCSI I think). The 600's running on an ABit BE6. Sometime this year I'm planning on going to either the 133 P3s or a P4 (depending on how the DDR RAM motherboards look when they finally come around).

At least I know I'll still be doing good for a while with the 64MB GF2 card, though, it's just that UT engine bogging me down a bit right now, and considering I play TFC more than anything else, it's not much of an issue ;)

-PainKilleR-[CE]<i><b></b></i><i></i><i></i>
#315 by "Glock"
2001-01-25 03:15:19
glock17@tampabay.rr.com
heh, I only ask about the FSB because I'm one of the few gamers around that still seems to be running on the 100Mhz FSB, w/ a P3-600 no less ;)


That's me.   I have a 440BX AGPset with a P3-600 with 100mhz FSB.
#316 by "ChrisJohnson"
2001-01-25 07:41:35
cjohnson27@hotmail.com
<quote>absolutely. In fact, thats what I thought. I too use the Pyro CD (and a few new ones) in BCM, so I have an idea of what they look like. :-)

</quote>

I think about everyone has either used, abused, or at least perused (damn, I'm such a rhyming bitch) Pyromania and their ilk for game content.  

Oooh, maybe another blown-ou-of-proportion expose on these CDs can be ours here on Planetcrap soon!  Maybe the Register will even pick it up!

<quote>The directors get hired, and there's nothing stopping a game company from hiring a director to handle their cut scenes. Or maybe even more importantly, an editor. Oh, and a screenwriter. And maybe some voice actors.</quote>

Some do all or some of the above.  But then, like movies, not all of the above are created equal in any category.  And again, the money tends to be a limiting factor... (admittedly, some houses get funded seriousl boatloads of cash and still end up with some shoddy voice acting and such, but I shant mention names, nor th amphibians used in said games).
#317 by "dsmart"
2001-01-26 02:49:16
dsmart@3000ad.com
<b>PainKilleR</b> (#314):
<quote>lol, I have an ASUS P2B-LS running with my P2-400 (well, it's actually not running, I stripped the RAM and hard drive out of it for some quick cash a while back), and that's the only motherboard I've ever purchased that would actually cost more now to replace than I originally paid for it (due mostly to the on-board SCSI I think). The 600's running on an ABit BE6. Sometime this year I'm planning on going to either the 133 P3s or a P4 (depending on how the DDR RAM motherboards look when they finally come around).</quote>

I was one of those suckers who paid close to $400 for that P2B-LS when it came out, because I wanted the onboard LAN and SCSI. Get this. After I upgraded the BIOS, I then found out that you could put a PIII CPU in it. So, I went out and got a PIII-800 just like the chart over at Asus says. Then, when it didn't work, after much fiddling, I realized that since I had one of the earlier boards, my PCB revision was not covered. So, I had to put the PIII-800 in the Soyo and took the PIII-600 out of the Soyo and put it in the P2B-LS. I don't think she noticed she'd been stripped. :-)




<i><b></b></i><i></i><i></i>
#318 by "dsmart"
2001-01-26 02:50:14
dsmart@3000ad.com
<b>ChrisJohnson</b> (#316):
<quote>...(damn, I'm such a rhyming bitch) Pyromania and their ilk for game content. </quote>

LOL, that you are


<i><b></b></i><i></i><i></i>
#319 by "PainKilleR"
2001-01-26 06:28:21
painkiller@planetfortress.com
<b>dsmart</b> (#317):
<quote>I was one of those suckers who paid close to $400 for that P2B-LS when it came out, because I wanted the onboard LAN and SCSI. </quote>

heh, I paid $285 for mine, for the same reasons, though. After all, I had 2 8GB DMA/33 hard drives, a DVD-ROM drive, and a CD-ROM drive, and wanted a CD-RW drive (omg, finding SCSI CD-RW drives was VERY hard back then). I also had to deal with the fact that I had a Riva128, 2 12MB Voodoo 2 cards, and a PCI128 sound card, all of which were starting to show heat-related problems because I had 4 PCI slots and 4 PCI cards (the NIC as well, which was why the on-board was a good idea at the time). Who'd've thought that those Voodoo2s should've had some sort of fan setup? ;Þ

The nice part, though, is that those P2B-LS boards are still selling for $330 or so around here, so I could probably make my money back on the board if I was feeling like being a complete ass and selling a board with over a year of hard use for $50 less than a new one (assuming I could find someone that had some use for it).

-PainKilleR-[CE]<i><b></b></i><i></i><i></i>
#320 by "spackbace"
2001-02-03 18:16:59
brian@cc.gatech.edu
ah... the full glory of this is that no one ever reads these anymore... so i get ALL THE LAST POSTS!!

last post btw
#321 by "ChrisJohnson"
2001-02-03 21:09:26
cjohnson27@hotmail.com
<quote>last post btw</quote>

Or is it?
#322 by "toadwarrior"
2001-02-04 02:53:51
toadw@uplink.net
I dunno<i><b></b></i><i></i><i></i>
#323 by "Weezul"
2001-02-05 14:57:18
weezul@bellsouth.net
Gents,

    There is no problem here... tell Georgie B. that no one will be posting screenshot of DNF until he stops sitting on his thumb and MAKES IT.
#324 by "WarrenMarshall"
2001-02-05 19:44:57
warren@epicgames.com
Weezul (#323):
There is no problem here... tell Georgie B. that no one will be posting screenshot of DNF until he stops sitting on his thumb and MAKES IT.

Wow!  What a truly creative and well thought out jab!

---

Warren Marshall
Level Designer/Programmer/Corporate Shill
Epic Games (www.epicgames.com)<i><b></b></i><i></i><i></i>
#325 by "Milamber"
2001-02-13 17:35:34
milamber@amoeba.com.au
<i>Weezul</i> muttered in #323:
<quote>Gents,

There is no problem here... tell Georgie B. that no one will be posting screenshot of DNF until he stops sitting on his thumb and MAKES IT.</quote>

all your bad grammar are belong to us<i><b></b></i><i></i><i></i>
#326 by "Anonymous"
2001-04-18 17:58:57
you don want to here it
#327 by "PFlats"
2002-04-30 18:25:13
Last post!
#328 by Chris Johnson
2002-04-30 19:58:16
Nope.
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