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Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled (June 21st, 2019)


Jango

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40 minutes ago, Jango said:

Nintendo isn't the only company in the world, you know. Uncharted 4 have it. GTA V have. Red Dead 2 have it. These are big, award winning games that have microtransactions. And it's even worse in those examples because the microtransaction itens actually give an advantage over other players, they're not just cosmetics like CTR.

 

Yeah, but you know what the diffrence between Nintendo and literally every other AAA publisher is? Nintendo, unlike everyone else, is actually content with charging $60 for a game and nothing else. They would rather make less money than repeatedly exploit their consumer base over and over and over again, and you know what? Politicians have gotten more and more interested in the whole practice of MC's and Loot Boxes, partly because of all the horror stories (and are probably fuming that they don't get to see a penny from it unlike literally everything else). At this point the games industry has more than proven that it can't regulate itself on this matter (To the point that GTA V has added a LITERAL CASINO, how the mother of fuck that's even legal is beyond me). Regulation is coming. It's inevitable now, and at the end of it all Nintendo is probably one of the few who will escape its wrath unscathed. Jim puts it best:

Why would I spend my hard earned money at a virtual casino when I can go to a real one, spend just as much and get booze and crab in the process? The Pit Stop is just as rigged as a real casino and while one can indeed not spend money, you're going to have to invest an obscene amount of time in order to be able to do so. And spending money for coins may save time, but it's neither fun nor you get free crab from it. Oh, and by the way, thanks to the GP's Nitro system and the top 5% reward that comes from it this game has just turned into Pay To Win. You need an excess of Nitro in order to be eligible to win the kart, and how do you get said Nitro? By using the GP specific characters and Karts. Gee, I wonder where those come from...

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On 7/30/2019 at 1:39 PM, Jango said:

Nintendo isn't the only company in the world, you know.

What are you trying to prove? What I posted doesn't mean that Nintendo aren't the only ones who have the good will not to go hunting for player's money via microtransactions. 

Heck, for as much as you like to try and drag its name through the mud, Team Sonic Racing didn't resort to microtransactions.  As many other games have avoided doing so. This isn't some sad reality, but a bullshit principle held by money grubbers.

If anything to do with Nintendo, they've shown that big games can go without needless microtransactions. Just because it shatters your world view doesn't mean they should be disregarded.

On 7/30/2019 at 1:39 PM, Jango said:

And it's even worse in those examples because the microtransaction itens actually give an advantage over other players, they're not just cosmetics like CTR.

On the contrary,  certain items in CTR NF give Nitro bonuses which puts players up on the totem pole. They very much DO give an unfair advantage. 

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Oh, so it IS getting Microtransactions? What a surprise that is.

Edit: Seriously, though. How does Activision manage to piss away ALL the goodwill they accrued with this revival? It’d be more comical if it weren’t so disappointingly predictable.

 

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45 minutes ago, Jovahexeon Ogilvie Maurice said:

Heck, for as much as you like to try and drag its name through the mud, Team Sonic Racing 

For totally different reasons. Don't mix up the things.

47 minutes ago, Jovahexeon Ogilvie Maurice said:

On the contrary,  certain items in CTR NF give Nitro bonuses which puts players up on the totem pole. They very much DO give an unfair advantage. 

If your "unfair advantage" is "helping players to stay within the top 5%" which unlocks a single kart (that does not give any real in-game advantage), you are completely right. If it's that so, yeah, the core of this complaint indeed lies within the desire for completionism. Which is fine if you enjoy this kind of thing. It ain't mine, I can live without unlocking every character or skin right way.

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My two cents then.

Finished Grand Prix. Totally not burnt out but happy I got everything I wanted, this was actually a really fun endeavour and kept me playing - the game has rewarded me so much already that I can’t help but be happy to accept more. Also super appreciate that they kept the special items going for another week that I haven’t bought yet.

The Next GP is already starting later this week? Amazing! If you don’t want to do it if you are knackered then just don’t play it, if you want theme’d items just purchase them when they become available again at a later time if you have had enough for now. No big deal. 

Also I think it’s safe to assume that micro-transactions we’re always going to be coming at some point. So if you want to skip the GP and just get a FREE track but still want the rest - purchase coins or nitro or whatever to get what you want. Simple. I’m not a massive fan of micro transactions but when it is optional I just don’t think you can justify moaning about it. Either:

1) Play the game to get what you want and be rewarded.

2) Wait until later in the year when you are playing again once the limited items return and it comes up on the shop and use your Wumpa coins

3) Purchase with physical money.

If it was purchase ONLY I’d be more sceptical - but really now. C’mon guys. 

I would also like to think that you should consider for a budget release game we have been treated with an already hefty amount of FREE content and constant updates. I look at this as a way from them to continue creating more content for the game. There are obviously extra development costs when doing this, so if you make a physical purchase just consider what this goes towards. It’s also OPTIONAL. 

Anyway. I am totally ready for this already and can’t wait. The new challenges and modes like the relay racing look like they could be fun too for mixing things up! 

I’m not really interested in the Baby Characters and only ‘ole Rexy. Also the tier rewards don’t look overly compelling again as well - but I kind of understand why it’s been done this way. Annoyingly the new kart I am really after looks like it will only be available as a Wumpa coin purchase - but that could be a good thing thinking about it.

Speaking of which, If I am still critical of anything in this game it’s handling of the Pit-Stop. Firstly, Skins and character purchase values definitely need to be swapped, and I think they are asking for too much on colour palettes, wheels and stickers, especially bundles for these. They should not be of higher value than a character purchase, that’s nuts.

I do think that a GP shop should exist separately to the regular one though. Or at least they should allow us to make a choice selection between a GP item or regular item otherwise they wont rotate until purchase. 

5 hours ago, Jovahexeon Ogilvie Maurice said:

Actually, he did, along with the summer bundle, which is the only way to obtain him, as has been reported by countless people.

Actually no. N-Trance has been available to buy separately on Multiple occasions. Even during the Grand Prix he appeared in a seperate character box to buy for 1500 coins. 

Does this not update for everybody or something? Because during GP mode (and before this started) if I purchased a character or skin it would just revolve around to the next character. N-trance also appeared for me multiple times this way back when I was grinding offline.

The only boxes ever left blank for me were the special bundles in GP once purchased on the day... or if you had bought everything possible.

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Why are you not skeptical that it’s not purchase with money only? The setup they have is MORE predatory. The entire point is to make the grinding experience so annoying that you’re badgered into using your own money. THAT is how they take advantage of kids and people with addiction problems. It’d be less horseshit if they actually were just season pass cosmetics and characters for 20-30 bucks.

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Because it’s optional. If kids are being taken advantage of then parents should lock purchases on their cards or consoles. If there are vulnerable purchasers then they should have legal guardians to watch out for them.

I’m not saying Activision isn’t evil. But it’s a two way street, they don’t hold personal information of the vulnerability of every purchaser and will never know. 

Also, why is grinding to be rewarded such an issue. When micro-transactions were never a thing we grinded (or just practised) and got good good at games all the time to reap the rewards. The real issue is that patience is lost in this generation of gamers, the expectation is everything is to be handed out for free. This is the only thing companies are guilty of taking advantage of. Now you can skip playing the game and pay money to get to the goal faster.

But again, it is optional.

To be honest I think the only people they have screwed over in this game is offline players. You can barely get squat through the shop even if you grind it out. This game practically forced me to buy a Plus subscription so I had a better chance at obtaining items - but if I’m honest I’m glad I did this. The benefits far outweigh the positive in the end because playing online is far faaar more fun and just further adds value to this budget title.

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Stopped at the minute mark. You basically emphasised my point tenfold. XD

I’m not excusing anything. I just think that there are responsibilities that lie beyond the game developer or publisher. 

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So you didn’t get to the point that this shit SHOULDN’T BE THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE? Do you understand how goddamn insane it sounds to say “Well tricking children into stealing their parents credit cards is a standard of the industry now”? Let alone that “parental” responsibility excuse does nothing for preying on adults with real mental health problems? 

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8 minutes ago, Son-icka said:

Stopped at the minute mark. You basically emphasised my point tenfold. XD

I’m not excusing anything. I just think that there are responsibilities that lie beyond the game developer or publisher. 

Get used pal, they play this game a lot. Even if you try to explain your view on the matter, or God forbid, say you don't consider that big of a deal, they'll say you're white knighting the game :U If you have a positive view, you're wrong apparently.

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26 minutes ago, Son-icka said:

Because it’s optional. If kids are being taken advantage of then parents should lock purchases on their cards or consoles. If there are vulnerable purchasers then they should have legal guardians to watch out for them.

All of those laws don't keep getting brought up in various national governments because of children stealing their parents credit cards.

 

5 minutes ago, Jango said:

they'll say you're white knighting the game :U If you have a positive view, you're wrong apparently.

Because you fucking are, just like you have been since you started this thread. This is now the 4th time (twice in a day) moderators have been dragged into this dumpster fire because you can't understand that not everyone is so far up Crash Bandicoot's ass that they can't even see "game with wide complaints about unlocking content has microtransactions coming to allow you to do so" is what normal people would call a bad thing and decide to instead just shout everyone down about it.

 

 

There won't be a 5th time. Understand?

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Perhaps at this juncture we should just agree to disagree. I’m not really interested in going over this particular point.

I have said already I don’t fully agree with Micro-transactions and I completely get that companies take advantage of pay to win customers.

I don’t think they should exist... but as it is they do. Saying that it also is the responsibility of the parent of guardian to protect the person making the purchase. It’s just what I believe. Sorry, don’t really know what more I can say on that.

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6 minutes ago, Son-icka said:

I don’t think they should exist but as it is they do - however it also is the responsibility of the parent of guardian to protect the person making the purchase. It’s just what I believe. 

And you're wrong. "Agree to disagree" does not make it so you are not wrong. "It's what I believe" does not make it so you are not wrong. Microtransactions are not targeted at kids racking up charges on mommy and daddy's account without permission. It is not news that they are instead targeted specifically at "whales" with disposable income themselves who cannot help themselves but dump hundreds of dollars into these sorts of things, the kind of people who would be banned from casinos for their problems with addiction; which is why the concept is beginning to face significant legal pushback from actual world governments and reclassify many forms of them as straight gambling.

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20 minutes ago, Son-icka said:

I don’t think they should exist... but as it is they do. Saying that it also is the responsibility of the parent of guardian to protect the person making the purchase. It’s just what I believe. Sorry, don’t really know what more I can say on that.

A parent shouldn't be forced to look at a 3+/E game and decide "I'd best make sure that there's no ridiculous microtransactions that can scam my children into wasting tons of cash. 

A parent who wasn't doing their job regulating their children's game library would be if the child was on the likes of GTA, Call of Duty, and so on so forth, not FIFA, or hell, a goddamn Crash Bandicoot title. These are games that are rated suitable for people of a specific age, and to a parent, who might not be aware of microtransactions, or the idea of having to pay for additional things on top of the game they already paid a hefty price for, they wouldn't consider that to even be a problem. That's why so many of these stories of overspending happen, because it's done via ways the parent isn't aware of.

Case in point, several situations cropped up last month where a parent was regulating their children, only for them to still spend a ton of money because the parent wasn't aware Microtransactions were a thing. 

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1 hour ago, Tornado said:

And you're wrong.

I think I’ve been pretty reasonable with my opinions on subjects in this topic, if anything probably a little excitable (much like Jango) because happen to quite enjoy this game when I get the time to play it (which is casually btw).

But I definitely am not wrong, Tornado. That’s not decent to call me out on when I only voiced my opinion on something that I have now several times stated that I’m not really keen to pursue discussing any further (especially because it seems to be a pretty volatile subject).

Agreeing to disagree does not make me “right” or “wrong”. It just means I don’t see any point going over it anymore because viewpoints are tipped too far on either scale that it’s just not worth it.  

 

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2 hours ago, Jango said:

For totally different reasons. Don't mix up the things.

I didn't even say your alleged reasons. Don't try to move the goal posts here again.

I just stated that even Team Sonic Racing has better morals than this game. It's a game that you like to compare this game with anyway.

Don't get mad just because a game you personally despise has the higher ground than Crash on the current topic.

2 hours ago, Jango said:

If your "unfair advantage" is "helping players to stay within the top 5%" which unlocks a single kart (that does not give any real in-game advantage), you are completely right. If it's that so, yeah, the core of this complaint indeed lies within the desire for completionism. Which is fine if you enjoy this kind of thing. It ain't mine, I can live without unlocking every character or skin right way.

Again, don't try and move the goal posts. You originally tried to defend this game, claiming it doesn't favor paying players, and it turns out just to do that. 

If you're fine with companies taking advantage of players fine, but at least be honest about it.

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21 minutes ago, Son-icka said:

But I defiantly am not wrong, Tornado.

Yes you are. Learn about the topic before commenting on it, because "it's my opinion" is not a defense of being wrong. There's plenty of information freely available to do so, to the extent that publishers themselves have held seminars showing how to better design microtransactions and games and even user interfaces to prey on people who are not protected from such practices like they are in the gaming industry. Some are even on YouTube.

 

 

 

Video game companies are not designing their entire business models (as mobile gaming has been almost exclusively for nearly a decade now) around parents who don't pay enough attention to what their kids are doing with their credit cards. It is wrong to claim that that is where the money comes from that keeps the practice afloat.

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It really just another bad side effect of the microtransaction market. Targeting mentally vulnerable adults is bad enough, the suckering kids thing is just a lovely bonus for AAA publishers. As an aside and for the record, Nintendo apparently refunded that Dad, not EA.

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4 hours ago, Son-icka said:

Perhaps at this juncture we should just agree to disagree. I’m not really interested in going over this particular point.

I have said already I don’t fully agree with Micro-transactions and I completely get that companies take advantage of pay to win customers.

I don’t think they should exist... but as it is they do. Saying that it also is the responsibility of the parent of guardian to protect the person making the purchase. It’s just what I believe. Sorry, don’t really know what more I can say on that.

The problem is that mentality is the exact kind of thing companies like Activision want. Indifference  because it supposedly doesn't affect nonpaying players.

That is, until it's too late and it does. Then that leads to them nerfing the wumpa coins offline or altogether.  Then they double the price for prizes and so on so forth.

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Huh. Very interesting. I just rewatched this 20 minute video on the psychology behind MTX in F2P mobile games and how to rope "whales" into companies' ecosystem.

Not a single fucking thing about children taking advantage of their irresponsible parents' credit cards. It's almost as if that's not the main source of income for the mobile industry and is at best a very nice yet ultimately trivial bonus for companies.

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1 hour ago, Tornado said:

Yes you are. Learn about the topic before commenting on it, because "it's my opinion" is not a defense of being wrong. There's plenty of information freely available to do so, to the extent that publishers themselves have held seminars showing how to better design microtransactions and games and even user interfaces to prey on people who are not protected from such practices like they are in the gaming industry. Some are even on YouTube.

 

 

 

Video game companies are not designing their entire business models (as mobile gaming has been almost exclusively for nearly a decade now) around parents who don't pay enough attention to what their kids are doing with their credit cards. It is wrong to claim that that is where the money comes from that keeps the practice afloat.

If you think I don’t know enough to comment then why berate me like I’m ignorant (also, not a cool thing to do buddy).

But honestly, I’m actually wondering if we are crossing wires or something here? Because I do actually agree with basically everything you wrote.

My only addendum is that I voiced an additional point which most don’t agree with. That’s fine. But you can’t just say “you’re wrong” when I’m not stating facts or claiming truth. That is all I was getting across.

An opinion is not an entitlement to a defence if you are wrong, but it is an entitlement to voice how you feel on a subject. You can’t take that away and claim it’s incorrect.

If I am genuinely ignorant to something, then my apologies - I didn’t mean to cause any furore. But I am not for a moment claiming that I am “right”. If you catch what I mean. 

Honestly, that the thread seemed to be going down this toxic route is why I clearly (and several times) said I don’t want to discuss my views anymore because they clearly were not in line with... pretty much anyone else. Please don’t misunderstand, it’s not because I think I am right or because I am avoiding a difficult topic... but because I generally felt discussing this further has no additional merit since others viewpoints were pretty astute. 

I think perhaps my only real misinformer was trying to throw a positive spanner amongst the negatives by saying “Hey! At least Beenox might make some more money via this method to make even MORE content”. Clearly a error on my part. So I take that back. 

Additionally I would also say that yes, I probably am one of those “indifferent” players. That’s probably why I come across more callous with regards to Micro-Transactions than most. I will never pay any real money for this game regardless of the methods they utilise. But yeah, the world would be better if the bloody things never existed. 

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*See Nitro Tour Pack 5 in the Pit Stop for 1,575 Wumpa Coins

*Play some online races to get enough coins

*Try to buy Nitro Tour Pack 5

*Select "Yes"

*Nothing happens. My Wumpa Coins are still there and the Paint Job & Brazil Flag are still sitting there in the Shop

Thomas-The-Tank-Engine.jpg

Can you imagine someone buying one of their Wumpa Coin deals and this happens?

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9 hours ago, CC14 of Doom said:

Bottom of the blog post that dropped the microtransaction bomb:

A peek at what’s next

Now that you know all that’s coming with CTR’s mad dash into the past with the Back N. Time Grand Prix, we also want to give a little glimpse into what the future holds. It’s no secret that Spyro is crashing the Crash Bandicoot party in Grand Prix Season 3 (and we can’t wait to give you the full details on his season as we get closer to it).

But we’re also excited to let fans know that they can expect more of their favorite characters from the Crash Bandicoot universe to join in on the Nitro-Fueled fun in the seasons after. Get ready for characters like N. Brio, Nina Cortex, and Komodo Moe to start shredding up the racetrack soon!

 

I'll admit. Nice find there.

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