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Comic for: February 24th, 2006
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Gaming News: "Mutual Puppets"
Posted: Friday February 24th, 2006 by

In an article examining the changes being made to SWG, their causes, effects, etc., John Smedley, SOE president, voiced his disdain for comments to the effect that SOE had released unfinished software. He also asserted that both the Combat Upgrade and the NGE ("New Game Enhancement") had been mutually decided upon by SOE and LucasArts.
Source: CBS News [ more info ]

Now, I'm not going to say that LucasArts has Smed on strings. But, I would like to express my opinion that the changes are probably not as mutual as Smed would like everyone to believe.

The following is a mix of opinion and pure conjecture...
(meaning: there's no point in disagreeing with it because it's not based on fact and disagreeing with an opinion is pointless and stupid)
Despite Smed's proclamation that the changes to SWG have been mutual, I think it's infinitely more likely that the LucasArts folks saw the game slowly nosing into a "dive" position, and decided that the game needed to be changed. Then word probably came down from on high to make the MMOG license a bit more similar to console versions of the IP.

Now, this isn't in any way saying that the original game was better OR worse. I leave that to the individual to decide. What I am saying is that, when a decision is made by one company to change the came, even if the second company agrees to the changes, the decision isn't mutual. Why? Because when LucasArts decided the game needed to change, it probably wouldn't have mattered if SOE agreed or not.

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Now, as a side note:
In the article, the reporter said he'd "rarely- if ever -been able to speak so candidly with a major company's president as [he] did with Smedley". And, from my own experiences back with the OOW boycott, I completely agree. He's genuine and friendly even when the situation is decidedly confrontational.

And that's exactly why I feel I can poke at him. Because I know he'll take it in stride.

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Thread Rules:
This is NOT a "bash SOE" thread. And, if you HAVE to say something negative about SWG, back your statements up with fact, keep the criticism constructive, and offer methods by which you feel SOE could improve problems.

Also, like I said in the writeup, disagreeing with a person's opinion is pointless and stupid. Opinion, by definition, is an individual's perspective. It is impossible to tell them their perspective is wrong. What you CAN do is offer your OWN opinion and let it stand on its own merits.


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