Tortolia posted:

Holy poo poo that's blatant

G0RF posted:

Fair point.

I tend to operate under the assumption -- perhaps overly generous -- that Erin is a pragmatist and voice of reason at CIG, and possibly the only one who has real power and juice with Chris. Chris has shown over the past couple of decades that he is willing to take longshot gambles that could destroy a company/game/film, even though he's proven less and less successful at pulling them off. (Strike commander, Freelancer, Ascendent, etc.)

G0RF posted:

I may be completely off base though-- dim as the lighting is into some of these realms. If I look back in two months and it seems in the optimist at the moment, I'll be the first to admit that which I'd find hard to believe, namely that it is even worse than I think.

ZenMaster posted:

It gets so much worse:




Posted by Sandi, makes it look original... what a scam.

Sushi in Yiddish posted:

ON THIS DAY IN STAR CITIZEN HISTORY

I poo poo you not, in ye olde Chris Roberts' Star Citizen: Made by Chris Roberts, Starring Chris Roberts thread there were 0 posts between March 19th and March 26th. Wild!



link

As a non cat having plebe, enjoy this instead

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Va6I5YagNDc

Xaerael posted:

Flip image, bingo. Wasn't hard to find.

e. had to put this on my imgur, I'm deleting it in a day or so because I don't want pictures of this gross harpy among my funny gifs and photoshops.

Samizdata posted:

I got your back, buddy. http://i.imgur.com/HyzM9W0.jpg

I basically use Imgur as my SA Forums image host, so it is a bloody mess.

eviljack posted:

Ben is just like all the other fat people who have no idea how to lose weight and rationalize that by drinking sugar-free Red Bull and skipping dinner is going to suddenly make them shed 100 lbs.

NEWS FLASH: EXERCISING, COUNTING CALORIES AND NOT STUFFING PROCESSED FOOD INTO YOUR FAT FACE IS THE ONLY WAY YOU WILL LOSE WEIGHT

ZenMaster posted:

It gets so much worse:




Posted by Sandi, makes it look original... what a scam.

Fargin Icehole posted:

Chris has got a DL-44 in his holster. Ah uhm, eh, and uhm, eh a DL-44

Samizdata posted:

Hell, I lost 46+ pounds just watching my food intake. My knees/other joint issues/crappy neighborhood/small apartment preclude a lot of exercise. Yeah, between that and my hearing sucking (as I previously mentioned) and some other issues, I am a REAL CATCH, LADIES! YES, HE'S SINGLE!

FrankieGoes posted:

a/s/l?

ideate posted:

wait someone posted this already and I missed it right

ZenMaster posted:

Mr Fronts posted:

ideate posted:

I don't mean to specifically pick on 'star traders'

unless they're ripping things off wholesale

this also looks really familiar, I just can't place it

ZenMaster posted:

corn in the bible posted:

since that's richard garriott, it's possible he just actually has armor like that. real photos are way easier than photoshop

Sushi in Yiddish posted:

The moment you realize the reason why the leg proportions are hosed up on Sandi's standee are because the artist literally ran out of source image to steal

moveable shape posted:

Gorf what's your take on CIG selling to outside investors? Seems the general vibe is their product and customer base is to vile to attract buyers.

quote:

The cynic in me thinks that there absolutely will be a buyout when cig is backed into a corner. Even if the brand is a toxic wasteland, it's known and I'm not sure about the legal case to be made for their liabilities to backers

That would probably be funnier than a flat out institutional collapse, so bring it on

corn in the bible posted:

yeah, yeah, i'm just saying there's no reason they couldn't just ask richard to put on one of his many fake suits of armor that he owns because he's a loving crazy person and save the trouble

G0RF posted:

Well, the chinwag around here was they passed on nine figure buyout offers from Microsoft and EA a ways back. It sounds unbelievable, yet Sandi herself said (right after the $2 billion buyout of Oculus by Facebook), she asked Chris if he'd sell Star Citizen for the same amount. He said "Nope". I believe her.

The question worth asking is "What does CIG have worth acquiring?"

So far as I can tell, they have:

1) The Frankencode Monster that is the PTU, which only occasionally produces compelling gameplay moments and represents 3% of the promised deliverable. (Note: delivering even 25% with a Frankenhacked CryEngine backend may be technically impossible.)

2) A heterodox backer base of several hundred thousand people -- which includes pockets of nightmare toxicity (real nazis and supremacists), hundreds of megawhales who've already been gutted and stand holding IOUs for entire armadas as yet unbuilt, at least one hundred thousand folks who've written off backing crowdfunding games as a result of this mess, and probably a decent population of folks who might just remain loyal if CIG hits some amazing deliverables soon (which they haven't ever done.)

3) A widely known gaming brand increasingly associated with humilating livestreams, perpetually missed deadlines, wince-inducing PR gaffes, difficulties staffing, and endless do-overs on previously finished assets due to a micromanaging "visionary" leader for whom the perfect is the enemy of the good.

4) The single biggest pile of Engineering Debts in the history of gaming (which the acquired will either have to deliver upon or write off. The former may be impossible; the latter might be suicidal.)

5) A wide variety of potential legal liabilities including potential class action lawsuits from heavily invested backers if CIG does not deliver upon the world's tallest pile of gaming promises...

6) The inevitable arrival over the next months and year of superior competitive Space Game experiences -- priced between $20 -$60 -- many of which will deliver true perception immersion through VR, an experience Chris Roberts has rendered practically impossible due to bad design choices in his own game.

7) The very real potential that the lesser known property in this buyout, the single player "Squadron 42", ends up eclipsing Tommy Wiseau's "The Room" and Travolta's "Battlefield Earth" as the most unintentionally awful cinematic experience ever subjected on a viewer. That it will be 10+ hours, fully interactive and feature an all-star cast and the director's wife doing their level damndest to redeem a script so derivative of other works (including the director's own derivative work) that critical acclaim is a virtual impossibility and commercial success one hell of a longshot.)

8) The very real potential that all of the above and more is exposed in exquisite detail by a Gaming Press that would seize on the buyout as their official excuse to get out their sabers and starting gutting this monster.

Okay, so I'm speculating with some of the above. I could be being too hard on their prospects. There might be a player out there that sees the opportunity -- sees this whole thing as the ultimate fixer-upper. But I do know that few if any with the resources to make something of this are in the charity business. For all of the reasons above and more, I think CIG would take one hell of a cramdown on the term sheet. Someone looking to get into the Space Sim business could acquire something like Angels Fall First or Infinity:Battlescape for a fraction and have a much easier time building into the dream Star Citizen already sold. They could scoop them up for a fraction-- throw millions at dev work and millions at marketing and offering special promotional deals for disheartened Star Citizen backers and it would probably be a death blow.

The sad thing about all of this -- a fact we all know too well -- is that it never had to be this way. But now, it's hard to imagine any other way it could be.

corn in the bible posted:

nobody is going to buy the star citizen property because at this point there's no way for it to make back the money. they can either hope for more idiots to buy in, which isn't going to cover whatever they paid for it, or they can finish the game and realize that everyone who wants it already is owed a bunch of poo poo and they can't make anything off of them