Oh dear I wish I DIDNT HAVE TO SAY THIS

[Lusche]

Yep, I feel the same way.

HTC updates the game frequently and gets on bugs extremely promptly compared to what I'm used to elsewhere.  Take, for example, Battlefield 1942.  I loved that game (not its airplanes, which suck, but the FPS soldier part).  EA did all of a few patches back when it was within its first year or so of release, then nothing ever after.

To be fair, you can't compare both games in any way. AH, as an online game, depends on a steady monthly income, users decide every month to pay again...or not to.
 BF42 was a classic box game, it's basically sold one time and that's it. After some time development not only shifted to other titles... it's also a questuion if further support is worth it when most players do have the game already and sales are rapidly going down. Most of the games ARE sold during the first year, that's when allmost all of the revenue from this title is being produced.

[Brooke]

Both games are used the same way by me:  play online only.  One has a completely different sales model, as you say, and a completely different update model (i.e., none).  That's my point, though.  Most of the games I buy are solely to play online yet are in the category of "We sell it once, then we pretty much ignore it after that".

[batch]

True but how much did you pay 1 time for that game vs $15 every month is the point........ the revenue stream is significantly different...... therefore support is significantly different...... as many people have mentioned the name in the last few days I will as well........ theres not alot of updates for PONG either

[truss51]

 This game is and always has been a work in progress. After a Beta version,an Alpha version soon follows. Even Alpha is not the goal. Have you ever bought a game that you didn't go home and DL the lastest patch first thing? LOL Things take time to work themselves out.Report your bugs but be patient. It's all good. Patches are good. 

[Brooke]

True but how much did you pay 1 time for that game vs $15 every month is the point........ the revenue stream is significantly different...... therefore support is significantly different...... as many people have mentioned the name in the last few days I will as well........ theres not alot of updates for PONG either

You seem to be arguing (1) that HTC gets more revenue per game than EA because $15 x 12 x (number of years a player plays) is greater than $40 (or whatver BF1942 sold for as its one-time fee) and (2) that therefore everyone should expect less updating and support per game title from EA.

This is actually not how it is, though, because EA sells many, many more copies per title and gets a lot more revenue per title even though it is a one-time fee.  EA is a $7 billion market-cap company with $4 billion/year in sales.  It says it has 31 titles that each sell over 1 million copies per year.  Let's assume an average selling price of $20 (to be conservative).  $20 million/year for a title is the equivalent of 110,000 AH players.

[Lusche]

You seem to be arguing (1) that HTC gets more revenue per game than EA because $15 x 12 x (number of years a player plays) is greater than $40 (or whatver BF1942 sold for as its one-time fee) and (2) that therefore everyone should expect less updating and support per game title from EA.

This is actually not how it is, though, because EA sells many, many more copies per title and gets a lot more revenue per title even though it is a one-time fee.  EA is a $7 billion market-cap company with $4 billion/year in sales.  It says it has 31 titles that each sell over 1 million copies per year.  Let's assume an average selling price of $20 (to be conservative).  $20 million/year for a title is the equivalent of 110,000 AH players.

Nobody was talking about absolute revenue numbers...

The difference is time
Basically both titles are supported as long they produce the revenue to justify so.
A game like BF 1942 is mostly being sold during a relatively short timeframe.
One like Ah is being "sold" on a steady base.

[gyrene81]

One like Ah is being "sold" on a steady base.

And it's supported a hell of a lot better than any other game out there...including most current MMO's.

[batch]

The point is simple....

EA releases a game..... sells however many copies....... then decides to say no more updates.....

they move on to their next title and already have all the money theyre going to make from that game
they have no vested interest in continuing to update that stale title... newer ones are coming out to make more money

HTC releases a version (like they did 3 days ago) ..... has a certain number of subscribers (who pay monthly).... if they said today no more updates we are moving on to a new project.......

what exactly do you think would happen to the $$$ the company makes in each of these cases??

I would say EA would continue to be a multi billion $ company while HTC would be wondering where all the jobs have gone

theres your difference........ HTC has to update and stay on top of it or they will lose their revenue..... EA doesnt care they already have all the money theyre gonna make off that title they move on to the next one

[Lazerr]

haha.. .squelch yarbles, teshaw....  A phrase comes to mind....   "Dee da deee"

[Boxboy]

I just don't get what all the problem is?? I have been "in" this computer thing as a user since the commodore 64 and one thing has always been clear, at some point you HAVE to upgrade, for me it came this go around I was able to up grade my old (and the term old is used as in computer old) xps 700 from a duel core to a quad core and put in a GTX 260 graphics card, and added some memory.

The new patch seems to run for me on this "new" setup,  I have had some arguements with Dale over the years but this rant by the original poster is both unfair and untrue of the HTC crew.  If you think he has done something awful take your "old" machine and try to run Rise of Flight WWI game (which is actually why I updated).  BTW Dale if you would do a DoA like areana I see some potential there 

[Ratpack1]

This is all very amusing. Cut the team some freakin slack. They released two patches in as many days and never mind the fact they probably worked out oodles of kinks you'll never know about in the beta time and well before. If you didn't play the beta and notice some of this stuff and were an active participant than go watch TV or something. Don't act all surprised that your system can't cut it. It's kind of like if you're old enough to vote and don't, you have no right to complain about what goes on.

Obviously the community knows their dedication to the members. I'm sure they expected all of this uproar and quite frankly who cares. I don't need to speak with any of them to assure you they will do all they can to please as many people as possible and fix what they can. Everyone just chill out!

Nobody ever likes change, ask Shuffler. Unfortunately we all need evolve and so does AH. Look at how far games have come in just the last few years. Keep in mind video games are really an infant when you look at the course of technology in our lifetimes. If you want to be part of the solution instead of the problem, keep posting your issues (assuming they are relevant and not related to your Tandy computer) in the bugs and tech support sections. They will do what they can for who they can.

It's your money and if you don't want to spend it here anymore than don't. I'm sure they are prepared to lose a few over it and I'm also sure those they lose will file right back in line once they update their computers. Here's mine.

Vista (Love Vista, never an issue)
AMD Phenom Quad 9600
ATI 4870 Card
4G Ram
Saitek setup (pedals and flight system)
24" Widescreen
Not a fancy computer, nor did it cost me gaggles of moolah to produce. Half of what I have at a quarter of the cost would suffice. Ebay is your friend.

I run the game maxed to hilt with the exception of the shadows and my FR is capped at 60 and stays there.

Bottom line is FRANKIE SAYS RELAX! If that reference is lost on you than you're too young to comment!

Let the team at HTC work out the kinks and you may be surprised, otherwise pipe down and go play Warbirds!

[BaldEagl]

This is actually not how it is, though, because EA sells many, many more copies per title and gets a lot more revenue per title even though it is a one-time fee.  EA is a $7 billion market-cap company with $4 billion/year in sales.  It says it has 31 titles that each sell over 1 million copies per year.  Let's assume an average selling price of $20 (to be conservative).  $20 million/year for a title is the equivalent of 110,000 AH players.

And they're doing all of that without releasing a lot of updates so why would they?  To eat into profits and shareholder value?

[Brooke]

The point is simple....

My point is only as I have said:  in my opinion, HTC does a great job at updates and fixes compared to just about any other place I'm familiar with.

[Yarbles]

This is only in your mind, the real deal is what you ask would only do one thing, cause people more anxiety before a release, and no less during the process.

Simply take your self as an example, people have told you the way it works, but now you do your best to search for something else to complain about, namely the quote above.

To put it simply ,not much can be done to minimize customer complaints or anxiety, it is in the persons make up if he will or will not act as you do.

HiTech

I appreciate youve taken the trouble to speak to me .

Now honestly I do not feel this process has explicitly been explained at any time to me anyway.

If it had and it stays reasonably on course then it would I am sure reduce anxiety, concerns knee jerk reactions etc The point is tell people what is going to happen before it happens.

I have recieved a vast amount of information in here in support of what you do and how well you do it which is greatly to your credit but its drawn from experience.

In my business which revolves around selling and then customer service as an investment broker I can put myself into the personality type you refer to but that is a staggering one third of the population. I still believe they are best served by "This is what we are going to do, it make take some time, we would appreciate your feedback and thanks for your patience and continued support". I hear that all the time from multi national companies who have to up grade or develp existing IT systems I use. I am a Broker I deal with lots of different ones.

One of the great challenges in business is to reach greater markets and then often means having to understand the needs of others who arn't like you otherwise you limit yourself from the outset.

You say I had one problem solved so I found another but their is in my opinion only one problem here and that is not enough communication. Obviously there are allot of people who are very comfortable with the patch and that there will be further patches and bugs ironed out. There will also be people new to this and others with low end machines who will feel frustrated and and anxious especially if they think they are going to need to spend money at a difficult time economically on up grades. I would issue daily bulletins and with each patch.  Thats only in pursuit of perfection though its obvious allot of people are very impressed with what you are doing in general.

Its in all our interests (in my opinion anyway) that the company not only succeeds but also grows which will lead to more resourses and choices. Its common sense to mimic the practices of the large corporations that spend fortunes on perfecting their customer relations.

I would write more but I am seriously starting to bore myself anyway 

[BaldEagl]

These were all copied and pasted from the AHII home page.  I have to ask seriously, how much more notification/communication did you need?

[EDIT]  As each of these announcements were made numerous threads about each were posted here on the BBs.  I see you here often so to say you knew nothing of the beta has to be a flat out lie.

February 4, 2009
Aces High II Developer News

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Here’s a sneak peak of more things in the works. This shows a snapshot teaser of water for the new terrain.


April 16, 2009
Aces High II Developer News

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Here’s a sneak peak of the NDisles terrain makeover.


May 27, 2009
Aces High II: Typhoon Development Screenshots
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Here are some sneak previews of the newly revised Typhoon under development as modeled by Waffle and textured by Greebo. As always, development screenshots are subject to change before release. Select an image to get a full size view.


June 2, 2009
Aces High II: Brewster Development Screenshots
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Here are some sneak previews of the new Brewster, under development, as modeled by Superfly and textured by Greebo. As always, development screenshots are subject to change before release. Select an image to get a full size view.


June 10, 2009
Aces High II: I-16 Development Screenshots
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Here are some sneak previews of the new I-16, under development, as modeled by Waffle and textured by Greebo. As always, development screenshots are subject to change before release. Select an image to get a full size view.


June 25, 2009
Aces High II: Development News
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The Beta test version of our next release of Aces High is now available for download. For details about this release, please visit the Beta Test forum on our bulletin board.


July 28, 2009
Aces High: Version 2.14 Released
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The 2.14 release of Aces High is ready.
Check the information page for more details concerning this release and, optionally, information needed to manually update the game.

As a reminder, if you are running a software firewall, and cannot connect after the patch is installed, you need to re-allow the game back through your firewall.

If you are running Windows Vista, you may need to run the game as an administrator for the game auto-updater to work properly.

The high resolution texture package has also been updated. If you are using it, then you must update your texture package as well.


July 30, 2009
Aces High: Version 2.14 Patch 2 Released
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The 2.14 Patch 2 release of Aces High is ready.
Check the information page for more details concerning this release and, optionally, information needed to manually update the game.

As a reminder, if you are running a software firewall, and cannot connect after the patch is installed, you need to re-allow the game back through your firewall.

If your computer is running Windows Vista or Windows 7, you may need to run the game as an administrator for the game auto-updater to work properly. Simply right-click on the Aces High startup ICON, then select "Run as administrator".

The high resolution texture package has also been updated. If you are using it, then you must update your texture package as well.