"Dual" is a man. A man with a vision for the future. A future in which Capcom is made to pay for its evil corporate shenanigans. A future in which pointing out that a Capcom representative is Hispanic will aid one's fight for justice. A future where $2 DLC is made freely available so that men might feed their families and children no longer have to become prostitutes just for one night indoors from the cold.
Yup, it's time for our first corporate sh*tstorm of the week, as a kid gets into a flame war on Capcom's forums over the DLC set to appear in Mega Man 9. He was so outraged by what a Capcom representative said in defense of the content that he decided to personally attack him and then get the word spread via emails to various sites, including Destructoid. The message we got was was prefaced with the threat: "Don't you dare let something as offensive as this go uncovered."
Who are we to deny such requests? So, "Dual" decided to be a jerk online and thinks that he will be an Internet hero for insulting a man who's doing his job. Not really much on its own, but things get even more fun when Dual presents an alleged private message from the rep to himself, which could be taken a veiled threat. We wouldn't normally cover something like this, but it's a damn funny one ... in that slightly depressing way.
You better set your faces to palm, because it only gets more ridiculous when this story continues after the jump.
Because everybody likes to rubberneck a good bit of absurdly inflammatory trolling, here is the Internet heroism that was sent to us, recorded for posterity before Capcom wiped the thread. As you can see, he presents his points in a clear and dignified manner, a way that presents his reasoned debate with logic and common sense presented at the forefront of the argument.
The italics come from the villainous Capcom spokesman. The rest of it is our hero's inspiring response. It is all his formatting:
Quote:
"DLC takes a lot of resources, and is not cheap. We could've easily priced the game at $20 dollars with all the DLC and it still would sell really well."
You're completely full of crap and you know it, this is one of the most disgustingly corporate responses I have ever seen to a fan complaint. Compared to the dozens and dozens of other games that clearly have higher production values and are available on digital distribution services, you expect this game to have sold well at twice the average price?
"The DLC is soooo hard core and fan service that casual fans wouldn't really understand. I mean, who's Proto Man right? "
Gee, I don't know, who's Proto Man? Certainly not one of the most recognizable characters in the entire series. So hardcore? That's insane. You're absolutely full of it. How long have you been playing Mega Man, you corporate tool? Not only is "hardcore" just some asinine industry term you people use for anyone who isn't "casual," but even casual Mega Man fans know who Proto Man is, he's been in practically every classic series installment since MM3, including spin-offs.
"Bottom line is that it doesn't make financial sense to offer all that content for $9.99."
Yes, because your other games on your digital distribution services with multiple difficulty levels and things like online co-op were certainly cheaper to produce. This is ridiculous, these things were obviously planned in development and then cut off from the full game to be turned around and sold in chunks, exploiting the masses of dedicated fans who have been waiting for this for years. The only reason you didn't pull DLC with the other games is because you knew the fanbases for those weren't as strong or as dedicated as they are for Mega Man 9.
It makes perfect financial sense to give us the full game, you just know you can exploit fans so you are. If we wouldn't buy it, you wouldn't do it, but you know quite well there are enough of us out here who don't realize how utterly despicable and exploitative that this is who are just going to guzzle it down. This is why PC games rarely have downloadable content. PC gamers are smart enough to boycott being penny-pinched. Console owners are, for the most part, a hell of a lot more stupid and don't believe they can do anything by refusing to purchase.
"That's just it. You don''t have to purchase the content. It's a choice we're giving you and the base package is, by NO means, incomplete."
How is it NOT incomplete? These game modes were finished before the product was shipped. I bet anything Inti Creates was interested in giving fans a few fun, optional additions to mess around with once they beat the game and some laid-back, corporate big-wig suggested to omit them from the game and market them individually at 80% of the game's original price (for FAR less than getting 80% more content). Inti Creates has a history of adding things like extra difficulty modes and minigames to their games, don't you blatantly lie to me and tell me you guys at Capcom thought you'd do some fanservice and please the "hard core" (it's one word, learn better English, please) fans by adding these extra modes as DLC when plenty of their games have shipped with them before.
"People who don't think this is good value for $10 come across as spoiled and whiny."
This is the most disgusting thing I have ever heard. Calling your fans spoiled and whiny? Screw off. You know what you come across as? A corporate worm who's never bothered even playing Mega Man telling the fans what to do. Fans that likely bought Mega Man Powered Up, which shipped with tons of regularly updated free DLC, ridiculous amounts of extra content, graphics that actually had a budget, multiple difficulty modes, and a level creator? It's so terribly spoiled of me to expect a tradition of quality rather than to expect you guys to penny pinch the loyal fans. Forgive me if I get upset when you betray your previous standards.
"No one should've expected the game to have additional difficulty modes or extra playable characters."
Why the hell not? Mega Man Powered Up had them. Mega Man ZX had them. Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X had them. Mega Man ZX Advent had them. Mega Man X7 had them. Mega Man X8 had them. Mega Man X: Command Mission had them. Do I need to list more recent titles?
"We could have easily held off the content for 2 months but we felt that the fan base would want to play them as soon as possible."
Translation: "We could have held the content off longer, but the hype would have died down and we had to push it as quickly as possible to exploit the nostalgia-high fans while they were still inebriated with their childhood being relived."
"We figure the real fans would finish the game in 2 weeks, max, and would look to play the DLC right away. "
Translation: "The game is completed in well under 3 hours the first time, even by novices, and in well under 1 hour, by more skilled players. We knew anyone buying it would quickly forget about the DLC if we didn't get it out quickly, and we knew we could pretend this was for the "real fans" when it's really for lining our pockets."
"I think fans are starting to have unreasonably high expectations. I should have expected this."
Hahahaha, are you KIDDING ME? Many of us expected the same quality you've given us in past, recent Mega Man games. Oh wait, those didn't sell well. So our "unreasonably high expectations" are that you meet somewhere in the same universe of equal quality to a game like Mega Man: Maverick Hunter X or Mega Man Powered Up? Both games you won't give a sequel to, because they didn't do well enough? Games that were met with high critical reception and lots of fan praise? It's funny you say you're trying to please the "hard core" fans, and that you always put your fans first, then you completely ignore making sequels to two of the most positively received Mega Man sequels in years because they didn't meet your sales expectations and instead push out Mega Man 9, which didn't even start as Mega Man 9 and was just a side project by Inti Creates.
"I think it's all how you look at it. Inafune-san and Takeshita-san created some pieces of content that has never been done before in the history of their beloved series that was totally for the hardcore."
An extra level and a level that doesn't end? Wow, that sure is amazing, innovative, and fresh content. Extra difficulties have been in dozens of Mega Man games and so have additional playable characters. This is proof you don't even play the games.
"That's why we're here today, because of the loyalty we have with our fan base."
Nice job alienating it with exploitation. You have given one of the most by-the-book (and poorly worded, seriously, what's with your grammar? Is English even your first language? I'm completely serious here) and disgusting corporate responses I have ever seen and actually made me sick to my stomach to be such a dedicated fan of this company who has bought dozens of their games over their life. I hope you have some shame in what you've done, some remorse that you've actually tried to guilt-trip lifelong fans into feeling like they're just "whiny" or "spoiled" and pretending you always put fans first, but you probably don't. Funny you didn't tell us we were spoiled when you were suffering from poor sales from things like Product Number 03, Mega Man X7, and Auto Modellista, but now that you've found a way to be financially successful without spending as big a budget you act high and mighty that we're complaining about having been dedicated for years yet having our wallets pumped.
I'm going to be spreading your BS responses around and letting other people know that this is apparently what Capcom really thinks. I've already spread some of the sentiments around to multiple people I know on messenger, and I"m really going to be getting the word out on this by posting it on multiple forums. I'm sick of the corporate responses on this board with condescending attitudes for those who don't support, I'm sick of people who complain in sections like Ask Capcom being CENSORED or even having their posts deleted/locked, and I'm sick of staying quiet about. If this gets deleted or locked, you've succeeded in alienating another fan. You can shut us up on your private site but this is only going to make us furious everywhere else.
So, how many of you are FURIOUS after hearing the words of this man? I bet you all are. With so much of the fury. Well, you're about get even more ENRAGED when you find out that the Capcom rep definitely threatened to kill our intrepid freedom fighter. Probably. In an alleged PM from the Evil Capcom Corporate Whore, Dual was called out for being tough on the keyboard, and was offered a private meeting to discuss their views in a more "civilized" manner.
He totally just threatened to cut him up, which I assume is what Dual believes all Hispanic people do.
I dislike excessive DLC as much as the next guy, and think that paying for a difficulty level is somewhat asinine. You know what that means? I'm not going to pay for a difficulty level. A lot of the downloadable content that comes out these days is stupid and I'm definitely not backing Capcom up on that portion of the argument. That said, trying to organize some mass protest over something so small, especially having turned it into a personal war on one Capcom employee, is pretty stupid. Posting pictures of the employee in question, poking fun at his race and generally acting like a fuckwit is pretty pathetic behavior as well.
If this is how publishers see the hardcore gaming community, maybe it's not surprising they're after a fresh audience.
Contest:
6:42 PM on 09.29.2008
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I lol'd all the way to Pizza Hut in back. Some of his points make sense(Why the hell would you charge for a difficulty level? Wouldn't that be like paying for a patch?), but overall, it sounds like someone got denied Megaman 9 in the first place.
I have a problem with the Mega Man DLC the same reasons I hate XBL other DLC content you have to purchase. Not because of the price, but because people have to pay for it.
This guy's behavior? Way out of line.
Also is that a yellowcard reference LOL
Does it warrant this response? Hell no.
Kids these days...
Mega Man doesn't want you to play his game, sir.
Another thing that really angers me is when he uses "us", like he's a spokesman for all of us or some martyr for the gaming community, throwing himself at the mercy of the "evil corporate machine".
And yeah, like the above poster, I remember spending all of my birthday money ($50) to buy Megaman 3 for my eighth birthday, and I still had to borrow a few bucks from my mom for tax. I feel that MM9 is actually a better game than MM3, and it has effectively reminded me of everything I love about video games in general. MM9 pushes every mechanic of the game to its limits-- determining the exact lengths of jumps, mid-jump control, multiple uses for boss weapons. The level design in MM9 is actually, in my opinion, more clever than any other NES Megaman I've played. It seems as if it were the ideal NES megaman game, created by megaman fans for megaman fans. So yeah, I think MM9 is worth ten dollars, or twenty, or thirty. Raising such a shitstorm over the internet for $2 of DLC... man, it must be nice to have so much free time to care so much.
On topic, that kid's response was actually very spoiled and whiny, so by trying to argue the point he instead proved it? DLC in my opinion should be like halo's pay for it if you want it right now, but we will give it to you free eventually. It gives small companies a chance to make money off of rich/impatient people, but still gives everyone the content eventually.
Wow, you really missed the point didn't you? I'm not going to pay for the difficulty level either, but you know what, I shouldn't have to pay to have it. This guy might have acted like kind of a douche, but most of his points were what people have been saying all along. So we are now saying that he is a whiny baby for calling bullshit on this? What the fuck? You think the solution is to say nothing and just not purchase the content? Well, that would work if everybody else thought like you. In reality, most people who buy the game will buy the harder difficulty modes. Capcom will make tons of money off this, and they will do it again. Then, inevitably, they will get the idea to make the DLC limited to a certain time frame. The people who are on the fence will snatch it up, and the people who don't buy it don't matter because they wouldn't have bought it down the line anyway. I'm telling you, silent protest never works in matters like this because not enough people do it. You have to stir up the shit, and this guy did just that, even if he could have been a little nicer about it.
I think it is you who is missing MY point. My point being that there are ways of dealing with this that don't entail acting like a thorough cockfarmer. I am a proponent of the "vote with your wallet" system. If you don't like a product, don't buy it. It's simple.
That doesn't mean merely standing by quietly, either. If you believe that more people should vote with their wallets, suggest it. I have done myself in the past. Certainly disagree with Capcom's decision if you feel that way, angrily if you must. But don't do what this guy did. That does nothing but invalidate your entire protest.
He may have had some valid points but they were buried under racism, way over-the-line personal attacks and general childish behavior.
I agree with the majority here. His points are valid but the way he's said them isn't. If you don't like the DLC, don't buy it. That simple.
No, some of them are corporate drones.
I would say that threats of physical violence from a Capcom employee would be both news and unacceptable but that's just me. Dual posted a reply to a comment by John about the pricing. Agree with what he said or not, physical threats are really uncalled for, don't you believe?
Unless you think that the "You sound pretty tough" and "Hope to meet you to discuss things in a more "civilized" manner" and the "Looking forward to meeting you in person sometime" are but an invitation to meet for Tea and crumpets. In which case I have a 700 billion Wall Street bailout to sell you.
Also, Dual said his name is not Dana Da Silva, so you aren't even directing your very biased piece at the right person.
Fair enough. The person who emailed this to us gave us the impression that he was the guy posting under the handle of Dual. But I can call him Dual, since that obviously will help to make him more credible.
Like most sensible players out there, I think that paying money for a difficulty level (for example) is just ridiculous, but what difference should it make to us? The least effective thing one could do is go online and raise hell. Does this kid honestly think he's even getting to the ones in charge of the whole ordeal? No, he's just harassing a lower level employee with no say in the matter anyways.
Assuming he did speak with the higher ups though, does he think they'll take him seriously after he regurgitates their responses, sentence by sentence, continually stating that they're "corporate worms/whores/pigs/etc."? How can you negotiate, or even converse for that matter, with someone that simply insults you every other sentence? This kid fails at logic entirely. How is this a protest? All he's doing is publicly bullying the guy across the internet.
For some reason I have the feeling this douche is going to read all throughout these comments. He just seems like the type of guy that would scour the internet just to see what people have to say in reply to his post, only to scoff at the negative replies and come up with enticing ways to label them as consumer whores that are brainwashed by the Capcom corporation. If he's bitching about $2 DLC and raising a shitstorm about it, it's pretty apparent he has nothing productive to do with his time.
No matter how many of his virtual friends give him a "thumbs up," he will accomplish nothing. I hope he feels satisfied with himself at the end of the day, knowing that his time could've been better spent watching paint dry.
Don't fucking buy it!
I don't want Protoman. I don't want a harder difficulty. It has made my game cheaper. I want to see more games do this.
This is an NES game. If you don't know what that is, then you shouldn't have bought this game in the first place. This kid is way off base.
Buried under racism? Maybe garnished with, but buried is a little to strong a word. Also, you can suggest people vote with their wallets all you want, but it won't make much difference (actually, you have a website with lots of readers, so for you it might). And even if he is a little prick, can we at least try not to make him out to be the villain here? In any case, here's my point. I want the DLC. I'm not buying it. It doesn't help my when a small minority on the internet decide to do the same thing. It does help, however, when a small minority throws a shit fit over this kind of thing. It may not be pretty, but it works. Remember the Bad Company situation. EA revised it's pricing strategy before even releasing the game due to the overwhelming number of complaints and bad press from a relatively small amount of people.
Dammit, it hasn't made your game cheaper! It's decreased the amount of content in the main game, but it hasn't made anything cheaper.
Things that have helped gaming consumers:
The well-organized protests over Battlefield.
The clever use of Amazon to dent review scores.
Things that never help gaming consumers:
Shitty online petitions.
Acting like a twat on a publisher's message board.
Unpro, politicians take donations from corporations during campaigns in order to help obtain victory. Once the politician gets into office, they return the favor by voting based on what their corporate coffers want. This is not a conspiracy theory. This is a proven fact that anyone with half a brain knows.
Atlas, you don't need any of that to join Arlus. What are you talking about?