🚀 go-pugleaf

On Mon, 2 Aug 2010 13:50:47 -0500, Lance Corporal Hammer Schultz
<starfist@gmail.invalid> wrote:

>On Mon, 2 Aug 2010 10:24:37 -0400, Jim wrote:
>
>> I guess everyone got their video card fried by the main menu.
>> http://www.dailytech.com/Hot+Starcraft+II+is+Frying+Graphics+Cards+Blizzard+Issues+Temporary+Fix/article19224.htm
>
>Okay, so the menu graphics had no cap on the framerate, and some
>people's cards overheated and were destroyed.
>
>This is most definitely *not* the fault of Blizzard.  If a card can
>run so hot as to destroy itself, that is either due to bad card
>design/poor cooling, or overclocking.
>
>The people demanding that Blizzard replace their hardware are just
>whiners.

Agreed that it is not the software makers fault.  However, since
hardware makers cannot test on every game (particularly FUTURE games
that aren't out yet when the software is released), I do believe that
software vendors have an obligation to stress test (push it far beyond
what it was designed to do) on a wide variety of hardware, including
older POS machines that have been sitting in the corner, are packed
with dusts / spiderwebs / a rodent or two, etc.

This is especially true for this game, which has absolutely no excuse
for any sort of QA issue, because it would have sold just as many
copies no longer how long it sat in testing... same is true of any WoW
sequel, Diablo sequel, etc.  These games have such a following that
people do not even care if the graphics are cutting edge or not, they
are GOING to buy them even if its a decade later.

This is not to say I think Blizzard has any obligation to make
software changes to address the issue (unless perhaps it occurs on
properly installed, non-neglected hardware).  But they do have an
obligation to notify vendors of said POS cards (or drivers which is
more likely) that their faulty shit needs fixing, and /or notify the
consumer of what they found during testing, so the average joe doesn't
fry his card.

Anyway this game is not on Steam so I'm not buying it until (or *IF*)
it shows up there.  I had the first one and found it entertaining but
not enough for me to get back in the habit of cardboard boxes,
manually applied patches, having a DVD in the drive and all that other
sort of inconvenience, and I prefer to have all my games in one
location (Steam for now).  Although I might bend my rule for Diablo 3,
I'll be getting that one regardless.