BrLvgThrChmstry said:
Yeah! isn't like spectator mode existed before MvC3 was conceived! GOSH! ...apologist.jpg
-- in all seriousness, while it is naive to think spectator mode could be implemented within 2 weeks of it's release. It is profoundly ...uh, honestly, ok. Why was shadow mode a priority over 'spectator mode'?
Other than the obvious answer (moola), I'd like to kn-... I guess that is the answer. I'm all for continued support, but this is a feature that should have shipped with the game. I don't care how and/or which way you want to put it. It's an essential feature -- yes, essential. But hey, fun game etc.
Because they're charging for Shadow Mode, those greedy basta-- oh wait, it's free.
This is not apologist anything, it's recognizing what you're dealing with, with Japanese developers. Which is frequently a form of stupidity by western standards.
It doesn't matter if spectator mode existed in Super SFIV; this game wasn't made by the Super SFIV team, so it's time to face palm and know what to expect from a Japanese dev. Which means that after the game is done (or shipped rather), then they will dutifully trotter around, peer at the alien technology from the other team, and begin tinkering slowly on incorporating it into their game. And that's if we're lucky. (Which, due to the sheer demand for the feature, I think odds are we'll get a break on this one, but even so.)
Shadow Mode is a fairly minor and simple feature, from all appearances. Everything we know about the situation suggests that MvC3 had several items cut when they had to go gold a couple months ago, in order to bend to Capcom's will to get the game out in this fiscal year. I suspect Shadow Mode was just one of a number of minor features and tweaks that were mostly done, and can be finished up with minimal effort now that the game is released. Actually coding proper spectator support, and if they go for, a replay system and interface, is a bigger investment of time and effort.
What I again find curious about the entire muddy affair, is that they were saying for months that the feature set of the game would be limited "at first". Apparently, someone had planned or suggested continuing to add features after the game shipped.