I wrote a short blog not too long ago about how Microsoft plans to finally drop their INSANE fee for patching games on Xbox Live. This fee, said to be around $10,000, was understandably too much for Phil Fish to dish to patch a game breaking bug in Fez. Microsoft wouldn't budge on charging the phat rack of paper stacks they wanted for a few lines of code to fix a hit game on their console. Fish pulled the patch and apologized to the 1% of players this game breaking glitch effected.
I wondered if Fish was going to reconsider patching the game but I was concerned he might be so over Microsoft at this point. Thankfully, he decided to do his fans right. He said it might take a "few months" before the patch is released, though. So sit tight, kids.
Fish said Fez II wouldn't be coming to Xbox Live. Maybe he'll reconsider this now, too.
I gots to play this game!
GOG has it on sale right now, $4.99
So, I take it microsoft stopped charging Phish a ridiculous fee just so he could patch his own game. lol. Or is Phish still having to pay that fee? I hope he isn't because $10,000 is ridiculous! Indie developers should be able to update and patch their games for free.
Phish is playing the Saratoga Performing Arts Center on Saturday and I'll be there. Fish doesn't have to pay the fee anymore so he is patching the game. This goes for any developer now.
Fez was fun until you got to a part in the game where the only way to progress was to decipher weird codes. That's when I stopped playing and deleted the game from my HD.
Yeah, I think Microsoft has had a very odd strategy lately of "how much can we get away with? We can change it later," only the fact people see that you're trying to see what you can get away with in the first place can be a bit of a turn-off.
Had they started this patch fee at something much lower, I wonder if there'd be as much outcry. Sometimes, I honestly think there might be, but asking for $10,000 just makes you look like a jackass.
Once that becomes live I'll be sure to look into getting Fez. Was holding out till this might be done.