Por si no estáis al tanto, War Z pretende ser una especie de simulador de supervivencia del mismo estilo que el mod de ARMA 2 Day Z, hace un par de meses fue lanzada su versión alpha, la cual estaba muy verde y le faltaban muchas cosas para incluirse prometidas por la desarrolladora, y desde su lanzamiento hasta ahora ha ocurrido lo siguiente.
Copy paste de djp_paul de meristation, lo siento compi pero es que tu recopilación es brutal y vale la pena copypastearla:

RESUMEN RÁPIDO AL FINAL PARA LOS QUE NO QUIERAN LEER TANTO (aunque no lo pone todo, como lo del "robo" de código de otro juego)

Cita:WarZ es un juego con un parecido mas que evidente con DayZ, pero un tanto mas hardcore. Puedes comprar objetos con dinero real y si te matan, los pierdes. Ademas, el tiempo de respawn es alto, 1 hora (ahora 4) y como podreis imaginar, esta to petao de camperos. Eso de poder robar lo que llevas parece que le pone, mas que nada, pq luego puedes poner tiendas en "zonas segura" y vender tu stuff. Es decir, es la ley de ls selva.

Ahora al problema. Muchos usuarios (muchos) han reportado en los foros del juego que, las screenshot que acompañan en la pagina del juego en Steam son falsas Ademas, se han reportado miles de bugs y ciertas partes con una rotura total en el juego increibles. Los camperos matan en las inmediaciones de las zonas seguras. Todo esto reportado.

Ahora, seguimos para bingo.

Los usuarios de Steam se han puesto en contacto con Valve ya que, parece ser que esta, dejo como moderador de ese foro a uno de los desarrolladores del titulo y este, en un alarde de pluralidad y encaje, se ha dedicado a borrar post enteros en donde se criticaba duramente el juego. Ante esto, Valve ha comenzado una investigacion. Ademas, y aqui es donde la matan, ha recordado a los usuarios que, en caso de que crean que lo que se prometia es falso, se tiene derecho a una devolucion del dinero, cosa que ya ha hecho bastante gente. Visto esto, la compañia detras del juego, hizo un update del TOS esa misma noche, prohibiendo la devolucion del juego. Visto esto, otros usuarios (sobre todo alemanes) han decidido que, despues de comunicarselo a la compañia, si no cambian el TOS denunciaran por clausulas ilegales (tanto en la UE como en EEUU como nos han recordado en ese post) denunciaran a la desarrolladora (y parece que va a ser una denuncia en conjunto).

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/12/...ore-135980

Rockpapershotgun The ever-pondersome The War Z has managed yet another controversy, yesterday being forced to apologise to Steam users after advertising features the game simply doesnÔÇÖt have. Or as Hammerpoint Interactive put it, what was ÔÇ£imaginedÔÇØ by those who ÔÇ£misreadÔÇØ the Steam page.


It seems that the description put on Steam was a touch exaggerated, perhaps listing what the game is eventually planned to include, rather than whats in there right now. And it didnt even mention that the game is not yet beyond beta. Claiming to feature areas between 100 to 400 square kilometers, the game in fact currently only has one map, and its 72 square kilometers. It listed itself as having private servers, which it does not. And it sold itself as having skills to buy with experience points, despite the game having no skills at all.

An imaginary ÔÇ£hardcore modeÔÇØ was listed, and it claimed the complete rubbish that 100 players could join a server when the limit is 50. So, well, a pack of lies? No, says executive producer Sergey Titov, it was in fact ÔÇ£presented in a way that could have allowed for multiple interpretations.ÔÇØ He continues,

ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖve taken steps to correct this and format information presented on our Steam Store page in a way so it provides more clear information about game features that are present in the Foundation Release and what to expect in the coming weeks.

We also want to extend our apologies to all players who misread infromation about game features.ÔÇØ

It could be a translation thing, of course, but IÔÇÖm not sure that reading the words on the screen quite counts as ÔÇ£misreadingÔÇØ. I think he meant that they ÔÇ£miswroteÔÇØ. Incredibly, TitovÔÇÖs lack of contrition goes a lot further. Yesterday GameSpy spoke to the man about the incident, and amazingly he laid the blame with the customers once more. When GameSpy persist in pointing out that they had simply listed features as included when they werenÔÇÖt, Titov replied,

ÔÇ£IÔÇÖm sure thereÔÇÖll be people who will look into small details and will say ÔÇ£no I was mislead,ÔÇØ where in fact they imagined something to themselves without checking details first.ÔÇØ

Buh. See if you can imagine the following to yourself too!



He then goes on to say that if people feel theyÔÇÖve been misled, they can just apply to Steam for a refund. Oh, okay! Because thatÔÇÖs always a smooth and relaxing process. His dismissive attitude throughout the interview is astonishing.

So there it is. Hammerpoint seem determined to suggest that the fault remains with customers, despite their hollow apology. And if you read that GameSpy interview, youÔÇÖll see that Titov really cannot understand what is wrong with making misleading claims about the game. Which all rather suggests you may want to think carefully before handing over money. Thanks Eurogamer.

En pocas palabras, lo que este texto viene a decir es que, la mitad mas uno de todo lo prometido al usuario es mentira, y que despues de preguntarle a la desarrolladora en boca de uno de los currantes de Hammerpoint, dice, jura y perjura que esto no es problema suyo, sino que es una falta de entendimiento del usuario.

De hecho, si ahora vas a la pagina de Steam, ademas de ver el juego rebajado por tercera vez en menos de dos dias, ha cambiado por completo el formato de presentacion y ahora, es muchisimo mas escueto. A ver que hacen ahora con el tema de las fotos, que ya hay usuarios que han demostrado que son un fake como una casa.

Ahora, no echais de menos este tipo de movimientos de los usuarios en el mundo de las consolas?, pq en PC no es la primera vez que ocurre, ya Funcom la cago con el Conan, la comunidad no le perdono y, despues de abandonar en masa el juego, su siguiento proyecto "The perfect world" ha pasado a F2P en apenas 3 meses. De hecho, hay movimientos para "sabotear" todo lo que saque Hammerpoint (Y mira que War inc mola).

Editando con la direccion del foro en Steam del WarZ

http://steamcommunity.com/app/226700/discussions/

Dos "currantes" haciando Damage control en los foros de Steam, ver para creer,:p

http://steamcommunity.com/app/226700/dis...398187/#p1

Update 1,

http://kotaku.com/5969663/warz-gets-susp...ams-charts

Cita:Despite some negative press, zombie survival sim The War Z has launched on Steam and gone straight to the top of the best-sellers charts.

So it's curious timing that, on the same day the game was hitting those lofty heights, developers Hammerpoint Interactive released an update. Which introduced a new "feature".

Previously, including on the day of the game's launch, a dead character (you can have up to five) would have to wait 60 minutes before they could respawn. Tough, but it's a tough game. Now, since the patch, your respawn time is four hours.

Sounds insane, and it is, but to get around it, Hammerpoint also brought in a glowing green button that lets you respawn instantly. Provided you pay. Real money.

Each respawn costs the player 50GC, or "gold coins", a form of in-game currency that equates to around $0.40 per use. While GC can be found in the game world, there's obviously not enough to sustain regular use for transactions like this. Throw in the fact GC is, like Microsoft Points, only available in block purchases (with a minimum spend of $5), and you can see how the money will be coming in. And also where the problem is.

WarZ isn't a free-to-play title, or a cheap iPhone game, it's a retail product that people have already paid at least $15 for (there are more expensive bundles available that come with in-game currency). Now, on the very day it hits some unexpected sales success, a patch brings in a fundamental form of microtransaction?

A cynical man would say the two might just be related.

Understandably, there's already an uproar, with a Reddit thread criticising the move, as well as numerous threads on the game's official forums, including a poll of hundreds of players that votes overwhelmingly against the change.

Some fans are saying it's not that big a deal, pointing out that since you have five character slots you can cycle through them. There's also the fact the game has many other forms of microtransactions, most related to items and gear.

The counter to that, of course, is that this introduces a "pay to win" element to the game, where those coughing up for instant respawns can improve their characters at a faster rate, something you shouldn't have to contend with in a retail product, especially one that's already so full of griefers as WarZ is (my first two deaths in the game, like the one above, were from human snipers)

Kotaku haciendose eco del tema del cambio de tiempo en el Respawn y en como se introdujo el parche cuando las ventas en Steam se dispararon.

Update 2

Ex-Moderador de WarZ habla pestes del juego, lo tacha de ÔÇ£fraudeÔÇØ

http://www.niubie.com/2012/11/ex-moderad...de-fraude/

Cita:Para mucha gente WarZ es otro juego de zombies. Quienes lo miran pensarán que lo más atractivo es el concepto de sobrevivir ante una infestación zombie, pero eso no lo único interesante aquí.

Devin, ahora ex-moderador de los foros oficiales de WarZ, tuvo un gran problema con el juego después de perder su contraseña y ser víctima de un ÔÇ£hackÔÇØ, sin embargo el propio productor Sergey Titov - el mismo detrás del infame Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing - decidió que tal problema le debía costar su posición. Esto pasó a afectar su cuenta en el juego WarZ, ya que pidió una devolución del dinero y fue baneado. Mala idea. Sin un documento de confidencialidad de por medio se dio el lujo de contar varios entretelones de WarZ.

Dijo que el juego de Sergay es ÔÇ£un port directo de War Inc.ÔÇ£, confirmando las sospechas de hace tiempo dado el corto tiempo de desarrollo mitigado por la facilidad de copiar & pegar un juego gratuito. Sólo cambiaron algunas cosas a excepción del arte, el cual ÔÇ£fue hecho dentro del estudio por su increíble equipo artísticoÔÇØ. Eso no fue todo, lo más ácido fue respecto a las cuentas. ÔÇ£Banean al azar usuarios después de un tiempo jugando el juego, sabiendo que están encajados en el título, para que lo vuelvan a comprarÔÇØ. De hecho sólo lo hacen con una porción para que pase desapercibido. Si eso no suena a fraude, por favor dígamelo en los comentarios.

La bomba que dejó para el final cuenta que ÔÇ£planean detener el desarrollo del juego y abandonar el juego en seis meses si la recaudación no es suficiente para ellosÔÇØ. Eso suena lógico en todo negocio, pero muy mal del equipo detrás de WarZ al hacer un proyecto que podría tener algo más de vida.

Para ser justo, falta la otra parte de la historia, pero a estas alturas, y con todo lo dicho sobre WarZ, es difícil que hagan cambiar de opinión a la masa. El proyecto se percibe como algo creado a la rápida para ganarle la carrera a la versión independiente de DayZ, que todos esperan con ansias.

¿Qué opinas de WarZ? ¿Crees que es un buen juego después de todo?

Update 3

Pantallazo de un forero de WarZ

[img=1000x562]http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/7504/bannedxa.jpg[/img]

Update 4

Developer cheating

A partir del 7:38. En pocas palabras, un desarrolador usando God Mode, dando armas y matando bandidos.





http://www.hvk-gaming.com/forum/m/897056...t-cheating

http://firstpost.com/topic/organization/...23-13.html

Update 5

http://uk.pc.gamespy.com/pc/the-war-z/1226980p1.html

A Shocking Interview With The War Z Developer On False Steam Store Claims

By Dan Stapleton | Dec 18, 2012
Executive Producer Sergey Titov believes the ends justify the means.

Cita:Hammerpoint Interactive's The War Z shot straight to the top of the Steam Top Sellers' list after its surprise "Foundation" launch yesterday, and it's remained there throughout today. Despite its apparent success, all was not well in this post-apocalyptic zombie survival shooter land. Steam users who've bought The War Z, and those who'd bought into the alpha/beta period via the official site, quickly pointed out that the Steam store page made a series of promises that the game itself just doesn't keep. We got in touch with Hammerpoint's executive producer on The War Z, Sergey Titov, who spoke to us via IM to discuss the situation, how this incident came about, and what Hammerpoint plans to do about it. What he has to say indicates what appears to be a combination of a not-so-firm grasp of the English language and a startlingly cavalier attitude toward truth in advertising.

Before we dive into the transcript, which we're presenting only slightly edited to repair the overlapping chaos that inevitably happens in IM conversations and patch up some broken English, here's a brief summary of the events that led us here: Where the Steam store page promised multiple maps ranging in size from 100 to 400 square kilometers, buyers found just one roughly 100 square km map. Where it promised 100 players per server, it delivered just 50. Where it promised rentable private servers, levelable skills, and friends lists, there was simply nothing available but menu screen placeholders. That means that thousands -- likely tens of thousands (based on Steam's concurrent players stats) -- purchased this game while under the impression that had features it simply doesn't.

While the store information was amended this morning to move most of those claims -- except for the 100-player servers -- to an "upcoming features" section, that's a shocking breach of trust from the Steam's store, which has in the past been reliable when it comes to describing features. We've contacted both Valve and Hammerpoint for comment. Valve has yet to respond regarding its policy for fact-checking developer-supplied feature lists. We'll keep you posted on that, when and if we get a response.



GameSpy: Nice to meet you, Sergey. I have some questions about the Steam release of The War Z. It has been pretty irregular, and has raised a lot of concerns, and allegations of fraud. The description that was posted yesterday, and left unchanged for approximately 24 hours, promised numerous features that simply don't exist at the moment. During that time, The War Z became the top-selling game on Steam. So thousands of PC gamers purchased a product that made promises it couldn't deliver on. What led to those promises being made on the Steam store page, and how do you respond to people who are angry about being misled?

Sergey Titov: Our Steam store description contained information about what game features [were] planned for 2012-early 2013 content updates. Some of the features have been in game for a while, so -- actually two major things -- server rentals and Skill Trees, didn't make [it] into the game yet. This being said we've realized that layout and presentation of this information needs to be changed on the Steam page, which we did today in the morning. After we did it, we [are] still enjoying being [the] Number One top-grossing game on Steam at the moment. So my point is, yes, I'm sure that few players maybe be upset, but I can assure you that based on what we're seeing number of people who post bad comments are [a] small percentage of people who actually bought [the] game.

The original Steam store text, posted December 17th.

GameSpy: There's also the issue of the max players per server, which appears to be 50 in our testing but is still promised as 100 on the Steam page. It also claimed multiple areas of between 100 to 400 square kilometers, but delivered only one area of around 100 square kilometers. I'm sure that many people do enjoy playing The War Z, but the issue isn't whether it's a good game or a bad game. It's a matter of truth in advertising.

Sergey Titov: Max players -- I'm not sure why this is even an issue. [The] text clearly stated "up to 100 players." And 50 players [which] we have right now -- is what our players -- our community feels is comfortable level for them to play. We had it at 40, we've raised it to 70, and after that we've asked our players, "What you want this number to be for Colorado map?" Over 90,000 players took [the] survey and most of them said -- 50. This is why this number is set to 50 right now. Yet -- on your own private servers you will be able to set to 100 if you want . Size of the area, once again, come on -- [the] first map is over 100 sq km . So [the] text is right. And for our next big map, California, we're testing map size of 420sq km.

GameSpy: The original text, which was up for a day, claimed "A huge persistent world: The War Z is an open world game. Each world has areas between 100 to 400 square kilometers." "Each world" implies multiple worlds. "Areas" is plural, again implying multiple areas. It currently delivers just one area that does not approach 200km in size, much less 400. And do you not see it as a problem for the store to claim that I can play on a 100-player server, yet when I buy it, I am limited to playing on a 50-player server?

Sergey Titov: Okay -- if text is saying "up to 100 players" -- yes, I may imagine situation when somebody will say "okay it HAVE TO BE 100." "Over 100 sq km" falls in "100 to 400" right? Okay my point is -- online games are [a] living breathing GAME SERVICE. This is not a boxed product that you buy one time. It's evolving product that will have more and more features and content coming it. This is what The War Z is.

GameSpy: I understand that. It is now a common practice for a game to add more features in the future. However, that is not what happened here. What happened here is that Hammerpoint claimed, through Steam, that these features exist today.

The updated Steam store text, posted December 18th.

Sergey Titov: I'm sure there'll be people who will look into small details and will say "no I was mislead," where in fact they imagined something to themselves without checking details first. I'm sure that Steam have it's refund policies that should handle those situations.

GameSpy: Steam is actually very stingy about refunds. However, in an unusual case like this, I imagine they'll be forced to make an exception. Does Hammerpoint have a system in place to refund customers who feel they've been misled by unfulfilled promises?

Sergey Titov: Hammerpoint, since its early stages of Alpha, provided refunds to players who can't play game for some reasons. We've granted refund to even those players who come top us and said -- your game is shit. And if we went and see that he played like 20 minutes, we've refunded him. Yet if somebody have played like 5-10 hours and decided he doesn't like game - we clearly didn't provided refunds to them. In [the] case of Steam -- it's up to Steam to decide if they provide or not refunds. I mean -- we do not have access to that part of the Steam ecosystem.

Let's be frank: when you read "up to 100 players" -- what does it mean to you personally? I mean, for me it doesn't mean that I will play with 99 other players. Really And yes game supports 100 players -- heck, it supports actually over 400 players per server as of today. Do we have servers launched with this number of slots? No we don't, because this is not what our players WANT.

GameSpy: Yes, frankly, it absolutely does mean that the game will support 100 players. Anything less is a false claim. You could just as easily claim your game will support up to a million players, and then say "Well, 50 is between one and a million." It would be absolutely fine for you to tune your game to what your players have told you that they want. What is not fine is for you to tell potential buyers that they will be able to do things in your game that they simply cannot do as it exists today. What you've done is the same as telling someone that the car you're selling can go 100mph, when in fact it can only go 50mph.

Sergey Titov: And we've corrected text on Steam. As I've said -- it was done less than 18 hours after we've started selling game. After that -- after text was changed -- over 7 hours passed.

GameSpy: Steam still says -- I'm looking at it right now -- "Up to 100 players per game server." That is a false claim.

Sergey Titov: Let me ask you -- what YOU think we should put there, since we do not know what number of slots will be on official servers tomorrow -- 20,30, 50, 70 or 100?

GameSpy: I think you should put the minimum you can deliver. If you deliver more, that's a bonus that no one can claim they were misled about. If you deliver less, you have failed to deliver on a promise.

Sergey Titov: Okay good point -- so you think that if we'll have server with 100 players up and running it means we've delivered even if everybody will hate it ?

GameSpy: If you believe everyone will hate it with 100 players, it is totally reasonable for you to turn down the maximum number of players. It is not reasonable for you to tell me I can play with 100 players and then only allow me to play with 50 players. Who is responsible for updating the Steam page text? Hammerpoint or Valve?

PR Rep: They do the actual updates based on info we send.

GameSpy: So, will you be sending them an updated version of the text that specifies that A) the current player cap is 50, and B) that this is a "foundational release," and not what people have come to expect of a finished product?

Sergey Titov: We have several private servers with over 100 slots on them. I think we [will] just tune it down to 100 slots and make it available to public. This is right thing to do as I think. We have demo servers with 130 and 150 players on them. But it's internal at the moment. I've asked if we can add them quickly to public pool.

Update: 100-player servers are now confirmed online.

GameSpy: That would be good. Will you be issuing an apology to people who purchased The War Z under the impression that features that are planned for the future exist today?

Sergey Titov: I think we'll do that by sending them personalized emails and explaining what to expect from the game now and in upcoming weeks/months. Bottom line - this is issue that affected at most few percent of active War Z audience and thus it should be dealt with on [a] case-by-case basis.

GameSpy: So, no public apology for misleading people on the Steam store page?

Sergey Titov: Actually we've already posted explanation on our forums that is available to public.

GameSpy: This post doesn't address the fact that there were false claims made.

Sergey Titov: I think there's difference between false claims and perception of the text.

GameSpy: There does not appear to be a reasonable way that this could be read any other way, when the sections are titled "About the game" and "Key features," and both contain things that do not yet exist.

Sergey Titov: Ah ok. Yes we're going to post about fact that information on the Store page was presented in incorrect format/layout. That was our mistake obviously. Which we've corrected early morning today.

Update: Titov has posted a new apology on The War Z's forums. However, it claims that we "misread information about game features," not that Hammerpoint incorrectly stated that features would be included.

GameSpy: Mostly corrected. Again, the Steam page still makes no mention of the fact that this is a "Foundation release." It is simply labeled as "The War Z."

Sergey Titov: What's difference ? I mean -- I'd love to adjust that BTW -- I just personally don't see what difference does it make? Ie -- THIS IS "THE WAR Z" game. It's not like there'll be "final release" or anything like this.

GameSpy: Then why was the press release sent out calling it a Foundation Release instead of simply a release?

Sergey Titov: This is what we call it. There's no such thing as "Release" for an online game. More important - you can't just add "foundation release" or any other words to the title of the game on Steam. It's like -- The War Z is a title of the game. We can of course add VERSION in ABOUT GAME section....

GameSpy: So as far as you're concerned, The War Z is officially out of beta and fully released, correct?

Sergey Titov: Nope - there's no such thing as "fully released" for online game. As far as I'm concerned The War Z is in stage when we're ready to stop call it Beta. This is basic version - bones that we're going to add more and more "meat" - features and content in a coming months and hopefully years.

GameSpy: By "fully released," of course, I mean as released as any online game is at its official launch. For example, when PlanetSide 2 removed its beta label and opened its doors to the public, it was considered fully released even though it will obviously continue to evolve.

Can you tell us where we should direct players who are upset about inaccurate promises should go to request a refund? Should that be done through you, or through Steam support?

Sergey Titov: They should contact Steam support - we can't refund Steam payments since we do not have access to Steam for that. The way Steam works -- they're acting like any other retail outlet -- they sell the game, get payments from customers, they process refunds, fraud, etc and once in awhile they send us money with reporting on how many units were sold, fraud/refunds, etc... If [a] player bought [the] game from us directly -- they should use e-mail, phone numbers, or support website that's included on their receipts -- this is due [the] fact we're using numerous of payment providers.

GameSpy: Alright, thank you Sergey. We will pass that along. We appreciate your time.

Sergey Titov: As for information about Steam webpage -- we'll post [an] official explanation to our forums, and yes we'll apologize for presenting information in a way that allowed different interpretation. Such as "up to 100 player' issue -- clearly you think about it one way, myself and other people I just asked think it's totally acceptable to say this. But once again -- I personally think that bottom line is -- do we have happy players or not. At the end this is what we're aiming for.



Yes, we can all agree that happy players are the end goal of any game developer. But how you get there does matter, and this kind of behavior, whether it's negligence and miscommunication/mistranslation or (less likely in this case, because if so, why would he even talk to us?) a scam -- is completely unacceptable from game makers. What's even worse, though, is that Hammerpoint has cast a shadow of doubt over the other Steam store pages. Are they really not policed at all? It would seem not. Again, we'll let you know if we hear from Valve on that.

The other burning question right now is: is The War Z any good? Our thorough investigation -- aka "review" -- is underway now, so we'll let you know ASAP what we think of it. It should be noted, though, that even this kind of shocking behavior won't automatically deduct points from its score. Especially now that the Steam store page will (hopefully) be accurate by the time our review is posted, the review and score will be based on the condition of The War Z at the time.

6º Update

Pues lo que todos imaginabamos ya se ha hecho realidad.

Con 1776 firmas hasta este momento, comienza la peticion popular para su retirada de Steam.

https://www.change.org/petitions/valve-t...team#share

7º Update

War Z Developers in a Scandal

http://justpressstart.net/war-z-develope...a-scandal/

Cita:As news breaks about War Z being unfinished, even through it found itÔÇÖs way to digital shelves, there are deeper problems with the game that just havenÔÇÖt come to light. Yes, Destructoid and Kotaku are both correct in reporting that the game is far from being finished, and that itÔÇÖs nothing more than a glorified beta. Yes, Hammerpoint Interactive is trying very hard to make this turd shine as brightly as they possibly can, but there is a lot more under the surface that hasnÔÇÖt come to light yet. Like who is Hammerpoint Interactive? Why did they ban a bunch of accounts recently?

For those that donÔÇÖt know, War Z is the name of a new zombie survival game that has been released to SteamÔÇÖs digital shelves for 14.99 USD. Hammerpoint Interactive touts their own game as being ÔÇ£the worldÔÇÖs first zurvival mmo Zombie Game.ÔÇØ Continuing on with their quote, ÔÇ£You may have played Zombie Games before ÔÇô now itÔÇÖs time to live one.ÔÇØ If you think about it, and knowing about the Arma II mod DayZ is, this is very egotistical coming from a developer that is completely unknown.

Our own Video Producer, Josh, was excited by the game knowing the amount of hype that Day Z had when it first appeared. He decided to buy into the beta, at the $25 USD level. Not only being able to play in the beta, but he was also given 3 guest keys for 24 hours to give to his friends and 15 USD worth of in game currency. Like anyone else, he downloaded the game and played it for about an hour.

He returned the next day, and when he tried to log in he was greeted with a message that said he had been banned, from the beta. Josh isnÔÇÖt the kind of guy to go into a game looking to hack it and cheat his way through it. In fact, with only an hour worth of playtime to his name, he found it difficult to believe that he was banned for cheating.

As just about any one of us would do, he contacted customer support, only to find out that a different company is handling customer support, Xsolla Support, a company known for payment transaction services. After asking why he was banned, he was given a blanket statement:

"It has come to our attention that your account has been banned.
Your game account was blocked due to a violation of Clause 2.a which is one of the User Agreement clauses:
Clause 2. a. Use cheats, automation software (bots), hacks, mods or any other third-party software designed to modify, enhance, or otherwise alter the Service, the Game Client or the Game experience without the express written consent of OP Productions.
Upon completion of your payment you accepted the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
At this point we are unable to initiate a refund.
If you feel that you did not violate the Terms of Service, please contact game support atupport@thewarz.com. Once Game Support has completed their investigation, they will email you with their findings."

The response given was very cookie cutter, and very professional even though it wasnÔÇÖt from Hammerpoint Interactive, or anyone really associated with how WarZ runs. He has since gotten a hold of WarZ support, and hasnÔÇÖt heard from them at the time of writing. His original message to support was on December 15th.

We found out that Josh wasnÔÇÖt the only person smacked with the ban hammer on December 14th. In fact anywhere from 250 ÔÇô 500 players of WarZ were hit with a ban and a blanket statement saying they were cheating. When people started to take to the WarZ forums asking about why they were banned and if they were going to get their money back, because the game was still in beta at this point in time, the forums turned into a war zone.

Things got so bad that the forums were put on lock down. Players werenÔÇÖt allowed to open new threads on the forums, new players couldnÔÇÖt register on the forums, and posts about being banned from the game were being deleted as fast as possible as forum moderators were starting to drink deep from their powers. Reasons for banning people went from professional blanket statements to rude, vulgar and unprofessional taunts, two examples from earlier in the month are pictured below.

"Foto con el mensaje: Te sugiero que averigües el significado de la palabra "scam" (estafa) antes de volver por aqui. No es estafa si no han recibido dinero. 2 meses baneado de manera que, cuando vuelvas, el juego estara fuera de "toodles" (podria traducirse como los primeros pasos que da un bebe al aprender a caminar)"

"Foto con el mensaje: Vete a la mierda, spammer"

One of WarZÔÇÖs former moderators, Devin Hutchinson, took to other forums out there to report on the unprofessional actions of other WarZ moderators. He revealed that most of the PR and Community management for WarZ is being taken care of by unpaid volunteers saying, ÔÇ£I then made a post on the forums about how I knew this was coming; and I was sorry and would [no] [longer] be supporting a company that did not support their unpaid volunteer Moderators that spent over 100+ hours answering THEIR CUSTOMERS questions and concerns as well as relaying them the ideas the community had for their [cruddy] game.ÔÇØ Devin also publicly stated, ÔÇ£They randomly ban accounts that have a certain amount of time spent playing in-game, knowing they are hooked on the game so they re-buy the gameÔÇØ (found here)

Why donÔÇÖt they employ a community manager? WouldnÔÇÖt it be better to have a paid professional taking care of customers and dealing with the messy work of bans. And itÔÇÖs not like smaller indie companies donÔÇÖt employ community managers. Putting that much power in the hands of unpaid volunteers is not a good business model.

The crux of the issue isnÔÇÖt that they just rushed a game through beta to pop onto digital shelves. ItÔÇÖs all the questions that we are left with, starting with who the hell is Hammerpoint Interactive? I have never heard of a studio/development team not having a website, let alone not having a facebook page, twitter account, youtube channel, or even a twitch TV channel. The War Z twitch TV channel is run by Arktos Entertainment who is the publisher of the game. Also, Sergey Titov the head of Hammerpoint, is also the head of Arktos Entertainment, OP Productions (who is credited at the bottom of the War Z website, Online Warmongers, and War Inc. (The game that War Z is ripped from). Hammerpoint Interactive isnÔÇÖt even the company listened on the War ZÔÇÖs domain registry.

This whole situation and the game stinks of foul play and appears to be nothing more than a cash grab. This is also one of the few reasons why buying into a game before itÔÇÖs even released is a bad idea. Shady company, shady dealings, and games that donÔÇÖt live up to their promises. The best advice I could give here for anyone, is make sure you know who you are giving your money to before you buy into a game early. You never know exactly what is going to happen to it. Josh lost his 25 USD, so you shouldnÔÇÖt have to.

Update 8º

The War Z Removed From Steam, Valve Calls Release 'A Mistake'

http://kotaku.com/5969836/the-war-z-removed-from-steam

Cita:Controversial zombie survival game The War Z has been removed from Steam.

Although there's still a listing for the game on Valve's digital distribution service, you can no longer buy it.

Fans have been clamoring for the game's removal from Steam since it was released on Monday. Many gamers have criticized the game for its misleading description, controversial microtransactions, and forum censorship. For more on the War Z debacle, check out our full roundup.

Update: In response to Kotaku's request for comment, Valve issued the following statement:

From time to time a mistake can be made and one was made by prematurely issuing a copy of War Z for sale via Steam. We apologize for this and have temporary removed the sale offering of the title until we have time to work with the developer and have confidence in a new build. Those who purchase the game and wish to continue playing it via Steam may do so. Those who purchased the title via Steam and are unhappy with what they received may seek a refund by creating a ticket at our support site here.

Update 2: In response to Kotaku's request for comment, War Z boss Sergey Titov also sent over a statement:

We're making sure that our Store page is 100% correct this is why.

Bottom line ÔÇô our end goal is to have satisfied and not angry customers, so this is more important for us than everything else.

Update 9.

Los escandalos se acumulan. A los que ya estaba expuesto, se le une esto:

[img=1000x475]http://i.imgur.com/EBOr7.jpg[/img]

Pues estuve a punto de pillarlo cuando lo pusieron en Steam... menos mal que no lo hice.

Y que consiguiera el puesto del más vendido en Steam... Un tonto y su dinero pronto parten caminos.

En fin, me alegro que se lo hayan cargado. Esa gente no merece ni respirar el mismo aire que nosotros.

Lo he leído hace un rato en Meri. Qué lamentable es todo esto.

(19-12-2012 22:23)Bart_10 link escribió:Y que consiguiera el puesto del más vendido en Steam... Un tonto y su dinero pronto parten caminos.

En fin, me alegro que se lo hayan cargado. Esa gente no merece ni respirar el mismo aire que nosotros.

La verdad es que yo he leido el hilo y tal pero no me he enterado muy bien del asunto en algunos aspectos...a pesar de que haya iniciado el post, a grandes rasgos si no he entendido mal:

Modificación del TOS para impedir devolver el dinero

Abuso de poder del community manager en los foros de steam, baneando a todo el que dijera algo malo del juego (Bioware no hizo algo similar?)

Copypasteo de código de otro juego, War Inc...que por lo visto es de otra desarrolladora (me LOL)

Abandono de apoyo por parte de la desarrolladora del juego a los 6 meses...esto no se si era un plan premeditado o solo era en caso de que el juego no tuviera éxito...

He leido algo de que la propia desarrolladora estaba chetando el juego...en que sentido?

Y algo más que me faltará...porque para una movilización así, tienen que haber estado jodiendo a los jugadores pero bien, y eso que solo con lo de la no devolución de dinero ya es un escándalo bien gordo.

Es verdaderamente vergonzoso. Que se joda ese maldito ladron, y ojala tuviese que devolver hasta el ultimo centimo que haya ganado con este "juego"...

En cuanto a movilizarse contra este tipo de abusos en el mercado de las consolas... por favor... si hay gente dispuesta a pagar el Live, que es el mayor abuso que se me puede ocurrir, como para quejarse por nada mas...

Lo mejor es que dicen "es cosa de steam si tienen o no que devolver el dinero o no"

Con dos cojones, es decir Valve a apechugar pasta y mientras vosotros con los bolsillos llenos de lo que ha pagado la gente no? porque por lo visto no tienen intención de devolver un duro...npormal que Valve haya quitado el juego de steam (entre otras cosas), no me extrañaría que en breves saliera una noticia del tipo "valve demanda a hammerpoint"

Vamos, que pedazo de chapuza.

A mi tanto éste como Day Z, me han parecido demasiado bonitos y perfectos en fotos, pero me han dado siempre mala espina

(19-12-2012 23:30)Rivera18 link escribió:Vamos, que pedazo de chapuza.

A mi tanto éste como Day Z, me han parecido demasiado bonitos y perfectos en fotos, pero me han dado siempre mala espina

No compares esto con Day Z por dios xD

Day-Z es un mod gratuito para Arma 2, no jodamos XD que no tiene nada que  ver con esto.

Y enste juego se han gastado los cuartos en publicidad antes que en su propio desarrollo se ve a la legua, para adelantarse al stand-alone de Day-Z, que por ahora es para lo único que veo el juego para rellenar ese vació en el mercado hasta que salga.

(19-12-2012 23:31)Joanor link escribió:No compares esto con Day Z por dios xD

yo lo probé y no me gustó nada el estilo, ni el "como".

De este paso directamente, pero bueno, Day Z simplemente no me gustó, este parece que es chapuza general a los ojos de todos

(19-12-2012 22:34)seph1roth link escribió:Y algo más que me faltará...

Pues que no hacen NADA contra los cheaters que se aprovechan de los bugs para robarte todo equipo. Equipo que has pagado con dinero REAL, y que pierdes al morir, y que luego la gente que te lo roba, puede vender para ganar dinero.

Ademas de que los anuncios y descripciones del juego en Steam eran FALSOS... Hasta las fotos que salian eran una burda mentira :