Driveclub more details

[Lateralus68]

Not sure if this has already been posted, it is a relevant and Interesting little piece:

In follow up to my letter on Friday about not getting a refund for Driveclub (bought digitally on PSN) I rang up Sony support and after 30 minutes on hold I got through to a nice chap who gave some good advice, though I’m thinking Sony themselves would have preferred if he was a bit more coy.
The refund itself was a no go because when you accept the Terms and Conditions, agreed to when you initially boot up your PlayStation 4, you are giving them absolute power to refuse ANY digital refunds whatsoever – they are protected by British digital law (or lack therefore of). He added that some European countries were ahead in this respect.
He warned me to never ever pre-order a game on PSN and not to buy games digitally in general. This may give the impression that he was a bit of a rogue going against company policy but he seemed fine, relaxed, well within earshot of other staff in the background and didn't appear to have an axe to grind. It was just matter-of-fact practical advice he was giving. He also suggested Twitter as an outlet to get my voice heard and to shame (my words) Sony or the developers into giving me a refund.
We also spoke about the large number of PlayStation 4 controllers being returned as mine was recently replaced by Sony (with no hassle) after the rubber split on the left analogue stick. All new controllers have a slightly different rubber texture on the sticks, both my new ones do, and the rubber is now closer to the DualShock 3 texture and more durable.
I imagine over the next year or so, Sony will be replacing an awful lot of ‘launch’ controllers as the original rubber gives way. I’d add that before the rubber split on mine there were no warning signs at all and I’d played my PlayStation 4 far less than my PC this past year, or my PlayStation 3 in years past.
Overall it was a good conversation and though it was just confirming things I already had ideas about it was worth hearing from someone who deals with these things everyday.

That's nice to know about the controllers (if true!) but there has not been an official announcement from Sony about this and how would you know if you bought an old one or an improved new one?

 

[iv-tecman]

Game is now mostly I working for me apart from wonky leaderboards that aren't updating correctly. last night it registered a poor time I made on one track, I did that track many times over and improved the time I had by some half a minute and it hasn't updated, so the poor time I did still stands... annoying.

challenges don't work either, face offs do , earned the face off trophy.

I'm level 40, earned nearly one of each accolade in each category so I'm now only a few trophies off platinum....

good game, but needs much improvement...

 

[McGray]

Any news on the PSN release?

 

[chris4652009]

Any news on the PSN release?

Nothing with any date on it NO.

 

[MOOGLEYS]

Not sure if this has already been posted, it is a relevant and Interesting little piece:

In follow up to my letter on Friday about not getting a refund for Driveclub (bought digitally on PSN) I rang up Sony support and after 30 minutes on hold I got through to a nice chap who gave some good advice, though I’m thinking Sony themselves would have preferred if he was a bit more coy.
The refund itself was a no go because when you accept the Terms and Conditions, agreed to when you initially boot up your PlayStation 4, you are giving them absolute power to refuse ANY digital refunds whatsoever – they are protected by British digital law (or lack therefore of). He added that some European countries were ahead in this respect.
He warned me to never ever pre-order a game on PSN and not to buy games digitally in general. This may give the impression that he was a bit of a rogue going against company policy but he seemed fine, relaxed, well within earshot of other staff in the background and didn't appear to have an axe to grind. It was just matter-of-fact practical advice he was giving. He also suggested Twitter as an outlet to get my voice heard and to shame (my words) Sony or the developers into giving me a refund.
We also spoke about the large number of PlayStation 4 controllers being returned as mine was recently replaced by Sony (with no hassle) after the rubber split on the left analogue stick. All new controllers have a slightly different rubber texture on the sticks, both my new ones do, and the rubber is now closer to the DualShock 3 texture and more durable.
I imagine over the next year or so, Sony will be replacing an awful lot of ‘launch’ controllers as the original rubber gives way. I’d add that before the rubber split on mine there were no warning signs at all and I’d played my PlayStation 4 far less than my PC this past year, or my PlayStation 3 in years past.
Overall it was a good conversation and though it was just confirming things I already had ideas about it was worth hearing from someone who deals with these things everyday.

Legally Sony only have to offer a repair or replacement on faulty digital goods. It's a law that is being amended hopefully by next year and digital goods will then have to conform to contract and description or a full refund will be issued.

The game is and has been for a number of weeks broken and largely not as described. It is very poor service for Sony to have not offered paying customers some kind of compensation for this.

It will be the last PSN digital game I purchase and I imagine quite a few others will feel the same.

 

[Zatoichi.uK]

What I find odd is that surely Evolution would have made Sony aware of the issues but they pressed ahead anyway. They've really damaged their rep which will carry over to potential digital sales, loss of confidence in PSN etc. A huge number of people will be due to re-new their PS+ sub too, which may be thinking about alternatives.

 

[zoomee]

Not sure if this has already been posted, it is a relevant and Interesting little piece:

In follow up to my letter on Friday about not getting a refund for Driveclub (bought digitally on PSN) I rang up Sony support and after 30 minutes on hold I got through to a nice chap who gave some good advice, though I’m thinking Sony themselves would have preferred if he was a bit more coy.
The refund itself was a no go because when you accept the Terms and Conditions, agreed to when you initially boot up your PlayStation 4, you are giving them absolute power to refuse ANY digital refunds whatsoever – they are protected by British digital law (or lack therefore of). He added that some European countries were ahead in this respect.
He warned me to never ever pre-order a game on PSN and not to buy games digitally in general. This may give the impression that he was a bit of a rogue going against company policy but he seemed fine, relaxed, well within earshot of other staff in the background and didn't appear to have an axe to grind. It was just matter-of-fact practical advice he was giving. He also suggested Twitter as an outlet to get my voice heard and to shame (my words) Sony or the developers into giving me a refund.
We also spoke about the large number of PlayStation 4 controllers being returned as mine was recently replaced by Sony (with no hassle) after the rubber split on the left analogue stick. All new controllers have a slightly different rubber texture on the sticks, both my new ones do, and the rubber is now closer to the DualShock 3 texture and more durable.
I imagine over the next year or so, Sony will be replacing an awful lot of ‘launch’ controllers as the original rubber gives way. I’d add that before the rubber split on mine there were no warning signs at all and I’d played my PlayStation 4 far less than my PC this past year, or my PlayStation 3 in years past.
Overall it was a good conversation and though it was just confirming things I already had ideas about it was worth hearing from someone who deals with these things everyday.

I've been trying to get a refund two days before this game was released and still havn't heard a peep. Its disgusting that they can skank customers like this. The product hadn't even been released when I requested my refund!!

This is the last title I buy digitally - Sony can do one with their overpriced, law flouting store. When I tried to get them to refund I quoted their FAQ's on playstation.com about a title is allowed a refund IF requested before its release. They said that, that only applies to the US!!.

 

[chris4652009]

This was my first and ONLY digital game purchase.

 

[Timber]

Not sure if this has already been posted, it is a relevant and Interesting little piece:

...

Shocking that there is still so little protection for consumers on digital purchases. Ideally there should be something along the lines of a set amount of time to request a refund. This would cover all the scenarios of accidental purchase, software not working with a device or software severely broken/not as advertised. I particularly think this would help for f2p/In-app heavy mobile games.

However I understand Sony would argue a few weeks downtime on servers doesn't amount to a non-working product. From the sounds of it though people have a much stronger claim to compensation (say a free Season Pass) for the outages suffered.

That's nice to know about the controllers (if true!) but there has not been an official announcement from Sony about this and how would you know if you bought an old one or an improved new one?

It appears Sony have quietly put out a revised controller. Several threads on NeoGaf have shown there's a revised DS4 with improved rubber on the analog sticks and a very slightly altered D-Pad. I can't find the thread with the comparison pictures but here's one of the other threads: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=861688

 

[Zatoichi.uK]

Pre-orders and digital games. Yeah I'm done for some time.

 

[byeo]

Not sure if this has already been posted, it is a relevant and Interesting little piece:

In follow up to my letter on Friday about not getting a refund for Driveclub (bought digitally on PSN) I rang up Sony support and after 30 minutes on hold I got through to a nice chap who gave some good advice, though I’m thinking Sony themselves would have preferred if he was a bit more coy.
The refund itself was a no go because when you accept the Terms and Conditions, agreed to when you initially boot up your PlayStation 4, you are giving them absolute power to refuse ANY digital refunds whatsoever – they are protected by British digital law (or lack therefore of). He added that some European countries were ahead in this respect.
He warned me to never ever pre-order a game on PSN and not to buy games digitally in general. This may give the impression that he was a bit of a rogue going against company policy but he seemed fine, relaxed, well within earshot of other staff in the background and didn't appear to have an axe to grind. It was just matter-of-fact practical advice he was giving. He also suggested Twitter as an outlet to get my voice heard and to shame (my words) Sony or the developers into giving me a refund.
We also spoke about the large number of PlayStation 4 controllers being returned as mine was recently replaced by Sony (with no hassle) after the rubber split on the left analogue stick. All new controllers have a slightly different rubber texture on the sticks, both my new ones do, and the rubber is now closer to the DualShock 3 texture and more durable.
I imagine over the next year or so, Sony will be replacing an awful lot of ‘launch’ controllers as the original rubber gives way. I’d add that before the rubber split on mine there were no warning signs at all and I’d played my PlayStation 4 far less than my PC this past year, or my PlayStation 3 in years past.
Overall it was a good conversation and though it was just confirming things I already had ideas about it was worth hearing from someone who deals with these things everyday.

What number did you use to call Sony ? I need to get my DS4 R2 trigger sorted.

 

[TheVoice]

It baffled me as to why people were pre-ordering it in the first place but nonetheless, it's a shame to see that getting a refund is as problematic as you'd expect.

 

[iv-tecman]

Well pre ordering games has been going on for years, I've pre ordered games myself but I am now generally waiting feedback from gamers...

I'd have got Drive club anyhow, but if I'd know about all the server issues I'd have waited to be fair.. not a bad game, just a bad launch. csnt help feel Sony forced it out the door , but look at the result.. shame.

 

[Timber]

It baffled me as to why people were pre-ordering it in the first place but nonetheless, it's a shame to see that getting a refund is as problematic as you'd expect.

I generally don't pre-order digital games (Halo MCC might be only the second time for me, after TLOU PS4) but publishers are more and more offering pre-order bonuses on their digital consoles games like they have been for ages on the retail discs and digital PC releases. I thought DriveClub offered pre-order bonuses, but even so I can understand why people are being incentivised to pre-order with digital as well. For example both of the big remaining Xbox release for this year; Halo MCC and Sunset Overdrive have bonuses on their digital pre-orders like the retail disc releases.

I guess it's how much importance you place on the pre-order bonuses.

 

[byeo]

I guess it's how much importance you place on the pre-order bonuses.

It's when they offer additional cars, double XP or even another map as a pre-order bonus. People feel they will miss out if they don't get these, the gaming industry knows this and will exploit our eagerness.

The one which really made me mad was the Black Ops 2 "free Nuketown" map if you pre ordered. I love Nuketown so had to pre-order it, my bother went to a midnight release and got the game with the Nuketown download code inside. It was just a way to get more pre orders

 

[Timber]

It's when they offer additional cars, double XP or even another map as a pre-order bonus. People feel they will miss out if they don't get these, the gaming industry knows this and will exploit our eagerness.

The one which really made me mad was the Black Ops 2 "free Nuketown" map if you pre ordered. I love Nuketown so had to pre-order it, my bother went to a midnight release and got the game with the Nuketown download code inside. It was just a way to get more pre orders

Absolutely, it's infuriating and has worked a few times with me too making me pre-order or chase a certain version for a game.

With the advent of simultaneous digital releases pre-order bonuses will appear more and more and mirror disc releases. So hence many more of us will (and have been) pre-ordering digital versions. Just need the improved consumer laws to protect us.

 

[TheVoice]

I guess it's how much importance you place on the pre-order bonuses.

But that's what I mean; there weren't any. It wasn't any cheaper to pre-order and there weren't any bonuses. The PS+ version was intended to provide a taste of the full game with the option to upgrade afterwards but people jumped the gun and have unfortunately paid the price for it.

As I said though, hopefully Sony/Evo do come up with something for those people because a product should work as intended and a refund should be available if it doesn't. Whether it's a download or not needn't matter. If they're going to encourage people to buy games on launch they need to take responsibility when they don't work.

 

[Timber]

But that's what I mean; there weren't any. It wasn't any cheaper to pre-order and there weren't any bonuses.

I thought there were 3 cars with exclusive liveries for Pre-Ordering?

I do agree, the complete lack of detailed communication about the online functionality and why it's been down for so long means that Sony should offer some compensation for people that bought the game.

 

[Plainsong]

Glad I bought mine retail. I'm on the fence on whether to sell it now or wait to see how it improves.

Online last night was great and that's the main reason I am still playing. Managed to race for about 4 hours. I find that when the race is over you rarely sync again, so it is easier to go back to the race selection screen and select/register for another session. Connects me every time that way.

 

[sityeuropa]

Splashed out and ordered an early Christmas present. The T300 wheel and this Next Level Racing wheel stand.

Looks the sturdiest of stands that I've seen.