If you want to get into a real depressing internet debate, bring up video game resolutions and watch the world burn. Everyone wants their video games to look good but out there are a large group of dedicated fans who want video games to look the best. Among that group is, apparently, a smaller group that has no sense of irony, humor, or self awareness. Amongst that group was California resident Douglas Ladore who, last August, filed suit against Sony Computer Entertainment America over Killzone: Shadow Fall’s resolution. He claimed Sony used “deceptive marketing” when they said Shadow Fall would run at a 1080p resolution and instead the developer “used a technological shortcut that was supposed to provide ‘subjectively similar’ results.”. Ladore claims damages of $5 million for false advertisement, unfair competition, and fraud among other things.
And then today Ladore met with reality. Judge Edward M. Chen dismissed his lawsuit with prejudice, essentially meaning Ladore can’t file anything else in the future about the same issue. Previously the game’s developer, Guerrilla Games, had admitted to using a technique that artificially bumped the game’s resolution to 1080p “most of the time”. This revelation I guess was too much for Ladore’s sensitive sensibilities and caused too much suffering, about $5 million worth, so he just had to sue.
Thankfully this level of internet bullhonkey, despite making it to a real courtroom, wasn’t taken too seriously. While the lawsuit was challenged by Sony back in December to be thrown out the same judge, the suit was allowed to proceed until now. The internet still can’t decide between two extremes and the idea that marketing may not always be truthful is too hard for too many to take. Go back and watch any E3 press conference, or really any coverage for Watch_Dogs, and judge what was marketing promises and what was actual hard facts. Perhaps I’ve just been a spectator too long to be fooled by commercials and marketing but to believe every word, every time, and assume everything always works out within video game development is naive. Let’s hope this naivity doesn’t create too much more real life trouble.
