I'm sure a bunch of you remember how I got really excited for this game and planned to make several maps. I released one, updated it, and then released a much better second version. I had been working on a second map and a third for UT3, but due to recent events I am abandoning the game altogether. The developer, Epic Games, has hit an all time low. Quite frankly, EA is being much more friendly to its customers than Epic Games is. I thought I'd never see the day, especially when Epic had been champions of user content and modding in the past.

I've been contributing as a mapper in particular on several UT3 forums, including the official Epic forums. A few days ago Epic staff member Jeff Morris (Wartourist) banned me without warning for pointing out problems not addressed fully in the second patch. In particular I'm having to re-enter my cd-key all the time because my IP address likes to change. There was no indication they were going to fix this in the second patch for people whose IP's changed often and tried to pass off this half-assed solution to only save the cd-key for people who have no internet connection. Second, they're doing something about map downloading but it's not clear at all what they're doing. I've been having a problem where when a server goes to a map I don't have I get the download redirection, download the map, wait to load, and by the time it loads I'm booted off the server for some sort of network error every single time. It's likely because downloading redirection isn't working properly yet and by the time you get and load the map the server thinks you left and closes the connection. For an online game these are two major show stopping issues. Recently I've discovered that what little progress I had in the single player campaign was also wiped out just like in Gears of War (PC). Gears has been deleting my save games every time I shut down my computer and Epic refuses to address the issue.

I have to advise all my friends to avoid UT3 and Gears of War (PC). It seems Epic Games dumped both games out as early beta versions and are still getting around to implementing and fixing things, many issues in which are show stoppers. Even when editing maps I can't tell you the number of times I ran into the most ambiguous and stupid errors, yet Epic fails to recognize or respond to them. So I ask everyone to avoid UT3, Gears, and future Epic Games products like the plague. EA learned its lesson the hard way and now Epic, which is now in league with an ex-EA CEO who created all sorts of problems for gamers in the first place, needs to learn the same lesson. Vote with your wallet. Don't support game companies that ban long-time community contributors without notice. What kind of example does that set when they run around banning people who buy the collectors editions of their products, create content that keeps a game going, create content they can advertise with, and keep money going into their pockets so they can feed their families? Don't bite the hand that feeds you. Even Taz knows that! Hell, my dog knows that too. Both of them give an apologetic bow of their heads if they do it by accident. Jeff Morris is making up lies by saying me, a customer, repeatedly said bad things about the game and he just couldn't take it, had to ban me, oh but it's a forum software glitch too and there's nothing he can do. Bullshit! A fanboy for Epic even had the nerve to tell me I don't know how games get fixed. Excuse me, but what are they programming with, Powerbuilder? 2 weeks is plenty of time to SAVE A CD KEY and stop the game from deleting save files. C++ is not rocket science.

I decided to globally not support any Epic product and I hope many of my friends join in (along with whomever reads this message). I'm currently having a blast with Crysis and am learning to map and create custom content for it too. Between work, artwork, Crysis, and career stuff, I have been doing some programming for a game I've always wanted to make that was based on my favorite TV show (no, not Family Guy...the other favorite TV show).

Don't support Epic Games! They ban and chase off their customers instead of listening to them.


EDIT: Oh! Btw, it may interest you that they're still falsely advertising for the game. There's at least once map with multiple variants advertised by Epic that's not present in the game (Cold Habour). Additionally, there's several "opponents" who cannot be played against or cannot be used as characters, yet they're still advertised as being a part of the game. Epic refuses to recognize the false advertising here too. On the Gears side, they don't recognize the show-stopping crash on the beginning of Act III either.


EDIT 2: Taz is on YouTube! I completely forgot to post that here on DA. Here's the link: [link] Don't watch if you don't want to see lizards eating bugs. Taz eats a worm, points his nose up at a second one, runs around, and then eats a cricket. If you have anything you'd really like to see Taz do, let me know!