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My Rage (Game) Fiasco

    Hey, everyone. As many of you probably suspected, I bought the new Rage game for PC. I have never tried a PC game but I wanted this game so bad I decided to try it. I bought it off Amazon and they did a good job of having it here on the first day of availability.
    The first surprise for an elderly guy like me is that I have to have an account on Steam, a gamer's site, before I can even play this game. ???? What business  is it of Steam's if I play a game at my home? So I get a Steam account which entails swearing an oath to their list of demands and allowing them access to my computer. Then I start to put the game on my computer and the codes don't work. There are three codes in the box and none of them work. Invalid. Cool, and so much fun, so far. I give them credit, though, they actually had a phone number on the flyer for tech support at Bethesda. Not toll free. The guy at Bethesda was courteous with me, as I was with him. But he wanted a list of things before he would give me the valid code which I had already paid $60 for. See the list on the e-mail above. Heck, unless I send an e-mail on my I-Pad I have trouble sending attachments. So I politely told him that I would be sending the game back to Amazon. He was surprised. Notice how shocking it is when the consumer fails to kiss sufficient butt to give business people their money?
     I am reminded of stores I've been in where they have people watch for shoplifters to the point where they run all their good customers off. The video game industry is so afraid of pirates that they would probably vomit if someone said 'Arrrgh'! I understand this a little since I hold the copyright on a bunch of novels and short stories.
     Let me put this in perspective for you. Last Thursday, I bought a great game for I-Pad called Shadowgun. It has fantastic graphics and game play. I love it. I sat in my recliner, read about it, tapped a button and bought it. Within a minute it was on my device and I was playing it. Without secret codes and agreements and veiled accusations of theft. I paid $8 for a wonderful game. I didn't have to make any promises to Steam or allow them to know when I play. Do we wonder why the I-Pad is so popular? Duh.
    Clearly, Bethesda could care less if some two-bit blogger buys their game. They will make millions anyway, and deservedly so. There will always be a market for the big budget games and the hard core gamers of X-Box will continue to enjoy that venue. All this is good. But the older crowd, and many others, will enjoy a more customer friendly gaming experience on the app store. Cheaper games, instant access and a minimum of red tape.
     Now I know why they call it Rage.
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