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Forums Chessmaster Chessmaster 10th Edition Does anybody know what Chessmaster Collectors' Edition is going to be?|
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http://www.amazon.com/Encore-15660-Chessmaster-Collecto...id=1203815288&sr=1-1
Being released March 18th. |
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Chessmaster Moderator |
This is the first I've heard of this.
It is interesting that this is being released by Encore software, rather than Ubisoft... I can't imagine this would be a new version, as there are still issues to fix in Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition.  |
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Check description here.
What I gather from that is the product is essentially grandmaster edition, but they are going to start charging for online play. Edit: it might also explain issues remaining in this version. Doesn't make much sense to spend time fixing them if you want people to buy the next version. Damn... should've waited a month longer to buy. |
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Chessmaster Moderator |
Well, that stinks!
Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition hasn't even been out for six months, and instead of fixing the issues, they'll just release a new version where they'll charge you an additional monthly fee to fix the problems they should have fixed already?  I suppose it makes sense, in a way... doesn't Playchess.com charge a yearly subscription fee? But if Ubisoft wants to charge for online play, then they had better fix the problems once and for all. |
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If the subscription service means there will be more than 5 other people logged on when I try to play an online game it will be worth it. Especially if they truly are of all levels, so I won't always be playing people more than 400 points above my rating (which means I can't improve even if I win or draw). Btw, thanks to you guys who are on there for accepting my challenges and giving me some good games. |
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What is this World Chess Live? It appears to be just a different name for ICC.
If you will be able to connect to ICC with Chessmaster, then there will never be a problem with not many people online and the online play will work as it should  It is debatable if the online client for ICC will be incorporated into Chessmaster (so you will be able to play online within Chessmaster interface) or you will only get the 6 month membership (you will play on ICC like you can play now - with their online client Dasher) What is curious is that the publisher is not Ubisoft (although Ubisoft logo is on the box) and it says only Windows XP  It sounds more like 10th edition than Grandmaster edition to me. P.S.: I would like to see the back side from that box  |
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It's great to see that UBI is doing so well its moderators are falling out of love with them. |
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Chessmaster Moderator |
That's something... normally, I'm accused of giving "fanboy" answers, or being an Ubisoft patsy! Don't get me wrong... I wouldn't have requested to be moderator if I didn't like Chessmaster. But there's nothing that says moderators must blindly agree with everything that Ubisoft does. I want Ubisoft to fix the online play issues, but if current Grandmaster Edition customers (of which I am one) are expected to shell out more money for these fixes, then that's bad business. However, all of this is conjecture... this is being released by a company other than Ubisoft, and we have very little information to go on, except for the picture of a box. |
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I don't know why people have the impression that moderators are something special and shouldn't behave like normal forum users.
When I was a moderator I never considered myself of something more than a normal user, yet people complained that I as moderator should or shouldn't have said/done this. It was allowed for a normal user, but god forbid for a moderator. |
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KHollister: I never expected you to be an Ubisoft patsy, but you've got to like the product quite a lot to become the only moderator to it's forum, therefore dedicating quite a hefty amount of time to it.
It's quite sad that actual Ubisoft employees don't read these forums anymore as it's quite plain to see that they're promoting bad business both with releasing yet another product and expecting people to shell out for it and an online subscription fee (if the rumor's true); and by recently releasing such bug-ridden software that the first 2 patches don't come close to fixing many of the more serious problems, as well as not fixing the problems from the previous version of the product. Ebutaljib: Most forum users (including myself) expect the moderators to carry themselves with a certain amount of decorum and respect to other users. I'm not saying you didn't do this but this is what's usually expected. It's the same principle of "monkey see monkey do". |
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Chessmaster Moderator |
Let's not start this "Ebutaljib did this or that" again... we've been down that road before, and it's not very nice.
Yes, I think it's sad that no one from Ubisoft reads the forums. But c'est la vie. Back to the topic: When users pay good money for a product, then they deserve good support. If this "Collector's Edition" is nothing more than CM11 with bug fixes and a new form of subscription-based online play, then it's bad business, especially so soon after Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition was released... In reality, Ubisoft is under no obligation to release updates. If you read the EULA, it will say something like "sold as-is". |
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Settlers Moderator |
I wouldn't expect forum moderators to be "fanboys", in fact, on some forums they are the biggest complainers if the game has a problem, they see it as helping the members.
Why do some people always assume a moderator is some kind of apologist for a game publisher?.   Official Whisky taster and Herald to the Mighty Alderbranch. www.Maximum-Gamers.com Administrator "The clues are out there.....S.N.A.F.U." www.SettlersMaps.com .... www.Maximum-Network.maximum-gamers.com www.Maximum-Arcade.com |
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And I expect that from all users not just moderators. As a moderator I behaved like I was doing before I became moderator, and like I am behaving now that I am not a moderator anymore. But like Khollister said: Enough said. I think the main problem with Chessmaster is that most part of the game is just copied to the next version. So we see the same bugs go from one version to the next. Of course as the new material gets added and some stuff needs to get modified so that it is compatible with the new tehnology, new bugs come along. In addition the parts of the game are programed by several people (located on different continents). Then they just put it up together and ship it out to the stores. The programing code for Chessmaster must be such a mess that noone is capable of going systematically through to clean it. |
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Agreed, I think for the next version if one will ever happen that they should rewrite it from the ground up, or even better release the source code to the community so we can do it all for ourselves  Yea I know it will never happen, but it's a dream. |
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Presidan, c1arinetboy and me once joked that they should put us up for beta testers to find the bugs for the next (11th) edition, but then came to the conclusion that it probably wouldn't be such a good idea because it would delay the next version of Chessmaster for about 2 years
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Chessmaster Moderator |
Considering that we waited for 3 years for Chessmaster Grandmaster Edition, and not much changed, I definitely think Ubisoft needs some new Quality Assurance people... I don't see why Ebutaljib couldn't be the first. There's also another problem. When users have problems, very few of them contact technical support; they think a post on forums have replaced a formal complaint to Ubisoft... |
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 As I see it ,it is just another company or programer(possibly an exubi employee) that was smart enough to or not to buy license and reissue the paid copy of GM edition and use the interface on WCI and custom fix the online problems for a paid online subscribtion that UBI has not fixed on their own product yet, clever, but I believe is wrong. I think it violates copyright policies or bypasses it.  Who knows and if so FICS should have the GM interface possible on their site  ps : actually it is just a paid copy of UBI's version that is wrapped up in a new box and offering a six month paid subscription to World Chess Live online service that is all.  All this does is just lowers the number of players from login on UBI to play chess online.  In return few players online means few fixes if any for online play on the UBI server |
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From the photos on Amazon.com, it looks like a repackaged version of 10th edition, not 11. CM11 recently dropped to 19.99 on Amazon, but I am waiting for confirmation on what Collectors Edition is going to be before I upgrade.
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Yes it sounds (and also looks) more like a 10th edition than Grandmaster edition to me.
The screenshots are low quality, but the logo on the upper left corner says two words - one really short one and one longer. It's probably "10th edition", it's certanly not "Grandmaster edition" or "Collectors edition" because the first word would be longer then. Also the games skin is Expert from the 10th edition and note that there is a cartoon avatar. Only 10th edition has cartoon avatars. Also if we consider that only Windows XP are mentioned then we can conclude that it really is the 10th edition and not the Grandmaster edition. What bothers me is that they advertise the clans and ladders and the 6 month World chess live (ICC) subscription. I don't think there are any clans and ladders on ICC. So how is this going to work??? I will tell you how I think it works. You basically get a 10th edition + 6 month ICC subscription and that is all. There is no correlation between these two items. So if you want to "upgrade" to the Collectors edition just buy yourself a 6 month ICC subscription and you are "upgraded" P.S.: In order to "upgrade" to Collectors edition by buying subscription, you MUST have the 10th edition (Grandmaster edition cant be upgraded )  |
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 Ah so what it comes down too ,is buy a copy of any of these software titles, read the copyrights, then just go and repackage the games and add paid online services and goodies that the original does not have  |
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Chessmaster Moderator |
Oh, by the way, you can't play online with anyone else except those using Collector's Edition...
Yes, it's definitely Chessmaster 10th Edition, with new box artwork... come to think of it, it's the same box artwork with just a few color changes. My guess is that Encore Software has some sort of re-seller's agreement with Ubisoft... many older games get bundled together and sold at huge discounts after a few years after they've peaked in popularity. This is probably something similar. |
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What do you mean by those copyrights and bypassing them you keep on mentioning? Besides 10th edition online is working (relativelly bug free) and has more people online than the Grandmaster edition. |
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During the past two days I have checked the 10th edition and Grandmaster edition online play on different times of the day. 10th edition online always has at least 2 times more players online than Grandmaster edition. The biggest difference was a few minutes ago when there were 7 players on GM online and 27 players on 10th edition online. |
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