2018-02-12 08:46:18

I received this earlier and I'm not sure what to make of it. the famous company that brought us kurt wolf and airic the cleric are now offering this new service I really don't understand. especially after I pre ordered airic 2 about 5 years ago and it's still never been made. i'll let you all make up your own minds:

Hey there,
I want to tell you the news. There's a new accessible service we're offering now called Gamerpal, which involves having video games read aloud to you. Any menus, inventory and dialogue. Even Location descriptions and strategy! RPGs work great, such as from the Final Fantasy or Zelda or Elder Scrolls. Even emulations! I personally like Final Fantasy 7.

Here's how it works:
1. Clicking the purchase link below makes you a listed member.
2. Send an email to [email protected] with the days you have open, we'll reply with times that are available.
3. Set your times and game it up.
Enjoy time with a gaming buddy, with voice acting, quick item reads and environmental descriptions.

Click here to get 4 hours total (divide the time however you want)
Click here to get 8 hours total (divide the time however you want)

Rules and Requirements:
The system only requires video games that run on your PC and an installation of Skype.
2 hour sessions at a time.
Sorry, no M rated mature games.
Parental consent if you are under 18 years of age.
This service is a lot of fun and people are really enjoying it! We hope to enjoy some gaming time with you! Thanks and write anytime if you have any questions. I'll be back with some news on the other games in progress!
Best Regards,
Jake, Breakerbox

Who's that trip trapping over My bridge? Come find out.

2018-02-12 10:36:50

Here's how I see it. It tells you you can't do M rated games, and you have to pay for a certain amount of time. Why should I pay for a limited service that I could easily get for free from my own home or from friends online. I could just go to my Dad and have him help me with a game and I don't have to pay him a cent. Plus, I would be able to play almost any game I want, of course excluding X rated games. I would understand setting X rated games as the limit, but M? Seriously?

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2018-02-12 13:51:51

Considering their track record on following through with their promises, I'll pass.

2018-02-12 15:36:54

Hi,

I will put aside the concerns i have with breakerbox promises for a bit to ask this question. When the appointment happens, will someone from breakerbox play along while i for example play pokemon? and reads everything i encounter on the screen in terms of text? describe the rooms, houses & caves i head into, then in the case of 8 hours of supported playing i won't even have finished the first gym in pokemon ruby, to wich i can speedwalk myself!

Or will a computerized system aid me during playing ...

I will follow this topic and see how things turn out to be, before i probably will jump in.

Greetz mike

Visit the following website to see what games we have:
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2018-02-12 15:43:41

Um, a team is already doing this, and we can get help with a lot more than video games. That said, I know some people who have gotten help from Aira to do exactly this, and they have a track record. The prices are quite steep, but at least I know I won't be dooped with them. Plus, with Aira, I could do console games.

2018-02-12 16:10:23

who here can really afford Aira though. I sure as shit can't. Also, yeah, no M rated games, well, that's mostly what I play so... guess that ain't gonna work.

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2018-02-12 17:25:49

I have to agree with Orin, if I was at all inclined to buy into something like this, which I'm not, I'd just give my money to Aira and sign up for a plan with more minutes, then use them for game playing. What minutes I don't need for game playing can be used for other things. Finally, with Aira I know what I'm getting for my money, I can't say that about Breakerbox.

2018-02-12 19:18:34

Hmmm.
To be honest I see no point in this.
But yeah I had all the games, and had to rebuy all the games again because I never got all my installers for any of the games I got then like 4 months down the road I got my files.
No one should need to wait that long.
And while I will continue to give breakerbox money for their games, the only reason that I still do is that their quality, and sounds is totally theirs and origional.
If it was the company's reputation I doubt I'd give them anything at all.
But I pay for content and I know that eventually I get the content I expect.
There are also the toys etc.
Now I am a patient man, I have a life so when they come, they come and as long as their quality does not dip below what I expect, then I will continue to pay for their programs.
But if it was their service alone, then I doubt it would be worth my cash.
Their subscription, no way.
I used to be on a radio show now dead where the host would play games for a few hours.
The show was called midimusic adventures.
The website is www.midimusicadventures.com
I am unsure if it still exists but if it does there is at least 2-3 years of content up there.
So the guy is sighted and plays the games.
But somehow he turned it into dnd style, reading dialog, and such.
He would pole users on what the next choice in game should be, and such.
He would comment on things to.
The show was for game music and old music but expanded into games, he even allowed people to come on with him via teamtalk.
I don't know if I would want to pay for service, it was entertaining because there were games I just couldn't play.
Similar things can be gotten out of youtube videos.
I don't think I would pay for it though.

2018-02-12 19:41:39

Well, I don't care, this guy showed me I shouldn't never trust him.

He created games with a lot of potential but screwed everything up. His games are too expensive, too much bugged and not really good for me.

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2018-02-12 21:29:32

Yep, I'll pass. When he can actually release a game in a reasonable amount of time then maybe. heh

Take care, it's a desert out there.

2018-02-13 08:42:44

Well, seems like nothing has changed, but yet again confirmed that I've previously said about this company. The only thing which matters for them is money. Promises and money. I won't give them anything until I have got what I have payed for, very long time ago.

Best regards SLJ.
Feel free to contact me privately if you have something in mind. If you do so, then please send me a mail instead of using the private message on the forum, since I don't check those very often.
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2018-02-13 14:12:41

Really now? If so, I'm gonna go go buy GTA V, and give this service ago. big_smile Seriously though, this guy never keeps his promises.

2018-02-13 16:59:25

And since we all know this guy never keeps is promises.... I'll bet a game of poker in Quentin C that he won't keep his promises on this either. smile

"On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament!]: 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out ?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."    — Charles Babbage.
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2018-02-13 22:45:23

I preordered Pan and that game has yet to come out. Why would I agree to buy anything from breakerbox when they cannot withhold their end? Why is it they always go away for a while and come back with this cool new idea when many of their ideas have not been finished yet? Do they think that everyone will forget about all the other things they have been promised?

Kingdom of Loathing name JB77

2018-02-14 00:59:24

And of course he'll never reply here till a positive comments will appear. big_smile

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2018-02-14 07:23:36

Hm I have friends I can do this with and actually have an enjoyable gaming experience by doing so over skype.  Sounds like a rip off service if you ask me, it's really easy to get friends and family to do this for you for free and you enjoy the game time a lot more that way.  Too many services that do that already as well.

2018-02-14 16:06:08

A few points here:

1. Breakerbox has been working to fix their track record in the last year or so, really more like the last six months. While I don't think all their work is done yet, I think it's worth at least giving them a chance. If nothing else, they have now actually started sending emails out with ways to buy their games directly, instead of continuing to utilize their previous and extremely clunky download method. This means that, if nothing else, if you want one of their games, you can just go snag ie. While I understand a healthy amount of skepticism, I think it bears mentioning that they are improving. That's a start. It may not be enough for everyone to trust them outright, but it's a start.

2. BreakerBox games are really not that expensive on the whole. Let's dispense with that myth right out of the gate. You want expensive audiogames? Look at my previous sentence (the gate, lol), and other titles from that developer. Forty dollars is a whole lot more than fifteen or twenty.

3. I do not mean to criticize by any means, but it would take you eight hours to get to the first gym in Pokémon Ruby? With all respect, I feel that's either a huge glorification to make the service look useless, or it's an indication of your playing speed which means paid services like this are really not for you in the first place...which means perhaps you shouldn't be critiquing their efficacy. To put this in perspective, I can get to the first gym in Pokémon Ruby in about...oh, forty minutes or so. Maybe an hour these days, since I haven't picked up the game in awhile. If you do that whole following-walls trick, it really does let you navigate most areas, especially near the beginning of the game, super easily.

4. My understanding is that you have to own whatever game it is, and you do some sort of skype call which lets the person on the other end be your eyes, and read dialogue, menu options and the like. Broken down, by the way, the cost asked for this service is approximately five dollars an hour, which is just a bit over a third of minimum wage in my own home country and province. There are, however, smaller time blocks. You don't have to buy the maximum eight hours, so mischaracterizing the service this way is something to be careful of going forward.

5. Pursuant to point #4, you obviously don't have to buy into this at all. I'll be honest; I probably won't. But I'm also not going to criticize the idea until or unless I see negative feedback from people who have had hands-on experience with the GamerPal program itself. If one or more of you says that you got ripped off and can demonstrate it somehow, or says that your gamer pal was completely useless or pedantic or kept having technical difficulties for which you were still held responsible...okay, I'll sit up and take notice. Anything else at this point is just grousing because of Breakerbox's admittedly checkered history.

6. Not all of us have friends or family who are willing to either play games with us, or read games out for us. As such, there are people - who live alone but still like to game, for instance - who might want to try giving this service a spin. I think it's a neat idea, and given the commentary about Aira - which I know next to nothing about, by the way - it sounds considerably cheaper. That said, BreakerBox deserves at least a little credit here, for trying to corner a niche market and offer a service. The only way we are going to know if it's actually worth it is for someone to try it and see. I'm pretty sure a two-hour window is ten dollars, and while I know people don't always have ten bucks lying around, it might be noble for one or more folks in the community with games on their PC they can't play alone to step up, lose ten bucks and actually tell us how the service works and how well it does or doesn't function. Worst case, you're out ten bucks, and you satisfy your skepticism. Best case, you realize that BreakerBox is onto something here.

The sheer amount of snark and negativity and assumption I've seen in this thread is actually pretty sad. Maybe tone it back a little.

Check out my Manamon text walkthrough at the following link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z8ls3rc3f4mkb … n.txt?dl=1

2018-02-14 17:25:30

You know what? You have some really good points. Let's someone try the service and see how it actually functions.

Take care, it's a desert out there.

2018-02-14 20:17:49

Go ahead Jayde, put your money where your mouth is and spend 10 bucks and report back to us.

Until then, my money is staying safely in my pocket.

2018-02-14 21:34:48

Hi!
Since the original email mentions people are really enjoying it, maybe we'll see some of those people report here and tell us what it's like. That would be lovely. So, if you have tried this service, please let us know how it went so the negativity that's going on here can be evaluated in light of actual experience rather than assumptions.

In the hands of a gamer, word becomes weapon, argument becomes shield, and life becomes a quest.

2018-02-14 23:52:04

actually the original email I posted is from the guy who runs the website and the only mentioning of enjoying it seems to be him saying he enjoys final fantasy  7. it could be a quote from a user though, it's hard to be sure.
I personally enjoyed playing it back in the day too but that's an epic game and the amount of hours you'd have to pay for to complete it would be unreal.

Who's that trip trapping over My bridge? Come find out.

2018-02-15 00:41:21

Negativity is earned though, I mean, who downs on developers who deliver good products, doesn't rip you off, delivers by the release date, or tells you a good reason why they must push it back. If people are being negative about a company, and its more than just one or two, that's probably justified, and I for one would rather see that where the alternative would be no one saying anything, and I or other people stumble into dealings with said company which end badly, either because they didn't deliver the product, the product failed to live up to expectation, or the quality was poor.

I for one know nothing of this company. I didn't really get into audio games until maybe 2013, as my vision used to be better than it is now. I was never fully sighted, and I was always classified as legally blind, but I did used to play a lot of mainstream games that I can't now, or I can, but its been made more difficult because of my vision being worse now.

I like to see the negativity where it is earned, and the positivity where it is earned as well. Gives me a solid idea of whether or not to buy things from that company, or that developer.

Facts with Tom MacDonald, Adam Calhoun, and Dax
End racism
End division
Become united

2018-02-15 00:56:58

What assumptions? We all already know of Breakerbox's past track record when it comes to following through with the promises it makes. Those aren't assumptions, they're cold hard facts based on real world experience.

2018-02-15 02:28:08

Right, and what of the fact that you can now buy their games instead of having to rely on a bad system to get them delivered to you? What of the fact that they are actually putting forth a newsletter-type email to note what they're up to? Does that count for absolutely zero?

I am not saying that skepticism doesn't belong here. It absolutely does. Skepticism is understandable. My previous post was intended to lend some balance to what I was seeing in this thread, a more well-rounded perspective, if you will. If all you read from it was "don't be negative", you missed the point almost entirely, and I urge you to reread it. There is a great deal more said there than "don't be negative". I wish people would more closely monitor the things they say and the impact those things can have on a community that already suffers from some pretty toxic entitlement and negativity issues.

Orko, I'll tell you why I won't and can't put my my money where my mouth is.
1. I don't actually have, own, or want to play any PC games that would need sighted assistance.
2. Even if I did - which, as you'll remember, I don't - most of those games require money. The service itself also requires money. This is money I don't precisely have. Unlike some of you, I do not already have a laundry list of games I own and wish I could play. I am starting from scratch, so instead of a ten-dollar outlay, you'd be looking at more than that.
3. I am going to college three full days a week, and work is really starting to pile up. You might notice that I've been posting less often in the last few weeks? One of the primary reasons for this is that I frankly have other demands on my time. That's certainly true for some of the rest of you as well, of course, and that's fine, but it means that I am not in either a financial or temporal position to devote my resources to confirming the usefulness of this product.
...which, of course, is why I threw down the gauntlet in the first place. Because some of you don't have libraries you could test it on, some of you really can't spare the ten bucks or so, some of you don't have the time. Fine. But I bet at least one person reading this could probably fulfill all criteria, and take up the challenge. I would if I could, but I can't, so I'm not going to lose sleep over it, or over an opinion of me which might change due to my inability to do as I'm asking others to try.
And it ought to go without saying, but I'll say it anyway. You'll get no judgment from me if you are unable or unwilling to take up this challenge. I am simply providing it as a means of demonstrating the efficacy of a service which is, as yet, unproven one way or the other in this community. At worst, I'm saying that if you can't actually prove that it's a bust, don't go around naysaying the company or the service, because you lack proof and might do more harm than you realize.

Check out my Manamon text walkthrough at the following link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/z8ls3rc3f4mkb … n.txt?dl=1

2018-02-15 08:51:21

Hi.
Thanks Jayde, for putting some positive words in this...
Let's continue the positive tone for a bit:
It would be interesting to use the service to get game menus noted. 5 dollars for an hour of help with the menus. That would be great stuff for sure...

Best regards SLJ.
Feel free to contact me privately if you have something in mind. If you do so, then please send me a mail instead of using the private message on the forum, since I don't check those very often.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/sorenjensen1988
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