So all the PS3 users who bought Devil May Cry 4 got home, wiped the dust off that’s been gathering since Uncharted, and sat back ready to enjoy Capcom’s latest demon slaying tour de force until their eyes began to bleed. But much to their chagrin, they were “treated to an exciting 22 - 25 minute load process as the disc spins a few gigs of data onto your hard drive.” At least that’s how Capcom Community Blogger Chris “Kramez” Kramer words it. Treated makes it sound as if you, the loyal consumer (maybe even one of those die-hard psfanboys that signed your silly little petition awhile back), are about to receive a “treat.”

Kramez says “While the game is loading, you get to watch a really nifty series of screens that completely catch you up on the Devil May Cry back-story… It’s great for those new to the series and also a good refresher to serious fans.” Did you catch that last part? That’s an old trick car salesmen use also to help make you the purchaser feel special, with that “serious fans” bit. It causes you, the loyal purchaser to now question whether or not you should be miffed at this required loading process and risk not being a “serious fan” as opposed to being just a jerk who bought a game. Keep in mind you can also view these same screens in the library mode. Mr Kramez then pokes fun at this issue by saying “If you don’t want to watch the “Previously, on Devil May Cry…” portion of the install process, go make a sandwich and grab a soda, then come on back. You’re going to be spending some serious time with this game, and we don’t want you going hungry. Low blood sugar will make you dizzy and you’ll need to be focused like an Alan Parsons Project to defeat the enemies in this game.”

To put things in perspective for you Kramez ask if you’ve ever played a PC game and then implies that you are a crybaby of sorts who should appreciate their generosity in that “At least we aren’t making you shuffle multiple discs into a ROM drive, or continuously click “Yes!” on a series of endless Windows dialog boxes.” Aside from the asinine comparison of my game console to a PC (I avoid PC games for the very reasons he mentions), Kramez makes one fatal flaw in his argument against all you wussies that just want to play that game you bought right out of the box. He gives the example: “Installing on a console may seem like a weird idea, but there’s a real benefit. Unreal Tournament also has an option to install files onto your PS3; I’ve done it and it makes a great game even better.” After dissecting this statement the part the stands out is the word “OPTION.” You see UT3 gives you, the owner of this item, an option to do what you want to either enhance load-times or play as is right away. The game itself will play the same, it does not REQUIRE the install.

Devil May Cry 4 for PS3 however, REQUIRES this install. The 360 version does not. So my question is this. Were the developers inept at programing for the Sony Beast, or just lazy? Perhaps the fault is not even theirs. Maybe they wanted to master the monster that is Sony’s allegedly difficult architecture but the publisher pushed them into rushing to meet sales deadlines. I’m calling you out Capcom, why the difference between the two? Conversely why no OPTION to install to my 360 hard drive? Other visually intense games for PS3 do not REQUIRE this sort of install. Uncharted ran fine for me, Rachet and Clank, etc. Chris “Kramez” Kramer can make light all he wants, but if he is being presented as the voice of Capcom for the general gaming populace, then Capcom sounds like a douche-bag to me. These sort of positive spin campaigns through “grass roots” blogging really just insult real gamers and make the companies look bad. I think Capcom should keep this Kramez character out the blogosphere until he can learn to give some respect to the purchaser that provide his company the funds to keep him on the payroll.