People complaining that their computer can't run it because it doesn't match the specs on the box, I don't have much (if any) sympathy for. People complaining about the gameplay, well, it's subjective, and I haven't played yet.
However, there seem to be some real and serious technical issues with the game. Because one person does not encounter these is meaningless. They're lucky. Manuals not being shipped with the game? A tech tree shipped in French? ATI cards not working (I know some do, too many don't)? None of these are acceptable, at all.
The amount of leeway people are ready to give game companies staggers me. "Software development and bug testing are hard" -- so what. They are about a zillion miles from the hardest jobs in the world. It is the job of a company to release a product that works as they say it will work. I don't care what kind of company it is. And they aren't modders, we are paying them for a product, and it had better work.
Nor do I care what branch of the company messed up. They hired a cheap packager -- that's their fault. They let massive bugs through -- that's their fault. I have never seen any company defended by customers for releasing a shoddy, incomplete product except in gaming, and it's rather appalling.
I don't have the game yet, it's still being shipped. I may bypass all the problems; considering my history with this computer, I probably will. It doesn't matter. Firaxis/TakeTwo still messed up, whether their screw ups affect me personally or not.
