Browser based games are generally associated with procrastination, sporadic sessions of Mafia Wars or the perusal of a few Kongregate games to wile away the hours. German based Bigpoint Games, however, have broader goals in mind. A game developer and purveyor of the largest gaming portal website in Europe, Bigpoint, hosts over 35 titles playable in your web browser. With a growing share of the US market, Bigpoint is amping up their repertoire of 3D browser games with the launch of three titles due out later this year.
A home brewed version of the criminal themed open-world action game is the first on their list. Poisonville is an MMO approach to the Grand Theft Auto formula, setting players into a competitive environment between player-created gangs whilst they fight for territory. Each server will host approximately 4,000 players. The game is powered by Unity and based on the short in-game demonstration, it’s engine looks to be handling the content very well. For an exclusively browser based experience, the world is richly populated. Civilians, police officers, and rival gang members walk the streets. Cars just waiting to be stolen navigate around the metropolis. Poisonville was not teeming with life, but it was certainly a believable atmosphere for the criminal underworld to call home. It aims to be a rich venue for play, incorporating a day and night cycle and some built in flash mini-games to add variety. The game is currently in closed beta with an expected release sometime early this summer.
Also using the Unity engine, Project Uniter is Bigpoint’s racing venture. Miniaturized cycles and tiny occupants explore the hazards of a race track composed of tin cans, pushpins, and pencils. This project itself, however, is more of a tech prototype in a game. It serves as a technological proof of concept, a path Bigpoint wants to forge with future titles – the ability to connect players across computer and handheld platforms. This means players can fluidly move from a web browser on their home computer to a wireless connected iPhone, all while playing the same game with the same people regardless of their location or interface. During my hands on experiment with the game, the simultaneity between PC and iPhone was seamless. The technology, if implemented correctly, offers an important contribution to the casual-social gaming scene.
With a fanatic built in audience, Bigpoint’s development of Battlestar Galactica Online has garnered the most excitement amongst their upcoming releases. Based on the critically acclaimed television series of the same name, Battlestar Galactica Online is an heir to the rich sci-fi epic created by Glen Larson and Ronald Moore. Bigpoint CTO Jan Wergin assures the ‘frak’ ton of BSG fans that the company is working closely with the Syfy network, custom tailoring the story and game experience to both fit in and enrich the Battlestar universe. While the game is still early in development, it promises to be a tactical shooter MMO, with players joining the human or cylon factions as the wage a war amongst the stars. With an already successful browser based space game available in Dark Orbit, Bigpoint is well situated to deliver, at the very least, an enjoyable continuation of the beloved space opera. Battlestar Galactica Online will be available exclusively on the Syfy channel’s website late this year.
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I can prove all of the following statement in a court of law by using emails and people.
Bigpoint is a con, the people at the top are ignorant, greedy and very selfish.
I am tired of them conning me time and again and I have only been associated with them for nine months.
The support team never seem interested in anything the paying customers have to say, they just sweep our complaints under the carpet. I have been unable to play the game on 3 occasions because of coding errors and have dropped in rank by what cost me roughly over £100 and hard work to attain. Not once did I receive an apology or any compensation. Therefore, I have wasted money on their game. I call it being robbed.
And the support team constantly accused me of being a cheat which was later proven to be another coding error. I was told by a support member that even if I attempt to go higher with this that any email will end up back with them, that’s how obnoxious they are. “Fine, any communication in english gets back to the english supporters anyway, nevermind where you sent it”
All complaints are swept under the carpet. Their site has a gold premium package that costs £35 for 12 months use, they are giving people 9 months use in the hope that people won’t notice, seeing as it continues to the next year if not cancelled. I unexpectedly cancelled mine which they didn’t notice, and a month later my premium ended after only 9 months of use. When I noticed this and enquired about it to their so-called support team, they blocked my account. And that is after I have spent hundreds of pounds on their site. They didn’t like the fact that I discovered their scam and have covered their tracks by messing with my account.
DarkOrbit is running one big scam and their coders are useless, maybe the people at the top at bigpoint did or didn’t know about this but, I believe they do. I suggested they look into this, although, I know it will all be denied.
Their support team keep telling me to go away and get a lawyer, they know how difficult it will be for me to prove anything.
They have no respect for people whatsoever and whine like babies when we lose our temper with them.
How can a site that is so big and popular be so nasty to people?
I am very disappointed with this site, and it has made me very discouraged about joining any other sites.
Please don’t waste your time and money on this con of a site.
The people at DarkOrbit are running a con and I’m sure Bigpoint know about this seeing as the so-called support team are linked to Bigpoint.
The people at the top ignore all contact I make with them, they are not interested in the slightest. They are ignorant little robbers.
You can’t get any satisfaction with that company, the people at the top will have nothing to do with your disputes and will either delete or forward it to support who will then either ignore it or attempt to make you feel small.
The people at the top are only interested in emails coming from supporters of the company.
It’s only a matter of time before this is all revealed.
I hate the lot of them, they get rich from conning us, throw parties and expect to get away with it.
PS, Why do you think they have won so many awards?
They hide all the complaints away, people are not seeing the truth but, hopefully it will all come out in time.
I have had my acount suspended for lack of funds, catch is this was done with a prepaid credit card, explain to me how a prepaid credit card can lack funds ??
Now thay want 111.37 to re-activate my account !!!!
I have dealt with Matercard but trying to get someone at bigpoint to talk to you is impossible ( especially their billing support )
I sent them my card statement and request a few explanations as there are transactions on there I know I did not make , those transactions have the words “Forced Post” as a description and a fee of 2.20 . I calculated everything and have screenshot and transaction ID of every purchase I made. I should have a positive balance but now I have 2 transactions pending for over 57.00 , the account has 17 left in it.
I sent them this information through their MISC support because I cant even submit one through billing support! I closed tehticket due to an error on teh type of card I used and when I try to create another I get an “oops that didnt work” stating I already have a ticket, I go to that ticket and its closed !
Who is this company run by? Hitlers heir ?? Bigpoint from Hamburg Germany has one very messed up customer support team when it comes to billing as there is no accountability and no recourse.
Funny thing is on the same card one day later there was another transaction and no problems with that so tell me either the funds were there or not, IT’S A PREPAID CARD !!!! And why is there 2 extra transactions for 99.999 and 29.99 ??
They did not even send me any confirmation e-mails on teh last 5 purchases I made but luckily I have kept all transaction ID from them.
Will keep you posted on the rsults , but this is typical of their billing support team, I think it’s manned by the gestapo.
Sounds like these guys are up to their necks in illegal practice, keep us posted and we will follow up the story. We’re always intrested in keeping gaming clean.
Well then here’s the whole story with a sample of what I have , you be the judge.
On the 22nd I tried to log into my Dark Orbit Account and got a message stating that I had an outstanding balance and unless I paid 111.37 to their bank via a wire transfer my account would stay suspended , they would “ release my account” for that price.
Below is my MasterCard statement, I’ve added some notes to give you a feel of the timeline and balance of events.
4/2/2010 12:56:56 PM CASH MONEY 574 OTTAWA Advance Limit $179.50 $179.50 ($2.00) Card Loaded // this is my initial deposit
4/2/2010 12:56:56 PM Direct Cash Prepaid. Calgary Card Fee $0.00 $0.00 ($7.50) Monthly Fee // their fee so now I have 170.00
4/4/2010 5:48:06 PM http://WWW.BIGPOINT.COM HAMBURG Purchase Advance ($104.80) $0.00 $0.00 Declined // wrong postal code entered
4/4/2010 5:59:44 PM http://WWW.BIGPOINT.COM HAMBURG Purchase Advance ($104.80) $0.00 $0.00 Declined // again
at this point I went back to the store and was to return to see the manager that afternoon I think I attempted a transaction about 4 of 5 times the night before during MHH but when I got back home I tried it again and I had neglected a number in my postal code.
4/5/2010 8:18:15 AM http://WWW.BIGPOINT.COM HAMBURG Purchase Advance ($104.80) ($104.02) ($0.50) Approved
I figured out what I did wrong as you can see above , transaction id T125857755 , so -104.52 total leaves 65.48 correct?
4/9/2010 9:34:21 AM CASH MONEY 574 OTTAWA Advance Limit $162.00 $162.00 ($2.00) Card Loaded //
deposit 160 + 65.48 = 225.48 unless my math is very bad .Notice the time of that deposit on the 9th please and you will see why I am not a happy camper
4/9/2010 3:43:14 PM http://WWW.BIGPOINT.COM HAMBURG Purchase Advance ($104.54) ($103.88) ($0.50) Approved //
This is the date in question 103.88 + 50 = 104.33 225.48-104.33 = 121.15 this is the balance after the transaction in question! Why was this canceled ? but just in case I’m wrong and it was the next one then
4/11/2010 4:19:22 PM http://WWW.BIGPOINT.COM HAMBURG Purchase Advance ($104.32) ($19.06) ($0.50) Approved //
So BigPoint got 19,06 for some reason ? anyway 121.15 – 19.56 = 101.59
4/16/2010 1:16:55 AM http://WWW.BIGPOINT.COM HAMBURG Purchase Advance ($99.99) ($103.88) ($2.25) Forced Post //
A Forced post is when the company requests the funds again
Now the above is what I think is the problem because 103.88 + 2.25 = 106.13 so 101.59 – 106.13 = $-4.54
4/17/2010 11:32:26 AM CASH MONEY 574 OTTAWA Advance Limit $165.00 $165.00 ($2.00) Card Loaded
New deposit
then I made 3 more purchases
So now tell me why the 19.06 surcharge , why did they not take the whole balance on the 11th ?? Clearly the funds where there. and why charge me another 103.88 on top of the 19.06 ???? see 103.88 – 19.06 = 84.82 and that should have been the charge. I thought by providing support with the statement they could shed some light on this but instead I got the following which doesn’t correspond at all with my statement from Mastercard.And this is directly from their e-mail to me.
T127916679 2010-04-17 23:05:32 17,99 Rabate package
T127916398 2010-04-17 23:04:11 29,99 USD
T127915913 2010-04-17 23:01:31 99,99 USD
T126935460 2010-04-12 00:19:19 99,99 USD
T126535474 2010-04-09 23:43:07 99,99 USD Canceled
T125857755 2010-04-05 16:17:31 99,99 USD
T125738856 2010-04-05 01:59:05 99,99 USD Error
T125737551 2010-04-05 01:50:23 99,99 USD Error
T125737388 2010-04-05 01:49:22 99,99 USD Error
T125736994 2010-04-05 01:47:01 99,99 USD Error
T125736755 2010-04-05 01:45:27 99,99 USD Error
Why does this show the 9th is a problem ? while my statement shows in was the two that came after that are the culprits.
This is why I request someone from billing or a manager to contact me. But nothing so far.
As for billing support well I made the grave error of reporting the card as a VISA instead of a MasterCard and when I realized I closed the ticket and tried creating another I got the oops message
Haven’t been able to create another since and the ticket shows closed so. I found myself back here. Believe me I was hoping I wouldn’t have to go through this again. Feels like I’m being extorted here. 3 rd time that billing is giving me issues.
Now if that transaction was canceled then why isn’t it reflected in my account ?
It was taken out !!!!
They suspended my account but hey! For $111.37 I can get it back !!! For 4.54 , I think this is a bit of an overkill for someone who has continued to support this site since joining in the past 2 months. And no, I don’t feel like the error is mine here. since I was charged 122.94CDN for 99.99 USD. MY job was done, the funds were there, it’s a freaken prepaid card !
Had the price been adjusted accordingly the funds would have been available on the 16th as well.
And doesn’t a prepaid card mean just that ! If the funds aren’t there does the transaction still go through? Since when ?? do you know how much money I can save doing that !!!
I still don’t know what the 19.06 is for BTW and neither does MasterCard .
And no one from BigPoint will talk to me !
I have a feeling I will be telling his horror story for years to come
My family member still play by the way , they are addicted. Until they meet Billing Support that is .
That will leave the most unpleasant taste in anyone’s mouth.
Be very careful with Bigpoint! My personal experience with its so called “free” Darkorbit MMO is summarised at mydarkorbitexperience.com