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Thursday, April 8, 2010

The save file bug

Sincere apologies on my behalf, as well. :( We, as not only developers but also fellow gamers, know how painful it is to lose your scores, kills and characters (though DLC characters you can always download for free) - something you've worked very hard to get. The fault was in build finalization process. We implemented anti-cheating measures a couple of episodes back which rely on matching version numbers. One of the version numbers was not updated and it caused the game to completely reject new save games. It pains me how small an error can cause such wide-spread havoc!

I just now finished coding a save file loader which takes a different approach to anti-cheating to make sure this cannot happen again. Also, now whenever there is trouble loading a save file, the game will not overwrite your save unless you specifically instruct it to. This means if the game is ever unable to load the save file, you will not lose progress and any bugs causing the failure can be remedied in an update without a loss of data.

I'll move on to unlocking the lost characters based on OpenFeint achievements now. Sorry guys! We'll make this up to you with even better updates.

94 comments:

  1. Thanks for the update Kimmo and for being quick to find the problem.

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  2. Thank you for the update, but there is a problem with the Open Feint idea, it assumes that you always have your version of Minigore synced with the Open Feint servers, which I almost never do, because I don't have wifi (weird isn't it). Suggestion: have an option for multiple saved games so that if the game programming does not work the way that you think it will, you will have a backup of your last save game.

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  3. Never mind. Still loving Minigore!

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  4. I can breathe now, Thank you :D

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  5. does it mean we can download now?

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  6. Thanks for the news. Glad to know you're making progress.

    On an unrelated note, any opinions about Apple's new 'Game Centre' for 4.0?

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  7. when can we dl the fix? tell us a time plz, ty.

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  8. fuck, i didnt even use openfeint.
    im fucked.
    what bout that 20,000 kill points,
    we gettin that or what????

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  9. I knew you were gonna make it all up from the start :) But will the fix take a whole update (episode 3.8)? Will the whole thing have to be re-approved by Apple? That would kinda suck :/ Oh but I'll always love this great game, and something silly like losing a bunch of characters (which were FUN to earn) TEMPORARILY isn't going to change a thing about my thoughts about Minigore. Rock on MS!

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  10. This is why mountain sheep is awesome, thank you so much for figuring this out, i will apologize on behalf of all the whiners out there, they over reacted, and werent thinking rationally, i cant wait to see what cool ideas you have for future updates

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  11. Ironic how an anti-cheating measure punished the people who never cheated in Minigore. Although this is all well and good, and I'm glad to see devs stepping up. This does not solve the problem about never syncing to openfeint(I for one, am one of those people, I travel frequently and it is silly to pay for a data plan I hardly use and I don't have wifi, so I never wanted to use openfeint).

    And it also does not solve the problem about kills. I had a measly kill count, a mere 30,000. But I was really looking forward to unlocking the bear, I can get those kills back, will just take a while. But the people who claim they had upwards of 100,000 kills are still going to be pretty damn unhappy. And you could tell them to take it or leave it, but my guess is that they're gonna get everyone including their grandmother to post bad reviews on every appstore that has a game section.

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  12. Woo finally we got somewhere, shame about losing the kills thoughs, oh well.

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  13. I had a root around in openfeint and high scores for episode 3.5 were saved, could those synced back?

    Also, I wouldn't object to the dlc being free for a limited time *nudge nudge*

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  14. yeah its good and all that you guys found the problem, but it still doesnt change the fact that i lost all 850,000 kills!! anybody whose actually played the game knows that takes months to get, im not going to be happy until mountain sheep finds a way to get those kills back

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  15. DLC being free is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. It's only the penny pushers who never bought the DLC and are now trying to cash-in on a screw up to get their coveted characters without spending a dime.

    And most people complaining about their 100,000 kills already have DLC, so what's the point of giving away DLC? It only serves to further enrage these people. Cheapskates with terrible reasoning abound is all I can say.

    And no I am not trying to start a flame war, but seriously, think about what you just wrote. How does it make sense?

    Proper compensation other than to remove the tainted app and release a quick update to this would be to give people a set amount of kills back. Run a poll and average it. May not be the best idea, but I for one don't want more than my 30,000 kills back, if I suddenly got 1 million kills, that would simply kill the fun of trying to unlock characters.

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  16. @Kolor Tongue in cheek comment, dude. Relax, I'm not demanding anything.
    And don't be insulting. 'Penny pushers'? For crying out loud, some people can't afford to just frivolously spend money. Don't be a jackass.

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  17. How long does it take to be in the AppStore?

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  18. Sorry for the double post but something just popped into my head.

    I am one of those people who bought the DLC, all of it. It would not be logical, not to mention utterly ridiculous if the devs suddenly decided to reward the people who NEVER BOUGHT the DLC with DLC and to punish the people who actually DID BUY the DLC with zilch.

    Honestly, DLC shouldn't even be considered as compensation. The problem is kills. What on earth does DLC have to do with it? People who bought DLC get it back free-of-charge. No loss there.

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  19. I agree with you Kolor, I bought them, that'll be unfair for the people who bought them, 'cause the other can get them free now ;(

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  20. When the fix comes, there should just be a one time message asking you to type in your previous kills, not that hard.

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  21. Thanks Kimmo, I'm glad you were so quick off the update. I am sorry about the immaturity of the community though, their abuse was out of order.
    -K-

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  22. Woot go MS!!!! this reminds me of a song...
    "Here Comes The Sun doo doo do do"

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  23. Got a question.
    In the list of new features posted by MS on April 1st, the promised new difficulty curve was not included on that list..... so the difficulty settings remains the same, or did you guys just forgot to put it on the list?

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  24. Dear Kimmo,
    If this new update just made a bunch of people go bananas, what do you think those people think of "We'll make this up to you with even better updates."

    Don't get me wrong, I like this game and still have faith in MS but sometimes your promises doesn't sound too promising. It's important that you know how to connect with people.

    Good luck.

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  25. IMO as compensation, giving Minigore players Sensei E is more than enough( restoring the kills, experiences, achievements, etc. does not count as a compensation). Asking for free DLC is asking for too much.

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  26. Good job MS never lost faith on you. From yesterday insaw a lot of negative comment to you guys from your fans I am sorry too.

    About the characters skin thing. Em... I am thinking about this can we have a vote again on character's skill. And their skill are base on them by that I mean. Maybe the guy from that zombies game his shoot rate are 1.5 time faster etc.
    Also since zombies gore and gangster gore can upgrade their shooting rate. Why can't others do that too?

    By the way I thought we are gong to get new weapons are we?

    I love the level sellection thing I am looking forward to see what will be on that map too.
    I hope that my idea could help and please reply us because your reply can sovle out a lot question in out head

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  27. Just make EVERYONE (not inc dlc) free!

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  28. Fuck u guys, this is the 3rd time I lost my kills, NEARLY had sensai evan, goddam. Make it right the first time!! I was out and about and checked for app updates and was so excited to play this long awaited episode and then I got fucked over for the 3rd time!!!! I'm done with this game

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  29. Not everyone free. That's ridiculous. What about having everyone but Xmas Gore, Sensei Evan and the DLC free? That's what most people had, right? The people who had Sensei Evan had their game synced with OpenFeint anyway, so, problem solved.

    Ha.

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  30. better updates?!? this is a fucking JOKE!!! and when are we getting the next update you fucktarts??! ANOTHER 4 months from now??? quit with the promises and start fucking DELIVERING

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  31. i dodnt have much to begin with so im fine but i have a question, other than the snow and desert maps what other maps do you have any plans for cuz the map selection screen is mostly desert iguee lust wonderin thanks for fixing the problem

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  32. So, when can we update?

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  33. A good idea for PART of compensation perhaps in the long run as an update is having To not spend points on characters but unlock them instead. Spending ponta is dumb, especially for small ones like Jerry gore, and big ones like Santa gore that doesnt really do anything anymore

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  34. i wont care about the losses if moutian sheep realease their nxt update by the ned of this month, i think that would make everyone happy.

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  35. i knew u guys at ms would fix this and u are instantly redeemed in my view (although i don't know about everyone else) and im glad that u adimitted it and didn't try and pin it on someone else. I still love minigore and its gratifying to know that u guys can deal with something this big. Keep on going mountain sheep (and when will the new fixed update be?)

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  36. Wow thanks mountain sheep! Give us more characters for the next 'even better' update OK?
    I cannot fucking wait! x)

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  37. please also have this update very soon! I love minigore and I dont think I can last too long waiting for this update so please make it quick so I can start playing again and get those characters! I WANT Z-GORE BAD!!!

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  38. as much as we loved our hard-earned characters, the only reason we continued to earn them was because the road to unlocking new characters was an enjoyable one. what happens when you unlock a character? you use it to unlock another one. i think some people are forgetting how fun the game itself is, and the characters don't change the gameplay much (with the exception of sensei, enviro, gangster [which can be rebought], and the ninja).

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  39. is there a difference between hardland and snow level? because i am debating on wether to buy new characters or not

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  40. Hey you said that we are going to get our characters back through openfeint. Maybe you could create an option that let us import our characters to a new device(if we change of ipod/iphone) by using our openfeint account?

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  41. Those complaining about it happening before to them are the biggest fools - you should have learnt your lesson and not updated straight away... always best to give it an extra day to see what goes wrong

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  42. =================================================
    Does anyone know if this update has been submitted or when it will be submitted.
    =================================================

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  43. I was never using OpenFeint.
    I WANT MY 700.000 POINTS BACK!

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  44. Not going to get your 700k back. Stop whining.

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  45. I hope you die of cancer..

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  46. Played the update before reading of the glitch, had all characters except for Sensei and Xmas Gore, with 85,00 kills reserved for Xmas Gore. I thought that really sucked to lose it all, but I forgive you guys, and know it was an accident.

    To solve the problem of those who deserve lots of kills who saved for Sensei, and those who don't deserve lots of kills and only earned a few characters, I came up with an idea. How about you make the amount of kills you give to players with the fix bigger or smaller depending on how many characters they had.

    What I think should happen is...

    If players had anywhere from none of the characters (except for John) to all the characters before Enviorbear (in achievements), (likely saving for Envirobear, or just to get players started again)- 20,000 kills given

    If players had Enviorbear alongside others (with achievement), (likely saving for Xmas Gore or Sensei Evan) - 50,000 kills given

    If players had achievements for all characters except for Sensei Evan (likely saving for Sensei Evan)- 750,000 or 600,000 kills given

    This, in my opinion, is far better than giving one static number of kills to all the players who had a different range of kills. I also suggest making a leaderboard of overall kills, including those spent on characters, to further secure the save data.

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  47. I hope You die slowly by cancer - spitting out Your intestines, shitting through Your mouth!

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  48. It's not that big a deal. It was fun to unlock all of the characters.

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  49. @Anonymous

    "I hope You die slowly by cancer - spitting out Your intestines, shitting through Your mouth!"

    Hey man, not cool. My grandpa died shitting through his mouth. It was a helluva Christmas that year.

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  50. I suggest making Sensei Evan a free character. That's what all of us were saving up for since the Evan release anyway. Right now, all of us who have been playing the game for months but not using OpenFeint are screwed out of kills and characters (we have to start completely over). Those playing for months using OpenFeint are screwed out of kills (up to close to 900,000 kills it's been claimed...come on guys, you know how long it takes to rack up that many kills...think of the dedication to your game some of us have had). Just a suggestion.

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  51. Hey guys, when he said that the DLC would be free, he meant for those who had ALREADY purchased the characters !!!!

    It's not magically going to be free for everyone !

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  52. I do not know wether you are the Anonymus who annoyed me or not. So I feel unable to say I am sorry.

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  53. Let's just leave MS to do what they have to do. At least there is still a plethora of games out there for us. Why not try something new while we wait?

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  54. Daisy Mae
    Meteor Blitz

    Great dualstick shooters.

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  55. Cartoon Wars: Gunner

    awesome gameplay

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  56. The purchased characters also cant be bought back, no unlock button

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  57. Just click buy again, iTunes will ask you if you want to purchase it, and then it will tell you you already bought it and it will ask you if you want to download it for free.

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  58. I bought both DLC so im happy :D and i got up to the lizard dude so im fine i can do it again im not pissed but one of my highscores was 40,000 But its not that big of a deal im fine wit it so 20,000 is fine with me if your giving that out like you said it will let me get back to pace with my game

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  59. So erm, when will be I be getting my Character back? Plz update before you know, the Game room thingy. Timeframe will be nice!!!

    Besides the character things suggestions right? have your say? Intead of this purely being a surrvival shooter, did you guys think of doing a story mode?

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  60. When I went in t find my data gone, I was upset for sure. But the fact that you guys are already on this and are going to give us back parts of it based on achievements already is wow. That is awesome. Thank you so much! 5 stars for the fast response in not just fixing the bug, but for going that extra step. Love this pointless but awesome app!!

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  61. uh..i never connected with openfeint does that mean all my characters + kills r gone? -__- and u don't have to make dlc free but maybe give some incentive now? ;)

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  62. About fifteen posts above me, some genius posted a very reasonable way to give a reasonable amount of kills back; not just characters. Read the post it was submitted at 5:13 pm.

    Ok done? I know there are people who skip characters to get sensei immediately, but the urge to get as many characters as possible limits that number of people drastically. This guy's suggestion is brilliant and reasonable... Unlike the people saying "give us everybody/sensei for free" or "999999999 kills pl0x." Please take his idea into consideration, if there is no better way to redistribute kills. Thanks!

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  63. @plasmakirby2

    If everyone had used OpenFient, I would agree with you 100% about the above submitter's suggestion. As a nonOpenFienter I worked my way getting every character (sans Sensei) then was about 330,000 kills to getting Sensei. It seems that most of the reasonable "fixes" suggested by posters and/or developers involve obtaining stats from OpenFeint. I admit this seems to be the easiest/most sensible way to go about things: I guess I'm just disappointed that now I'm basically back to zero with everything after spending months on the game and most suggestions for "fixes" don't apply to me at all as a nonOpenFeinter. In the future, I should probably use OpenFient as a data backup I suppose.

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  64. This is the poster that came up with the idea for the character-based kills in return. (Anonymous 5:13 pm) It's nice to see some of you like my idea, but I couldn't come up with anything for non-OpenFient users.

    However, I don't think users should be forced to use OpenFient to secure data, and non OpenFient users should still get payback and characters aswell. I feel sorry for those who never used it. :(

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  65. After the screen flipping incident I backup all the Minigore.ipa files before I apply them.

    If you have a backup of the "Minigore 1.26.ipa"
    delete the current "Minigore??.ipa" file copy "Minigore 1.26.ipa" into itunes then go to the properties of the app in itunes and point it to "Minigore 1.26.ipa"

    Retstore you phone from backup and you will have the kills back when with the older version.

    I know have Xmas gore back after 100,000 kills it took and am on my way to Sensei Evan with only 28,500 kills.

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  66. I for one am one of those users who have never used or synced to OpenFeint. Although like in my previous posts I did mention I had a mere 30,000. This still would not work. I know of one German person already who had upwards of 500,000 kills and never synced once to OpenFeint. This idea, of a static number based on achievements, while ingenious does not help out the poor people who never synced.

    That's why I still think a poll would be better. True there could be unethical people who will say they had 100,000 kills when all they had was really just 100. But it's the only real way to satisfy everyone in my opinion. Limit the number of options then, like make them 5,000, 20,000, 50,000, 100,000 and 250,000. True 250k is paltry compared to 850k like some people are claiming. But 250k is still a huge step-up from 20k. And it's a poll after all.

    I don't like this idea, but it's the only one I can think of that deals with the folks who never used OpenFeint.

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  67. best i could think of doing is going into TimeMachine, finding the older version, replacing the new one with that and re-installing it, you don't get saved data but at least the game keeps track of your progress so you can start saving up kills again... :/

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  68. i didn't use openfeint?
    what about me?

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  69. Free Hardland Premium Characters rather than
    20 000 kill points would be better because 20 000 is not enough to get half-way to 1 000 000 kills.

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  70. Hey the time machine was posted at 9:52 pm. Mountain goat can you put up a URL to an older file. I don't use openfeit either and worked for me cause scores back the score is local!

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  71. Anybody who has been playing for months and months to save up kills really knows the pain it is to have lost all the kills (nearly 600.000 for myself).
    I hope MS can find a way. I personnally did not use Openfeint.
    I deeply believe that giving Sensei straight aways or for much less than 1.000.000 kills should satisfy most of us. Because that was clearly the Graal that kept us playing so much. I still love Minigore and gonna continue to play like crazy with free Sensei
    Otherwise, i really feel unlike to start over again.

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  72. Free Hardland Premium Characters. Cheapskates have suddenly risen out of the damn hole they were hiding in all this while. Do you also bring your own cheese and ketchup to Macdonald's to save on shit? Get a job lowlife!

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  73. make it up to us in future updates... yea in about a year or 5... hows that multiplayer comin along that was suppose to be in episode 2, then bumped to episode 4, and since you are going at a pace of 0.1, it will go 3.8,3.9, and then 3.91,3.92, 3.93 and so on. and finally we will get multiplayer when the 4th or 5th gen ipod touch comes out and the hardware is faster.

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  74. And how exactly will the people who didn't have feint before the update recover their characters? I have it now, after the update of course.. But somehow I doubt I'll be able to get my characters back.

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  75. ill make this post short and sweet.

    free or easy to earn characters will defeat the purpose of the game. the motivation of unlocking new characters is what keeps the game interesting while MS is working on a new update.

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  76. Would it be maybe possible to retain my kills when I close the game and start it again? Kthx

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  77. i want a full refund!
    i have already contacted apple and
    will not be satisfied until my money
    is returned.
    YOU F* CKERS wasted my time and my
    money!!!

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  78. You guys realy have to come up to us with something good because this rediculous... This update took so long and it even was an epic fail!!! "we will even make better updates". This is what you said in your post but plz dont make promises tht you cant make true!!

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  79. well... the promise of awesome updates does kinda calm me down... ;)

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  80. Why are the characters all unlocked in the iPad version then? Let me guess it's because they charge 4.99 for it so they don't really care if people lose interest five minutes after purchase because they pocketed the 4.99?

    Kirby, either you start making sense, or go play with yourself you illogical wanker.

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  81. When is this coming out
    I am still waiting for this
    I have school tmr I hope I can show my fd how good I am in the new update please hurry up

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  82. how to get my credit bakc!@43124 bad game t buy..

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  83. I like the idea of us being able to pick our Kills # when we start up the (updated) game for the first time. This is the one method that hurts no one:

    -People who had hundreds of thousands of kills saved will instantly be able to pick up right where they left off.
    -People who bought DLC won't be mad, unlike how they would feel if everyone else was suddenly getting it for free as compensation.
    -People who had only a few thousand kills can be honest and report their approximate kill counts, thus still getting the "thrill" of unlocking new characters.
    -I suspect the issue will be that some people just want to play with the best characters in the game without building up hundreds of thousands of kills. As an experienced player you might not like that, but it really doesn't affect you in any way. It's not like they're getting something for free that you had to pay for. And while they do get to skip all the hours of gameplay that you needed to hit a certain #, you'll also have the option of doing the same. In a lot of games, characters/abilities are unlocked from the get-go, but in this one you have to work hard to get them. I don't think this should be a huge issue though I see how it will madden some people. I am 99% sure that these same people would rather keep their 700k kills and let an inexperienced player obtain the same than to start over from 20k like all other players.
    -For people who have been using OpenFeint and thus have a much smaller problem on their hands, this number of "self-awarded kills" shouldn't be counted as an achievement in any way (I have no idea what sort of achievements are listed in the system).

    This method's not perfect, but some of the commonly stated alternatives - choosing a starting kills number based either on a "poll" or the dev's own pick - significantly hurts the people on the upper end of the bell curve if the number is too low (and it's guaranteed to always be too low for some). If the number is too high, it also might lead to a lot of new MG players finding that they already have a number of characters unlocked, when in fact they wanted that thrill of the chase. So it doesn't really work for anyone at all.

    What do you all think?

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  84. Perfect plan :)
    When is it comming out??

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  85. Hurry up with that update, MS!

    Your game is going to hell for every minute you don't release it...seriously.

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  86. ok, i had spent about 45 minutes procrastinating on homework to unlock insane and i have QUITE A FEW KILLS. i was saving up for the bear, the one that wields a shotgun, and i have 27,000 kills. i dont know what the number was exactly, but i was so close! please fix the bug a.s.a.p and refund me with at least 25,000 kills!!! and i dont have wi fi at my house so i cant use openfeint. =(

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  87. WTF?

    WHY DOES MINIGORE HD HAVE THIS PROBLEM FIXED?

    DO THEY EVEN CARE ABOUT THIS DYING IPHONE VERSION -__-

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  88. Everyone should open their purchase history section in your iTunes account and report the problem with minigore, and do it more then once. Apple seems to be slacking on their response time because of the new ipad. We need to light a fire under their asses, there focus should still be on the iPhone and iPod, there is know reason as to why it is taking this long for them to approve this essential update, unless their enjoying everyones misery. I think the bigger the commotion we make the faster they will fix the problem, hopefully.

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  89. its great that the new update has fixed the save problem....but i was wondering can u guys introduce a character which wields two shot guns?? its would be great...there is a character with two machine guns and two grenade launcher( though the kill requirement is way too high) but none with two shotguns!!
    please include a new character in another update if possible!!!
    ]but still thanks for the awesome game, keep up the good work!

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  90. OK....sorry for the english
    We sould all now about the bug from the 3.6 update where you lose your saves
    The 3.7 update gives you 100000 kills plus the next unlocked caracter for free
    Now you can use this to unlock Sensei Evan (without having 1kk kils )
    1.first instal the update from 3.6 to 3.7
    2.buy Christmas gore
    3. play with him wile havin openfaint opend
    4.uninstal minigore from ipod
    5. instal from itunes 3.6 version....if you still have it....(don't sink ipod if you didn't uninstal minigore from ipod)
    6. update ....and voala you get Sensey as the next unlocked caracter plus 100000 kills >
    Hope this helps and don't kill me for telling you this...Sensei Even
    good luck

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  91. I love this game but I would love a health meter and some HP bandages to get your HP up

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