New release games and updates FAIL!

[Gezza]

I have a question and I am probably gonna be battered for this one...or not.

Did gaming programmers and testers become lazy? Why is it that when you bought a game about 10 - 15 years ago it was practically bug free and didnt have to download patches to make the online play work.

When I bought COD 5 last year the first thing I had to do was download a 400mb patch to start playing online...WHY! I guess its no problem for the AMERICANS or other countries with fast ADSL that can download that patch within 10 mins but living in SA sick SUCKS. Not only the time it consumes downloading the patch but as everybody knows...bandwidth dont grow on trees here.

What I would like to know is the question above. Have game programmers and testers become so lazy that they release games earlier without thoroughly checking everything?

 

[Kyubi_ZA]

Like with everything now its a business. The game has a deadline and it must be met! if they know of a few problems they will most probably launch anyway and release patches afterward.

Its not that the programmers and testers are lazy. They just under a lot of pressure. Why do you think Blizzard does not put a deadline to they games Eg Diablo III and Startcraft 2. When the game is releases it has been fine tuned and tested thoroughly. Unfortunately all companies cant do this....

I hear you man....We all have caps and its a problem for us all.

 

[Acid0]

I am with you and I understand that the deadlines need to be met but come on, does this not actually hurt the company more to release a shoddy release and everybody moans about it.


I blame the testers or QA staff more than the developers here they should have tested and picked up most of the bugs before the release date.

I for one will rather except a month delay to have a working title than having a download path of more than 500mb at a time.

But yes its a business and we just fork out the cash to sponsor them for the next title that will be full of bugs.

It is not about nailing the software companies but surely with any good practice you need to know by now what the big bugs are in any online game that needs to be addressed firstly.

 

[Piesang]

I don't think they worry at all. I mean, we still buy it don't we?

 

[Kyubi_ZA]

Lol. True. We still buy it.


I can bet there's going to be tons of bugs in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Firstly because they are not release a Beta. Only a small audience of they testers will test the game. They cant cover everything and they will be tons of bugs. Secondly they pushing for a tight deadline 10/11/09. We can expect to be downloading patches in the first week after the release.


Edit: @Gezza

If you don't want to download the patches, alternatively you can grab a copy of Nag Magazine. They usually have the patches, but this is going to cost you more which nobody likes.....

 

[Gezza]

Lol. True. We still buy it.
If you don't want to download the patches, alternatively you can grab a copy of Nag Magazine. They usually have the patches, but this is going to cost you more which nobody likes.....

I normally check out all the gaming magz including Nad and PCF but they put the patches on about 2-3 months after the patch release...and then BOOM another patch on the servers.

I hate the speed at which I'm downloading the patches more than the cost of the bandwidth.

PS... ..!..{☼.☼}..!.. @ telkom!!!!!!