Third Seasons Patch is out....
KatEnigma:
The DS version of Urbz has a major game-stopping bug, right at the end.
EA sucks.
jrd:
The problem is that companies like EA think testing is optional, and can be delegated to an external team, in the last month of development.
In the past QA was a process that ran from the start, so by the time something was released, it was already thoroughly tested for any errors by well-paid people who knew what they were doing.
Nowadays some external team is hired, given a week or two to run through the beta of a game, and find as many bugs as possible. Anything that is found and fixed before the release date goes in, the other bugs (unfound and unfixed) are shipped to be solved with downloadable patches.
With very few exceptions all recent games have had day zero patches. This should be unacceptable: a day zero patch means that the publisher knowingly shipped a broken product. No game should require a patch to be playable, or even get a bugfix patch within a month.
It is very much mentality by the way. Virtually all EA & Activision (US companies) games ship broken, whereas most Ubisoft and Atari (European companies) games work from the box.
Kyna:
Quote
And trust me. Giving ourselves more time would not give us more time to test. As anyone who has ever worked in game development knows, more time for a game team just means more time to squeeze more cool stuff into the game. :-) Bugs will find their way into games no matter how much time we test it.
Disclaimer: my game testing is limited to testing one game for an indie game developer (www.spiderwebsoftware.com if you're into standalone RPGs with retro graphics), so I accept it will be different to bug testing for a big game developer. Additonally, the game developer writes games for macs first, then ports to windows. I was one of the testers for the windows version, so he wasn't going to add any new features that weren't in the mac version.
In my limited testing experience the game developer used the testing period to fix bugs the testers found and to start work on his next game. He didn't keep tweaking to add new features to the game that was already in beta testing. Earlier, during the mac testing period, it was bug fixes and working on the windows port - again the priority was getting this game working and then moving on to the next project. It was not on tweaking to add features at this late stage of the process.
EA isn't a one-man coding team, sure. But as a company they need to consider their attitude towards the buyers of the game, who deserve a playable, enjoyable game (@MaxoidSam: as a customer, my definition of unplayable is when the bugs make playing the game an exercise in frustration rather than fun). Extra features are always neat, but surely there comes a time when the development team could say "We're well into beta testing now. Let's save any more features for the next EP and only work on this one to fix the bugs."
MyPrecious:
And I guarantee that the creators of these mods do not test their code as much as we do before releasing them to the world. Of course, I look like a real idiot for saying that right about now, but ignoring our "crying baby screwup" for a moment...
Ok, what I know about the code for this game is exactly zero…but that said when it's wrong it's well…wrong. Pes has said—
—"Fixes the biotech station medicine so that it will actually work. It was previously broken"
—and again—
"This is the most strangulated and awful piece of Maxian code I have ever seen anyone write. Whoever wrote this is without honour and needs to be taken out back and shot. I really should have just rewritten it from scratch rather than trying to fix it."
Why then do the creators not see this? Yes Mr MaxoidSam you do look like a dickhead but I suspect its' become part of the job description at EA Games. I for one would never load anything from this company without coming here first, nor will I ever buy any other game from them, I have enough grey hair as it is. ::)
As for H&M? Well my experience of this shop is, 12 year old shop assistants with an orange tan chewing gum ignoring that most of the merchandise is actually on the floor, then after I've found that damn top/thingy for my daughter trying to sell me a storecard with an interest rate that will eventually lead me to owing them an amount that equals the national debt…When I combine the psychological impression of the real life shop with the EA bugs I find that I have no urge to add more stress to an already crowded game experience. A little harsh of me perhaps but I think I'll sit this one out.
KatEnigma:
Quote from: Jordi on 2007 June 21, 08:06:41
It is very much mentality by the way. Virtually all EA & Activision (US companies) games ship broken, whereas most Ubisoft and Atari (European companies) games work from the box.
I have two words for you: Guild 2. ROFL Made by Jowood, a German company. It was virtually unplayable when it released. It made UNI and FFS look like perfectly designed and tested games. 3 1/2 patches later, it's better.
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