Patches are a copout

[drake]

The positive side to patches are expansion packs. These are great ways for a company to build upon a good game. Now these too can be abused by companies, but the consumer always has the power not to buy the expansion.

Patches and expansion packs are really not the same thing. Patches are supposed to be fixes, expansion packs are game add ons- extra features. Fantastic worlds was a good example of an expansion pack. Adding something like multiplayer features to civ 3 will be a bad example. Expansion pack should mean adding to a complete game. Not making a game complete. Anyway, we shant bring that subject up again

[loinburger]

The increased complexity of console games is also helping blend the line between the two industries, forcing some game companies (even ones that are notorious for releasing unfinished products) to release finished PC products in order to meet the rigors of the console environment. Best example of this is Morrowind, sequel to Daggerfall. Daggerfall was absolutely one of the most bug-infested games I have ever laid eyes on; you couldn't even win the game as it originally shipped until you'd patched it, and even after all of the patches were released there were still several times that I became trapped in stray polygons, fell into endless voids ("whoops, I guess that wall didn't really exist), etc. I've been looking forward to Morrowind, but was expecting that it would be another bug-infested game that I'd have to wait six months before purchasing in order to save myself the frustration of playing a half-finished game.

Recently, however, Bethesda signed a deal with Microsoft, and they've delayed the release of Morrowind so that it will be simultaneously released for the XBox and the PC. In other words, Bethesda is being more or less forced to release a finished product this time.

If simultaneous releases like this become a trend (and I expect that they will be, as consoles more closely match the abilities of the PC), then I'm hopeful that soon there will be far fewer bug-infested PC games plagueing the market.

[DaShi]

Patches are anti-pirating methods. Soon it'll become standard that you buy half the game in the store, then wait a month for the other half (if it isn't already standard). Right now their just trying to squeeze out some free beta-testing as well.