The last thing you want to see on some companies Game-News page. . .

[Drakenred]

The patch is going very well. Today we fixed some remaining problems that (Comapany name deleted, but the first 2 letters are In, and one of their other games make a referecne to "The Doomseday Rules" from a old Manual and SSD form laden Space combat game) QA returned. Hopefully if this is the final version, we can get the patch out soon. I know everyone is anxiously waiting for it, but please be patient. We want to test it completely before we release the patch.

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(Translation) now that we have shiped a Buggered to hell and back game without any real testing and suckered you into buying it, we are now going to actualy playtest it to see if it works, Thanks for paying us to Beta test our software for us!

i find it anoying that companies dont seem to test anything before they bother to ship it, and that a lot of companies have a ship now Test later attitude(and yes i am aware that the best imaginable Beta will never catch everthing, let alone a company that is living on borrowed monie) but when you have a combat and rulset that you have had in not one, but 2 previouse games, you would think that changing it is somthing you do with care!

Its refeshing to see someone (Sid) who has a game(yes i know, his team "Has" the game, But Sids name is on it, and i dont think even he wants to blow his "Get out of jail free" card on a game that many consider "HIS" game) Development atitude of "code it; test it; and if it dont work fix it or remove it."

but then, unfortunatly, it seems that only Sid has that kind of weight in the Computer gaming industry, hopefully he has enough weight to pull the game through untill he is completly happy with it!

[MrFun]

Actually, I believe that our American culture has this approach when it comes to quality: profit before customer relations; profit before best quality -- dupe the customers into believing they got the best.

Plus, another aspect of our American culture is that we tend to (not always) fix problems that we could have prevented before they happened. Example: school shootings -- ok, kids were killed, NOW let's establish counseling programs at schools for kids prone to violent behavior.

[Mister Pleasant]

Venture capitalist and investor types take no pride in the work in which they are investing. Especially if they are short term investors. "get the product out at Christmas, if we sell enough then we'll fix it."

[Zanzin]

Basically, computer games are a business. The people who run the business are hard core capitalists. They will, at every corner, get as much money out of us as they possibly can...not much we can do about it as long as we keep buying their wares.
[This message has been edited by Zanzin (edited April 08, 2001).]

[Father Beast]

quote: Originally posted by Drakenred on 04-06-2001 12:27 PM but then, unfortunatly, it seems that only Sid has that kind of weight in the Computer gaming industry, hopefully he has enough weight to pull the game through untill he is completly happy with it!

Errr... Blizzard does that too, at least until D2.

I have noticed this lately, game companies put out piles of crap, and if it sells enough, patch it, thereby ensuring a quick buck and no lasting gameplay.
They don't want to wait to release because of high programmer cost.they don't want to patch, or improve, or support because of high programmer cost (see the recent CTP2 debacle) And they push an unfinished game onto store shelves because they want some return for their dollars. of course that almost insures that almost nobody but the preorders and the gamestore junkies will but the pile of crap (remember Battlecruier 300 A.D.?).

They also remember Daikatana. the game forever in development, which came out to discover it would have been great a couple of years before it came out.

I recently read a letter in a game magazine, saying they are so pissed off at game companies hyping a game a long time before it comes out, then having to wait for it because it's not ready on time. they said "companies are going to have to learn that there's a price to be paid when they do that". kind of hard words because they don't want to wait for their game.
The game they were talking about was "Black & White" which FINALLY shipped in the last few weeks, and I've heard almost nothing but good about it in the "Other Games" forum.
Now what if they had released it on time, buggy as hell and features missing. to scathing reviews and everyone complaining that it's a piece of crap with a pretty good game hidden inside. what would have happened is Ultima 9. anybody know what the sales on Ultima 9 were?

I REALLY REALLY want civ3 for christmas, but if it's not ready, I'll wait. I'm not dying this year, after all. And I still play civ2 to keep me warm (and colonization, and civ1, and civnet, and AC,and...)