The Rise Of Bugs In Console Games

Thanks to GameSpy for posting a column discussing the increasing prevalence of serious bugs and glitches in console titles, especially in relation to several of this summer's 'blockbusters'. Singled out are Enter The Matrix: "Even if you enjoy the game.. you can't ignore the fact that all three console makers let Atari have a 'get out of final approval free card' when it came to testing...", as well as the new Tomb Raider title: "AOD froze up on me at least half a dozen times... Lara fell through invisible gaps in the street, walked through invisible gaps in walls, and refused to walk up stairs that she was supposed to be able to climb." What's to be done when, as the author says, "judging from the sales of these... titles, enough of you guys just aren't punishing the companies for releasing sub-par products to make a difference"?

Comments

whats to be done?

[mutewinter]

Buggy games certainly have to account for a portion of "piracy" out there. A few bad experiences of dropping $50 for a piece of trash can make individuals who aren't quite in the middle-class less than eager to take the risk again.

Consoles are even worse. At least for PC games we can anticipate patches, which generally tend to do a pretty good job fixes bugs, especially if its a big game (or an online one.)

Re:whats to be done?

[Muerto]

that is total crap. Just because a game is buggy doesn't give you the right to steal photoshop. Regardless of bugs, people spend time and money on making these applications... you have no right to steal from them.

Re:whats to be done?

[AndyBusch]

Yes, consoles are worse in terms of allowing patches, but, as this article implies, they are fantasic generally for squishing bugs before they get out. I've only ever played two games with showstopping bugs (Metroid Prime froze, but only once, and Mortal Kombat II for SNES wouldn't let you play pong). Everything else is so minor as to be something that you have to make effort to trigger (the minus world in Super Mario Bros.). In fact, this was also the state of affairs before the internet. Software just plain worked as intended (and not in the Verant sense), because there was no economical way to send out patches. But, since there is a way now (it's also known as "burden the gamer"), companies demand faster action to get sales.

Sadly, this doesn't seem like there's any feasible way to change this, without blowing up the internet, and making CDs expensive to produce again.

too much pressure to rush to market?

[jdvernon1976]

I'm betting on "We HAVE to get this game on the shelves, otherwise we lose money because of X"

X = in time to be released same weekend as movie
X = it's already been delayed and it's killing us

Don't the publishers realize that releasing sub-par games on schedule is MUCH worse than releasing excellent games behind?

Look at Blizzard - standard-bearer for "when it's done, it'll be fabulous" - Diablo 2, Warcraft 3 are prime examples

Gamers are lenient on deadlines when the game exceeds expectations, but I'm betting that Matrix Revolutions (if they make a game) won't have quite the same reception....

Well..

[icemax]

Enter the Matrix was a rush job by a studio that never should have gotten the contract. Shiny's biggest accomplishments (Earth Worm Jim, MDK) are no where near the great games put out by the first two studios contracted by the Matrix producers (SquareSoft et al). Also, Tomb Raider was an abomination to let out the door. The controls are terrible, and the game is buggy. A beautiful looking game however. Even with that said, these games are in the minority. Alot of good bug-free games came out this year

bugs are inevitable as complexity rises

[pezpunk]

look, we're not talking about pac-man anymore. every year the games and the systems involved get more and more complex, and the potential for bugs increases geometrically. consoles have been able to keep major bugs from becoming common by limiting the variables -- that is, using a standard system to play the game on -- but the system is getting very complex. it used to be, a game developer team had to write all their own code. nowadays, they use drivers and game engines that may or may not have major bugs or incompatibilities built in, even on the consoles they were written for.

show-stopping bugs like crashes or even just annoying gameplay bugs should never make it to the final product, to be sure, but crappy games based on a movie license are certainly not a NEW phenomenon. anyone remember E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial for the 2600? of course you do.

there are plenty of console games out there that are basically (major) bug free, and economic darwinism is still at work weeding out the crappy titles from the stellar ones, except where an established license gets in the way.

Re:We let them do it on the PC, what did we expect

[aridhol]

On a computer, there are many variations that need to be supported. The programmer has no idea what hardware you have, what apps are running in the background, etc. All of these can have a detrimental effect on your gaming experience.

Consoles, however, should be identical. The X-Box they test on is exactly the same as the X-Box that you play it on. This means that they should be able to test much more for console games than for computer games. There is no excuse for this trend.

Re:We can't return opened boxes

[Sulihin]

This is why I tend to a) check online reviews of games and b) rent a game from Blockbuster before purchasing it. Of course it gives more profit to Blockbuster and doesn't really hurt the game sales much since Blockbuster will tend to buy more of a frequently rented game, but it does save me $$'s if the game sucks.

Patch it later. MUCH later.

[Mulletproof]

I've noticed this becoming an increasingly alarming problem on the Xbox, and part of it is due to the PC port mentality they seem to have. This was especially apparent in games like Morrowind and Ghost Recon. We're talk roach motel. Live games have seen this problem with a vengence as the "patch it later" menatlity of the PC is taking increasing hold. Not only are they shipped with obvious bugs, but timely patching is a fanciful illusion. Honestly, I laugh everytime I hear somebody mention a patch for a Live game.

I wish I could say it was getting better, but this is one area where the PC seems to be overrunning the console and not vice versa.