Capcom Implements Lost Planet Beta Feedback

Chris Kohler has the news, over at Game|Life, that Capcom is actually implementing changes to the upcoming title Lost Planet based on feedback from online component Beta testers. The multiplayer version of the game has been available via Xbox Live for some time now, and the outcry against certain game elements has resulted in fundamental changes to the game's design. From the article: "First of all, due to user feedback, next to the name of each host hosting a match will be a readout of the number of players already in the room compared to the maximum number of players allowed, so players will know how full a room is before they enter. The second update will be that if the player tries to enter a room that has been closed or where the match has already begun, the player will not be forced back out to the first player match menu to then re-search for games.. Rather, the player will be able to immediately browse and select a different session to join There will also be a button set to allow the player to Refresh the match list without having to perform a Quick Match search again."

Comments

Re:Good God...

[iocat]

I think this is Capcom's first big multi-player game, no? Let's cut them some freaking slack for testing and responding to the test, instead of bagging on them for what was (or wasn't) in a non-final product. (Who knows, those fixes may have been on the change list before the beta, or they may have been in a "wishlist, but let's see if they bitch about it because it's a pain to implement" category. I think Capcom's incredibly open development process with Lost Planet has been an awesome experiment, and I hope it's really successful for them -- it's a freaking great looking game.

Re:Good God...

[falzbro]

Actually, this seems to be a console specific (Xbox specific?) issue. Many of the games that have multiplayer Live have serious matchmaking GUI issues, such as:

• Issues that capcom mentions- not showing you how many you're going to play
• Only 8 or so players at a time (likely because one of the consoles is the host vs. a dedicated server)
• Once a match is complete, dropping you back to the main menu to re-search for another game instead of keeping you with the same players

On the 360, I know that Prey, Saints Row, and a few others have these stupid issues. PGR3 must have been listening to feedback, as they issued a patch about 4 months after it came out that:

• Shows the handle of who's talking while they're talking in-game
• Implimented some new game modes (cat vs. mouse) that people were playing on their own (these may have been in earlier PGR games, I don't know

Since MS has strict development guidelines now, such as all games must be at least 720p- one would think they'd set minimum standards of some of the aforementioned features in all live matches.

--falz