tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post3798969006418812650..comments2024-03-09T03:49:50.699-05:00Comments on Your Critic is in Another Castle: No medal for you!K. Coxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06554183349391372039noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-23731124049607461512011-03-23T15:44:58.660-04:002011-03-23T15:44:58.660-04:00I'd have to disagree that cars are not allowed...I'd have to disagree that cars are not allowed this particular freedom in the marketplace. Cars ship with known bugs all the time. Either a design flaw bad enough to be recalled, a design flaw that isn't recalled but a car company fixes for free without the customers knowledge, or they just put the person on the hook for the repair.<br /><br />It's more that bugs in individual cars are able to be fixed by a large number of people, while a bug in a particular game must be fixed by the company itself.Byrknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-49127685767230575862011-03-22T10:57:32.861-04:002011-03-22T10:57:32.861-04:00I'm willing to accept a certain level of buggi...I'm willing to accept a certain level of bugginess, I must admit. I don't think we've yet discovered flawless software. Just as your car battery will drop dead if you leave the lights on all night, there are some ways you can abuse a program into shutting down, and I don't mind that.<br /><br />The kind of errors I've encountered with these games, though, are in the vein of, "vital character to story, without whom you cannot progress, falls through the plane of the world and ceases to exist," or "crashes every single time I open my inventory or map." Those are more akin to your engine randomly vanishing at randomly determined intervals.K_Commenterhttp://www.your-critic.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-86166866766997872172011-03-22T10:49:28.051-04:002011-03-22T10:49:28.051-04:00I think the technical issue has come to the forefr...I think the technical issue has come to the forefront with the current console generation. Before the XBox360/PS3/Wii, if you shipped a game with bugs in it, you were pretty much stuck with it. Yes some manufacturers started issuing discs with version 1.1 or whatever instead, but the people who had the original copies were pretty much stuck. Therefore publishers made sure that what they were shipping out wasn't going to crash. PC ports of these games usually were better because of this as well.<br /><br />Now, because everything has online connectivity and you CAN push patches out, that's made developers and publishers a lot more lackadaisical about polish and more interested in meeting release deadlines.M. Coxnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-46167676491217508732011-03-22T08:03:10.844-04:002011-03-22T08:03:10.844-04:00Why should games be different from any other softw...Why should games be different from any other software?<br />Going all the way back to the first versions of Windows and Novell in the early 90s (maybe even the late 80s) new software was always shipped with the understanding that there were bugs to be discovered and fixed - and worse, *known* bugs to be fixed. <br /><br />No other product group - not cars, not toasters, not anything - was allowed this particular freedom in the marketplace. <br /><br />Perhaps we need a version of UL for software?efgoldmannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-886868484666652260.post-1237150326681280012011-03-21T20:47:20.817-04:002011-03-21T20:47:20.817-04:00I love the metaphor! I used to watch ice skating w...I love the metaphor! I used to watch ice skating with my mom all the time, so I totally get it. LoL It is said to see a game with a great story lose out technically, and vice versa. While I also generally don't read reviews before I play a game (and even if I do, I'll play it anyway, because I'm stubborn like that), it would be nice to see these things treated in the way you describe.Robin Blanchardhttp://twitter.com/LadyAethernoreply@blogger.com