Are Complex Games Doomed To Have Buggy Releases? 362
An anonymous reader points out a recent article at Gamesradar discussing the frequency of major bugs and technical issues in freshly-released video games. While such issues are often fixed with updates, questions remain about the legality and ethics of rushing a game to launch. Quoting:
"As angry as you may be about getting a buggy title, would you want the law to get involved? Meglena Kuneva, EU Consumer Affairs Commissioner, is putting forward legislation that would legally oblige digital game distributors to give refunds for games, putting games in the same category in consumer law as household appliances. ... This call to arms has been praised by tech expert Andy Tanenbaum, author of books like Operating Systems: Design and Implementation. 'I think the idea that commercial software be judged by the same standards as other commercial products is not so crazy,' he says. 'Cars, TVs, and telephones are all expected to work, and they are full of software. Why not standalone software? I think such legislation would put software makers under pressure to first make sure their software works, then worry about more bells and whistles.'"
depends on the vendor (Score:2, Informative)
I think the vendors that constantly have buggy initial releases are the same consistently.
EA? I expect a buggy release or a release that doesn't run well or at all.
Blizzard? Mostly ships pretty functional games or expansions these days. Blizzard has enough money and enough of a following that they don't have to shove software out before it's ready. Their recent betas seem to have fewer bugs than other studios' releases.
AST (Score:5, Informative)
So Andy Tanenbaum is now a mere "tech expert"? That's a big step down from "CS god."
For the uninformed, ast wrote a kinda good book on operating systems called "Operating Systems: Design and Implementation." I believe this one guy from Finland wrote an OS called Linux based on another OS called Minix discussed in that book (and even got into the flamefest of the century with the Finnish guy!). And then there's a bunch of other stuff you may or may not know about, such as the Amoeba distributed OS, a free anonymous p2p network called Turtle, and probably a few other knick-knacks along the way.
Seriously, give the Man due credit.
Re:Mass (D)Effect (Score:3, Informative)
Re:depends on the vendor (Score:2, Informative)
I think the vendors that constantly have buggy initial releases are the same consistently.
EA? I expect a buggy release or a release that doesn't run well or at all.
Blizzard? Mostly ships pretty functional games or expansions these days. Blizzard has enough money and enough of a following that they don't have to shove software out before it's ready. Their recent betas seem to have fewer bugs than other studios' releases.
Blizzard?!? They haven't shipped a game in nearly 5 years! ...and WoW was patched near constantly for the first year of its life.
Expansions, maybe - but games? It's been a long time!
Re:And the definition of "work"? (Score:3, Informative)
What I am saying is, if the product performs well in its standard environment, a customer can't ask for money back. You cannot use a phone under water and say it broke.
That's a ridiculous comparison. What is a standard environment for a computer? No one runs a game with no software other than the OS installed. Do you think software companies should be allowed to start dictating to you what other software you're allowed to have installed on our system?
Also it's a terrible comparison because putting a phone in the water can physically damage the phone. No one is saying you should be able to microwave the DVD the game comes on and still be able to get your money back.