Games not broken on release?

We are all a bunch of chumps for buying unfinished games in the first place. If we refused to buy games until they were finished, game companies would get the message very quickly and wouldn't release their games prematurely. :trouble:
 
14 years guys, how much longer does one have to wait. And after all Col 2 has still already paid back itself in my account.

I don't want to sound to much like a fanboy, but Mount&Blade has convinced me that there is still god in this market, and things can be done right. What a pitty they didn't choose to develop Col2 in a similar fashion, it could have bin great.
 
We are all a bunch of chumps for buying unfinished games in the first place. If we refused to buy games until they were finished, game companies would get the message very quickly and wouldn't release their games prematurely. :trouble:

When Civ 5 is published, I won't rush off and buy it. I will wait until I learn from others what it is like, and then, if it seems worthwhile to acquire, still wait for a good patch before I bother to acquire it. I've been had for the last time.
 
IMO, the problem is with the whole of the industry, starting with merchandising, promotion, and the gaming media.

Games are currently announced to the media when there's still generally one or two years left in development. The gaming press, as it currently stands, is ENTIRELY devoted to upcoming games. Think about it:

"Ultimate Game 2 announced for next year!!!!"

"Ultimate Game 2 first look!!!!"

"UG2 behind-the-scenes report!!!"

"UG2 getting closer!!!!!!"

"UG2 DELAYED!!!!"

"UG2 released next month... full preview!!!!!"

"UG2 out NEXT WEEK!!!! FULL character trait / upgrade list inside!!!!!"

"UG2 out TODAY!!!! Our full review/walkthrough!!!!"

Day after release: "(UG2 news moved to Archives)"

Problem is, this "what's next" mentality feeds into game publishers' desire to get a product on the shelves, no matter whether its finished or not. This generally leaves the programmers with more compromises then they would normally be willing to make.

Funny thing is, Civ4:Col was announced pretty late, about 6 months before release, IIRC. Now, I DO NOT agree with most of the posts decrying the game as "horribly broken", and I believe Firaxis will patch up most of the major issues, and the game as it is is quite fun, IMO. Generally, though, it's extremely rare to see a problem-free release on day 1.

My main complaint is that the gaming media is all screwed up. I have often been frustrated that after I buy the new whizbang big-name game right after release, the only forthcoming articles by the gaming media about it tend to be reviews and strategy guides. There's no "3 months after UG2's release - a look at the game's internet culture" articles - the game's already "happened", the journalists have moved on to next year's big release. Any articles about already-released games tend to be one-off op-ed pieces - and these are always my favorite articles.

/rant
 
I've been fighting this fight for a long time.

The one weapon we have is this. DON'T BUY GAMES WHEN FIRST RELEASED! Accept that they are junk, and keep your money and your credit cards in your pockets. Wait for the final, finished game before buying.

This goes double as soon as Christmas appears on the calendar. Game companies will certainly push total junk to the market to get it on the shelves for Christmas time. Even though my family knows I'm a computer game junkie, I tell all of them never to get me games as presents. I NEVER buy a new computer game in the months before Christmas.

I got sick of this ages ago. I've never seen an industry able to foist such total junk on its customers, and still have a lot of their customers accept it.
 
Öjevind Lång;7333004 said:
When Civ 5 is published, I won't rush off and buy it. I will wait until I learn from others what it is like, and then, if it seems worthwhile to acquire, still wait for a good patch before I bother to acquire it. I've been had for the last time.

The gaming garbage is why I never bothered to purchase Civ 4 till Beyond the Sword was released. By then they had fixed the broken crap and FINALLY added some good content.

I am sick and tired of having to pay for the 'opportunity' to be a beta tester to fix something that should never have been let out of the studio in the first place. :mad:

So I never buy a game till it has been out for at least 6 months. That policy has saved me a lot of headaches, Most recently with Supreme Ruler 2020.

Truth be told, the modders are part of the problem. The developers know the modders will fix the broken crap so they can cut Q&A to the bone and rely on their unpaid staff to squash the bugs. If modders would stop fixing the bugs the outcry and anger over broken games would force the companies to do what should have been done in the first place.

But alas, gamers of today would rather buy crap than wait a few more months for a playable game instead of a beta release needing god knows how many patches to fix.

PT Barnum had the perfect saying for how game developers see their customers today: "there is a sucker born evey minute."



:nuke: Cheers, Thorgrimm :nuke:
 
The gaming garbage is why I never bothered to purchase Civ 4 till Beyond the Sword was released. By then they had fixed the broken crap and FINALLY added some good content.

Yep, it's cheap living behind the times especially hardware wise. Didn't buy Civ 3 untill Deluxe Edition was out and only bought Civ 4 Complete a few months ago (I haven't even tried BtS yet, want to finish one more Warlords scenario first!).
I recently bought five second hand games, most of them released not too long ago, for less then one new game costs. :goodjob:
 
This whole thread is the main reason why i bought an xbox. Games tend to work out of the box, graphics are always great, and its far far cheaper than a mid range pc.

havent played civ now since i bought it... got GTA4, Bioshock, Ghost Recon, Oblivion, Ninja Gaiden II all to finish.... not to mention when Far Cry 2, PES 2009, Gears of War 2 and FEAR: Project Origin come out!

Civ is now back on the shelf, and i cant see myself playing for a VERY long time.
 
I'd join were it not for the fact that I'm liable to become a scab upon the release of Empire: Total War. ;)

Yep! Sorry guys... I'm too weak. :lol:
 
Do you remember any from recent times?
Drakensang! Not available in English yet, though.
And any GTA game and any Blizzard game (though the latter usually have balance issues, but they get fixed pretty quick).

Honestly, I think games that are released with broken core mechanics like Col II are still an exception. I can accept minor bugs and imbalances if they get fixed soon (Civ4 also belongs to that category imho).
 
Blizzard is the other side of the coin. Their games get announced so far in advance that by the time they're actually released the hardware they were developed on is obsolete.

The trouble is greedy management. You could hire a staff twice as large as any development studio currently has and develop a better, more thoroughly tested and balanced game in much less time than it currently takes, but that'll never happen because it would cut into profits.

In the meantime, try before you buy and don't be fooled by big names with good reputations. Many companies seem to be cashing in their reputations lately for quick profits.
 
Blizzard is the other side of the coin. Their games get announced so far in advance that by the time they're actually released the hardware they were developed on is obsolete.

Yep, and I love them for it. They don't go for super realistic graphics so their games age more gracefully then others. I'm currently playing the Warcraft 3 expansion and very much enjoying it. :)
 
Blizzard is the other side of the coin. Their games get announced so far in advance that by the time they're actually released the hardware they were developed on is obsolete.
So you not only get a good game (However myself does not like Warcraft3 and WoW... But Diablo2 was great), you can also run it on your computer without having to buy a new one. Doesn't sound too bad to me.
 
Starting with the constant clamoring that the game be released NOW. Give them the time they need to complete it.

But even still, you have to realize that a team of developers/testers/QA will never be able to find all bugs or compatibility issues that the general public will. Economies of scale if you will. It's simply not possible for them to test the game with every hardware configuration, or to think of every crazy exploit that someone will dream up.

The too short design lengths have nothing to do with people wanting the game and everything to do with developer budgets...time is money.
 
simple solutions
1 Try before you buy and only buy good/fun and unbroken games if needed wait on buying them until they are patched and no longer broken.

2 Wait 1 year before you buy the games by then you should know if the games are any good and if they are still broken and need patching from the forums.

Im personaly feed up with broken games so i do nr 1 and delete the bad/broken games normaly withing 24h of testing them and the broken ones i try again after a few patches and give them another chance if they are fixed i buy them.

No no no, no onee does that, no consumer is getting annoyed with the state of PC games and not buying them/slash waiting to see if there any good. How silly can you be!

Its PIRACY, evil pirates!!!!!

Affecting game sales not broken games, not people doing the above, deciding "hey I got screwed the last ten times, dont think ill get sucked in again".

So anyway, I cant wait for better DRM to stop pirates and make people buys games again.

But seriously, aside from Col2 the last couple of games I bought came out of the bargain bin, anything else feels like throwing money away (hmmm kind of like . . .).
 
Yep, and I love them for it. They don't go for super realistic graphics so their games age more gracefully then others. I'm currently playing the Warcraft 3 expansion and very much enjoying it. :)

Actually, I think one mistake many game developers commit is to make the coolest and newest computer software the default standard for a game. Making computers that aren't the latest, hottest innovation the standard model for their game could win themn lots of friends,

Let me add, before someone attacks me for "whining" because I have an outdated computer, that I bought it last year.
 
So anyway, I cant wait for better DRM to stop pirates and make people buys games again.

You must be young, because people on both sides have been dreaming of this for years.
It'll never happen*, because studios can only spend so much on developing these systems before is kills the profit they make on the game itself, not to mention how more aggressive schemes could cut into the user experience. On the flip side, the hackers do what they do for free, for whatever reason they have [anarchy, hating corporations, not wanting to pay for anything, whatever] and can just keep plugging away at it until they crack it wide open and stick it on a torrent.

*Online games are an exception, so far as I'm aware - I very much doubt you can get away with connecting to Blizzard's server for some WoW action without a valid account, but I've never gone looking for that either.
Perhaps that's the answer? It would suck if people just stopped making single-player console games, but business follow the money.

In case it came off as rude, I didn't mean to sound like I was talking down to you when I said that you must be young. Everyone I work with is twice my age, so I'm just used to being called a kid.
 
Someone will just rip the server for online games, as it should be. I shouldn't have to buy a game and then also pay to play it on the company's server. And pirates don't cost companies money. People that are going to buy the game, buy the game. People that are going to pirate the game, pirate the game.
 
I do what I can.

Jeckel, I know some games that have free servers you can get onto with a keygen [like Diablo 2] but I don't see how you would even get your account activated for something like WoW or Eve Online without shelling out for it. By rip the server do you mean like hack into it and modify their records? That would be some serious-assed piracy right there, like the kind of stuff that would make the papers.
I can see where you're coming from about piracy not costing the companies money [before there was napster, I owned zero CD's and just listened to the radio] but I know some guys will put in a couple hours trying to get a game for free, then buy it if that turns out to be too big of a pain in the ass and it's a game they really wanted, so while I think the cost of piracy in general [apps, games, music, movies, etc.] is way blown out of proportion, it does still cut into sales that they would've made to at least one portion of the market that I know of.
 
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