Is it really okay?

[Cabbage]

I was sat thinking earlier about the morality of releasing a seemingly uncomplete game to the public. It doesn't bother me much these days as i have my own money to play with but when i was a kid i'd get maybe 1 game per year, if i got BF2142 and it was as buggy as it is i think i'd maybe be a little bit disapointed.

Don't get me wrong, 2142 is a brilliant game, everything is nicely balanced and more importantly it's fun to play. I just wish it had a little more polish so it wasn't as laggy on titan mode. I just wanted to hear what you guys have to say on the matter in a thread that isn't a DICE/EA flame-a-thon.

[InfraRedPS]

Technically there is no such thing as a complete, bug free piece of software!

[Cabbage]

Technically there is no such thing as a complete, bug free piece of software!

True but most pieces of software are thoroughly tested before they are released and fixed appropriately. I know 2142 is being patched more frequently than BF2 but it still leaves a lot to be desired, i hate the way that EA/DICE didn't fix the terrible physics on a moving titan but instead stopped it from moving when the shields are down (ie when people are probably going to be on it).

Also on a side note the demo ran better than the full game on my system, anybody else experience this?

[WanderingZephyr]

Patching has become more and more of a thing, and probably a problem, when you look at it.

Most console games, in general, have less large flaws and glitches in them than PC games. I can think of more than a few PC games that have been released with very significant problems, some of which can even get in the way of completing the game or playing it the way it was intended. The only console game that I can think of with a problem like that was Turok: Rage Wars--you couldn't complete the co-opperative mode, due to a glitch. One of the levels just wouldn't register a win, so you would just sit there...endlessly. But few console games get through with such large problems, I guess that can be attributed to their inability to patch problems after the release.

PC games, the developers know that whatever problems that slip into the game, they can just patch it up later. I think that probably encourages sloppiness on their part, really.

We except getting a flawed product, and having to fix it ourselves later.

With most modern consoles though going online and with harddrive in the systems, it's probably just a matter of time before the same lower standards are everywhere in the industry.

Sad stuff.

With all of that sad, not all patching and such is bad. Patches are often used to add new content, and that's always great. The old strategy game, Total Annihilation, by Cavedog, used this very well, releasing to the public dozens and dozens of new units and maps on their site for a nice long while after the game's release. But, most modern developers just use patches to fix problems that they didn't clean up in the first place (and a lot of players don't have faith in them adding new content anyway, for fear of messing up what they have gotten right).

Just my two cents.

[Deesies]

Personally I don't think it should be allowed to release a game that doesn't meet a certain standard.

After all, when you buy something, you're doing so in the expectation that it will work how you expect it to and if it does not, you are well within your right to return the product.

However, as said, there's no such thing as a perfect, bug free game which creates a very grey area on this subject and is possibly why they can get away with blatantly unfinished products.

The biggest problem with the whole deal, in my opinion, is that nobody can really seem to be bothered to change things and would rather just bend over and take another one.

[Killerus]

how is it uncomplete? It installs, starts, plays and closes right? All the guns and vehicles are there. It has people, lots of them. There are maps and online servers to play. Seems like a really complete game to me.

[Deesies]

Exactly my point with people being content with accepting mediocre quality.

[ThePhoniex]

Technically there is no such thing as a complete, bug free piece of software!

I agree.. but there should be some kind of standard.. i mean we used to be able to jump through the walls at the upper consols in titan match... it was reported in the beta.. and thats just one of dozens of problems that EA was told for monthes before they started selling the game. i mean if the game was sold as it is right now with patch 1.1 it would be fine. but they got my money monthes ago when this game was a glitched, bugged, and exploited completely and fully. But we as videogame consumers have not put our foot down and said no half complete games... we keep buying so they will keep selling.

[Cabbage]

There are still a few major bugs though, for example the bug where you fall through the floor on the titan and can see enemy troops in coridoors and most annoyingly the bug where you're unable to spawn on your own titan. If they fixed these and maybe reduced the poly-count on the titan ships (which as far as i know is what creates titan lag, credits to whoever came up with it, however it would make more sense from a programers point of view if it were a physics problem) then the game would be near perfect, the actualy gameplay when unaffected by bugs is fun and exciting.

[Maj.Damage]

I'm so sick of this. Everywhere I look I see people complaining about their online gaming experiences. Are you people freakin' n00bs or what??? Bugs are standard with computer games because so many people use different hardware configurations. Why you think platform games all work so well??? Because they were designed to work on ONE setup, not thousands of different ones.