Are some game developers not "finishing" video games completely before launch.

[RogueDarkJedi]

In regards to the Haze topic someone mentioned as well as the unfun comment someone made:

The thing is that it's not always the developer's fault (please note, I said NOT ALWAYS [this is NOT true for EVERYONE, and really only applies to certain studios]).

Publishers might want to rush a game out, so they force the developers to work harder or start to cut features. Publishers might deny changes that might have made the game more fun to play, but due to time or money constraints, it was pushed out the door early.

Or it could just be the game is not fun, the developers recognized it but the publishers wouldn't give them enough time to rework the gameplay elements.

I don't know if this is exactly the case for Haze.

 

[alinos]

Evidence for developers not "finishing" up:


Also, games based on films never get done fast enough.

well the turn around on a game is like 2 years and since the studio doesnt get commissioned to begin work until they can garuntee the movie will release it often ends up rushed

this is why Wolverine and B:AA were good games they were games being made irrelevant of any movies and Wolverine was in production before the movie was even scripted from memory

i came in expecting something on how games are released with content missing because of DLC

the whole testing thing is irrelevant no matter what you do now days people will always find glitches after release its easier to have the gamers find them and patch the ones everyone comes on and bitches about

i hate the fact that MS has to Ok any patches it holds up the process nrly always resulting on the same for the rest

 

[Carnagath]

Any game published by Bethesda is just chock full of bugs and glitches...

Actually that's not the case anymore, the Bethesda shittiness has shifted, they release games that are alright at launch and then take their time fucking them up with faulty DLC. Always a step ahead of their times, these guys.

 

[willard3]

There have been some games with "DLC" that actually just unlocks content already on the disc. Not cool.

Resident Evil 5 is a particularly recent and notorious example of this. You had to pay 400 or 800 MS points(I don't remember; I don't own the game) to unlock the Versus modes when they were already on the damn disc.

 

[Gyrefalcon]

It's the publishers who usually push developers to do that horrible act.

Prime example by the way is Age of Conan. It was void of interesting content at the higher levels, lots of stuff they promised wasn't in yet and the game was absolutely riddled with bugs. After WoW, no MMO can get away with that, and AoC is forever stigmatized. A shame, because it's shaping up to be a pretty good game.

Well, the developers have a lot invested in the games and do need to get a return on it when some of these games take years to complete these days. There is only so much funding they have in advance of a release date.

And since they do have to set the date in advance so they can prepare the marketing materials and advertise, I'm sure patches have become the handy back-up for something unexpected happening close to shipping. But for some of the games like Champions Online, the bugs are a bit obvious. But it also has some interesting innovations so I suppose it is a trade off these days.

 

[TOGSolid]

I have noticed that most games, particularly on the Xbox 360 and PS3 seem to have alot of glitches and game breaking problems in them once a game is released. Does this mean developers are taking advantage of the whole "patch" idea.

This is hardly a new problem, it's just the first time the consolers have had to seriously deal with it. Now that developers can just shortcut a console game's developement with a patch, the console guys have to screw around with day 1 patches, and all that other crap too.
All this is is poetic justice at its absolute finest. Welcome to what PC gamers have been dealing with for years and years.

 

[L4Y Duke]

It's more noticable if you're into game modding.

Take Zero Hour, for example. You'll notice that quite a few mods feature 2 "new" generals, General Deathstrike and General Ironside. That is because they were supposed to be in, but were cut for reasons unknown.

 

[squid5580]

Evidence for developers not "finishing" up:

THE FORCE UNLEASHED!

Seriously, it has glitches and bugs that I would never expect in a well-funded, overhyped game like this.

Stupid stupid hype.

Also, games based on films never get done fast enough.

I have beaten TFU twice and gotten all the holocrons and the DLCs(basically I'm saying I've played alot) and I haven't come across any glitches. I have a xbox360. I have read about glitches in TFU alot so I was wondering what they are?

In the last 3 levels I got in my map screen instead of a list of objectives it read INSERT DEFAULT TEXT. Mind you that offended me so much I immediately returned the game so if they patched it after the first 2 days of launch I don't know. Even X-Play had it happen to them and showed it during thier review.

 

[Mr Wednesday]

I think it was George Lucas that said "games are never finished, they're just released."

I think this speaks more to the diffuculty of making games then the sloth of the developers. Games have to make profit or they can not exist, and that means making deadlines.

 

[ButanicXpandA]

if anyone here has watched the halo 3 bonus content disc... the devs tell you how many long, tiring hours the game testers spent playing the game back and forth looking for bugs, and that every time a bug was found and fixed.. another 3 would appear in place of the one that was fixed.

So due to largely increased content in games, there are many, many more bugs.