How do they get away with releasing games like Skyrim on consoles?

[rob_simple]

I'm currently typing this while I stare at a screenfreeze on my TV.

After battling through a fort siege while the framerate consistently spluttered and wheezed it finally locked up on the last guy. I'd previously quit the game and reloaded because on my way to the siege the game kept stuttering every two or three steps and I hoped that stopping and starting again would remedy the problem. It did not.

Now, if I was playing this on a PC I could turn the specs down and hope it runs smoother, but as a console gamer my only choice is to reset and hope I can get through it without another freeze, just like every other time there is a problem with a console game (which has become far more frequent since developers were given the option to release patches, I notice).

This is the exact experience I've had with every Bethesda game I've played, although I must admit Skyrim has ran considerably better than either of the Fallout games, so I have to ask: How do Bethesda get away with repeatedly releasing these games on consoles when the hardware is barely capable of supporting them?

That's like Ford selling me a car with pedals instead of an engine.

EDIT: Okay, since I've had to repeat myself about fifty times to a chorus of 'UR DOIN IT WRONG!' let me clarify a few things...

-I am playing on PS3
-This is my new PS3 slim that I bought to replace my bricked fat PS3 last year.
-I have played Fallout 3 and New Vegas on my old console and I experienced all the bugs.
-I have played Skyrim on my new console and experienced all the bugs.
-I take excellent care of my discs and hardware because that shit cost money, yo.
-If you take five seconds to do a Google search, you will see I am not the only one with these problems.

Hope that clears a few things up.

 

[Vuljatar]

I haven't had any problems like the ones you describe. Just crashes every couple dozen hours.

EDIT: On the 360

 

[FalloutJack]

Every game has had some sort of problem, somewhere along the lines. Some freeze, some glitch, some malfunction, or some accident. There has never been a perfect game. And this is the first time I've heard about Skyrim doing that.

 

[Antitonic]

To answer the title question: Because people are willing to buy it?

It's like FalloutJack said, every game has problems. How big's the save file, timewise? I ask, only because I remember seeing people complaining about similar problems once their playtime hit a certain amount.

 

[rob_simple]

These are the same arguments I hear every time I discuss this with people, usually boiling down to 'no game is perfect,' and I agree with that: no one has ever made a game that didn't have bugs, it would be impossible to do it without pushing the release date back by about ten years.

But here's the thing: Literally almost every game I play these days has a significant bug, loading issue or will black screen at least once during the course of my playthrough. I've had the same issues across two PS3's and two 360's so it's not a case of bad luck with software or hardware, it's because developers are:

a)becoming lazy now that they know they can just patch it six months down the line
b)pushing the hardware well beyond it's limits

Back in the day, when you released a game it had to work because you couldn't just put out a patch, and as a result of the fifty or sixty games I owned for the PS2 only two had any actual issues (Gitaroo Man's sound disappeared occasionally; Onimusha 3 was just completely fucked.)

In fact, before this generation of consoles the only major problem I had ever had in a game was one corrupt save in FFIX. I had an N64, Dreamcast, X-Box, PSX, PS2 & Gamecube with at least fifteen games for each console and I never ran across problems like I have with today's tech so you cannot try and tell me with a straight face that the current state of affairs is same as it ever was.

And honestly, don't give me that 'it doesn't happen to everyone so it's not a problem' bullshit. Do a search and see how many people report Fallout crashing constantly; it's not an isolated incident. The real problem here is that because it's never happened to you, you don't think it's an issue.

At some point you have to accept that there's bad luck and then there's just piss poor quality in products from developer's that don't give a shit because --yeah you're right-- we'll still buy that shit up.

 

[rob_simple]

To answer the title question: Because people are willing to buy it?

It's like FalloutJack said, every game has problems. How big's the save file, timewise? I ask, only because I remember seeing people complaining about similar problems once their playtime hit a certain amount.

I'm at about 90 hours, and I know people will say 'well there's your problem' but again my point is that shouldn't be a problem.

I'm not renting the game; I should be able to play it as long as I want without constantly thinking 'I wonder how long before it crashes this time.'

 

[Zantos]

I've got Bethesda games for PC and Xbox 360, I think the question should be "How do they get away with releasing these games at all?". I don't know exactly how they manage to make it so it's hit and miss on practically identical hardware, it sure is a feat. I'm going to assume you're connected to the internet so it can patch itself, and move onto the turn it off and on section. I had a similar problem with New Vegas, and resetting the console every 2 hours or so kept it playable.

 

[rob_simple]

I've got Bethesda games for PC and Xbox 360, I think the question should be "How do they get away with releasing these games at all?". I don't know exactly how they manage to make it so it's hit and miss on practically identical hardware, it sure is a feat. I'm going to assume you're connected to the internet so it can patch itself, and move onto the turn it off and on section. I had a similar problem with New Vegas, and resetting the console every 2 hours or so kept it playable.

Yeah it's all patched and good to go, I know what you mean about New Vegas, I was resetting it ever couple of hours until it finally crashed my PS3 to the point it would no longer work. It's a workaround, but I think the fact we're saying 'oh yeah the game works fine if you just reboot it ever two to three hours' is a terrible indictment of how gaming is now.

I used to play Kingdom Hearts (ain't even sorry) for hours and hours at a time without even a hint of lag.

 

[Zer_]

a)becoming lazy now that they know they can just patch it six months down the line
b)pushing the hardware well beyond it's limits

Back in the day, when you released a game it had to work because you couldn't just put out a patch, and as a result of the fifty or sixty games I owned for the PS2 only two had any actual issues (Gitaroo Man's sound disappeared occasionally; Onimusha 3 was just completely fucked.)

So games back then had no glitches or bugs? Take off the nostalgia glasses. I remember glitches and gamebreaking bugs on the NES to the PS1 (my last console).

Developers aren't getting lazy, the games are just getting more complex.

Yeah I remember seeing newer revisions of Ocarina of Time. There were 3 major revisions I think.

 

[rob_simple]

a)becoming lazy now that they know they can just patch it six months down the line
b)pushing the hardware well beyond it's limits

Back in the day, when you released a game it had to work because you couldn't just put out a patch, and as a result of the fifty or sixty games I owned for the PS2 only two had any actual issues (Gitaroo Man's sound disappeared occasionally; Onimusha 3 was just completely fucked.)

So games back then had no glitches or bugs? Take off the nostalgia glasses. I remember glitches and gamebreaking bugs on the NES to the PS1 (my last console).

Developers aren't getting lazy, the games are just getting more complex.

At what point did I say that? If you'd read the first paragraph in that post you'd see I accept bugs exist in all games, but that they are a lot worse now than they used to be because developers are able to release unfinished products and patch them later or, even worse, not bother patching them at all, (As far as I'm aware the game-breaking glitch in Darksiders was never fixed.)

In fact, just read this and then try to tell me I'm making it all up or romancing the past.

Yeah I remember seeing newer revisions of Ocarina of Time. There were 3 major revisions I think.

Yeah: Wind Waker, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword. I can't wait for their next big patch.

 

[Pinhead Larry]

People expect it from Bethesda. It's got to the point where we all knew and expected bugs in Skyrim. I had a few crashes on PS3, after 30 hours it started slowing down in the overworld but that stopped. I got locked out of the College Winterhold during the big twist in the College sidequests, but I managed to get around.

I don't really notice as many bugs as you tend to. Then again, I'm the guy that never notices anything wrong with TF2, but they're patch bugs every other day, so what the hoo-ha.

 

[Gorilla Gunk]

All games crash, some more then others.

 

[Davey Woo]

I don't get that many glitches in mine, it has frozen a couple of times, mostly in the menu system if I try and go through it too quickly, I've also had giants stuck in the ground, dragons faceplanting a cliff, that sort of thing, but I find that more funny than irritating.

 

[DanielBrown]

Because we love their games, I reckon.
Been playing Fallout New Vegas: Ultimate Edition, on my PS3, the past couple of days and the damn thing crashes once in a while and I get bewildering framerate issues sometimes, which require a restart of the game. However, due to having so much fun with the game it doesn't bother me that much.
Besides, with such huge games it's bound to have some issues.

B!

 

[Sly Skater Man]

Yeah, my points already been made but honestly all games are prone to a crash.
It's just in a big game like Skyrim where it becomes truly annoying after you've been playing a long time and it sucks for a freeze to suddenly show up.

 

[Zantos]

I've got Bethesda games for PC and Xbox 360, I think the question should be "How do they get away with releasing these games at all?". I don't know exactly how they manage to make it so it's hit and miss on practically identical hardware, it sure is a feat. I'm going to assume you're connected to the internet so it can patch itself, and move onto the turn it off and on section. I had a similar problem with New Vegas, and resetting the console every 2 hours or so kept it playable.

Yeah it's all patched and good to go, I know what you mean about New Vegas, I was resetting it ever couple of hours until it finally crashed my PS3 to the point it would no longer work. It's a workaround, but I think the fact we're saying 'oh yeah the game works fine if you just reboot it ever two to three hours' is a terrible indictment of how gaming is now.

I used to play Kingdom Hearts (ain't even sorry) for hours and hours at a time without even a hint of lag.

It's still a shade better than a workaround for Oblivion requiring me to learn how to write registry keys while Bethsoft and Steam support kindly informed me that it was the other persons problem.

 

[Section Crow]

i used to have that problem, then i downloaded it onto my hard drive and then it hardly ever happened