$120 paid for EA games = 2 bugged games

[chrisleakfan4life]

Thanks for wasting my $120 on two of your games EA(Kingdoms of Amalur and Syndicate) this past month EA, you're about to lose business from me for good.

I now have two games that have bugs that make the game un-playable.

[gatorr4life]

I feel your pain, I really do. But EA is a monster that couldn't care less to lose your business. Of course, if it's a game breaking glitch, than that means there's probably a ton of people pissed. That should have gotten their attention by now. I haven't played either games, so I can't sympathize. I do, however, HATE glitches! Not mention game breaking ones.
Now that I think about it, EA screwed up bigtime on NCAA 12's dynasty mode. (user vs user, online) wouldn't work. I waited a few weeks, and finally traded it in. Sucks too, because I was having a good time in our online dynasty.

[Swamp_of_Gators]

Isn't EA's exclusive contract with the NFL and ncaaf about to expire? I would love for another developer to come in and put the pressure on Ea to put a little more effort in those games.

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[Crono139]

SSX better not be this way.

[Ericgraves]

He who has not made a mistake in coding cast the first stone.

Debugging code I write over the weekend is bad enough, I couldn't imagine trying to debug a years worth of code. And it is interesting that we bemoan some glitches and exploit others, deciding their value based upon results. Seems we should treat them equally since they are the same thing.

[LakeGator]

http://globalnerdy.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/bug_vs_feature.gif

[chrisleakfan4life]

He who has not made a mistake in coding cast the first stone.

Debugging code I write over the weekend is bad enough, I couldn't imagine trying to debug a years worth of code. And it is interesting that we bemoan some glitches and exploit others, deciding their value based upon results. Seems we should treat them equally since they are the same thing.

Im sure its a lot of work and you add to the fact that patches have to go through Microsoft Certification on Xbox and it takes time.

The fact is, on the Kingdoms of Amalur forums run by EA, they have yet to acknowledge the glitches.

I had a game by Atari last year it was Test Drive Unlimited 2 and it came out with serious bugs.

They had people on their forums who gave updates and possible time lines for a patch.

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[chrisleakfan4life]

I like EA and would love to work for them but their responses to this and the fact they havent given updates is poor customer service.

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[gatorr4life]

He who has not made a mistake in coding cast the first stone.

Debugging code I write over the weekend is bad enough, I couldn't imagine trying to debug a years worth of code. And it is interesting that we bemoan some glitches and exploit others, deciding their value based upon results. Seems we should treat them equally since they are the same thing.

Games cost $60, I'll complain all I want! :angry:

[G8RBrave]

I like EA and would love to work for them but their responses to this and the fact they havent given updates is poor customer service.

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EA (specifically Origin) support and customer service is notoriously awful.

[orangeblueorangeblue]

He who has not made a mistake in coding cast the first stone.

Coding errors != QA process.

[Ericgraves]

Coding errors != QA process.

if (number_of_bugs != 0) for( i=0;i = 1:number_of_bugs;i++) time_to_fix++;

[orangeblueorangeblue]

Right, but you're talking about two different things.

1. Coding, which will almost always have unforeseen bugs

and

2. QA, the process in which unforeseen bugs are supposed to be seen.

Of course #2 takes time, that's obvious. If nobody cared there'd be no QA and things would get shipped out without extensive testing. But you can see what happens ... people get angry and won't buy future products.

[Ericgraves]

Right, but you're talking about two different things.

1. Coding, which will almost always have unforeseen bugs

and

2. QA, the process in which unforeseen bugs are supposed to be seen.

Of course #2 takes time, that's obvious. If nobody cared there'd be no QA and things would get shipped out without extensive testing. But you can see what happens ... people get angry and won't buy future products.

I understood that, but tried to represent my statement in the eloquence and simplicity with which you did. Unfortunately, as now seen, I failed.

I agree the some of blame should be placed upon QA, but the speed at which a patch is put out should not. This is what my post was referencing, the time at which it will take to find the bugs and release a patch.

On a side note the majority of the blame really should fall on the ruthlessness of the video game industry as a whole. KOA and syndicate in particular where obviously doomed from the beginning to have major bugs. KOA is a game being pushed to be a multiple title series with a MMORPG. Reckoning is just to get their name out there, they have other goals in mind and I would expect the team to have already moved on to the next project. Syndicate is a reboot to help bolster first quarter sales on name brand alone. Hell that game was only announced 5 months ago. I would guarantee that SSX would have a big glitch as well if not for the format being so modular.

For syndicate a quarter of the staff who made the game was let go after release.

[orangeblueorangeblue]

I understood that, but tried to represent my statement in the eloquence and simplicity with which you did. Unfortunately, as now seen, I failed.

QA costs money. Got it. Not that cryptic.

I agree the some of blame should be placed upon QA, but the speed at which a patch is put out should not. This is what my post was referencing, the time at which it will take to find the bugs and release a patch.

I actually think it's reflective of a bigger problem: the shift to a "release fast then patch" mentality that screws consumers, and I suspect more and more of us are taking a "wait and see" approach.

[Ericgraves]

I actually think it's reflective of a bigger problem: the shift to a "release fast then patch" mentality that screws consumers, and I suspect more and more of us are taking a "wait and see" approach.

I think they are two sides of the same coin. Business trying to get the game to market on their schedule, versus releasing a game when it is done. But I am willing to admit that it may just be personal bias reflecting.

As for the mentality, how would you consider day one patches to reflect that? It seems like it would be a direct consequence from the mentality stated, but it also seems to be a different organisational scheme which allows programmers more time to finish and still meet deadlines.

But I will agree that most companies are probably reducing QA time and money in order to get games out faster, complaining kids are better QA testers anyway and they pay to do the QA testing.

[codyboyd88]

what bugs in each game did you come across?

[orangeblueorangeblue]

I think they are two sides of the same coin. Business trying to get the game to market on their schedule, versus releasing a game when it is done. But I am willing to admit that it may just be personal bias reflecting.

There's an equilibrium out there, but I tend to think either the product is ready or it is not. Do this too many times and you lose a customer.

As for the mentality, how would you consider day one patches to reflect that?

I think it's more acceptable than, say, not delivering a patch.

But I will agree that most companies are probably reducing QA time and money in order to get games out faster, complaining kids are better QA testers anyway and they pay to do the QA testing.

It seems more like a crutch these days. Get it out, prioritize bugs, get to the egregious ones ASAP, linger on the rest, hope nobody complains too much.

[chrisleakfan4life]

I understand it takes time but they should at least give some info addressing the issues.

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[gatorr4life]

Get it out, prioritize bugs, get to the egregious ones ASAP, linger on the rest, hope nobody complains too much.

This.

[Potzer01]

I missed this thread during offseason. ><


Fwiw, EA is a publisher, especially to the 2 products you've mentioned.

Kingdoms of Amalur (the company that actually developed this went out of business)

Syndicate was developed by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starbreeze_Studios (star breeze who brought you thillers such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Riddick:_Escape_from_Butcher_Bay )


My point is, that no one who wrote a line of code, or did a pixel of artwork, was payed by EA. (Roundabout they were since the publishing deal front-loads money to the developer)

The 12 cycle of football games were the worst offering for gen3 to date =*(. It caused the entire upper management team of the football products to change. (heads did roll)

In the case of NCAA(Tiburon a studio wholly owned by EA) EA could be called directly responsible failures of the title.

Fwiw, this years offering of football titles plays much better. It also didn't have the PSN shut down for 3 weeks during the final month of testing.

[chrisleakfan4life]

I missed this thread during offseason. ><

Fwiw, EA is a publisher, especially to the 2 products you've mentioned.

Kingdoms of Amalur (the company that actually developed this went out of business)

Syndicate was developed by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starbreeze_Studios (star breeze who brought you thillers such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Riddick:_Escape_from_Butcher_Bay )

My point is, that no one who wrote a line of code, or did a pixel of artwork, was payed by EA. (Roundabout they were since the publishing deal front-loads money to the developer)

The 12 cycle of football games were the worst offering for gen3 to date =*(. It caused the entire upper management team of the football products to change. (heads did roll)

In the case of NCAA(Tiburon a studio wholly owned by EA) EA could be called directly responsible failures of the title.

Fwiw, this years offering of football titles plays much better. It also didn't have the PSN shut down for 3 weeks during the final month of testing.

Yeah my friend told me they were making a patch but they went out of business.

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[bakaduin]

The company that made KoA was actually owned by Curt Schilling who lost millions on the venture.