Release is to Beta, as Patched is to Final? - jaa1980's Blog

jaa1980's Blog

Release is to Beta, as Patched is to Final?

Posted on April 13, 2011 at 12:54 AM.

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I am here to start a Revolution of sorts!!

.......or maybe just fed up with current sports gaming Beta releases. You know what I am talking about; the game releases, we all go through "sliderphobia", wonder why stuff so apparent is broken or missing, and when we are about to give up, the Golden nugget is given, "The Patch". Then back to the drawing board to hopefully have a pleasure filled gaming experience? or not. The hours I have wasted in my life trying to make games more realistic; or follow people on these boards trying to make the games feel more realistic; or wondering why these developers could miss such obvious problems? Only to give up and then have a promised patch possibly fix all, or maybe nothing. This year alone, hmmmm, let's see: NCAA, Madden, NBA 2k, MLB 2K, TW12, NHL, NASCAR. Let's see how these games ended up in my library:

NCAA - picked up day 1, wasted a few months on patches to fix problems, only to have sliders rebuilt after each one dropped, finally got a decent game out of it.
MADDEN - same thing, picked up day 1, few months hoping patches would fix glaring issues, only for them to not, traded it towards another sports title, FIRST TIME EVER.
NBA 2K - Late to this party, madden was traded towards, patches already dropped, best gaming experience I have ever had.
MLB 2K - picked up day 1, fun game, but several things broken keeping from doing my franchise, still waiting on patches.
NASCAR - picked up day 1, good racing, but many problems with this one, waiting on patch until play again.
NHL - picked up recently, after patches already dropped, another fun game experience.
PGA Tiger Woods - picked up this week, very fun game, but with a few key things keeping it from being great....pin placements, no playoffs, etc. who knows if a patch will address?

My point here is very simple, see the trend, all the games have issues on release, in some cases numerous, and yet the only games I have really enjoyed right at purchase are the ones I picked up later, after the patches had already dropped. I am not questioning if the games ever get fixed or if the game plays great afterwards; I am starting a new revolution, maybe just mine, but a revolution to not buy games on release anymore, not until they have been patched, and in my opinion, finally "FINAL". NBA 2K and NHL are great games because I could pick them up and play; since all the patches were already out. Just like I am sure MLB 2K, TW, and NASCAR will be better after their patches drop, I hope. If I waited for patches for Madden and NCAA to drop before purchasing; and waited to see what everyone is saying on a consistent basis, yay or nay, then I would of enjoyed NCAA from the get go and never purchased Madden.

So I am breaking the addiction of buying sports games on release; and letting everyone else Beta test the game for me, before making my final decision to purchase? or not to purchase?

Thanks to everyone for participating in my Total Sports Gaming Beta Test!!!

Comments

# 1 RUFFNREADY @ Apr 13

Sir, you hit the nail right smack square on the head. For years now, that's all these companies have been doing; dropping beta on release dates and patching the crap out of them on hope that the game turns out good. This is a horrible business model; but they all know that people will buy the game right away, with all the hype that these companies, and media outlets create. Thousands, or maybe even millions of gamers are looking for shops, store, that will release big games early and gamers go nuts for this; and this creates the "eager beaver", and "i can't live without it", consumer, that these gaming companies prey upon.
Great insight, nice blog. I am with you in your revolt.
Cheers