patch 1.2 NO JOKE!

[Immacolata]

Originally Posted by DragonRR1

The situation with patches is ridiculous. No game should actually NEED a patch at release. However the reality is that release dates cannot be delayed without potentially enormous costs to re-marketing, missing disk duplication schedules, missing release windows with competing products and so on. Only the very largest quadruple A titles can be on a "when it's ready" schedule. Software programming almost always overruns so if it isn't ready they cut features, stop bug fixing, and rely on patches.

Look at the japanese game develeopers. They create games which are Possible. Thats why they succeed. Also they are a bit more focussed on QA. Or is it planning? In either case, they dont overextend themselves.

Now look at americans and europeans. Still infatuated with sandbox games, multiple paths. Enormous complexity. The reason games get so buggy is that developers are too ambitious. They want too many things, and that kills off a lot.

Now, in the genre of simulation you will end up killing yourself because everyone keeps demanding more detail. more realism. Better modelling. And you just can't pull it off as you would like to.

When simulations come from japan, they are much more narrow. Gran Turismo is, if you compare it to SH5 og IL-2, ever so much smaller in scope. That allows for much better execution.

So patching will be needed as long as we create - and demand - ginormous open ended sand box worlds. That or a ridiculous amount of QA pre-launch.