Should You Buy Games at Launch?

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Re: Should You Buy Games at Launch?

Is there anything developers and publishers can do to ensure better launches of games in the future?

Yes, infact they use to do this, but with NBA 2K they have not done it in the past 2-3 years and that is DEMO....of not just a five minute game of the final two teams, but a limited access to each game mode and a five minute demo of each possibly.

See, the thing is this. When a game is released and a company is quiet about the issues that game has after released leads consumers to only one conclusion and that is that the company simply didn't complete the game and just shipped it out to meet the release date and collect the money. It shows a complete lack of respect towards your consumers and it won't be long til it leads to someone saying enough is enough and ends up sueing a company (after all, in this world there's always a first for everything).

Another thing that these developers and testers and companies can do is simply fix all the issues within a product before turning their attention onto adding new features and creating new issues. Ignoring existing issues on a yearly basis while adding new features to a game can only lead consumers to a conclusion that the company simply DOES NOT know how to fix the issues.

Last thing is simply this, take ownership and responability of your product if you are going to release it and advertise the heck out of it in the media. Stand by what you say about your product and deliver. Ignoring the problems or responding with the "company line" doesn't solve anything other then make your consumers even that much more doubtful of your product and that much more convinced that they should invest their money in an alternative (which means another company's product of the same gametype) or simply invest in something else that might not be in your field of expertise all together.

Consumers can survive without games. These companies can't survive with out consumers.

This one case I have to disagree with you on 2k because the we're on the forums. Mike Wang did a huge QA. Da Czar and leftos as well as davez were al communicating and taking feedback.

I'm a little more forgiving with sports titles because of such short windows of production but those patches should work. Playing a demo which is already stripped down won't give good enough feedback unless they releasea full demo and marketing usually doesn't.



Anyway I think I'm more conservative with my money. As much as I like AC I simply won't but a game if I perceive its not worth the headache to me.

[MalignantPlague]

Re: Should You Buy Games at Launch?

That's cool because I am definitely more of an "offline" player when it comes to playing my sports games. On a side note, in NBA 2k14 for PS4 I was disappointed to find out that when you play just a regular season mode, such as a 14 game season and not the full thing, forced trades are always on. That was almost enough to keep me away from that mode because I hate that I can just trade wherever or whoever I want. Is this fixed in NBA 2k15?

[fistofrage]

Re: Should You Buy Games at Launch?

If you are an offline player. Never, ever, buy a sports game at launch, especially an EA sports game if you like to play anything but default.

Its a major waste of time and effort to tweak sliders and try to customize a game to your liking only to have a patch or tuner completely change or even destroy the gameplay.

If you can hold out, you should always play the sports games 1 year in arrears. The game has been patched and you'll be playing the final version and all the reviews are out and the problems are all clearly listed so you can make an informed decision.

Unfortunately Madden gets a rating of 8+ every year. There are things like lack of holding penalties and the sack issue as well as CFM issues. It would seem that at best it could get a 7 and then go down from there based on all the other issues that have popped up. As long as these games get good reviews and the sales numbers are there, they will keep throwing out unfinished programs.

Basically as long as they can functionally play online head to head, the game is a go. They may or may not address issues for sim gamers or offline gamers.

[Mr_Braun]

Re: Should You Buy Games at Launch?

Developers are putting and promoting graphics more then the actual interaction with the game .... Where living the mid 80's crisis all over again... Gamers want quality// Developers want quantity! !

This.

A lot of beautiful games with half assed gameplay have came out lately,