Topic: Quality of games declining

The Crew is on permanent Beta for PS4 and is readily available for download now. Check it out for yourselves. IMHO tho the car handling is awful. Esp for a driving game. most game producers are leaving a lot to be admired in game production/release these days. totally agree with OP.

In a digital online age with games, we should be doing away with demos and opening up full betas (hell even alphas for some consistant beta testers)for every game before release. That way everyone gets to try out the overall feel of a game and aid in its development while also confirming for themselves if it is indeed the game they fancy buying before shelling out 100% of the costs for a game that will probably cost the same again in DLC over the life of the game. It's a win win for the companies, we become the testers for the companies and in turn we don't making silly mistakes when buying such titles as we have seen if the game is for us in the long run.

Hey, I'm not defending poor execution or day one updates or later updated that fix games that should work at launch. I'm just saying the slightly delayed reviews are reasonable.

The worst company is one no-one seems to have mentioned. TT Games. Every single Lego game - and I have played them all as the missus adores them- are broken, glitchy and crash for no reason. They have done for years and nobody seems to ever mention it, criticise them or fix the problem. Whether it's Lego Indiana Jones or Lego Batman 3 you can expect bugs, things to not be where they are and never turn up or the game to crash whenever it wants. I would love to visit their offices (they're in Preston I seem to remember reading, which is near me) and just ask them do they actually employ people to test their games. If they said yes I'd say they're either lying or need to fire them. Frankly it's pathetic and if it was EA or Activision who made it the outcry would be enormous.

I think it's Traveller's Tales that makes the Lego games. Some of Telltale's games have run like sh*t too though.

Yeah its Traveller's Tales that make the Lego games.  I have played most of them, The first two Lego Star Wars, both Lego Indiana Jones, Both Lego Harry Potters, Lego Batman and Lego Marvel as well as Lego City Undercover and I have never experienced any problems with the games.  Of course I have skipped most of them like PotC and the other Lego Batman games so those could be bug ridden I wouldn't know.

Well here's one thing Scollurio, all the games that you've mention are big blockbuster, highly anticipated games. The developers were probably afraid that people weren't going to get it in time so they rushed it without knowing of the glitches and bugs. You can't just say it's the developers ruining the games, gamers are also involved in this issue. Developers should get more time to work on these big games, especially if it's a big series or a new IP. And gamers shouldn't stress developers to make these games.

@TylerBH:  Yep I see your point as well.  Developers know that if they don't get a game out in time the fans will take to social media and forums and just rage.  Look at the reaction they got when they said that they were moving Driveclub up a year from what was originally a launch game.  I can't blame Evolution for bringing it out when they did as broken as they did cause honestly if they said they were to delay it again it would have made people upset as well.  It was just a case of damned if you do damned if you dont situation. 

But yeah gamers are to not innocent here as well.

It's a result of obscene development costs, increasing game complexity, and greedy publishers.

Because 'AAA' games development is so risky now, companies are looking to cover their costs via the 'opportunities' this new digital age offers; day-one patching, disc locked/retailer exclusive DLC and DRM are the main offenders here. And now, we're starting to see publishers offer their own subscription services (like Xbox Live, PS Plus and EA Access) in an attempt to gain a steady stream of income, as well as withholding features that were originally free (music playback on PS4 is the main thing I'm referring to).

Basically, publishers are nickel and diming in order to stay alive and to fund their increasingly costly games - it's a self-destructive trend that makes me thankful for the rise of the indies. We're also living in the 'internet' age - an age where games are malleable, and can be 'updated' by the publisher, whether you like it or not (Far Cry 4 graphics downgrade, San Andreas music alteration), and if you refuse... Well, tough luck, pal. No more service for you.

Still, it's not all doom and gloom. There are positives, too - like Ubisoft owning up for the Unity fiasco by providing free games and DLC, and cool DLC that actually offers value for money (Nintendo). Basically, the best thing to do is vote with your wallet, and make your voice known!

Same here. Huge fan of those games, been looking towards WWE2k15 to couch-play it with my buddy... Guess I'll start hoping for next years entry!

For Online-only, MMO-like games, I agree!

Luckily I haven't encountered any of those bugs personally,
but I gladly take your word for it as I've not played them too much (only Indiana Jones original adventures and Marvel Heroes to some degree).

Hmmm. I can't agree, I do see your point though. But it's not like WE the gamers come to developer XY and say "we demand that game released on date XY". No. It's the other way round. They come out with teasers (mostly vertical slices of games that haven't been gotten that far in development yet) to up our expectations, get the hype train running and use us and social media as effective marketing tool. Then they figure out:

a) we can't make the date
b) we can't make the graphical fidelity we showed in our early teasers
c) shareholders of our publisher demand profit, better yesterday than tomorrow
d) we can't put all the features into the game we might have envisioned at project start because of time and money constraints

Then what happens? We are either falsely played (they KNEW Driveclub was NEVER gonna make launchday, they KNEW the same about Watchdogs, and yet they were originally marketed in a specific way) and the games are pushed back with a promise of polishing them (1 year late and THEN the launch is a disaster, i.e. Driveclub) or they are rushed out, people buy them because of their reputation or their expectations, folks are disappointed, publisher/developer promises to fix things.

All I'm asking for is a little bit of honesty.
I'm definitely NOT one of those gamers saying "make every friggin franchise annual"
I'm one of those gamers who wants good games that are not forgotten after 20-30 hours but rather that I can play again and again for weeks and months.
Games like Minecraft, Diablo, GTA, the old Battlefields, etc...

Ah well.
Today's gaming industry more and more turns into "junk food" (if you allow me that comparison to the food industry).

You're both right. I always mix those two up for some reason - I even double checked in my head I'd not put the wrong company.

You've never had a problem with Lego Marvel Tasuki? What console where you on? The missus and I played it on PS3 and you could barely go an hour without the console freezing. The most bug ridden game I have ever played in my life - at one point I had a giant purple upside down Hulk filling a good three-quarters of the screen, even when I reset the game three times. A friend has it on PS4 for his son and he said the boy doesn't touch it as it's just constantly breaking. I've heard a few people like yourself say they've never had problem with Lego games and all I can think is either you're the lucky few with working copies or I am somehow always getting (retail or digital) the worst luck with copies that are garbage. It's never been more than a "Oh for God's sake!" annoyance but it's that each game has been doing it for years. Yes other games have more problems but for TT to know about these faults (so many apologies and comments from them over social media) yet do nothing and have them in each new game says a lot about them. Luckily the games are fun.

We're doing Harry Potter 5-7 on PS3 at the moment and it's the only one to have not crashed yet. Although saying that I read last night if you buy DLC for that game on Xbox 360 it crashes the entire game - and there's still no patch for it over three years later!

I don't remember too many problems either. I played Lego Star Wars 1&2 (both on PS2, and then on the Wii collection) and Lego Batman (Wii) to completion. Then I played some of Indiana Jones 2 and Harry Potter (both on Wii), but dust complete them due to the fact that the franchise should have ended after Lego Batman. Some might have crashed a couple of times, but that was all the trouble I ever encountered.

And let's not forget, before Traveler's Tales made the LEGO games, they made Sonic R and Sonic 3D Blast, Wrath of Cortex, Twinsanity (which was actually okay) and Rascal. Let's just be thankful that they're not the company that the were in the 90's and early 2000s.

Ok that might be the thing different systems.  I played Lego Star Wars on the Gamecube, Lego Starwars II on both the PS2 and Gamecube (I bought it first on PS2 not knowing you can import your saves from the first one).  The Lego Indiana Jones games I played both on the PS2 while both Harry Potters and Lego Batman I played on the Xbox 360.  As for Lego Marvel I played that on PS4 and platinum it.

Now that you mention it I remember hearing from another user her I think it was @Splat that said the Lego Marvel on PS3 was a mess.  I never got the DLC for Harry Potter so again you might be right that downloading it might break the game.

I don't know what else to say then I guess I am just lucking.  For the record I wasn't disagreeing with you I was just surprised that you mentioned those games cause I always thought they ran good.  Definitely going to keep my eyes on them now.

Actually, I really like the LEGO games. My favorites are LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, LEGO Star Wars 1 (purely because of nostalgia), LEGO Batman 1, and LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4. Also, I've heard some good things about LEGO City Undercover, so I'll definitely pick it up once I get a Wii U.

But overall, even though I think there are too many LEGO games, I still really like them.

@Scollurio:  I think you might have hit the nail on the head there when you said shareholders.  Shareholders seem to always F things up, but that's because they usually don't know whats going on.  Take WWE 2K15 for example.  (Yea I will use this one again)  I think the shareholders (as well as some fans) got use to the idea of a yearly installment like Madden and other sports franchises.  It was possible back when THQ had the rights cause they had everything in place they just needed to build upon and add improvements on a current engine.  Again (sorry to sound so repetitive but bear with me) 2K had to build a new engine from scratch which took most of the yearly development time but the shareholders didn't see that, all they saw is that they had to make the Christmas season 2015 otherwise that's lost money.  Now if the developers would have said that would the shareholders have said ok take as much time as you needed?  I am guessing they probably were told nope you need to have it out by X date so we can make X sales, and did what they could.

Alot of times these shareholders don't like to live on a little planet I like to call Earth.

I think we are part of the problem. Not the source, but we perpetuate the problem and allow its existence. We have the power to fix the situation. If we would stop buying games that have serious quality control issues (and I'm not saying we should be over-zealous and boycott a game over a simple bug or glitch- we wouldn't have any games left to play). I'm talking about substantial quality control issues and games riddled with bugs. If we would actually take a stand and draw a line, and say "No, we will not buy your game" the problem is only going to get worse.

I typically stay away from games that are ridden with bugs, although there have been a few that I bought because the problems were online-related and I only play offline. Like Far Cry 4, Dragon Age Inquisition, Halo Master Chief... all these games run flawlessly when you are playing off-line. So what do I care if the online components are broken or not functioning properly? So am I part of the problem? Maybe, then again maybe I'm signaling exactly what I want- a working single player campaign, and as long as they're willing to provide that I am willing to buy the game.

Admittedly, I made a poor judgement call with AC Unity. I should've known when the reviews weren't posted, but in the past I've always been able to trust Ubi, particularly with Assassin's Creed. Not any more. No developer is off-limits now. Well, I do still trust Nintendo. I don't think Ive ever held back pre ordering one of their games out of fear of quality, and I'm sure there's a few other select developers that always insist on releasing a quality product. They're just becoming so few in number nowadays...