Patch 2 and whether to critique SEGA/CA
Again, I shake my head with a chuckle at the pc game industry, and indeed at almost all for-profit industries. My assumption is that SEGA rammed Medieval II onto store shelves last November in order to boost its fourth quarter profits for 2006, but whatever the reason, I would not doubt that everyone at CA and SEGA knew Medieval II had major bugs on the date of its release. Yet that did not stop them then.Given the level of chat and comments that you guys are good enough to send us, we are aware of the anticipation you guys have but we would consider it unforgiveable if we were to release a patch knowing that there are a number of potential issues with it.
Interestingly enough, the presence of bugs seems to now warrant preventing the patch from being released prematurely. I for one won't argue against this decision at all; I am entirely in favor of a delay if it means a more polished product. However, one cannot fail to notice the sad hypocrisy of the business world, as well as the eternal wisdom of the old adage, "Talk is cheap."
The problem I have personally is not so much that the bugs are absolutely game breaking (they only detract from the quality of game play in general), but that tendencies in the game industry are becoming more troubling all the time. Never minding the fact most things we buy are each day built less and less to last, or that warranties are increasingly more flimsy and hole-ridden, the general quality of a product we are expected to accept is steadily, albeit slowly, decreasing.
Given how I feel about MTW2 and the obvious height of feeling surrounding the debate of whether or not to criticize CA or SEGA, I would offer a word of caution to anyone who is too quick to defend these companies. NEVER be eager to relinquish your right(or someone else's right) to complain, for that is our only recourse to obtain a higher standard in the products which are available to us. I for one do not wish to wake up one day and find that most games are released half-done, or, conversely, that we must wait a year after the release of a game for it to be patched to acceptable stability.
It is my sincere opinion that there is no reason to defend CA or SEGA from any criticism we might wish to give them on these forums unless it really and legally threatens either company(i.e., libel or copyright infringement), or it seriously threatens the stability of TWC - and that last option is one I would highly question except in the most extreme cases because I hold the virtue of being able to freely voice one's thoughts in the greatest regard.
The freedom to speak is the first and last defense against all injustice of any degree. We relinquish it at our own peril.
Peace be with you.
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Originally Posted by Cronos
.Ubisoft and EA are two companies that come to mind and they are two of the biggest/well known game companies in existence....you know why?They release less than perfect(lol) products and gain a tremendous profit, the games are usually buggy but they make so much money that they can support multiple games and dev teams at a time...EA is a household name for sure.If the gaming industry is so good at making quality products then why do these companies exist and why the hell are they so well known? 
.It is too bad that you spent $50 and weren't satisfied but there were 2 demos that displayed M2TW in all it's buggy glory, plus $50 is what....a little more than a days worth of work at even the lowest wage? (assuming you get a legal wage and you aren't some migrant worker......then again if you were one you probably wouldn't have a PC and a video game would be the least of your worries)
