I noticed there's a lot of games being released with...well, a lot of bugs. I know I defended Volition at the beginning for this, but I'm very patient with this kind of thing, so I have no problem with it, but its still a big issue in the game industry and deserves to be written about. Most game companies release a patch soon after their game is released to stores and people start buying it. There is a good reason for this and I'll inform you of it. A game company's testing area can say we couldn't find anymore bugs and the development team can say, yeah, we're satisfied with what we have here and The Man can say, ok, sounds good, lets ship. Then, in between the couple of weeks that a game is shipped and the game hits stores, things, no, bugs can come up which weren't found or couldn't be found. So a quick patch is released and most of those bugs are fixed in that patch. Then when people across the country with tons of different systems and combinations which the team couldn't even imagine happen so more bugs come up and other bugs come up that will be a part on everyone's system, no matter what. So another patch is released to fix those and the process repeats until the development team is satisfied that any glaring problems are fixed and those that are left are so small that they aren't even found. In actuality, a majority of the problems that are reported by players are just wish-list items. Things like, hey, you should do this or things like that should change and so on, you get the idea, so those "problems" take a lower priority than the real problems.

This is the main reason for external beta-testing of games, the game can hit up lots of different systems and there will be a bunch more testers, and hey! They do it all for free! No pay! Most of the bugs can be gotten rid of and then maybe a few patches come out and everyone is happy so we all jump around in circles and other weird stuff like that... Which is a good thing FS2 is going to have a small beta-testing period. Mulitplayer will not only get better...but...other good things...are bound to happen! I mean! Where can you go wrong!?

Speaking of the FS2 beta...why is everyone asking the testing leader type guy to send an email even to the people who didn't make it? This just makes him spend more time, and needless time (if you ask me), to help everyone out when everyone could just be patient and take it as a "No, sorry, you're not in" when 6 months later they still haven't gotten their NDA form and the game is already out...

Another thing people have been getting on Volition about..."MOD tools". Which basically means "Stuff where we can go in and make the game something that you didn't ship so other people can spend time to download it and then find out that its just a load of crap anyway and every once in a while a great MOD comes out that everyone loves and then 6 weeks later is off everyone's computer." Especially annoying to Volition is no doubt people bitching about not having their POF-ing tools. Which, are of course, Volition's tools...they can keep those if they want! They own them! Theirs! This means that they don't have to give them to a damn single person! So stop bitching about it! Although...Adam has kindly noted that they will release some form of tools along with FS2...it'll just be something else for everyone to bitch about to Volition though... Another thing people been all on Volition for is the .mve maker type thing. Volition CAN'T GIVE THIS OUT, even if they wanted to...it belongs to Interplay, so stop asking about it and we can all just get along. Anyway, what would be the point of making it available? Noone would make a damn cutscene anyway, so why keep asking for it? If someone actually made a cutscene (I WOULD BE AMAZED!!!!!!!!!!), Adam has kindly stated a LOOOOOOOOOOOONG time ago that he would gladly (well, maybe not gladly) take it and convert it to .mve format for you, so stop asking for the tool and start making a cutscene. It'll never happen...never...I tell you...never...

This is getting less and less editorialistic as we go along huh? Yeah...I was afraid of this...well...hmm...what else... oh yes...PXO problems and cross posting...I'll explain later.

PXO problems first. Why is everyone complaining suddenly? With the move of PXO servers everyone suddenly picks up on the bitching again. This reminds me of when the game first came out, in all the forums, nothing but "Why does mutliplayer suck?" blah this blah that... Well, I say...SHUTUP!!!!!!!!!! Next time PXO gives you hell, here's what you do: Say "damn!" then go write a quick email to PXO support or some junk, explaining the problem right quick. Then you say "damn!" and then go do something else and come back later. If its still not good...wait a few days...maybe something will come up. Notice never in here I stated to "Bitch out loud to every single person you can find and then go hit up a few mailing lists (cross posting, of course) and then cry like a little girl getting absolutely nothing done, ever."

Now...to cross posting. I forgot who coined this term but it sounds good. I don't know...for some reason this just annoys the hell out of me, it makes me want to smack a few people around...and then smack them again. For those who don't know, its when someone posts a message on the FDL and then turns right around and posts the _exact_ same message on the FSURP or FreeSpace Universe mailing lists. Its fairly annoying to open up the mailbox and see 6 messages only to find out that there's really only 3 messages because there's duplicates of them all. Why do people do this? Hell if I know. If you want word to get around better...mail a couple websites and post a message on the FDL or FSURP, whichever your message pertains to, because these lists are basically for opposite things, so its fairly difficult to post to both of them and be on topic on both of them as well... Why does this annoy me? I have no clue, but it annoys the hell out of me like a madman! These cross-posters could at least post two different messages getting the same point across making it a little more interesting, even thought on one of the lists it would still be off topic. Or or...i got a better idea! Just stop doing it! YAY!

Well...that will be all...off with you...

The views and opinions expressed on this page are those of the writer only, they are not the opinions of FreeSpace Watch or its affiliates...their views are much loonier...