rec.autos.simulators

--
Regards,
Bruce.
----------
The GP Legends Historic Motor Racing Club  is located at:-
http://www.racesimcentral.net/

The majority of us accept this, being the pragmatists that we are.
The minority whinge and moan about the *slightest* gremlin that pops up,
totally ignoring the fact that they use the product religously for 8
hours every weekday.

--
Regards,
Bruce.
----------
The GP Legends Historic Motor Racing Club  is located at:-
http://www.netspeed.com.au/brucek/legends/

Don't you understand that there are *HUGE* numbers of people who buy
software...all sorts of software......who have never used a newsgroup?

As I am involved in the retail of entertainment software I can tell you
that if somebody brings a game in and ***es about it the chances that
they caught any comments about it on a newsgroup are ***y miniscule,
to say the least!!

The enthusiasts...those that *do* use newsgroups to assess software by
reading the comments...are more knowledgable and are actually more
tolerant of problems than the average "Mom and Dad" customer.

It's these latter people think that they are infallible and the rest of
the world knows stuff-all about their computer system and how it should
operate.

--
Regards,
Bruce.
----------
The GP Legends Historic Motor Racing Club  is located at:-
http://www.racesimcentral.net/

Trips

The number one thing _any_ company cares about is the almighty dollar
(yen, pound, deutschmark or whatever). When they fail to do that the
company goes under - they lose their expense account and sportscar and
you get no software at all from that company.

It is of course far from ideal to release buggy software, but don't
pin the blame on the marketing department. They've been given a date
by the coders (probably under extreme pressure, but never mind!) and
have worked toward a release on that day - marketing, advertising,
bribing, coercing, your typical marketing activities. When the product
available is a pale shadow what was promised with bugs*** from
every pocket you can imagine they won't be happy - there's only so
many times you can build up the hype and have people believe you.

I'd guess marketing guys don't know a whole lot about the detail of
the product, not to the extent that fans of the game or the coders
will - they are being asked to sell what they have been told is the
product, and on the date they were given. The fact that the game
arrives in only buggy form on the date promised can hardly be blamed
upon marketing people, and the decision to release in such condition
will come after long protracted argument between all factions.

Quake2 was playable at first release and patches offered tweaks,
additional hardware support or other improvements. Would you rather
not have been able to play Quake2 at all until the final patch was in
place and the company probably out of business. All this "it was
better in the old days" is starry eyed nonsense (with the greatest
respect). Manic Miner was unbugged and 16K - I doubt you'd find a
Quak2 texture that was less than 16k, never mind the whole program.
The mind-boggling plethora of equipment combinations alone makes
testing a nightmare, not to mention the number of things which are
possible in a modern game. People say "Consoles get it right because
they can't release patches", fact is that consoles have much more
chance of getting it right because they're coding for fixed and
standard equipment.

In my opinion it is an unnattainable Utopia to expect software to do
everything perfectly on every system, and our support should go to
those companies who make good on any mistakes in a responsible and
rapid manner.

Cheers!
John

l8er
ronny

--
Toys'R'Us '99: "So, would you like a hand gun with that action figure,
kiddo?"

          |\      _,,,---,,_        I want to die like my Grandfather,
   ZZZzz /,`.-'`'    -.  ;-;;,_              in his sleep.
        |,4-  ) )-,_. ,\ (  `'-'     Not like the people in his car,
       '---''(_/--'  `-'\_)            screaming their heads off!

Good post John.  I agree with all but think sometimes Sierra is leading the
pack.  Although Papyrus does a much better job than the parent company with
buggy software as you mention it.  I think all Papyrus games were very
playable when released and most patches fixed things that were minor.  With
some of Sierra's recent releases, it has not been the case.   I could not
believe what I got with Red Baron II.  Some of their Front Page Sports
Titles have had some pretty big play issues also on release.

To think how complex the programs are now, it is a wonder that buggy
programming is not worse as it is.

--
Brian Tate
BTate80    on TEN
Assist LA for THOMAS ENTERPRISES HAWAII ACE LEAGUE  http://dithots.org

Would be a good idea Pat.   It is so striking now that you are too shocked to
notice bugs in the product.   With each new build, I'm simply amazed at what they
are doing.  Once it ships and the OHHH MY GODDD!!  comments start coming in, this
person will be rushing his ass to the software store himself.  :>

I can't stand road course or Gran Prix racing and I'm floored by the product as it
is now.

--
Brian Tate
BTate80    on TEN
Assist LA for THOMAS ENTERPRISES HAWAII ACE LEAGUE  http://dithots.org

--

The Scripps Research Institute
http://www.scripps.edu/~jsmith

"I died for you... Now why shouldn't you return the favor?"
-Deathdream

--Horrornews--Horrorchat--Reviews--General filth--
Mortado's Page of Filth http://www.nwlink.com/~mortado/

Sorry.

Seemed pretty relevant to me, eddie.

TB

I have so many good games now I don't know when I really need to buy
another. I could careless when they release GPL or N3. There are other
programs to fill the void until they make it out. I still like N2 and may
find it better than N3 since I'm sure the system req. will be much higher
than N2 and you never know when you mess with a really solid program there
is a tendency in screwing it up with even an upgrade.

We get Toca two in 3 weeks. I'm sure that will be a hoot and Moto Madness
this week that should keep my new fix on racing satisfied for quite a while.
4 Racing games at once is plenty adding N2 and MTM2. GPL oh well whenever it
makes it out...

BH

Cheers!
John

I agree John.  Even from a diehard Nascar guy like myself, I find it hard to top
GPL.  Once you get over the learning curve, you will be rewarded with the deepest
driving experince ever.   I knew nothing of 1967 era GP and never really enjoyed
road course racing but GPL has turned me into a fan.   I can't wait to see how
everyone else feels about it once it is released.

I almost enjoy racing GPL's AI more than racing humans on TEN/NROS Nascar 2.
That is saying something my friends.  :>

--
Brian Tate
BTate80    on TEN
Assist LA for THOMAS ENTERPRISES HAWAII ACE LEAGUE  http://www.racesimcentral.net/