Bugs in Games - How Does Everyone Feel?

[Lambda | 130]

A question for all collectors:

How do you feel when a bug is reported in a game? (Specifically a mainstream or licensed game).
Do some of you feel like this is a natural part of game-play?

or

Do some of you feel like when a bug is found, it is an abomination to the code set? And the programmers should have done a better job?

Are there any purists out there who seek games with absolutely zero bugs whatsoever and strictly play as intended by the programmers?

 

Im curious about this topic. I found a bug in a game today and as far as I know, I’m the first one to find ANY bug in this game... and it’s a big one... it allows for the build up of infinite lives. I wonder how the community will react to that, so I ask this question

 

thanks in advance to all who respond!

[Tanooki | 4,932]

I feel we're in a world now on most system suppliers that bugs in games have been sadly made not only common, but accepted by the suckers who just don't care and jump right on in.  Bugs these days, along with just generally incomplete code has become the standard due to the wide amount of storage capacity of systems so basically guinea pigs now test as you worded it abominations, and that data gets figured out so then the developer can release fixes, or they already have them as a first day patch.  Games should go back to the past, or hell, generally the Nintendo route where games ship finished, they work, unless something is missed, because they have to rely on the lowest common denominator for fixes which is that 32GB internal space of the system.

[Lambda | 130]

@Tanooki great input! I definitely see where you’re coming from, for sure. I have a massive appreciation for the polish that games of the past had when it came to the code set. There was no room for error, plain and simple. And if a bug did occur, the bug lived on with the coders forever as a “mark” on their work. There was no DLC, no patches, no updates... you got the ROM chip on the cart and that was it. I admire the programmers of old, and more importantly the testing they must have put their games thru to make sure that bugs were eliminated... that’s not to say that there weren’t things that slipped thru the cracks. Which is understandable for any developer. But the fact today that there are literally speed runs of games that are literally built nearly entirely on the bugs in the code is a bit disheartening.. a piece of me feels like a purist... or at least the desire to witness purity... and that may very well stem from the other half of me... the “hunter”... the side of me that absolutely loves finding the mistakes and the bugs, and taking advantage of them. 
 

Great thoughts! Thanks for sharing!

[SNESNESCUBE64 | 536]

When I first read this, I though of actual bugs inside carts and consoles. My immediate thought on that is to throw it into a plastic bag and take it outside lol.

But in regards to programming errors and whatnot, I feel like they add a charm if they are minor and non-gamebreaking. I think it is kind of difficult to seek out games that are bug free, no matter what there is always some sort of imperfection and that's just part of the game. So it's just best to sit down and have a good time with it. 

However, there is something to be said about games that are filled with silly and obvious bugs, that's just lazy programming/bad QA. 

[DefaultGen | 5,401]

I play black label games even when I have a greatest hits version that will have bugfixes, etc. So just looking at better box art is more important to me than bugs. Once you hit the Xbox 360 era though, games starting shipping in a worse state so I don't go out of my way to play unpatched games or anything.

Edited January 27, 2020 by DefaultGen

[Lambda | 130]

3 hours ago, SNESNESCUBE64 said:

When I first read this, I though of actual bugs inside carts and consoles. My immediate thought on that is to throw it into a plastic bag and take it outside lol.

Haha this made me laugh. Funny thing though is that apparently that does happen! I have a buddy who works in a repair shop, and he’s encountered everything from spiders to roaches building entire homes in consoles. He said the heat from the machine is what attracts the bugs. He also said he had one computer that was so infested, the roaches got out and made their way into the store when he took the unit apart. He said he learned his lesson and doesn’t take these infestation cases anymore lol.

 

1 hour ago, DefaultGen said:

I play black label games even when I have a greatest hits version

This is a good point... I’m not sure people pay much mind to the fact that greatest hits versions are usually patched up a bit before being shipped out. (I remember reading about a rare-ish Toy Story game for PS1 that had a character that was deemed racist after the games release. All subsequent copies and greatest hits copies were patched with a benign character after the point was brought up to the studio. (I believe that’s how it went lol)

1 hour ago, DefaultGen said:Once you hit the Xbox 360 era though, games starting shipping in a worse state so I don't go out of my way to play unpatched games or anything.

This is also a good point. I feel that even as far back as when the Wii began to ship all of the shovelware games, that marked a beginning of decline for QC in a lot of studios, and “getting the product out” became more important than finish and polish.

[Tanooki | 4,932]

I'm the same way with PS1 or any of that Player's Choice crap.  Sure they may be slightly bug fixed except in extreme cases of breakage (like Turok Rage Wars gray cart on N64) but the cost of it sucks.  You get cheaper printed discs, lower quality ink on that, same thing typically with the booklets maybe likely even being color removed inside, and usually some ugly off color stand out shade thrown on a spine (shocking green PS1) to a whole freaking case in red with some red on the paper too (for PS3.)  I hate it, it's obnoxious.  Sure I picked on Sony there, but Nintendo too with the gold label garbage or red border selects, they skimp too.

Recently I flashed I lucked into getting the black label jewel case release of Doom on PS1, that's worth well over $100.  I didn't care, it's not ugly ass green.  I sold the players choice game I had which covered the price and a few more bucks over what I had into the rarity.  Sure I could have made some coin, rather not have an eye sore.  Now i'm sitting on a players choice Mario Galaxy which I loathe, so if I ever come across a normal case, that's being dealt with.

 

Circling back to bugs, I'd rather just take the nicer looking one in this case.  Games then, any even in 3D not just 2D were still complex 10-20 years back.  I don't buy into the weak argument there are big teams behind them and they're complex so stuff happens.  And so?  What about Final Fantasy 9 (PS1), what about Eternal Darkness(GC) or Mario Galaxy on the Wii?  These weren't basic 8bit games put together by a handful of dedicated nerds, these wer egames with 100s of people behind them.  And yet somehow they got these games out 99.9% of the time working, basically bug free, and stuff just worked.  So, I don't buy the argument that things are more complex now, any system from the 3D era is far more complex than the NES or the Coleco, even the SNES/Neo Geo/PCE era.  But games now, they're used to being lazy, sloppy, and meeting a deadline finished or not because people are now normalized on buying broken stuff because it'll get fixed without a care for the future.

Edited January 28, 2020 by Tanooki

[Plasma Man | 35]

All games have bugs, the only bugs that bother me are ones that totally break the game/cause it to lock up.

In regards to the star keeper infinite lives bug, I don't think it is much of an issue at all.  Both of my playthroughs I never bothered to farm lives because the game already gives you infinite continues.  Even Super Mario Bros has a similar bug.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lSfM7F-_2E

[TDIRunner | 2,733]

While I definitely prefer the black label PS1 games over the GH versions, I'm not sure why you would want to play the black label version if the GH version has fixes.  I fully understand that the black label has more attractive art, but that has nothing to do with actual gameplay experience.  No reason why you can't enjoy the look of the black label on your shelf while enjoying the fixed GH version on your console.  

[RH | 4,903]

I mean, if there's a patch for a game on the Switch, you have to download it or keep your device off of the network before it boots up.  In that context, I think it's sad that we live in a world were dev studios will ship a game just to make a deadline, and try to get a patch out before it actually makes it in the hands of the gamers.  But, that's not a problem with the devs, and more with management putting to many constraints on their workers and being willing to accept that we live in a "patch it later" type of world.  I take greatest offence to this for games that are largely distributed in physical form.  If a game is broken and needs a day-1 patch, then the game is deeply broken 10-20 years from now when the update servers are shut down and someone buys the game from someone to replay later.

But regarding older games, it is what it is.  I have no offense to their being some bugs.  All games have some bugs in it, if you look long and hard enough.  It's just the nature of writing software.  But, you can definitely do what you can to make sure your game is thoroughly tested by QA to be sure that most game-breaking, or freeze-causing bugs are found before it ships.

[Lambda | 130]

@Plasma Man

appreciate that input! Some will use my bug to advance past certain levels that they could beat prior (this is obviously NOT you, as you’ve beaten the game in a Single day with flying colors ) and I very much appreciate your work/contributions. You’re definitely someone that knows how to beat a “NES hard” game without much help.

 

@TDIRunner

i think I’d agree with you, on that if you have a game with patches that makes the game more playable/reduces bugs, then why not. Box art is AWESOME, and manuals are too for that matter. But, for the games of old, (because there really was no such thing as patched besides those released by manufacturers) I definitely enjoy seeing a game that was beta tested to the point of polish.....Although I can’t argue with the other side of myself that absolutely loves finding those bugs and reporting them when found

 

@RH

the point you bring up is VERY important in my opinion. If a day 1 patch is needed, then the physical format copy sold 20 yrs later may never have a server to update from.... this is a problem for the release of games being produced TODAY. I reckon it’ll be up to guys like us that support communities like this to host those patches and distribute them to those that need them as time goes on. It’s a shame though, that this fact hasn’t been thought about by many distributors (all the way back to the Wii shovelware days), and probably won’t be thought of as much since deadlines now seem to be more important.

 

no matter the circumstances though... there will always be a piece of me that loves finding and reporting bugs ... it’s a sense of satisfaction in identifying code routines from “the outside” maybe? Not sure exactly what it is that drives me, but I enjoy hunting bugs down to an extent. (Game breaking bugs sometimes are just upsetting...)

Edited January 31, 2020 by Lambda

[PineappleLawnchair | 88]

I'm more worried about game consoles becoming too outdated to use internet access points like i'm seeing happen with DS games. Far as i can tell as long as the console allows you to redirect the server through settings, and there's someone willing to program and host the server, and, indeed, the patches are archived we shouldn't have an issue.

 

[Lambda | 130]

Another Bug found that hasn’t been reported as far as I’m aware of.

System: Atari 2600

Game: Halo 2600

 

Bug Description: If you walk into the top two pixels of the white and black Covenant Alien’s head in the Blue Background screens, you can no longer walk away, he cannot kill you, and the Purple/Yellow Covenant Alien’s shots go right through the player. This bug essentially creates a soft lock in the game. See attached image and video

Tested On: Stella (no true hardware testing has been done as of now)

 

This one was interesting to me when I found it because it produced a soft lock (game-breaking bug). This is a big deal in my opinion... especially considering that the game was de-made by the creator of Halo series himself, Ed Fries, under permission of Microsoft. You’d think something like this may have been found in beta

You 

Edited February 6, 2020 by Lambda