Little Big Planet 2 does it right!?

[TheGrandMom]

LittleBigPlanet 2 delayed to avoid launch-day patches, Evans says | Joystiq

"Media Molecule delayed LittleBigPlanet 2 until next year because the developer did not want the game to be dependent on launch-day patches. Speaking with VG247, MM head Alex Evans explained the team wanted the retail disc to "perfect" and something the company could be "proud of," ensuring that folks who didn't have a PS3 connected to the internet would still receive the "full experience" without patches.

"We could have shipped it and it would have been fine," Evans told the site. "However we realized that with just a couple of extra weeks we could make the game super amazing, adding the super onto the already amazing which exists today. This is something that will live forever and the delay, people will forget about."

Strangely, at no point in the interview did Evans say, "Oh yes, and one more thing, the real reason we delayed LBP2 was to spite that Griffin McElroy. Muahahahahahahaha!" Seriously, poor guy hasn't stopped rocking in the corner, wracked with denial, since the delay was announced last month."

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There was an audible gasp in the room when we read this. I would highly approve if this caught on.

[Ziero]

Re: Little Big Planet 2 does it right!?

It's things like this that make me Media Molecule and Little Big Planet. I fully support them nickel and diming people with DLC costumes because if anyone deserves our cash it's them.

Plus that revenue helps keep the game servers up and running.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Little Big Planet 2 does it right!?

It's things like this that make me Media Molecule and Little Big Planet. I fully support them nickel and diming people with DLC costumes because if anyone deserves our cash it's them.

Plus that revenue helps keep the game servers up and running.

They don't nickel-and-dime, though, unlike so many games LBP was one that enjoyed long-term support and actual, new content that wasn't just ripped out of the game to sell.

Plus it takes a bit to get licensed characters approved, associated with the game and the royalties worked out. Often, you're not just buying new costumes, but actual expansion content.

In other words, much like Harmonix, Rockstar and Gearbox - this is DLC done right.

[Malacite]

Re: Little Big Planet 2 does it right!?

*Gasp* A developer refusing to release something until it's ready?

And here I thought Blizzard was the only one.

[Nandito]

Re: Little Big Planet 2 does it right!?

An example they should have used for FFXIV~

I'm more surprised it was even planned to release this year. Wasn't the revealing trailer only 6 months ago?

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Little Big Planet 2 does it right!?

An example they should have used for FFXIV~

I'm more surprised it was even planned to release this year. Wasn't the revealing trailer only 6 months ago?

No, it was over a year ago. E3 2009

Also, you CANNOT expect a game as complicated as an MMO to have a smooth launch because no MMORPG has ever had one.

Its much, much easier to polish a single player product to a shine and with a user-generated content game you have to be especially careful. See, even the player has to "test" the level/game they've created before it can be put online. If you can't complete your own objectives, there's no way its going to be passable.

But an MMORPG is too large, too vast and there are too many variables to patch up before it gets out. The whole point of a beta test is to get an idea of what you need to fix down the road and see if your ideas are working out as planned.

But in the retail version, you have parties willingly working against the system, looking for holes and exploits, anything that could have been overlooked. Then there are things players will do that you just can't anticipate. How do you anticipate new third party tools that exploit the system, for example? You can't.

All you can do is roll with the punches and get the fix out as quickly as you can. And for all the venomous criticism hurled SE's way over FFXIV, then seem much more proactive than they were with FFXI.

[Ziero]

Re: Little Big Planet 2 does it right!?

No no, Nadito's right, SE should've take a page from MM and held this game back in development for a long while. There's no reason for so many basic functions, issues and systems to be so broken still or not even in the game at all. The wards and the item search system should have been arranged while still in beta. Inventory sort and UI lag should have been taken care of. Massive bugs like not being able to attack a target you claimed or parties of 3 or more people missing out on Exp should have been fixed.

These are complaints that were around since the closed beta, not stuff that popped up after launch. But these issues, and many more, were and still are being ignored for people paying for the game. Lack of content or new bugs that arise post release I can understand, but things that have been major issues since the game first came out should have really been addressed by now.

As for MM, because their game relies so heavily on User Base content, they have to put that much more effort into making sure everything works and that everything works right. If any game is comparable to an MMO, LBP would be since it literally offers people endless amounts of gameplay experiences. The slightest coding mistake in the most minor of areas could easily lead to massive issues for the game as a whole. The best example of this I can think of is the problem that was discovered post launch of LBP 1 where if you made a motor that spun your sackboy at top speed, it could completely corrupt your saved and game data. It was a major issue (that they addressed and fixed quickly) found in such a minor, obscure function of the game. With as much stuff as LBP2 is adding, they have to be that much more diligent in making sure that not just the new stuff works, but all the old stuff works as well once it gets updated by the new game.

[DakAttack]

Re: Little Big Planet 2 does it right!?

*Gasp* A developer refusing to release something until it's ready?

And here I thought Blizzard was the only one.

The term ready is more opinion than anything. SC2 is a whole lot of fail, but was it ready? After twelve years, I guess it must have been.

And there's something people need to realize. A company can only put so many hours into testing for bugs, which will most likely be completely blown out of the water by how many hours players will put into it on the first day. I think it's a safe guess that more than a thousand people bought FFXIV CE, and each person put in more than an hour on their first day. That's 1000+ hours of time spent playing this game after only beingh out a single hour. Sure, a lot of the basic content they'll see will have been tested repeatedly, but there's still alot of scenarios they can't plan for that some of the players WILL encounter.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Little Big Planet 2 does it right!?

No no, Nadito's right

'fraid not.

When you create a level in LBP2 that can host thousands of players in a single game at the same time, then we'll talk.

[Ziero]

Re: Little Big Planet 2 does it right!?

And there's something people need to realize. A company can only put so many hours into testing for bugs, which will most likely be completely blown out of the water by how many hours players will put into it on the first day.

That's what Public Beta tests are for.

When you create a level in LBP2 that can host thousands of players in a single game at the same time, then we'll talk.

Swing and a miss.

[DakAttack]

Re: Little Big Planet 2 does it right!?

That's what Public Beta tests are for.

Because a release version of a game is exactly like the beta build, right?

[Ziero]

Re: Little Big Planet 2 does it right!?

Is or is not the point of public Beta testing to have players test the game and offer feedback and find bugs and faults the Devs missed while testing in house?

And unfortunately as far as XIV is concerned, the Beta and the actual release were all too similar, many of the biggest issues from the beta persisted at launch and much of the often demanded missing content and functions are still missing. As I said before, if these were new problems which appeared post launch, I would have no complaints. But these are major problems that have persisted since the initial testing phases. This stuff should have been fixed before launch because this stuff was complained about before launch.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Little Big Planet 2 does it right!?

Is or is not the point of public Beta testing to have players test the game and offer feedback and find bugs and faults the Devs missed while testing in house?

A public beta test serves two purposes. The first is to have a larger base of people looking for issues with the game. If you have 200 testers in house and you can turn that into 2000+ for free, its a win for the company. Another reason for open beta testing is for publicity. By open beta, you are pretty near the finish line and showing off your game is paramount to building those pre-order and release day sales. With the internet, screenshots, videos, and reviews are distributed free of charge so that another win the developer. As you've seen with FFXIV, SE didn't even do very much in print/tv advertising because word of "mouth" on the internet is a very powerful thing. Of course, this type of advertising can also work to your disadvantage too.