Quality Issues In Video Games Are Fixed Faster Than Ever

Technology Articles | July 29, 2011

Bugs and glitches used to be quite a problem for gamers. However, this is rapidly changing thanks to changes in the game QA process.

Let's not forget what video games actually are: software. And just like any other piece of software, they are prone to having various bugs, glitches and compatibility issues with certain hardware and other software programs. Previously, such problems in video games used to be quite a big source of frustration for gamers everywhere. A gaming company could rapidly lose its reputation if they released a game that had bugs in it. But all of this is changing and according to recent reports on game quality assurance, issues affecting video games are now fixed very rapidly, sometimes within hours after being reported.

The main factor behind this is the increased use of the internet. Updating a game with a bug fix or a patch can now be done completely online. Many games now automatically check for such updates when they start up. If you read any video game related message board, it would seem that there are now many more problems affecting video games than ever before. However, this is not due to failings in the Game Programming process or due to negligence on the part of gaming companies. It is in fact due to changes in computer hardware and software. If you look back about 20 years ago, most computers were pretty standardized and the choice of processors, video cards and operating systems was quite limited. Now, there are hundreds of different graphics cards in use and dozens of different modern CPUs.

What makes game problems be fixed faster than ever is actually increased participation of the gaming community in the game QA process. While companies still use Game Testers before releasing a game, they increasingly rely on feedback from their users to iron out any problems in the beta stage, or after a game has been released to the public. If it is determined that there is something wrong with the game, various things could happen. A user could find a workaround and then post it to gaming community message boards. Or, the gaming company could be made aware of the problem and rapidly get to work for the purpose of developing a fix which will be included in the next update of the game. Depending on the nature of the problem, an update for the game could be ready within a few days, but it can sometimes take a few weeks if advanced research or coding will be needed. However, this is much better than being stuck with a buggy game, or having to contact the gaming company to obtain a replacement, which previously often involved filling out forms, submitting proof of purchase and then waiting for weeks until a replacement disc was mailed out to the user which contained a bug free version of the game.

Article Tags: Video Games

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gina Kraft is a video and mobile game enthusiast. Gina is very interested in the process of Game Programming. She thinks that Game Testers are very important in the industry. She also thinks that all video game publishers should invest in game quality assurance.