EA Games - Community Update 2/16/2006

[fldash]

Good Morning Troops,

Patch 1.2 is out and we hope you are all enjoying the changes. For the most part, the initial response from the community has been very positive. We’re pleased to be able to make your gameplay experience more pleasant.

The next big addition to Battlefield will be the Battlefield: Euro Force booster pack, which will be released on February 21st. In addition to the release of Euro Force, we are preparing an updated version of the editor for release at roughly the same time.

On a less pleasant note, there is an issue with 1.2 and some Special Forces maps. All variants of Leviathan and the 32 and 64 player variants of Night Flight have a crash bug. We have advised our ranked server providers to remove these maps from their map rotation until a resolution has been set in place. We will be able to provide more news in future updates. I stress, this is only an issue with the Special Forces expansion pack and nothing more.

There have been a few comments regarding AT rockets passing through targets. We have noted the issue and are working towards a solution.

The EA quality assurance team doesn't do a very good job. I wonder if there are jobs available in that department.

[Pokerface]

There will be shortly, I bet.

[ChIck3nL3gz]

Hey EA, can we get a "lean" feature? It'd be great to be able to "lean" around a corner with just your gun instead of exposing your entire body to incoming enemy fire.

[wushuhero]

Originally Posted by dumbass

Patch 1.2 is out and we hope you are all enjoying the changes. For the most part, the initial response from the community has been very positive. We’re pleased to be able to make your gameplay experience more pleasant.

Umm......no

[jaymind]

here have been a few comments regarding AT rockets passing through targets. We have noted the issue and are working towards a solution.

And here I thought I was going nuts last night playing AT.

[Thierry]

There are now 2 huge bugs in the AT missile:

1:
Fake fire, especially if you quickly fire the missile after its reloaded without zoom (say on a flag), the first time you fire you see a smoke trail but thats it, you have to wait a whole reload cycle for the missile to magicly appear back in the tube and fire again.

2:
Missile go through cars even worse now, at 50m or less it will go through, I've had cases of it going through even further....hello? EA? PROXIMITY Setting maybe? Of 0.0000001? So that it blows up when its INSIDE the target? Yeh thought so....

[KillerTarget]

For being a patch, they sure didn't do a good job patching it by making more things screw up. What is EA a bunch of apes or monkeys randomly typing code? Oh, I am sorry if that were the case we would have a better game with AI for single play and some multiplayer, and the server viewer would of worked at the release and not now. As for those bugs on the SF maps, those are some of the best maps for SF. WTF EA!!!! Patching a game and killing some of the better maps.

[P8riot]

Originally Posted by Tzefanya

The EA quality assurance team doesn't do a very good job. I wonder if there are jobs available in that department.

Me thinks there is no QA department.

- - Really.. I don't think there is.

[orbitz]

Originally Posted by KillerTarget

For being a patch, they sure didn't do a good job patching it by making more things screw up. What is EA a bunch of apes or monkeys randomly typing code? Oh, I am sorry if that were the case we would have a better game with AI for single play and some multiplayer, and the server viewer would of worked at the release and not now. As for those bugs on the SF maps, those are some of the best maps for SF. WTF EA!!!! Patching a game and killing some of the better maps.

Umm wouldn't it be DICE doing the patches for their game not EA the publisher?

However it's probably EAs fault we have the game in the state its in, since they'd be the ones to set all the dates.

[Mayfield]

Originally Posted by P8riot

Me thinks there is no QA department.

- - Really.. I don't think there is.

I agree 100% after this patch. I see the Red/Blue thing even more, and the AT bug is just infuriating.

[P8riot]

Originally Posted by orbitz

Umm wouldn't it be DICE doing the patches for their game not EA the publisher?

However it's probably EAs fault we have the game in the state its in, since they'd be the ones to set all the dates.

That is true.. and I am using EA/Dice interchangeably - both parties are responsible for the quality and completion of the product they release.

[Telorn]

Ultimately it comes down to EAs decision if the patch DICE gives the EA Q/A department to pass it or not. Most devs don't have a Q/A department. The publisher does that.

So we can thank DICE for giving us such a crappy patch and we can thank EA for giving it the OK and publishing it.

[icky]

Originally Posted by Thierry

There are now 2 huge bugs in the AT missile:

1:
Fake fire, especially if you quickly fire the missile after its reloaded without zoom (say on a flag), the first time you fire you see a smoke trail but thats it, you have to wait a whole reload cycle for the missile to magicly appear back in the tube and fire again.

2:
Missile go through cars even worse now, at 50m or less it will go through, I've had cases of it going through even further....hello? EA? PROXIMITY Setting maybe? Of 0.0000001? So that it blows up when its INSIDE the target? Yeh thought so....

Odd. A buggy was coming straight at me last night, and for the first time ever in BF2, I was able to kill it with an AT rocket. I thought it was a new AT fix and was pleased.

I did have a spontaneous fire incident last night though. I think it fired by itself right after a reload.

[kornkobcom]

Originally Posted by orbitz

Umm wouldn't it be DICE doing the patches for their game not EA the publisher?

However it's probably EAs fault we have the game in the state its in, since they'd be the ones to set all the dates.

It is notable that in the game industry often times the publisher does, in fact, do the actual QA. While one might think "but all publishers do is print the game and get it on shelves" there is a rather complex relationship between a game developer and their publisher. When one contracts to do a game the publisher will require specific milestones be met. It is up to the publisher to make sure that the milestones are actually met. This generally involves a large nubmer of people playing through the game--- and a QA department is borne.

Historically, small developers will have no QA staff at all, even when self publishing. Developers will rely on their own unit testing to pass a product.

The relationship between publisher and developer is a strange one these days. Where once they were really more of a customer/service provider relationship with the developer being the customer and the publisher providing the service, this has evolved (some argue devolved) into a much more difficult relationship to manage in which the publisher is usually the source of the developer's budget.

This places the publisher as the primary driver fopr the product, not the developer. As such it also places primary blame for all decisions made in the same hands that hold the purse strings: the publisher. When that publisher is a) a large stockholder and b) the publisher is actively attempting to acquire the developer the relationship gets even more complex. EA is actively attempting to acquire (or was last I heard) DICE.

Thus it is perfectly alright to blame EA for the problems with this game because they are running the show.


I speak from the inside of the industry (but not EA).

[JMJ]

Originally Posted by KillerTarget

For being a patch, they sure didn't do a good job patching it by making more things screw up. What is EA a bunch of apes or monkeys randomly typing code? Oh, I am sorry if that were the case we would have a better game with AI for single play and some multiplayer, and the server viewer would of worked at the release and not now. As for those bugs on the SF maps, those are some of the best maps for SF. WTF EA!!!! Patching a game and killing some of the better maps.

The EA QA team is not amused at your comments.