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[Triggerhappytel]

No one had a review copy in their office to play and test, and form opinions on? Review event? Never even heard of this.

Review events are pretty common for bigger releases like this, Battlefield, Assassin's Creed, etc. However, when it comes to online-heavy games like this it's total bullshit that publications are happy to post reviews before they can test the game in a public environment, rather than an untrustworthy controlled space.

 

[Caayn]

Review events are pretty common for bigger releases like this, Battlefield, Assassin's Creed, etc. However, when it comes to online-heavy games like this it's total bullshit that publications are happy to post reviews before they can test the game in a public environment, rather than an untrustworthy controlled space.

I doubt that they're too happy about it. It wouldn't surprise me if that was the only way to get access to the game before release, making it kind of a blackmail "you either review it on our terms or you don't get early access".

 

[Welfare]

I doubt that they're too happy about it. It wouldn't surprise me if that was the only way to get access to the game before release, making it kind of a blackmail "you either review it on our terms or you don't get early access".

Publications also want to get as many clicks as possible when putting up a review. Either you review a game based on what you played at an event and get the review out as soon as the embargo ends, or you wait a week or two to get the review out and lose pageviews as people would already know how the game plays.

 

[Massa]

Some of them updated their review scores though. But Metacritic doesn't keep track.
Polygon changed its 95 score to 80 for example.

I don't understand the 80. How can it score that high if it's broken?

 

[Real Hero]

I don't understand the 80. How can it score that high if it's broken?

It's called Halo

 

[BokehKing]

It's called MP wasn't working when people reviewed it

I have a feeling they knew this was going to be broken since the beginning..

Remember when they hit us with "some playlist won't be available in the beginning '

 

[Neuromancer]

Halo 4 wasn't a technical mess, it worked.

Until my saved game got corrupted and I lost all my campaign progress. I was halfway through the game on solo Legendary. That's the only Halo game that's ever happened to me with, and it happened to other people as well. I even had an extra save on a USB device, but it didn't matter since apparently it also saves to your gamertag.

I'm sorry but that is absolutely inexcusable even if it only affected a small number of users. As far as I heard no fix ever came out for it.

 

[NickFire]

Man this is so true, and so sad. What's even more sad is that Bungie themselves are turning into something frightfully similar.

I don't think you're being fair to Bungie. They do get a lot of shit for destiny, but I don't think anyone can reasonably deny the game plays like a champion, and lack of content be damned, the game is also downright addicting.

 

[CyReN]

No one had a review copy in their office to play and test, and form opinions on? Review event? Never even heard of this.

Review copies were sent out about 10 days before release, problem was there was only the campaigns + Halo 1/2 mp through customs. The servers were suppose to go live the Tuesday before release but got delayed until the weekend before. When we had our review copies we assumed that it was the low player base with the time to find matches.

With that, we only reviewed the new H2A campaign and skipped reviewing mp since it wasn't playable at all. We chose not to review the full product since it wasn't there. Was really surprised to see others actually release full reviews with the state it was in.

 

[NullPointer]

I'm sorry but that is absolutely inexcusable even if it only affected a small number of users. As far as I heard no fix ever came out for it.

I'm not sure lost save games have ever come with a fix for the lost saves themselves, but didn't 343 fix the issue that led to the wipes in the first place?

You're right that its inexcusable though. Never fuck with a player's save-game.

As far as the topic goes, I've lost my earlier optimism. I have no doubt that 343 is filled with technical and creative wizards, but I'm more pessimistic when it comes to the more top level goals and decision making. Here's hoping that those at 343 that put the quality of the game above all else are the voices that end up carrying the day forward, especially when considering 343's short track history of releases so far.

 

[90sRobots]

It turns out that the "Halo killer" there were whispers about since 2002 wasn't a game after all.

LOL excellent jape, friend! Thanks for the BRUTE FORCE memories.

 

[Neuromancer]

I'm not sure lost save games have ever come with a fix for the lost saves themselves, but didn't 343 fix the issue that led to the wipes in the first place?

Not that I ever heard. Someone in that thread I linked encountered that problem in July 2013, ~8 months after the game released.

 

[block tower]

currently trying to play Halo 2's campaign with a friend online and keep getting disconnected from our play through this game is so broken its unreal. because i still cant join multiplayer matches consistently, i was originally planning on playing through all the campaigns on co-op and then getting rid of the game. but now that im having issues with single player i might just trade the game in tomorrow.

 

[arevin01]

I'm sorry but every developer who worked on MCC and knew it was broken on release date should be ashamed of themselves. They are not true gamers imo and lack the true passion it takes to making good games.

 

[Steverulez]

I'm sorry but every developer who worked on MCC and knew it was broken on release date should be ashamed of themselves. They are not true gamers imo and have no passion about making good games.

Hyperbole?

The developers have a contract to perform their tasks, I believe they did the best they could given the time scale but to be honest it just needed more time.

The decision to release it in this state falls exclusively down to Microsofts management, I'm not going to blame Ruffian, Certain Affinity et al

 

[REDSLATE]

Their only new entry in the series to date is Halo 4 and Halo 4 was garbage.

Give them credit where it is due; they also helped make that shit-heap "Reach."

Can anyone verify whether or not The MCPO Collection has LAN or not? 'cause if it doesn't... that's just ridiculous.

 

[HTupolev]

Can anyone verify whether or not The MCPO Collection has LAN or not? 'cause if it doesn't... that's just ridiculous.

It can network games over a LAN, although last I checked you need to be logged on to XBL to use it.

So... technically yes but in practice merely "sort of"?

 

[REDSLATE]

It can network games over a LAN, although last I checked you need to be logged on to XBL to use it.

So... technically yes but in practice merely "sort of"?

So when the servers shut down, it can't be played over a network?

 

[GoodCoffeeJoey]

This thread is a gift that keeps on giving.

 

[Game4life]

Ha Ha this thread is amazing.

 

[zychi]

Hyperbole?

The developers have a contract to perform their tasks, I believe they did the best they could given the time scale but to be honest it just needed more time.

The decision to release it in this state falls exclusively down to Microsofts management, I'm not going to blame Ruffian, Certain Affinity et al

Totally. I mean no games ever get delayed pass the original release date. Not a Battlefield Hardline, a Smash Bros, never even a Halo. This is totally on Microsoft forcing those poor workers to release a broken game, and force them to not fix it by working on Halo 5.

Those poor poor developers

 

[Narpas Sword0]

Totally. I mean no games ever get delayed pass the original release date. Not a Battlefield Hardline, a Smash Bros, never even a Halo. This is totally on Microsoft forcing those poor workers to release a broken game, and force them to not fix it by working on Halo 5.

Those poor poor developers

I'm no 343 apologist but do you really think they wouldn't have wanted more time to work on the game? Who but the publisher, Microsoft, would care if it comes out before Christmas or not?

Also P.S. 343 is Microsoft

P.P.S. per your example, I don't think a Halo game with a release date has ever been delayed.

 

[Derpyduck]

I'm sorry but every developer who worked on MCC and knew it was broken on release date should be ashamed of themselves. They are not true gamers imo and lack the true passion it takes to making good games.

Is it possible that individually all the games functioned properly? But when whichever dev put it all together (I assume that was the task of 343/MS) it all fell apart? I ask because Halo CE Anniversary released without issue on its own.

There's no doubt in my mind that someone/everyone at 343 knew this was a busted mess when it was being released, but allowed it to go out anyway, thinking they'd fix it quickly with patches, and use giveaways in an attempt to make consumers happy.

 

[Narpas Sword0]

Is it possible that individually all the games functioned properly? But when whichever dev put it all together (I assume that was the task of 343/MS) it all fell apart? I ask because Halo CE Anniversary released without issue on its own.

That is really unlikely. Also XBox 360 played Halo 1 natively (or at least had a solid emulator available at launch), which is not the case for Halo 1-4 on XBox One.

 

[Pound_lb003]

Totally. I mean no games ever get delayed pass the original release date. Not a Battlefield Hardline, a Smash Bros, never even a Halo. This is totally on Microsoft forcing those poor workers to release a broken game, and force them to not fix it by working on Halo 5.

Those poor poor developers

Haha, I can't tell if this is really deeply entrenched sarcasm, or a silly post.

Genuinely, it IS Microsoft who needed a return on their investment. I don't want to make it sound like they 'forced' the developers in some cattle prodding to the abattoir fashion, because I suspect they all thought it'd work better than it has.

But it was Microsoft's call. It's their money funding the project. It's them who needed it released in November.

As a rule, Steve knows what he's on about.

 

[Steverulez]

Totally. I mean no games ever get delayed pass the original release date. Not a Battlefield Hardline, a Smash Bros, never even a Halo. This is totally on Microsoft forcing those poor workers to release a broken game, and force them to not fix it by working on Halo 5.

Those poor poor developers

I can't work out how far the sarcasm goes here, either way its a stupid post. Do you really think Ruffian, Certain Affinity, Saber etc had any say in the release date? Of course not, its Microsofts IP, it falls squarely on them.

But it was Microsoft's call. It's their money funding the project. It's them who needed it released in November.

As a rule, Steve knows what he's on about.

Thanks I mean, Microsoft own the IP, its farmed out contract work, seems like it would be obvious to anyone that they would be their call...

 

[Mendax]

I can't work out how far the sarcasm goes here, either way its a stupid post. Do you really think Ruffian, Certain Affinity, Saber etc had any say in the release date? Of course not, its Microsofts IP, it falls squarely on them.



Thanks I mean, Microsoft own the IP, its farmed out contract work, seems like it would be obvious to anyone that they would be their call...

oh, really? what if those contractors said "we cannot deliver you anything yet because it's not ready yet"? It's not like those studios came into a microsoft building to work from 9-5 and the rest was up to microsoft, is it?

 

[Steverulez]

oh, really? what if those contractors said "we cannot deliver you anything yet because it's not ready yet"? It's not like those studios came into a microsoft building to work from 9-5 and the rest was up to microsoft, is it?

Then Microsoft could have chosen to delay it. Single player was at least in a workable state, custom games were (for the most part in my experience) fine. Obviously they could and I assume would have made Microsoft/343i aware of the issues the games have, but I can't honestly believe any of you think this decision didn't rest solely on Microsoft...

 

[Mendax]

Then Microsoft could have chosen to delay it. Single player was at least in a workable state, custom games were (for the most part in my experience) fine. Obviously they could and I assume would have made Microsoft/343i aware of the issues the games have, but I can't honestly believe any of you think this decision didn't rest solely on Microsoft...

I'm not saying the decision to ship a broken game wasn't made by microsoft, I'm saying that the others are also responsible for handing in either bad or unfinished work.

 

[zychi]

You guys remember when Nintendo needed a "return on investment" and pushed Zelda for Wii U out at xmas last year?

Remember that time Sony needed a ROI so they threw God of War out there so single player saves would randomly get deleted?

Or when Microsoft pushed Forza out early and multiplayer didnt work at all?

No? Oh neither do i. I guess MCC is a one time deal where the developers had no say on a broken product and MS came in, took the code, and had it go gold without the developers knowledge.

 

[Triggerhappytel]

I'm sorry but every developer who worked on MCC and knew it was broken on release date should be ashamed of themselves. They are not true gamers imo and lack the true passion it takes to making good games.

Individual developers have zero control over stuff like this. You want to blame someone personally, look to the likes of Frank O'Connor, Bonnie Ross or Phil Spencer.

 

[Pound_lb003]

I'm not saying the decision to ship a broken game wasn't made by microsoft, I'm saying that the others are also responsible for handing in either bad or unfinished work.

In the sense that they couldn't get it sorted with the resources they had, yeah. But that's about it. Plenty of projects don't come together on time or on budget. It's the publishers choice to make the call on the work they've already paid for, and whether it's suitable to release.

Making a game, or even porting a game, isn't like making sure a series of math questions are answered correctly.

You guys remember when Nintendo needed a "return on investment" and pushed Zelda for Wii U out at xmas last year?

Remember that time Sony needed a ROI so they threw God of War out there so single player saves would randomly get deleted?

Or when Microsoft pushed Forza out early and multiplayer didnt work at all?

No? Oh neither do i. I guess MCC is a one time deal where the developers had no say on a broken product and MS came in, took the code, and had it go gold without the developers knowledge.

It's like talking to a wall. But simply put, you're being obtuse, and it was not the developers that had the final call on it.