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this post was submitted on 21 Jan 2024
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Now also make it illegal to sell physical copies of games that need day 0 patches/downloads to make them work.
I still kick on my original nes every now and then. 20 years from now when you dig out your old copy of borderlands 3 and there's no longer a download available, you think you'll get to play through the game?
This is why his videos about this issue are great, he dismantles every single argument against it like "just buy physical", The Crew has physical versions, they won't work just like the digital one.
True. Though there really are NES games that should've received a patch if that were possible.
yeah, but how rare is that compared to today, where almost every bloody game is ridiculously broken and needing major day 1 patches... an day 2 patches, and day 7 patches.
Or even worse, the disk doesn't even have the damned game on it to begin with. It just sets up to start the game download.
Or no disk at all. Just a slip of paper with a CD key written on it that you have to type into steam.
NES games were ridiculously simple and had a tiny amount of code compared to today’s games. The less code you have, the fewer the number of bugs.
Always a corporate apologist.
"Things were easier back then! You have no idea how hard it is for them to finish a game before releasing it!"
Let me guess, you haven’t written a single line of production code in your life?
Writing code is hard, writing bug-free code is neigh impossible. To give some perspective: the seL4 kernel is a formally proven microkernel, meaning they can actually prove is conforms to it’s specification. It took 3 years to write and prove this. It comprises 8,700 lines of C code and 600 lines of assembler. 9,300 lines or code in 3 years.
It is only feasible to do this for small bits of very critical code, like a microkernel. Even NASA doesn’t write code in this way.
If you wanted to do this, a game like Super Mario Bros. would probably not even be for sale, as they would still be working on it. It would probably sell for a couple of million dollars per copy.
Commercial software has in average 1 to 5 bugs per 1000 lines of code. Very critical and well tested software (think the software controlling aircraft) has maybe as little as 1 bug per 10,000 lines (and this will cost an absolute fortune to write and test).
Games have millions of lines of code and are certainly not critical. The idea that games can be bug-free is beyond absurd. Even a low number of bugs is a ridiculous ask. Or are you saying you’re willing to pay $10,000+ for a game?
Ah yes, the Corporate White Knight twisting the argument and defend the poor downtrodden multi-billion dollar companies from the horrors of deserved criticism.
True.
"Sorry customers, we're no longer selling physical releases. Court mandated that, our hands are tied."
Yes, games often come with bugs, but a game that comes out unplayable or unbeatable on disk is extremely rare.
This is, of course, discounting the fact that as part of community preservation efforts, updates are preserved along with the games.
They aren't extremely rare at all, bro.
There are extremely few games that are not playable or beatable without being patched. You can list the ones you know if you like