Defects
Electronic Arts has had to make an embarrassing climb-down from its much ballyhooed European "booster pack" for its hit "Battlefield 2" computer game. For weeks, every time you fired up BF2 it would remind you that the Euro Force pack was coming soon, and the past few days they'd actually been doing a countdown -- "Euro Force in 3 Days!" etc. Not so fast. Turns out they delayed its release at the 11th hour to fix a bunch of bugs in a patch they issued only last week. I would guess the marketing team committed to something without really consulting with the developers. From their Web site:
Imagine that Ford is about to launch the Cobra version of its new Mustang. They've been hyping the debut day relentlessly. But they scrub it at the last minute because they found that a recall on earlier Mustang models actually created other defects that they want to fix before launching the new product. You think the press, especially the industry press, might mention that?
Anyway, I'm bummed because I was looking forward not only to getting my hands on some new weapons, but playing on the new Great Wall map. U.S. Army versus PLA on the Great Wall?!?! I am so there.
Although patch 1.2 included several fixes that we know were eagerly awaited, it unfortunately introduced some new issues. These are being addressed immediately and we are working around the clock to resolve those. Patch 1.21 (coming soon) will be tested in a limited beta with select Battlefield community members starting as early as this week. We’re doing this to ensure a clean release of 1.21. In addition, we have decided to postpone the Euro Force Booster Pack until sometime after the release of the updated 1.21 patch.But what really puzzles me is the complete lack of any mention on major gaming Web sites. GameSpy, GameSpot, Joystiq and Kotaku carried no word of the delay that I could find. These are sites that regularly rag on the print gaming press for being beholden to the publishers, yet they fall silent when the 800-lb gorilla of the industry stumbles.
Imagine that Ford is about to launch the Cobra version of its new Mustang. They've been hyping the debut day relentlessly. But they scrub it at the last minute because they found that a recall on earlier Mustang models actually created other defects that they want to fix before launching the new product. You think the press, especially the industry press, might mention that?
Anyway, I'm bummed because I was looking forward not only to getting my hands on some new weapons, but playing on the new Great Wall map. U.S. Army versus PLA on the Great Wall?!?! I am so there.
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