Battlefield 3 producer Patrick Liu believes that gamers have misunderstood what a beta test is. Is he right, or should DICE have released a better product?
When DICE released the Battlefield 3 Beta on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, they might have over-estimated console gamer ability to discern between a beta test and a demo and many first impressions haven’t really been the strongest. After months of build up, hype, and growing anticipation for Battlefield 3, the open beta was the first chance for many to play the game. The beta has been filled with a myriad of glitches and really poor textures on the console versions, causing many to wonder whether or not Battlefield 3 will be up to snuff when it releases later this month.
Despite the developer reiterating the facts that the build was made available for players to ensure that the game would be at its best when it releases on October 25th. While DICE has promised that the issues found in the Battlefield 3 beta won’t be present at launch. it is still very worrying to many people and players have already given up on the game, especially considering that DICE games haven’t really had the most stable launches.
Patrick Liu of DICE thinks that its purely a matter of players not understanding the difference between a beta test and a demo.
“We just wanted to know it wouldn’t crash and burn at launch. It was horrible with Battlefield 1943 – it sold ten times the numbers we thought it would, and it was down for three or four days which is really bad. We don’t want to go through that again.” , said Liu. “I think there’s been a misunderstanding of the term beta test.”
Though they have said the game is running off an “old build” and that console gamers will have the opportunity to enhance the visual fidelity of the game by installing a texture pack included with the game. The point of a beta is to weed out any bugs that may appear at release and to ensure stability of the online infrastructure.
Battlefield 3 will be out on October 28 for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC
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