PLEASE STAND BY...

I got back from buying Test Drive Unlimited 2 today and enjoyed a few hours playing it.  I took a break then went back to it and the game crashed.  It did not even get into the game or even any sort of menu. A quick dig on the internet with the help of X Box Support on Twitter revealed the problem to be associated with Atari's servers.

Now Test Drive Unlimited 2 (TDU2) is an MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online game) which relies on a stable and constant server access in order for it to work.  Without such you cannot log into the game and play it, even in single player mode such is the nature of games of this type.  As you can imagine the servers or game code not being robust enough to allow this is somewhat problematic.

I would like to say that I cannot believe that this has happened to a game - especially over the launch weekend when peoples first impressions of the game will count.  However this is a sad reflection on the gaming industry these days.  I am hardly surprised that TDU2 has been released in what is clearly an unfinished state.  Whether this is down to the game code or the Atari servers makes no difference.  There has clearly not been enough testing done on this title and as a result there are a number of frustrated people wanting to play the game only to find it being denied them.

Again gamers are the ones who are getting shafted here.  When you pay £39.99 for a game you should feel entitled to be able to play that game whenever you want, not limited to resources such as server access which is beyond your control.  Obviously this is an MMO and therefore server access is critical and some downtime has to be expected, but from all accounts this issue has been present since the game launched earlier in the week.  The servers are not down due to routine maintenance which happens from time to time, but don't appear to be able to carry the burden of demand.

Atari have stated that they are looking at the problem.  What are they doing exactly?  If it is an overburden on the servers then the only answer is to boost the servers for TDU2.  If it is the games code then how come this got to the release stage without the problem being addressed.  It smacks of a hash job being done by Atari with the game being pushed out of the door with the attitude being 'we will fix the problems later, let's get the money in first.'

This sadly echo's the problems with Test Drive Unlimited which was beset by online issues from day one and still had some issues the last time I played it some two or so years after release.  Are we to expect the same issues again?  What have the developers been doing for the development cycle of this game?  Surely it makes sense with a sequel to first of all address the main issues affecting the previous release?

It is sad to say that I cannot think of a AAA release in the past six months that has not had issues with it when launched.  It seems that gamers are now being used as testers for these games which is completely wrong as we don't get paid for it but are expected to fork out our hard earned money for software that is essentially broken.  At best we get the game patched at a later date, at worst we are expected for fork out for the next annual update in order to get the fixes that should have been provided free of charge for the game already owned.  It is bang out of order and it's high time these software developers and publishers were brought to task over it.

If these game publishers and developers want me to be a tester for their games then at least pay me for the inconvenience.  That or start to treat the testing of their games more seriously and address these problems before games are released.