Hey guys, alright this not a rant about if this console sucks or this other is better or anything. In the days of the SNES, PS and N64 I use to play on them a lot and read articles about them, and as I understand game developers needed a license to make games for them, this license was more like a Quality standard for the games developed, now here's why I started this thread. Are this quality standards still a requirement? I was resently reading about the top 7 worst games of 2010 on some other website, and I found this "attack of the movies 3D" videogame, it does look like crap, the graphics are not good for what the consoles are capable of (wii and xbox360), what im saying is the game does look like it didnt have to pass any quality filter to make it to the stores. WHAT ARE THE CURRENT QUALITY POLICIES TO MAKE GAMES FOR CONSOLES, IS THERE ANY?
there are guideline standards for each platform that must be adhered to but they are more to do with production then content.
I don't think the quality standards are concerned with graphics quality, but more the content. Try getting permission for making a game about 2Girls1cup ( a wee game XD ), I don't think what your production value is, but more that it doesn't damage the image of the console.
So as I remember it, back in the 80s there were no quality control standards. I think you had to pay a license to use a console but that was about it. Then endless crap like the ET game came out (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.T._the_Extra-Terrestrial_(video_game)) Nintendo saved the industry with the NES (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_video_game_crash_of_1983) And today there are standards, but from what I understand these licenses are very expensive to use - I think the idea is if you pay a lot you won't want to waste the opportunity. This is designed to ensure some level of quality for consoles, although you could argue standards may be fairly low judging by the volume of shovelware... The alternate argument is for cheap licenses (eg, developing for iPhone) but you do get severe volumes of sh*t. Apple as a platform succeeds for many reasons though - it's innovative, got fantastic distribution, is ridiculously desirable, and very popular amongst the press at the moment (see my signature) Don't quote me on any of this but this is what I understand of it...
Basically, there are certification processes. Microsoft is notoriously strict here. It has nothing to do with the quality of the game. Basically it's just a process of ensuring the game is actually functional and passes certain guidelines that Microsoft requires game software to have. They don't want it to brick their console and they don't want exploding titties on the screen randomly.
Apart from The Saboteur - a few explosions there. @sotu1 - great link to the ET story - that was very interesting! Publisher greed has always been here then!
haha yeah I had that lecture some time ago, it was interesting and hilarius, the videogames history its great and I think every gamer in the world should take a look at it
