Fable 2 was OK, for the most part, but it wasn’t perfect. Like all games helmed by Peter Molyneux, it over-promised and under-delivered. That’s not a shot against the long-time developer, but it’s a sad fact that most ambitious projects get crushed down by the harsh realities of development. The difference with Fable 2, though, was the astounding number of bugs that had to be squashed before the game game out. According to a recent interview, some 67,000 bugs were present in Fable 2’s code at one time, necessitating a rating of “super-black” by the Microsoft quality assurance team. Judging from the interview, games are rated on a sort of “threat assessment” scale, with “super-black” being a very scary area.
Eventually, Lionhead Studios got the bugs under control and the game shipped to above average reviews and sales. Molyneux still wasn’t happy with the finished product, conceding that there were “huge design flaws” in Fable 2 (what those were, he did not specify. How about farting until someone married you?). Fable 3 is apparently facing a tough time as well, breaking its predecessor’s record for most bugs present in a Microsoft first-party title. While the exact number wasn’t mentioned, it is a known fact that Fable 3 has more coding errors than Fable 2, and the team at Lionhead are working very long hours to get it under control for a fall release. Molyneux maintains that this is endemic to the industry as a whole, and reading post-development breakdowns of games like Uncharted 2 would reveal similar problems.
What do you guys think of Molyneux’s statement? As gamers, I think we’ve all come to accept the reality of bugs and glitches, but 67,000 is quite the staggering number. Does this change your perception of Fable 3?
Source: 1up via VG247.com and GamesIndustry.biz
Wow. I don’t know what the average number of bugs is, but if this surpassed Fable 2…be worried.
wow thats kinda messed up oh btw im having trouble accessing the site on my desktop if you guys have any answers help would be apreciated
This really is disconcerting, and I agree with Anthony here. Fable II was a game that felt so disconnected and ambling, and from what I’ve seen of this game, it might be suffering from the same set of chasing too many goals. I’m not sure why people treat Fable like its a AAA franchise. So far, both of the games have been passable, but not great by any means.
This isn’t unusual, I worked for a temp agency that hired out to THQ and I remember that frontlines fuel of war had something like 47,000 before it was released. (the game still sucked lol)
Eddy is right. Fable was a lot of fun, but I hated Fable 2.
This is a franchise that exists on hype.