[Olorin]

I don't know if we'll see a real effort on the part of publishers to get rid of the bugs before release unless there is enough pressure brought by gamers to change the return policy on games. Currently, if I go out and by the latest release, only to find that it is unplayable due to bugs, I can't take it back for a refund. I realize that piracy is what brought on this no returns policy in the first place, but because we can't return games because of the bugs, it takes away a lot of the consumers power.

I do think that we'll be seeing more and more people holding off on purchasing new games until they've been out long enough to hear good feedback from other gamers, and for the patches to come out. This will push developers to fix the bugs before release because once people hold off on their purchase, they might hear bad feedback on their favorite forums, and end up passing on the game completely.

I don't know what will happen with consoles. I'm assuming that the new consoles can only get online through broadband connections, and there are enough people that still have only dial-up or no connection at all to keep the console market honest for now. I doubt that they could refuse to refund someone for a bugged game if they don't have a way to get the patch to them. Of course, the games that are made for online play might start coming out bugged.

Personally, I don't play many new games. I'm still having fun with the older titles, and I don't have the money to upgrade my computer or buy a next gen console. If I want something new, I browse the used PS2 games for something I haven't played yet, or find an old PC game that will work on my system.