Enjoying that shiny, brand-new copy of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts for your Xbox 360? If you're using a standard-definition television, probably not. Turns out that the return of the Rare's bear (all true, I swear) somehow made it through the elaboriate testing process without a soul making sure that the game's font and text were legible on the millions of non-HDTVs around the world. The company's original response, via the NeoGaf forums, was less than understanding, explaining that fixing the issue was "simply something that's too expensive in terms of time, resources and money to alter." Naturally those gamers using SDTVs were less than amused, and rightfully so.
Full admission of guilt and promise-to-fix statement after the jump. That and some colorful commentary from yours truly...
A posting on the official Banjo Forums recanted the early brush off, pleding to fix the readability issues quickly:
"It has come to our attention that people are experiencing subtitle readability issues with Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts on Standard Definition TVs. We would like to assure you that contrary to earlier reports, we are aware of the issue and currently working on a title update to be released within the next 30 days that will fix it for those with Standard Definition TVs. We're committed to ensuring all fans of the franchise are able to have the best experience possible with Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts." (source)
While the occasional bug often makes it through a game's development cycle, and as long as it doesn't affect gameplay or performance, may be forgiven. But when said bug (or increasingly, bugs) renders a game virtually unplayable from the get-go things start to get a lot more serious. Performance issues that affect gameplay are nothing new in the land of PC gaming, and are typically patched-up following the game's release, and nothing has saddened me more than watching this lazy approach to play-testing eek its way into the modern console.
That Rare and Microsoft could so carelessly release a product that's virtually unplayable to the vast majority of potential users is baffling. A recent survey found that kist 25% of American homes have HDTVs installed, and while the number of Xbox 360 players plopped in front of those sets varies, that roughly translates into a whopping 3/4 of all 'potential' users not able to play the new Banjo out-of-the-box. This is especially true given Microsoft's attempts to gather more support from the casual crowd. Since when did SDTV-enabled become a feature?
This isn't the first (or second) time a text-related issue has cropped up on Microsoft's console; the most notorious example being Capcom's Lost Planet making it to retail with barely legible font sizes. Online consumers have since propped up, berating developer's absurd desire to create the smallest, most unreadable text imaginable in their latest games. Among other offenders have been Lost Odyssey, Mass Effect, and even Grand Theft Auto 4. But it's not just Microsoft's machine that's guilty - Sony rendered their PlayStation 3's web browser nearly unusable with miniscule font sizes that become a blurred mess on smaller sets - even HDTV ones.
Why on earth any developer would think having uncomfortably small text to read is a grand idea is beyond me, but when such a choice renders a game (especially a game that requires reading) unplayable it becomes inexcusable. While Rare's initial excuse that fixing the problem was cost-prohibitive, having them look into and promise to set things right is a scenario that should never have happened. Consumers need to continue being vigilant, demanding that purchased product is player-tested and makes the grade. Developers need to discard the elitist notion that everyone prefers their text small and tiny, and not every console gamer is part of the HDTV revolution.
blog comments powered by Disqus