Capcom has put out the word that it’s hard at work trying to fix a bug in Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix that’s causing crashes on the Xbox 360.
The system crashes apparently result on some Xbox 360 systems when gamers search for ranked and player matches in Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix, which is currently in open beta. Videogamer.com reports that Rey Jimenez posted a message on the official Capcom blog saying the issue caught the developers by surprise since it didn’t show up during in-house testing.
“This is very perplexing because I can assure you all that this never occurred during testing or during certification,” Jimenez said. “We’re busy on tracking down the issue and will be evaluating our options at addressing it. While this is a beta and bugs are expected, we’re going to do everything we can to address this issue. Fortunately, this does not seem to be an issue that’s affecting everyone.”
Jimenez added that the game’s Tournament Mode, an eight-player knock-out competition, seems to be working fine. “Hope this doesn’t put a damper on you guys that have been waiting so eagerly to play, but the beta is working, in limited fashion… more or less,” he said. “Just want to make sure you guys know that WE ARE ON IT!”
Reports of the bug followed news that in-game character Ken’s “Dragon Punch,” which many players complained was overpowered, has been tweaked “so that the MP Shoryuken does not juggle like it does now.”
Jimenez’s hurried feedback to beta testers reflects changing attitudes about what a beta test actually is. Wikipedia defines beta testing as “usability testing with users who provide feedback, so that any malfunctions these users find in the software can be reported to the developers and fixed. Beta software can be unstable and could cause crashes or data loss.” In recent years, however, the beta period has come to be looked at as little more than a month or two of free play, with expectations that the game should be virtually bug-free and ready for release. Problems like this are viewed as gross aberrations, and developers, who rely on beta testing to ensure games are ready for prime-time but are desperate to avoid any bad word of mouth that could hurt a title’s sales, are forced to worry about damage control, rather than simply taking in bug reports and hunting them down.
In line with the true aim of beta testing, then, gamers who experience this bug, or any other, are encouraged to report it to beta.capcom.com, instead of just bitching about it on a forum somewhere.
