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Re:Why are new devices dependent on the Internet but made wi... by gambiting on Monday December 14, 2020 @02:09PM (#25421756)
Yes they absolutely did, they just couldn't get them. Games still shipped buggy, you just had to get used to it, tough. I work with people who were in the games industry in late 90s and the idea that games shipped without bugs is just funny to them.
Re:Why are new devices dependent on the Internet but made wi... by ASalazarMX on Monday December 14, 2020 @02:19PM (#25421901)
The question is, were those games shipped as buggy as today's games?

Today's games are more buggy, in part because they're much more complex, and in part because software update allows to ship them unfinished.

Re:Why are new devices dependent on the Internet but made wi... by gambiting on Monday December 14, 2020 @03:28PM (#25422828)
Yes, of course modern games are more buggy, because like you said, they are more complex and yes, the assumption is that they can be patched later. But the "old games didn't get patches and they were fine!" Thing is really really not true.
Re:Why are new devices dependent on the Internet but made wi... by m463 on Monday December 14, 2020 @02:18PM (#25421885)
Now an update can "fix" broken business models.

I loved the "fixes" to Plants vs Zombies when EA bought popcap.

Re:Why are new devices dependent on the Internet but made wi... by nalekberov on Monday December 14, 2020 @02:18PM (#25421884)
i have bought some nintendo games a year or two ago, some of them received 0 update, still operate as a charm, without any (at least noticeable) bug.
Re:Why are new devices dependent on the Internet but made wi... by jjk166 on Monday December 14, 2020 @02:29PM (#25422028)
Survivor bias: the games people fondly remember and want to go back and play decades later are generally the ones with few if any problems. The buggy crap got purchased by an unlucky few and then was quickly abandoned and forgotten.

It's also why classic music, books, movies, etc are great - decades of pruning leaving a short list of best-ofs.

Re:Why are new devices dependent on the Internet but made wi... by nalekberov on Monday December 14, 2020 @03:40PM (#25422965)
I was talking about the ones for Nintendo Switch. And they are pretty much complex games.

Back in 90's in order to survive game producers had to have sense of quality and knowledge of definition of "finished".

Re:Why are new devices dependent on the Internet but made wi... by ASalazarMX on Monday December 14, 2020 @02:25PM (#25421972)
Switch or retro? Retro was specially hard because once you shipped the cartridges/CDs, the only way to get a revised game was to buy it twice.

Still, Nintendo does a pretty good job of avoiding most critical bugs before release even on the Switch.