Hi folks,

first post and all. Sorry if it oversteps the mark but the debate on here has induced me to post. (I throw myself on the mods' mercy m'Lud...)

I've been playing TW games since 2003 and may I say, I've enjoyed then all (including the current one) immensely and I hope that CA keep on making games of this type for some time to come as it is not hyperbole to say that they have raised the bar for strategy games in a very real way. I have no vested interest in criticising them and the issues I relate here have application for many other games and publishers/developers.

Right, disclaimer inserted I shall proceed. That M2TW was released in essentially an unfinished state is shocking but given the industry context, hardly surprising (anyone who's played FarCry will know what I mean...). It's all about getting the product to market and because there has yet to be any sort of proper legal test case on this issue developers and publishers know that we consumers haven't a leg to stand on. They have our money, we've bought the product and now we are relying on their good faith to sort out the problems. May I say that I have no doubt that CA and Sega genuinely want to fix the game, I would imagine they are as passionate about the series as we are but the fact remains that they'll take their time, there is no imperative to sort it out, the vast majority of us will not only continue playing but will buy the next iteration unquestioningly.

In part, this is our own fault. If we as consumers sent out the message that we will not accept unfinished games by not buying them until they are properly patched then pub/devs would get the message quick smart. I've done that with M2TW, I whiled away the last few months playing Company of Heroes and Anno 1701 because I played M2TW at Christmas and found it too annoying for sustained play. I rather thought that there would have been a second patch by now but then, anybody who remembers the fiasco of the RTW 1.2 patch would no doubt smile wryly. At the moment, the wise move appears to be; give a game six months before buying (it's cheaper that way too!).

On the developer side there is a very obvious solution too: mass public betas. You don't need to look far here to find enthusiastic, technically proficient fans willing to help out in their droves. The issues that plague the game we all love could have been expunged for very little cost and far more comprehensively than with the more traditional testing model. It's win/win. Maybe I'm missing something here so if I'm being myopic or naive, please let me know!

To finish off, a little anecdote. I was playing as the Sacsanaigh against the Scots, there was a battle on the slopes down to the North Sea outside York. The weather was a typical North of England summer day - i.e. p***ing it down. I deployed my troops and pressed the battle button. I immediately pressed pause though and spent about ten minutes gawping at how Goddamn beautiful a vista CA had conjured up with a series of 1s and 0s. It was truly breath-taking. Then the charge bug kicked in.... I don't want this series to go the same way as the Aftermath, Aftershock, Afterlight series (I've stopped buying) because of silly bugs and dumb copy protection issues (one word: Starforce).

Games should ship in working order, no ifs buts or maybes. I don't care how much I like CA's work, buggy is buggy and it's not acceptable. If it's not ready, don't release. As a fan, I'm sympathetic to a delayed release date but I'm deeply annoyed by release day patches and late patches. Do it right, first time. It's the standard for every other producer of goods and services and it's about time the software industry towed the line. Ultimately though, the only thing that'll make them behave is out collective wallet...