Microsoft will try to find gamebreaking bugs or things that shouldn't be there. Of course, they won't find every bug, but if they do find something major, they will give it back to 4J for them to fix, and then they will have to resubmit the update.
Yep, i agree with Chikka, basically just Microsoft doing their 'own' little testing of the game, making sure it's not a fail whenever it comes out.. Kinda like if you're friend lets you borrow his car and tells you it has a full talk of gas, you're gonna check anyways right?
I worked for the cert dept at EA many years ago or CQC TRC's as we were called.
Misconception, MSFT test the games looking for bugs. They don't. They are interested in checking that their TRC's have been followed. TRC's include things like, always having a message pop up on screen when a controller has been disconnected, returning to the start screen if a profile logs out, following the correct naming conventions and fonts when referring to console, it's controllers and storage devices, saves being the correct size and format and where they go, always displaying a visual icon if performing a quick save, if a console loads for more than 8 seconds a progress bar must be displayed. And on and on and on.
It's not about testing the games, it's about checking it's compliance to the platform holders technical standards.
I worked for the cert dept at EA many years ago or CQC TRC's as we were called.
Misconception, MSFT test the games looking for bugs. They don't. They are interested in checking that their TRC's have been followed. TRC's include things like, always having a message pop up on screen when a controller has been disconnected, returning to the start screen if a profile logs out, following the correct naming conventions and fonts when referring to console, it's controllers and storage devices, saves being the correct size and format and where they go, always displaying a visual icon if performing a quick save, if a console loads for more than 8 seconds a progress bar must be displayed. And on and on and on.
It's not about testing the games, it's about checking it's compliance to the platform holders technical standards. They don't look for, or care about bugs, they care that you use the exact correct colour green and font when referring to the A button.
Lol that's funny. Good to know though. Sounds like it won't take long then.
I worked for the cert dept at EA many years ago or CQC TRC's as we were called.
Misconception, MSFT test the games looking for bugs. They don't. They are interested in checking that their TRC's have been followed. TRC's include things like, always having a message pop up on screen when a controller has been disconnected, returning to the start screen if a profile logs out, following the correct naming conventions and fonts when referring to console, it's controllers and storage devices, saves being the correct size and format and where they go, always displaying a visual icon if performing a quick save, if a console loads for more than 8 seconds a progress bar must be displayed. And on and on and on.
It's not about testing the games, it's about checking it's compliance to the platform holders technical standards. They don't look for, or care about bugs, they care that you use the exact correct colour green and font when referring to the A button.
That's an awesome bit of insight, but I have a question: if that's the kind of things they look for, why have all the updates spent the full cert testing period? O_o I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for it, but from my uninformed perspective, it seems crazy that it would spend so much time, unless most of the time is spent waiting in a queue.
That's an awesome bit of insight, but I have a question: if that's the kind of things they look for, why have all the updates spent the full cert testing period? O_o I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for it, but from my uninformed perspective, it seems crazy that it would spend so much time, unless most of the time is spent waiting in a queue.
I worked for the cert dept at EA many years ago or CQC TRC's as we were called.
Misconception, MSFT test the games looking for bugs. They don't. They are interested in checking that their TRC's have been followed. TRC's include things like, always having a message pop up on screen when a controller has been disconnected, returning to the start screen if a profile logs out, following the correct naming conventions and fonts when referring to console, it's controllers and storage devices, saves being the correct size and format and where they go, always displaying a visual icon if performing a quick save, if a console loads for more than 8 seconds a progress bar must be displayed. And on and on and on.
It's not about testing the games, it's about checking it's compliance to the platform holders technical standards. They don't look for, or care about bugs, they care that you use the exact correct colour green and font when referring to the A button.
There's a lot of insight there, but it does work a little differently (or at least it use too). What you are talking about is initial release testing, and that's a lot of what the cert team does. In cases like this they are going to be focused on the fixed change list (while also double checking compliance).
Those of you that are impatient.. keep in mind this isn't the only title in cert testing right now. They likely have a dozen releases all waiting to be cleared. I would expect Minecraft to get a bit of bump in priority, but a week turn-around is an estimation, it should not be an expectation.
It is titles like these that make me miss QA a little. Rarely do you get to test something interesting.
Well what ever it is they do i am gratefull that xbox makes sure that products are good on a technical aspect.
One would think, but as said above, they don't care about bugs. The Fez patch corrupted a significant portion of all save games and they didn't find that. And after is was reported they and the developer decided to release the patch anyway. Not to say that's MS' area- its just that certification doesn't really help eliminate bugs that can ruin games.
Additionally, same developers use the time/ cost of certification as a justification for not fixing bugs. Fez's developer never fixed their buggy patch because they argued going through the process would cost them too much money. I also read on the mass effect forum that some small bugs (story but not gameplay related) weren't ever going to be fixed not because the fix was hard, but because the process of testing the fix and getting it included on a patch was too costly. The certification process adds to those costs.
Still- yeah, its good it have all games function the same way when you pop up the xbox menu.
From what i've heard, cert testing is basically a series of tests that microsoft does to make sure the update isn't a virus and that it's even compatible with the xbox.
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Lets hope 4j did it right
Lol that's funny. Good to know though. Sounds like it won't take long then.
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Retired StaffThat's an awesome bit of insight, but I have a question: if that's the kind of things they look for, why have all the updates spent the full cert testing period? O_o I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for it, but from my uninformed perspective, it seems crazy that it would spend so much time, unless most of the time is spent waiting in a queue.
Keep yourself up to date with the Minecraft Forum rules!
Epsolon
There's a lot of insight there, but it does work a little differently (or at least it use too). What you are talking about is initial release testing, and that's a lot of what the cert team does. In cases like this they are going to be focused on the fixed change list (while also double checking compliance).
Those of you that are impatient.. keep in mind this isn't the only title in cert testing right now. They likely have a dozen releases all waiting to be cleared. I would expect Minecraft to get a bit of bump in priority, but a week turn-around is an estimation, it should not be an expectation.
It is titles like these that make me miss QA a little. Rarely do you get to test something interesting.
One would think, but as said above, they don't care about bugs. The Fez patch corrupted a significant portion of all save games and they didn't find that. And after is was reported they and the developer decided to release the patch anyway. Not to say that's MS' area- its just that certification doesn't really help eliminate bugs that can ruin games.
Additionally, same developers use the time/ cost of certification as a justification for not fixing bugs. Fez's developer never fixed their buggy patch because they argued going through the process would cost them too much money. I also read on the mass effect forum that some small bugs (story but not gameplay related) weren't ever going to be fixed not because the fix was hard, but because the process of testing the fix and getting it included on a patch was too costly. The certification process adds to those costs.
Still- yeah, its good it have all games function the same way when you pop up the xbox menu.
cheeky monkeys
It was 1 shade of green off..