Joystiq

THQ shuttering Arizona QA facility, moving all QA to Montreal this year

David Hinkle — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 20:00:00 EST

Consolidation news now, as THQ has announced it plans to close its Phoenix, Arizona QA facility. "Montreal is a prime location for industry talent, has favorable economics, and is a big part of our future game development plans. With those considerations in mind, we have made the business decision to consolidate our two Quality Assurance operations into one location at THQ Montreal," a THQ statement issued to Game Informer reads.

A total of 57 employees will be affected in Phoenix, some being outright dismissed while the others will be offered the chance to move to Montreal. "The transition will occur gradually throughout the remainder of 2012 while we continue to manage QA for our FY'13 release slate." The statement goes on to say that the decision was "driven by industry, market and economic trends."

It's a smart move to consolidate to Montreal, which THQ's newly appointed president Jason Rubin told us is important to the future of the company. And with THQ needing all the help it can get right now, the tax breaks must be a godsend.

THQ shuttering Arizona QA facility, moving all QA to Montreal this year originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 19 Jul 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SCEE QA holds up Trine 2 launch in Europe

David Hinkle — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:00:00 EST

For us in North America, Trine 2 is a real thing, a game we can download and play and everything. Our brothers and sisters in gaming abroad have been denied Frozenbyte's sequel so far on PS3, thanks to a QA snafu at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Eurogamer reports.

"We are anxiously awaiting the European release ourselves!" exclaimed Frozenbyte's vice president Joel Kinnunen to Eurogamer. "We had both SCEA and SCEE versions ready at the same time and they are basically 100 percent the same (SCEA version already has all European languages, for example), so we are very disappointed we couldn't have a simultaneous launch. But it's out of our hands."

Right now, the game's in QA at SCEE with no release date in sight. Kinnunen says "hopefully we'll hear more soon," so when some news is conjured up, we'll be sure to let you all know.

SCEE QA holds up Trine 2 launch in Europe originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hideo Kojima gets his Revengeance with Metal Gear Rising

Mike Schramm — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:31:00 EST

Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima and Platinum Games producer Atsushi Inaba took the stage at Konami's offices here in Los Angeles earlier this week for a mea culpa of sorts: Kojima now admits that Metal Gear Solid Rising, though it may have looked nice in the trailer back at E3 2010, just wasn't working.

"In the summer of 2010, the team made a presentation for me," he recounted through a translator, "and I realized the game design still wasn't there yet." The team's vision was split between stealth and action, the idea of "cut everything" worked technically but made for gameplay that was too open-ended, and the game just wasn't fun, says Kojima. "As the young staff said to me, they wanted a good game that just felt good moving around, and we would never get that, so I decided to cancel the project."

"But still, we had a lot of things" that could still be used, says Kojima. "Motion capture, a lot of good story, the view of the world inside the game, and I wanted to use that somehow. I wanted Rising to be born again, so that's when I decided to contact Platinum Games."

Gallery: Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (PS3/ Xbox 360)

Continue reading Hideo Kojima gets his Revengeance with Metal Gear Rising

Hideo Kojima gets his Revengeance with Metal Gear Rising originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Survey determines average U.S. game developer income

Griffin McElroy — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:30:00 EST

[Flickr user AMagill]

The results of Game Developer Research's ninth annual Game Developer Salary Survey recently surfaced, giving us our yearly reminder that we're totally on the wrong side of this industry. According to the survey, the average "American mainstream videogame industry salary" is $75,573. Over here at Joystiq Inc., we're only pulling in $75,571.42. We're thinking about going on strike until parity is achieved.

The survey also breaks down average salaries for the different disciplines which compose our beloved industry. The highest-paid gaming professionals are PR and marketing executives, earning $129,167 a year on average. The lowest head on the totem pole is that of the QA tester, whose average annual income is $37,905. We're betting the recent winner of The Tester wishes he had chosen to participate in The Public Relations Professional instead.

Survey determines average U.S. game developer income originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo spins off 'Mario Club' quality control team

David Hinkle — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:15:00 EST

Today's Nikkei newspaper reveals (via Inside Games) that Kyoto-based Nintendo is looking to mix things up in its quality control department, by turning it into a separate subsidiary: Mario Club. Not to be confused with Club Nintendo, the role of the subsidiary will be to test play and debug games -- y'know, like every other QA team in existence.

Aside from the great name, the Mario Club will also be a public entity, meaning that one day you non-blogger types could very well purchase some stock in the company. Of course, we would never be able to, thanks to that party-pooper, ethics. That guy just has a way of sucking all of the fun out of the room.

[Via Andriasang]

Nintendo spins off 'Mario Club' quality control team originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumor: Rockstar New England's QA department laid off

Griffin McElroy — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:30:00 EST

News that our fellow gaming industry professionals have been stripped of their employment is always a bad thing -- even when said professionals work for a studio that we ... kind of ... forgot about. Hey, it's not our fault. Do a quick search for "Rockstar New England," and the only result is a post about the studio's origins published April 2008. They've reportedly been working on an unannounced project since then -- but then again, who isn't these days?

According to Kotaku, Rockstar New England (formerly Mad Doc Software) just axed about 10 percent of its staff -- including the entire quality assurance department. Unnamed sources reported Rockstar is cutting QA across the board in favor of having a single QA studio -- a fact that doesn't bode well for the non-bugginess of Grand Theft Auto V. Strangely enough, Rockstar New England's site says the studio is hiring for a few programming and designing positions. Rarely do gaming studios have such Wal-Mart-esque turnover.

We've contacted Rockstar to find out if Kotaku's sources were accurate.

Rumor: Rockstar New England's QA department laid off originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Volition QA staff lost in THQ restructuring [update]

Jason Dobson — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 08:00:00 EST

THQ's wild swings have finally brought the axe down on Red Faction and Saints Row creator Volition, reportedly culling the bulk of the Champaign, IL studio's QA staff out from the developer's ranks. Speaking with Kotaku, a THQ spokesperson confirmed that Volition lost 86 employees in the cut, including 47 temporary workers and 39 full-time staff.

The numbers represent the lion's share of the QA department's 102 employees, with quality assurance duties now "primarily" falling to "THQ's centralized QA facilities, with a small staff remaining on-site in Champaign," according to a THQ statement. The layoffs are part of THQ's larger move to eliminate nearly a quarter of its jobs in an effort to cut costs and keep analyst bankruptcy predictions from coming true.

Update: THQ's Julie MacMedan chimed in this afternoon to clear the air as well as any confusion regarding these layoffs, which according to the corporate communications VP only affected the publisher's QA facility in Champaign, IL and left Volition's "core development teams" untouched.

"This will result in the eventual closure of the facility with a transfer of sixteen employees to Volition," wrote MacMedan in an email statement. "It will not result in any layoffs within the core development teams at Volition. Volition remains a key development studio within THQ and will continue to employ 236 staff."

Confirming earlier information, she added: "The layoffs include 47 temporary employees who will not be having their service extended. Unfortunately, fluctuating headcount among the temporary staff is common based on when our games ship. In addition, 39 full-time staff will be laid off."

In conclusion, and in a refreshing change of pace to these sorts of reductions, MacMedan wrote: "All laid off employees (both full-time and temporary) will be given at least sixty days' notice. We will do what we can to assist them in finding work in the community or elsewhere in THQ."

Volition QA staff lost in THQ restructuring [update] originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Joystiq E3 Q&A: Spore detailed

Ross Miller — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 07:30:00 EST

Filed under: Mac, PC, Simulations, E3

During our time at E3 last week, we were able to spend about an hour with a very patient Maxis Producer Thomas Vu, who guided us through a near-final build of Spore (the whole thing) and answered a barrage of questions. Here's what we gleaned from our play session, broken down into each phase:

Gallery: Spore (E3)

Continue reading Joystiq E3 Q&A: Spore detailed

Joystiq E3 Q&A: Spore detailed originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 22 Jul 2008 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Izuna 2 QA causes a lot of pink hair pulling

Candace Savino — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:45:00 EST

Filed under: News

Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns is about more than mini-posters and sexy ninjas -- a lot of work goes into getting a game like this localized. Not only does a good localization team have to focus on the translation, but they also need to fix any bugs or problems that gamers found in the Japanese release. Apparently, fixing bugs for a roguelike is especially hard and frustrating, as you might have guessed.

Here's the Quality Assurance stat breakdown, according to Atlus:

Number of testers on Izuna 2: 6
Number of DS systems almost thrown against the wall: 6
Number of system-type bugs our testers reported: 104
Number of text bugs our testers reported: 259
Number of times the testers nearly gave the project lead a heart attack with a fake system bug: 3
Number of bugs our testers reported to which we responded: "That's not a bug, that's the way this game works:" 17
Number of monkeys we could have hired to do their job: 0

The production diary is actually a really interesting read that not only Izuna fans, but also people interested in the localization process should give a look. Besides, we always appreciate more insight on how the other side of the gaming industry works.

Gallery: Izuna 2

Izuna 2 QA causes a lot of pink hair pulling originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony refunding broken PSN games

Alexander Sliwinski — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Arcade, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360

Eurogamer reports that Sony is refunding gamers who purchased Spyro 2: Gateway of Glimmer and MediEvil following "significant technical issues." In essence, the games were broken. People will have their purchase refunded to them in the next seven days.

There's still no word yet on whether Crash Bandicoot 2 will also have a refund following its removal from the PlayStation store. It's not like XBLA has been immune to bug issues, most notable were the Mad Tracks "stuck in demo" bug and Contra's out-of-sync co-op. Just another day in the land of QA. Someone should make a musical about it.

Sony refunding broken PSN games originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 10 Aug 2007 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The (not so) stringent world of video game testing

Kevin Kelly — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 14:32:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Business

There have been a lot of complaints about publishers rushing buggy games out so they can hit a certain date, knowing they can update them via patches over the increasingly popular online gaming services. So why not try and address things in the testing phase of the game? Karla Starr, a reporter at The Seattle Weekly actually took a job as a tester with a game company, and went inside the the belly of the beast to bring us a real insider's view of game testing.

Check out Karla's article in The Seattle Weekly and see how easy it is to pass a game through the QA process. It's not quite the same as the view of game testers that were presented in the Academy Award winning (we keed, we keed) film Grandma's Boy, but it's a great look from inside, and really illustrates the point that game testing is one of the weakest links in the game development chain. In fact, Darci Morales, a producer for game developer Surreal said, "What really sucks is that QA is always the first thing to go. Always."

However, if you've been thinking about getting a job as a tester in order to feed your gaming addiction, you'll be happy to know you'd be welcomed with open arms. Dr. Hilarie Cash of the Internet/Computer Addiction Services in Redmond says, "I think the [video game] industry in general, they want addicts. It is to their economic benefit to have people really hooked on their games. That there happens to be a pool of addicts out there who will work for peanuts, like methadone treatment, is to their advantage." Gaming being compared to a methadone treatment .. woot!

The (not so) stringent world of video game testing originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 15 Jul 2007 14:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NCSoft looking for apprentices in game testing

Ludwig Kietzmann — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 20:25:00 EST

Filed under: Business

A GamesIndustry.biz report details a new endeavor by NCsoft to enrich its UK segment of the games industry with trained game testers. In conjunction with City College Brighton, PartnerTrans and Skillset, the Guild Wars publisher is launching an apprenticeship program in the field of quality assurance. The Trump-less program is not only trumpeted as a means of enhancing a vital part of gaming development, it also acts as an entry-point for those aiming for a spot in game development.

Four trainees have already enrolled, with three joining NCsoft's Brighton-based QA department for year-long stints. They will be given regular training at City College, constant input from an "experienced practitioner" and, depending on the size of bugs encountered, a very large mallet. Perhaps other developers could gain some insight by adopting a similar program.

NCSoft looking for apprentices in game testing originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 12 Apr 2007 20:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Montreal QA specialist doubles as more developers come to town

James Ransom-Wiley — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 15:33:00 EST

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

Montreal outsourcing and post production specialist Babel Media is gearing up for the city's impending game development growth, doubling the size of its facility, while adding 350 new jobs; to its existing 150. While Babel serves the interests of a variety of media formats, Ubisoft's grand plans and Eidos' moving in have spurred Babel's decision to bulk up. Known for its translation services, the company specializes in functionality QA, localized translation and audio creation, localization QA, and localized packaging and manuals.

"We have recently signed contracts with clients who, without exaggeration, own some of the greatest Intellectual Property in the world," said Babel managing director Algy Williams, adding, "We will be testing their games across all platforms, including PS3 and Xbox 360, and we need to recruit talented and motivated people who are looking for a career in the games industry." Anyone need a job?

Montreal QA specialist doubles as more developers come to town originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 21 Feb 2007 15:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Prospective QA manager shuns Sony practices, Microsoft too

James Ransom-Wiley — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 19:55:00 EST

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PSP, Microsoft Xbox, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

Sparked by uproar over a "game-killing" bug in Genji, Ritual Entertainment QA manager Michael Russell recalls a job interview for FPQA Manager, held at Sony's San Diego offices. There he caught a glimpse of Sony's QA process, which, according to Russell, "allows creativity to squash quality" -- he promptly removed himself from consideration for the job.

Before Ritual, Russell was a lead tester at Microsoft Game Studios. He claims his previous employer is also failing at quality assurance, but from the other end of the spectrum: "At Microsoft, the stringent QA processes often strangle creativity."

Russell calls for some middle ground to be walked, lest the industry fall into turmoil, but neglects to offer any advice to Sony or Microsoft. Are we to be doomed by bugs and boredom?

[Thanks, SickNic]

Prospective QA manager shuns Sony practices, Microsoft too originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 29 Nov 2006 19:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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