Bugs. They're those annoying glitches that can mar your experience with a game or, in extreme cases, end your experience with one altogether. But just how much do you know about them, and how they're removed from retail games?
A number of developers and testers have spoken with GamePro, highlighting some of the nuances in the bug-squashing field that many of you may not be aware of. If, for example, you wonder why so many games ship with minor bugs present in their code, it could be because trying to fix those bugs ran the risk of generating even worse errors, so a decision is made to leave them in.
Not all bugs and errors are accidental, either. There are spelling errors that make their way into games, and sometimes even the work of bored artists. A tester on Guitar Hero Metallica tells the site "I noticed there was a weird sketch on the skin, so I played it back in slow motion. It was a little sketch of a penis."
The rest is a good read for anyone curious about how this under-appreciated aspect of game development works, so check it out at the link below.
A Bug's Life [GamePro]