Rampant Games - Journalism & Early Releases

The Rampant Coyote has a new post about Journalism & Early Releases.

When I complained about “Early Access” games a month ago – games that are released (and sold) to the public in an unfinished state, I neglected critical more aspect of gaming that it impacts.

What are game reviewers supposed to do about rating early access games?

The only thing I can figure, like the reviewer, is updating the review to match the development of the game. But who has time for this?  Especially if it wasn’t fun on initial release. There are gazillions of new games released every week, and they can all use reviews. I don’t want reviewers stuck re-reviewing the same game every two months.

In theory, I think early releases are a great thing. Customers may have to deal with software being less stable and mature, but in return get to help drive development, and (hopefully) get it at a discounted price. Win / win right?  And the software gets treated – at least for a while – as “live” development, constantly being improved. I’m used to regular updates of Windows, Unity, Blender, and other software.  That’s a decent way for software to work, right?