Buzz!

[#1]

Hello,

Firstly, thanks to everyone who has bought Buzz!: Quiz TV. At Relentless we're really proud of this version of Buzz! It's had the biggest team and longest production of any game we've done so we're pleased it's receiving the best reviews yet. We spent a really long time implementing the MyBuzz! feature so it's really pleasing to see so many people writing and sharing quizzes. Already there are around three full games worth of free UK questions, yet Quiz TV has only been out a week.

We enjoy reading all feedback, good and bad. Of the things discussed in these forums there are things we're working on and will show up in future updates, and there are things we're not working on. There are also some things planned that we hope to surprise you with. Buzz! is enjoyed by millions of players, casual and hardcore alike, so we always try and plot a course that serves all our players. We doubt we'll please all of you, but we'll do what we think is right. We appreciate Sony giving us the chance to add features to a game we're already pleased with.

We can't go into too much detail on the updates just yet, as things sometimes change and we don't want to disappoint anyone. Our first update is going through Sony QA and is due out mid July (show-stopper bugs notwithstanding). By playing the game you'll be able to earn trophies that are displayed in your System Software (version 2.41 required). As you may have read, it didn't make it onto the master disc because we mastered over two months ago, before the trophy functionality was finalised.

In this first update we've also added support for any buzzer to be used to answer in Sofa vs. Sofa, so a group of players in the same house can control the online game at the same time. We've included that for singleplayer mode too, in case you want to play co-operatively offline.

We'll try and keep information coming in this forum but bear in mind that we're taking time out from buglists, localisation schedules and design meetings. We also need to try and serve the other non-English speaking forums.

Finally, congrats to Merlinpants! Two quizzes in the UK top three, and Top Author on MyBuzz! Not bad at all... But surely someone can knock them off the top?

Thanks,
Dan and the team at Relentless Software

[#2]

Wow, thanks for that Dan, good to have a.developer actually contributing to a forum. Loving My buzz and thanks for the mention, it truly is a work of genius and by the looks of your post, the biggest gripe has been the lack of co-op online play which will now be sorted shortly in an update.

Thanks for the post, looking forward to the trophy patch.

P.s. Great game, loving it!!!!

Message Edited by merlinpants on 09-07-2008 03:20 PM

[#3]

Hi Dan, great to see that our concerns are at least being read if not entirely taken on board.....i have lots and lots of gripes about this game however it isnt AWFUL as some people would suggest, it is Buzz afterall and therefore people will buy it like i have and will enjoy it, however it just seems like such a step backwards.

My main concern, and a big concern and annoyance it is, is the fact that the main quiz has been shortened and we have lost rounds from previous games, as its a blu-ray disk with LOTS of storage space i was expecting ALL rounds from previous games as well as lots of new inventive ones..we dont have this and instead we have a VERY short quiz as well as lots of other stuff "missing" from the game that was expected.

The fact that after only 3 games im having questions repeated is absolutley terrible, and it rubs salt in the wounds that on the day of release you release 4 quiz packs which cost over £15 to add to the game, surely proves that you guys KNEW that we would be getting repeats so early, why on earth wernt these extra questions added to game from start.....as a blu-ray disk you could have fille dit with thousands of questions, and the mybuzz questions should be added to the main game too, i feel very let down and also feel that to continue enjoying this game im gunna be forever putting my hand into my pocket!!!

[#4]

I could be wrong, but it sounds like the changes that Dan is talking about for "Sofa vs Sofa" doesn't mean that several players can play at the same time from one household as individual players.. What he describes looks more like a feature where its still one charactor playing, but instead of representing a person, it represents a 'team'.. Unlike now, where you could have many people in your team (household) contributating to the answers and one one person controlling the game, the update appears to simply add the feature for others to answer the question (using another controller) on behalf of the team. So its not much different to what we have now, except more than 1 person can control the game.

Here is his quote:

we've also added support for any buzzer to be used to answer in Sofa vs. Sofa, so a group of players in the same house can control the online game at the same time.

As I said, I could be wrong, but thats how I read it!

If I am right, I wonder if its possible to identify whether you are playing against a person or team? At the end of the day, its hardly fair being able to play online yourself against another 'player' who is actually a group of 'pub quiz experts'!

Jon

Message Edited by jweaver on 09-07-2008 03:56 PM

Message Edited by jweaver on 09-07-2008 04:00 PM

[#5]

its called a cop out!!! make people believe they are getting what they want when in fact they are just getting it shoved in a little deeper!!....how can he also claim that he is happy with the game, when literally NOBODY is entirely happy with it....im just waiting for the next reply, so that he can start answering questions a little bit more specifically, but i reckon the next post will just be another one full of things to make people "THINK" they give a *****

[#6]

Thanks for responding to all the comments Dan. I have been quite critical of Buzz! Quiz TV mainly because I am comparing it to previous versions on PS2 and feel that it doesn't stand up to those versions in terms of features and ability to customise. It is still a good game but I can't help feeling it could be a really great game. It's great to hear you are listening though and planning on improving. The changes to sofa v sofa are welcome but I hope we can get a version with 2 or more individual characters on one PS3 eventually rather than a shared character and hopefully some new innovative rounds to take advantage of it. I also hope that future updates to the game mechanics, rounds etc. are free of charge. As I have said previously, I find paying for question packs acceptable but paying for 'fixes' unacceptable. I look forward to the updates.

[#7]

Cheers for the update, sounds like you know what peoples issues are and I look forward to the updates when they arrive. This was always going to be a long term game and PS3 owners should be used to game updates and patches by now. The difference is that you take time to communicate to the customer and that has to applauded, unlike those jokers over at London Studios for anyone who has enjoyed (or not) the Singstar series.

Ta

[#8]

I like the changes to Sofa v Sofa and adding cooperative play in single player mode because the kids like that.  However, what about playing it with more than one 'team' as an individual in Sofa v Sofa?  Also, we need chat support and Playstation Eye support, surely this can not be too difficult, Xbox 360 has been doing it for years (And I'm not an xbox fanboy as I don't have one!).

[#9]

It would be great to get more questions with video and/or music clips as well, this is a really wasted opportunity on the PS3 and another area where PS2 versions are better.

[#10]

Now that you can play online with any buzzer, but still only one character - it's only a mess if 2-4 players in one household have buzzers. It's only going to argue what to choose. So I don't see any good in that. We need 8 player co-op mode, and possibility to at least 2 players from same household, but OWN characters, not same.

And what this game needs really really fast is CUSTOM GAME - Ability to choose what rounds shows up in game (maybe to get 2 same rounds but not in row), and how many questions are in those rounds (In Pie fight to choose amount of lifes)...I don't see the question's difficulty to be added, because in PS2 games it really didn't mattered was it easy, normal or hard questions, because there was still every of those whatever you selected.

1. Sofa vs Sofa to 8 players
2. Sofa vs Sofa to get two buzzers with own characters from same household
3. Sofa vs Sofa custom game...I don't understand why there is only three rounds, because there is many rounds which could be in online game. (I know that if it's long game, some players may leave in middle of the game, but I like and I assume there is people who would like to play longer games)
4. Custom game
5. Offline scoreboard
6. "All that apply" to offline game too

I'm not sure about user created questions (Because I haven't tried yet) - Do you need internet connection every time to play them? I mean is there no way to play these if there is no possibility to internet connection - no possibility to download them to hard drive and then play without internet connection?