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BETA TEST INFO FROM ONLOOKER
For the past week or so, I have been corresponding via email with a person called Onlooker, who has been giving me some very helpful information. He says he beta tested NBA 2K3 for Sega last year. Iasked him to describe the circumstances of his beta test to me, and he agreed to let me post his commentary, provided his real identity remain anonymous:
"I don't exactly make beta testing a habit, I am a gamer, but only in my spare time, nothing too major. I have major gamer friends though, they put me up to beta testing for Sega. Similar to you I did get an invitation by mail, to an office building, once again quite similar, but I live in a high-tech oriented city, in which major companies leasing office buildings is quite common.
I digress, I tested for Sega a while back, testing NBA 2k3, I was taken into an office complex, filled with tech companies. The settings were comfortable, a well lit office, an attendant in the room, a partner beta tester to play multiplayer. The conditions were very comfortable, nice chairs, with reclining features. Flat screen TV to play on. If I recall the X-box dash I played on was different from a normal one."
These circumstances are very different from the shoddy, fly-by-night circumstances of my beta test, in which Sega purposely used a bogus outside company ("Sunshine Survey Systems") and made the circumstances of the test deliberately suspect and unprofessional so that they'd have an easier time denying the tests ever took place.
I asked Onlooker if he only played in multiplayer mode when the other player was there, as it seemed strange to me that at my beta test the other "player" was not playing at all (which I later discovered was so they could see what effect first-person mode had on "non-participating observers." Onlooker replied:
"As to the information you requested...You are correct in assuming that I played only in multiplayer mode, I can only assume that they were testing for multiplayer satisfaction. It was actually a very comfortable, hospitable, and mildly boring experience, aside from the actual game. Thats really all I can tell you."
This next part is very interesting. I asked Onlooker where he beta tested nba 2k3:
"I'm not sure if I should tell you. It probably wouldn't be prudent. I shall tell you anyway. Austin TX, I'm not sure what Sega was doing there, but they make alot of games in Austin. Alot of the best games next year will have something to do with Austin."
Again, this goes against both Sega's and VC's claims that they only beta test in-house, in their headquarters in California.
What's the deal here, Sega/VC? Having trouble keeping your story straight? I'll be posting another phone call shortly that shows just how much trouble VC has keeping their "facts" straight.
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Posted by beta-7 at August 19, 2003 09:57 AM
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