Date: Friday, November 18 @ 08:31:32 UTC Topic: Xbox 360
Being the most important launch title for Microsoft, it must have been quite the drama in the MS camp when it became clear that Perfect Dark Zero would not make launch day…at least not the normal way. So in order to guarantee Xbox 360 launch-day availability, Microsoft sent the game to manufacture before it had passed certification. This was a huge gamble, if the game hadn’t passed certification; Microsoft would have been left with 700,000 useless copies of the game.
The certification process is the final stage a game goes through before manufacture. Here the games are thoroughly tested to make sure there are no bugs, that menus all work correctly, and that there are no compatibility issues. If any bugs are discovered the games are sent back to publishers and developers for changes. The process can take days, or even weeks.