While I respect what's being said here I don't agree.
I've taken many games through MS, Nintendo and Sony certification and while the rules seems bizarre and arbitrary they are not that hard to take in to account when you start designing a game. Once the console hits the street they rarely change.
I've failed many times in technicalities that were annoying but at the same time they've found real issues with the titles that made it a better game.
Although it does 'waste' developer time it smooths the user experience in to a sort of homogenised consistent experience so users of ALL ages know what to expect on a platform saving them time.
For example implementing a clever save game system sounds like it makes sense but most users will not understand why when they save and turned off the console their save game was lost. If they are consistently told DONT TURN THE THING OFF WHEN SAVING they get a consistent experience that THEY control. It's not the best technical solution but it's the best real world solution. Remember a LOT of people turn of their console at the mains! There is no distinction between shutdown and turn off in their mind. These are mass consumer devices and need to act like toasters and high end PCs at the same time.
The QA people in S,N and MS really do user test this stuff. Most console players are so technically illiterate it's shocking they are allowed to drive a car.
I'm now an indie dev and if I'd only been an indie dev I would probably feel like the author (I'm not sure of their history). Having been at the 'pro' or 'mass market' end of the industry I have a lot of sympathy and respect for the manufacturers TRCs.
With a reasonable save system, the system behaves exactly the same as it does now, only save games aren't corrupted if power is lost in the middle of saving. It makes the device work more like a reliable appliance, not less.
There would still be an indicator whenever the game is saving, the game just wouldn't throw away potentially hundreds of hours of investment if power is unexpectedly lost in the middle of a routine (and frequent) save.
Hell, I'd be happy if it was just an option, so that clever devs whose saves don't take up much space can implement journaling and don't have to display the warning, but those that will lose their shit when power is lost do. It sounds like the existing console certification processes won't even allow that.
In practice, it is quite hard to lose saves on xboxes (one example I am familiar developing for). The warnings are, I think, just for extra safety, as it is REALLY annoying to lose a save go with 50+ hours.
I lost such a save on Final Fantasy VII about 15 years ago, and it still annoys me to this day.
But there is a difference between "quite hard" and uneffected by sudden losses of power. It is easy to make it the later, and then suddenly the "extra safety" is simply unfounded paranoia.
I've taken many games through MS, Nintendo and Sony certification and while the rules seems bizarre and arbitrary they are not that hard to take in to account when you start designing a game. Once the console hits the street they rarely change.
I've failed many times in technicalities that were annoying but at the same time they've found real issues with the titles that made it a better game.
Although it does 'waste' developer time it smooths the user experience in to a sort of homogenised consistent experience so users of ALL ages know what to expect on a platform saving them time.
For example implementing a clever save game system sounds like it makes sense but most users will not understand why when they save and turned off the console their save game was lost. If they are consistently told DONT TURN THE THING OFF WHEN SAVING they get a consistent experience that THEY control. It's not the best technical solution but it's the best real world solution. Remember a LOT of people turn of their console at the mains! There is no distinction between shutdown and turn off in their mind. These are mass consumer devices and need to act like toasters and high end PCs at the same time.
The QA people in S,N and MS really do user test this stuff. Most console players are so technically illiterate it's shocking they are allowed to drive a car.
I'm now an indie dev and if I'd only been an indie dev I would probably feel like the author (I'm not sure of their history). Having been at the 'pro' or 'mass market' end of the industry I have a lot of sympathy and respect for the manufacturers TRCs.