5 Video Games With the Worst Bugs of 2011

It's not easy to make a video game, and it's certainly not easy to make a game that is free from bugs. Developers only have a limited amount of time to exterminate any game bugs and glitches before it's forced to be released to the world, and oftentimes, there will be a few they'll slip out unnoticed until it's too late. Sometimes these bugs are hilarious. Sometimes they're just downright strange. And unfortunately, they can often ruin an entire gameplay experience.

With video games becoming more complicated to develop over time, the bugs that accompany these games will become more apparent….or hilarious. The following is a look at five of the most notable video game bugs and glitches of 2011.
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5. Dark Souls (PlayStation 3)
“Invisible Environment” Bug

Dark Souls is tough. Now, imagine playing the game without any visible environments. A certain glitch in this game will make just about everything invisible to the player. The sky, certain items, sections of buildings and other random frames will appear on screen, but that's about all you have to navigate through this game. Imagine–a single false move will cause you to fall off a ledge that you did not know was there. Surely, someone will enjoy this kind of punishment.

4. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (XBOX 360, PS3, PC)
“PS3 System Crash Bug”

As amazing as Skyrim is, the game's pretty buggy, especially on the PS3. In the game, using the “waiting” feature and accessing the PS console menu are among the two most common ways to crash your game. Oftentimes, the game will immediately crash after loading up a saved game. After restarting, however, some unlucky players will get a notification that their hard disc is corrupted, which can take a few minutes-hours to restore.

Repeatedly getting this error message will ultimately result in the corruption of the PS3 system start up files and other important software, basically killing your PS3. Once the crashes start happening, it's probably a good idea to uninstall the patch and start a new, patch-free game. Sure, you've probably wasted dozens of hours game time, but how bad can it be? You have to play more Skyrim. Boo-hoo.

Note: This is a very rare bug, likely caused by a corrupted download of patch 1.02.

3. Dead Island (XBOX 360, PS3, PC)
“Inability to Load Save Files” Bug

Players can do so much in the world of Dead Island. Tackle objectives in any order, loot, kill, and talk to anyone are what defines sandbox games such as this. Considering how much stuff you can do in Dead Island, it's a wonder why developer Techland imposed an appalling save size limit of 10,260 bytes. This will cause the game to immediate crash when loading a saved game, rendering your saved game useless.

Another bug heard around the community includes losing save progress, in which players will reload their save file, only to find themselves at an earlier point in the game with a lower level, wasting previous man-hours of game time.

2. Battlefield 3 (XBOX 360, PS3, PC)
“Too Many to Name” Bug

It seems Battlefield 3 shipped a bit prematurely, considering the game was infested with so many bugs that it rendered the game practically unplayable at certain points. From game-halting glitches to graphical issues, developer DICE's forums were clogged with complaining fans. Here are a few of the known glitches that plagued Battlefield 3 during the game's launch:

• game-halting glitch that occurs during the game's final mission that involves a broken quicktime event that renders the game unfinishable
• bodies hilariously flying across the map
• If you die with the pause menu open the screen will retain its blurred/blue tint until you re-pause the game.
• servers have been down on Xbox 360
• the promised bonus for PS3 owners, Battlefield 1943, was not included with the game
• random colored flashes that occur during turning or sprinting
• bullet paths floating in the air
• audio levels going wrong (often mutes everything but voices, guns, and explosions)
• clipping issues (getting stuck under the ground)
• reload animations not working
• sprinting does not work unless players stand still beforehand
• inability to aim down sights unless players switch out guns first
• killcam displays a section under the map
• gun attachments appearing a few inches away from the gun
• player dies and their gun is pointed up still firing invisible bullets (hilarious)
• characters will have arms and legs that “spaz out”
• characters slide around instead of crouch walking
• unable to quit a match without turning off system
• quitting game leads to never-ending load screen
• …and many more!

1. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Wii)
“Song of the Hero” Game-Killing Bug

Strike three, Nintendo. This is the third game on the Wii with a game-killing glitch. If you are unfortunate enough to stumble into this glitch, you're either going to have to start your game over, send your save file on an SD card to Nintendo to fix the problem, or modify the save file on your computer to remedy the problem. In an age where bugs can quickly be fixed through a patch, it's ridiculous that players have to go through loops and hurdles just to get their game back on track. After similar game-killing bugs found in Twilight Princess and Metroid: Other M, you'd think that Nintendo can get their shit together. Hopefully, the Wii U will be technologically advanced enough to support patches.

Considering that several other games on this list also have game-halting glitches, Skyward Sword's takes the top spot simply because of the poor method in order to fix it. The game-killing bug here occurs when you complete tasks in a certain order during the “Song of the Hero” quest. If you save the game after the bug is in effect, then prepare to start the game over.

If you complete the desert section of the quest first and talk to the Goron twice, the game locks out completion of the other two portions, halting all progress of the game. How do you avoid this? Just talk to the Goron guy once. Alternatively, don't do the desert section of the quest first.

Nintendo is currently working on a program that will be distributed in order to repair the save data. Details of when this program will be released in the future. You can also call Nintendo's hotline at 1-800-255-3700 and talk to one of their ridiculously friendly service reps, and they'll provide players with instructions on how to send in your save file for repairs.

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