Quicker patches?

From my time as an FML beta tester, I got the chance to see just how quickly the match engine could be tweaked and patches rolled out, and I think this needs to be implemented for FM09.

Last year, we were stuck with an atrocious match engine for months, as has been the case with the last few versions of FM - always waiting until the final patch to have a playable match engine, sometimes almost 8 months after release!

But in FML it's updated every week and patches are rolled out seemlessly, as has been the case with the last few versions of FM - always waiting until the final patch to have a playable match engine, sometimes almost 8 months after release!

There must be a way to make patches available for just the match engine in a similar way for FM09?

Sorry if this makes me seem really dumb, but I'm not a programming boffin so I'm going to ask. What does 'beta phase' actually mean? And what other phases are there and what do they mean? I've only ever heard mention of 'beta'.

According to the most accurate knowledge source on the Internet, Wikipedia

Before shipping the final version of software, alpha and beta testing are often done additionally:

• Alpha testing is simulated or actual operational testing by potential users/customers or an independent test team at the developers' site. Alpha testing is often employed for off-the-shelf software as a form of internal acceptance testing, before the software goes to beta testing.[citation needed]
  
• Beta testing comes after alpha testing. Versions of the software, known as beta versions, are released to a limited audience outside of the programming team. The software is released to groups of people so that further testing can ensure the product has few faults or bugs. Sometimes, beta versions are made available to the open public to increase the feedback field to a maximal number of future users.[citation needed]
  

Despite the lack of citations, that sounds about right.

It's quite usual to release a new beta every week, but you can't do this with a released game. Every single change/fix has to be tested on various computers with different setups - and it is nothing more frustrating than installing a new patch and it does crash your saved game.

well, there are a lot of games around now where updates can be rolled out reasonably quickly.

It would be easier for SI though if they only had one SKU, i appreciate that.

According to the most accurate knowledge source on the Internet, Wikipedia

Despite the lack of citations, that sounds about right.

That is quite a definitive answer. Even though it's from Wikipedia, I suspect it's accurate. Thanks!