Chapter 13 Boss Bug (EA/Visceral Systematic Failure)

As a computer programmer, this is a pathetic structure.  I do not blame developers, because I've found that most developers take pride in their work and would be ashamed to know their product was behaving this way.

I usea  brand new Windows 8 Dell PC.  When prompted to press the "F" key after harpooning the boss in Chapter 13, it would not die.  Not after hours of watching other's attempts on youtube, not  after hours of doing research on Google.  Not after at least 50 attempts at holding "F" continuously, tapping it quickly, tapping it slowly, trying all of those by continuing to hold the right mouse button down and then by releasing it.

So I enter a chat to get help through EA/Origin.  The support person was kind and tried to help. However, they directed me to enter a bug at http://answers.ea.com/t5/Dead-Space-3/bd-p/dead-space-3

After reviewing that site for about 10 minutes, I found all of these threads about the same problem:

2-6-13
http://answers.ea.com/t5/Dead-Space-3/chapter-13-boss-not-dying/td-p/474264

2-8-13
http://answers.ea.com/t5/Dead-Space-3/a-bug-with-Spider-boss-on-the-mountain/td-p/530940

2-13-13
http://answers.ea.com/t5/Dead-Space-3/Slight-Chapter-13-Spoilers-Snow-Beast-Boss-Fight-Bug/m-p/499916#U499916

4-24-13
http://answers.ea.com/t5/Dead-Space-3/spider-boss-chapter-13/m-p/1065194#U1065194

5-10-13
http://answers.ea.com/t5/Dead-Space-3/Dead-Space-3-Chapter-13-Boss-Bug/m-p/1109010#U1109010

5-5-13
http://answers.ea.com/t5/Dead-Space-3/Chapter-13-Boss-won-t-die/m-p/1094858#U1094858

I'm sure I could have found multiple more if I kept looking.  For example, just try posting a new question and as you start typing "Chapter 13", it will suggest several that are already there, add the work "Boss", and  you see some different ones. 

I've tried all of the suggestions in these posts, such as lowering your video settings, and then rebooted and tried several times and it still didn't work.  I even tried downloading someone's .sav file they offered, but it said it was damaged when I tried to load it.

This is a systematic problem for several reasons:

1) The first thread was from 2-6-13 and EA/Visceral has not posted a bug fix to download and install yet and we are now 3-1/2 months beyond that.

2) The fact that #1 has not happened tells me that the awareness of this bug has never been brought in front of the eyes of the developers that created this game, and again we are 3-1/2 months beyond the first thread post.

3) This is no small issue.  For a PC user, it prevents you from proceeding through the final 50% of the game you paid for.  Just read through these posts and feel the frustration that is being caused over and over again by something that should have been resolved by no later than 2-15-13.  Again, as a programmer, if I didn't fix an issue like this at least that quickly, I would be handed my walking papers and rightly so.

This is what I would like:

1) Preferably, a bug fix to be produced that I could download and run that would resolve my problem and allow me to proceed.  This would be best for myself and everyone else, especially since some of these posts mention a similar bug in Chapters 17 and 18.

2) Since I am a programmer and know my way around a computer, I would like to either

   a) Be put in contact with one of the developers that created the game or someone who has a thorough technical understanding of how the game was programmed, so that I can correspond with them to try to find a workaround.

   b) If a developer/technical person has a modding tool they could share with me, or some other means of edting the .sav file to at least give me a method to force the game to advance to the beginning of Chapter 14 so that I can at least continue with the rest of the game.

3) For the future, for myself and all others, a better system needs to be developed to report, track and resolve bugs.  It is glaringly obvious that this system has failed.  Again, we are 3-1/2 months beyond the first post and people are still suffering hours of frustration over the same problem.

4) Also, for future reference, if the reason this problem exists is because the game was primarily designed for the XBOX or Playstation systems and that it was ported over for the PC as an afterthought, then in the future, if you are not going to take the time to make sure that the port is done well, then please don't do it at all.  The hours of frustration that I and the others in these multiple threads have suffered can never be recovered.