Anyone else frustrated with Console patches?

[Orionite]

I just got a force feedback racing wheel for christmas (yay), so I can play GT5 the way it was (supposedly) meant to. After a brief vacation, I hooked up the wheel to my PS3, started it all up and: A download for GT 5 is ready. You can not perform this download in the background. Size: 608. ETA 180 minutes... WTF? That is in addition to the 30 minutes update for the PS3 itself... C'mon man!

What's even more annoying is that most of the changes are online play related. I don't play online. Why am I forced to use the latest update, if I'm perfectly happy with the game as it is?

It's really starting to piss me off that I can not just start my console anymore and just play. This was one of the selling points over the PC: No need to mess with drivers, no patches, just plug-and-play.

[Pinesal]

Yeah, the PS3 is really bad about that stuff. None of the other consoles seem to do it as bad.

[BiffCornwall]

Unfortunately with consoles being all but required to connect to the internet, these kinds of patches and updates are only going to get more and more frequent. Publishers can push a game out with less testing and send a patch later to fix bugs (free bug testing!!!)... I think it's really annoying too, especially since, as you pointed out, you cannot ignore the updates. And seriously, unless they're adding multiple hours of gameplay/free dlc, a 608mb update to a released game is pretty ridiculous...

*Edit:
My 360 has a game software update nearly every time I put a new game in. I buy the game on the release date, and there's an update for the game. Seriously? If I don't accept the update, I am automatically kicked off of Xbox Live, unable to reconnect while I am playing that game... Getting out of hand, to be sure...

[zvow]

If you don't want the update because you're not playing online you can just skip it. You'll be signed out of PSN though.

(You can play the game without any waiting and just apply the update after you're through playing.)

I agree that the updates suck though. The mandatory installs take a long time, too. And if you opt-out of the optional installs the load times are horrendous.

Nothing like having to buy a new hard drive to make space for all your games and patches :p

[Orionite]

It's too late for me to check now, but I don't remember an option to skip it. This is for GT5. The PS3 updates themselves seem to be optional, yes.

btw, GT5 is a lot of fun with wheel and pedals :)

[Lord Xenu]

I love my GT5. A wheel is much better. It's easier to keep a solid line through turns. Are you a PS+ member? If you are, you can set it to download through the night while you sleep. Then you won't have to wait for updates anymore.

[zvow]

It's too late for me to check now, but I don't remember an option to skip it. This is for GT5. The PS3 updates themselves seem to be optional, yes.

Yeah, you can skip the game updates. When the screen pops up that says an update is available, just press circle. Keep in mind like I said before that you'll be logged out of PSN, but this shouldn't be too much of a problem since you're not playing online and your main concern was not having to wait for the update.

And like Niko says, PS+ members can set the ps3 to download the game updates when not in use.

[MAG1270]

Yeah, you can skip the game updates. I think it's the circle button.

Not if they come with the game? I'm pretty sure they are forced on you if you want to play the game... That's how Sony prevents pirating, by forcing the newest updates onto newer games.

[zvow]

Not if they come with the game? I'm pretty sure they are forced on you if you want to play the game... That's how Sony prevents pirating, by forcing the newest updates onto newer games.



GAME updates, bro. (AKA game patches.) I wasn't talking about system updates (AKA firmware updates).

[Lord Xenu]

Actually there were a couple system updates that were, in fact, optional.

[MAG1270]

GAME updates, bro. (AKA game patches.) I wasn't talking about system updates (AKA firmware updates).

I'm sorry... I forgot there is both. I don't have a PS3, so I should just have stayed away. :( I'll leave now.

[zvow]

no biggie, others were probably thinking the same thing

[tibbon]

Clearly, we should go back to games burned onto ROMs that can't be patched and keep all their bugs forever!

[zvow]

Clearly, we should go back to games burned onto ROMs that can't be patched and keep all their bugs forever!

As opposed to improving how patches are implemented?

Game patches on the 360 tend to take less time to install than on the PS3. There's plenty of room for improvement. Background downloading of patches while the console is idle is a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, you have to be a PS+ subscriber to have this feature.

As another example, OnLive games have patches and updates done transparently at the datacenter. The end user never has to apply a game patch himself (or wait for the patch to download).

But acknowledging that would entail giving credit to OnLive. Instead, let's sarcastically suggest removing patches altogether.

BTW, Burning something onto read-only memory doesn't preclude it from being patched. Ever heard of something called a DVD-ROM? The thing 360 games are manufactured on? Gaming devices that use forms of read-only memory are capable of patching as long as they are supplemented by writeable media with adequate capacity, capable OS/firmware, and a means of delivering the patches.

[AlwaysLive40]

ps3 seems to be the worst at it...

[Orionite]

No need to be sarcy, tibbon. Are you seriously suggesting 0-day patches that take hours (!) to download are a good idea? Performance of PSN for me is so bad that downloading that latest patch took me over 3 hours. I'm unable to get speeds of more than 4-5Mbit/s (speedtest - actual download speed is lower) over my 25Mbit/s line when using the PSN. Remember, no background downloads.

If you are expecting to deliver DLC, patches and multi-player over your own proprietary network service then I think it is fair for your users to expect decent speeds and availability. I haven't been able to even sign into PSN (via GT5) for days, even though the connection check confirms accessibility. And having to pay for background/idle downloads is just a slap in the face, imho.

[LickMe]

I don't have problems to update any games that needs to update. I've got the patience for it so I don't mind at all. That is, because I have a nice internet speed. ;)

[Orionite]

LickMe, how do you get your PS3 (if indeed you have one) to actually use the available bandwidth? I can easily stream HD movies, but for some reason the PSN is throttled way down.

[LickMe]

To be honest, I haven't had a PS3 or any console since May of last year. It died out at the beginning of that month. It was a 40GB model and I bought it in 2007. I have Comcast as my internet provider and glad that they increased the internet speed recently. I used wired connection but I did try out wi-fi and got the more or less of the same expected results when I was updating some of the latest patches for some of my PS3 games, including the PSN games I used to have.