Situation Critical

[frosty]

A new editorial from yours truly. Discuss!!!

http://psinsider.e-mpire.com/index.php?categoryid=4&m_articles_articleid=1015

[woundingchaney]

Well I agree Socom is horrible.

[LiquidEagle]

Good read and good points, I guess I should be glad I haven't picked up SOCOM yet, I may not get it until like early next year :-/

[AC!D]

Agree 100%. In my part of the world none of my friends have online connections for PSN because our fastest internet speeds are expensive and we are capped and charged per gig of download. In other words some of my friends purchased a broken Assassins creed and it remains broken for them till today.

[Gegenki]

This sort of thing would have been inexcusable last gen when patches were pretty much non-existant.

Thats what I'm not understanding. Why is it that all of a sudden, now that patches are viable, games are coming along broken when they weren't before

[Kiwi]

Because they can patch it later. I knew this would happen as soon as patches on consoles were a possibility.

They now have the excuse to leave in bugs in their games, because they can go along and fix it at their leisure, rather than have to worry about meeting a release. I'm not saying that this is what is happening, but that's how it looks to me.

[frosty]

spread this editorial around the net... maybe if it gets enough attention Sony might actually bother to do something about it.

[Leedogg]

i agree too frosty....

[OmniCloud]

Tell em like it is Frosty! lol...Good stuff, tis is why the only thing I'm buying this year is LBP and PSN stuff;)

hopefully they get the online ok for that title;)

[curryking1]

Because they can patch it later. I knew this would happen as soon as patches on consoles were a possibility.

I was worried about that too going into this generation... and hey look what we have here...

"Let's just patch it!"

Ok... maybe some issues are ok considering the PS3 has to output on multiple resolutions and audio sets over multiple connections to a much broader range of devices, but at some point it's too many problems too often and some very glaring issues not being fixed over so long is really terrible.

SOCOM will go down in history as the definitive icon of these problems. To have that coming from Sony to me is just embarrassing and tarnishes the view I have of Playstation.

I personally would not be so annoyed by the issue until SOCOM decided to make this a big deal for me. I've never even planned to buy the game but just knowing that an event like it happened is just mind boggling.

[Lucent Beam]

Wow, frosty, you're harsh.
If I argued that even those the problems are surely occurring, that they are only specific problems to specific games and not the PS3 library as a whole so it's not a big deal, how would you refute that?

[AC!D]

Wow, frosty, you're harsh.
If I argued that even those the problems are surely occurring, that they are only specific problems to specific games and not the PS3 library as a whole so it's not a big deal, how would you refute that?

Its not just the games though some Firmware updates every now and again are breaking ppl's consoles.

The second problem is that games like GTA 4 and Assassins Creed have to go through quality testing at Sony HQ before they get given the green light and yet still these games managed to pass right through these channels.

Thirdly Sony has this new thing where they release half a game like the upcoming Killzone which they said will be released without online Co-op but it will be added later with a patch. Thats harsh dont you think how do the guys withtout internet connections get the Co-op download then?

[Hrama]

Thumbs up from me Frosty, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I love harsh criticism. Give me perfection or give me death... that type of stuff. :whip:

[GTAce]

Ouch....


But i agree.

[LaLiLuLeLo]

Wipeout damn near broke my console in the last couple weeks. I'm pretty sure I can't save photos anymore without wipeout freezing during the process. So I take my console hard drive's life in my hands and reboot the whole console or quit the game.
Or, I downloaded the demo for that super wacky bumper cars or whatever the fuck it's called. Trying to install it froze my system, I had to reboot it twice, then a 3rd time and reset the factory settings just to get everything working properly again?!?!

So I sure as hell ain't curious enough about the game to try downloading and installing it again.

[GTAce]

Wipeout damn near broke my console in the last couple weeks. I'm pretty sure I can't save photos anymore without wipeout freezing during the process. So I take my console hard drive's life in my hands and reboot the whole console or quit the game.
People with over 50 people on the friends list had that issue, they patched it but you have to either delete some of your friends or make a new savegame, that should solve it. I was lucky, never had that issue, only the "Press select to..." bug, which is now gone.

[LaLiLuLeLo]

How would I go about making a new save game without losing my progress?

[GTAce]

The person you called is currently not available, please try again later.





Not possible sorry. 8/

EDIT: Online rekords are account bound, you will loose your carrer progress and the loyality though.

[jaxmkii]

you guys are spoiled!

the PS3 is not some simple single use machine like the ps2/Wii. you don't know what a headache is untill your a PC gamer. there's way to much going on in todays modern consoles to make everything work right 100% of the time. thats why patching is here to stay bitching about it will get you noware.

go get a 360 its the same there too, or PC than you'll have something to complain about

and you know what?... as multplatform gets more popular its going to get much worse as everygame trying to apease the PC PS3 and 360.

If you stop expecting the moon you'll notice that the halfbroken pebble is actually a gemstone.

I for one would like to say THANKYOU Sony.

[OmniCloud]

you guys are spoiled!

the PS3 is not some simple single use machine like the ps2/Wii. you don't know what a headache is untill your a PC gamer. there's way to much going on in todays modern consoles to make everything work right 100% of the time. thats why patching is here to stay bitching about it will get you noware.

go get a 360 its the same there too, or PC than you'll have something to complain about

and you know what?... as multplatform gets more popular its going to get much worse as everygame trying to apease the PC PS3 and 360.

If you stop expecting the moon you'll notice that the halfbroken pebble is actually a gemstone.

I for one would like to say THANKYOU Sony.I appreciate that point of view, but with things like Socom, I don't think there's an excuse....as well as co-op mode for Killzone as a patch:huh: Just don't release it...

Overall though, I think gamers do expect perfection, even when there's ways of getting your games cheaper, used, rented, etc etc..

[D3adcell]

you guys are spoiled!

the PS3 is not some simple single use machine like the ps2/Wii. you don't know what a headache is untill your a PC gamer. there's way to much going on in todays modern consoles to make everything work right 100% of the time. thats why patching is here to stay bitching about it will get you noware.

go get a 360 its the same there too, or PC than you'll have something to complain about

and you know what?... as multplatform gets more popular its going to get much worse as everygame trying to apease the PC PS3 and 360.

If you stop expecting the moon you'll notice that the halfbroken pebble is actually a gemstone.

I for one would like to say THANKYOU Sony.

Well when the release a game that doesn't work even after a patch, why thank them? Though I can appreciate your loyalty, it doesn't make me feel like "Oh thanks sony, socom is such a good paperweight, I love you guys". They need to be called out on things like that and hopefully prevent it from happening in the future.

[jaxmkii]

givem time the game is a week old

[GTAce]

And not even out in Europe (thats why i didnt complain, but i agree with D3adcell though).

[Nameless]

you guys are spoiled!

the PS3 is not some simple single use machine like the ps2/Wii. you don't know what a headache is untill your a PC gamer. there's way to much going on in todays modern consoles to make everything work right 100% of the time. thats why patching is here to stay bitching about it will get you noware.

go get a 360 its the same there too, or PC than you'll have something to complain about

and you know what?... as multplatform gets more popular its going to get much worse as everygame trying to apease the PC PS3 and 360.

If you stop expecting the moon you'll notice that the halfbroken pebble is actually a gemstone.

I for one would like to say THANKYOU Sony.
^ Your post is absurd...
It's not unreasonable to expect full retail released software to a least function properly on all consoles. Also, it's reasonable to expect online titles especially online only titles to allow access to the servers from the point of sale. I understand that development cost are growing out of control and quality assurance can sometimes miss minor bugs, but major glitches that crash hardware should not be a common occurrence. I agree the patch approach has allowed many developers/publishers the ability to push an incomplete product out the door and repair it later. Honestly I could see this being thought process for an online only title, because you know every customer will have internet access, but single player titles should never take this approach...

I can say this is not solely a Sony issue, because the 360 has experienced its own software screw ups, but consumers are starting to grow tired of this trend. It's starting to bother me that a game out the box requires a patch to run properly...

[jaxmkii]

^ Your post is absurd...
It's not unreasonable to expect full retail released software to a least function properly on all consoles. Also, it's reasonable to expect online titles especially online only titles to allow access to the servers from the point of sale. I understand that development cost are growing out of control and quality assurance can sometimes miss minor bugs, but major glitches that crash hardware should not be a common occurrence. I agree the patch approach has allowed many developers/publishers the ability to push an incomplete product out the door and repair it later. Honestly I could see this being thought process for an online only title, because you know every customer will have internet access, but single player titles should never take this approach...

I can say this is not solely a Sony issue, because the 360 has experienced its own software screw ups, but consumers are starting to grow tired of this trend. It's starting to bother me that a game out the box requires a patch to run properly...

as a longtime PC gamer im telling you guys you all spoiled!
now that our consoles are losing there gratest advantage of being a simple closed system with a single AV setup and never having to deal with things like netcode stability or server load or supporting hundreds of possible output codects or comunications with other modulated systems on a data bus.

our consoles are now prone to the neverending beta.

and yes all things concitered... I still say THANKYOU Sony for the smoothest ride though new techville as i have seen far worse.

[jaxmkii]

^ Your post is absurd...
It's not unreasonable to expect full retail released software to a least function properly on all consoles.

welcome to PC gaming hell.

[Nameless]

^ Consoles are still a closed development environment; the hardware specs and OS do not vary by machine. The statement regarding PC gaming is not relevant regarding consoles; If Sony decides to start offering more RAM in a new iteration of the PS3 you may have a point, but we both know that's not going to happen.

[Hrama]

Agreed Nameless, I don't think there is a reason on this earth that a console game should not function properly from the beginning. With the betas and demos and whatnot out now along with the development time itself, it seems a lot easier to test for idiot hiccups since every console is the same machine basically. I can't thank Sony and the developers that do this for that kind of service. Just like the Red Ring of Death... I will not thank Microsoft for a 3 year warranty on something so blatantly ridiculous.

[frosty]

Wow, frosty, you're harsh.
If I argued that even those the problems are surely occurring, that they are only specific problems to specific games and not the PS3 library as a whole so it's not a big deal, how would you refute that?

As mentioned earlier, they aren't. Firmware updates bricking systems, web browser crashing all the time, even GTA4 had a firmware update that was supposed to fix it's issues, but didn't. 2 patches and a firmware update later, and I still can't play it on my box. And don't think that I'm only bitching about PS3, this was a PS3 centric article simply because we are a PS3 centric site. 360 has it's issues also, though not as many on the software side of things. As for PC games, others nailed it. This is a closed environment on a system that was designed specifically for gaming, not an open environment across many systems designed for office use with hundreds of thousands of different hardware combinations inside. I too am a long time PC gamer, and I have not seen anywhere near the fuck ups that I've seen from PS3's software this gen. I've seen the need for patches and such, but not games that simply don't work on any system out there.

That said, I really don't have any gripes about Killzone's co-op thing, at least the game is supposed to still function properly at release. That's just adding a feature, not fixing a mistake.

[jaxmkii]

^ Consoles are still a closed development environment; the hardware specs and OS do not vary by machine. The statement regarding PC gaming is not relevant regarding consoles; If Sony decides to start offering more RAM in a new iteration of the PS3 you may have a point, but we both know that's not going to happen.
its all relivent when a dev is making a game for multable versions of 360s ps3s and PC and it has to works on all.

[frosty]

Even so, why are we still seeing these issues with EXCLUSIVE titles? And it's not like it's the first time devs have had to do multi platform stuff... it always worked before.

[Hrama]

Not only that but the same team doesn't normally do all iterations of the same game. One team will usually work on the 360 version while another works on the Wii, PS3, PC, etc. etc, so I still don't see why that's a reason these problems exist.

[Smokey]

Its not just the games though some Firmware updates every now and again are breaking ppl's consoles.



or it fucks up games that have never missed a beat like COD4

[AC!D]

Interesting article on Ripten (http://www.ripten.com/2008/10/19/capcom-diplomatically-disses-xbox-live/#more-7805).

Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE boasts an enormous user base, however, many of its users have been nothing short of vocal in criticizing the monthly subscription fee required to fully “jump in.”

Supporters of the service often cited the flexible in-game chat capability as its primary edge over the PlayStation Network, but recent updates on the part of Sony have bridged that gap.

The addition of online capabilities to consoles allowed gamers to remotely connect to each other, but more importantly, from a publishers perspective, it created a viable means for digital distribution of content. On that note, both the PS3 and 360 next-gen consoles have infrastructures capable of delivering digital content to consumers, but which format do publishers prefer?

In a recent interview, Capcom’s digital content product manager, John Diamonon, discussed the current digital distribution options available to publishers. Diamonon complimented the PSN service, and had the following to say about XBL:

“As far as Microsoft goes–how can I say this diplomatically–there are things I think they’d like to do to promote content in multiple ways, and I think they’ll get there eventually… but they’re not there yet.”

It should also be noted that Sony recently granted Capcom a branded PSN storefront (the first of its kind), allowing the publisher to pimp their wares and their brand.

[jaxmkii]

Even so, why are we still seeing these issues with EXCLUSIVE titles? And it's not like it's the first time devs have had to do multi platform stuff... it always worked before.

Not only that but the same team doesn't normally do all iterations of the same game. One team will usually work on the 360 version while another works on the Wii, PS3, PC, etc. etc, so I still don't see why that's a reason these problems exist.

you guys are missing the point... our consoles are now more like a massproduced aleinware system than some 100% solidstate singe AV output machine.

there's a shit load more going on inside our 360/PS3s than last gen.

the Perma beta state of PC gaming exist because of the complex desine of PCs... we guess what now our consoles rival if not exceed PCs complexitys.

[Viper]

the Perma beta state of PC gaming exist because of the complex desine of PCs... we guess what now our consoles rival if not exceed PCs complexitys.

No, Jax.

It's not so much the complex design, it's the the open architecture nature of PC's. CPU's from typically 2 vendors with a few dozen models each from single and multiple cores, RAM of various formats, speeds, capacities, voltages, etc...., GPU's from 2 designers with dozens of vendors each with their own various core counts, video RAM, speeds, ALU's, etc..., dozens of motherboard manufactures with their own feature sets, chipsets offering various transfer bandwidths between the RAM, CPU and GPU.....etc, etc...etc....

A console has one design spec applicable across all SKU's (minus an HDD or not). Doesn't matter how many cores or SPE's it has, what kind of RAM it has or that the CPU and GPU are separate now...it's a closed system that doesn't have massive scalability and compatibility requirements.

Developers/publishers are following the PC market development procedure....push it out, patch it later if needed.

[GD|eNSo]

Can't say anything about Socom because I don't have it, but:

I have a first phase PS3, and have no problems with GTA, nor Elefunk or browsing the net. No freezes no qualms. I never had any issues with firmware updates, and you can check for all this by quickly browsing my post history as I would be sure to cry about it, if issues did exist.

I do agree, there is a lack of quality control, but you should also add, and this is where the real problem lies, and that would be the huge lack of accountability. This really isn't just a Sony issue, but an issue across the board. Companies just throw their not so complete products out in the public, hoping to grasp buyers on false promises and cash in before actually having to do any actual work. If companies are held accountable, where a feature (lack of) can be used as false advertisement, then we'll see companies perhaps smarten up and keep their doors shut until they can deliver what they actually promise. Unfortunately, I don't think that will ever be.

Overall I am very pleased with Sony's PS3, not only have they pushed technology forward and in to a new level, but for me, they have hit a very high amount of their targets. There have been issues, but not as glaring as other products I own, or have used, IE: Apple, Nokia, Motoralla.

[Bliss]

http://news.punchjump.com/article.php?id=6910

working on new patch

Seth Luisi, Director of Development at Sony's U.S. game division said that the SOCOM server environment is not holding up at peak hours. The title currently yields 25,000 users at peak times and holds a consistent 100,000 log-ins per day.

Luisi says the company is looking into the issues to resolve them as quickly as possible.

Additionally, Sony is working on a new patch to resolve stability issues, including getting booted to the XMB interface and game disconnects. The patch should be available within one week.

[Nameless]

25,000 that's it!!!
These guys are idiots period...

[LaLiLuLeLo]

Wow! Were they expecting the game to flop? What kind of mess is that?

[Red_Eyes]

For some reason, Sony always underestimate the number of users that are going to be playing their games online.

[Sephiroth_VII]

Including online-only games...

[Red_Eyes]

No lan or split screen in Socom?

[cliffbo]

Because they can patch it later. I knew this would happen as soon as patches on consoles were a possibility.

They now have the excuse to leave in bugs in their games, because they can go along and fix it at their leisure, rather than have to worry about meeting a release. I'm not saying that this is what is happening, but that's how it looks to me.

same here and i was worried about it's impact. the real culprit here is 'deadlines'. publishers can now put pressure on devs and so force them to release early. i think this trend could eventually disappear though as more and more people like ourselves on this forum, voice our annoyance, publishers may well consider a delay better than sullying a successful franchise

[D3adcell]

No lan or split screen in Socom?

Nope none of those options. This game really pisses me off more and more everytime I play it. Slant 6 ruined my favorite online game of all time. The guns randomly reload, the game freezes for a few seconds when you are in the middle of a fire fight......

I would say I played socom from the release of socom 1 to socom 3 around 3 hours a day. This game has 50 minutes of play time and it's all just play time of me hating it.

[GTAce]

Why the heck are you still playing it?
Just let it rest, the more people stop playing, the more its a sign and gives them time to fix it. You can explode when its still that buggy after the PAL release.

[frosty]

He isn't in a PAL territory, so he has every right to explode right now. One shouldn't have to wait for worldwide releases, cures for cancer, or pigs flying to play the game they just bought.

[OmniCloud]

He isn't in a PAL territory, so he has every right to explode right now. One shouldn't have to wait for worldwide releases, cures for cancer, or pigs flying to play the game they just bought.yeah, I mean, it's venting...so just let people vent right;)

Maybe, just maybe, Slant 6 will reward the guys sticking it out with them or something:shrug: That only seems like the right thing to do.

[GTAce]

He isn't in a PAL territory, so he has every right to explode right now. One shouldn't have to wait for worldwide releases, cures for cancer, or pigs flying to play the game they just bought.

Well that is correct but instead of trying to play every day and actually making it worse with that (because of server traffic) he should wait for a patch to arrive or sell the game.

EDIT: Maybe, just maybe, Slant 6 will reward the guys sticking it out with them or something That only seems like the right thing to do.
How do you want to reward ca. 300.000 gamer? lol

[jaxmkii]

spread this editorial around the net... maybe if it gets enough attention Sony might actually bother to do something about it.

happy now?