High Horse: Broken PS3 Skyrim was inevitable, is inexcusable, and is probably your fault

David Houghton: I’m creating a clever (and marginally disgusting) allegory for Bethesda’s broken-as-all-hell PS3 version of Skyrim. It is you see, fundamentally messed up on a level that I view as patently unfit for release. And apparently Bethesda had no idea that the game it had spent years building and testing was so broken. I mean it can’t have known. Otherwise it’s quietly, knowingly released a busted product and cynically dicked over a large part of its fan-base. And the worst part? I saw this coming weeks ago. And it’s partly that very fan-base’s fault.

[DonaldBeck]

i wonder if they will patch the game to where the ps3 version does not have these problems. anyways great game, but the title overdramatises it. if it looked like a ps2 game locked at 10 fps and it fan only at 480p then it would be broken. edited

[aquamala]

They never fixed fallout 3 ps3, I had to reboot every coupl of hours near the end, and the last dlc is unplayable for me.

[gameplayingfool]

A bit over dramatic, I think.

There have been some issues on my PS3 playing Skyrim, BUT NONE HAVE RENDERED THE GAME UNPLAYABLE BY ANY STRETCH of the imagination. Others may have not been so lucky...

Still, I hope Bethesda does something about this.

8.5MB save, very few troubles.

[DonaldBeck]

why? do you think bethesda knows about this stuff happening with the ps3 version? and if they do...wtf is wrong with them?

[Fil101]

lol I played fallout NV couple of weeks ago now granted this dont happen to everyone but as soon as I left that house where the guy patches you up at the very start it froze thats when I decided not to carry on with it kind ov a shame but to me its a game braker there is nothing worse than having to reset your console.

[DatNJDom81]

This is why I bought Dark Souls instead of a bethesda product. bethesda doesnt support PS3 like it does xbox because they prefer the easier to program xbox. dont support lazy devs and shit like this wont happen.

It isnt 2006 anymore. Sorry guys get your asses in gear.

Wait didnt Oblivion actually play better on PS3? If so why would they not put the same amount into this game?

[lastdual]

@DatNJDom81 The PS3 port of Oblivion was outsourced to 4J Studios, who apparently were better at coding for Sony's platform than Bethesda themselves.

Once my Skyrim save file hit double digits, the game became unplayable. Seriously, I was getting 6-8 frames per second within 15 minutes of booting the game up. It's BROKEN and should never have been released in this state.

A patch may or may not fix the lag problem, but given Bethesda's poor support for the PS3 versions of Fallout 3 and New Vegas, I chose not to hold my breath for one. Returned the game last night and *if* I do rebuy, it will be for another platform.

[kaveti6616]

" dont support lazy devs and shit like this wont happen."

lazy developers. Do you have any idea how much stuff you have to learn to get to that position?

It's not about being lazy, it's about having a standard for workplace quality. When the console maker decides to stop thinking about its own pockets and about "extending the life of the console blah blah blah," and starts thinking about how it can make life easier for the developers, then Bethesda can start giving a crap about the PS3.

It wasn't Bethesda's fault to deliberately making the PS3 a difficult console to work with. That was Sony's volition. Bethesda does the best they can with the time, money, tools, and hardware they have to work with. If Sony can't respect that, then they're the ones to blame.

[DragonKnight]

@kaveti: You'd have an argument 5 years ago, not today. Explain why practically every other developer can have a perfectly fine development process for the PS3 without the massive bugs that Bethesda's games have, but Bethesda can't? Because the PS3 is hard to program for? And yet no name studios can code better for it than Bethesda?

So, lazy developers is accurate when the evidence backs it up.

[Jonah_Reese]

@Kaveti
That is a 5 or 6 year old comment, how many developers complain about the PS3 being difficult to develop for? Even Gabe Newell doesn't complain anymore, why? because he understands it. I'm not Calling Bethesda lazy because even the most crappy games take a lot of work. But if they would have paid as much to the PS3 version as they it's counter-parts, this would be a lesser issue. Get out of 2006 dude.

Personally I don't know if this is wide spread but it has me worried because I really wanted and Kinda still want Skyrim.

[zag]

It won't be the saves.

It'll be people trying to play a game for 25 to 35+ hours straight.

You generally can't do that on any platform even on the PC games will fall apart at those lengths of time, simply because over time data becomes corrupt and if you save that corrupt data then it won't load up properly again there after and you lose all the data.

The devs will be expecting people to really only play the game for 2 to 8 hours max in a session.

But the kids and people with no jobs will be playing the game at stupid lengths of time.

That corrupt data over time happens on all platforms and all sorts of games, hearts of iron does it after so many hours as well.

It's also a problem of 32bit programs where you can only allocate 2gig max of memory in a block, and it becomes harder for the CPU to cache all this data properly as the cache will only hold say 512kb of cache per CPU and stuff.

it's just the limits of the tech not the program, you can't alter tech limits via software.

[zag]

@DragonKnight

The main reason why you don't see it from many devs is that most consoles games are only FPSes and platformers and stuff nothing that would be trying to hit up a database and reading/writing data to all the time and using memory to hold the data.

In RPG games you'll be caching and reading/writing data you almost everything in-game, like a sword that could be a default one but changes when you add a gem needs to always kept in memory and when you hit up a NPC and then go and do a wuest you need to hold the quest objectives and then hold the data for the NPC you last hit up so the game can keep track of everything your doing in the game.

there's a huge difference between a FPS or plat former and only needing to know when something got hit and is dead and need to be removed in 5 seconds and a RPG trying to hold data for the whole of the USA and everything in that country, while also keeping a track of everything you do and touch with everything in that country.

[Biggest]

I don't play for 25 hours straight and I still encounter the ridiculously low frame rate. Every zone, every camp, and every battle lowers the frame rate. As someone here stated before. . . When I first boot the game I get the frame rate problems. It's cool to find excuses for Bethesda's terrible PS3 coding. Extended play has nothing to do with this one.

[MikEyG]

Damn right them fuckin lazy dicks cant release a glitch free game this gen.I'm glad I didn't waste my money I learned my lesson on fallout new vegas

[DragonKnight]

@zag: your comment is inaccurate and irrelevant. For one, most console games are NOT FPS'. That you think they are shows you're not paying attention. Two. There is not a complete drought of RPG's on the PS3 similar to Skyrim. Take a look at Demon's/Dark Souls. There is plenty of evidence to back up the statement that it is all Bethesda's fault that Skyrim on the PS3 has so many problems. Stop trying to defend them, and instead call them on their lazy coding because they are afraid of hard work.

Yes, Skyrim is large game. They chose to make it multiplat. You can't just phone in one version because you don't like the architecture. When even Gabe Newell stops complaining about the PS3's architecture, then you know that anyone else still whining about it is just spewing B.S. because they're lazy.

There's no excuse for a framerate of 6fps and continual freezing. There is no excuse for forcing the modding community for the PC version to fix the problems for free. Bethesda are lazy, and it's as simple as that. If they can't take the time to make sure this massive bugs are ironed out, they shouldn't even start making the game at all.

[kaveti6616]

The argument is still valid. The PS3 is still harder to develop for than the 360 is.

The reason why other games don't have as many bugs or glitches is because most other multiplatform games are not open world games with a large scope.

Secondly, the PS3 is as hard to develop for today as it was 5 years ago. There are still 6 SPEs which have to be separately coded and complied for, which means Bethesda has to do 6 times the work to get things running on the PS3 than on the 360, because Microsoft made it so that the compiler for their 360 will automatically split up the work to the 3 cores.

Why is it that Microsoft thought of this but Sony didn't?

Why did Sony defend their stupid decision to make the PS3 harder to program for instead of manning up to their mistakes?

And what exactly has happened since 5 years ago that makes you think the PS3 is easier to develop for now?

You guys also make the mistake of assuming that most developers don't complain about PS3 development now.

That's an appeal to ignorance. "If I can't see it, then it's not happening."

It is not in the nature for a developer to be lazy. Being a developer means you worked your ass off to get to where you are.

Most of us couldn't program a simple calculator application, yet these people are creating massive, detailed environments populated with characters who behave in certain ways and react to the behavior of the player. That's not easy to do.

Bethesda optimized their engine to work well on PC and 360. Sony decided to make their console different.

Why? Don't blame Bethesda. Gabe Newell's statements were spot on 5 years ago. All the ass-kissing he's doing now stems from the fact that his company is in it for the money.

[oldjadedgamer]

It's Bethesda. Anyone buying early should expect bugs. It's why I buy all their games in a game of the year version later.

It's like they've never heard of testers.

@kav, quit white knighting for the devs. They sold a broken product.

[DragonKnight]

@kaveti: the argument is completely INvalid. You say the issue is that most multiplatform games aren't open world? What about Assassin's Creed? What about the Batman games? What about Dark Souls? If the PS3 is so hard to program for, why do these games work with far less problems than any one Bethesda game hmm? What about the first party open world games like Infamous?

When all the other devs have come to grips with the PS3's architecture, when the most vocal of naysayers have shut up or began praising the PS3, how can you sit there and defend Bethesda for releasing a p*ss poor port (aliteration for the win) full of bugs for the, what, 4th time now?

This is Bethesda's track record. They are lazy coders. Just because you are making a massive game, doesn't mean you aren't a lazy coder. They simply do not want to put in the work to make the game have minimal bugs. IT'S THEM! Not the PS3. Remember the saying, it is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.

How come there are many great 3rd party developers making exceptional PS3 versions of their multiplatform games, but yet Bethesda keeps bringing out the trash in terms of bugs? How is that the PS3's fault? It isn't. Simply put, the vast amount of excellent 3rd party games that don't have the issues that Bethesda games have on the PS3 more than refutes your argument.

Bethesda released a broken product, period. They're just lucky they have a free labor force on the PC that will fix their broken game without any compensation whatsoever. But to say that it's not a broken game, and that it's the consoles fault, is completely wrong. The PS3 didn't develop Skyrim, Bethesda did. You can sit there ignoring that fact all you want, doesn't make it go away.

[vickers500]

"Explain why practically every other developer can have a perfectly fine development process for the PS3 without the massive bugs that Bethesda's games have, but Bethesda can't?"

Because no other developer has created a game as deep or content packed as Bethesda. The Uncharteds, Killzones, GTAs, (etc.) of the gaming industry can go on virtually bugless because they have NOWHERE NEAR the amount of content that a Bethesda game does. Those games run fine because they don't have to run very much or deal with very much, as they only really have to focus on running the graphics and the very simplistic gameplay.

"Take a look at Demon's/Dark Souls. There is plenty of evidence to back up the statement that it is all Bethesda's fault that Skyrim on the PS3 has so many problems."

Sorry, but if you think DS counts as evidence, then I feel sorry for you. Demon/Dark Souls runs fine because it's nowhere near as complex or deep as Skyrim.

Want to prove to me that Bethesda are lazy devs? Then show me a game that is as deep, complex, long, deep, well designed, while still managing to look as good as Skyrim and maybe I'll listen to you, but as long as you are still using your sorry ass argument by comparing other more primitive games like Dark/Demons Souls, then your claims are worthless.

[hesido]

People who don't see this problem and indirectly defending Bethesda are not being reasonable at all.

Just because you do not have problems doesn't mean others don't, plus the fact that Skyrim is open-world and there are thousand ways to play it, the problem may not manifest in all play-throughs.

Now I know why play-tester were doing speed-runs :)
http://www.geek.com/article...

[Army_of_Darkness]

Your PS3 game ports all suck donkey balls ever since your first game. fallout.
I did not buy any of your games ever since.

Bioware and mass effect 2 PS3 is an example of an excellent port.

[AngryTypingGuy]

Apparently Bethesda is investigating this problem, and hopefully there will be a patch. They say it's only a portion of PS3 units experiencing to problems. Hopefully I'll be one of the lucky ones. I might start waiting a month or two after Bethesda releases a game so they'll have time for the inevitable patch.

http://www.gamepro.com/arti...

[maxbox99]

@DragonKnight
Bethesda afraid of hard work? I don't think we're talking about the same company. Do you have any idea how much work has to be put to make a game like skyrim?

[Getowned]

" dont support lazy devs and shit like this wont happen."

You guys make it sound like making a game is so easy,codeing and making games can be really hard to do,it dosen't happen over night it is a long and tedious thing to make games for what you got in skyrim you should be really happy.No game is perfect but there are a lot of good games.

[Bimkoblerutso]

@Kaveti

That is the most ridiculous argument I have ever heard. Blame should not fall on Sony for developers that are too inept to program for their system.

If Bethesda has trouble programming for the PS3, they should not still be releasing games for the PS3.

It is indisputably 100% Bethesda's fault. Sony did not force them to release a version for their system, and consumers are simply operating under the false pretense that Bethesda would not release a product that did not work. It is BETHESDA'S FAULT.

Love the game on my PC though, I gotta say...

[kaveti6616]

"That is the most ridiculous argument I have ever heard. Blame should not fall on Sony for developers that are too inept to program for their system."

The PS3 hardware was ineptly designed. Developers shouldn't have to drastically alter their coding to get things up and running on the PS3.

Considering their games sell more on 360 and PC, I can completely understand why Bethesda doesn't like coding for the PS3. What's the benefit?

"Hey, let's work 6 times harder and spend a ton more money to get less sales on this platform."

There's a dichotomy on this site.

You have people praising Sony for learning from their past mistakes with the PS Vita. Even Sony has said that they've made sure the developers have an easy time coding for the Vita.

And you have people on this site pretending like Sony didn't even make a mistake with the PS3. They spin it to make it sound like making the PS3 harder to code for was actually a good thing. It's not.

There is no excuse for it.

[Bimkoblerutso]

Sweet Mother of Mary. It doesn't matter if Sony made a mistake or not. We're not talking about Sony's mistakes. If Bethesda was unable (for ANY reason) to program a game correctly for a specific system, then they should not have made and released a game on that system.

Even if I was willing to grant you that developers still haven't "figured out" the Sony architecture (which, I would think that Oblivion's optimization on the system would throw that theory out the window), it would still be Bethesda's fault for knowingly releasing a broken product.

[raWfodog]

Now I'm starting to reconsider getting this for my PS3. I might just get it for my 360 like I did with Oblivion.

[raWfodog]

@ Sub4Dis

That's cause I like gaming on my PS3 more than my 360. Every time I play my 360, I keep waiting for it to crap out on me.

[Persistantthug]

Until they start losing serious money, this "launch a broken game and fix it when we fix it" situation will continue to get worse.

[Philoctetes]

Hours played: 22
Save file: 6.1MB

Freezes: None. Not even one.
Framerate drops: Very occasionally. No big deal.
Overall experience: Nearly perfect.

[Rage_S90]

You have about 8 more hours til sh*t hits the fan

[brodychet]

Save file: 12MB

Freezes: Extremely High.
Framerate drops: Extremely often, almost impossible to play.
Overall experience: It's really just damaging my outlook on skyrim. Love the game still, but I don't even feel like playing it. :|

[MysticStrummer]

I'm over 10mb with my save file now. Trust me, unless they patch it first you will see what everyone is talking about eventually but it's not that big a deal. When it starts to happen just save, quit, and reload. Not sure why that works but it fixes the problem temporarily. I quit the game entirely then restart but I'm not sure that's necessary. I also delete my autosaves when I restart but I'm not sure that's necessary either. I can play for ten hours a day and I'll have to do that three or four times because the framerate drops so dramatically, but it's not bothering me that much. I had a far worse experience with the Dead Island bugs than with Skyrim's. Hopefully the patch will come soon though.

[MariaHelFutura]

I'm at 40-45hrs, I'm fine. Turn off the autosaves except the travel one.

[BigBoss07]

I agree that the PS3 version needs work to make it run better, but it is far from unplayable. Just look at it this way, Bethesda is promoting you resetting your game to get you out of your chair/couch and moving around some. Keep it positive.

As far as the graphics debate goes, if you want the stellar graphics on this game, start saving up for a gaming rig. Once you've got it running on PC in a couple of months, Mods will have fixed everything Bethesda "overlooked." Its what I'm saving up for. ;)

[beavis4play]

i don't own the game (may get it some time) but i have many people on my friends list who do have it......they all send me messages every day saying how much fun it is - nobody has once told me the game is "broken".
take this for what it's worth.

[kevnb]

Most people are used to these games running like crap in certain areas.

[Gigglefist]

^this

[kevnb]

Both consoles suffer, and even some pcs. Its an old engine made for single core PC's pushed way further than it should ever be... what do you expect?

[frostypants]

This isn't just about the PS3...the issue is Bethesda in general. Every...single...game...they have ever made since the early 1990s has been a complete bug-fest on every single platform (which until this gen was pretty much just the PC). I don't know what their freaking problem is.

Yeah, the PS3 is the MOST buggy version of Skyrim, but all three are glitch-ridden messes.

Bethesda makes a fun game, but they somehow think that gives them carte blanche to skip the QA process.

[artynerd]

Then go back to your beloved Uncharted games that are so extremely linear it's almost impossible to have bugs, since the game almost one big non-interactive QTE fest.

I typically am extremely against making excuses for devs, but here is the only excuse I'll make for a developer:

Bethesda makes BY FAR the most complex open-world games. PUHLEEEEZE don't even compare Dark Souls or Arkham City to Skyrim. Sure, both of those games are amazing in their own right, but the complexity and freedom of those two games doesn't even remotely come anywhere near Skyrim. That said, you just can't compare the amount of testing that needs to go into a game like Skyrim. Almost infinite combinations of glitch inducing scenarios exist, combined with 400-500 hours of gameplay. What does it take to beat Arkham City or Dark Souls? 40-80 hours? Both combined don't even come NEAR the amount of content in Skyrim.

If you can't see the insane complexity in a Bethesda game, you just don't have any grasp on how games are made.

Again, if you don't think one of the most interactive gaming masterpieces like Skyrim is worth a few bumps in the road, then sell it, pick up that new Uncharted rail shooter and enjoy a game that offers zero complexity and zero interactivity.

[Pacman321]

@artynerd
I know you can't reply to this seeing as you have one bubble, but i thought i would reply to your comment anyway.
What is wrong with playing a linear game like Uncharted? I don't want all my games to be open world 200 hours story games. I do enjoy RPG games like Demon's Souls and Final Fantasy, but sometimes i feel like playing some brainless shooters like COD, or sometimes i want a cinematic experience like Dead Space or Uncharted.
Let me say this loud and clear.
NOT ALL GAMES HAVE TO BE OPEN WORLD RPGS.
I would reply to your comment of Uncharted being a rail shooter but that is perhaps the most retarded comment iv'e read on N4G.

[AKS]

It's not just the PS3 version that has problems. The PC version has probably crashed to the desktop about 30 times on me.

[Grip]

i have PC version not single Crash... check ur PC before Posting nonsense.

[AKS]

Check my PC? There's no problems with other games. I've had problems with every recent Bethesda game. You can do a quick search and see that many are having these types of problems. Make sure you know what you're talking about before you speak to someone that way.

[theDECAY]

@Grip

He wasn't talking about your PC asshole.

[Hyperbomb69]

Bethesda are lazy PC developers, its 2011 people everyone makes awesome games that work fine on PS3 stop blaming the PS3 for lazy developers if every game out there works fine but a bethesda games has bugs and freezes guess what? its not the PS3!
this is coming from someone thats played every bethesda game available on PS3. Its always them.

[Pika-pie]

I'm 26hours into skyrim on the PS3 and have yet to encounter a single crash or major bug. My save file is 6545kb.

360 and pc are also reporting bugs a plenty so don't let one persons rant put you off the PS3 version

[execution17]

70hrs of gameplay so far, and my only gripe is the framerate drops, other than that its an amazing game. only froze on me once so far, not as bad as fallout 3 (passed on new vegas).

[DanSolo]

I have to say although I have not played Skyrim yet, when I played Fallout 3 and Oblivion I did not encounter as many bugs as some people seemed to.

The only thing with Fallout is I made a point of doing a manual save every 30 minutes or so just in case I froze at all.... and I had maybe 10 freezes during the whole play through.

[bwazy]

Man, I'm only 12 or so hours into my playthrough... I'm not looking forward to this AT ALL. However, unlike other Bethesda games at least my PS3 hasn't crashed yet... Yet.

[MysticStrummer]

See my above comment. Not sure why it works but it does.

[frostypants]

I'm probably gonna just play BF3 and limit my Skyrim time a bit until the patch rolls around.

[Tonester925]

I don't know why developers never max out the PS3. It has so much power going to waste. Is it more expensive or something?

[kramun]

It is maxed out.

[NoSuchUserName]

It has got another architecture which makes it unsuitable for PC ports, unlike the 360. However, like the AAA exclusives show, it's more powerful when the games are developed natively for it.

[kevnb]

Its better at certain things, but its not so black and white. The 360 has a better gpu and a more straight forward CPU, its much more flexible. Don't forget why uncharted 2/3 look so good, its 90 percent aesthetics, some nice for console texture and very good animation. Just think of how good skyward sword or Mario galaxy look, aesthetics are a big chunk of visual appeal and Sony invests big money into it.

[theDECAY]

@kevnb

Wow, this conversation was boring 5 years ago when I bought my PS3. No one cares.

[Tony P]

"I don't know why developers never max out the PS3."

Probably because Skyrim sold over 3 million in a few days anyway.

Why do it if you don't have to?

That's not how I like to look at it, but I'm sure that's how they do.

[Drekken]

Fallout 3 taught me never to buy Bugthesda games for my PS3. Period. I almost caved and bought Skyrim, but after reading all this nonsense, I really doubt I will buy it now.

Learn to code Bugthesda... it really is sad.

Fallout 3 froze my PS3 over 30 times. Most times I had to switch it off from the back. I do not doubt it lead to my consoles eventual death. Not even to mention the pop up notification freeze at the beginning. What a joke.

[HSx9]

I think they can code a lot better than you will ever code in your life.

[brodychet]

Yet he hasn't gone to school for coding im sure, it isn't his job, and doesn't have 170 workers on his side whom promised a playable game. But if we're on your level of logic; I'm sure you couldn't code better for your life either. <3

[KonGreat]

So what? its probably not his job anyways.
It's their job, its a AAA title and they still fuck it up? What's up with that? Fallout 3 and NV AND Oblivion all froze on me too. On the Xbox. And NV was buggy as hell. Terrible. Don't get me wrong, I love their games, but it's ridiculous how games are made these days with fixing it later (if at all).

On the PC there are modders who took their own time (And they obviously dont get as much paid for it as bethesda's employees, if at all) and managed to fix up most of the bugs in NV. More than bethesda ever did.

[scotchmouth]

HSx9,

That's pretty horrible logic.

[iHEARTboobs]

I'm going to wait for a GOTY edition which will hopefully have most major problems ironed out. One can dream right?

[GarandShooter]

Good luck, didn't work with Fallout 3, but yes one can dream.

[iagainsti120]

Fallout 3 was buggy as hell on 360 too played it for a few weeks then got irritated as all hell and traded it in so they would lose a sale to a potential new package buyer.

[JAMurida]

I was like 40ish hours in and I froze followed by a corrupt data save. Thankfully I've learned my lesson back then with Mass Effect 2 on PS3 and I back up my saves every once in a while. So not that pissed, but it is unacceptable how games are released in this state and basically have us be the bug testers, THAN they patch. Oh well...

Best advise for you guys is just back up your saves every once in a while and reboot the game every couple of hours or so.

[kramun]

This is why having a gaming pc to go with your consoles is a good idea.

[Kur0]

The PC version of Skyrim is almost as buggy @_@

[JAMurida]

True but don't have the money for that right now.

[Iroquois_Pliskin]

I have the PC version, it is THE WORST port i have ever seen in my entire life! The whole game was meant to be played on the xbox.

[Grip]

No it's not, in my PC version Not single bug i have in 27 hour of play and not single crash. there's one glitch i ran into horse fallen from sky i loled so much when i see it!

[jacksons98]

Game is glitchy on all systems, but still worth it.

[NoSuchUserName]

I totally agree with this article. I simply for the life of me can't understand how a developer of this magnitude can release such a weak ps3 version when they know the game will sell in the millions. Many aspects of Skyrim's ps3 graphics are worse than Oblivion for ps3, which was not developed by Bethesda... They simple won't or can't develop for the ps3. There's tons of hd space and blu-ray, but the textures are the most low res I've seen in years.

[Solidus187-SCMilk]

sorry, but bethesda made PS3 version of oblivion and a different dev ported it, its not like the other dev built oblivion from the ground up for PS3 all they did was port it.

People seem to forget that oblivion on PS3 came out a year after it first came out on 360 and PC so they had extra time to develop/port it.

also, all the space on blu ray in the world wont make the PS3 suddenly more powerful. The textures are not good because of the old ass GPU and small amount of ram, especially video ram. You can put the highest rez textures in the world on a bluray or even a DCD and it wont matter because the consoles are too old to have such detailed textures all over a huge open world game.

[NoSuchUserName]

Yes you're right about the port and the extra time available. Kind of my point, it hasn't received enough polish. Personally, I've rather had the Oblivion situation where the ps3 version came out later, but was better. Not talking about hi res textures at a mile distance either. Just compare grass or dungeons or walls at close distance in the two and you'll see what I mean

[iagainsti120]

I have to say this because your comment mad me think of Star Wars.

"Our consoles cant repel fire from a developer of that magnitude!!"

[MysticStrummer]

You think anything about Oblivion looks better than Skyrim? I loaded up Oblivion just to compare the two and I think you're insane.

[Tuxedo_Mask]

Wow, I haven't had any frame-rate problems like that and I'm playing it on the PS3. The worse thing I've experienced so far is a wall disappearing in my character's house after loading my saved game.

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

Yeah um...I got it for PS3, sure I run into the occasional glitch, but nothing game breaking. Frame rate drops were kinda expecting considering how big it is.
It also freezes once in a blue moon, but I think that's just my system because it has happened to me in almost every game once at least.

Otherwise, they did a great job with the game, only minor issues.

[Messatsu290]

Lol wasn't bethesda one of the people that was on stage or on video in one of Sony's E3 talking about PS3 capabilities, saying how powerful the ps3 was and that the trick with the ps3 is to learn the system, then saying figured it out that now they can do a lot of amazing stuff with the hardware? This industry is a lot of BS ran by lies.. And then they get mad when people pirate.

[Ares90]

that's why I don't give a sh!t about this game

[MasterCornholio]

I own it on my ps3 and so far I didn't have any serious problems with it. But I will state that everyone once in a while it gets choppy but the flickering shadows are a nuisance. There is some degree of pop in as well.

XperiaRay

[JTX]

30 hours in...no freezes...mine isn't nearly as bad as their video...but I do get some pretty bad frame rates at times. Hopefully they release a patch soon.

[D3mons0ul]

That's it, guys.

It's time for Occupy Bethesda

[Shadowvic]

haha I have my mask ready.

[brodychet]

Lol... Bugthesda.

[jagstatboy]

and yet a lot people cry "poor developers" when it comes to used game sales.

[GraveLord]

Bethesda are experienced PC developers. Its not surprising they decided to develop for Xbox 360 and port to PS3. For an open-world game, this is the worst thing you can do.

If Skyrim really is as broken as people are making it out to be, don't buy it. If you already bought it then sell it to gamestop and trade it in for a game made by developers who don't screw PS3 owners over time and time again.

[ZombieAssassin]

Is anyone surprised? I don't think I've ever played a Bethesda game and it not have a million problems. It's why I buy their games used. The games they release are usually pretty good...except for the fact they are always broken as all hell especially on Ps3.

[HaHa_Ostrich]

Ill wait for the GOTY edition then. Then again, ive heard that GOTY fallout 3 was even more broken... now what?

[Impaler]

Turn off Auto Saves people, I have done this in every Bethesda game since Oblivion on the 360(and PS3 to be safe) and the games have run like a charm for me.

[Kos-Mos]

And still it receives high scores all around. Incredible! Oh I forgot, this generation is all about giving high scores or extremely low scores to gain public.

[Ember6940]

This article is pathetic, I think Bethesda did a great job with the PS3 version, I'm 50 hours in and my save file is 9mb, I still have none of these problems or anything, the game looks and runs fine on the PS3. The most likely reason for these problems is probably because his PS3 has been on for hours, just give it like a 10 minute break and then turn it back on.

[paybackprahl]

You truly don't understand the gravity of this situation, and how many people it is happening for.

[Zynga]

Don't feed the troll man.

[theDECAY]

@paybakprahl

The "gravity of the situation?"

Dude, lighten up. It's not like the the Russians are nuking us.
It's a game, turn off autosaves, and enjoy it. If you can't,
take it back and stfu.

[Tainted Gene]

already fed....

[GamerPS360]

Platform - PC
fps over - 100
graphic - okay even in ultra
console port - yes
running and looking better than console - yes
glitches - some
crashing/freezing - none
overall experience - good with controller
Price paid - 0.

Don't flame me. This is the first game I ever got illegally. I was just upset that they ripped me pretty good with Fallout 3. Never finished that game 'coz of constant crashing problem.

[ndl1531]

was considering this but glad i bought uncharted 3 instead . really sux for fellow ps3 gamers to be putting up with this crap . and "multiplats better on 360" is questionable . if they are better they are by a few textures or a few more fps . basically nothing to bragg about . you 360 crowd make it seem as if they are a whole gen ahead haha how funny bickering over what texture looks better were. basically multiplats are the same crap on both . me ima stick to my exclusives because i know theres nothing to argue there .

[Zynga]

If your so busy having fun playing your "so called exclusives" then why are you here with your fanboy rant. >_>

[ndl1531]

they aren't "so called exclusives" they actually do exist believe it or not . judging by your comment you only game on 360 . shame and i have the right to give my two cents wether you like it or dont . and yes im a ps3 gamer so that gives me the right to talk about exclusives if i chose . sounds like your mad that your precious system of choice has nothing to show off but a few shinier textures on a multiplat game that isn't worth much looking at in the first place. you wanna see real beauty? play uncharted 3 and then try to find a better looking game i bet you wont . and thats a fact =]

[paybackprahl]

I own the game for PS3, and I want this story to do as well as possible so Bethesda takes notice and realizes how urgent the situation is. Please people, comment, tweet, Like on Facebook, whatever it takes to get this GamesRadar editorial circulating in the most meaningful way possible.

The time has come to set aside all console/PC allegiances. No gamer deserves to not enjoy this game.

[D3mons0ul]

"No gamer deserves to not enjoy this game."

This is very important.

[FuseUnison]

Save file size: 8178KB
Play Time: 71hrs.17min.57sec

Only experience frame rate drops at around 5-6 hours of play. All I have to do is save, and re-load. Then everything's fine. I have no Idea were the whole "game is broken at 30hrs" thing is coming from. When I experience frame rate problems it's just a couple of hiccups when I first enter new areas. Just enough to be annoying. Nothing like what's in the videos. =/

[FuseUnison]

As I stated, I've passed the 70 hour mark, and my game is no where near being "unplayable" like many have said their's has become. My PS3 is one of the old "FAT" PS3s. Model number CECHL01, maybe people can start posting their PS3 model number to see if maybe a pattern presents itself.

[bunfighterii]

I doubt its a hardware issue. It'll be a coding thing, for example, you've probably had to have completed certain quests or levelled up certain abilities etc.

[jthamind]

my girlfriend is playing her copy on the PS3 and she's reached the 6MB save point already. it's pretty much unplayable for her now because of extreme lag.

[Noticeably_FAT]

Glad I got the Xbox 360 version :)

Those of you who cant play it are missing out on one of the best games I've ever played. Hope you get things worked out.

[iNFAMOUZ1]

me too lol! almost got it for ps3

[jjb1981]

PC version is one of the greatest games ever made! Nvidia 1gb ddr2 i7 with 4gb of memory, runs like a charm on high settings! Should have got the pc version!

[ShaunCameron]

Eh. What else is new? Most developers don't like the PS3 enough to make it the lead platform for their multi-platform ventures.

[OSIRUSSS]

Haha! I have found a solution, throw suxrim in the trash , buy darksouls ,invade my world and get your face melted off. Why anyone would attempt to play this buggy crap is beyond me.

[MikEyG]

Bethesda= great games/shitty engines, and it's still happening FIX it already you lazy bastards at bethesda FUCKIN A

[AznGaara]

So to all the people defending the Bethesda lets look at Platinum Games. Beyonnetta was superb on 360 but they couldn't figure out the Ps3 thus allowed another studio to work on it and the Ps3 version suffered. But for their second game, they developed Vanquish on the Ps3 then ported to 360 and both versions run great.

Now .... if a developer who couldn't even managed to code a Ps3 version of their first game can come back around and deliver a great product on both versions on their second game, why can't Bethesda?

[Neko_Mega]

I call bs on this, so far the worst I have seen is lag on it or slow loadings.

My friend has had the game come to a stop an after some mins it will go back to normal on his 360 (I think its because he has a very old 360).

Don't know, I been playing Skyrim for about 3 weeks now and the only problem I have seen with the PS3 is lag (Can't say anything really on the others because the best of what I have seen is on 360 and that was my friend playing).

In the end, the makers of this game should try to push each system and of a team for each system to work out the bugs (Hate to have Fallout New Vegas problems all over again).

[Ingram]

Same old.

Bethesda releases a broken steaming pile, then people say "hey it's broken", then other people start raving about how there is not ANY SINGLE THING wrong with the game, it's PS3's fault, It's you being ignorant, It's your particular bad luck, It's a limitation of physics laws, Bethesda's games are too advanced for this universe, etc.

[jessupj]

Bethesda make awesome games, there's no denying that, but time after time they screw over PS3 onwers. Honestly, I'm so sick and tired of their shit. They can go fk themselves. It's no surprise though, that's why I always buy their games used. Those little fuck shits don't deserve my money.

Maybe one day they'll mature and start treating PS3 customers the same as everyone else.

[clrlite]

I will buy this game if they fix this problem.

[kingslayer1000]

games overrated

[SITH]

That blows because this game is epic well after the 30 hour mark. I have seen the most amazing sights ever in a elder scroll game.

[-IronMan-]

Glad someone hacked the game. Lazy developers. FU Bethesda.

[mrmancs]

what a fooking joke i got up to getting my third part of the broken amulet of sigdis and his body vanished.. wtf im dat mad ive e mailed bathesda via there web site asking wtf , im so pissed of, was enjoying dis game so much but now i feel like trashing it cos i cant complete a major quest!!!

[Pintheshadows]

What? I've been playing for 84 hours on the PS3 version and the game has frozen once. I'm curious to see what makes the PS3 version unplayable as I haven't experienced it. The only time the frames drop is after a large amount of fast travelling and when i'm riding Shadowmere.

[phantomexe]

Well wife just said the framrate dips so bad it's almost not worth playing. The company is bad at makeing games that run. I really think they do this crap on purpose. Fallout patch where it's 2011.

[Tommykrem]

Some people say the PC version are unplayable, some say the PS3 version is unplayable and some say the 360 version is terrible. I only have the PS3 version, but it's probably my favourite game this year, and while there can be some annoying lag at times, it's never really been anything close to a game breaker. Hope they fix it though, if it gets worse as you progress.

[modesign]

bethesdas games are always broken on ps3. nothing new here, im just glad i got past the beginning with only 2 freezes.lol

[pyramid]

piece of crap hardware in ps3 makes it so hard for programmers to make open world games run at decent fps.
What was sony thinking when they release this crap console? Every multi platform game performs better on 360.And dont come and say they havent figured out how to program for it in like 5 years ,lol .And yes,uncharted 3 isnt an open world game,its linear. Im not a fanboy.I just hate the crap hardware in ps3.

[-Gespenst-]

Does quitting out and reloading the save alleviate the problem for a long time? How long after that before it starts bugging out again?

My save's only lke 6mb so far I think so no issues yet.

Also could they even fix this with a patch??

[iMaim]

it should be obvious by now that ps3 games developed by bethesda are terribly optimised and to be avoided altogether.

[OSIRUSSS]

And I call BS on people say the game runs perfect. If it slows down or lags for even one second its not perfect. If anyone thinks this isn't a problem head on over to Bethesda forums its a revolt over there or check out the IGN poll on their site.

[nitrogav]

OMG that`s horrendous !! . Time for PS4 me thinks ?

[bozebo]

It's because the save file gets bigger, and bigger, and biggers in their engine (it has to). Their load/save code will probably try to work with it in chunks but maybe it's not perfectly programmed, and 1 single mistake in programming can cause huge problems but usually causes an entire piece of software to completely fail or simply not compile.

I remember Morrowind on xbox taking over 15 minutes to load, sometimes forever. (it crashes on the loading screen and you don't know i'ts crashed).

The PS3s they would have been testing on wouldn't have had large freinds lists and other things that increase ram usage on in-use consoles.

I think black-ops had some strange problems on PS3 that were thought to get worse as your friends list grew.

Bethesda still have NO excuse though, but since when have they cared about launching broken products? Their fan base will so rampantly defend them every time (because yes, their games are fantastic if you ignore technical issues). Most interestingly so as their fan base is migrating from PC players over to xbox 360 players... (and new PC players who are ignorant as to what a console port is because they never played non-console port games in the past when they were vastly more advanced than equivalent games on consoles were). Anyway, rant rant rant as usual from me.

I suspect it may be related to friends list size as I know people who recently got PS3s and have very few PSN friends who have massive amounts of playtime clocked without fps issues (beyond the ordinary fps drops that the ps3 version gets anyway from time to time). I also know that there is a severe memory leak that can happen on the PC version, if that were to happen on the console then the game would collapse on itself. (mine goes from about 700MB of RAM usage up to over 2GB then stops increasing, for some people it then crashes because the game can't use more than 2GB by default). The RAM usage isn't all caused by caching because it will increase by a few hundred MB for some people even when standing still in a dungeon or something.

Bethesda... plz fix :D
(reducing texture size would help, but they are already mostly very low-res because of their knowledge of low RAM on consoles, I am fairly sure the graphics hardware wouldn't complain of higher res textures - they will be shader capped FPS wise, though it isn't shader capped on my PC but anything could be causing that)

[BeardedPriest]

I've put in 70 hours. And the game is unplayable... Even without the Fps drops and freezing Etc. This game is not all that much better than oblivion... Aside from the Dragons, shouting, perks, and 3 dog as an assassin It kinda sucks. Its fun and addicting, sure. And the draw distances and stuff are amazing, you can see anything from miles away... Things don't pop up as you approach like they did in previous games... But little things like every guard sounding like a retarded French guy speaking fluent english or the choppy combat or the shorter (Fallout length) storylines or the game being way to easy if you pick certain perks MAKE THE GAME DUMB

[TABSF]

This is why you go PC

Even if there is issues on the PC, the community can come up with custom patches day one.

[eak3]

only bug ive noticed is my dragon mask off morkei wont show anymore when wearing my arch-mage robes. Its a bad ass look I hope gets fixed.

[Donnywho]

I'm not having these problems on Ps3. Panties need to be unbunched, and old Ps3's need to die off. Fanboys will always add to the mix and haters will always hate.

[phantomexe]

I've got a 120 and the game looks great but it lags to beat all hell. The longer you play the more it does it.

[zero_cool]

Told ya that bethesda have lazy developers this is more proof of it!

Cheers Gamers & Happy Gaming!

[bozebo]

Oh also it's worth saying. If you live in the EU you can return your PS3 copy for this reason. The shop might say no and if they do they are breaking the law (ofc the person working there might not be fully aware but the manager should), even if it is bought online you can 'return' it because it is flawed (not fit for purpose overrides the DSA in the UK, probably the same in the whole EU - it can apply to Steam games sometimes despite the eula saying otherwise but then they close your account lol). As long as it is a well known about fault - even widespread reports online can be accepted as a reason for a product being flawed, it doesn't have to affect everybody either. Even if it is patched, they cannot presume you have PSN access - patches are a service and are not part of the product.

So in reality, Bethesda only get away with it like the article says they do if you bought it somewhere where your consumer rights are not protected so aggressively. Well, it would be mostly the retailer losing out (they are 100% responsible for your purchase being returned, legally and financially - it's up to them if they want to complain to Zenimax or distributors etc.) but that has a trickle down effect onto Bethesda's reputation and keeps the quality of products high. That is why that particular retail law exists, might cause small issues for businesses but rather them than us.

I think some people returned Black-Ops, I don't think the problem was that big though and it wasn't officially recognised as far as I know (like in the case of Bethesda's PS3 issues).

If you have no problems though, enjoy the game ^_^

[Der_Kommandant]

Bugthesda

[JC_Denton]

I am SO tight about this shit. I have like 36 hours invested into my game and now the framerate is so bad that If I get in a fight with two mid level enemies, it could last up to 10 minutes.