Once upon a time, when you bought a console or game, you knew what you had in your hands. You had a finished product. A definite and contained experience for all time to come….or until the cartridge disintegrated. Things have certainly changed since then. The PS3 I bought at launch is a far cry from the one I have on my table next to me. Even my games change over time, especially the online components. The question is, had this ability to eternally tinker with products after they launch a good thing?
Consoles have largely benefited from this. New features and improvements have continuously been added to consoles as time has gone on. They do more and perform better as time goes on. However, there have been a few blemishes and mis-steps along the way. Sony leads the way in mis-steps by the removal of features from the ps3. The one that got the most attention was the dual booting OS option that they took away a long time ago. For many, this represented false advertising, and to a certain extent, they had a point. The really fortunate thing from a PR stance was that few people ever used it. Of course, this begs the question as to why they even bothered in the first place. Add as many things as you want, but removing a feature that existed at the point of purchase is a legitimate grouse. I care very little for the legal nonsense that serves as a justification for it. Ethically, I think that it’s wrong and I really hope its not something that rears its ugly head this time around. To be fair, they did more good than harm over the lifespan of the console, and I’m glad that they had the option of making these changes as the generation went on. Still, its not a great feeling having to wonder what feature could be suddenly axed.
Of course games have also changed over time, but unlike the hardware, I have more complaints than praise. First of all, the ability to tinker post-launch has led many developers to adopt a very unprofessional approach to game launches. There seems to be this growing concept that games do not have to be complete or even functional at launch. In many respects, games are now highly polished betas at launch. Every new console generation brings its own set of problems and challenges as developers try to push past existing boundaries, but there are limits to how broken a game can be before consumer confidence is eroded. That’s not something that can be easily patched. Speaking of patches…..
Some of us have data caps on our internet connections. So, after buying a physical copy to avoid these extra costs, we are not particularly amused by a patch that weighs in at 20 gigs. I also remember Killzone on the Vita having a patch that was larger than the smallest available Vita card at the time. Fortunately, the patch was reduced in size over time to a less comical size. Look, patches are nice and all, but stop turning their availability into a crutch. Release something that works or we, as consumers, will be forced to alter our buying behavior in ways that will not be of benefit to you.
Also, what happens when patches are no longer available? Fallout New Vegas is a hot mess on the PS3 without the subsequent patches. Without the Game of the Year edition (which I have), you may once again have a broken game if those patches disappear from PSN.
There was an online game that I like to play that had very divided opinion. Some loved it, others wanted radical changes. I think it was Uncharted 2. Anyway, over time, the makers changed the ruled to suit the complaints. The problem was that by the time they made the changes, those that were not pleased had already left, never to return. Those that were there did lot like the new changes and left. The online community quickly died out. In an effort to please everyone, they pleased no one. Too many cooks…too many patches. You can see the analogy.
Buying consoles and games on consoles are now a mixed and unpredictable bag. I’m starting to very much envy the control that PC gamers have over their products in terms of user mods and private servers. As we move towards the streaming of games, we risk further loss of control and it’s not necessarily a future that I’m looking forward to.
The Outerhaven writes: One of our Nintendo Switch 2 dock died less than a week after launch—and neither Nintendo nor GameStop offered real help. Here's why early adopters should be worried.
How much is a dock for that damn thing if they want $180 to “repair” that one? No way in hell that dock is that expensive.
Nintendo will Nintendo I guess.
Gex Trilogy is a collection of mascot platforming games from the 90s: Gex, Gex: Enter the Gecko, and Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko.
Overture is the prequel/DLC to one of the best Soulslikes, 2023's retelling of the Pinocchio story, Lies of P.
As for after the 360 and ps3 online services are no longer available, couldn't you just download the patch onto a USB and plug it into the console? I think that's possible on 360.
Honestly with me going to college next year and having to be more careful with time and money, i might just leave my ps4 and come back to it near the end of the gen to get these games when they're patched and i know which ones are good. Lately i've been playing old 5th and 6th gen games because i'm just kind of depressed by the direction everything's going.
In fairness to Sony the dual OS feature was never advertised for the PS3 and honestly how many people actually used it? I'm "sure" everyone used it everyday and I am the only person who never used the feature. The majority of people who complain about this feature are (probably, IMO) bandwagoners who are looking for something to complain about.
As for data caps you bring up a good point, and something that I've never actually thought about. I've always thought that launch day patched and massive patches were ridiculous but I've never considered it from the perspective of someone with a datacap. However I also think you're over glamorizing the way things were before patches. Games weren't perfect. They were still as buggy as ever only there was very little that could be done about it.
Streaming of games provides a very different ideology. One that actually nullifies a lot of your problems. For instance streamed games will always be up to date. There won't be periods of waiting where you have to download and install a patch. Thus making problems like massive patches irrelevant.
It's a mixed bag for sure.
But don't you like patches/ updates and installing the game onto the hard drive like PC gaming circa 1995. Is the future baby.