Pick up and play - a thing of the past

Ripper

Ripper

Ripper

Soldato
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25 Jan 2003
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I don't game much these days as other things take up my time, but I still enjoy the odd hour here and there when I can. However, it seems everytime I find myself with a bit of spare time, i'll switch the 360/PS3 on only to find that whatever I want to do requires some sort of update. My connection isn't great, meaning it can often take hours to update (switched PS3 on an hour ago to download the sonic generations demo, still waiting now for the latest PS Store update to finish).

Everytime I buy a new game, I have to wait for it to install. Then I have to wait for whatever update the developers throw out there to fix the many bugs a game ships with.

I miss the days of flicking a switch on the N64 and diving right into diddy kong racing for 15 mins before heading out somewhere. These days it feels like gaming requires hours of your time for it to be worthwhile. Back then games were tested properly, hardware was reliable and you just got in with having fun with your games. Nowadays it's very different, anyone else find it frustrating at times? Why has gaming become such a chore?
 
Was only thinking something similar the other day as I watched GT5 update yet again. Seems every single time I boot the PS3 up, its get to do some sort of update, download or sync, however its just the way its going.

Before, with a SNES for example it was fairly hard to patch a game afterwards, there was no trophy boards, no internet connection and it was a fairly disconnected experience. Today, many have high speed or decent broadband connections, gaming is connected, friends, leaderboards it’s a whole new category and the synergies between gaming and internet are now so seamless – well a games console without it is going to fail and no one would use it.

Game updating isn’t such a problem per se, but it can be an annoyance, and textures, LOD and games in general are now getting bigger and bigger, that to stream this from optical media isn’t always the best option, therefore mandatory installs are becoming more and more common.

Rage had amazingly large textures, but streaming from optical was considered a last resort, 360 owners were encouraged by the developers to install to HD, PS3 has a slower blu ray drive, mandatory installs therefore are fairly common.

It is a pain, just the way gaming is now going… But I agree, sometimes a quick fire and play isn’t possible due to updates however just look at the overall benefits? I think its worth it.

Sadly developers do tend to release buggy games and patch later, that doesn’t help.
 
Game updating does annoy me, it seems to take about ten times longer on the PS3. One game was updating for an hour and a half before I could play it!!
 
Although annoying not being able to play straight away, most of the issues that prevent this are beneficial to the gamer, updates are usually rectifying issues,making gameplay better. I'd prefer to wait and have a better experience.

It does put me off turning the PS3 on however, the amount of updates is unreal for that console. They take forever to download too.

Games companies are a lot lazier when releasing games knowing they can release updates to fix issues. We're guinea pigs.
 
What I absolutely love about PSN is that you buy a game, download it.. Wait, install and then think – great its downloaded off I go to play wipeout HD.

No you’re not, its now downloading numerous updates.. Why, why can’t they integrate the download and patches into one install, it has always been so counter productive.. PSN is woeful at times for this..

I don’t mind internet connected games console, I just wish developers and providers etc had a bit of forward planning..

I’ve just read BF3 for 360 has a 160 odd MB patch, the largest yet for that console.!! Game has only just been released and its getting patches... Don't think anything can better GT5 for patching though.. lol
 
TheVoice said:
It's not that bad, it'll just seem worse if you rarely actually use it.
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I was just about to say this, I can't remember the last time I downloaded a console update, I think there was a small one a month or two ago. If you only switch it on once in a blue moon then there's going to be loads of updates that need to be downloaded, just like Windows.
 
K1LLSW1TCH said:
I was just about to say this, I can't remember the last time I downloaded a console update, I think there was a small one a month or two ago. If you only switch it on once in a blue moon then there's going to be loads of updates that need to be downloaded, just like Windows.
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I turn it on at least once a month at the moment, and there is always an update. The 360 for example rarely has an update and if there is it takes 2 mins to download/install.
 
Ardmanz said:
Having PSN plus and leaving your ps3 on standby helps a lot. The BF3 patch was pretty annoying though!
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Agreed, since having ps plus I haven't had to endure a patch/update until today when I put bf3 in for the first time.....
 
I've only had my PS3 a few months so imagine my shock when I bought & installed GT5 :eek:
Then the updates :mad: These days I've learnt to plan ahead so fire up the PS3 earlier to update itself whilst I sort out smokes/munchies/Loo & owt else I'll need whilst gaming. Fortunately GT5 was well worth the wait but I'd be well ****** off if I waited for a crap game to instal/update.
 
Andybtsn said:
Although annoying not being able to play straight away, most of the issues that prevent this are beneficial to the gamer, updates are usually rectifying issues,making gameplay better. I'd prefer to wait and have a better experience.

It does put me off turning the PS3 on however, the amount of updates is unreal for that console. They take forever to download too.

Games companies are a lot lazier when releasing games knowing they can release updates to fix issues. We're guinea pigs.
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This.

I gave up on the PS3 due to the updates, they were ridiculous. Its never been intrusive on the 360.

That said im considering getting another ps3 due to the price of them now since I need a bluray player, but i doubt id play a game on it.
 
/loves PSN+ - makes life so much easier, not downloaded a patch in months unless its a new game with a 0day update or something I havent played in ages. Even picks up firmware updates too - shame it doesnt auto-install them, though for some they might prefer not to do that...

Do agree though they should update the binaries with the latest update when downloading PSN games - surely thats better as I dont even think updates get rolled up either (v1.01 installs before v1.02)...

The automatic cloud saves now actually makes it far more useful too - was a pointless feature when you had to do it manually.

Bemused at the comments how updates stop you using a console - ADHD much? ;). Though it does help when MS are strict on the size of patches, though havent some devs had to get around that by making free DLC updates available rather than rolled out as a patch?

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
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