Tired of not being able to play new games when you get them?

[betelgeuse]

I haven't played Xbox One for about a week. Got Dead or Alive in the mail today, turned on the Xbox One and a ~2GB update was needed (Shocker). I put the pre-order code in prior to inserting disc. The game icon said, "this could take awhile to install" LOL. It added 35 items to the queue!!!

After 45 minutes the Xbox has updated and the game is at 13% complete on the install. I'm guessing all the other playable characters in the queue will go fairly quick, but it doesn't look like I'll be playing this one today 

What ever happen to the "you'll be able to play while installing" rule? I also love when the icon says it's ready to play, but in reality only the title screen is viewable at this time.

I miss the days of playing new games within minutes of opening them...

[dashv]

I haven't played Xbox One for about a week. Got Dead or Alive in the mail today, turned on the Xbox One and a ~2GB update was needed (Shocker). I put the pre-order code in prior to inserting disc. The game icon said, "this could take awhile to install" LOL. It added 35 items to the queue!!!

After 45 minutes the Xbox has updated and the game is at 13% complete on the install. I'm guessing all the other playable characters in the queue will go fairly quick, but it doesn't look like I'll be playing this one today 

What ever happen to the "you'll be able to play while installing" rule? I also love when the icon says it's ready to play, but in reality only the title screen is viewable at this time.

I miss the days of playing new games within minutes of opening them...

Ha! I made a post similar to this in the Atari Age forums last year. But I was talking about the PS3.

[disgaeniac]

I believe it was the PS4 that advertised as "being able to play while installing"; did the XBO too?

[tafk]

I don't have either and also never had a PS3 but jeeze that sounds so encumbering. Makes me happy that with my older games I can just pop and play.

[DreamsDied13101]

This is the "remember when games were complete and working when they were sold to the consumer" thread.

I don't mind updates because some updates actually add new features, but I don't understand all of these games shipping that need critical updates because they don't even function properly without them. Not sure if this is the case with DOA Last Round so my assumption might come from my jaded perspective.

[gf78]

I haven't played Xbox One for about a week. Got Dead or Alive in the mail today, turned on the Xbox One and a ~2GB update was needed (Shocker). I put the pre-order code in prior to inserting disc. The game icon said, "this could take awhile to install" LOL. It added 35 items to the queue!!!

After 45 minutes the Xbox has updated and the game is at 13% complete on the install. I'm guessing all the other playable characters in the queue will go fairly quick, but it doesn't look like I'll be playing this one today 

What ever happen to the "you'll be able to play while installing" rule? I also love when the icon says it's ready to play, but in reality only the title screen is viewable at this time.

I miss the days of playing new games within minutes of opening them...

Well, it goes without saying my feelings on Xbox and Microsoft as I made an entire thread about it awhile back. 

Now as far as PS4 games go, once you insert the disc, a loading bar appears under the tab for that game.  Within a minute or so, the start icon appears.  Since most games these days have day-one updates, once you start the software it will pop up in the top left corner that a download has been added to the "to do list."  So if you are just wanting to play offline, you can go ahead or you can close the game out and wait for the update to finish.

As for system software updates which I think is more about your post, the PS4 downloads them in the background in the low power/standby state.  If I remember correctly, the PS4 has a processor dedicated to performing these functions without the system on. 

So say you have a new system software released.  Your PS4 will download it while powered down.  When you turn it on, it will tell you it needs to install the update.  That takes a whopping two minutes or so as the files are already on your system. 

And from what I have read, PS4 downloads are much faster than those for the Xbox One.  Just one more reason I am glad I decided to skip the 'bone and tell Microsoft to go F themselves. 

Edit:  I'm not trying to be snarky or rub my choice of console in people's faces and I'm sorry if it came off that way.  I just don't like Microsoft and their "contributions" to gaming aside from pushing online and being the first console with a HDD have been to the overall detriment of gaming.

[fauxshot]

... but I don't understand all of these games shipping that need critical updates because they don't even function properly without them.

Well, you're in luck, because I sort of have an answer!

I'm taking a class on ethics in games, and one of our teachers (I'll call him that, since He's technically not a Professor) is Brett Douville, one of the Lead Programmers for Skyrim. Although I tried to avoid it, I just had to ask him how it is that games like Skyrim can be shipped, when there are very obvious things wrong with the game.

In so many words, He said that it comes as a result of limited marketing timelines; as I understand it (and perhaps I'm misunderstanding him), He explained that a lot of money is spent on advertising, and a lot of planning put into the game's release date. Pushing those things back can be costly. Additionally, a game only has to have a certain amount of functionality in order to pass both Microsoft and Sony's standards for game publishing. These companies set standards at a certain standard, because if Microsoft (for instance) sets the bar high, and (for example) Skyrim doesn't meet it's standards... guess whose console gets it on launch day? And guess what console consumers will have to buy it for until it catches up to Microsoft's standards?

Combine those two, along with the ability to update games post-release, and that's one reason why we see games (with obvious flaws) being released. Announcing release dates, then holding off the game, is costly for the company; it's cheaper and more convenient to send out post-launch updates.

I don't mind having to update my games. My concern with it is that, down the road when a console can't update, you're going to have a lot of 'great' games that are actually trash, and normal games that may have game-breaking bugs.

[gf78]

I don't mind having to update my games. My concern with it is that, down the road when a console can't update, you're going to have a lot of 'great' games that are actually trash, and normal games that may have game-breaking bugs.

That is a huge concern for me as well.  It never bothered me with a PC game because the world of PC games is open.  You don't have to go to Microsoft.com to download a patch for a PC game.  There are archives all over the internet.  I can take an old-ass game like Quake and without much searching at all, find the GLQuake update file for it. 

When the PS3 has reached it's end of life, will Sony have legacy support for it?  Will they have an archive online that I can access to download updates & patches?  There are so many brilliant games out there that out of the box-weren't all that.  Driveclub is one example of an ok game that became phenomenal with the updates and added content. 

I think that these console manufacturers like Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo need to make it clear.  Put it out there and let gamers know that they won't be abandoned.  Let everyone know that they will offer legacy support.  That you will be able to take that $5 game you bought at the flea market, download any update files for it online, update it on your console and play it. 

That is part of what makes classic gaming alluring to many.  The fact that you can hunt these old cartridges or CD's (and into DVD's as well) and play them without worry that you aren't playing the game at it's best.  Or that the cool fifth bonus mission that was made available as a download won't be lost to the ether and never be playable again.

[haloofthesun]

When the PS3 has reached it's end of life, will Sony have legacy support for it?  Will they have an archive online that I can access to download updates & patches?  There are so many brilliant games out there that out of the box-weren't all that.  Driveclub is one example of an ok game that became phenomenal with the updates and added content. 

I think that these console manufacturers like Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo need to make it clear.  Put it out there and let gamers know that they won't be abandoned.  Let everyone know that they will offer legacy support.  That you will be able to take that $5 game you bought at the flea market, download any update files for it online, update it on your console and play it. 

Of course they aren't going to do that. Then they couldn't sell it to you again digitally next gen at an inflated price.

[fauxshot]

When the PS3 has reached it's end of life, will Sony have legacy support for it?  Will they have an archive online that I can access to download updates & patches?  There are so many brilliant games out there that out of the box-weren't all that.  Driveclub is one example of an ok game that became phenomenal with the updates and added content. 

I think that these console manufacturers like Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo need to make it clear.  Put it out there and let gamers know that they won't be abandoned.  Let everyone know that they will offer legacy support.  That you will be able to take that $5 game you bought at the flea market, download any update files for it online, update it on your console and play it. 

Of course they aren't going to do that. Then they couldn't sell it to you again digitally next gen at an inflated price.

Support isn't even the first problem, necessarily. I can't update games (through wifi) on my PSP, because it's wifi hardware is too out-of-date.  It's tech just isn't compatible with newer routers. In theory, I suppose you can always connect game consoles and such to a PC, but that tech changes, too.

[insektmute]

It doesn't bother me too much, except with digital games. It's pretty silly that they don't just patch the main install file instead of forcing you download then, then the patch on top of it, especially if the patch is also rather large.

It's been less of a pain on PS4, but on PS3, the download times were often really, really bad, too.

[Warmsignal]

Installing games on a console. I haven't had my PS3 very long, but I'm already annoyed with how long it takes to do stuff on it. It seems like even games that don't have to instill, still "install" something, then there are updates, etc. Even my Wii U was sort of a brick at first due to the Nintendo Network being overloaded around Xmas 2013 - couldn't sync my network ID.

I don't have a Wifi enabled 360, and it's pretty sweet. Just pop a game in, maybe a quick patch, and then I'm off. Screw installing a game - I can wait a few seconds for a load time. It's no biggie.

[gf78]

It doesn't bother me too much, except with digital games. It's pretty silly that they don't just patch the main install file instead of forcing you download then, then the patch on top of it, especially if the patch is also rather large.

It's been less of a pain on PS4, but on PS3, the download times were often really, really bad, too.

The PS3 was a nightmare for how slow downloads were.  And it seemed like every time I popped a game in to play, there was some damn update or if it was a new game, an install I had to wait on.  Oh, and the install then the update file!  Woo-hoo! 

The only saving grace there was when I put a single player game in like Final Fantasy XIII, I just skipped the update unless it was something really important. 

[maximo310]

Yeah, I really hate how most of the new games, especially on Xbox One take forever just to load games. I remember that sometimes on the Wii, installing new games from the disk could take 10-15 minutes at times and that seemed way too long to me. I know that the PS3 has some really bad loading times for games that need a lot of hard drive space, so I'm trying to stay away from that with stuff like some disc games Ketsui, which only needs 161 KB of HDD space, so it loads up within a few minutes thankfully. My Wii U has been pretty fast with installing games from the disk, never taking more than 5 minutes, but downloading games from the eShop can take a while, thanks to my dodgy internet from TWC.  The 360 is also pretty fast when loading off the disk as well which is pretty pleasing.

[pizzasafari]

I'm taking a class on ethics in games, and one of our teachers (I'll call him that, since He's technically not a Professor) is Brett Douville, one of the Lead Programmers for Skyrim. Although I tried to avoid it, I just had to ask him how it is that games like Skyrim can be shipped, when there are very obvious things wrong with the game.

In so many words, He said that it comes as a result of limited marketing timelines; as I understand it (and perhaps I'm misunderstanding him), He explained that a lot of money is spent on advertising, and a lot of planning put into the game's release date. Pushing those things back can be costly. Additionally, a game only has to have a certain amount of functionality in order to pass both Microsoft and Sony's standards for game publishing. These companies set standards at a certain standard, because if Microsoft (for instance) sets the bar high, and (for example) Skyrim doesn't meet it's standards... guess whose console gets it on launch day? And guess what console consumers will have to buy it for until it catches up to Microsoft's standards?

Combine those two, along with the ability to update games post-release, and that's one reason why we see games (with obvious flaws) being released. Announcing release dates, then holding off the game, is costly for the company; it's cheaper and more convenient to send out post-launch updates.

That's a defense I hear companies use for this a lot, but there's a gaping hole in it.
This is a new thing. Before developers had the ability to patch games post-launch, games had to be solid at launch, and they were. It's only now that they have the ability to patch after release that developers are getting lazy, not because they have to, but because they can.
If developers stopped being so trigger-happy with release dates they'd have enough time to tweak it before launch.

This doesn't bother me all that much most of the time, but when I come home from buying loads of games it is a huge pain to have to wait for them all to update before I can play them. A single update can take hours. And it goes without saying that people who preorder or buy at launch one of these sell-now-patch-later games are paying money for a broken mess of a game in some cases, and likely by the time the developers fix it it'll be cheaper to buy, so they essentially paid more for an inferior version of the game.