To Patch or Not to Patch?
Published February 23, 2007
There appears to be a furore building on the Internet at the moment surrounding whether games publishers should be patching games or not. It appears that there are a disgruntled few in the gaming community who believe that the "new world" of online games consoles are allowing publishers and developers to be more sloppy in making games, and that some games are shipping half-finished. It's an interesting one for me as I've been a player of MMORPG games for years, and so having patches and updates download is nothing new. However for console gamers this is a whole new world.
So before we look at the arguments and points being raised, let me just say one thing. We're not talking about the release of new game mechanics or additional content here, we're purely talking about fixing problems and removal of bugs. So essentially we're looking at game developers discovering problems and applying fixes to them. So lets take a look at some of the arguments here:
Impact on non-online players?
As things stand at the moment, all of these new features are being rolled out via some form of online service. Which is all well and good if, like me, your games console (an Xbox 360 in my case) is always connected to the Internet. However, what happens if you can't, or chose not to, connect your console to the Internet? Then you're stuck with a game that, potentially, has game-crippling bugs and problems.
Imagine the frustration of having played for 20-30 hours in a game and then finding you can't complete the game because of a bug. Very frustrating, and probably very costly for the developers (lets face it, how many people would buy a sequel to a game if they had hit this problem in the original?). So the impact on non-online players needs to be considered here.
MMOs have always had patching
As I mentioned in my introduction, I have played Massively Multiplayer Online games for a number of years. When you buy an MMO, the developer knows that you have an online connection, and therefore knows that any updates that they want to apply can be easily distributed to you. For those not familiar with MMOs, you tend to have a "launchpad" application to start the game. Before you can enter the game world this launchpad will check the versions of the game files that are in use, and if there are any newer files you have to download them.
Refuse to download them and you can't enter the game world, simple as that. This is where things are different with the console world too. Sure, you can stop someone from playing in an online multiplayer game if they don't download patches, but you can't stop them playing through a "campaign" style game by themselves just because they won't apply fixes. With MMOs, patching is a way of life. It's easy to fix problems and easy to roll-out these fixes due to the nature of the customer base and the product itself. Not so with a console.
- To Patch or Not to Patch?
- Published: February 23, 2007
- Type: Opinion
- Section: Gaming
- Writer: Graeme Smith
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I'm just speaking for myself here, but here is my feelings on the matter.
I am a console gamer. I have Xbox 360 and the Wii, and have yet to hook either to the internet. Currently I still unfortunately have dial-up internet for my computer, mainly because Cable is too expensive, IMO, and DSL wasn't even available in my area until just recently, and I just haven't had a chance to upgrade yet (I probably will eventually).
But even when/if I go online, I still don't necessarily like the idea of relying on downloaded 'patches' that are sent directly to the system's harddrive/memory.
I admit, I may be a bit extreme, but I always like to think of my games and systems in the long term and consider the worst case scenarios. Let's say that 5 to 10 years from now, my Xbox 360 harddrive crashes. So, I have to now obtain another one to replace it with (whether it be a brand new one, if they are still being produced, or a used one). Now, my problem is that I've lost all of the info on my harddrive, including the patches.
Now, at that point in time, the next new system might be out and these old 'patches' may no longer be available.
Another possibility is what happens if the next Xbox system comes out and is backwards compatible with the Xbox 360 games. Do you now have to redownload every patch that you ever used? And again, will they still even be available?
What I think, at the very least, is that if these companies have to release a patch, they should find a way to produce a CD with the patch on it that they can send out to people. Also, they could make it so that you have the option to download the patch file from the internet onto your home computer, burn it to a CD-R or DVD+/-R, and load it on your system that way. (Similar to some of the options for downloading the original Xbox backwards compatibility updates for Xbox 360, which I have frequently used). They just need to somehow program it in such a way that it will detect the save info from the game on the system and make whatever adjustment accordingly.
This way, you will still have a physical disc. You can keep it near or even in the same case as the actual game that it goes with (just put it in a CD envelope and put it in the clips where the booklet goes), and this way, if ever you need to reuse the patch, you have the disc for it.
As the programming, graphics, and time it takes to make newer, modern games advances and increases, it does become harder and harder to check for every little possible bug scenario. I understand that. But none the less, there does need to be a more reasonable way to do these things. Going online with a game system should be an option, not a requirement. And even if 99.9% of the gaming community CHOOSES to go online with there systems, there should still be an option for those who don't go online, or just want something physical to hang onto incase something ever happens to their hard drive, etc.
Honestly, I am really anticipating a lot of problems when the next generation of game systems comes out in another 5 years or so.
In recent years, backwards compatibility has become more and more of a desired option. Xbox 360 already gets a lot of criticism for not having all of the original Xbox games backwards compatible from day 1. And worse, they didn't even make it so you can transfer your save data from the original Xbox to the 360. But, what the hell is going to happen when their next system comes out? Will you be able to transfer your patches? And what about your Xbox Live downloads, which only work on your particular unit and no one else's?
The same goes with the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console and the games that are downloadable for PS3, and any possible patches that may occur on those units.
As far as I can tell, the gaming companies seem to be focusing more on the right here, right now, and not so much the tomorrow. They want any and all old games from the past backwards compatible right now (or as close to it as they can get), they want to make all these download options to make your current buggy games bug free, but do they have any plans on how to make your current data that isn't on a physical piece of media to the eventual, inevitable successors of the current generations of systems?
If my friend can't even use his Virtual Console Wii games on my Wii console, then I really don't see how these will work on whatever unit Nintendo puts out next.