teal wrote: I like this topic of console patches and whatnot. It's especially relevant right now given yesterday's release of the dashboard update. There's a lot to talk about here. I'll probably try to go into it more in my show this week. Might I suggest that you guys touch on this in your next show as well? I'd like to hear where your discussion goes.
It is definitely something we have on the list to discuss in an upcoming show. It probably won't be our next show because we are already researching those topics. So, we will probably hit on it the following show (episode 9).
I feel almost the same way about patching as I feel about digital distribution. To me it is making console gaming way more complex. For example, with respect to this patch, Joe Blow who bought the core system is probably hosed. Or, think about the person who doesn't have Xbox Live, now they are hosed as well. I just look back, and console gaming has always been cool because it was truly, "plug and play". Not anymore....
There are just so many negatives to digital distribution that it really urks (sp?) me. For example, I have a friend who lives way out in the boondocks, well, he wants to play Geometry Wars. Can he go to the store and buy it? Heck no... that just sucks. Sure, I could get it for him, put it on a memory card, etc. But, what a pain in the neck.
Also, I think about the ability to keep these games and play them some day in the future. We are moving to a time where games are truly transient. Experiences that we had one time, and they will be lost forever as we move through future game console generations. To me, that just sucks.
Digital distribution is great for the producers of games. It is cheaper, they don't have to have the game be perfect out of the box, they don't have to deal with retailers, etc.
As far as them not being able to fully debug Oblivion out of the gate, I don't buy that. Having worked in software for going on 12 years now, I can tell you that the developers know there are bugs when they ship. It is completely driven by marketing. There are certain dates that must be hit or "the window" will pass, and you will have to wait until the next opportunity. I can't tell you how many times we "shipped" a product with known bugs. We immediately started working on a patched version. My guess is that Bethesda already knew about these bugs, but they decided it was worth it to hit "the window". This is something that wouldn't have been possible in the past as there was no mechanism to post-patch console games.
--Raz.
