News & Rumours: Playstation 4/ Orbis *spin*

[Deleted member 11852]

I have a question for those who are more into the development process of consumer electronics. Should the final version of the (ps4) firmware be ready at the time of mass production start? Or there is some magic way of updating millions of consoles being produced for launch?

I'm pretty sure I had a day1 update when I eventually bought my ps3 slim. I'm sure the same will hold if you buy a ps4 that has been sitting on a shelf for a little while

Similarly the original European launch of the original PlayStation 3 had a day one firmware update that added background downloading of PSN store content. Asians and Americans had been sitting staring at a downloading bar for several months.

 

[djskribbles]

One of the most surprising thing is the universal praise for the ps4 controller from e3. Many in the press say that it's better than the xbone controller.

I think there's a few reasons why people like the DS4... the distance from the triggers and sticks is shorter which naturally makes the symmetrical design less of an issue for people coming from an X360 controller; the controller is bigger and more ergonomic; and they fixed the triggers and sticks themselves (which were the only issues I had with the DS3). I think Sony did an excellent job with the DS4. Even though I haven't held one, it just looks comfortable to hold.

 

[Cyan]

All the feedback I read about the new DS4 is positive and they say it is a clear improvement across the board, in almost every possible sense. From the texture to the shape and depth, to the design and how comfortable it is.

 

[Phil]

Okay. Sony may have changed their position. ERP has said recently that the first couple of updates for both companies are free, and you only pay after that, which helps discourage releasing poor software that needs loads of patches. Given Hall's vagueness in response, I'm not sure if he's speaking out of experience with MS, or hearsay.

Hurray!

I wanted to play LBP2 the other day - and it needed to download 7 updates, each around 600MB to a Gigabyte in size. I really miss the old days when games had no option to update - I remember far less flaws. Of course it's nice to have the ability to update, add features etc, but there should be a good balance about it.

And btw: Sony's servers in Switzerland only manage around 20Mbps, so 7 times at least half a Gigabyte adds up when you just want a quick game with the friends that are over at your place for a quick drink. Very annoying.

 

[Gerry]

Hurray!

I wanted to play LBP2 the other day - and it needed to download 7 updates, each around 600MB to a Gigabyte in size. I really miss the old days when games had no option to update - I remember far less flaws. Of course it's nice to have the ability to update, add features etc, but there should be a good balance about it.

haha

I got PS+ for my new slim and downloaded LBP2. There were about 15 updates required, two of which were over 1GB. Was almost an hour before I could actually play it. And this doesn't include actually downloading the thing in the first place.

 

[DJ12]

The bigget updates tend to add content for the dlc even if you dont buy it the game still needs it incase you go online.

Still you can cancel them and play and let psn+ dowbload them overnight.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I wanted to play LBP2 the other day - and it needed to download 7 updates, each around 600MB to a Gigabyte in size. I really miss the old days when games had no option to update - I remember far less flaws. Of course it's nice to have the ability to update, add features etc, but there should be a good balance about it.

Yep. Every time I go on the store it seems I need a system update and a store update. 10+ minute waits to update the game you just switched on to play is really poor form. I'm hoping Sony have fixed everything wrong with PS3's OS, and it sounds like they have (although I will say, they abandoned improving PS3 some years ago in reality, and some or all of this could have been supported on PS3).

 

[dskneo]

I always wonder why wont they put the fully patched game to download, instead of downloading the original one and having 15 updates afterwards

 

[Arwin]

Definitely would be almost as bad as the DRM stuff if Sony didn't fix their patching stuff. That everyone has nightly updates is a good start (I have PS Plus, and I really like that feature, though right now I can only use it on one of my two PS3s), but they better make them so that you don't have to install them one after the other, and definitely update the online versions of software with fully patched versions, yep.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I always wonder why wont they put the fully patched game to download, instead of downloading the original one and having 15 updates afterwards

It's a mystery!

 

[Grall]

I really miss the old days when games had no option to update - I remember far less flaws.

While your example is very extreme, I think you're seeing the past through rose-colored glasses. I remember buying the hugely awaited and technically advanced game "Awesome" from the development team behind Shadow of the Beast at Psygnosis and slotted the twin discs into my Amiga and cold-booted the machine (yup, those good ol' days! No HD installs to bother with! )

...Game refused to load, because my external drive could not handle the accelerated rate the game stepped the read/write heads at. Had to unscrew the connector and restart the game with just the first disk. Ok, so it loads now. I get a mission, and immediately have to swap disks. roll The game refuses to turn off the spindle motor, so I wait a bit for the LED to go out, and....nothing. Drive just keeps going. I decide to risk it, and swap disks while the drive's still on.

...I scratch the disk. Copy-protection track wrecked, game refuses to load. €35-40 or whatever it cost back then, straight down the drain!

What a load of bollocks that Awesome game was! HA!

 

[Phil]

Ok, admittedly, I wasn't thinking that far back, but more during the PSone and PS2 days, which I remember quite well. Maybe I was rather lucky too, but I can't remember any substantial flaws in the games I bought. While I'm sure flaws were common back then too, I would think that the whole testing and bugfixing was taken a whole lot more serious when you know that you have no ability to fix the game post-release, than if you can.

Speaking of which - I remember the first version of Tomb Raider (for PC) to have an inherent flaw with the music tracks. That was later solved with a new CD that could get swapped out.

Anyway, I know that updates are actually a good thing. I just wish there would be a way to make these updates as small as possible, so that when they are necessary, that they are installed and patched in the most convinient way. I don't really see the point how multiple Gigabyte updates are necessary, like the ones LBP often has.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

PS1 and 2 games were definitely released more robust than current games, simply because there was no option to patch. I know of a few bugs that were never game killers, related to features in a game not working (health gems didn't actually increase maximum health when equipped, for example). These days I tend to wait a month or three before considering a game, to check out the user forums and see what killer bugs there are. If there are mixed messages, "this bug killed my game. No, he's exaggerating, don't worry about it, most people aren't affected," I side with caution and avoid the game until confirmed fixed.

Free and seamless updating is normal for modern devices like smartphones, so it's an obvious step. Although that doesn't solve the problem of QA, and given increased complexity in games I do wonder if bugs will get worse, not better. We've had patches this gen that have made things worse. I don't think there was any lack of knowledge that has now been plugged meaning future games will be developed and fixed with greater integrity. I think the business model and lack of QA is the problem, and no amount of OS features can address that.

 

[patsu]

Probably because of more aggressive threading, and more ambitious projects these days. Self publishing and free updates are not evil. There have been cases where games were released with bugs but the dev could not fix them too.

I always wonder why wont they put the fully patched game to download, instead of downloading the original one and having 15 updates afterwards

Yes, that would be good. Or combine multiple updates into one.

 

[patsu]

Guys, you do know that automatic download and install isn't the same as automatic updates... I don't know if my interpretation is correct or not, but for me, all updates (game and system) are outside the paywall. Automatic download and install is probably where you can buy games from your phone and the PS4 can automatically download and install it. If you're not on PS+, you probably still can buy from other platform, but you must start the download manually from the PS4 itself.

Of course only system update that's outside the paywall is also logical, but I think Sony also needs to push game updates because I think it's a necessity instead of a convenience feature like automatic game download.

Edit: I just realized that automatic download and install could be read as automatic patch/update download and install. I still think that my interpretation is the correct one

It's a possibility. In PS3, games may use their own patch mechanisms too. I am not sure how Sony handles them.

In an ideal world, if Sony is using BSD, perhaps they can use similar auto-update mechanisms in the open source world.

 

[Phil]

I actually have a question regarding PSN - any PSN related topic seems to be at least 3 years old and I'm not sure I want to create one specifically for this question, as it's really a simple one.

Does anyone know if trophies can be ported to a different account? Or if there is a way to change the username of a PSN account?

My problem is two fold: On one hand, the country I live in, doesn't offer English content in our localised store. This is why I created a US one. The other reason is; with the arrival of the PS4, I want to have a new name. Now I know that PSN logins are universal and not to a specific console, so they will work on the new system - but I would really like to change the name, without losing the achievements. Is there any way to do this?

If yes, I guess also changing the region of an account is not possible - although I do wonder, if I were to move from one country to another, how would I go around it without running into the same issues?

 

[AlNom]

Pretty sure you can't change the ID still, only the e-mail addy. At this point, your only choice is to make a new account (per region), and each new account needs a new e-mail addy IIRC.

 

[Strange]

I actually have a question regarding PSN - any PSN related topic seems to be at least 3 years old and I'm not sure I want to create one specifically for this question, as it's really a simple one.

Does anyone know if trophies can be ported to a different account? Or if there is a way to change the username of a PSN account?

My problem is two fold: On one hand, the country I live in, doesn't offer English content in our localised store. This is why I created a US one. The other reason is; with the arrival of the PS4, I want to have a new name. Now I know that PSN logins are universal and not to a specific console, so they will work on the new system - but I would really like to change the name, without losing the achievements. Is there any way to do this?

If yes, I guess also changing the region of an account is not possible - although I do wonder, if I were to move from one country to another, how would I go around it without running into the same issues?

From what I know you trophies are tied to your account and is not transferable. The name is also unchangable from our end, but you "could" file a support ticket and see if they allow you to change it. I'm not sure how that would work though.

Assuming that you're not doing the above, what you could do is open another account in your new region and buy all your stuff on this new account.

As long as this "new account" and your "old account" reside on the same PS3, your old account will access all the content from the new account. I'm pretty sure that I can do that even with games requiring online passes as I get Asian online passes and play with them on my Japanese account. (and yes they don't access the same PSN store, and the codes are not usable interchangeably)

 

[Phil]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I guess I don't mind keeping to use my US account, but the more and more I proceed in building up my "online-identity", the more I'm wishing I would have used a different name, or perhaps with the correct region linked to it. In other words, use the US account for the english content, but play and build up my identity on my localised account - than the other way around, which is what I've ended up with.

I thought the jump to PS4 provded me with enough motivation to start from scratch (if not otherwise possible) with a new identity and go from there, especially now that hardware/software backwards-compatibility is out the window.

I just kind of feel bad using a 'fake' account to get all my achievements and if I ever were to lose my account (because they change the terms & conditions or whatever), the loss would hurt. Guess at some point, I will have to pay for old mistakes.

 

[Arwin]

You can always try support. You never know. Now may not be a good time to call though, as apparently some people have had issues with update 4.45. It's been rolled back, but apparently left a few people with 1TB harddrives with a system that doesn't completely boot.