Come ponder the ethicality of the day one patch, as Nick waxes philosophical in his latest editorial.
Something that has become commonplace in gaming’s new world is the infamous day one patch. Because development cycles are so incredibly tight games often have to go to the production line in an incomplete state, leaving the developer in a position to complete the bug fixing post-production, but pre-release. In many instances, the day one patch still isn’t enough to shore up the various bugs, leaving players with a game that may not even work properly on their machines. This raises the question – is it ethical to put a game on the production line that’s incomplete?
Some gamers will still have some trouble though.
EA has announced a VOIP fix for PS3 owners of Battlefield 3 is now live. While the update will automatically download the next time you start the game, some users may have to jump through a few extra hoops to get their headset running.
PS3 players should also get the update later today.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim patch that PC players got last week is now available to Xbox 360 players. Update 1.4 has the following fixes and changes:
A patch is also coming out to address some issues.
Battlefield 3 was EA's biggest day-one shipment with 10 million units and sold 5 million in its first week available. Since its October 27 launch, it appears that the title has continued to sell well. EA has announced that it sold an additional 3 million during the month of November and that has increased the total sales number to 8 million, with total number of titles shipped increased to 12 million.
The patch paves the way for the beginning of the age of Vita.
With the impending launch of the PlayStation Vita in Japan this December and the European and North American launch coming shortly after this upcoming February, Sony has begun to make preparations to ensure that the PSP successor is well supported right out the gate. Along with an ever growing list of launch titles, Sony will be releasing a new PS3 system software update (version 4.00 for those keeping score at home) to accommodate the handheld's cross platform and content management capabilities.
The framerate problems have been addressed.
Update: We learned today that the patch for PC and Xbox 360 will go live this Wednesday. This is a current ETA for the patch, and we will update if things change. The original story follows:
Players' complaints have been addressed.
Since Uncharted 3's release last month, players have complained that the game's aiming doesn't feel quite right. Naughty Dog, the developer of the series, has now addressed those complaints and released a patch with an option to adjust the settings in the single player mode.
After the food and crowds have gone, you can look forward to a fixed Skyrim experience.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is easily one of the hottest games out right now and many gamers are enjoying slaying dragons and collecting books. However, there have been issues with texture popping and frame rates since launch and players are wondering when these problems will be fixed. Bethesda Softworks had stated that they were working on a patch to resolve these issues but had been vague on when this patch would be released.
Don't worry, they're on it!
Some users playing Skyrim on the PlayStation 3 are having frame rate issues when their save files reach 6 MB. It's not known how widespread this issue is but enough have brought up the issue in Bethesda's official forums and now Pete Hines, Bethesda's VP of PR and Marketing, has issued a statement.