Does Chromehounds have the MLB 2K6 disease?
by Joystiq Staff 
{ Jul 18th 2006 at 7:50PM }
For those of us who had the displeasure of owning a copy of MLB 2K6 for the 360 that froze nearly every time we inched our way into a game, it appears Chromehounds could be suffering a similar fate. According to some disgruntled players who were actually kind enough to buy the game despite so-so reviews, it seems this mech title is having some recurrent freezing issues for them. One Chromehounds forum user puts forth his frustrations:I just bought Chromehounds and I have hardly completed three missions. In 4 hours of gameplay the game froze countless times (at least 10). I tried playing without Internet and the problem persisted.
Have any of you had any issues with the game? The official Sega response so far is the standard "we're looking into it" deal.
[Via Kotaku]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
GSI @ Jul 18th 2006 7:56PM
Pity...I was interested in at least renting this game to see how the multiplayer was since that was where some of the reviewers said that was where the game is best at.
renaldo @ Jul 18th 2006 7:57PM
Mr. Freeze.
Of course.
CUBS-BEARS-BULLS-RULE @ Jul 18th 2006 7:59PM
fir mlb 2k6 i had to take out the harddrive for it to work then they came out with a patch a month so try that
Indiana Jones @ Jul 18th 2006 7:59PM
yeah it freezes but so does pretty much everything on the console, including the OS itself. But hey, you kinda expect it from a MS product right?
Tristan @ Jul 18th 2006 8:16PM
This game is meant for multiplayer. Im fine for now. Since that is all I have played is that.
SUPERGHOST @ Jul 18th 2006 8:17PM
No problems whatsoever within the first 6 hrs of gameplay.
Tristan @ Jul 18th 2006 8:18PM
I never have freezing issues except when i played MLB. I would get freezing with some other games I think it happened only once and that was Oblivion. The OS I never had a problem with.
Clay @ Jul 18th 2006 8:19PM
I guess I'm just lucky, but in my countless hours of playing over 12 360 titles day in and day out...
I have had no freezing. Not a bit. I haven't got Chromehounds yet, but it might be the first.
dude @ Jul 18th 2006 8:21PM
I've played the game for over 20 hours and haven't had it freeze up yet. Stories like this get people to second guess quality games based off a few people that had this happen. Oh well. This is one of the better titles on the system and has a ton of replay value.
Lear @ Jul 18th 2006 8:25PM
I find it sad that the quoted Chromehound player was unable count past 10.
That being said, my last video card purchase came with a free copy of Prince of Persia: Two Thrones and 15 seconds of gameplay would be greeted with 30 seconds of freezing.
georgel @ Jul 18th 2006 8:26PM
For the one guy who said all games on xbox freeze.. well i know alot of people with the system and you must be in the minority. i have never had any problems with any games ever! Its funny because its probably mostly these people with no girlfriends who play for hours a day, you know the people who are unstoppable online because they have no job or life.
BlueNocturne @ Jul 18th 2006 8:27PM
Strange.. I've played the game close to 5 hours and havent had a single problem.
Gavin @ Jul 18th 2006 8:29PM
Been playing for 15+ hours offline and no freezing at all. In fact no freezing on any 360 games ever.
Joe Chapman @ Jul 18th 2006 8:29PM
Wow! I'm so glad this was brought to attention. I thought my 360 was about to die... Luckily, it's just Chromehounds. Yes, it freezes constantly. However, I have noticed that putting an external fan (not a PC fan, but a conventional cool fan) actually cuts down significantly on freeze.
AK @ Jul 18th 2006 8:36PM
more joystiq sensationalism...
Nightwing007 @ Jul 18th 2006 8:44PM
I've played this for over 20 hours & haven't had it freeze once.So the problem isn't with everyone...
dolemite @ Jul 18th 2006 9:05PM
My Oblivion freezes quite often, but not Chromehound yet......
CFOBJustice @ Jul 18th 2006 9:09PM
Been playing the game for several hours and not a single lock. The game runs great and many of the reviews did not do this game justice.
nick @ Jul 18th 2006 9:16PM
I do get a few when it tries to connect to the servers. but that is it... The only other problem is trying to do free plasy matches. It disconnects unless the connections is very reliable. BTW, this game is awesome! I just joined a squad... very fun.
Gasper @ Jul 18th 2006 9:16PM
I know of several people with an Xbox 360 including myself. I have never had one problem with it and neither have they.
People that think this is a widespread problem should think again. I have never had a problem and all the games I play run great.
Morkath @ Jul 18th 2006 9:33PM
I had a friend who was getting these crashes, he cleared the cache on his 360 and the problem stopped.
Personally I have only crashed once, and have almost 50hours in on it.
??? @ Jul 18th 2006 9:47PM
I don't know what Chromehounds has, but I do know what it DOESN'T have....a reasonable single player segment-it is a piece of rushed crap all meant to culminate in an online extravaganza. Listen developers: Instead of tripping over your tongues for online this, online that, try to focus your pea-brains back on the fact that there are still a helluva lot of single player offline enthusiasts that could not give a rats ass about online play or never will. Yes, you can have it both ways [$60-70 bucks a pop!]
OmenChild @ Jul 18th 2006 9:58PM
Ive had a few times where the 360 would freeze on me. It always seem to happen when I exit out of anything to the dashboard a little too fast. Music, games, demos, trailers. It happens A LOT after I view a trailer and delete it immediately. Im not trying to add fuel to the fire but umm.. there IS people out there that are having systems lock-up on them. I even got Nyko Intercooler on mine.. its probably not a widespread issue and only a few people are stuck with the problem.
Yuki~Summer Ver.~ @ Jul 18th 2006 9:59PM
I wouldn't be surprised if it freezes a bit. I have 3 games for my 360 (DOA4, Oblivion, Hitman: Blood Money). Of those three, only one hasn't frozen (DOA4). Granted, Hitman has only frozen twice in the entire time I've played it, which is quite a lot. I can easily write that off, though it's still a little disappointing that it does it at all.
Oblivion on the other hand...that has frozen a lot, though indeed, it has the most hours put into it. Still, the freeze frequency was very high.
Not to complain, but I wish Microsoft and the various developers would put just a little more time in to make sure this doesn't happen in the future. It really can give them a bad name.
Riot @ Jul 18th 2006 9:59PM
Although I agree that From Software should have put more attention into the single player game, I have to say that I would rather the multiplayer be better than single if they are only going to focus on one.
Multiplayer is where the real replay value comes in. So far I love this game. I've had so much fun with Neroimus War so far. Without a single freeze I might add...
GSI @ Jul 18th 2006 10:00PM
Last time I checked, the base price for current games (even after taxes) weren't $70.
Tom @ Jul 18th 2006 10:21PM
"Its funny because its probably mostly these people with no girlfriends who play for hours a day, you know the people who are unstoppable online because they have no job or life." ~ georgel
So you believe electronic malfunction is some sort of kharmic retribution for poor lifestyle choices that are in no way related to the usage and/or up-keep of said electronic devices? Hmm...
fred @ Jul 18th 2006 10:21PM
Several people in my clan are playing this since its release and no one has complained about any crashes so far. Hope this isnt really an issue since i just bought it
Drew @ Jul 18th 2006 10:21PM
no freezing on my copy of chrome hounds. I'm on the last couple of levels on the single player. The few online modes I've played have been fine. The game isn't as bad as reviews were saying. I would give it a 7/10 so far.
Bladestar @ Jul 18th 2006 10:23PM
Nothing to see here people; I bough this game and 4 of my friends and we are all playing online and never had a problem. This is just attempt to stop people from buying the 360 or any good game.
Xelloss @ Jul 18th 2006 10:26PM
I just played a few missons haven't had any freezing issues.
Dave Mendez @ Jul 18th 2006 11:01PM
My system froze playing a demo of Tomb Raider, I've put some serious time into halo (original) and prey and it hasn't frozen once on me. Bought the system brand new a week ago.
Ouch, that extra 10.00 for games is a killer, hard to manage that and the high gas prices (yes I still drive occasionally)
Hope this freezing thing won't be experienced again; all is well for now...................
scott @ Jul 18th 2006 11:11PM
No freezing on mine.
Pseudogrey @ Jul 18th 2006 11:16PM
I ran into this problem after about 20 or so hours of offline gameplay. Once I cleared my Xbox 360 cache (hold down the A button until the game starts from a fresh boot) I didn't encounter this problem again. Hope this helps some people that are finding themselves frustrated by an otherwise fun game.
Matt @ Jul 18th 2006 11:17PM
I would almost bet money it's a caching thing. The unfortunate thing about the 360 is that most of it's users (no offense) are too dumb to figure this out, but at the same time: why should they have to? Buying a console isn't agreeing to sign up for rocket science. =P
Microsoft needs to release a firmware update to illeviate this problem on all systems, as it seems almost 99% certain that these problems stem soley from the unique way in which a system is used. Certain areas of the hard drive are occupied and then unable to be written to, thus causing problems when caching or loading of a game. This should not be singled out to a particular game, either, as it seems to be a fundamental hardware flaw. Until Microsoft can figure this out, you'll have to either deal with it or avoid the problematic titles.
Geeze, and I'm getting my 360 this weekend... I hope mine does not suffer the same fate.
Fish @ Jul 18th 2006 11:54PM
Anybody else torn between "Worst story graphic ever" or "Greatest story graphic ever"?
matt @ Jul 19th 2006 1:28AM
Funny, I've played that game for around hours and never experienced any issues, I quite enjoyed it, seems like someone was just trying to get people not to buy it.
matt @ Jul 19th 2006 1:30AM
"around 35 hours" is what that post was mean to say.
Burnt Kona @ Jul 19th 2006 1:34AM
Another player with over 20 hours in with no freezes at all.
I'm glad I ignored the reviews and went with the opinions of people on my friends list who gave it a decent chance online. Now there are 30 of us on my FL who are happily stomping and wheeling around caputuring COMBAS and firing oversized weapons at each other.
EscapeArtist @ Jul 19th 2006 2:29AM
I haven't frozen, but it does keep putting my squad in two front lobbies!
KawF @ Jul 19th 2006 3:24AM
Luckily the Xbox360 comes standard in all SKU's with a HardDrive to store install patches for games on... wait... Ah, sorry, my mistake, that was some other system.
No problem though. All you people that have the core system should be happy to spend another $100 to play that $60 game that does not work. IF they create a patch that is...
:)
Spud @ Jul 19th 2006 5:50AM
I had 1 freeze during the 1 player campaign (which I finished) and countless freezes on-line. It never freezes when I lose a game but seems to love freezing whenever I win a match and depriving me of my hard earned cash!
Our squad also has countless connection problems where some members can't see other members in the same lobby or game, etc.
guesswho @ Jul 19th 2006 9:43AM
my 360 is just weird, it ONLY freezes for EA's football games, madden and ncaa. Thats it. THey happen all the time. Very weird.
jacs813 @ Jul 19th 2006 9:55AM
I've been playin it for about 8 hrs. and it hasn't froze on me.
Bluntzman @ Jul 19th 2006 10:02AM
The game hasn't frozen for the 25+ hours I've been playing it (SP and MP). The majority of players aren't having any issues with the game, and only a minority are screaming bloody murder over it.
I honestly don't understand why joystiq decides to put out these sensationalist stories. They end up detering anyone else from even trying the game.
Fenris @ Jul 19th 2006 10:14AM
10+ Hours and no freezing.
Based on some of the above comments sounds like temperature issues still play a part. Like most high end equipment this badboy needs air.
I did notice that it is very important to have some kind of voltage protection on the system. I did have some freezing issues when I didn't have my 360 on voltage protection. I could always tell when it would happen, a high amp piece of equipment like the swamp cooler would kick on and the lights would dim and the 360 would freeze. Once I put it back on the surge protector no problem.
Chrome Hounds is a very strange game, the single player is very lackluster but necessary for parts. Once you get into the multiplayer the game really opens up. I was really impressed with all of the options in multiplayer. Many of these should have been incorporated in the single player and the game would have been significantly better. This game takes lots of exploring in the menus to find everything.
Pip @ Jul 19th 2006 10:19AM
The freezing is peoples 360s about to give up the ghost.
A friend and I have put in about 20 or so hours with no issues so far. My first 360 used to freeze quitea bit until it finally died.
Perhaps Joystiq should be looking into poor 360 build quality issues instead of blaming it on a game.
AJay17 @ Jul 19th 2006 11:21AM
I'm 10 hours into the game and haven't had a problem.
Kevin @ Jul 19th 2006 12:22PM
My 360 has only froze twice since launch date.I actually own MLB 2K6 and It has never froze on me, online or off. I think It may all be with the actual disc of the game your playing.
LunarDuality @ Jul 19th 2006 12:43PM
The problem with this discussion is that "Freezing" can be caused by many different things. The two likely culprits are 1) shoddy code and 2) heat.
Due to the overwhelming majoring of gamers posting here stating that they haven't had any freezing problem and one even saying that adding a fan to the mix decreased the freezing, I'd say heat was to blame. And go figure...it's a freakin' heat wave where I live!