Crackdown patched on arrival
by James Ransom-Wiley 
{ Feb 12th 2007 at 10:15PM }
When you pop in your Crackdown disc next week to download the Halo 3 beta (we kid ... the beta won't be live until at least March) you'll be momentarily stalled for a title update. Noticing some considerable lag during co-op matches, both online and off (system link), Realtime Worlds cracked open the gold copy and got back to work. The update should address these issues.Phew, last minute patchwork sure beats a recall...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jon @ Feb 12th 2007 10:25PM
Beta=march
YES!
blamecanada @ Feb 12th 2007 10:38PM
Has the date for the Beta been announced, or even hinted at?
Iced_Eagle @ Feb 12th 2007 10:57PM
Yay Crackdown :-)
BIGGEN @ Feb 12th 2007 11:04PM
hell, at least they caught the lag and are doing BEFORE release. Lost Planet still has issues with lag and its patch isn't due for a few weeks yet (i don't even think the LP patch is addressing lag either). good call Realtime Worlds. we'll appreciate it.
but then again, you'll have the lil bitches that make a big deal about it i'm sure.
reppy @ Feb 12th 2007 11:03PM
Nice jab there at the end. However, how many games on Nintendo consoles have had to be completely recalled because of a bug?
Now, how many Xbox 360 games have had to be patched because the bugs seriously affected game play?
Maybe you cheer lazy development; I don't. I would prefer extra content over bug fixes.
sheppy @ Feb 12th 2007 11:04PM
Maybe it's just me but I'm rather tired of sitting down to a new game and receiving the message "An update is available for this game."
Whatever happened to the days when "going gold" meant "This game is complete?" What about 40-50% of the Xbox 360 userbase that doesn't take their consoles online?
"Ooops, sorry. We didn't feel it was important to COMPLETE this game before shipping. But connecting your console to the internet is quite easy."
Infil @ Feb 12th 2007 11:05PM
You know what would be better than a patch AND a recall? The programmers doing their job properly the first time around, just like almost every game in existence before Xbox 360 came along and gave programmers everywhere an excuse to be more lazy and not do thorough enough testing.
BIGGEN @ Feb 12th 2007 11:21PM
#7 and #8
you prove my point perfectly. quit bitching and play the fucking game. patches or not. better yet, don't get the game.
Infil @ Feb 12th 2007 11:14PM
Oh yeah, and the game that was recalled was a budget title for DS that probably didn't even get turned on by the developers before it was shipped. All these titles being patched for 360 are big name releases that are being heavily marketed.
Patching has its benefits, but, just like microtransactions, sure has its negatives too. Developers are given an excuse to be shoddy with their work, and they force consumers to pay full price for an incomplete project.
bounchfx @ Feb 12th 2007 11:18PM
"What about 40-50% of the Xbox 360 userbase that doesn't take their consoles online?"
um, then they don't need it because it fixes ONLINE LAG.
Read the freaking article before you post.
sheppy @ Feb 12th 2007 11:20PM
bounchfx, how about you read the article. Hell, you don't even have to travel far, here's the quote.
"Noticing some considerable lag during co-op matches, both online and off, Realtime Worlds cracked open the gold copy and got back to work."
Good job, douche bag!
Michael @ Feb 13th 2007 12:01AM
@6
"Whatever happened to the days when "going gold" meant "This game is complete?" What about 40-50% of the Xbox 360 userbase that doesn't take their consoles online?"
Lolz. If you don't have xbox live, then it won't matter whether or not you get the Xbox Live co-op play patched, now will it?
Ben Hobbs @ Feb 12th 2007 11:23PM
#6 "Maybe it's just me but I'm rather tired of sitting down to a new game and receiving the message "An update is available for this game.
Whatever happened to the days when "going gold" meant "This game is complete?" What about 40-50% of the Xbox 360 userbase that doesn't take their consoles online?"
How exactly will they be greated with the update message and more importantly how would online gameplay lag effect them?
Stop moaning people, it's like a minute perhaps two to three times in the games life to patch it.
NOOK @ Feb 12th 2007 11:23PM
Wow, such hate for developers. How about you just be grateful they care enough to patch and shut up. They work hard and just like doing art with a game you can always improve. How many game before 360 and ps3 had problems and you couldn’t fix them? So why not enjoy a game and stop being so damn critical.
BIGGEN @ Feb 12th 2007 11:23PM
nevermind, the comment order got all jacked up, forget my last one
Arturo @ Feb 12th 2007 11:23PM
hey joystiq bloggers could u guys put a post up about the 360 rewards program fiasco problems to clear things up for people? so far its a huge mess.
Pyronite @ Feb 12th 2007 11:25PM
Wow, you guys must REALLY hate PC gaming.
I don't know about you, but I'd much prefer a Gears of War with a multiplayer that stays the remains the same as launch.
Every game from every console has and will ship with bugs -- there are lists of them that every QA department will know of at launch. Not every bug is going to get squashed and not every game has the luxury of holding back until everything is perfect. Games are getting more and more complexDevelopers have games rushed out of the door with and without hard drives, but I would much prefer they be able to patch them than not, wouldn't you?
Seriously, there are so many slippery-slope arguments, so much hyperbole and so much cynical videogame doom and gloom that discussions like this that are almost unbearable. Stop overreacting and start looking around -- things aren't that bad.
adam @ Feb 12th 2007 11:27PM
If you never took your 360 online, you wouldn't really notice the lag, now would you sheppy?
I didn't there was such a thing as offline lag.
Fact of the matter is, we want all these added features in games that weren't present 15-20 years ago. If Super Mario Bros. 3 had online co-op play, and deathmatches, plus downloadable content, would you still hold it to the same standard? Adding these features to modern day games demands work, and it isn't exactly a perfect science. I am sure if there was one perfect universal network code for online play and such that worked for every game, developers would gladly implement it.
Tim @ Feb 12th 2007 11:47PM
System Link.
GameArtGuy @ Feb 12th 2007 11:58PM
Learn something about game development first before you whine. There currently is no way to mass test a game on XBL. Even if they could test the game (which they did with the demo kinda) Its impossible to predict the connections of the user who is playing, and the other user connecting during a co op game. Even then, it would still be difficult for them to find the problem as almost all the people that get the lag fail to actually write a constructive comment to developer, and take the alternate route of bitchin on forums.
Einhanderkiller @ Feb 13th 2007 12:53AM
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/crackdown/review.html?sid=6165795&tag=topslot;title;1&om_act=convert&om_clk=topslot
rfom @ Feb 13th 2007 12:39AM
This is probably the way things are going to remain on 360...overheating, noisy and defective console with buggy games...
reppy @ Feb 13th 2007 12:36AM
"Wow, such hate for developers. How about you just be grateful they care enough to patch and shut up."
How about they be grateful that someone is willing to purchase their game? They're not bestowing some great honor upon us. We purchase their games; we expect them to work. If they do not, we have every right to complain.
KrazyKoala @ Feb 13th 2007 1:05AM
http://reviews.teamxbox.com/xbox-360/1289/Crackdown/p1/
Gamespot--> 7.8
Team Xbox-->9
Sly @ Feb 13th 2007 1:08AM
It would be nice if EA or any other third party developer of racing games come out with patch fully supporting the MS Wireless Wheel. That can be done because MS did it with PGR3 for free. I would buy this patch off XBL Marketplace if it was available for previous release racing games.
LongshotX @ Feb 13th 2007 1:07AM
Most likely you'll be able to burn the patch to a CD and put in the 360 and let it do the rest assuming you have a Hard Drive and a CD Burner, which appear to be rare in this day in age similar to them there 'Internets'.
joe smith @ Feb 13th 2007 1:47PM
I guess you guys would prefer the old days -- the game would ship with a bug and it would NEVER BE FIXED. I mean, come on -- you act like games before on-line patching were all perfect and bug free.
bootsielon @ Feb 13th 2007 2:20AM
Another GTA clone? How exciting!!!11
mike @ Feb 13th 2007 2:23AM
u guys are idiots. Think about it this way, If patching systems like this were not in place, the game would of been delayed. Developers probably saw the problem, but decided they can just ship the game and have a patch ready by launch, to avoid a delay.
No... instead all you "Im living in the stone age and cant connect my xbox to the internet" people want them to delay games for months on end to fix stuff like this which can be dealt with remotely.
When your cable goes out and you call up the company, what if the guy on the phone says he can fix the problem in minutes from his end, do you demand he send some1 over to the house and spend hours of time working on a solution?
number1jagsfan @ Feb 13th 2007 5:20AM
I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure I read that there is no offline co-op play in Crackdown, so how can there be lag in online and off?
PaulH @ Feb 13th 2007 7:02AM
@29.
There is no offline co-op splitscreen, but it is available via system link. So there is an offline co-op as such.
sheppy @ Feb 13th 2007 8:42AM
You see, this is the attitude I love.
"No... instead all you "Im living in the stone age and cant connect my xbox to the internet" people want them to delay games for months on end to fix stuff like this which can be dealt with remotely."
This kind of stuff makes me laugh. Because it's such a circular logic. Let's put it like this.
If the developer, Real Time Worlds, had no way of noticing this issue before launch, how are they noticing it before the servers have gone live with the full game? There are ways to test it. Ways which, apparently, finally occured to Real Time Worlds. But even if we look past that. Let's look at other games that have required patches that had nothing to do with the online.
DOA4- When this game shipped, if the game booted before the 360 signed you in, the game code would "hide" all of your game saves. This was mixed up as a "game save deletion" but regardless, there it was. Go back to the dashboard? No go. You would have to completely reboot the console to unhide you save data. Now, considering, at the time, 360s did NOT have the option to boot up to the dashboard instead of the inserted media, imagine the headaches this caused. Patch came out and fixed it, but what about all those people who don't take their 360s online?
Gears Of War, when using the VGA connector, had a ton of graphical glitches, the most serious of them being occassionally throwing out the games signal as a monochromatic signal. Not to mention various warpings and such. Once again, what about those effected who don't take their console online?
Oblivion has featured a myriad of issues and glitches, all fixed for those who take their consoles online. Likewise, what about the upcoming texture enhancements, ignoring a rather sizable userbase?
This is but three examples. There are plenty more.
And please don't give me that "they must live in the stone age" elitists bullshit. What if they have the internet but it's dialup and just for the computer in the den? What if they don't want to run the 50' cable necessary for a steady internet connection via Cat5? What if, god forbid, they want to play a game and could care less about the online features of the console? These people are actually the bread and butter of the industry. The Casual gamer. What you're pretty much saying is, to these people mind you, "fuck off, we don't want you on our console if you can't even be bothered to have a high speed internet connection and want to hook your console up to it, regardless of how rarely you'd use this feature."
Admit it, the patching system has become a crutch. Games are shipping glitch loaded and the excuse of "this will be fixed later" may appeal to people like you, but what about all the people who aren't like you? For me, patches are annoying as all hell but dealable. For people who gave up on games because they didn't know their games are now needing patches, well, they're out to dry.
rfom @ Feb 13th 2007 9:05AM
"If patching systems like this were not in place, the game would of been delayed"
Doesnt that just sum up the 360 - all that matters is being first to market to ensure you get an edge over competitors, whether its buggy games or the console itself - overheating, noisy, shoddily made, rings of death. If MS had its way, we would see a repeat of its OS practices in consoles - poor products and repeated updgrades / patches.
Jake @ Feb 13th 2007 9:04AM
This game currently has an 83 on Metacritic, which is a solid but not out of this world score. Basically, it is higher than all but one Wii games and every PS3 game except Motorstorm (by a point) and RFOM. Just to put its perceived quality into perspective for the fanboys that feel threatened by another solid 360 game. It won't blow a 360 owner away, but it would be the best PS3 game out except RFOM if that were its platform. Well, as far as Metacritic goes, that is. They haven't led me astray on a game or movie yet, though.
(a hint to others out there is you read the top 5 and bottom 5 reviews on metacritic.com it gives you a great picture of the positives and negatives of a game/movie)
It is a GTA clone sorta, but much more unique than, say, Saint's Row. Some people love it, some hate it. The gameplay is like GTA with a lot more "moves" like throwing, jumping, climbing, grenading (bigger role). The art style is pretty cool. Fairly unique and does a good job of looking like a comic book/graphic novel.
I am happy that they have the problems fixed day one. I'd rather wait 20 seconds (all it takes unless there is a reboot) than suffer through buggy game elements.
Don't sweat Bootsie, rfom, or sheppy either. They are always making doomsday comments on trivial 360 problems. They feel they owe Sony a lot.
I can't wait for Crackdown to arrive via Gamefly. There are a lot of fun elements to it. Grenades are fun. Also, picking up objects and tossing them 200 feet is sweet. And the exaggerated car physics mixed with your character's super strength can be pretty fun to toy with.
I am unconvinced whether the depth of the game will keep me interested for very long based on the demo. But I am sure it will be very fun for a while.
Jake @ Feb 13th 2007 9:16AM
Sheppy,
I am not sure about most of the patches. But, my perception of them has been that they usually fix online elements of games and relatively minor 1p mode ones. There are certainly exceptions, so please don't throw 3 examples at me. Actually, it would be interesting to see a complete list of fixed glitches for the top 20 360 games.
And, since when did games never ship with glitches? Perhaps it is worse now. I also read an article once that blamed PC, 360, and PS3 game glitches on the fact that it gets much more difficult to catch everything when you have 7Gb of game code instead of 1 or 2. The game code is much more complex. But I do agree that part of it is that since it is available, it can be used as a crutch. However, it isn't going to get taken away, so we have to just deal with it.
I guess the bottom line is I've been playing really fun HD games for the last 9 months with very few hiccups, so it is difficult for me to get caught up in all these "major 360 issues." I have two friends with the PS360 combo and only the 360 is being used, so they must be doing something right.
I shoulda probably just erased the last sentence, since it makes my whole comment look like a fanboy mess, but they are just facts.
Jason @ Feb 13th 2007 9:18AM
Sheppy: "If the developer, Real Time Worlds, had no way of noticing this issue before launch, how are they noticing it before the servers have gone live with the full game?"
While I'm no huge fan of the "patch it later" mentality, Crackdown was recently released as a demo on XBL and was hugely popular. Thousands of happy 360 users got to try it out in a much broader set of scenarios then the developer could have, and they acted quickly it seems to firm up any lag issues for Day 1 launch. There should be no problems for offline use at all. So in this case, if you want to go online, just get the latest update... bitch.
Jake @ Feb 13th 2007 9:25AM
rfom,
You shouldn't base your knowledge solely on fanboy comments in blogs. The 360 is quite fun and many have been really enjoying it for a year now. It has its faults, and hardware quality is an issue. But, I am glad they "rushed" it because that gave me 9 months of very enjoyable gaming. My console is working fine. And how console noise ever became a "major flaw" is beyond me. I can only notice it when I turn it on.
Your fanboyism is a bit overbearing. You should try to tone it down a bit. Is resistance finally starting to really bore you? The PS3 is a fine system. But for all the 360's faults, the 360 is still a much more enjoyable experience. People I know with both play the 360 waaaay more.
Don't get me wrong, I really like Resistance. But it has absolutely nothing other than that that you can't get on 360 with better online. Save your fanboyism for when the PS3 is actually bringing good games to the table. I'll own one once they do and we can join together and celebrate its greatness.
I harbor some ill-will towards the console because its promise of much greater graphics (which I believed, doh) delayed my 360 purchase by 4 months. And I just hate when companies mislead their consumers and make so many false promises. I dislike MS for those very same reasons, but their practices aren't the same at all in the 360 division.
jason @ Feb 13th 2007 9:43AM
This is completely unacceptable.
Josh @ Feb 13th 2007 9:46AM
The freaking "patches" for Unreal Tournament 2004 on my PC are 13MB and take forever to download because they aren't hosted on Epic's own servers. You have to go to some download web site and wait in a queue or pay for a subscription to get it.
Then you have to install the patch, which takes a while.
No program these days is going to ship without bugs. It is just the way it is. And some bugs are impossible to find without hundreds of thousands of people using your software.
Frankly, a minute or less for a patch to download and install automatically over XBox Live is refreshing compared to what I'm used to.
Freelancepimp @ Feb 13th 2007 9:52AM
I can't believe this. You freaking people are freaking idiots if you defend a major corporation for doing shoddy workmanship. No way in the hell should anybody have to by a product just to get it to work as promised later. Whether it’s a car, a video game, a console, or mail order bride that turns out to be a pre-op tranny (just go online and fill out the form and we will send you a voucher good for any surgeon of your choice.)
Seriously, its one thing to fix patches that other idiots create to cheat but it’s another thing to just not test the damn software thoroughly. The word is "Quality" no matter who the manufacture is or what the product is.
Also, we've have already seen much bigger issues needing to be patched before this. But I guess it doesn't matter as long as you got pretty colors flashing lights.
Earl @ Feb 13th 2007 9:51AM
Is anyone buying Crackdown just for the Halo demo? Just curious since I played the demo of this game and it kinda sucked.
Tony @ Feb 13th 2007 10:03AM
I hope people do realize that there have been bugs since, well, gaming started. I couldn't tell you how many NES games I've had that had random issues.
The difference today isn't solely that companies know they can patch their games later. It's also that games are FAR more complex. There's not enough time in the world to beta test a lot of these things, there's no way to do a full stress test of online components without sending thousands of people a playable version.
Just because they found out about this problem now (AFTER people have gotten reviewable copies, clearly) doesn't mean they knew about it the second it went gold. Games have to wrap up well before they're shipped off to be pressed, and games have to be pressed well before they're sent to stores.
I really don't understand what people are complaining about. At least it's being fixed.
Josh @ Feb 13th 2007 9:55AM
"And please don't give me that "they must live in the stone age" elitists bullshit. What if they have the internet but it's dialup and just for the computer in the den? What if they don't want to run the 50' cable necessary for a steady internet connection via Cat5? What if, god forbid, they want to play a game and could care less about the online features of the console? These people are actually the bread and butter of the industry. The Casual gamer. What you're pretty much saying is, to these people mind you, "fuck off, we don't want you on our console if you can't even be bothered to have a high speed internet connection and want to hook your console up to it, regardless of how rarely you'd use this feature.""
These hypothetical gamers ought to get used to this because game patches that are disbursed over the internet are not going away. Complain about it for the poor sap without an internet connection all you want, but that is simply a fact. And as games get more complex, it is only going to happen more.
At least we don't have to listen to internet-less console owners complaining about how their games are buggy on Joystiq. ;-)
D Trub @ Feb 13th 2007 10:15AM
I don't understand all the crying that goes on about silly stuff like this... Just hit the damn button, let the game update and enjoy the game.... Complaining that a game is not complete is silly... If they can fix some issues, more power to them... Silly kids
Vidikron @ Feb 13th 2007 11:07AM
The "Golden Age" when games didn't need patches is when games weren't online and have a various game modes. Games came were on carts with one or two modes and the bugs in the game were in your game forever. If the bugs were bad enough a newer version was quietly released (that's way you see v1.1 ROMS around) and people with the original buggy version were screwed. Ahhh, yes, the Golden Age.
Vidikron @ Feb 13th 2007 11:11AM
Oh.. and I forgot to mention that the games were 256 KB in size and not 6 GB like today's games.
Freelancepimp @ Feb 13th 2007 12:33PM
So let me get this right, in this particular case the developers just completely missed the lag in online and offline games?
Jake @ Feb 13th 2007 1:54PM
Freelancepimp,
In a sense, yes. After letting thousands of people play it, they found that different combinations of bandwidth, game circumstances, etc. created combinations of problems. The game was already Gold and couldn't be altered.
So, they fixed they problems, or at least improved them, for when the game ships. Now, rather than listen to Sony fanboys say "ha, your game doesn't work" we have to hear them say "ha, your game almost didn't work". I prefer the latter, since it doesn't affect my experience.
Freelance @ Feb 13th 2007 2:51PM
@Jake
Online maybe, offline I doubt it. But the truth is they should run beta test like everyone else then fix it. Stop making excuses. Also at Joe Smith there has always been bugs and glitches but these are not the cool kinds that people actaully try to do or recreate. These actaully affect gameplay. This used to outrage reviewers. Remember Turok 2 and the Matrix. I only expect this to get worse as things go on. I hate to say but this is a terrible trend in console gaming that has to easily come over from PC gaming.
Freelance @ Feb 13th 2007 3:00PM
@jake
One more thing, this is not about sony fanboys. Own up to your console. I really want Gears of war, I really want crackdown, I really want Lost Planet. I din't have an Xbox last gen and missed out on some great games like Ninja Gaiden Black , KOTOR, and Riddick to name a few. But its things like this (amongst other things I won't go into not get off subject) that keep me from running out and getting an Xbox360 since it is at a fairly affordable price.