IGN: console games unplayable at launch

According to IGN, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are practically online-only consoles because of the "the broken state of unpatched games".

IGN's Dan Stapleton's complains that consoles stopped being hassle-free:

Here’s what’s changed: years ago, when a game “went gold” and was sent off to be pressed onto discs and shipped to stores (a process that takes roughly a month), it used to mean developers, publishers, and platform owners had signed off on the quality of the shipping version as ready to play, right out of the box. Today, a “ship it now and patch it later” attitude from publishers means that a game installed onto an offline console has a high likelihood of arriving in an unacceptably unfinished and buggy state. These never would’ve made it past QA testing five years ago.

Full article here

But mah "plug and play" console experience.

Also, nice job Nintendo

Whelp they never were hassle free since with PS1 you would sometimes need to turn the console upside down to get the system to read the disk and with N64 you needed to blow into the cartridge sometimes to get it to work... J/k but only a lil bit. :P

I do think they've somewhat lost that turn-key operation tho.

I agree but that problem exists on every platform these days. I'm not saying internet is a bad thing because bugs used to be hard to fix back then. But everything has its own pros and cons. When internet became mainstream, there were devs who used it properly to improve their games with updates but a lot of devs became lazy and started to release unfinished products.

Lol, so true, either upside down or sideways :D

+1 we gotta applaud Nintendo for not willing to release games in such a broken state

lol console and paying for online service

Well technically console gamers have to pay for patching :D

If games are broken after release date, that is unacceptable. However, this complaining about day one patches just sounds super bitchy to me.

Connecting to the internet for an hour to get a patch isn't the same as being "online only."

Already a thread.

And I play games quite fine offline, very few complaints here

No they don't

The norm of day-one patches is just upsetting. It seems like the only platform that delivers optimal experiences the minute a game is released is Wii U.

Some games are like that sure, so are some PC exclusives like Sim City

well technically....no.

If the internet is needed to play the game whether it be a one hour or 2 seconds of connectivity it is actually "online only".

It isn't needed

It's recommended if you want an optimal experience, but it's not needed to actually play the game. I am unaware of any games released recently that require you to download a patch before you can access the game offline.

Most of my Wii U games did not need a Day 1 patch. Quite frankly I'd be shocked if they did. Almost all of them are working like a champ from day 1 with no issues. Its sad news that this is out of the ordinary these days. This is more of that innovation that companies not named Nintendo have come up with.

And yet some reviewers give these buggy messes their own stamps of approval. Sure, the blame lies with the publishers and developers, but let's not be too hasty to pass on the buck.

It's up to Sony and Microsoft to insist games are released as close to 100% as possible.

Everything from DLC done right to bug-free games, Nintendo owns this gen in quality.

IGN is broken!

!

Crappier games used to pass all the testing and certification too...I remember renting some N64 games that were downright poor or un-playable. Games being re-leased in an un-finished state is not new, some developers finish their games for launch (A good example would be Sunset Overdrive imo, the game out of the box and un-patched is pretty solid and glitch free) and some devs just don't finish them (AC:Unity)

I been using my PS4 ever since i bought it, i dont even use my PS3 or Vita anymore due to how addicted i am to the PS4 so.. i dont know what the f**k IGN is talking about

He's right, it was pretty bad last gen especially on PS3 as the updates was ridiculously slow, but they was still only around 200mb for the larger patches, so the games were usually in at least a playable state. This gen Dead Rising 3: 13GB, D4: 8GB, Assassins Creed Unity: 6.7gb, Forza: 6gb, Sniper Elite 3: 10gb, Wolfenstein: 7.3 GB, Halo MCC: 20GB... PS4 will no doubt be similar. A lot of these are day 1 patches too, pretty awful.

I don't think you understand how things work on the console side

well to be fair, the MCC download was for the online portion because it wouldn't all fit on one disc...not that the online actually worked properly

You don't need anaesthesia for a liver transplant... it's just recommended if you want an optimal experience.

No to mention the mandatory subscriptions....

lel consoles....

Yeah the consoles got the crazy pc disease

Everyone pays for online. Some pay more then other.

@ShepardCommandr: fake boy is fake

They're not lying. Part of the reason I see PC being the eventual end-result for all serious gamers is the fact that consoles, console makers and game makers have slowly but surely eroded the quality and that "just plug it in and have fun" appeal of console gaming.

They might not act like it's a big deal but sitting around for games to patch isn't just not fun, it's un-fun. I've fired up games before, got a patch notice, started downloading and then completely lost interest in playing the game before. That shit sucks.

I was told that if I bought a console I could just plug it in, and then play it.

What's with all this patching, and online subs?

Maybe they shouldn't have beeen wannabe low end PCs then

Gotta quote to Dan Stapleton (author of that article) who responded to a very similar statement:

Dan Stapleton: Nintendo does deserve a lot of credit for maintaining quality control. At the same time, they seem to do this in large part because their online infrastructure is an outdated nightmare, so it's the sliver lining of a dark cloud.

..aren't you a PC gamer???

Maybe this is a subject you should leave alone.. just saying.

Aw c´mon ! maybe we can skip the anaesthesia and a good blow to the head can do the trick ?

why? it's an article from IGN

They don't want to recite Nintendo's mistakes in the NES/SNES era (although to be fair, that Seal of Quality never meant anything other than they approved of the game). Although I do agree that there are some things that I swear Sony and MS are too laxed on.

Well done you guys..... you broke gaming....

So consoles one advantage over PC is now gone.

lol consoles.

And its a bigger problem on consoles now, since patches take longer to deliver and make.

So consoles are worse in every facet now. Heh.

Some pc gamers acting all high and mighty need I remind you of rome 2 that needed patching, all platforms have to deal with it. Plus if a game is broken on launch it's the devs fault not platform did pc gamers blame creative assembly for the state of rome 2 or the pc.

Pretty much started by PC, of which, TC is a whore of

so what?

strange to hear this from IGN cuz i'd expect them to actually damage control instead