Mandatory console updates

[RXRob]

I saw on Reddit today that Duke Nukem for the 360 won't start unless you download an update.

I understand that this generation of consoles has had a fantastic lifespan, with no sign of coming to a halt yet, but is this really the way that consoles should be heading? I still remember when console gamers would laugh at their PC counterparts for having to spend hours installing drivers and updates with every game purchase.

I can understand why these updates are needed (in this case so that the 360 can read the new disc format) but I find the idea of mandatory console updates shocking.

My opinion as a lifelong console gamer is that every game should run perfectly on the advertised console straight from the shelf. I even get mad when I see slowdown on a console, and don't get me started on the ones that wouldn't run without a RAM expansion pak.

What's everybody else's opinion on this?

[irixith]

Without the ability to update the current consoles, we'd already be seeing new ones from everyone.

[RXRob]

Without the ability to update the current consoles, we'd already be seeing new ones from everyone.

Which is a massive positive to these updates. But it just feels wrong to me that I HAVE TO download an update before I can play a console game

[isiolia]

While they can be annoying, I don't see the point in leaving a console as-is for the decade or so that it's on the market if there's the capacity to improve it.

As complexity increases, so do bugs or other points of failure (inadequate security for example). It's not like video game consoles are the only things to be getting updates beyond rarely-advertised revisions to the PCB/etc. Cell phones, MP3 players, TVs, Blu-ray players... you wouldn't have expected to run an update to make your old tube TV and VCR talk to one another properly either, yet HDCP...er, here we are.

The couple ways it annoys me are feature reductions like the removal of Other OS, and that the consoles don't do this in the background like Steam can. Popping in Blazblue CS and -then- being told I have a 500MB update before I can play is annoying. The fact that the game was bumped to CS2 at no charge...not so much.

[Luke]

I saw on Reddit today that Duke Nukem for the 360 won't start unless you download an update.

I believe that is incorrect.

[Gamerforlife]

It irritates me, but consoles are more like computers now and don't have stability so this sort of thing is necessary unfortunately. Just add that to the list of reasons that it takes forever to jump into a game this days.

On the plus side, some of those game updates are pretty sweet. One of them gave Dead Nation the ability to permanently save your game at checkpoints. So you know longer have to beat a whole level in one sitting, which was one of my few gripes with that game

[noiseredux]

Popping in Blazblue CS and -then- being told I have a 500MB update before I can play is annoying.

yeah that was rough!

The fact that the game was bumped to CS2 at no charge...not so much.

huh? What do you mean?

[isiolia]

Popping in Blazblue CS and -then- being told I have a 500MB update before I can play is annoying.

yeah that was rough!

The fact that the game was bumped to CS2 at no charge...not so much.

huh? What do you mean?

For me personally? That I wasn't annoyed by the end result. Just the process. What I would have preferred is if my PS3 pulled down the update data during idle time, or in the background, so that it was ready to rock when I tried to play the game.

If you meant in general... the 1.03 patch bumped the game balance and such to CS2 level. It wasn't just a bug fix. source
'course, it only serves to balance my distaste for their DLC character strategy...

[MrPopo]

Once consoles moved to having an OS this was inevitable. It opens up the ability for games to have patches, which can be both good and bad, but it also means that mandatory firmware updates come in to play as part of anti-piracy measures (and new features sometimes).

[Inazuma]

AFAIK, this sort of thing has never happened on any Nintendo platform. If I am mistaken, please correct me.