Sony's SOCOM II Gets Cheat Patches

An anonymous reader writes "According to an email reprinted on the GameBattles.com forums, it seems that Sony has released the first mandatory downloadable patches for the Playstation 2 online game SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs. This is nothing new in the PC gaming world, but is relatively novel for PlayStation 2 gamers - there's no official word on what changed, but there's a list of perceived changes on the official SOCOM II boards." 1UP also notes that the patch "occupies some space on your memory card in the blocks already used by the game", but doesn't need the forthcoming PS2 hard drive in any way.

Sounds Cool

[NedR]

Is this the first step towards downloadable extra maps, etc., like on XBox Live? Or, conversely, is this the next step towards developers releasing buggy games for the PS2 because they know they can add on patches later? I'm hoping for more of a trend towards the former than the latter.

Re:Sounds Cool

[lubricated]

The hard drive will allow you to download extra maps, but patches and updates will be released to the memory cards. The people with hard drives will be able to download new levels but they will still be able to play with people that dont' have hard drives if they don't play a new level.

Re:Sounds Cool

[*weasel]

Which will outline the problems of add-on hardware for consoles all over again.

Most games don't leverage hardware add-ons because most people don't buy them. Offering content downloads to a small section of your community isn't going to be seen as a reasonable way to spend your development time and money. Since few people will have the HD, few people will have the new content, so few games will ever use it.

Games with fanatic followings like Phantasy Star Online and Final Fantasy XI can require adoption

Re:Sounds Cool

[obeythefist]

Here's the problem, as games become increasingly more complex on consoles (as the article said, nothing new for PC games), the bugs have become more apparent. It seems consoles must chase after the PCs again by including patchability in games.

Unfortunately the industry will just use this new technology as an excuse to make poor quality games for poor quality consoles and completely ignore the technology in the PC gaming platform.

Another Wolverine console game conversion from Activision perhaps?

Re:Sounds Cool

[StocDred]

Increasingly more complex? I don't think that's the problem. What's more complex, your average Final Fantasy game or your average PC FPS? I think that it's the usual rush-to-market syndrome, coupled with the relative inexperience of console developers when it comes to online games (and online cheaters.)

Patching in games is rarely a good thing, so I wouldn't make it sound like PC games are better because they can be patched. Console games (prior to this generation) required stricter quality control because

Re:Sounds Cool

[obeythefist]

This is exactly my point! Console games don't "just work". Not anymore. Let me explain.

They need to make at least a shallow attempt at competing with the PC in terms of attractive graphics, because the eyecandy factor of a console will help sales. This is obvious because next generation consoles are more popular than previous generation consoles, despite being more expensive.

Early PC games, just like early console games, just like most early software, was generally more free of bugs than more complex

Re:Sounds Cool

[StocDred]

Do you play console games? When I played Super Mario Sunshine, it never crashed out on me, never needed a patch to fix a level glitch, and never stopped working after I played some other game. When I played Vice City, the worst thing that happened was once my bike got stuck on a vertical ramp and I couldn't ride it anymore. I had to go find a new bike. By and large, console games do just work. 99.9999% of the time. It's only a handful of online-enabled games that are starting to go this patching route, hard

Re:Sounds Cool

[Deadguy2322]

If you had read the article, you would know that it is not a bugfix, but a patch to help eliminate cheating on the online play servers. How many PC games require 100s of MB in patches just to function properly, yet you still have assholes using trainers and other cheats to ruin your fun? Maybe before you post the next time, you'll try to learn enough about the topic at hand not to sound like an elitist wanker when you chime in with your contribution. Finally, if you are so opposed to consoles, don't annoy t

Patches aren't new to PS2 games

[jvmatthe]

Everquest Online Adventures (my initial impressions [curmudgeongamer.com]) also has mandatory patches, and they are also stored on the memory card. You even get a changelog with them that tells you what's been updated and why. It was pretty neat, even if it does take forever to do sometimes. Also, just like a critical Windows patch, it requires a reboot of the machine to finish.

I presume that Everquest Online Adventures: Frontiers has a similar system.

Good

[mrshowtime]

Cheat codes ruined that game totally. But, the damage has already been done. Will anyone be playing anymore. Socom lost a lot of people because of cheating.

Re:Good

[Komarosu]

Yup, i'm one of them. I got SOCOM with my network adapter and after 3-4 weeks the game was ruined with aimbot and invisbility hacks. Since then i've binned it.

Fine Line to choose to walk

[Stubtify]

As stated this may lead down a dangerous path, as people enjoy consoles mostly because you put the game in, and it runs, everytime. This won't however be the first time games have shipped with flaws, See here for GT2's recall [racing-line.org] So the ability to download patches could save millions if a game was truly flawwed, but take it too far, and consoles lose their biggest edge.

what about the bathing bikini girls?

[Monofilament]

Now, sure they patch some security flaws or something like that.

BUT .. its still not going to prevent your buddy from getting distracted by gawking at the nice looking woman next door who are rubbing sun screen on each other next to the pool, and then ultimately accidentally killing your whole squad cause he's holding down the fire button and left at the same time.

Re:what about the bathing bikini girls?

[Sylver Dragon]

Well, if the game can be moddified, it might be possible to make it display naked women for all of the characters in the game, so your friend should then pay attention to the screen. Then again, he might still hose your squad, but in a whole different fashion.

Memory Card Space

[MadMoses]

Ah, now I understand why the block occupied by SOCOM2 on the memory card is 3MB big (I had to buy a new one, btw). That's an insane size just for game data, but understandable if it was intended to be used for patches.

FYI, Socom2 was released in Europe only two days ago. About 6000 players already registered, with about 1500 playing in the evening. I hope Sony will soon introduce an international server, so that we can have some inter-continental matches (currently, the american, asian and european servers