Konami extending MGO beta Comments by Robert Purchese
"Extraordinary" traffic causing problems
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Poster
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Don't get me (again) wrong, but don't you think Sony should be a bit more light on this "install this/ install that" online thing? I usually go to a mates house once every 2 weeks or so, and he only connects PS3 to PSN when I go there, and almost every single time we have to wait, like forever to update this... update that..., than put a game and it takes XX minutes to install. Talk about 360 beeing a PC...
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@ miiiguel
I'm with you there mate, my new PS3 nearly went out the window yesterday!!! firmware download/install, then GTp install/download & install update (4 failed attempts before it finally done it), Metal Gear online download/install, LONG download/install update (only to find they delayed it anyway), Army of two...well you get the picture. Sonys new console has done very little to impress so far (in fact all it's done is annoy me!), still nice DVD upscaler and I'm looking forward to some Blu-Ray movies :) EDIT- liking PSN though, Live may need a face lift :)
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 22/04/08 @ 12:22
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GamesProgrammer
22/04/08 @ 11:23
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ITs all good, the beta is obviously far more popular than they thought it would be, therfore they might realise the full game will be more popular than they thought so hopefully all the server and online problems will be sorted by the time the full game is out. Afterall that is the point of a Beta. Its not a demo just so you can see if you want to buy it or not, its to help them test it so its right for release.
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"To the complainers: do you even know what "beta" means?"
Absolutely I know having participated successfully in the Halo 3*, CoD 4 and Bad Company betas on 360. Not to mention more than I can remember on the PC. I wasn't involved with Warhawk as it was before my PS3 days, but I believe that went well also on the whole? Server load is undeniably an aspect of beta testing an online game, but it's generally things like lag and disconnects. Not the fact that NO-ONE can even log in at all from day one! And the web site shenanigans were pretty farcical also. On the plus side, the use of bittorrent to distribute the client was a very smart move which I think mostly worked well. One can only hope that 'lessons have been learnt' for the relaunch, and the 'proper' launch. *Yes I know there was a little hiccup in getting the download, but nothing on the MGO scale. |
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"Sonys new console has done very little to impress so far (in fact all it's done is annoy me!), still nice DVD upscaler and I'm looking forward to some Blu-Ray movies :)"
No drive noise and virtually no fan noise, plus an extremely slick interface was all it really needed to impress me more than my 360 ever did :p. I've had my 360 turned on twice the last month - my PS3 is usually on all day and being used heavily for gaming, video streaming from my PC (with TVersity) and Blu-ray movies. I hate SCEE, I hate delays and screwups and the gaming catalogue is only just starting to look promising for the next few months (not that I've really felt the need to play much else than CoD4 the last month :p), but overall I certainly know which of my two consoles I prefer. |
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Like all betas, this one has had more than its fair share of problems so I wasn't at all surprised to hear it had been delayed.
I'm happy with downloading the beta but: (a) why on earth did it require a 750 MB update that takes forever to download? Couldn't Konami have updated the main file on the PS Store so everyone only had to download ONE file. Sure, I can accept updates after the beta has started but not BEFORE! (b) why do we have to sign up for a Game ID and Konami ID - why can't we use the PSN ID? It seems so unnecessarily complicated and a far cry from the integrated online system the Xbox 360 has which doesn't require all this palaver. Also the Konami ID website is nothing short of a shambles with poorly explained error messages like "This page has timed out" (or words to that effect) when I've only been on it for ten seconds!!! LOL Still, I shouldn't complain too much as I've little interest in playing this anyway beyond a couple of goes, I only want to check it out since it's free. I'm buying Metal Gear Solid 4 but certainly not to play online. |
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Aloominum_man
22/04/08 @ 11:38
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Where did my post go?
Edited 3 times,
most recently on 22/04/08 @ 14:46
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@ Miths
Horses for courses I suppose mate :) Don't get me wrong it seems a good all round machine (gonna play with remote play today!) but this update/install business is very off-putting as 360 can update a game in seconds!. On my experience so far I can say 100% movies, PS1 games (look good!) and PS3 exclusives only for my PS3, everything else 360! As for noise, well it is a bit quieter than the 360 but I can't say the 360 ever really bothered me (and personally I think it's a bit exaggerated anyway). |
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Aloominum_man
22/04/08 @ 11:43
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@Dizzy
Yes, test the game, not my patience simply trying to install and activate it. @Mith You're easily please. Sony - take note - a large flash with the words 'No fan noise!', 'Slick interface'* on the box of the PS4 will do the trick. Marketing spend magically reduced! *not available when you need it most EDIT - Sorry Dizzy, just realised you were saying the same to the original helmet who posted the 'beta' argument
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most recently on 22/04/08 @ 12:44
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Agent_Llama
22/04/08 @ 11:49
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@ bad09:
As for noise, well it is a bit quieter than the 360 but I can't say the 360 ever really bothered me (and personally I think it's a bit exaggerated anyway). A bit?! It's virtually noiseless. The 360 on the other hand sounds like it's preparing for take off, it's ridiculously noisy. |
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RustyBullet
22/04/08 @ 11:49
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@NickN4ck
I am with you on this one my PS3 fucks me right off. I would rather pay £40 and play some good games on my 360 then put up with all this crap on my PS3, and yes i know its a beta but ffs come on. |
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Aloominum_man
22/04/08 @ 11:53
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The whole 360=noisy issue is heavily overstated and one of the straws its low self-esteem detractors likes to grab at - it's noisy, but who the fuck notices when playing games? Granted, I'd never use it as a DVD player due to the drive/fan noise, but even the PS3 can be irritating at times when watching films, depending on the kind of film you're watching on it.
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Coughthulu
22/04/08 @ 11:54
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"You're easily please. Sony - take note - a large flash with the words 'No fan noise!', 'Slick interface'* on the box of the PS4 will do the trick. Marketing spend magically reduced!"
Except... is it just me that has his PS3 suddenly start making jet engine noises after about half an hour of playing something? I mean, we were told the PS3 was silent compared to the 360, and it is... right up until it preps for takeoff. I've ended up deleting the Beta. I've read the forums with people staying up into the wee hours, and I know if I start down that path, I'll get rabidly annoyed too. Ended up buying MGS:Portable Ops for the PSP instead, I'll wait till they hammer the issues out for release. They are going to hammer the issues out for release... right? |
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I notice noise mainly when upscaling DVD, other than that, bang on the money I say.
I do like they way that with each firmware update, they have been grinding out more efficient ways of doing things so that the fan gets kicked into action less. I certainly notice less noise than when I got mine last year. Oh I think it gets a bit fanwise when upscaling PS2 games, although once I'm in the gaming zone, I don't tend to notice things. |
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"Konami plans to extend the Metal Gear Online beta test because "extraordinary" levels of traffic have prevented it from working so far."
More than 10 concurrent users I assume. As for the Sony apologists saying that this doesn't matter because its a beta - WTF? As Dizzy pointed out you are, you know, at least supposed to be able to be able to get into the application itself before it falls over during a match or something! |
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Aloominum_man
22/04/08 @ 12:06
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@olemak
You don't release something for beta TESTING unless it can be tested. Right now, we're complaining about the process of trying to test it, not any shortcomings in the actual beta product itself. If this ridiculous process is intended to be a part of the final commercial product, then you could legitimately argue that this fuck-up is a legitimate part of a beta process. It's a pain to download and has to rely on the public's participation (P2P) to make 'ready' for testing at all. The need for a Konami ID seems arbitrary and probably has more to do with data-capture than any need to control participation. It's just a shambles and, to me, underscores why a free PSN is not a good idea in practice. |
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Seen as this perfectly PS3 related topic has somehow exploded into a "360 vs PS3" thread of no real relevance to the topic....
I don't like the triggers on the PS3 pad. They make my fingers go all achy. If you like the 360 and hate the PS3. Fine. If you like the PS3 and hate the 360. Fine. Don't fucking intrude in topics about how noisy one is or how "My 360 is better than your dad's car" or whatever. Christ. |
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@Aloominum_man - "It's just a shambles and, to me, underscores why a free PSN is not a good idea in practice."
Yet other PS3 games like UT3, Resistance, Warhawk and MotorStorm play perfectly fine on PSN. It's not the free PSN service that is at fault here, it's Konami's stupid insistence on making the whole thing as awkward as possible to play IMO. |
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^^^
indeed strange especially considering its your PSN identity that is displayed in game and well played for this too: "If you like the 360 and hate the PS3. Fine. If you like the PS3 and hate the 360. Fine. " bang on the money. I don't hate the 360 but there is no reason for me to ever want one, yet this does not apply to all.
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most recently on 22/04/08 @ 13:19
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Aloominum_man
22/04/08 @ 12:23
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@Darren
True, but in this case it seems to result in publishers hosting their own demos/betas and providing their own systems for involving the public and, absurdly, relying on dodgy P2P to actually make the beta functional - if you can call it that. The end user has had to facilitate the process for Konami/Sony. I can't help but feel that if this same process was occurring on Xbox Live, it would just be dealt with a bit more professionally. |
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Aloominum_man
22/04/08 @ 12:35
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Fair point. Please tell me it didn't need patching via a broken HTTP link or P2P though?
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tonynibbles
22/04/08 @ 12:48
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I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt: That they simply didn't anticipate the number of users that were going to download it, and so all their servers failed enourmously.
However, this is Konamis fault and Sony couldn't have dont anything more than to have tighter restrictions on what goes on the store and what doesn't. The beta shouldn't have gone up for download unless they were 100% sure Konamis servers were up to the job, which they obviously weren't. I'm still pleased that they're doing an open beta though - once they fix these initial problems we can get down to playing what looks to be a *great game*, which surely - is what matters here. PSN is pretty damn reliable, I've had pretty much no problems with it at all. Very rarely down. However, the problems here don't relate to PSN, even though some people seem to be pointing fingers at this and saying it's Sonys fault - I mean, that's just not true. And for a 750Mb download - around 150Mb of that would be the HD trailer that comes with it ;) |
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"Except... is it just me that has his PS3 suddenly start making jet engine noises after about half an hour of playing something? I mean, we were told the PS3 was silent compared to the 360, and it is... right up until it preps for takeoff."
I believe the PS3 has three fan speeds. Even the loudest level (which mine quickly reaches during gaming or DVD upscaling) can only just be heard from the roughly two meters I sit from my PS3. And that's with no other sounds in the living room - the slightest volume from the game/movie and it's completely inaudible. I almost always use headphones for gaming (Sennheiser HD 595, they aren't of the "closed" type, but they still fit entirely around your ears) - in relatively quiet parts I can still easily hear particularly the DVD drive on my 360, but the fan is certainly nowhere near as quiet as on my PS3 either. Supposedly the earlier 60 GB PS3 models had rather noisy fans though - and I've seen some reports that not all the 40 GB models are as quiet as mine either, though I don't know whether it's down to slightly faulty fans or if they are actually still using two different types of fans even in the 40 GB models (as I believe they did with the 60 GB versions). Still, the DVD drive is by far the worst offender during gaming on the 360. The Blu-ray drive is just plain quiet - aside from the disc loading "clicks". No doubt a very positive side effect at not having to spin around at insane speeds to get decent read speeds, unlike DVD drives in modern computers (and the 360). "@Mith You're easily please. Sony - take note - a large flash with the words 'No fan noise!', 'Slick interface'* on the box of the PS4 will do the trick. Marketing spend magically reduced!" Yes, noise really matters that much to me :). A consumer electronics product meant for the living room just shouldn't be as noisy as the 360, and while some of us might use "slightly" exaggerated terms like jet turbine or blow dryer :), I really do think it is very, very bad and entirely unacceptable - and that really is just about the only reason I've grown to almost hate my 360 after getting a PS3. Otherwise I think it's a fantastic console (though not so fantastic that I actually expect to ever use it again for anything but really interesting exclusive titles, I wouldn't have wanted to miss out on Mass Effect for instance), and I'm certainly not contending that it's still ahead of the PS3 in several gaming related areas - most notably the game catalogue of course, but I also prefer the 360 controller, and no doubt will even when we finally get the Dual Shock 3 here in Europe. |
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AllenSpawn
22/04/08 @ 13:07
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@ vanmunt. If holly valance came round my house with a wii. I think i'd beta....
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Kenshin001
22/04/08 @ 13:32
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"How did we end up talking about 360 noise levels YET again?
FUD?" Bad09 brought up paying 30 quid for online for Live, then some cock posted a thing about error codes. Miiiguel popped in with his usual tripe and fantasies about PS3 owning friends. |
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Aloominum_man
22/04/08 @ 13:45
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By the way, some of the normal people in here own both consoles. Having dropped £400 on a PS3 last summer, I'm just pretty frustrated at the experience so far. It's good at playing DVDs/Blu-Rays though.
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jetsetdemo
22/04/08 @ 13:46
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Bring back the cartridges; I think I have a vic20 with Goff up in the loft somewhere.
Seriously if you think about all this it's rubbish I loved my PS1 & PS2 from launch day but am deeply disappointed in my PS3. Xbox was so so, only really got it at release so I could play HALO and I think the PS2 was just a much more accessible piece of gaming equipment which kept me away from the Xbox for most of its life span. Got a 360 on release and it under whelmed me up until Forza2 from then on there has been an avalanche of quality titles that have truly made me fall in love with gaming all over again. It looks as if the PS3 has lost this round, as a media device it's awesome, xvid films on USB sticks on your HDTV, sweet. But I fear by the time it gets in to its stride as a games console the successor to the 360 will be on the horizon. Will that be a snap shot off cutting edge pc gaming?, defiantly. Will Microsoft have learned the lessons of the 360 and use quality components?, maybe it's not out of the question. Apple and the 4.5g ipod is a good example of huge electronics companies improving the quality of there product when consumer dissatisfaction is runs to over a million warranty claims. This whole MGS on-line screw up is just another example of how gaming seems to take second place on Sony's super system
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 22/04/08 @ 14:47
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Coughthulu
22/04/08 @ 14:31
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@Miths & evilfoxhound
Dammit, maybe that's the problem then, it's an early 60GB model. It's a far "softer" noise than the 360 drive, certainly, and I don't notice it with games, but during a Bluray film, it can be a bit distracting when it suddenly occurs. The 360 Elite I was expecting to be a bit quieter, as I'd heard reports that even the non-Falcons had improved on the drive noise, but no, just as noisy as the original console (before it RROD'd). Didn't know they'd changed the fans on the later versions of the PS3 though. Learn something new every day. :) |
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Aloominum_man
22/04/08 @ 14:47
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@Swam
It's something like this, if memory serves, as I don't switch it on as much as I'd hoped: Motorstorm Resistance Both were bundled with the console. I downloaded Warhawk and a couple of other things - Flow, Pain er... That's about it. Does that help? |
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