Call of Duty: Black Ops [X360/PS3/PC]

[jim g]

For me, the most annoying thing these days is games are released and then fixed (or part fixed) using constant patches. This is PC game strategy that has been in place for years, but it new to consoles.

I find it annoying, no, downright insulting that most games are being released with major bugs these days and the developers using the patches to try and fix shoddy work in the first place (F1 2010 is another example). I know they can't control bandwith issues in the real world, but the actual game functionality is within their control.

Black Ops sound issues are a result of bad design (or testing?)

[FelixofMars]

In defence for that,

1. You cannot hope to catch everything, while testing can find most major issues sometime the way a user plays it will catch out even the most diligent test team.

2. MS still do not allow massive patches, so on the Xbox 360 at least the game has to be pretty tight.

3. It will be going through lots of publisher checks that are far more picky that and PC counterparts. As in there are no real enforceable checks. Most of this is about having a uniform look and feel to the game and error messages but some devious stuff is checked.

4. Its about publisher bottom line, I can remember a case a game was shipped with bugs without out consent because the publisher wanted a pressed disc. They then had to have us day one patch it because they had basically jumped the gun. this was on PC however.

5. Plenty of older console games had issues its just that information wasn't as quick and easy to get hold of for these issues. Most games where not even online. Look at things like Goldeneye and how many glitches people found. Yeah they where all fun back then but imagine if you could use these exploits in an online version of the game.

I am not saying it okay that some games do have massive patched to fix glaring issues but to be honest I haven't found any serious issues with the online stuff (for the xbox at least). The only game busting bug I found was in the first level where a load of masonary was meant to fall behind me (to stop me going back into a building) but it fell too early and I got stuck and had to restart the level.

[Skull Commander]

No cod game has been perfect online from the get go, but I honestly believe (like WAW) people are just out to give this a kicking because it's Treyarch. If it had played the same and had the Infinity Ward tag attached I bet people would go a bit easier on it.

[FelixofMars]

TBH, I though MW1 was good in terms of a change of locale and time period and certainly had some nice scripted scenes and characters but the multiplayer didn't really set my world on fire. I did prefer MW2's multiplayer all be it the fact it encouraged people to use a load of exploits and cheap classes. The story was completely idiotic though and actually cheaped the characters they designed.

I think this is a good attempt and overall I am enjoying it, I miss the challenges however and this the zombie mode is pretty weak as an alternative. I cannot say I hold IW any higher that Treyarch TBH.

[jim g]

No cod game has been perfect online from the get go, but I honestly believe (like WAW) people are just out to give this a kicking because it's Treyarch. If it had played the same and had the Infinity Ward tag attached I bet people would go a bit easier on it.

I wouldn't. I so want this game to be great and don't care who produces it

[MisterBubbles]

I've defended Treyarch in the past, cause i know COD 3 had a 8 months development time and loved WaW, so im hot bashing this just cause IW aint at the helm, maybe i should have gone 360, as the framrate is better, im still kinda enjoying it, i just want to like it more.

[nonny]

Im in the software testing business and have been for 15 years, part of which was some games testing before I realised it wasnt lucrative.

You can really see both sides of the argument. It's very hard to test multiplayer in an affordable manner with real-world constraints. You can performance test all you want but there is a discernable difference between faking that load and watching it happening in real-time out in the wild. For that main reason I cannot blame any developer missing some multiplayer glitches, random events and lag issues creeping into the final product.

On the other hand there are issues in Black Ops which have been apparent in previous versions such as W@W and MW2. The party system dropping for instance. That is simply unacceptable. A large bug reaching production code once is expensive, reaching it the next year in an identical manner for me would mean someones head is on the block.

All that said. Testing software seems to be an art more than a science in some cases and in human terms it pays to have contingency plans. I feel these days of patching games in the wild to plug up the holes is a less expensive business model but within that game-plan at least Treyarch are keeping open communication channels with the players from the outset and listing what bugs they've acknowledged and are working on.

I think back to IW and the awful matchmaking code in MW2 and they practically went into silence after launch. Then again they had other issues afoot to take care of... :S

[MJ]

I think back to IW and the awful matchmaking code in MW2 and they practically went into silence after launch. Then again they had other issues afoot to take care of.

And they were sitting on top of about $1 billion anyway.

[FelixofMars]

Probably best to stick on topic. But one thing is for sure only Bobby etc see the dollars. Most get the crumbs. I doubt the devs are swimming around like scrooge mc duck.

[jim g]

new patch now out for PS3 UK. DO they self install or do you have install?

[FelixofMars]

I finished the main story, I didn't think it was a terrible story in the end. Yeah it was a bit scifi but not implausible. obviously the bit after the credits roll is just the lead into the bonus mode.

I wonder if there will be an Xbox patch soon? To be fair it seems that the Xbox has a better framerate and less network issues from the complaints here.

[nonny]

I posted a link to the current patch "in progress" a bit further back mate.

[iloveannie]

I feel these days of patching games in the wild to plug up the holes is a less expensive business model...

But then you have the issue with consumers like myself who only played Reach for a couple of weeks and then put it back on the shelf. A patch is not gonna help me unless it's released in the first few hours. (Admittedly I didn't see and bugs whilst playing Reach. Didn't see anything interesting at all to be honest...).

Fable 3 has seen me put in about a day and a half's play so far. The slow-down last night was terrible. And that's playing the same area, offline. Inexcusable really and a patch in a few weeks time will be a patch too late. The game will be finished.

[Supergoal]

Can someone report back after installing the patch and let us know if anything has changed!

[jim g]

PS3 Patch details

# 11/17 (full title update)
# ? Improved matchmaking to find matches significantly faster
# ? Improved matchmaking to ensure that players are more effectively matched to games with the best networking conditions
# ? Improved host selection to ensure that the best host is always selected in the pre-game lobby
# ? Improved party system to ensure that parties don?t get broken apart
# ? Disable ability to join Private Match, Combat Training and Theater lobbies when searching for Player Match games
# ? Server-side and game-side changes to decrease the amount of failed Film uploads
# ? Weekly and Monthly leaderboards will now track all kills, deaths and assists properly (All Time leaderboards were not affected by this)
# ? Prevention of Combat Training stats getting crossed with Player Match stats under rare conditions
# ? Prevention of temporary loss of functionality when a button was being held down at the point of a disconnect
# ? Additional fine-tuning of audio levels and ranges for footsteps and gunfire
# ? Additional fine-tuning of audio levels for bomb plants/defuses
# ? Additional online security enhancements
# ? Optimization to prevent friends list from spamming user while in game ? will improve game performance for users with large numbers of friends