DIGITISER
  • MAIN PAGE
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Game Reviews
  • FAQ

FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS: A WHINGE ABOUT MODERN GAMING - by Mr Biffo

14/4/2016

24 Comments

 
Picture
Since I got back from my thoroughly premature holiday - why couldn't I have been going away following this week??? - I've had a bunch of Digi-related things smouldering away in my in-tray (when I say "in-tray", I mean "lap" and when I say "things" I mean "cigarette butts").

The most pressing matters to attend to were games that needed playing... a few indie titles that I promised to take a look at, and two pretty major releases: Quantum Break and Dark Souls 3. 

The former I was all set to review, but the installation process was acting up, and it took something like three hours to reach 99% - at which point I switched off the Xbox One, because it was causing the internet in the rest of the house to grind to a halt, and everyone was shouting at me.

The latter I've been unable to review, because I can't charge my Dual Shock controller because the charging cable has gone funny. Do you know how hard it is to actually buy a Dual Shock 4 and a cable? Harder than it should be.

Yes, I know... first-world problems... but this is the world we have made for ourselves, people. This is progress, or so we're led to believe. 

THE WIRED
I've never liked rechargeable controllers. Give me a proper wired controller, or a battery-operated one.

​For a long time my PS4 controller lead wasn't long enough to reach where I like to sit to play games - a big nest made from my own filth and detritus, obviously. This meant either sitting in an uncomfortable place, where I had to hunch over, or dragging the PS4 over to me. Which was another whole set of hassles, given my TV set-up - and the mass of HDMI leads and power cables that would first need to be untangled.

When I did finally get a new wire that was long enough, it became loose after a month or so... meaning I had to sit perfectly still while playing games. Which is easier said than done, as usually I prefer to thrash and twitch like a fox in a duvet cover.

And then the other night, in desperation, I bought a brand new Dual Shock 4 on Amazon - the local Argos was all out of them, and there are no game shops near me anymore - but then I discovered that they don't come with a charging cable. Thanks, Sony. Another Amazon spend-oh, and now I have a charging cable, and can finally play Dark Souls 3, three days later than I wanted to.

This should not be happening in 2016. Especially not to me, who - you'll doubtless agree - has lived a blameless life, and deserves none of it.

​My ongoing issues with installation, however, are another headache altogether. And with writing that, I've just realised I've probably still got to install Dark Souls 3...
Picture
THE INSTALLATION GAME
Why does installation of modern games take so long? Not to mention, why does the Xbox One interface make it so difficult to even find your games, and what's currently installing, or even how to do simple things?

It's not like you get a manual with a console these days; to understand what all those tabs and flippity-flip bits are, you either have to go online to seek help, or work it out through trial and error.

And none of it seems remotely intuitive - which is a shame, as I used to like the old Xbox 360 interface.

​Games are stuffed away at the bottom of the cluttered menu, like some sort of dirty secret. I tried to play Super Time Force the other night, thinking a quick 20 minute game of that would probably take me through the installation. When I got bored, I couldn't work out how to quit the game, so I had the music playing over the top of the other menus. Ultimately, to get it to stop I had to shut down the Xbox One.

Which held up the installation even more, and made it start acting up when I switched it back on - first it was installing, then downloading a patch, then it told me it couldn't install, then it did...

​Excuse my ignorance, but when it tells me a game is installing - is that because I'm downloading something off the disc, or downloading something from a server somewhere? Either way - why three hours, or more? PC games never used to take that long. I get a game - I want to play it there and then. Not have to plan to play it in three hours time. Why am I even bothering to buy physical copies?

I'm supposedly a gamer of some experience, so if I'm finding it all baffling and a hassle, can you imagine what regular people/stupid people go through?

​And adding insult to injury... Quantum Break and Dark Souls 3 aren't even games I particularly want to play; an interactive movie, and a game so hard that the prospect of sitting down with it is giving me an unsightly rash. I'm doing this so you don't have to. 

But hey... if this week has taught us anything it's that I have a masochistic streak running through me about a mile wide.

FROM THE ARCHIVE:
​THAT DRAGON, INTERNET BACKLASH BY MR BIFFO
​
VIDEO GAMES: A PRIMAL INSTINCT BY MR BIFFO
MR BIFFO ON THE TELETEXT-R PODCAST

24 Comments
Car
14/4/2016 12:50:02 pm

The PS4 goes don't really take long to install usually. The main problem is the patches or if some games (Destiny and Uncharted Collection to name 2) need further installation time when you start up. As for a charging cable, this looks quite long http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Long-Micro-USB-Fast-Data-Charger-Cable-Lead-for-Samsung-Galaxy-S3-S4-S5-S6-Tab-4-/391203520116?var=&hash=item5b158bfe74:m:muUTOThEOANtceI1XFlINhw

Reply
Waynan The Barbarian
14/4/2016 12:57:23 pm

I had a mate round the other week with the intention of playing one of his Xbox One games together on my console - You know, like we used to do in the good 'ole days before all this online nonsense (Yes, i'm in my 30's) So we made ourselves comfortable, popped the disc in, all set for some glorious gaming with banter, beers and the occasional dead arm and then it suddenly dawned on us... THE DREADED INSTALLATION. Dammit!
So we ended up blowing the dust off the Megadrive and playing two playing World of Illusion instead.

Reply
Voodoo76
14/4/2016 02:47:00 pm

haha how very camp, i think Dale Winton enjoys playing Castle of illusion with graham Norton!

Reply
favus
14/4/2016 01:13:00 pm

If I download anything at full speed my internet connection kicks me off, so i am limited to 200Kbs on all downloads at the moment... so it would take me about 2 weeks to download something like Destiny...

Reply
Mr Tom
14/4/2016 01:21:49 pm

If you want to quit a game or application on the Xbox One, on the dashboard highlight the big window that the game is playing in, press the menu button (that one what used to be "start") and select... Close application I think it says? Or Quit game... Or something like that, I forget the exact wording. You'll know it when you see it. The menu button is really helpful in fact, it opens context sensitive menus everywhere.

The Xbox installation is showing installation from the disk AND downloading patches etc at the same time, shoved into one progress bar. REALLY unhelpful.

For my PS4 I ended buying a USB mains plug, as my sofa is next to a socket. That works a charm for me. Maybe an idea for you?

But I'm not sure I get the complain about the games being buried by a cluttered menu on the Xbox One. There's a whole Games tab that it defaults to, which contains your most recently played, your pins and the "My Games and Apps" section.. Is this a "can't see the wood for the trees" situation here?

Reply
Zod
14/4/2016 01:23:39 pm

I just feel sorry for the yoof of today. During my Christmases I could play a new SNES/Megadrive/Master System game INSTANTLY after opening it. Even the Speccy would load a game in a couple of minutes. Now you would just spend Xmas day installing the 18 patches released 4 nano seconds after the games launch date.

Reply
Andy McCulloch
14/4/2016 01:24:30 pm

Re: DS4 charging. I just plug mine into an android phone charger next to where I sit. Problem solved.

Reply
Harry Steele
14/4/2016 01:40:42 pm

Yup all this is rubbish - All you should need is a telly and a console. I hate this so much. It feels like the rot began when we all moved to memory cards so suddenly you had to remember to bring that if you went to someone's house.

Now, whenever I visit my brother (or he visits me) we have no idea if we will have the full selection of levels/characters etc because his profile is back on his console's hard drive. Give me everything-saved-onto-the-cart any day.

I have this romantic notion of living in a shack somewhere with only a TV and a SNES for company. Heck, my NES still works fine (mostly) but modern consoles don't even seem built to last during their generation - they're barely functional without the necessary patches.

Reply
Paul Jon Thrillin'
15/4/2016 12:11:24 am

Similarly, was looking forward to a game of Street Fighter V with my brother when I visited him recently, as we used to both be well into the series, but then realised that even though I had brought my copy of the game, there'd be at least an hour while we waited for updates to install on his ps4.

It's a bad scene! A bad scene.

Agree with the SNES dream. So sturdy, such good games. Gah!

Reply
jopijedd
14/4/2016 02:11:11 pm

I don't see the point in having games on physical medial if you're then going to have to spend the next week downloading patches and additional content to make it work. Perhaps developers should test their software properly before selling it to us.

Whilst we're on the subject of modern gaming irritations: I also fundamentally object to paying as much or more for a download of a game than i would to buy the physical release. There is no excuse for that bullshine.

Reply
Euphemia
14/4/2016 10:41:26 pm

Completely agree, and other media ie. music operates on that principle with digital copies being the cheapest versus CD and Vinyl.

Reply
stef
15/4/2016 07:11:33 am

You day that about CDs bit its untrue, with a CD you get a product you own with an unlimited licence to user that CD plus with amazon a DL of the CD too, were If you download day off itunes the prices never really drop plus they can just cancel your licence

Chris
14/4/2016 02:13:23 pm

If it's any consolation, PC games can take ages to install too. I bought XCOM2 and it took hours to install - but mostly that's because my DVD drive is somewhat broken, so it was taking ages to read anything and fell over complete two discs in, at which point I changed drives and started again but couldn't be bothered to watch it so wandered off and kept checking periodically as to whether it wanted the next disc or not (it comes on three... or was it four?). Anyway, it's not only consoles with the problem, and I find the PS4 does install stuff quite quick - except it rarely lets you play it until it has downloaded a few gigabytes worth of patches afterwards. It seems hardly worth installing it from the disc if most of the game is then going to be re-downloaded as part of a patch.

Was waiting for you to review Dark Souls 3 as I'm trying to decide whether I want it. I really enjoyed Bloodborne once I'd got into it, but gave up somewhere around Yhar'gul (actually, it was exactly Yhar'gul I gave up around) as I've almost completely run out of blood vials and nobody can be bothered to drop them with any regularity any more.

Reply
Antony Adler
14/4/2016 02:50:17 pm

I used to love consoles, I bought 2 PS4s and 2 Xbox Ones on release for different rooms, so I'd have it all. Unfortuntely, I have begun to feel after time that the golden age of the console has passed (to me it really went from the N64/Dreamcast/PS era through to Xbox 360 and PS3. These newer consoles are more fiddly and compromised than any previous system, to me they now seem like badly specced PCs more than anything. I used to love the front ends of PS3 and 360 (the blades were great!) but it's really gone downhill with this generation. The Xbox One in particular, as Biffo said, is just appalling!

The rumours of PS4.5 are only adding to this feeling that they're past their sell by date. I will go mad if they bring out a 'better' PS4, I don't care about smaller form factors, bigger HDs but changing the overall experience is just beyond the pale.

Due to my interest in Oculus Rift / Vive, I invested in a gaming PC a couple of months ago and it's totally revitalised my interest in gaming, which had started to get very stale. All in all, I genuinely find it less buggy and annoying to use on a daily basis. The Steam Store has a massive range of games I'd never heard of as well as 95% of console games (minus obviously your system exclusives) and they're normally a lot cheaper, plus often look miles better with the better graphical power of the PC. I particularly like the fact that any game I buy will be redownloadable any time in the future, rather than needing me to plug in an old console / repurchase. I feel like a cow being permanently milked by Sony / MS, PS plus etc.

I do worry for the future of consoles nowadays, they ain't what they used to be !

Reply
Scott C
14/4/2016 10:49:56 pm

I did pretty much the same as you and feel the same way after building a new PC a couple of months ago. I cancelled my PS+ subscription six months ago (I am certainly missing nothing from that), and my PS4 no longer gets any love (I use the controller a lot on my PC though). I plan on playing my way through Uncharted Collection and maybe Horizon Zero Dawn (if that is any good on release) and then selling the PS4. My PS3 sold on eBay last week after I bought the PC version of the last game that I thought I was going to play on PS3 (for £3 with a massive graphics upgrade to boot!).

Reply
LeighDappa
15/4/2016 02:17:19 pm

"I will go mad if they bring out a 'better' PS4"

Why get angry? Everyone knows there'll be a newer model. That's what companies do now. It's the reason I held back, knowing the PS4:Slim is on the way.

Reply
Superbeast 37
14/4/2016 02:56:25 pm

I know GTA/Watch Dogs do a weird thing where they install from disk, download and install a patch and then when you go to play them they start another lengthy installation process. Always thought that was weird.

XBL is pitifully slow to download stuff.

PSN is sometimes mediocre and sometimes dialup! If it drops to dialup speeds I just pause and restart it. That usually works and gets it back to mediocre.

On PC I find the Windows 10 store (where I downloaded Quantum Break) was slightly faster than XBL on the XO itself but poor compared to Steam.

Steam downloads at 200mb.

One thing that annoyed me about XO (no idea if it is fixed) is that it would only download patches/updates when in its instant start mode and switched off. It wouldn't download and install them when switched on. As I keep mine in Eco mode I kept finding that every other time I tried to play a game or even use an app like Youtube, it would say "sorry need a patch" and then an hour wait would ensue. No idea why it couldn't download the patch whilst I was watching TV...

I hate the PS4 battery situation. The battery itself is too feeble so I had to buy a longer USB cable because as you said, the cable that comes with the PS4 is too short to charge and play at the same time.

Then of course the pad has to be charged after every session or two. I bought the charging dock but the initially batch of PS4 pads had a bug where they wouldn't shut down when you take them off the charge dock or turn the dock off at the mains. So if when charged you turn the dock off and put it away, the pad would be flat next time you use it! The solution was to stand there like a lemon for 10 seconds holding down the PS button to force the pad off. Pads bought in the last year or so should be fine.

I can bulk buy AA batteries from Amazon for peanuts and they last weeks in my XO controller and take 10 seconds to swap.

Reply
Kelvin Green link
14/4/2016 05:31:30 pm

I bought one of these for my PS4:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2M-Micro-USB-Data-Charger-Cable-For-HTC-One-Nokia-Lumia-Amazon-Kindle-Samsung-/221430968096?hash=item338e506f20:g:zL4AAOSwNSxVXIAn

It does the job more than well enough for my purposes, and I can charge a phone or tablet from it when the controller is charged.

I've also hooked my PS4 to my router with an ethernet cable and the internet connection is much faster than via wireless.

Reply
paulvw
14/4/2016 06:56:12 pm

I've also had trouble charging my Dualshock controller. If you have an android phone in the house, you can charge the dual shocks using the phone charger.

Reply
Doctor Ashley Tagg
14/4/2016 10:37:43 pm

Mr Biffo, typo on line 29, focks.

Reply
Col. Asdasd
14/4/2016 11:21:15 pm

Focks in the duvet covers? We should be so lucky.

Reply
Keith
15/4/2016 08:15:21 am

Installation is the biggest problem for me accessing games.
I know that gaming is a break from stuff I need to do, and productive stuff I want to do (drawing, painting, making stuff)
So putting a game in to play, and I've accepted that I'm going to just have leisure time. And then the installation starts. And looks like it's going to take an hour or so. And updates are downloaded - same thing. So I find that I can either twiddle my thumbs while I wait to do something that isn't actually productive anyway, or I get stuck into something else. I bought the Division two weeks ago and haven't played it since installing it.

Reply
Chorltonwheelie
15/4/2016 09:44:21 am

Bring back cartridges!

And hey...Voodoo76, swivel on this you tedious twat.

Reply
Cc
17/4/2016 11:30:33 am

Wha? No camping jokes allowed anymore. Still your hearty abuse should calm everything down.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    This section will not be visible in live published website. Below are your current settings:


    Current Number Of Columns are = 2

    Expand Posts Area =

    Gap/Space Between Posts = 12px

    Blog Post Style = card

    Use of custom card colors instead of default colors = 1

    Blog Post Card Background Color = current color

    Blog Post Card Shadow Color = current color

    Blog Post Card Border Color = current color

    Publish the website and visit your blog page to see the results

    Picture
    Support Me on Ko-fi
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    RSS Feed Widget
    Picture

    Picture
    Tweets by @mrbiffo
    Picture
    Follow us on The Facebook

    Picture

    Archives

    December 2022
    May 2022
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014


    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • MAIN PAGE
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Game Reviews
  • FAQ