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Your Semi-Regular PlayStation 3 Server Update

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SOCOM and LittleBigPlanet get patched, and should hopefully be working better... soon?

There's a fine line between waiting out a rough launch and giving a game a free pass.
So far we've got one announced patch and one stealth one. Let's start with the stealth because it's sneaky. And shadowy.

Actually, it's neither. LittleBigPlanet has been updated to version 1.03 with a 20MB patch for 1.02 users. There's been no official word on any of the typical Sony info sources about what this patch does, though. Currently, the LBP servers are back online, but struggling. When I first fired it up 20 minutes ago, I was able to get into a couple of online levels and actually complete them, too. Haven't been able to connect to other human players, though. Someone on my friends list shot me an invite and it returned a message claiming that we were running the same build, so maybe there are still 1.02 players out there gumming up the works.

Things haven't remained all peachy, though, as I'm currently getting the same "failed to load level" errors that I was getting the night the servers went up earlier this week.

[UPDATE] It appears that the LBP servers were taken down again moments after this article was posted.

SOCOM was updated to version 1.20 this morning, and the official SOCOM site lists these changes:

  • Fixed many issues which would cause the game to crash, hang, disconnect and exit to the PS3 XMB.
  • Fixed an issue which would cause large numbers of players in a high player count game to be simultaneously disconnected.
  • Fixed an issue which would cause players to be invincible.
  • Fixed a physics issue which would cause players to occasionally "warp" around on the map.
  • Fixed an issue where a "corrupt save data" message would be incorrectly displayed after updating the game.
  • Fixed some player model issues related to team swapping.
  • Client/server optimization.
  • Fixed an issue where the scope camera had an incorrect offset from the barrel of the gun while prone or leaning/peeking.

This will be a 550MB patch for people running any version older than 1.10. If you already got the monster 1.10 update, then you'll be downloading another 50MB or so for the upgrade.

I've been thinking of the best way to handle reviews of these games. If I had written a review of SOCOM last week, for example, I would have given it one star. If our score went to zero, I'd try to give it that. Why? Because it wasn't even a game. It was a $40 title screen. Rather than write a review that doesn't do anyone any good, I wrote an article or two about the status of the servers, figuring that would hopefully keep people from running out and buying the game before it gets fixed.

I'm currently doing a pretty good job of pretending this game never came out.
LittleBigPlanet is sort of in the same boat, but since it has a single-player game, there's still something for you to do while it's broken. However, playing it offline isn't much fun at all. The single-player levels aren't its strength, and building levels without the ability to share them is pretty shallow. If you're not connecting your PS3 to the Internet, LBP is probably three or four stars. In its current state, with the servers getting all herky-jerky and rarely working, it's probably still a four-star game, just because the user levels are so cool. Toss in some functional multiplayer and all the sharing and rating and recommending stuff and I'm going to bet it'll get a full five stars by the time this is all ironed out.

But my patience won't last forever. Expect a review of LittleBigPlanet by early next week at the absolute latest, and if the server situation hasn't been ironed out by then, then I guess you can expect the review to reflect that. As it stands, the rough launch is already a knock against both games. As for SOCOM, there are other, more-important games on our review schedule right now. Perhaps we'll get back to it later this year and figure out if it's any good or not.
Jeff Gerstmann on Google+
Filed under:
LittleBigPlanet
SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs - Confrontation
PlayStation 3
PlayStation Network (PS3)
33 Comments
Posted by Jeff
There's a fine line between waiting out a rough launch and giving a game a free pass.
So far we've got one announced patch and one stealth one. Let's start with the stealth because it's sneaky. And shadowy.

Actually, it's neither. LittleBigPlanet has been updated to version 1.03 with a 20MB patch for 1.02 users. There's been no official word on any of the typical Sony info sources about what this patch does, though. Currently, the LBP servers are back online, but struggling. When I first fired it up 20 minutes ago, I was able to get into a couple of online levels and actually complete them, too. Haven't been able to connect to other human players, though. Someone on my friends list shot me an invite and it returned a message claiming that we were running the same build, so maybe there are still 1.02 players out there gumming up the works.

Things haven't remained all peachy, though, as I'm currently getting the same "failed to load level" errors that I was getting the night the servers went up earlier this week.

[UPDATE] It appears that the LBP servers were taken down again moments after this article was posted.

SOCOM was updated to version 1.20 this morning, and the official SOCOM site lists these changes:

  • Fixed many issues which would cause the game to crash, hang, disconnect and exit to the PS3 XMB.
  • Fixed an issue which would cause large numbers of players in a high player count game to be simultaneously disconnected.
  • Fixed an issue which would cause players to be invincible.
  • Fixed a physics issue which would cause players to occasionally "warp" around on the map.
  • Fixed an issue where a "corrupt save data" message would be incorrectly displayed after updating the game.
  • Fixed some player model issues related to team swapping.
  • Client/server optimization.
  • Fixed an issue where the scope camera had an incorrect offset from the barrel of the gun while prone or leaning/peeking.

This will be a 550MB patch for people running any version older than 1.10. If you already got the monster 1.10 update, then you'll be downloading another 50MB or so for the upgrade.

I've been thinking of the best way to handle reviews of these games. If I had written a review of SOCOM last week, for example, I would have given it one star. If our score went to zero, I'd try to give it that. Why? Because it wasn't even a game. It was a $40 title screen. Rather than write a review that doesn't do anyone any good, I wrote an article or two about the status of the servers, figuring that would hopefully keep people from running out and buying the game before it gets fixed.

I'm currently doing a pretty good job of pretending this game never came out.
LittleBigPlanet is sort of in the same boat, but since it has a single-player game, there's still something for you to do while it's broken. However, playing it offline isn't much fun at all. The single-player levels aren't its strength, and building levels without the ability to share them is pretty shallow. If you're not connecting your PS3 to the Internet, LBP is probably three or four stars. In its current state, with the servers getting all herky-jerky and rarely working, it's probably still a four-star game, just because the user levels are so cool. Toss in some functional multiplayer and all the sharing and rating and recommending stuff and I'm going to bet it'll get a full five stars by the time this is all ironed out.

But my patience won't last forever. Expect a review of LittleBigPlanet by early next week at the absolute latest, and if the server situation hasn't been ironed out by then, then I guess you can expect the review to reflect that. As it stands, the rough launch is already a knock against both games. As for SOCOM, there are other, more-important games on our review schedule right now. Perhaps we'll get back to it later this year and figure out if it's any good or not.
Staff
Edited by Xander51

I ended up selling my copy of LittleBigPlanet due to the server issues. I know it's an awesome game, and hopefully it'll all get ironed out, but with all the other great stuff that's out right now, I don't have time to play a game that doesn't function. I plan on revisiting it post Holiday Season Madness.

Posted by yellownumber5

that's cool of you to wait to review these games.  Its sad they were released a little broken, but its fair to give them a chance to fix them.

Posted by Ironhide

Look on the bright side, you didn't have to buy a drum kit with it.

Posted by Nettacki

This is why I always wait for the holidays to come before buying any of the big games released now. Due to issues like these that (hopefully) would be fixed by that time.

Posted by Snipes424

Well Jeff, in a perfect world, you would just press a button and everything would work perfectly... sadly there is no such button.  It's not like Sony and MM are sitting there laughing at us because we can't get on the servers, they are working around the clock to get the issues ironed out.  If you remember last year, Microsoft ran into the same problem, where their ENTIRE service did not work (at least for me) for 3-4 weeks.  I did not go on and post about how shitty XBL was because I knew Microsoft was working around the clock to get the problems solved, and they did, and guess what?  It works great now.  Same thing will happen with SOCOM and LBP... It just takes some patience, they will fix it. 

Posted by StaticFalconar

Why is it funny to me that Sony cannot handle thier own success of a game when they do hit a really good one?

Posted by BenderUnit22

Let's be honest, you weren't gonna give it a score any higher than 4 stars anyways. I know, respect and love your enthusiasm for games you like, but that same enthusiasm can blind you at times (see Bionic Commando Rearmed, look forward to MK vs DC U) and you writing a review for a game you were never really fond of to begin with, is likely gonna skew the result. But that's totally fine, I believe to know your preferences and can therefore evaluate what your reviews mean for me (besides, I have LBP and enjoy it thoroughly, or I would if my PS3 didn't catch a Yellow Light.)

Posted by BawlZINmotion

When I've been able to catch the serves online I haven't experienced any problems. That doesn't really say much though. Hopefully they get this shit ironed out soon, more so for SOCOM than LBP. Because what happened with SOCOM is a fucking joke.

Posted by Sanj
Online
Posted by Verge

I guess those two games are just lucky that reviewers are so busy at the moment, they can go review some other stuff and come back. Of course other sites are posted glowing reviews of LBP, which I find odd as if I were to buy it now a large section of it is broken. I look forward to reading a more informative and thought out review soon from you guys. As for SOCOM, it’s all just starting to add to a worrying trend of some major releases having bad online (MGS4, LBP, SOCOM). I’ll be interested to see how Resistance 2 does regarding its ambitious online in the long term.

Posted by Kohe321

Great

Posted by Kazona

Personally I think the SOCOM game should have been reviewed and given one star. It's a completely multiplayer focussed game, and pretty much everything about it was broken from day one of release. Not even huge MMO releases have this many issues at launch, and for a game that's nowhere near that scale to have this many issues, making the game completely unplayable for most, is just inexcusable and the game should be rated as such.

LBP on the other hand, however, should be given a bit of slack. It doesn't seem like there is anything particularly broken about the game, just that the servers can't handle the load, which is something that I can forgive because they probably simply didn't expect the game to be such a huge hit that it would bring the servers to their knees.

So yea, SOCOM deserves the 1 star, and LBP should be given one or two more days for the online issues to be fixed. If it doesn't get fixed soon, though, then it too deserves to be penalized.

Posted by Will

Bad luck, they both seem like pretty cool games aswell.

Posted by brocool

Whatever makes you happy pal..

I found LBP and Socom to be totally awesome games!

Posted by furrygiblets

Lets hope these issues are ironed out for when LBP hits the UK

Edited by kainen

I can understand where you are coming from Jeff.  I was talking to Brad about this last night, it's about what you pay for....I mean, now we can all see why the annual subscription to Xbox Live is totally worth it's weight.  PSN and these games just don't match up.

ALL THAT BEING SAID, last night I was able to successfully play with people and it was some of the most fun I've had in the while.  That game just isn't right playing alone....you need all the little guys at once to really get it.  The dynamic is even surprisingly enhanced if you don't use audio communication, using expressions and signals can do the trick in a really intuitive and charming way.  The user levels brim with creativity and modes of gameplay that take you by surprise.   I don't know, it's just a smashing creative success in my opinion, and for me to say that about a performer is pretty notable.  

Additionally, watching someone drop into a pit and die with their last re-spawn thingy is pretty funny; particularly when you direct your sack dude to start laughing and include a flourish of slapping a ROFL sticker the size of Texas on the screen.....or something as equally ridiculous.  It's a gentle parting jab before you resurrect them again.  It's the little things....it's definitely the little things. 

The possibilities are large when you unleash content and direction to tons of idle thumbs, hell I think we've seen that here!  I look forward to GB's' review.   And when can we expect a custom Giant Bomb level? 

Posted by ActionBastard
It's damned refreshing to hear a reviewer say "Rather than write a review that doesn't do anyone any good, I wrote an article or two about the status of the servers...". I, for one, appreciate it that. It's a shame 2 really good games are marred by server side issues. I look forward to your reviews.
Posted by Destroyeron

I don't understand how companies screw up these launches so bad, then again I expect nothing different from Sony when it has to do with online components.

Posted by BawaTheGamer

Hmm. That seems sucky . Werent sony anticipating people to play it?

Posted by DJ_Lae

Sony's got one of the biggest, most easily marketable games in years that appeals to people of every age. It's cute, got tons of potential via user created content, and then they go and muck it up by recalling the game and delaying it a week, shunting it further into the mass of great releases. Now they fuck it up further by learning nothing from the beta and having no ounce of foresight to set up more than a couple of servers for something they expected to be huge. The sad part is that LittleBigPlanet should be awesome, only Sony's tripped it up and is peeing on Sackboy while he's writhing around on the ground.

Posted by The_Icon

Its working fine for me!

Posted by Irishjohn

I can't get LBP until next week and so am perhaps saved from all this, but it's such a pity that the launch has been so bad.

Posted by reydeeeezy

They update more than Apple Itunes!

Posted by Terrell

I think you should review these games as is...  You can't sit there and wait and hope for the game to get "better" you have to review it as it is out of the box as of right now, with both Socom and LittleBigPlanet.  Review this game as per your experiences with them, or atleast make sure that in your review you make an editor's note that the game needs to be patched in order to even work properly...

Posted by glassman67

Remember when Alex Navarro had to review Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing? Did he wait until the game was patched up? It is unfair to wait on a review. It is fair to give a review and post an update with noteworthy changes, but that game should score as it played out of the box. Do it right.

Posted by dtran1212

the server seems to work fine but there are occasionally issues like long ass loading, players cant connect, and levels won't load.

Posted by Bigrhyno

That's cool, I don't need reviews. I am already having tons of fun playing both online.

Posted by bricewgilbert

Socom has been working for everyone I know on my friends list (about 20 people) for about a week perfectly. It's still annoying as all hell that the game is missing key features that are referenced in the manual, but the servers actually work (a lot better than LBP right now).

Posted by BiggerBomb

Good for you, Jeff.

Edited by PJ

Might not pick up LBP at all or any other online enabled PS3 game untill this is fixed(and that would probebly be around year 2046 at the rate their going).
SONY Get your shit together. I can only imagine what kind of dissaster Home will be.

A half gig patch? Seriously?

Posted by ocdog45

get you SHIT! TOGETHER SONY!

Posted by SolidKnight

servers are better now in LBP

Use your keyboard!

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