So I downloaded Sideways: New York (via PS Plus) from PSN last night and I was excited to play it today after work but after I launched the game, a mandatory patch/update was detected and it was 700+ MB. Pissed off, I decided not to play.
And this also happened with games I actually bought. Scott Pilgrim I think, when I bought earlier this year, had a patch after I downloaded it.
Why doesn't Sony just replace the versions of games on PSN with the most updated versions when a patch is released? This way, those who purchase the games will be able to download the latest versions and won't have to patch the games before being able to play.
Edit: Yeah, I know about hitting circle and continuing to play.
Still, these games aren't being patched for nothing. Bugs are fixed, stability improved, etc. so it would be nice to buy the most updated version of a game.
My first guess is certification. Patches are faster and less expensive to certify than an entire game all over again. No need to have to re-cert the entire game for a patch.
Second guess would be recompiling - unless you jump versions (1.0 - 2.0) you usually don't recompile code especially something heavy like a video game.
Patches are also easier to maintain when that patch introduces more bugs... saving developers time from recompiling the entire game all over again for version 1.02
Its a much more cost/time efficient to patch. Even with an up-to-date downloader - the developer will STILL have to maintain several versions of code at once. For the people who downloaded day 1 - they have patches from there out. For those who downloaded an updated version - all those patches that follow afterwards.
So say there were 2 patches before an updated downloader. Those 4 (original, patch, patch, updated) versions will have to be maintained through every change since you'd need to make sure your patch can work with every version out in the wild. That is a time dump like no other. More time and money need to be spent to maintain.
Its not just PS3 games - a rather large majority of programs and applications on any operating system do the same.
Some of the only times you will find up-to-date versions are when those versions are released on open systems that do not have certification processes every time someone sneezes and when developer bandwidth allows. Some environments don't do this - but regularly force a re-download of the entire package - wasting bandwith which means - wasting money.
Sucks but "oh well". This is nothing new nor is it indicative of any single platform.
At least these patches aren't hidden behind a paywall.