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[Z_Y]

i mean if it takes 30 minutes to update your PS3.. there's something wrong alright... with your ISP!

Anecdotal evidence and all...but updating and downloading things on my PS3 takes much, much longer on my PS3 than on my 360. I want to to say at least 3 times as long but afraid I'm underestimating it. Same ISP...both wired. (actually sometimes the 360 is wireless too).

It is frustrating....especially with the frequency of PS3 firmware updates. Most of the time...i don't even bother once I see an update is required. Another true story...I bought the LBP game of the year edition about a month and a half ago. Popped it in...2 hours and 17 minutes later I was able to play it after it finished all of the updating.

I don't know if it is a setting in my router I'm ignorant about or what. I wish I knew how to correct it. Ideas?

 

[AmericanNinja]

Never had any problems with firmware. its never taken me more than 5 mins to update. so there.

 

[BrLvgThrChmstry]

I wish I could complain about downloading FW updates.

 

[Acheteedo]

Because you complain about downloading it despite your fast connection.

Yes, out of the 4+ annoying steps of download firmware, install, download game update, and install, (maybe then mandatory game install? I haven't taken the time to find out) I can cut out the first download if the disk contains the latest firmware. I would have to know that was the case of course.

 

[suffah]

I think the problem is mainly for people who are super casual about playing games.

There was a time period when I was super busy. I probably turned on the PS3 three times times over one year. Once, I had some guests over, and wanted to show them LBP (which I had not touched in forever). The updates were ridiculous.

The other couple of times I turned it on to relax and check out the PSN store, etc, I had to wait longer for the update, than the time I spent on the console, thanks to the mandatory firmware updates.

I was beset with damn updates everytime I turned on the PS3! I do recall a similar story from a different gaffer before. That memory stuck in my head for a long time.

Nowadays, I have time to play on the PS3 weekly, so it's a non-issue. But for the people who play on a semi-regular basis, it's certainly a pain in the ass.

 

[scitek]

I think the problem is mainly for people who are super casual about playing games.

Or have a 360 and play every multiplatform title on that and only use the PS3 for exclusives.

 

[Zoe]

Or have a 360 and play every multiplatform title on that and only use the PS3 for exclusives.

But if you're an avid gamer on this forum with access to your PS3, then you have no excuse for being blindsided with a firmware update that happened weeks or months ago.

 

[AzureNightmare]

let's see, this thread has the SDF working in overdrive to protect their Queen and calling out mods and any other naysayers for "trolling", regular old trolls operating under the cover of being the voice of logic and reason and poor saps like me who willingly read this tripe for some reason. Yep, nothing out of the normal here!

In all seriousness though the clunky updates and download/install system is really the reason why I have only watched blu rays with my PS3 anymore.

 

[scitek]

But if you're an avid gamer on this forum with access to your PS3, then you have no excuse for being blindsided with a firmware update that happened weeks or months ago.

I do have an excuse. My PS3 is a launch 20GB, therefore it's wired. It's in the living room and not connected to the internet, so I have to bring it to another room to update anything.

I was talking with a buddy on Skype a couple of months back and he had just gotten a PS3 with Burnout Paradise. Since I also have the game, I said I'd jump online and play with him for a bit. An hour later, my shit's still not done updating, and by that time, I was totally ready to go to sleep. We had to wait until another day altogether to play a fucking game because of these shitty updates. It's inexcusable, especially when Sony's competition kicks their face in at it.

It's not my fault that Sony made a system I don't have any incentive to touch for months on end.

 

[snap0212]

let's see, this thread has the SDF working in overdrive to protect their Queen and calling out mods and any other naysayers for "trolling", regular old trolls operating under the cover of being the voice of logic and reason and poor saps like me who willingly read this tripe for some reason. Yep, nothing out of the normal here!

And then there are those who have nothing to contribute at all. ;-)

 

[paskowitz]

thats because you have small but vocal minority that a. turns their PS3 once every 2 years, b. then proceeds to put in game that requires 600 MB of patches.

I would also get pretty damn pissed if I used my PS3 once a year, for two hours and then having to spend half of my time updating firmware and games.

Well I am sorry but does anyone really care about people who use your PS3 twice a year. Why the hell did they get a PS3 in the first place? I am sorry but I paid $300-600 for something I would use the crap out of it.

I, personally, have never heard any PS3 (casual or not) complain about frequent updates or updates taking forever. Game installs is another story. To me that is a much more annoying problem.

 

[MikeE21286]

old complaint is old, but still somewhat valid.

The architecture behind why the PS3 takes considerably longer than the 360 to do system updates, and why it has to install demos and game downloads is a terrible oversight on Sony's part IMO.



edit:

Has it ever been factually stated why the PS3 has to install games and the 360 doesn't?

 

[lethial]

I just find the installation of patches to be kind of slow as with installing demos but I'm not a crybaby about it.

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

Wombat on the CAGcast was talking about this recently.

Seriously though, I don't understand why it took me 35 minutes to download an update from sony (it isn't my ISP) and 27 minutes to INSTALL THE UPDATE. I actually timed it.

Same thing with downloading demos, you have to wait for the download to finish and then you have to wait 10-20 minutes for a 1.5GB demo to install.

I agree that Sony's updates are annoying as hell especially when you are waiting to play a game but I have never once since owning a PS3 waited longer than 10 min to download a update and install it. I don't even understand how its possible you could wait that long.

 

[DangerousDave]

FW update are not a problem, if you are a regular (not even core) gamer. The problem for me is buying a game and then find that I have to wait some minutes for the updates.

Is not a big deal, 5 or 10 minutes. But when is a just bought game that you want to play, it seems hours. But is easily fixable loging out from PSN.

 

[Cornbread78]

The downloading times/ updates times are a little excessive at times, but so are waaaay down the list of things to biatch about for me and I have limited gaming time compared to most.

Waiting for an oil change sucks too, but that has to be done all the time as well. It's part of gaming.

 

[fatigues_gasolini]

2 hours and 17 minutes later I was able to play it after it finished all of the updating.

People mentioning hours of downloads for LBP is mind boggling for me. I put it in last week and had to download all the updates and it took less than 20 minutes. I helped make dinner with the girlfriend, came back and it was done. 2 hours sounds way too extreme.

I still cant understand why installs are so long, if needed at all. Bioshock 2 was so bullshit waiting for it to install. If a game like Uncharted 2 needs no install time why do new games still have a need for it?

 

[Curufinwe]

In all seriousness though the clunky updates and download/install system is really the reason why I have only watched blu rays with my PS3 anymore.

Lame troll is lame.

 

[scitek]

Well I am sorry but does anyone really care about people who use your PS3 twice a year. Why the hell did they get a PS3 in the first place? I am sorry but I paid $300-600 for something I would use the crap out of it.

I, personally, have never heard any PS3 (casual or not) complain about frequent updates or updates taking forever. Game installs is another story. To me that is a much more annoying problem.

I didn't buy the PS3 hoping to only touch it a few times a year, it's just turned out that way because nearly every multi-platform game is better performance-wise on the 360--even still with titles like Red Dead Redemption.

I only use the PS3 for exclusives, and those often don't have any installs, and they're some of the best, most technically impressive games on the market today. So, what's up with the huge installs and updates required by much less impressive titles?

Some people have actual reasons why they don't touch the PS3 as often as they "should," as you'd say, we aren't all PS3 haters or anything. Hell, the games I do play on it are some of my favorites ever, I just hate the update process.

 

[Zoe]

I only use the PS3 for exclusives, and those often don't have any installs, and they're some of the best, most technically impressive games on the market today. So, what's up with the huge installs and updates required by much less impressive titles?

Quality of the developer.

 

[Steve Youngblood]

Waiting for an oil change sucks too, but that has to be done all the time as well. It's part of gaming.

The problem is that it doesn't have to be. The process could be streamlined more, plus the updates shouldn't have to be mandatory to connect to PSN.

 

[The Faceless Master]

I have a couple of Trailers downloaded to my 360's hard drive. I've never watched them, because I know I can't just watch them (without having to wait for that Zune Crap to load up). This is not an issue on the PS3.

Spoiler

There's so much wrong with either system. If you want to miss out on those games because of that... well... :-(

actually, if they're videogame trailers, you can go to My Xbox -> Game Library -> Game Videos

 

[OldJadedGamer]

Whatever you do, don't put in Hot Shots Golf. You'll have a huge install then the update is so big I actually thought my PS3 crashed it took so long. Then I just left it on overnight updating. Took over an hour.

 

[BruceLeeRoy]

I didn't buy the PS3 hoping to only touch it a few times a year, it's just turned out that way because nearly every multi-platform game is better performance-wise on the 360--even still with titles like Red Dead Redemption.

I only use the PS3 for exclusives, and those often don't have any installs, and they're some of the best, most technically impressive games on the market today. So, what's up with the huge installs and updates required by much less impressive titles?

Some people have actual reasons why they don't touch the PS3 as often as they "should," as you'd say, we aren't all PS3 haters or anything. Hell, the games I do play on it are some of my favorites ever, I just hate the update process.

Nothing is worse than having some friends over and wanting to boot up Wipeout HD or LBP and being greeted by the update screen.

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

You know, I did get one thing out of this thread. I am never going to buy Hot Shots Golf now. :lol

 

[Steve Youngblood]

You know, I did get one thing out of this thread. I am never going to buy Hot Shots Golf now. :lol

No, go ahead. It's a great game. However, the updating process is indeed fucking awful.

 

[Segata Sanshiro]

No, go ahead. It's a great game. However, the updating process is indeed fucking awful.

Ehn, I've got four Hot Shots Golf games that I don't need to update for a few hours to play. I'll hold out for the next one on PS3.

 

[The Faceless Master]

Yeah, I hate that Zune crap too, I wish I could turn it off. However, it doesn't take that long to load up and there is a workaround. When you download a trailer, and the notification says "download complete", hit the guide button and select Play Now.

This will make the trailer play right away, and when it's finished it returns you to the old style menu for looking at video content on your HDD, no Zune crap.

As for the PS3, why is the "Turn off console after my downloads are finished" so well hidden? They have dozens of options under the settings option on the XMB, but this isn't one of them. It's hidden under the player tab. Once I found it though, it made downloading demos a lot less painful. (only got a PS3 last week)

Under what circumstances does background download actually download things in the background? Didn't seem to work when I was playing single player games, like it does on the 360. (hooray for all console ownership)

just turn off the console in the menu. if you have downloads queued, it will ask you if you want to turn it off right away or after the downloads are finished.

 

[spwolf]

In my experience, downloading games/demo from the PSN Store has always been faster for me than downloading content from the XBL Marketplace. However, for some odd reason game updates/patches and firmware updates are ridiculously slow on PSN compared to XBL.

I've always wondered why this happens. :/

a. CDN that Sony uses has better routing to your ISP than CDN that MS uses.
b. Sony firmware updates are big so they will always take more time than Xbox ones.

 

[Dead Man]

I do have an excuse. My PS3 is a launch 20GB, therefore it's wired. It's in the living room and not connected to the internet, so I have to bring it to another room to update anything.

I was talking with a buddy on Skype a couple of months back and he had just gotten a PS3 with Burnout Paradise. Since I also have the game, I said I'd jump online and play with him for a bit. An hour later, my shit's still not done updating, and by that time, I was totally ready to go to sleep. We had to wait until another day altogether to play a fucking game because of these shitty updates. It's inexcusable, especially when Sony's competition kicks their face in at it.

It's not my fault that Sony made a system I don't have any incentive to touch for months on end.

Why are you updating firmware if you are not online with the console? And even if you do want to, why not just use a USB drive like most other people without a constant connection?

 

[BrLvgThrChmstry]

If you look up "hyperbole", you'll find this thread/argument under examples. I don't use my PS3 as often (maybe 2-3 times a week nowadays) but I have yet to encounter these long download times. Its like many have stated, if you're a regular user...this is not an issue.

I know quite a few people who are casual users (IRL) and they never complain about FW updates. I don't know, I guess it just all depends. But I do agree...some of you are making this out to be a much bigger deal than it really is.

Does it need ironing out? yeah, definitely. In some cases I've encountered slow downloads and longer than usual installs. But it'll be the day I complain about a update which only purpose is to improve my gaming/multimedia experience.

Also to the burnout paradise example, I recently re-downloaded BO. Initially, I discouraged from playing as aware of all the updates ahead but then I realized...these 'updates' included awesome free content. So I set the controller down for 20 mins and did something productive (In this case, I watched TV). If updating and installing a game improves performance which in turn provides a better experience, then heck yeah, I'm all for it. That's my personal feeling on the matter.

 

[The Faceless Master]

I do have an excuse. My PS3 is a launch 20GB, therefore it's wired. It's in the living room and not connected to the internet, so I have to bring it to another room to update anything.

I was talking with a buddy on Skype a couple of months back and he had just gotten a PS3 with Burnout Paradise. Since I also have the game, I said I'd jump online and play with him for a bit. An hour later, my shit's still not done updating, and by that time, I was totally ready to go to sleep. We had to wait until another day altogether to play a fucking game because of these shitty updates. It's inexcusable, especially when Sony's competition kicks their face in at it.

It's not my fault that Sony made a system I don't have any incentive to touch for months on end.

wouldn't you have to download the Burnout Paradise update from Marketplace on 360 as well? hey, at least it doesn't have to install on 360! i still don't get why stuff has to install on PS3...

 

[ShapeGSX]

As for FW updates, they only happen about 4 times a year now, and people bitch that it is not often enough.

There have already been 5 Playstation 3 firmware updates this year, and it's August.

 

[vermadas]

Arstechnica and the idiots writing for them aren't biased. They just troll and sensationalize to get clicks. Gaming journalism is a fucking joke and they're the worst part of it.

Oh look guys, arstechnica has a negative PS3 related "article". I'm so surprised.

I'm not going to argue that Ars doesn't use sensationalist headlines occasionally though.

 

[Cheech]

It's Easter Sunday, and my kids get the Chipmunks movie on blu ray. I go to throw it into the PS3, and it doesn't play. I throw another, older movie in and it plays fine.

Then, I notice that it's not logged into the PSN. Crap, it's overdue an update.

Imagine sitting there for 45 minutes while two kids sit there asking why the movie isn't playing.

Infuriating. THANK YOU SONY.

You Sony Defense Force members can go blow. Not everybody has internet connections that measure in the tens of megs.

 

[Sanchito]

wouldn't you have to download the Burnout Paradise update from Marketplace on 360 as well? hey, at least it doesn't have to install on 360! i still don't get why stuff has to install on PS3...

This... I love my triple, but downloading and installing times are hit and miss for me. Often times it takes a while. I also wish they would at least make it where you can download while the console is shut down/standby. The firmware isn't that bad, but demos and such usually take a long time to download.

 

[The Faceless Master]

The downloading times/ updates times are a little excessive at times, but so are waaaay down the list of things to biatch about for me and I have limited gaming time compared to most.

Waiting for an oil change sucks too, but that has to be done all the time as well. It's part of gaming.

yeah, actually that's a good idea, set you PS3 to update before you go and get an oil change.

Or have a 360 and play every multiplatform title on that and only use the PS3 for exclusives.

still no excuse.

It's Easter Sunday, and my kids get the Chipmunks movie on blu ray. I go to throw it into the PS3, and it doesn't play. I throw another, older movie in and it plays fine.

Then, I notice that it's not logged into the PSN. Crap, it's overdue an update.

Imagine sitting there for 45 minutes while two kids sit there asking why the movie isn't playing.

Infuriating. THANK YOU SONY.

You Sony Defense Force members can go blow. Not everybody has internet connections that measure in the tens of megs.

that was a good opportunity to teach your kids life lessons like patience.

 

[Neuromancer]

Has it ever been factually stated why the PS3 has to install games and the 360 doesn't?

wouldn't you have to download the Burnout Paradise update from Marketplace on 360 as well? hey, at least it doesn't have to install on 360! i still don't get why stuff has to install on PS3...

If you're talking about games on disc, I believe it has to do with the Bluray drive having a slower read speed than a DVD drive. So it's faster to cache data on the HDD than to read everything off the disc.

If you're talking about downloaded games, I believe it's because Microsoft masks the installation/decompression as part of the download process.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[BrLvgThrChmstry]

It's Easter Sunday, and my kids get the Chipmunks movie on blu ray. I go to throw it into the PS3, and it doesn't play. I throw another, older movie in and it plays fine.

Then, I notice that it's not logged into the PSN. Crap, it's overdue an update.

Imagine sitting there for 45 minutes while two kids sit there asking why the movie isn't playing.

Infuriating. THANK YOU SONY.

You Sony Defense Force members can go blow. Not everybody has internet connections that measure in the tens of megs.

Your kids have terrible taste in movies. Take them to see Scott Pilgrim. Or you could of simply disconnected the PS3. Problem solved.

I'm not excusing this in any way. I just find it funny...

 

[The Faceless Master]

If you're talking about games on disc, I believe it has to do with the Bluray drive having a slower read speed than a DVD drive. So it's faster to cache data on the HDD than to read everything off the disc.

If you're talking about downloaded games, I believe it's because Microsoft masks the installation/decompression as part of the download process.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

i'm talking about the Burnout Paradise content updates. on PS3, they automatically install when you try to play the game. on 360 the you have to download the content pack from marketplace.

 

[Yeef]

There have already been 5 Playstation 3 firmware updates this year, and it's August.

There have only been four updates and we're in August. Averages out to about one every two months.

For perspective the gaps between them:

#1 - 4 months after the last update
#2 - 20 days after
#3 - 2 months after
#4 - 1 month after

None of the updates this year have been optional

It's Easter Sunday, and my kids get the Chipmunks movie on blu ray. I go to throw it into the PS3, and it doesn't play. I throw another, older movie in and it plays fine.

Then, I notice that it's not logged into the PSN. Crap, it's overdue an update.

Imagine sitting there for 45 minutes while two kids sit there asking why the movie isn't playing.

Infuriating. THANK YOU SONY.

You Sony Defense Force members can go blow. Not everybody has internet connections that measure in the tens of megs.

PSN has nothing to do with playing Blu-rays. You don't need to be logged on (or even have a PSN account) to watch them. Firmware on all blu-ray players are updated often and some discs won't work on non-updated players. Basically, you would've had the same issue even if you were using a different Blu-ray player (though the download would have likely been smaller and/or faster).

 

[Future]

It's Easter Sunday, and my kids get the Chipmunks movie on blu ray. I go to throw it into the PS3, and it doesn't play. I throw another, older movie in and it plays fine.

Then, I notice that it's not logged into the PSN. Crap, it's overdue an update.

Imagine sitting there for 45 minutes while two kids sit there asking why the movie isn't playing.

Infuriating. THANK YOU SONY.

You Sony Defense Force members can go blow. Not everybody has internet connections that measure in the tens of megs.

Yes. People claiming this is an exaggeration reminds me of the apple peeps sayin there was nothing wrong with the iPhone 4. There are tons of people in this thread agreeing that often updates take a long ass time on PS3 when compared to 360 on the same ISP. For those that haven't experienced it...good for you. But this isn't the first we have heard of these ps3 issues, and we know they are true for many people out there

 

[Neuromancer]

i'm talking about the Burnout Paradise content updates. on PS3, they automatically install when you try to play the game. on 360 the you have to download the content pack from marketplace.

Oh I see, well in that case, I have no idea.

 

[FStop7]

I hadn't booted up my PS3 over the past couple of months. Last night I turned it on to play Uncharted 2, which I'd been saving to enjoy until after the fall/spring rush of major releases had past.

First, I had to download two firmware updates for the PS3. That took around 20 minutes, all told. Then I noticed the clock was off by an hour. It took another minute to go through the settings, find date/time, and change it to DST. Then I put in UC2. No install, thankfully. But there were 9 patches to be downloaded, ranging in size from 15 to 100 megs. Another 15 minutes gone, as each patch had to be downloaded and applied in linear fashion.

So all told, around 40 minutes from the time I powered on my PS3 to the time I was in the game. And I'm lucky enough to have a decent Internet connection that runs at around 18 megabits. If I'd still had my old 3 meg DSL connection I would have just turned everything off out of frustration. If my game of choice had been MGS4 or another game with a required install, then it would have been closer to an hour of waiting.

A friend of mine, who is a very casual gamer, has a Wii, PS3, and 360. He almost never boots up either his 360 or PS3 because he always knows there will be a stack of updates waiting for him, and he hates that to the point to where he pretty much exclusively plays Wii games.

 

[Redd]

Count me in as one of them that hates the long download times on PSN. Some months back when I wanted to play some HSG again because I wanted to try a new course that was availabe took me over an hour, maybe even more to download and install before I could even play the damn game. Thanks to that I hesitate to play it again since it's been a few months since last time I played any golf. There must be a better way to get updates imo.

 

[ShapeGSX]

There have only been four updates and we're in August. Averages out to about one every two months.

For perspective the gaps between them:

#1 - 4 months after the last update
#2 - 20 days after
#3 - 2 months after
#4 - 1 month after

There were two 3.41 updates. The first one created issues for some people with upgraded hard drives.

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2010/08/03/system-software-3-41-update/

They released a new version of 3.41 on August 2nd.

That makes 5 firmware updates so far this year.

 

[j-wood]

I'm really confused how you guys are "baffled" that games have to install after you download them.

Know what happens when you buy a PC game? You have to...install it.

On the PS3, you download a game, and it has to install to the hard drive. It's as simple as that.

You download an application on a computer, and it has to install. That's just how it works.

 

[Aeana]

I'm really confused how you guys are "baffled" that games have to install after you download them.

Know what happens when you buy a PC game? You have to...install it.

On the PS3, you download a game, and it has to install to the hard drive. It's as simple as that.

You download an application on a computer, and it has to install. That's just how it works.

Probably baffled because there is no installation step on Wii or 360.

 

[Neuromancer]

I'm really confused how you guys are "baffled" that games have to install after you download them.

Know what happens when you buy a PC game? You have to...install it.

On the PS3, you download a game, and it has to install to the hard drive. It's as simple as that.

You download an application on a computer, and it has to install. That's just how it works.

Wow that's like, the worst argument I've heard today. :lol

People expect consoles to provide a more streamlined and easy gaming experience than PC's.

 

[BrLvgThrChmstry]

Yes. People claiming this is an exaggeration reminds me of the apple peeps sayin there was nothing wrong with the iPhone 4. There are tons of people in this thread agreeing that often updates take a long ass time on PS3 when compared to 360 on the same ISP. For those that haven't experienced it...good for you. But this isn't the first we have heard of these ps3 issues, and we know they are true for many people out there

Aside from the 20mins - 1 hour (ehh..2 hrs?) of download/install time being the only factor that negetively impacts your experience. What other negetive aspects are there to "updating"?

I guess this is where opinions start to differ, the FW improves performance etc. Yes, I agree its sucks ok...I have to wait an estimated amount of time before I can enjoy my game or movie, but is it really THAT big of a deal? FW/update isn't a virus, it doesn't hurt my PS3 in any way. It doesn't negetively affect my PS3s performance.

The iPhone 4 had (has? I don't keep up with apple stuff) a legitimate hardware issue. A REAL problem that actually affected the phones performance, honestly, that was the worst example to use.

I'm neutral, I understand everyone's plight given the situation, but it's not dire. I do hope Sony learns from it. Fix it. Do something...if only shut you people up. I'm sorry everyone elses experience differs from mine. But please, continue complaining.