Loungin’ Thoughts 1/16/12

It seems like the only gaming front with continual patches and support years after release now is PC, and even that is limited to a few publishers.  There are a couple games on console that get attention for that kind of time, but besides the select few the games never end up working 100% properly all the time (and rarely get DLC after the first 6 months are over).  We’re out of the age of massive glitches and recalls for those who frequent the gaming news, so why do companies refuse to spend time fixing their problems?  Well that answer is easy, because gamers will continue to buy it regardless of it’s problems.  I played Need for Speed Shift several years after release and Electronic Arts still has not patched the car setup to a level that could even be called “functional”, despite the short amount of time that would probably take.  So instead, I want to focus on the one company that has continued to pump new features, fixes, and DLC into their game 15 months after release, with no sign of stopping.

A new car from the GT5 DLC to be released tomorrow

Polyphony Digital may have learned from their GT2 debacle (check out videos of the 1.00 disc if you want to know how bad it was, or just come over and play because I actually own that pile of crap) because just about once per two months they have patched Gran Turismo 5.  First were just fixes, later on came features like different tire wear physics, improvements to the Performance Point system, and even new locations for the photo viewer.  They have also given out free new promotional cars to everyone who updates.  In fact, there are so many updates and they are so large that Polyphony is releasing a new version of the game titled Gran Turismo 5 XL Edition in America and Gran Turismo 5 Spec II in Japan.  After all, downloading all the updates would take up about 2 gigabytes or maybe even more if you were to buy the game now.  In addition to this, they’re including both the first DLC bundle and the second DLC car pack with the game for free.  On top of all this, another update and two DLC packs are slated to come out tomorrow with no sign of letting up anytime soon.  Polyphony even said they expect to put out DLC and continue updates every two months from now on, with this one coming a month early.

Also part of the new DLC, Polyphony has created a new track entitled "Route X" which will take the place of the strangely absent Test Track

Why, publishers, can’t we have nice things like this all the time?  If your game doesn’t quite feel as good as your original vision you should fix it, not drop the price to $20 and expect people to buy it regardless.

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Tags: DLC EA Electronic Arts glitches gran turismo Gran Turismo 2 gran turismo 5 GT2 GT5 Need for Speed Need for Speed Shift NFS patch PD Polyphony Digital recall update