Both sets of release dates (pre- and post-recall) saw many complaints from those who felt that they had a greater right to receive the game first. At this point,I think it might be more appropriate to be thankful that someone else gets to be the guinea pig.
Since the LittleBigPlanet servers were turned on,attempting to play the game has been an interesting experience. When the servers are misbehaving,even getting to play the Story levels involves go-make-a-sandwich-type delays;my solution at one point was to simply remove the Ethernet cable from the back of my PS3.
Players have also complained of lag while playing through levels online,but that’s largely up to the connections of the group they’re playing with. As Sam reminds us,the multiplayer communication is peer-to-peer,not involving the game servers. I have to wonder,though,if there isn’t a problem when one of the players is trying to contact the servers for some reason (e.g. inviting another friend).
In (understandable) frustration,many players are wondering:What was the purpose of the Beta,if we still have these problems at launch? I can think of a few possibilities:
- Maybe having 60k max Beta users was nothing compared to the launch load. I haven’t seen any sales numbers yet,but I’d bet that the NA player population dwarfs the Beta already. Sony/Mm did some server restriction during the Beta to simulate greater load,but scaling is a tricky business;perhaps there’s a tipping point that they had no way of seeing until 100k+ players logged in.
- Maybe there simply wasn’t enough time to prepare after the Beta. The public Beta was pretty late in the development process;if it brought out server issues that weren’t seen in the private Beta,it’s possible that there simply wasn’t time to fix them before launch. If there was a chance that these issues wouldn’t actually manifest (due to differences between the Beta and release versions),rolling the dice and hoping for the best is a valid business decision.
- Maybe a post-Beta fix went wrong. Scaling issues found during the Beta might be fixable;but once the Beta’s over,how do you test the fixes? It’s possible that some fixes stood up to a large simulated load,but fell short once the masses rushed the gates.
- Maybe an unrelated change brought out the issues. Between the end of the Beta and the launch date,is it likely that the entire PSN infrastructure was static? Routes change,servers are added,defenses are updated,etc. Particularly in scaling up for the launch,it’s possible that there was a change sufficient to bring out a previously unseen flaw.
It’s unlikely that we’d ever get a full explanation out of Sony or Media Molecule. But at least there’s some good news. Last night I was able to play online quite easily;I’ve heard from some people still having problems,but others have agreed that it’s much better. Sam says “It’s getting better but there’s still a way to go yet.”
So if the UK launch goes swimmingly,all you blokes can send your thanks to us Gamma testers across the Atlantic.
Oh,and go check out this Nuno Markl documentary.
With all the problems,I see your point. Being later isn’t so bad if the servers are fixed by the time the games out in Europe.
Trying to play with my friends wasn’t worth it. It lagged so bad it wasn’t even funny. But I think they will fix the problem soon enough so I’m not at all mad at this point. Overall I’m pleased with LBP and now they can add/fix minor things that will only make the game better.
I pre-ordered the game from Amazon,wasn’t I supposed to get a digital miniguide?
Where is the DLC? Playstation Store? I want to get a “First Week”t-shirt?
LOL,Nuno Markl rules
However,I’d like to point out that the translation could be better. To my fellow English speaking people I’ll just correct one of the subtitles at 0:48 that was awfully wrong:when Nuno Markl is introducing the main character,Sackboy,he mentions that he’s made of ‘FABRIC’,not ’tissue’. God,try imagining a Sackboy made of tissues. And already used ones xD
Oh,and by the way,Joe,you still haven’t given any news about future DLC costumes,so I’ll do it here.
In these 2 links,Sam confirms the existence of super-rare costumes:
http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=littlebigplanet&message.id=166578#M166578
http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=littlebigplanet&message.id=166597#M166597
And HERE are all the great costumes that are gonna be available from day 6 to 9 of next month:
http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/10/30/available-116-official-lbp-dlc-on-the-playstation-store/
Launch Spacesuit,Halloween Mask and the winners of LittleBigChallenge3 for free!
Sackiroth,Old Snack &other costumes for prices ranging from $1.99 to $2.99
Thank you for making LBP better than ever,America &Canada! (and possibly other countries!)
Only 4 days to go!
While I have worked in the gaming industry,have an understanding that yes,things can go unexpectedly wrong –you would think that the launch for such an important game as this would have been incentive enough for Sony to make sure that this launch didn’t go as poorly as the other 1st / 2nd party online game launches for the PS3.
Couple this with an inexplicable delay in the first wave of costumes for the US,and I don’t really feel as though Sony / MM are doing their best to “make up”for the launch woes. I mean,I have the costumes for the JP version which came out officially 2 days / technically 9 days after the US version,so why the hold up on this?
Anyway…I love the game,but still. Not exactly the smoothest launch and follow-up we have going on now.
PS –Region locking costumes on a non-region locked game is asinine.
You know why I love this blog and why it drives me nuts at the same time…you’re always just so reasonable. It’s an impressive trait,and not one seen much on the internet…
@Alex**:I received my miniguide email from Amazon recently,so I’ll assume that yours is on the way.
@Ashitaka:Thanks for the info,both on translation and DLC.
@endekks:Agreed;being an important game can cut both ways though,as too many cooks spoil the broth at the executive level. Also,whatever its advantages,having the regions be relatively autonomous seems to cause problems for all Sony worldwide launches.
@Matt L:Thanks!
So you’ve had a week of playing the disc game and building your own stuff and offline playing with your mates,but because you’ve had a bit of faff with the servers,you were hard done by? Are there any LBP owners out there who in all seriousness would rather they had been forced to wait while everyone else was playing the game,so that they got a more refined online? When the servers go up properly,which creators are going to be better off –those with a week’s previous experience collecting all the assets and building their levels to upload,or those just starting out?
If your interest in LBP is just playing community created games,then perhaps the wait is no big thing. If your interest is in creating and sharing,it’s been a very long,cold week…
I’ll add though that I agree with Matt. You do have a respectful,intelligent,considered viewpoint. This has been my reference point for all things LBP and thanks for all the effort!
@Shifty Geezer:You’re quite right,it seems ridiculous to have us Yanks complaining about server issues when you’ve yet to get the game in your hands. I’ve tried to stop peppering my posts with smileys so much,but now it comes across more harshly than I intended. I was actually trying to avoid echoing the whines that plague the US forums right now.
Many thanks for the kind words,BTW. Makes me feel guilty that I don’t update more often.