So, allow me to put the obvious on everyones mind question out there:

What happens to the Troglodytes with a 360 and no high speed internet (like my father)?

I still remember the times when we played games on consoles to avoid this shit.
Those were good times.

What do people without HDs do in this case anyway?

Would this have ever happened if DLC patches weren't part of console gaming now? I'm pretty sure that's what everyone was worried about... half baked games and 'we'll fix it later' attitudes.

Rapid response, as in they knew there were problems and were already working on it?

Is this game worth buying again for either the 360 or Wii? cause Ive already beat the PS2 version 100% ages ago but does the extras in the new ones make up for it on the other consoles?

Did the Wii version have an issue?

@maxax:

Im assuming the patch would be a small one, and thus could go to a memory card.

But you're absolutely correct. wtf is this bullshit, Rockstar.

At least they are getting to it quickly... I'm still waiting on the analog patch for Lair.

@maxax: Ain't that the truth? I fear for the day when consoles become PC-ified to the point where you buy a game just to find out you need to upgrade your video card or RAM to run it.

I'm a PC gamer at heart, but I go to consoles to avoid worrying about system specs.

Hopefully this will be good in the long run, as now Rockstar will probably test GTA IV on older launch 360's

@maxax: Yeah they were good times, when games came out shitty and devs could do nothing to fix it for early adopters. Good times indeed.

i bought it yesterday and i hope they release the patch for this...like soon!

Good one for Rockstar, well done. :)

Mine still hasn't had any problems. This patch better not screw mine up!

@SAGA:A bit too late for that now. I imagine GTA4 will have a patch in the first couple months.

I thought MS had a policy against "fix" patches to discourage releasing incomplete products? They might need to roll content into this Fix as well? Yeah I use consoles because I was sick of buying broken games. But then again the 360 is a OFTEN broken console so broken games are par for the course?

i don't think this is a problem caused by the ability to fix games after their release. i think its a problem that was prevalent in pretty much all generations of gaming, but just got progressively worse as the technology of the consoles got harder and harder to develop for.

I don't understand why everyone is so upset. It seems like they were being honest about not being aware of the problem with older 360s and have addressed the problem quicker than most would. Sure it sucks...but would you rather they just leave it broken? Obviously there is a bigger issue of compatibility with older machines that maybe MS needs address, but I think Rockstar should be commended for admiting and fixing the problem so quickly.

@kickass solo(my GT): The 360 has been around the longest out of all the current gen machines. If anything it should be getting easier to develop for, much less port to.

At the very least they were quick to address the problem. I just hope they are truly able to correct the issues. I really enjoyed this game on the ps2 and didnt get the chance to finish it, so I was very excited to pick this up for my 360...Intersetingly I was relieved to discover it was the game and not my system red ringing again!

And maybe because of the constant flux of Hardware sets/SKU's that get shipped. Thank god that these things can get patched at least for those who got a HD in their system or is it possible on all SKU's?

you'd think porting a ps2 game to the 360 would be an incredibly easy task... this is nearing the precipice of mental retardation.

I'm 6 hours in with 13 achievements and I only had 1 freeze issue within the first hour or so, nothing since.

I just save the game often just to be safe.

Great game, great fun!

This game was great on PS2 and I'll probably rent it for the 360 just for the achievements. Good on Rockstar for dealing with this pronto.

@nlyonssmith: I was thinking the same thing. Sounds kinda fishy that they can bang out a patch to fix multiple problems within a couple of days. At least they fessed' up and are trying to take care of it quickly.

@Collapse The Control:
Honestly, 1 freeze is already way too much.

I don't think you can really beat up R* for this. They never put out buggy games, in fact, this is the only one I can remember that had any real issues...

@maxax: Well, yeah, but it didn't bother me much at all. It also happened the first night, before I knew of a widespread problem.

Ok so what happens to all the cheap a$$es who don't have a HDD? Do they have to store that patch on their Memory Card? Can you even DL str8 to a mem card?

BWAHAHAHAHAHA!! That will teach them to get jobs so they can afford hard drives!!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

I don't understand how the game can be so wildly different on old 360 revisions. I wasn't aware there were really any major revisions since launch systems and I thought that was only shrinkage of chips and better cooling. To my knowledge, no other game has has problems with this and I'd be interested to know the technical details as to what the issue is. Has anyone experienced the issues on a recent 360? If Rockstar aren't piling out the PR bullshit, then the least they could do is be fully honest and explain the technical issue.

@Komrade_Kayce: @maxax: @Mr.SithNinja:

I imagine if loack of internet connection and memory storage was a problem you could get Rockstar to replace the disk.

Looks like people without access to Xbox Live and a hard drive are screwed.

Console owners are having the same issues as PC gamers. I remember all the games i played on PC (well, i still play) and there were some like for example Daikatana which didn't work out of the box, so you had to wait for the patch. Guess we don't care anymore and that's why companies just rush the games even if not fully tested (or even missing content).

I liked console games because they worked very well at very good performance, if not, you return it or just don't buy. But now it's the same burden. DLC is cool to add content or minor problems, but now you can really see they don't really test the games. Can you miss the freezing/lockups? i mean, even a person working in QA for the first time can't miss those problems.

Tech Support Guy: "Oh sorry sir, yes, you picked Guitar Hero IV and there is no audio from the game and screen is flipped, don't worry, patch will be out shortly".

(yes, i'm still mad about the audio problem in GH3 Wii version)

It's very disappointing to know that developers are using the concept of DLC as a safety net for qaulity control.

Please do it once and do it right. It's as simple as that.

@maxax: - "I still remember the times when we played games on consoles to avoid this shit."

Isn't that the truth. It's fucking ridiculous and completely uncalled for when a console game needs a patch. Usually PC game companies have to test their game to make sure that it scales well on many different PCs, and even then they still have to patch up some issues. But a console doesn't have that problem, it's all the same architecture .... so what gives? Are companies just not play testing these damn games or what?! Where's the fucking quality assurance these days?

@Komrade_Kayce:

You need just an internet connection. Dial-up through a router to the Xbox would still connect you.

I know you were kidding, Fahey, but don't be too hard on console developers. As these machines increase in both functionality and complexity, console developers have to deal the same issues PC developers have been "patching" for years, only they must also check Microsoft / Sony Technical Console Standards requirements (a complete pain in the arse, believe me), and they're required to squeeze all this into the typical console release schedule, and they must get it perfect the first time or risk a shitstorm. If anything it's a surprise MORE games don't get released with these kinds of oversights. This unholy marriage of console technical and quality standards on (essentially) PC software is already seriously starting to undermine the quality of titles. And the bugs will only get worse. Knowing you can patch a title, no matter how "horrifying" it is to developers, just makes executives rub their hands in glee, because they can meet their schedules and just fix it later.

I'm guessing the "problem with older 360s" is complete BS. There are really no substantialy differences between old hardware and new hardware from a game's perspective (cooling, power consumption- yes). Plus, the QA guys usually get the older dev systems so it likely was tested on the older hardware. My guess is Rockstar didn't want to delve into the specifics and just said "older 360s" which could be like the cache issue we saw in Oblivion. People having problems should try manually clearing their HDD cache or playing without the HDD altogether and see if the problems go away.

a sad sign indeed. they need to do more QA testing before shipping the damn products out

how hard is that, get one or two testers with 2 360s, test it by playing the game through once or twice!

i doubt anyone tested Bully SE

just because most people have an internet connection, doesn't mean you can get lazy and ship out untested/unfinished products and expect consumers to pay full price for it

I hadn't had any audio issues, but the framerate for cutscenes was horrible and the game did freeze on me. I haven't bothered trying to play it again since it froze.

Very odd, they say older systems has this issue, that's not correct. I've tried it on my Halo 3 360, my buds brand new elite (less than a week old), and my neighbors launch day 360. Each of them has the same issues but they occur randomly. So RS excuse saying it happens to 'older 360's' is seriously incorrect.

I don't think things like this are excusable. If I wanted to buy software that would need patching I would just go ahead and buy _insert favorite whipping boy_.
But, all kidding aside, being able to patch things up is not a good reason for being lazy. If you're shipping games which have fatal flaws in them, you really ought to take a step back and properly look at what you're doing.

"While I'm sure we all appreciate the rapid response, next time try to make sure your game works before selling it to people, 'kay?"

How's about the company that made the system it's on make sure the fucking console works before they sell to people; let's try that.

OH GOD A GAME CAME OUT ON A CONSOLE AND IT DOESN'T FART KITTENS AND RAINBOWS OUT OF THE BOX.

Honestly, these overreactions are quite irritating. From a technical perspective, porting games is harder than developing new ones. It's not just a matter of "The 360 is more powerful so it should be able to run PS2 games easily." While the system hardware is perfectly capable of displaying the number of polygons and the complexity of the textures and whatnot, the code behiind it all is completely different, and making it run on another platform is by no means easy. It's like trying to make Legos fit into an Erector set.

Having issues with console games is nothing new, and the only reason it's more common these days is because as the technology progresses so will the complexity of the software, and more unpredictable problems will arise. I can only assume that Rockstar (who have developed some of my all-time favorite video games) is not trying to rush sub-par software out the door just to make a quick buck. If they did know about the problems, why the fuck would they go gold with it instead of taking an extra week or so to fix the issue first. Believe it or not, most studios try to make good games, and Rockstar's track record speaks for itself.

I played the game for like 10 hours straight yesterday and it froze on me once. Aside from the single freeze (which happens now and then with any game), I haven't experienced any noticeable problems other than some low framerates here and there. Not sure why people complain about saving when the save point is literally 4 feet away from the bed that the character has to sleep in every day. My hardware is new though (I only just got a 360 about a month ago), perhaps the problem is really bad for people with older systems.

The game in itself is great, and I'd say anyone who (like me) didn't play it on the PS2 (or didn't have a PS2) would do well to buy it.

But in levels of polish, of graphics, stability and all, it's all so very last-gen.

But those technical issues will, for most, not hinder the core fun of the game significantly. Like, for instance, Mass Effect.

The "older consoles" was BS. I bought a falcon chipset unit a month ago that has locked up. Only once in ~6 hours, but still happened.

@BadSector:
here here, I've got an elite made late last year and have experienced lockups and audio glitches as well. Such a great game deserves to be bug free.

I can't complain, at least we live in a console age where when the developer fucks up, they can fix their mistakes. Imagine all the crap games that could've been patched back in the day.

Good to see their conscious of the errors and ready to fix them...and can.

@lostpuppies: Totally. I'm just glad we live in an age where you can patch a game post-release. That being said, I haven't had any issues so far, except for girls with mouth sores kissin' on me. Bleeech!

Things like this should not be allowed to release if it causes these issues.

@