Kotaku
Earlier today we broke the news that some Grand Theft Auto IV gamers were having problems with the game on both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.
For them, the game was freezing up during the introductory cut-scene, something that neither I nor Mike experienced during our time with the game on both systems. To be clear, we have no idea how widespread the problem is, but it's certainly on Rockstar's radar and making the rounds both in our tips line and on forums.
Rockstar declined to comment on the issue officially, so I went to the phone and called up Rockstar Support to see what they had to say about the problem.
A very friendly, and obviously unhappy, fellow answered the phone who, after thanking me for not yelling at him and apologizing profusely for the problem, spilled quite a bit of beans on the issue:
The man told me that the problem is apparently only effecting the 60 GB version of the Playstation 3, but that it didn't matter than my particular console was a launch console (Yes, I told a little white lie and said my copy was locking up.) He said the problem is not across the board for the 60GB PS3s but rather only impacts some, so their tech folks are working around the clock to try and figure out what is causing the issue.
He did ask me to make sure that my harddrive wasn't full and that I had the latest firmware update, but confessed that that really isn't what's causing most of the problem. He also said that the Xbox 360 is having the "exact same problem," which has further stumped their tech folks.
I asked him if wiping the harddrive and reinstalling the PS3 version would help, as seen on the PS forums, he said I could try but that he hadn't heard of it helping a single person.
He ended the call by saying that they really have no idea when a fix will be coming because they can't figure out what is exactly causing the problem and then once more apologized.
"I feel terrible about this."
If only more support folks were as empathetic and genuinely concerned about the problems their customers are going through.
Comments
Ouch, good thing Rockstar is trying to fix this.
Hope they have a fix for this soon.
Great, guess I'll be waiting for a fix (60gig Owner)
Its the first time I see people from any companies support number actually caring about your issue.
Wow, Rockstar gets, well a star for hiring a decent support guy. this actually more than makes up for the freezing problem that isn't affecting me.
My 360 version hasn't had this probl OH SHI-
Oh man, I hope the R* business guys have a party, spa/relaxation retreat, or something planned for the customer service reps after this. If they are already unhappy and getting yelled at this early in the morning it is not going to be good for the rest of the day.
Wonder what the problem could be since its happening to both the consoles. Maybe the game is just to awesome to be played.
I have a 20gig PS3(now 160gig) and it has been running GTA4 like a clock
*knocks on wood*
Good to know that they give an effort to inform us on whats going on...
Are there any hard numbers of the failure ratio on this? Is this a widespread issue like Bully was or is it just the one in a few?
Whew, my 60gig PS3 seems to have dodged the bullet.
OMG feels scared of going to buy it in an hour o_0
Microsoft could take a lesson from Rockstar's tech support.
Wow. Sucks for you guys. Mine works fine. I'm playing it at work!
guess I'll be waiting for this game yet. Until it gets fixed I'm not wasting my cash.
@Zenian: Updating the story to include this, but it doesn't appear to be super wide spread. Just really hard to tell at this point.
He was probably that nice because everyone else has been screaming at him all morning. I have worked in a call center before and if people yell at me alot I am overly nice to anyone that doesnt call me a bitch and blames me for all of their problems. Good customer service none the less though. Good to see this.
This is why I asked for GTA for my birthday. Plenty of time to fix any game ending bugs, and with a million people online playing you know they're going to be found.
Rockstar rocks, if this was Activision or EA, they will say to shut up and wait in the corner
Guess I'm one of the lucky 60GB owners that is having no problems.
What a shame.
You know, with the advent of continuous updates on the firmware as well as with games, it's no wonder this is starting to occur more and more. With Sony and Microsoft updating at a pretty frequent level, developers can't always make a game futureproof. I am not saying that this has anything to do with the GTA IV Bug but you never saw this problem to this extent. PC gamers have been dealing with this for a very long time and I suspect that this will become more of a problem as the consoles continue to mimic PC's capabilities and update functions.
This right here is exactly why we tried to tell Sony and Microsoft to only release a single SKU for their consoles. Now you have multiple hardware variables in what was once a fixed zone. This is exactly why PC games need so much QA and patching after the fact. I bet neither Sony nor Microsoft issued the full range of SKU's for Rockstar to test on.
Good for their customer support service! We could use more sympathetic customer support lines out there, or even ones that simply have some sort of emotion.
I meant to day you never saw this problem to this extent during the last generation of Hardware
"If only more support folks were as empathetic and genuinely concerned about the problems their customers are going through."
As someone who worked support for an ISP a few years back before getting a real job, I counter with:
"If only more customers didn't start hooting like slavering mongoloids as soon as the line picks up."
We HAVE to protect our children from games that portray technical failures! Sure, it seems like just a fun time, but pretty soon your little Michael will move onto cell phone glitching, red rings, or even blue screening! A recently made up study shows that more than 85% of children ages 12-18 have experienced a "blue screen incident".
My god that would suck. Good thing the 360 I have owned since the 360 was released didn't freeze.
Bad luck 60GB owners! I wonder if this is because of the various hardware revisions Sony made?
All I have to say is I played it when I got home last night (360 version) and I didn't have a single issue and I played for an hour or two just fooling around and doing the first few missions. I guess I'm lucky.
I'm a 360 owner that didn't have that problem, but I did have a problem when trying to restart a particular mission involving Vlad (don't remember the name, I had to do a car chase) - it just sat there loading forever so I had a dashboard moment and started the game again.
Again, don't f-ing freak out and jump on the bandwagon. The freeze is very isolated and only happens when during the first cutscene, and never again. I didn't experience it nor did my 30+ friends online last night, but we all have 360's. My 3 PS3 owning friends that got it last night all have launch 60gb's and they didn't have any issue either.
Sounds like that guy handled your call very well. I always get a kick out of good tech support :)
YES I knew the Interwebs would find a problem with the game, and hey it only took under 8 hours for it to happen.
Seriously though, this era cracks me up. Even just 5 years ago, and obviously beyond that, we'd never know about these problems or it would take a month or so to hear about them in EGM. But now it's just this instant 24/7/365 ability to have information spread rapidly, and put the fear into people. We've already seen it in these comments, people saying they wouldn't buy the game at launch because of worrying about problems with the game.
I'm not saying any of it is wrong per se, I'm just amazed at how things have changed with the constant stream of information that is the Internet. Nothing gets by anymore.
Wow, he must have had a troubling day. It's great you got someone so courteous and empathetic, it's unfortunate to think that it might be due to some overenthusiastic owners who might have taken their stress out on the poor fellow.
I've got a 60gb launch PS3 and I've concluded that I do want GTAIV as it seems to be an upgrade and an improvement on the series (like another fourth installment, thank you CoD4). That may or may not increase my chances of a crash, but hopefully it'll be fixed before I've got the money to get it.
With a game release THIS huge (biggest ever?), the people whose games are freezing become a very small, very vocal minority. It must be a hardware issue, which doesn't hit every single system with the same specs. Can't really blame them for not spotting it in QA.
Fortunately i have avoided the freeze hammer. However, in a possibly related issue, the Rockstar Social Club is not working, at least for my computer.
@Cruithne: Just out of curiousity... Do you have the original HDD in your or did you upgrade it?
This may be a cache reading issue, considering it seems to be only the 60GB models and 'some" 360's I am going to go out on a limb and say 20gigers....
Well this does suck. I am somewhat glad that it's not just the PS3 version this time. It usually gets the shit end of the stick in development.
Hopefully they find the problem soon.
Not that this guy isn't a nice guy but maybe he was being so nice because he was told he was on the phone with someone that works with Kotaku? Anyone ever thought of that?
Too bad :(
Luckily this wont be a problem for UK ps3 owners as we never really got the chance to buy the 60gb version.
"If only more customers didn't start hooting like slavering mongoloids as soon as the line picks up."
I hear that, as someone who once worked in a billing department of a large telephone company.
This could potentially ruin my day...
@Buddy_DoQ: You couldn't be more right. I am sure it was the same thing with Bully. You dev on one SKU and some older SKU has a slight difference that just f's everything up.
Haven't experienced the lock up.
I have the XBOX 360 version and the game froze up on me during one of the first couple of missions where you go to a clothing store. I tried to try on the sunglasses and the game locked up; had to cut power to the 360.
I just bought a second copy of GTAIV from Gamestop, it also freezes up so buying a new disk dosent help at all. :(
Great, sitting here with a 360 copy that I can't play until after work. Now I'm sitting on pins and needles worried that mine is going to continually lock.
@Mr.SithNinja: Original 60gig HD, I bought it last November when they announced the new non BC SKU, got it for a bargain and all.
Does signing off the PSN fix the issue on the PS3 side of things? MLB 08 pulls this crap with me from time to time and that normally fixes the issue.
Remember just a couple years back when a big new console game came out and it worked for everyone. Those were the days.
That man should get a raise. Honesty AND integrity in a call center? Wow.
I posted this under the other "crashing" post, but I think it is relevant here too. I had a 60GB PS3 which had similar problems a few months ago. I got it repaired but I think the problem is related. I sent multiple "tips" into Kotaku but it seemed to fall on deaf ears. Here is my experience, I hope it helps:
When Folklore came out, there were reports of it crashing (like you are describing with GTA) when certain graphical effects were applied. The same situation would cause it to crash every time. I experienced this myself and got my PS3 serviced (it had a few weeks left on warranty). The replacement unit has been fine but I believe there was a legitimate hardware failure based on a somewhat flakey part.
Specifically, I believe the GPU begins to fail on the older PS3s. In particular, if you run a LOT of folding@home then the GPU wears out faster. If you have the crashing problem, try it on a newer PS3 (in store floor model or a friends). I bet it will be fine. If that is case CHECK YOUR WARRANTY AND GET IT REPLACED. I think a crack or flaw develops in the GPU and it needs to be replaced. If you are past warranty, pony up the $50-75 plus shipping for a third party repair. It will only get worse and no software patch will help you. That's my 2 cents.
Ouch, I wonder if this is one of the reasons why some game journalists would like to switch and only review retail copies of video games with retail hardware.
Fucksticks, I have a 60 gig. I have to wait til I get home to see if I will be affected. It's so hard to play a game with crossed fingers.
Just tried it on our office 360 and it worked great. Got to the 3rd little mission. If it wasn't crunch time around here, I'd be at home playing.
I have a PS3 60GB (PAL) and I have not experienced any problems \o/
I am so glad that I learnt this after playing the games some hours. If I had known about this before I played, I would be totally shit scared of this happening to me. Hope they fix it soon, fellow gamers should be able to play games they buy.
@HurricaneDave: To not hire foreign people? Ever try to get a windows authentication key from a microsoft tech support agent? read them a --44-- DIGIT KEY only to have them have to read back a corosponding --44-- DIGIT KEY.
I am really tempted to not buy this now. I chose work/sleep over picking it up last night, forgot my trade ins this morning only to find out "the internets" is reporting this problem :(
I have a Launch 60GB PS3, and the game is on its way from Gamefly. Hopefully I will not have this issue, but will report if I do.
I was actually thinking of picking this up on the way home, but since I do have a 60gb, I guess I'll wait.
I just realized...this must be AWFUL for R*'s tech support. GTA fans are probably the only gamers more vulgar and annoying than Halo players. I don't envy them having to deal with a bunch of screaming, "YO GAME IS BROKE MOFUCKA YOU FIX IT" kiddies calling in.
Good customer service? I think this belongs on Consumerist.
A buddy of mine (whom also got a PS3 launch copy) is having the same issues. He returned to his local gamestop the same night and exchanged it for another copy.
The next 2 weeks -
guy: hello, Rockstar customer support
me: FUCKING FROZEN!!1 I WAITED IN LINE FOR A FUCKING HOUR GAME FROZEN, FIX GAME NOW FUCK FUCK FUCK 60 DOLLARS FROZEN FUCK sgar w;uer ou uhre guwUGHS:UKGH Wu.
seriously though, no problems here.
Like I said, the earlier reports and even Kotaku's original article said it was on the 360. THe internet loves to exaggerate
great, now I have to wait , and think, about this all day until i get home. I have a launch 60 gb and will be crushed if it craps out on me when i fire this game up. Serenity now.