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Button Mashers is a periodic audio podcast covering a range of topics in the gaming industry. This blog was created for myself, Tetsuotrunks, as well as a few guest co-hosts, to contribute our 2 cents on topics that really don't warrant any discussion, or to just express things that we'd like to get off our chests. Check back often, as we update frequently and feel free to leave any feedback.

April 2008
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Home » Archives » April 2008 »
Snake, stop Mailing the Fission
By TetsuoTrunks on 04.22.08 at 04:12 AM CST
Just a quick one tonight. The title's a tribute to a friend of mine. Yes Ian, I did mail the fission. But at least I mailed it on European Extreme. None of that baby 'Normal' crap for me, thank you very much.

Why do people keep underestimating the internet? I don't mean the intelligence level of the people who use it, I mean the internet as a whole. As a tool. As a means of complex communication between electronic devices across the globe. Or, more accurately, in terms of something IMPERFECT, that can and will fail if we test it enough.

Yes, Konami has botched this Metal Gear Online Beta situation. First we could download the Metal Gear Online beta early. But only if your code was printed completely (which in several cases it wasn't). Then we had a download that was relatively tiny (the 1.01 update COULDN'T have been close to the size of the actual beta at 700+ MB) and yet took longer due to a direct link HTTP download that didn't function and abysmally slow speeds over the P2P connect. I downloaded about 23% of the beta at a rate of 1-2% every 15 minutes. Thats kind of scary. Imagine those speeds for the actual beta? Scary stuff. Next was the ID fiasco. You need a PSN ID, a separate Konami ID and then a totally different GAME ID. What? You want to use the same ID for all 3? Good luck. You couldn't even use the same PASSWORD for all 3. The game ID specifically required only the use of numbers. I suppose its better that way. Increased security. You know, so no one can sign on and play as you in an online beta test. That lasts all of 2 weeks.

Then of course, the beta itself was DELAYED this morning until the end of the week. In hindsight, its something of a good thing. It means I can spend this week focused on my OTHER projects (learning Visual Basic, getting into better shape physically, getting life in order, etc.) and not stuck on MGO. I'll have time this weekend, after I finish my big project (the Hackint0sh) and I'll enjoy it for as long as I can. But seriously, why do people keep underestimating the internet?

Nintendo had launch problems with Mario Kart DS as the first game on the Nintendo WiFi Connection. They had the problem of too many people trying to log on at once with EVERY launch of Mario Strikers, the Japan launch of Brawl and the US launch of Brawl. Anyone wanna take a bet that they'll have problems with the Europe launch of Brawl? Somehow, I think they might. And now Konami had to delay the MGO beta because too many people were trying to access their website. The one saving grace I will give to Konami that Nintendo doesn't get is that this is a pre-launch beta. Nintendo, it seems, just kinda assumed they'd be ok. And they were not. Konami also assumed they'd be ok if they opened up the beta to all of Europe. Thats either a lack of faith in the PS3 in Europe, or overconfidence in the servers. Resisting the urge to make a joke about Konami being the ones to be 'served', they still have some time to try and iron out these issues. They'll have a full month from the day the beta ends until the full game launches, and no word still if thats how the MGO final package will be shipping. Plus, lets be honest here. No one's buying MGS4 just for the online game. They don't HAVE to launch MGO right away.

Separate 'stupid internet' story. I'm a fan of Sony's MLB08:The Show baseball sim. The other night, I boot up the game to find there's a patch waiting for me. So I download said patch and continue to game as normal. The next day, when I try to boot the game, it hangs between the title screen and the first set of menus. I restart the game, same error. Restart the SYSTEM, same problem. So, I turn it off and head online. Turns out, the new patch has the wonderful side effect of being unable to connect to the game's servers. However, the title will NOT load the main menu until it checks in with those servers if you're connected to the internet. The solution? Disable your internet connection one way or another. So much for online play for now. I'm sure they'll get that fixed right quick, but thats just a silly goof to make. Come on people, test these things before unleashing them on the unsuspecting public. It'll save us all a headache.
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