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Buying physical media isn't even the safeguard it was before. Now games require a patch before they're usuable, or the game can be blocked from running until th
by glitchc 3y ago
Buying physical media isn't even the safeguard it was before. Now games require a patch before they're usuable, or the game can be blocked from running until the console itself is patched to the latest version. We're in a new era where consoles are fully connected platforms and the OEMs use them as gatekeeping tools to control the ecosystem.
- khalilravanna 3y agoIs this actually true? I don’t think I’ve ever been fully blocked from anything because you can always just turn off the internet and then boot the game to bypass these things (Switch for example). The only way then is the game itself would have to block you (conceivable but I don’t recall seeing it). Some specific examples would be helpful.
- glitchc 3y agoSwitch is very good about this actually. My son's Switch hasn't connected to wifi since he got it, and still runs swimmingly. PS and XBox, however, are very different beasts. Often, when a new system update comes out, certain features are blocked until the update is installed. Similarly, you can buy a new game on a physical disc, and find that it requires a minimum OS version, forcing you, once again, to go online just to play the darn game.
- khalilravanna 3y agoAh good to know. I also forgot the obvious case where a game’s disc only contains a subset of the content on it and a download is required for the rest. It’s not really a day one patch but just the game is too large to fit on a disc.
- Jackson__ 3y agoPlenty of games on the Nintendo Switch are limited to the latest few versions of their firmware, unable to boot unless updated. This list appears a bit outdated, but its a good start: https://gbatemp.net/threads/list-games-required-firmware-version.485959/ https://gbatemp.net/threads/list-games-required-firmware-ver...