PS3 multiplayer is completely broken. Options

[saike1]

any news on the patch?

[Carlos Bordeu]

That patch has been submitted already. It is all in Sony's hands. We are now waiting ourselves. I hope it passes soon!

[Error605]

Thanks for the update and I hope Sony doesn't take there time. Will the update be out the same day the EU version?

[Byas_Sun]

Any news yet? With the Multiplayer Patch

[Carlos Bordeu]

Any news yet? With the Multiplayer Patch

We've been told that the Sony US guys have run the request for the patch up to the Japanese team now. I don't really know how their process works and how long it takes, so I hope this is close to the end of the process...

[saike1]

no news yet from the jp team?

[Andres Bordeu]

We're scheduled to test our patching system on Monday (already got approval from Sony JP). If tests work we'll upload the final build and I'm hoping it will go live within the week.

[Error605]

How did the test go? Will we see the update this week? By the way thanks for keeping us up to date of whats going on.

[Andres Bordeu]

Tests went well, so the patch is being submitted by Atlus. I can't say how early SCEA will take to test it (they have to perform a functional test). I asked around and it can take up to a couple of weeks if the process is slow. So my impression that it may come out this week was a bit rushed. It depends of their workload I guess, so lets hope they can review it sooner than later. At this point all we can do is wait... :-/

[saike1]

wow what a hassle thanks for keeping us informed

[SsurferR]

Any response/news on when the patch will be up and running on NA server?

[Andres Bordeu]

We're still waiting. Unfortunately no news from Sony so far. :-/

If nothing happens this week will try to put some pressure...

[saike1]

what kind of pressure?

[Carlos Bordeu]

what kind of pressure?

Not much we can do more than to tell the guys from Atlus to get in contact with Sony and see why it is taking so long... :S

I think we don't even have the direct contact with Sony... Andres can correct me if wrong.

[saike1]

How did Persona 4 Arena get patched so fast but this is taking so long both are atlus games or published by atlus

[Carlos Bordeu]

How did Persona 4 Arena get patched so fast but this is taking so long both are atlus games or published by atlus

This probably has to do with the fact that Sony (like any company) has limited resources to go through certification and QA processes.

Persona 4 Arena is a recently released retail title that is currently going head-to-head on both the XBox360 and the PS3. It is natural to give the game as much support as necessary during its release window. And Atlus has no fault in the ROA patch delays. They have been working closely with us to get the patch out.

So what is different about Rock of Ages?

-It is a much smaller game.
-It was released last on the PS3 (several months after it was released on competing platforms).
-It has a bug that affects only some customers and only in one region (the European version doesn't have the bug).

Our case just probably isn't a priority. Obviously at this point we know that there is a handful of people waiting for the patch - because with how long this has taken, most people will have lost their patience and moved on. I find this very discouraging and I continue to feel depressed every single time one of you guys comes into these forums asking for an update and we still don't have an answer. We really don't want to look like a company that doesn't care about our customers, because that is certainly not the truth. If you look over to the Steam forums you will clearly see the enormous amount of support we've given to ROA PC, and that is entirely because with Steam we can update the game as frequently as we want.

This isn't the first time I've come up with a situation like this. Before we formed ACE Team I used to work at Wanako Games and we made an XBLA game called 'Assault Heroes'. The game could be played in coop and it released with a bug that both our QA and MS's missed which prevented a lot of people from playing in coop. It eventually took months of going back and forth to get the issue solved and I'm sure the game lost a lot of people because of this.

I've heard a lot of arguments of why the very complex certification processes are a good thing for consoles - I can understand why people wouldn't want their games to be released buggy and need to be patched if they are playing on a console (especially if you are buying disc games on retail). But the main problem is that this means that a huge chunk of the QA responsibility lies with the console manufacturers and not with the developers/publishers themselves. And this means that if QA misses something - going back is much, much harder. And the biggest drawback of this system is that updating games is too complicated. Adding extra content is too hard. It isn't for big companies like Activision (you'll always get the latest Call of Duty updates) - but it is too hard for indie developers like us. In the end I think the way Valve does things is better: Give the developers absolute control of their products. Bad developers will make bad products. Good developers will make good ones and support them.

Rock of Ages is a digitally distributed game... just like with Steam. You need an internet connection to get it. Why can't we get the same options that Valve gives us?

[Andres Bordeu]

We've been informed that the Patch is undergoing the last testing phase.

[Andres Bordeu]

Great news! The patch was approved so it should be deployed to PSN today!! Thanks to everyone for their patience and again sorry for all the delays. This has been a learning experience for us, so we hope to avoid these mistakes with our future developments.

[Error605]

YAY! Thanks for doing this as fast as you guys could. I am waiting for people to update/get in the game. Thank you again.

[7cal]

Great news, been waiting a long time for this.

You should also have someone update the main Rock of Ages Atlus page where in the upper right corner it says "Out now! Coming soon to Playstation network!"

http://www.atlus.com/rockofages/