The majority of the PlayStation 3 experience consists of watching a long progress bar slowly fill up as the system downloads and installs its endless supply of bloated updates and patches. According to some new information dug up in the latest firmware, however, it would appear that Sony is implementing something it should have done years ago — a patching system that doesn’t totally suck.
When updating the PS3’s firmware, the console doesn’t just retrieve the new information it requires. Instead, it redownloads the entire firmware, which is mostly comprised of old information. This leads to lengthy patching processes, with the PS3 taking significantly longer than the Xbox 360 to install even the most insignificant of updates.
However, nosy gamers have dug into the latest firmware update to find an “incremental download patch,” which should allow the PS3 to download smaller updates with only brand-new data. The short story is that future updates might not be so damn irritating. Good job, Sony, you’ve done something worthwhile with your PS3 updates. You don’t see that every day.
Imagine, we might be able to spend more time playing games instead of watching a progress bar. It’s a brave new world for PS3 owners! Now it would be frigging nice if this capability could be extended to other software updates. No excuse for the PS3’s bullshit when the 360 downloads patches in mere seconds.
PS3 Firmware 3.41 introduces new patching system? [CVG]
Published: Jul 28, 2010 10:20 am