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Damn, Dirty Patchers
By Cameron Sorden | July 24, 2008
From time to time I forget how much I hate game patchers. I’ve had a rocky relationship with them over the years. Most of the time they work just fine and I have nothing to complain about, but the times they do go haywire make up for it. When I went to bed last night, my Warhammer Online patcher was merrily chugging away at 26% of like 8GB. I figured I would get a good night’s rest and then create my character before work this morning. When I woke up, I approached my laptop like a kid on Christmas morning, hands shaking as I gently lifted the laptop cover… to discover a crashed patcher with a 30% download. Bummer.
I’m not complaining about Mythic or Warhammer here. I understand it’s a beta, it’s new, and it’s still a patcher. These things happen. I’m just mystified as to what the deal is with game companies and patchers. What’s wrong with normal downloads and installers? I’ve never really had a problem with corrupted files or crashed downloads when using a plain old web browser and downloading from somewhere. What’s the big advantage that patchers have over a more traditional patch distribution method?
I left my download going when I headed off to work this morning, so hopefully I’ll have a shiny new Warhammer waiting for me when I get home. It would be nice to jump on for a short tour before I settle into my Thursday night Vanguard group for the evening.
Topics: Random |
July 24th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Happened to me constantly about 3 weeks ago with the new beta launch. It will probably time out again too.
July 24th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Amen to that. Theres prolly some security reason or other, but I doubt it. Turbine lets you download stuff on your own if you want.
Anyways plz come on over to my blog and give me some input on the tactical game I’m making
Make sure to vote on the polls if you care to.
July 24th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Sorry I haven’t yet! I’m just now finally getting back to reading/commenting around/writing after my super-hectic month of moving/settling.
July 24th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Order all the way, Cam. I needn’t say more.