Forza 5 not ready at launch, will require day one download

[TheLegendOfMart]

Flagship Xbox One launch title Forza Motorsport 5 ? which will make extensive use of the console?s cloud capabilities and always-online functionality ? will also be playable offline now that Microsoft has changed its policies. However, it will require a one-time connection to Xbox Live before you can play.

In an interview with IGN, Dan Greenawalt, the studio head at Forza developer Turn 10 Studios, clarified how their day-one racing game will work if your Xbox One isn?t connected to Xbox Live.

?So when you first boot up the game, we?re going to ask you to log in,? he explained. ?And when you log in you?re going to get the Drivatars and you?re also going to get a whole bunch of content: tracks and cars. Our production schedule is such that we are putting them in as late as possible and that means making them free as downloadable content on Day One.?

We?re not making a launch game. We?re making Forza 5, at launch.

?[but] that is required content to play the game. We basically have designed the game to work with all that content no matter how late is coming in, in order to make the biggest game possible.?

In other words, because games have to be submitted to Microsoft testing, certified, and then pressed onto discs and shipped, Forza 5 has to be done much, much sooner than November. By requiring part of the game as a download on launch day, it gives Turn 10 extra time to finish everything. And so what you get on the disc you buy at the store won?t be the entire game. You?ll need to download the rest of it from Xbox Live (which should be possible to occur as you play, Greenawalt clarified).

After that, Greenawalt said, Forza 5 is like your refrigerator. ?You have to fill it up with food the first time,? he explained. ?And from then on, you connect whenever you want when you want to update your food. The Drivatars are as fresh as they are. It?s not like they?re going to degrade, but when you?re looking for new stuff ? fresh stuff?it?s going to keep evolving. That?s the nature of this Drivatar system.?

When you first boot up the game, we?re going to ask you to log in.

Drivatar is Forza 5?s attempt at next-generation AI in that there is no pre-programmed artificial intelligence. Instead, a ghost version of yourself races on your behalf, using your repeated behavior and tendencies to mimic how you?d race if you were actually playing. Drivatars of random gamers all over the world are what you race against in your single-player campaign.

To that end, Greenawalt told us, ?You do have to connect the game in order to get the latest Drivatars, because we need as many people training them as possible. And so rather than having just a launch-day set that was created by us, every day that people race is going to make the Drivatar set that much more accurate, that much more diverse, that much more interesting.

?All of the cloud and online features make the game far, far better,? Greenawalt summed up. ?In fact I?d even say revolutionary. The things we?re doing with opponents and Drivatar are not something that anyone can envision unless you?ve played it. But we?re trying to get as much of that into the unconnected, offline mode as well.

?We?re not making a launch game. We?re making Forza 5, at launch.?

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/07/16/forza-motorsport-5-requires-one-time-internet-connection

 

Oh dear. Ship unfinished game on the disk and just make people download the rest on day one.

 

So much for the amazing Xbox SDK, Dev tools which allow developers to make games quickly and easily.

 

Also love the ridiculous comparisons Microsoft likes to keep making. When I buy a fridge I get the whole fridge, I don't get the main part of the fridge without the doors and and the shelves which I have to get separately.

[kaotic]

I don't see an issue here. A lot of games require you to be online to play this gen so this isn't a big deal for me. 

[heslo]

I don't see an issue here. A lot of games require you to be online to play this gen so this isn't a big deal for me. 

 

Neither do I. People would complain were it not a launch title so I'd rather see them do this than delay its launch for a month or two. Many games these days have day one patches anyways so this is essentially the same thing

[~Johnny]

I'm not really seeing the problem here. It lets let put a lot more content in than a normal launch day game might have. So you're not getting any less content, you're getting more than you might have done? No reason to complain about that. It was also originally being designed for a console that was requiring a daily internet connection anyway.

 

And it's easy to hate a metaphor you're misinterpreting.  When you buy a fridge, you don't get any food in it anyway :P But when you do put food in it, you always want it to be fresh food. This metaphor was referring to the fact the food / AI will be constantly be being updated and improved / "fresh".

[TheLegendOfMart]

I'm not really seeing the problem here. It lets let put a lot more content in than a normal launch day game might have. So you're not getting any less content, you're getting more than you might have done?

Read it again, they are shipping an unfinished game that you can't play unless you connect to the internet to download the day one patch, the day one download is REQUIRED stuff that should have been included on the disk, its not extra content.

[Blackhearted]

I gotta agree with mart, tbh. A game should come on the disc as a complete and finished package. Not like this where you have to download half of it from the net after inserting the disc.

[kaotic]

Read it again, they are shipping an unfinished game that you can't play unless you connect to the internet to download the day one patch, the day one download is REQUIRED stuff that should have been included on the disk, its not extra content.

 

So? A day one download is required to use the console too. Either way, you better have the internet. 

[TheLegendOfMart]

I'm surprised few people have an issue with this. Developers have been getting lazier and lazier using connected consoles as an excuse to push out an unfinished, buggy product.

 

I remember before the internet when games were actually bug free for the most part and came complete in the package, the only "DLC" addons were full expansion packs as a separate boxed also finished product.

[Scirwode]

Read it again, they are shipping an unfinished game that you can't play unless you connect to the internet to download the day one patch, the day one download is stuff that should have been included on the disk, its not extra content.

 

That may be the downside, but the upside is that you are getting the latest content and how it was supposed to be presented by Turn 10, rather than having a rushed and an inferior copy. I'm sorry, but I just don't see what's bad with that. I can understand the connecting internet part where some people may find it a hassle (for those who live outside US, Europe and Japan / Korea) but if someone like me who is from Malaysia yet have access to a 100MB fibre internet connection, then I don't see what the problem is.

 

Scirwode

[kaotic]

I'm surprised few people have an issue with this. Developers have been getting lazier and lazier using connected consoles as an excuse to push out an unfinished, buggy product.

 

I remember before the internet when games were actually bug free for the most part and came complete in the package, the only "DLC" addons were full expansion packs as a separate boxed also finished product.

 

The  game was designed to be played on an always connected console. Microsoft changed their ###### and now this is how developers have to fix their games. It's not devs fault that MS decided to change things this late into development.

[TheLegendOfMart]

That may be the downside, but the upside is that you are getting the latest content and how it was supposed to be presented by Turn 10, rather than having a rushed and an inferior copy. I'm sorry, but I just don't see what's bad with that. I can understand the connecting internet part where some people may find it a hassle (for those who live outside US, Europe and Japan / Korea) but if someone like me who is from Malaysia yet have access to a 100MB fibre internet connection, then I don't see what the problem is.

 

Scirwode

 

It's not the latest content though, it is content they don't have time to put on the disk and it's content that you actually need before you can even play the game.

 

I live in Europe and have 2Mb connection. If this is a hefty patch and I go out to the shop and buy the game I can't actually play it until the download is all but finished, I don't have the connection speed to play while I download.

 

 

The  game was designed to be played on an always connected console. Microsoft changed their **** and now this is how developers have to fix their games. It's not devs fault that MS decided to change things this late into development.

 

This is not the connected stuff, it is cars and tracks.

[McKay]

I'm surprised few people have an issue with this. Developers have been getting lazier and lazier using connected consoles as an excuse to push out an unfinished, buggy product.

 

I remember before the internet when games were actually bug free for the most part and came complete in the package, the only "DLC" addons were full expansion packs as a separate boxed also finished product.

 

 

When I was in the Falklands I bought Skyrim on PC-DVD and got it shipped out to me to play. After putting the disk in, I was required to go online. (It costs ?10 for an hour and 40 minutes of interner) to register my key. And then the game simply began downloading from Steam. The entire Game. I had to google how to physically install the game that was actually on the Disk. It took a complicated work around that failed 14 times in a row. People are used to this.

[Jaybonaut]

 

 

I live in Europe and have 2Mb connection. If this is a hefty patch and I go out to the shop and buy the game I can't actually play it until the download is all but finished, I don't have the connection speed to play while I download.

 

 

Oh, you are certainly going to be buying an Xbox One then?

[TheLegendOfMart]

Why wouldn't I?

 

Am I not allowed to be critical and actually buy one and play one?

I wasn't going to get one until they changed their mind about always on DRM..

 

 

When I was in the Falklands I bought Skyrim on PC-DVD and got it shipped out to me to play. After putting the disk in, I was required to go online. (It costs ?10 for an hour and 40 minutes of interner) to register my key. And then the game simply began downloading from Steam. The entire Game. I had to google how to physically install the game that was actually on the Disk. It took a complicated work around that failed 14 times in a row. People are used to this.

 

Yeah people should just bend over and accept it.

[TheLegendOfMart]

This is getting off topic and I'm tired of having to justify myself to "people" on a forum.

 

I switched between original Xbox and PS2 a few times since they launched then I got 360 at launch and kept it till 2011 when I got a PS3, I have used Xbox more than I have used Sony products in my life.

 

Next gen Sony is doing everything right and Microsoft is doing everything wrong which is why I am highly critical, borderline over the top, against them. I wasn't going to get an X1 until they did the 180 on DRM.

 

Just because I am highly negative doesn't mean I don't want to play Forza, etc..

[spenser.d]

So what? They want their game out at launch and Microsoft is able to make that happen while letting them finish up their content after going gold. At least they aren't charging extra for it.

Not to mention it becomes completely irrelevant if you're like me and plenty others who will be happy to forego discs this next generation.

[neo1911]

I know Mart is inclined towards PS4, but he does have a valid point. It would really suck to stand in queue and get the home at launch day only to be greeted by "Downloading updates, 10GB remaining." Especially for the ones with painfully slow internet connections.

 

They should take their own sweet time and release FINISHED product.

[TheLegendOfMart]

So what? They want their game out at launch and Microsoft is able to make that happen while letting them finish up their content after going gold. At least they aren't charging extra for it.

Not to mention it becomes completely irrelevant if you're like me and plenty others who will be happy to forego discs this next generation.

The problem is not everyone has a superfast connection, you can imagine someone bringing home their new $500 console and after spending $50-60 on Forza, whacking it into the machine and having to wait hours while it downloads gigabytes worth of information.

[spenser.d]

The problem is not everyone has a superfast connection, you can imagine someone bringing home their new $500 console and after spending $50-60 on Forza, whacking it into the machine and having to wait hours while it downloads gigabytes worth of information.

But you don't have to wait hours. We already know you can play games while they download, I don't see why it would be any different here.

[spaceelf]

Pretty much every major game I've played in the last five years has needed a day one patch, whether it had to go through certification or not.

 

I can't get all worked up about it myself unless the game is legitimately buggy after that patch.  It might not be preferable but it is common.

 

Fortunately this coming gen getting those patches out doesn't seem to take a month and a half in cert.

 

I also highly doubt it's several gigabytes.  Heh.  I guess we'll find out soon enough.

[TheLegendOfMart]

But you don't have to wait hours. We already know you can play games while they download, I don't see why it would be any different here.

Say the patch is 5-10GB it will take me 5-10 Hours and seeing how the patch is tracks and cars I HIGHLY doubt I would be able to play as I download as I would catch up to the download pretty quick.

 

 

Pretty much every major game I've played in the last five years has needed a day one patch, whether it had to go through certification or not.

 

I can't get all worked up about it myself unless the game is legitimately buggy after that patch.  It might not be preferable but it is common.

 

Fortunately this coming gen getting those patches out doesn't seem to take a month and a half in cert.

 

I also highly doubt it's several gigabytes.  Heh.  I guess we'll find out soon enough.

I don't doubt it. Read the article it is content that wont make it before the disk is pressed that is REQUIRED before you can even play the game, tracks and cars.

[kaotic]

 

 

By requiring part of the game as a download on launch day, it gives Turn 10 extra time to finish everything. And so what you get on the disc you buy at the store won?t be the entire game. You?ll need to download the rest of it from Xbox Live (which should be possible to occur as you play, Greenawalt clarified).

 

That sounds like you'll be able to play as you download. 

[Blackhearted]

I know Mart is inclined towards PS4, but he does have a valid point. It would really suck to stand in queue and get the home at launch day only to be greeted by "Downloading updates, 10GB remaining." Especially for the ones with painfully slow internet connections.

 

They should take their own sweet time and release FINISHED product.

 

Even those with fast connections will suffer from the inevitable slow speeds the xbox servers will offer on launch day(and perhaps even a few days after launch) from everyone hammering them.

 

 

I also highly doubt it's several gigabytes.  Heh.  I guess we'll find out soon enough.

 

It probably will be several gigabytes actually. If you played forza 4 you know that half the cars were on a second disc that required an install. That install was something of around 3GB if i recall correctly. Now, take that and add in the fact that everything in much higher quality now(meaning the same assets will take up more space), along side of the fact that it's also tracks missing along side of the cars, and you've easily got a several gigabyte download.

[Scirwode]

The problem is not everyone has a superfast connection, you can imagine someone bringing home their new $500 console and after spending $50-60 on Forza, whacking it into the machine and having to wait hours while it downloads gigabytes worth of information.

 

I do understand where you're coming from. I remember a time when to download a WarCraft III patch on a 1MB connection took me 4 hours to complete :laugh: ! And I can understand the frustration of wanting to play the game only to realise that you have to wait a few more hours for it to complete before you can play. However, I am also a pragmatist in a way that if the game requires a patch before I can play it, I just grab myself a drink and wait for a few minutes. If it takes a few hours, I just grab a nice book or step out for a moment and meet some friends before coming back and enjoying playing the game. I don't brood over the console and hope that the download finishes faster :laugh: . It's the same with Steam really, and I haven't lost my time brooding over it.

 

Scirwode

[Alwaysonacoffebreak]

Wait so.."Finish everything"..

 

This kinda smells fishy. So they haven't finished the game and will push and "update" as an DLC on day one, when will they have time to do the QC then? :huh: This game will be buggy as hell and will need a day two patch if it goes like that.