Wipeout HD load time with and without advertising
UPDATE: The ads have been REMOVED! In recent news, Sony has pulled the ads from the game, so this video is obsolete. While it’s always possible that this could be temporary, this is a huge victory for us as paying consumers. This is a new type of intrusive advertising being introduced into games, and it needs to be nipped in the bud before it becomes the norm.
For the moment, no more ads. The gaming community has spoken, and they listened.
UPDATE 2: For those who doubt this video or want to see the impact on other events, I’ve made a new video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex8HTYfnI1E
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Here’s a capture of a loading screen advertisement recently introduced to WipEout HD. I replayed the same track a few times, and captured the loading screen each time. I decided to put the ad screen and normal loading screen next to each other so you can see the extra time added to the loading screen because of the ad. The audio is from the top screen. I don’t know if this ad was added because of the Fury expansion or the latest patch, but it’s a load of crap. I BOUGHT this game, as well as the expansion, and it has been ad free since I got it a year ago. This kind of shouldn’t be crammed in after the fact.
If it was just a stationary ad I wouldn’t mind. If they advertised on the vehicles or the ad monitors in the game, I wouldn’t care too much. But this ad is a video, and it’s a little longer than a typical load time. My problem is that I can’t skip past the end of the ad even though the level is finished loading. The ad appears every so often (I typically get it 3 times in an hour), and it’s only a little longer than the level load time, but that adds up if you play a lot. And since they managed to sneak this in, what’s to stop them from forcing you to watch a full 30 second ad or longer before you can play?
If you want advertising in the game, fine. There are plenty of ways to do it. But when your advertising impacts the game’s performance, which in this case is the load time, that’s complete bullshit. Oh, I should also mention that when I captured this, I had my network cable unplugged, so this ad has been embedded into my game, and I’m forced to watch it even when I’m playing single player, OFFLINE. Forcing me to watch it while I’m playing online is one thing, but altering my single player offline experience is an extremely underhanded tactic.
If this is how SCEA is going to start handling their downloadable games, then I’m going to start waiting several months before buying, and won’t be buying any of the games that get ads loaded in them AFTER the game has already been released. This is complete bullshit.
Duration : 0:0:42
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Not a problem in …
Not a problem in XBL. JUST SAYING! NOT A FANBOY!!
Sony has become …
Sony has become really arrogant about their position in gaming and it’s killing them. It’s like they learned nothing from the Walkman vs. the iPod. Remember Sony building DRM encumbered MP3 players while Apple ate more and more of their lunch? Customers voted with their dollars and now basically all music online is DRM free. It’s going to be the same with in-game advertising, so cast your vote.
Just another reason …
Just another reason why I wont touch anything with the Sony brand name, they refuse to understand that when I hand them money for something, their involvement is OVER. Funny thing, when my PS2 crapped out at 100 days, they sure didn’t want to be involved. them, I hope Sony dies a horrible death.
Cool, greed at its …
Cool, greed at its finest.
Next stage: Check the code in your (place here any junk food), get 5 and you can play the stage 2. Get 10 and you can play stage 3… nice!
yea seriously if …
yea seriously if the game was free, then fine, playing ads is acceptable.
but if your paying for something there shouldnt be ads.
its bad enough that they put ads on tv, i mean its not like its free or anything.
I didn´t pay for …
I didn´t pay for this bullshit!
1st party …
1st party developers from what i understand don’t pay that bandwidth cost
studio liverpool are 1st party so that bandwidth fee on developers shouldn’t apply to them
the patch should have been optional because the original wipeout HD still has it
That music is fron …
That music is fron F-Zero GX. It’s cool.
you totally ignored …
you totally ignored the 7200RPM vs 5400RPM because you had no idea WTF you were talking about there but okay
This news was blown out of proportion, look at N4G, shacknews and other sites making it seem like the end of the world with this and we’ve had ingame advertising for ages in EA games
and again the comparisons here show the fastest loading map vs advertising which isn’t always shown, i’m glad the advertising is removed but disappointed with how blown up this became
WoW suckers like …
WoW suckers like you could fail at anything. its the xbots you dumbass or you giving the green light for ads like this that affect practically gaming in that manner to go ahead and abuse payed for products? Take the wand out of ur a*s and think like a man for a sec and not like the actual bot. A brain should be capable to think better than that unless ur not even 17. If so then you are excussed I guess…
The faster RPM …
The faster RPM hard-drives improves load times
he has a faster 7200RPM drive which he put in himself vs the 5400RPM which comes default with PS3
The load time of zone Syncopia is the fastest loading map when put in comparison to advertising of other maps its barely noticeable
I do not like advertising and i’m glad its removed but the XBOTS had a field day with this news
How can he show it …
How can he show it way worst than it is if that how it fuc*ing is? Do you understand what you are saying? What does it matter aboyut what drive he is using as long as it’s actually by how much his loading time is affected? ffs
Power to the people …
Power to the people!
Fuck advertising in media you’ve already PAID FOR!!!
Well, at least this …
Well, at least this software update doesn’t FUBAR your system, like Sony/BMG’s DRM software once did.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Err, both versions …
Err, both versions are loading the same map…
I’ll say again, try …
I’ll say again, try it for yourself. Load a Zone event on Syncopia. It takes about 5 seconds, and the progress bar doesn’t reach the end, even on a stock 5400RPM drive.
the guy uses a …
the guy uses a 7200RPM drive
he took the quickest loading map and compared it to the ads which makes it look way worse than it is
You forget the …
You forget the bandwidth, Sony charges for it, why should they impose us to waste our?
If they want us to …
If they want us to watch ads, they must give us something for it. Like the free DLC. Anyway, I think in Europe it’s illegal. That’s why I didn’t get any ads while playing.
Also don’t forget …
Also don’t forget that it’s not even the “Install this update or you’ll be signed out of PSN” kind of update, this was stealth loaded in the background without your consent. Sony did the right thing by pulling them.
They wouldn’t have …
They wouldn’t have complained if the game shipped like that. But if you have a game that you enjoy plaing, and they alter it with a forced update to make it worse, then you’ve got a right to complain.
exactly..dont …
exactly..dont listen to any idiots on here who dont know what they are even talking about. The game is great. And the 10 sec extra loading wasnt that BIG of a problem anyway but still glad they are fixing it! The ads I saw in the game were fine with me..they were advertising Wipeout Fury HD, which makes sense.
kdarkov i can tell …
kdarkov i can tell you dont own a ps3 cause wipeout hd is download only from psn, plus i dont know anyone who actually supports ad’s in games especially ones that slow down the games loading times
It is very obvious …
It is very obvious that the first 90% of the loading bar is the actual game loading, and the last 10% is the duration time for the ad.
Very ty, glad it was removed!