Remember the old days? The days before every console connected to the internet. When "Firmware" was an alien term to everybody, and not something that happens every few months. When multiplayer meant splitscreen, and only split-screen. When the game you bought was the game you bought, and nothing more could be added, taken away or tweaked once you had bought and paid for it. Nowadays, the game you buy might not be the game that the developers actually wanted to make. Yes I'm talking about post-release patches.

Let's look at some examples, like Killzone 2. I got it, I tried playing it, and much like Matt, I pretty much hated it at first. I died so many times and struggled to kill enemies when they jumped out and stood right in front of me. And it would probably have either sat on my shelf, unplayed, or I would have struggled through and hated it. With the latest patch, however, and the subsequent addition of Precision Mode (Still not sure exactly what it does?), I actually found the game playable. Ok before this starts sounding like a recap of the above linked post, let me get to the point.

What I'm trying to say is that the game should have shipped with Precision Mode as a standard option. But for whatever reason, the developers decided not to include it. Maybe this indicates that the game was rushed to completion before it could be added, or maybe all the QA testers were on crack while testing the game that they didn't notice how badly the game controlled? Either way, the game was better after it was patched, and it should have been included on the disc, not patched in as an afterthought.

Let's look at another example, before you write me off as a raving lunatic. Burnout Paradise. I loved the game, it's honestly one of the finest games I have in my collection. Let's ignore the DLC (Downloadable Content) issue for now, (that's a post for another time), and focus instead on the latest free patch, which added a restart option to the game. In a totally free-roaming city where every road is open to drive on, events will often be lost by seconds, and it will take minutes to get back to the original starting point, I felt that a restart option was a damn good idea. I understand why it was omitted from the initial release (developers felt it would interrupt the open world experience they were trying to build), and I also understand that Criterion Games decided to include it after gamers lobbied for it's inclusion. Again, this inclusion would not have been possible on pre-internet consoles such as the PS2.

Even Prototype had need of a patch, simply to allow some people to play it. Last I heard a patch was still being worked on to get over the bug that prevented some PS3 owners from playing the game, and again I wonder why this issue was not addressed during QA? In the meantime, however, we are stuck with a workaround that we have to perform, just to play the game we bought.

Ok, while not examples, they still manage to get my point across: that games can now change from what we purchased initially. Imagine the lawsuits that would follow if every single copy of Final Fantasy XII didn't work when put into a PS2. There would be outrage, and most likely anarchy on the streets as people started violent protests. Now, however, we are told "A patch is in the works" and make do in the meantime.

I think it's a great system where the whole interface of a console can be changed (Ala the 360's NXE - New Xbox Experiece), or where new functionality can be added (Ala the PS3's numerous firmware updates that greatly expanded the console's media functionality). These are examples of good post-release patches. I'm sure it was possible to upgrade the PS2's firmware, but I imagine it would be very expensive, difficult and would void your warranty. Now, it's just a simple matter of a download from the internet, and you're sorted. Same thing with games ... play the game you bought now, or wait for the patch.