There are a lot of descriptions we could use for the fact that, even spending five years in development, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was, rather spectacularly, infested with bugs after the game’s launch: unfortunate, careless, frustrating, Bethesda. PlayStation 3 owners get to use one more: foreboding.
The same buggy pitfalls that befell Skyrim after its multi-platform launch last November have, on Bethesda’s own admission, seeped into Dawnguard, the game’s first expansion. And while Xbox 360 and PC owners (since June 26 and August 2, respectively) have access to the now-smoothed-over editions of the DLC, Skyrim’s PS3 population has been hung out to dry – with little assurance for the future.
We began growing concerned in July. Dawnguard was released for the Xbox 360 in June (to our positive review) as a temporary system-exclusive: 30 days separate its launch and any further details on multi-platform aspirations. When the window expired, however, Bethesda PR and marketing VP Pete Hines would only impart us with a cryptic tweet – a PC/PS3 “timeline” was unavailable, he stated. In the following weeks, Bethesda would post on their official blog that they “are not satisfied yet with Dawnguard’s performance on the PS3″ and “aren’t going to release it for PS3 knowing that some people’s experience in Skyrim will be worse.”
The 30-day restriction was long gone, no PS3 release date was in sight, and the only thing on the horizon was more quality calamity.
And that’s where things stand today, following the unveiling, detailing, and trailering of Skyrim’s next DLC, Hearthfire; the Xbox 360 once again playing the initially-exclusive host (the content releases September 4th), Skyrim appears ready to move beyond its vampire-hunting expansion before PS3 owners ever get their hands on it.
Responding to a series of tweets inspired by Hearthfire’s announcement, Pete Hines, at the very least, explained why Dawnguard’s PS3 absence had nothing to do with the homebuilding add-on. Needless to say, new Dawnguard information was kept at a premium:
— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) August 28, 2012
@elderscrollsotr We are working on multiple projects, even beyond those two things.The entire team doesn't work on one thing at a time.
— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) August 28, 2012
@shirairyu0043 Understood. We're disappointed too, but we're keeping at it.
— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) August 28, 2012
@ghostoftyrone I continue to do my best to get info and something to update folks with. When I get something I can share, I will.
We don’t want to shoot the messenger – public relations typically doesn’t involve lamenting over your product’s bugs or broken code, and that seems to be the only story for what’s going on – but Hines isn’t winning any fans among Sony’s ranks with his enigmatic nature. True, it’s better that no one has purchased the content yet while Bethesda sifts through its issues (not the case with Skyrim’s patch-filled start), but Skyrim still advertises the same experience across both the Xbox 360 and PS3 – and that should include post-launch purchase options.
In what genuinely marks an exciting time for the The Elder Scrolls franchise - Skyrim sales are well beyond record heights, PC mods are thriving, and The Elder Scrolls Online will arrive before we know it – it’s unfortunate to see part of the fanbase feeling neglected and abandoned.
Ranters, are you still waiting to play Dawnguard on the PlayStation 3?
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Follow me on Twitter @Brian_Sipple.
Source: Pete Hines Twitter
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Just fix the damn expansion.
Its not exactly bethesdas fault, theres a problem with the ps3 which is making the dlc unstable for the entire system.
No, it’s Bethesda’s fault. It’s not that there’s something wrong with the PS3. It’s that Bethesda is having trouble developing for the PS3. They can’t get their s*** together.
So yeah, you should learn facts before you start spurring comments like a child.
Yeah…derp. The PS3 is damn near impossibly for multi-platform games to develop for. It isn’t the dev’s fault, it’s the console’s fault for being made hastily and having bad compatibility with a majority of gameengines and dev kits. Go buy a damned xbox if you have a problem.
Yet all these other developers have no problem releasing games and DLC on time for PS3. Explain that to me?
You already said it, fix the damn thing. And release 1.7 for ps3. It was only version 1.6 they released, and the water shader crashing isnt fixed yet.
We’ll probably get 1.7 when we get Dawnguard.
Traded my PS3 copy for an xbox version. still freezes occasionally, just freezes while im playing Dawnguard now.
LOL, actualy no. The Xbox 360 has a memory pool of over 500 megs of RAM. Usable as system memory, or as graphics memory. Where as the PS3 has a divided memory pool of 256 megs for system memory and graphics memory. Because of that, the longer people play their characters on a pS3, the more megs they are using which cripples the games internal momory drive. Adding an expansion to it right now would only make it worse.
Ah, finally, a valid reason for something on the internet. Does this mean that the flaming will finally settle down? Probably not, but one can hope. In all honesty, Dawnguard wasn’t that good anyway. I understand the annoyance of not having it (PC Dark Souls DLC *Shakes Fist*), but all you can do is calm the down and just be patient.
I’ll be playing The Elder Scrolls VI on my Ouya.
And I’ll be playing on the PC, where it is best played anyway.
If it releases for the Ouya.
@Grady, Matt:
I was kidding.
I hope so.
well, good thing I bought Dragon’s Dogma. the Superior game. I played Skyrim and have so far been very unimpressed. The game has bugs, sure, a lot of games do. But, the biggest bug in the game is that it is completely boring and stupid. Also, the Controls (shudder)fall out blah… the Graphics look nice, but, the characters look awful. Dragon’s Dogma had much better customization and textures to the characters, the battles were fun and NOT a bothersome chore/bore. I was always looking for big monsters to take on, Giants, Cyclops, Griffins, Chimeras and even Dragons… on Skyrim, i was running from, and being killed by, villagers because I accidentally attacked one. in D.D. I got thrown in the dungeon, to which I made a key, if i accidentally hit the attack button.
TL;DR Dragon’s Dogma is a better game, Give up on the crap that was Skyrim… unless it drops to $20 or less.
Lol the fun in skyrim was trying to conqeur the enemies and the quests that are given. If the games to hard turn down your difficulty, they made that an option for a reason. Who wants to play a game that you can complete in less than a day like d.d
DD takes at least 30 hours to “beat” the game, but it takes a lot more time to actually complete the game. I know this and I haven’t even played DD. It’s called Google.
If you are accidentally attacking something you don’t want to in any game, you have no business saying something is better. Clearly you don’t know how to play video games. Your obsession with Dragon’s Dogma also proves this fact.
Lots of companies don’t release DLC or games for that matter on the PS3 because is is so damn hard to dev for, and Sony gives just about zero help. So no, it is not Bethesda’s fault that the PS3 cost more to develop for than the Xbox and PC (which are virtually the same anyways). Bethesda is doing their best, but the game runs ok on the Xbox, and now you say, lets run it on a system that is half as good. Do you really think that will work?
After Sony’s catastrophe losing everyone account info and shutting down the psnet last year, I am surprised anyone still owns it. If MS did that they would drown under a wall of flame.
It’s no secret that coding for the ps3 is alot more complex than the other platforms HOWEVER, the system was released a little over 6 years ago and bethesda has been working with the system since its birth, 6 years is enough time to get to know how the system works, the problem here is that releasing the dlc for ps3 users is not getting the attention it deserves, the entire dev team is spread out working on multiple projects simultaneously, and the reason why it hasn’t been released yet is not because it is too dificult, its because bethesda isn’t doing s*** about it, it doesnt take over 3 months to smooth out some bugs on a dlc
What Eddie said.
You started with a valid argument… and then when you threw in the thing about PSN going down, you stopped looking intelligent and started to look like an uneducated fanboy.
The entire argument is predicated on that there is nothing wrong with the PS3 and this is all Bethesda’s fault. The PSN going down is just one of at least 10 things Sony has screwed the pooch on since and including the release of the PS3. Bethesda, however; has acknowledged all the problems and continued to work on them. So who is more likely at fault here, Bethesda, or Sony. The evidence points to Sony for designing a sub-par system that is overly complicated and lacks sufficient memory.
Two years ago this wasn’t a problem, but we’re at the end of this generation. EPIC says that they are at %90 of what an Xbox can do. A system that is at least twice as memory capable as the PS3. So again, you blame the software developer for a hardware problem they can’t fix. Would you be happier if you bought Dawnguard and it flat out didn’t work?
I love how when people disagree with you instead of having a reasonable discussion they throw out words like “Fanboy” to make you sound bad. Way to go.
It’s the dev’s job to make it work, regardless of system. It’s what they get paid to do. Bethesda is one of the largest names in the industry, so why the “big time” dev’s can’t fix the issues in over a months time is a damned mystery.
It’s the dev’s job to make it work, regardless of system. It’s what they get paid to do. Bethesda is one of the largest names in the industry, so why the “big time” dev’s can’t fix the issues in over a months time is beyond me.
It’s the dev’s job to make it work, regardless of system. It’s what they get paid to do. Bethesda is one of the largest names in the industry, so why the “big time” dev’s can’t fix the issues in over a months time is beyond me
wooo happy i never liked PS, might as well kept it an xbox exclusive game.
I am not even wanting to support the sony side of Bethesda anymore. For a long time they have neglected us by late releases and faulty builds but for xbox and pc they have great quality builds. Sounds like someone on the Bethesda team supports the pc and xbox franchise more than the PS3 fanboys. Thanks Alot!
And Jeff, dont mean to point this out but sony is not hard to dev for. I have dev’ed for many indie games on the ps3 and thus far think its easier than xbox 360 and pc… less hoops to jump through and easier to code for.
I like how a lot of gamers always talk like they know what goes on behind the scenes smh
But you have to admit that it’s true that it doesn’t take over 3 months to smooth out a few bugs in a DLC.
LOL its not “afew bugs” its the ps3 memory drive making the dlc unstable because skyrim itself takes up most of its memory. Learn some facts
Skyrim is unstable, too. So what makes Bethesda think that they can make Dawnguard stable? It’s not a new game; it’s an addition to an existing game. If Dawnguard is as stable as Skyrim, then Bethesda should release Dawnguard. If Dawnguard is significantly more unstable than Skyrim, then Bethesda should’ve fixed it by now seeing as how they’ve had 3 months.
Your entire argument is invalid. Skyrim is completely stable on the xbox and pc, its not bethesdas fault that sony released a sub par system that cant run games with the size and scope of the elder scrolls and fallout
How is my argument invalid? Bethesda released an unstable Skyrim and they still haven’t fixed it. If they can’t fix Skyrim, they can’t fix Dawnguard, so they should just release Dawnguard for PS3 already. People that are used to Skyrim being buggy will just get more of the same, but since they’re already used to it, it won’t be a problem.
I’m a proud owner of PS3 and I never regretted my purchase. However there areas where the PS3 shines an that’s exclusives/HD remakes. It is not Bethesda’s fault that the PS3′s lack of memory causes a lot of problems for development teams to work with. In my opinion SONY should have address this “Lack Of Memory” when they introduce the Slim but didn’t.
NO,I’m not waiting to play Dawnguard on the PS3.