White Knight Chronicles buckling under server meltdowns

Japanese owners of White Knight Chronicles are reporting that getting online is almost impossible.

[TOO PAWNED]

Japanese want to play online? What is next, snow in California?

[Max Power]

snow last week in Malibu and Las Vegas

[Ju]

I'd just wana say, we enjoyed the Snow in Las Vegas last week very much (well, the kids, not everyone :)

[TheIneffableBob]

Well, it actually did snow here in California in unlikely places recently.

[Rock Bottom]

That what you get when you release a game with an online option without a beta.

[INehalemEXI]

yup, snowed in nor cal in some places by where Im at.

[cherrypie]

That is why Famistu gave White Knight Chronicles the LOWEST score of ANY JRPG thusfar this generation.

Said that the online play was broken. And the game was severly technically flawed.

Every JPRG released this generation has a higher score than WKC from Famitsu. BD, LO, ToV, ToV, TB(ES), IU -- ALL OF THEM -- got a better review from Famitsu than White Knight Chronicles -- it got 29/40 from Famitsu.

[Mozilla89]

And Haze got a great score so your point is? WKC sold better on day 1 than a lot of those next gen JRPG's did in a week. I don't think the Japanese have a lot of experience with the whole online thing. I mean look at MGO that was handled terribly.

[vhero]

Still this game is the birth of PS3 in Japan it is the new "Final Fantasy" since S-E have ruined FF. To knock points off a review though for that is lame no way could they have known it was gonna be that big and sell out on launch day! This game is gonna PWN in 2009 finally a decent nex-gen JRPG and about damn time! All 360 and ps3 JRPG's until now have sucked especially the S-E ones who seem to not care anymore about anything... Taking 4 years to make a game is pathetic especially as its probably gonna suck..

[SonyOwnsNextYear]

Far east loves sony. have they done this to microsofts servers?

[shadowfox]

Why does every Sony game seem to have server problems at launch? LBP, Socom, and now White Knight. All great games, and dedicated servers kick ass, but Sony needs to work on this before Killzone 2 hits, because if 100,000 WKC owners gives Sony issues, then the half a million KZ2 owners definitely will.

[TOO PAWNED]

They probably wanted to release WKC on 25th. so maybe it was rushed. dunno what else could be

[PirateThom]

Honestly, I think Sony underestimates the popularity of the games so don't dedicate enough bandwidth to them.

Maybe they'll learn by Killzone 2, but don't bet on it, await a week or two of server issues and articles proclaiming the end of the PS3 and how Killzone 2 didn't deliver.

[GrandTheftZamboni]

Is it Sony's or developer's responsibility?

[PotNoodle]

Killzone 2 worked amazingly well, i mean i could join a server in japan and get zero lag at all. Over those few weeks of the beta i didn't encounter any lag.

When you create a server it is hosted on their own servers, anything upto 32 players. You have complete control over the servers you create, password protect them, set game types, rules, etc etc.

I mean it could all just die on release day but from what i saw the game is very solid online and they have said many times they have been working on the online since the start and have had it up and running for a good few years now constantly improving the netcode.

[DJ]

And I'm getting pretty fed up with it. You'd think they'd at least build the capacity for every copy that's put on shelves within the first week.

[interrergator]

@deathrow

were there any framerate problems or anything i dont have the beta

[PotNoodle]

Was at a certain part on a map, it doesn't matter what was going on there, there could be only 1 person on the server and it still happened when i ran past it so it was obviously just a glitch.

But other than that, no - the framerate stayed solid, or at least a certain mark where i didn't notice the drop.

[interrergator]

@deathrow hm hopefully no problems with anything like the lag for final version

[TOO PAWNED]

BTW game sold 135k on day one, that IS OFFICIAL. So at least 200k first week, which is great. But stuff like this sounds lame, sony should be fast to fix it.

[Ju]

And usually they are. We had other games where this happened. Usually within 1-2 days, most of the issues where fixed.

If you don't do 100K load tests in advance, this is always guesswork. And needs some adjustments as soon you hit real world load in the 100ks.

[pwnsause]

well its both a surprise and not a surprise to me at the same time.

Its not a Surprise that this happens since this is the first week since the game launched in Japan. and thats a good thing, cause it means the online mode sounds as if its pretty addicting.

Now its a Surprise because its the Japanese playing online games. Didn't the media say that Japanese online gaming inst as popular as Western online gaming? I mean just look at the arcade business over there, its still popular over there. This game is getting them to play online, which is a big deal.

[gameraxis]

i'd splurge on the servers, always have too much, all that money saved from minimal marketing, spend it on servers!!! this is just starting to get on my nerves as a ps3 fan...

and i don't get it... cod4 ran BEAUTIFULLY, R1 ran BEAUTIFULLY... i wish i had a voice loud enough to reach sony's doors

[edhe]

The more popular the psn becomes the more widespread this problem will become.

If you get 30m people on the service and it has to provide game servers as well as everything else and there's a sudden shift in the demographic (new game, dlc or real-world event) then because its a bespoke architecture it'll strain badly.

p2p isn't ideal for ingame performance [considering the variablity of people's broadband and networking hardware setup], but at least it's dynamic, and on MS's side their centralisation's only based around leaderboard & matchmaking protocols which makes it a lot more flexible.

e.g. say killzone 2 launched and immediately hit 2m people playing on day one, you think a dedicated server setup would work for that? you'd need hundreds of thousands of instances over thousands of dedicated hardware units. If 2m people sign into halo then it'll work fine on anything not match-made, and recently would probably be acceptable on matchmaking.

Trade-offs: instant performance or durability? Paying customers want both, free players should expect neither?

This is why the pay-off of performance for the dedicated servers of the PSN will soon feel like an old memory when the overall bandwidth of players pushes the developers/sony to find out a way of having more servers & bandwidth without charging people for the privilege.

Also, what happens in 8 years time? Servers all go offline and no more gaming? P2P puts that in the hands of the gamers.

Neither setup is ideal.

[thor]

edhe I think you're wrong here. The PSN I don't think has EVER buckled under the load of users. For example, when Home launched there were disconnects everywhere, but not to PSN, it was localised in Home. It's the specific servers for WKC.

The game's just launched - I am going to explain this simply.

Let's say your game sells 1 million copies.
In the first week, 500,000 people play it online.
In the second week, 300,000 people play it online.
The number of players drops down from that initial week, until you're left with maybe 100,000 regular players.
Now your problem, as Sony, is to decide in advance how many servers you're going to need. Let's say you predicted these figures.
Do you get enough servers to cope with 500,000 players, or 100,000 players? Getting enough servers to cope with 500,000 would be unnecessary past the first week, a waste of money. So you simply get enough servers to cope with, say, 150,000 people and then you'll have some problems at launch. But after that initial launch period, the game will run smoothly for all and you've only spent a fraction of the cost on servers.

Even P2P games like Gears 2 need matchmaking servers and will suffer from the same problem I described. When we talk about dedicated servers we simply mean the individual games we connect to - e.g. the blue rooms in Warhawk. I don't have to go on a dedicated server in Warhawk but I still must connect to their servers that handle the lobby etc. - and when I connect to a dedicated server it's not affected by anyone else apart from those in the game, because the dedicated server is just a PS3 connected up to the internet.

[edhe]

"Do you get enough servers to cope with 500,000 players, or 100,000 players? Getting enough servers to cope with 500,000 would be unnecessary past the first week, a waste of money."
I'm sure customers would love that approach.

You just made my point though, you do that toss up for bandwidth on that system, or you go p2p and cope with anything [theoretically].

Shame it doesn't work like torrenting - the more the better ;)

[pp]

Probably due to the Lag on psn i'll guess that's what you get for a free service.

[NNNW]

lolllllll

[PotNoodle]

At least i get lag for free on PSN, i have to pay for it on live!

XBL: Death roW247
PSN: DeathroW22

[CyberSentinel]

for a mediocre system.

with a mediocre online service.

Mediocre Lemmings Will Settle For Anything.

[Xlll]

^ says the guy that hasn't seen a hit RPG on his 360 since Oblivion.

[G Man]

LOL, this game got a 29/40 from Famitsu.

[Sevir04]

which both tanked in the states. ^^

[TOO PAWNED]

"Gman
LOL, who cares if game sells and games love it? LOL you are so funny LOL

[PotNoodle]

LOL, haze got a 34/40 from Famitsu
LOL, Lost odyssey got a 33/40 from Famitsu

HAZE IS A BETTER GAME LOLOLOOOOOLLLL

Seriously, try again.

[JD_Shadow]

1. Famitsu's reviewers has no CLUE what's going on. They are so inconsistent and you never KNOW what they're looking for. It's like they just give some random number and hope it's creditable.
2. What the hell does THAT have to do with anything in this article?

[Jackthepwnsaur]

I guess we can all say that the Last Remnant is the best RPG ever.... Right, I forgot, it sucked.

[ChampIDC]

Yeah, Famitsu fails at reviewing. Nuff said.

Lost Odyssey wasn't really a bad game, but not having played WKC, I have no idea which is actually better. Famitsu still fails, though.

[Captain Tuttle]

Famitsu gives it best reviews to the highest bidder. It's pretty common knowledge. Just remember that the next time a game (on ANY platform) gets a 39/40.

[Common Sense]

and that game is Mass Effect. Some of the worst games this gen got excellent scores from Famitsu. Last Remnant at 38/40, Haze at 34/40 and Infinite Undiscovery at 32/40.

[GARBAGE LICKER]

That Famitsu Review was fake. Try to find any proof or just go to their website if you understand Japanese. I do. So I'm glad you just listen to what other fanboys post on n4g and think it did get an 11.

That being said WKC and S04 will probably both be awesome, but nobody will admit it

[cherrypie]

From Darkpower:

"famitsu reviewers have no idea what's going on".

Un-fricken-real. Famitsu doesnt know anything about JRPGs.

Really? Is that what you people are going to say now? Famitsu doesnt know anything about JRPG games?

Whatever fits the SPIN of the moment here on N4SDF.

[Mr.Mister]

wth is TKR

[JD_Shadow]

Nice of you to take me out of context, cherry! The ENTIRE quote:

"Famitsu's reviewers has no CLUE what's going on. They are so inconsistent and you never KNOW what they're looking for. It's like they just give some random number and hope it's creditable."

Never brought up anything ABOUT JRPG's or that they didn't know anything about them, did I? They ARE VERY random in their reviews. Knowledge about JRPGs don't mean sh!t if you can't be consistent in reviewing games.

So now not only are you taking me out of context, but you're putting words into my mouth that I never once said.

And you're saying that it's ME and the rest of the N4G users that are spinning it?

[InMyOpinion]

lol @ PSN

[peedie16]

@ G Man

should reviews really matter dude I mean its just someone else's opinion. Look at FF12 Famitsu gave it a perfect score and I hated that game dude

[patterson]

Just kidding ;)

[GWAVE]

That's what happens when you have a next-gen RPG that the Japanese want to play: they play it.

I can't say the same for some OTHER so-called "big name" JRPGs that came out on some OTHER so-called "King of JRPG" system.

[Software_Lover]

Any of those other JRPG's on the other system banking on online. But I do recall those other JRPG's on the other system selling a butt load of consoles. So apparently they want to play them too.

[MGOelite]

i lol at the people saying its PSN. just like GOW2 didnt cripple the server when that was launched, it still sometimes take 5 mins for the matchmaking and the lagg in game is so bad you cant even quit sometimes.

wow XBL is such a terrible service, shame on you microsoft

[PirateThom]

Shush, you're not allowed to talk about the problems Live has. It's a paid premium service and for the illusion it's worth it to stick, it has to have no issues at all.

[cow moolester]

The difference being, Gears of War 2 had over a million people on it at launch. WKC has what...100k-150k on it?

[Spike47]

LOL, WKC is probably the best JRPG so far in Japan on consoles.

[silverchode]

who didnt see this coming?

[ultimolu]

It shows the huge demand for this game.
But Sony should fix these problems asap.

[aiphanes]

And by the time the game comes to the states and Europe...there will be no server issues.

I never new there was online in this game...how many players?

[Gambit07]

I believe it's 4 player co-op.

[INehalemEXI]

Its going to be awesome when it comes to US and Europe.

[kewlkat007]

with all these new games.....

The only thing that is suspect with Sony, is the whole support for PSN and a 3rd-party's handling of such tasks.

[Sonyslave3]

wow and it just 100k people i have bad feeling about this o well psn is free and lag and crash where are people saying psn never lag at

[Knightofelemia]

Last Remnant is a joke Mass Effect was alright. But this game is worth the wait and a couple of screwed up servers will not hurt those who want to play it badly. I just just hope when the game comes here the problem is fixed.

[Jdoki]

It's all very well people saying 'Sony should anticipate this that and the other', but the fact is that most of the servers are run by the devs/publishers.

And y'know what? When you're providing a FREE service, you want to spend as little on it as possible.

So it should come as no shock what so ever when the servers fall over in the beginning. The people providing the service will always lean on the side of cost savings. If (or more likely, when) the servers fall over they invest in more bandwidth.

Every time we've seen servers fall over, whether it's a 360 or PS3 game - it usually gets fixed quickly.

[Chapulin]

Why does WKC TGS 07 gameplay look better than 08 gameplay.

http://gamevideos.1up.com/v...

http://gamevideos.1up.com/v...

[Menech]

I think its just the night textures look really sweet and a difference in HDTV the older one having the sharper image.

[Kain81]

and download the HD versions
Its the same video what you linked, but its sharper and in HD^^.