None of my other PS3 titles freeze, so it sounds more like a problem for GTA IV than for the PS3.

We shall see!

I don't know a single PS3 owner that has any problem playing GTA IV...

Myself, I had one single lockup when I tried to go online, and that was before the patch, since then not a single problem.

I also know plenty of 360 owners than are still having occasional lockups.

...when games consoles just worked?

Might as well run games on a PC if the console manufacturers can't guarantee the games will be properly compatible.

Jeez!

Downloaded the update last night and Call of Duty froze for the first time ever!

Not good!

As I don't..

I know 15 or so people with PS3 version of GTA IV, and none of them have had any problems whatsoever.

Could this be the media making a mountain out of a molehill? In which case, why not report how GTA IV on Xbox360 makes the console RROD...

"Anybody else remember...

...when games consoles just worked?"

No, actually. Every console I have ever seen or played would lock up occasionally. Even my very first Philips G7000

If the disc was already in when the console was switched on. The game would start up fine, but when it got to loading the save point it would hang.

Ejecting the disc and resetting the console without the disc in fixed it. Since then, no troubles at all.

Been trying to play through GTA4 since it's release but it's so atrociously bad on the PS3 with the crashing bugs I just had to give up.

Sold my PS3 and bought a 360, works perfectly, looks much better and didn't cost me any more thanks to the 360 being £100 cheaper and I only lost £80 selling my PS3 second hand! Will get access to the additional exclusive 360 content to boot.

My only real regret is that I went for the PS3 and the PS3 version in the first place, it was a complete waste of time and I can only recommend anyone wanting to play GTA4 to just go for the 360 version.

People have complained in the past about it being noisy but that doesn't seem the case any more so I guess Microsoft fixed that when they fixed the RROD problem which was my main concern but checking all the gaming forums doesn't seem to be an issue any more with newer consoles bought in the last 18 months either.

For once Microsoft seem to have finally done something right and produced a top notch console. It's certainly beaten Sony's offering this time round due to the fact games like GTA4 actually work great and look much better on it!

I have had no problems with GTA on my PS3, never frozen at all, and I have the 60GB one that people say is the problem

I doubt you'll find many in the UK with the problem as it's allegedly just early 60GB models with backwards compatibility that are having problems.

Indeed of all the PS3 (and 360) owners I know, none have said it's crashed once for them. But then I don't know any 360 owners who've had a RROD either.

Agreed. Originally you could only 'patch' a console title to address a security flaw - this was to deter a 'fix it later' mentality. However it does seem that more and more the ability to patch is leading to 'fixing' of games after release. The unfortunate people whose console is not online have to suffer on.

The worst I've had is one lockup.

I took a prostitute with me whe I was going to date Michelle and it obviously didn't like the fact that the passenger seat was already taken.

that when either a PS3 or 360 firmware/dashboard update arrives, there are aload of lame posts claiming that "xxx no longer works..."

I suppose it's an easy way for the Xbots/PS3 owners to spread their FUD.

It seems like there's no real problem, apart from "one man and his dog" having the occasional freeze. I haven't had any problem with GTA IV (apart from it looking a bit blurry and dark on my 28" widescreen CRT TV). In fact, I would say that the only game I've had freezes on is Burnout Paradise and that was very occasional.

Since Rockstars own GTA patch in the FIRST WEEK, no-one has any more problems. They fixed the uPNP problem with the access to the gamespy servers.

I had the freezing, couldn't even load a game sometimes, on my launch 60gb, until the patch, now i've clocked up another 20 hours without a single problem.

Its done, stop sniping.

Well mine certainly used to freeze up before the patch - disabling the internet connection got it going again prior to the patch coming out. Since then it's been perfectly behaved.

Blow on the Cartridge! Oh wait....

My friends 360 version kept crashing and after a full day of trying to play through it he got the Red Ring Of Death, turns out his graphics card over heated.

I havent heard any of my friends with the PS3 version complain yet.

Not experienced one freeze or problem.

I've played GTA IV a lot now , not red raw. But the girlf is getting v annoyed.

Myself and two mates own PS3s and GTA4, no lock ups to report yet. The only freezes/locks/reboots I've experienced is when coming out of Folding@home but even that is uncommon (2 or 3 times in 2 months).

I agree with the other posters, this isnt really an issue.

I been playing GTA alot and it did freese once, Rockstar released the patch and its been fine ever since.

Why the would the Sony firmware update have anything to do with GTA given that the issue has been fixed by an already released (Rockstar) patch!!!!

The reg journo owns an xbox methinks :D

With several colleagues owning PS3's ( mixed bag of older 60gb and the newer 40gb ones) with GTA IV in all its awesomeness, not one of us has experienced any problems or knows any one in turn that has had them.

It does rather seem like a story the media is all over like a rash, rather than a genuine widespread problem its made out to be.

But then, my brand new car has had a product recall due to water ingress on the brakes and I don't know anyone who has crashed due to it yet, doesn't mean its less serious ;)

Also:

Re: Strange

"None of my other PS3 titles freeze, so it sounds more like a problem for GTA IV than for the PS3."

From what I read elsewhere, its not to fix freezes in other games, but to improve performance (different beasts)

"In which case, why not report how GTA IV on Xbox360 makes the console RROD..."

Because Microsoft owned up to the RROD problem and stepped up to the plate to ensure that everyone who had a faulty 360 could get it fixed for free. The media are interested in this because it has the potential to spread because the issue has not been identified and fixed yet.

Oh, and congratulations on knowing 15 PS3 owners... I don't know any because most of my friends have more sense than money and got a 360 ages ago.

I've had a problem with it staying on the loading screen (where it just says the mission name in the corner) it doesn't lock up exactly but it just looks like its loading .. .. forever, I assume this isn't the problem everyones moaning about as simply disconnecting from PSN or unplugging the ethernet cable fixes it

I can barely get more than an hour or so of play out of it before it just locks up - doesn't seem to be any pattern to it, other than it only seems to happen on GTA. A friend of mine has seen it on his too, but he doesn't seem to see it quite as much - our PS3s are about the same age, so dunno if it's a batch thing.

Some other mates have the 360 version, and I'm having to avoid them currently for fear of p155 taking.

No, I don't. I really don't

Several PS1s and PS2s later.

Several angry nights at the MegaDrive crashing because somebody has sneezed within one mile of it.

Hours waiting for the C64 tape to load and then watching with glee as it crashed at 99% loaded.

So no, I don't remember games consoles ever being reliable!

...Since the GTA patch, but that was last week and admittedly not been back on since. Like the first AC here, had a few lock ups with multiplayer but wa fine after the patch. Wonder if it has borked any other titles? :)

I've had GTIV lock up on me on the PS3 about 4 times in about 40hours gameplay so far. I don't see it as that big an issue. At least not as big an issue as Forza Motorsport II on the 360 locking up on lap 38 of a 39 lap endurance race!!! An hour and a halfs gaming down the tubes!!! Its like having a power cut at work after writing a REALLY long document without saving.

I had to hire a driver for those races in the end, it just wasn't worth the broken controllers from throwing them at the wall.

I had one freeze on my PS3 ages ago with Lego Star wars in one very specific section. It was fixed with a patch and have had no further instances in any games. GTA IV included.

I gotta say, my fifth 360 RROD two days ago is more of an issue to me, so I'm in agreement that it is very much an issue encouraged and driven by the media.

"So you’d expect the latest firmware update for the console to fix the problem, right?"

I don't think I'd expect a firmware update for the hardware to fix a specific problem in a single software title, no. A software update patch perhaps, but not a console firmware update.

"...when games consoles just worked?"

Rose-tinted memories there miy friend!

More likely to be the game than the console.

....a Xbox 360 and have no problems with the game

I know that GTA4 freezes on the PS3 60Gb the first time you load it, but that's easy to sort (just sign out of PSN before you load it - just for the first load up - you can log on as normal aftwards). Have never had any games "just freeze".. I've had a few 360 games freeze, but that's just down to overheating I think. I've heard no one else having any other issues with GTA4 on a PS3 (and that is quite a few over differing versions of a PS3)

Hmmm.. Patch seems to be ok too on all my games (yup, including COD4)

@Mark - not sure it causes the RRoD itself, but I hear there are quite a few glitches on the xbox version. Sure it'll be overlooked once the "DLC" comes out.

Yeah, not sure about this article....

But of course that's because I've barely had a chance to play it, as my wife and daughter are hogging the TV for Wii Fit.

<considers moving the PS3 to the bedroom>

at all with my PS3 and GTA IV.... and none of my friends have had freezing problems either.

since the launch of GTAIV and all anyone has experienced was a glitch that stopped you loading the game, because of a change in their servers on the Saturday following the launch. It seemed to disappear after just a few hours and I've not had a single problem since. I've left the game running for over 24 hours (by mistake) and it's not had any other problems at all. I had a lot more issues with the game freezing and overheating etc on my PS2 and PS1 versions.

@BatCat

There's no comparison at all with the heartache of trying to run a games PC and the minimal effort required to setup a PS3. Occasionally it asks me if I want to update. I click yes and watch a progress bar move slowly across the screen. Then it installs and then everything works fine. That's as difficult as it gets.

Paris, because even Paris could operate a PS3

Anti-PS3 bias on the Reg again. So far as I am aware this is a multiplatform problem, so clearly something to do with Rockstars code. Quite how a console firmware update would be expected to fix broken game code is beyond me. I know plenty of people with this game, and no-one who has had a freeze.

I once had a pause, where I thought it had frozen, but it soon carried on - probably loading textures or somthing. One other time when flying down a bridge at high speed I think it couldn't keep up pre-caching the environment I was moving into, and I ended up driving with a matt grey road surface for 5 seconds or so until it loaded the texture, but that's the worst I've seen.

Just because you couldn't afford the PS3 doesn't mean you have to come and jump on this story. Go back to your inferior console, watch your retro DVDs and send your mum's off to Iceland.

/ducks

Did not buy it before the patch came out, so can't say if it made a difference, as I patched it as soon as I got it, but on my PS3, the game has performed flawlessly. But then that's not news is it?

Paris, because even dumb Paris can see this article is nothing more than FUD.

If you have had x5 RROD maybe you need to consider moving your console to somewhere in the room with a bit better air circulation to try and keep the temp down a bit ;0)

It locked up on me once when i was driving through the sewers on a shortcut

> there is no bigfoot

> I took a prostitute with me when I was going to date Michelle and it obviously didn't like the fact that the passenger seat was already taken.

Heh, classy! Does that work in real life? ;)

I bought the GTA4 PS3 pack, no problems with single player, but the game crashes at start up if I enable the internet...

Paris, because she wouldn't mind you bringing along an extra plaything!

I've had mine since launch day, 60gb, backward compaitble, and ive had TWO, count them, ONE, TWO lockups. Niether of which were on GTA IV

It's not a medical device, so im not fussed.

In the sarcastic words of Mark Corrigan (peep show), perhaps "news programmes should just be a dispassionate list of absolutely everything that happens in the world"

Of course a games console playing games without freezing isn't news.

Also, @Nic, send your mum's what off to Iceland? ;-)

i think an earlier poster was right - i think there problem isn't nearly as bad as the media makes out (obviously it's very very annoying for those few experiencing it) but since the GTA patch, i think the number of people still suffering from the freezes must be very small.

certainly, i know several people with launch day 60gb ps3's and since applying the 1.1 patch, none of us have had any trouble at all

this would suggest to me that if anyone is still having the problem, either they haven't applied the patch, or their problem is different, and as very few others have it, possibly not the fault of the game but instead down to other environmental features.

The original model. Had hundreds of games and thousands of hours of use and it *never* locked up.

I had the ! loading problem but the patch has fixed it.

What is really really annoying, and im not alone here is the GF. "Hollyoaks is on in 5 mins". "Turn it over". WTF. I spent a fortune on a 40"full HD TV , and a ps3 a year ago in anticipation of GTA and i cannot play it cos of fsckin hollyoaks or Jamie fsckin Oliver.

Has anyone else found a good solution to this particular problem?

Paris would let me play GTA.

... never crashed.

Cartridge games on my C64 always loaded perfectly - I agree that audio tape made lousy data storage mechanism.

My Super Nintendo had days (and nights) of continuous use without any problems.

I don't remember having problems with PS1 or PS2 games.

My Wii seems pretty robust too, though I must admit that these days I don't spend multiple days of continuous game playing like I did on the other consoles.

It just seems like there's an issue with every other new title that gets released on the XBox 360 or PS3.

every one i know with a ps3 has had this problem but it seems it's only when there have there ps3 downloading something there have said. so one of my friends created new profiles for it with out the wifi set and it's all good

I'm supposed to be working from home today but now I'm going to find it impossible not to fire up the [REDACTED] and play some Free Play online..

Gnngh.

60gb ps3 here and no lockups...

@ Test Man - just stick up the brightness a bit - happens with a few ps3 games (drakes fortune was really dark too)

the only game ever to have any issues is star wars lego.. but thats maybe due to the disk not being in great condition (bloody mrs lol)

I reckon a good proportion of all this talk of overheating and console unreliability is due to folk keeping their kit in scummy conditions. On the carpet / covered in fluff / discs out of cases / etc.

There are obviously legit cases, but - make no mistake - there are plenty of whiney scummers out there who abuse their kit.

I have the UK GTAIV on a HK 40GB PS3, and have only had one freeze in 45 hours of gameplay, and that was during multiplayer at the point were it goes back to the lobby after playing a race. And that was after the patch.

So no real big problems with it. Lego star wars is far more buggy in multiplayer ^^.

My copy locked up the second time I played it in the way Rob describes. It was the Saturday following launch, so now I'm not sure it whether it was the server issue mentioned by D, the uPNP problem mentioned by Joe K, or a single instance of terrible freezing problem that pushed the Microsoft loving AC to run off to XBOX.

Never had a repeat though, touch wood, figured Rockstar's patch had sorted it.

@TestMan - yeah, I'm a little disappointed with how badly it handle's the day to night and building shade lighting changes too. I think it's telling that Rockstar have made the brightness and contrast options so easy to reach within the menus. Annoys me a bit because GT5P has a really great into shade, out again eye adjustment effect that adds a great deal to the realism on the London Circuit. Maybe Rockstar needs to ask them how they did it.

@MarmiteToast - Naughty boy - You do know there's going to be a whole shed load of people trying that tonight. Me, I'll be disappointed if the game doesn't take it in it's stride - 'Who's this then?' 'A prostitute' 'Ohhh, Niko, I always wanted to try a threesome'.

Paris, because you know she's miffed they didn't include her on 'I'm Rich'.

"I know 15 or so people with PS3 version of GTA IV, and none of them have had any problems whatsoever."

1) Have you really asked 15 people about this problem? REALLY?

2) Are the 15 different people actually just you're 15 different email addresses?

60gb PS3, no issues at all throughout the entire game. Played for god knows how long without stopping.

@Mike Groombridge

"every one i know with a ps3 has had this problem but it seems it's only when there have there ps3 downloading something there have said. so one of my friends created new profiles for it with out the wifi set and it's all good"

Well they could just turn the Wifi off in their own profiles, or just not be downloading stuff all the time. There isn't that much to be downloading. Besides, whenever I run GTA4 the downloads stop.

just like Apple fanboys, but with balls?

Sorry folks, I just can't resist a minor troll......

No, they're just like Xbot360 fanboys who managed to escape electro-shock treatment, testosterone overdose and a traumatic frontal lobotomy.

:-P

MS pay you by the word for that post?

I know one person who had the 'save game' glitch, where by the auto save causes the game to lock on the 'loading...' screen. He basically had to disable the network connection to run the game. The odd thing is that to start, his game works fine.

Everyone else i know, including myself, the game works flawlessly.

But hey, after RROD the MS Crew needed something to jump on, and they managed to do it with this :)

than a frontal lobotomy...

Bud, you have no idea so keep you're comments to yourself.

Number 1: Free standing on it's end on a cool wooden floor, free ventilation all round.

Number 2: Same as 1 but the other side of the unit so it gets a cool breeze from a open door next to it.

Number 3: Thought "bollocks" so put it under the TV and threw caution to the wind (even though ventilation was still more than adequate).

Number 4: Same as 2 with a fan blowing on it ALL the time it was ever switch on.

Number 5: In a specialist AV cabinet that is actually COOLED (friends in the AV business).

So don't be trying to insinuate that either my comment was a 360 bash, I'm a PS3 fan boy or I'm an idiot. As much as the 360 has THE gaming content, no-one can defend the reliability based on my experience!!

Yeah, it's funny, but PONG never locked on me at all!!!

Your exclusive content will have to be paid for. So will your online play. Nice one retard, lucky you saved $100 on your crappy xpox.

and reflects the experience of all the PS3 owners I know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU

^ Just look what they do to you! ^

My Console made by Evil Company X, is far better than your console by even more evil company Y.

Grow up people!

I can remember playing Super Metroid on the SNES for about 30 hours straight once. No lockups, despite it being one of the most technically advanced games of it's time. Although the nasuea and foggy head after that meant I never played a game that long without sleeping again. Ugh. Was farking great tho.

And Goldeneye and Perfect Dark on the N64 - several hours of play, lugging the N64 and four controllers round to a mates house with a 40" TV to play marathon deathmatches [one hit kills, Complex, fifteen minutes, loser gets the beer] - all that abuse, all that playing time, not one lockup that I remember.

Arr, those were the days.

*fires up ZSNES and Project 64*

Steven "mine is the one with the K7 Avenger slung over the top of it" Raith

"I doubt you'll find many in the UK with the problem as it's allegedly just early 60GB models with backwards compatibility that are having problems."

Well I have a 60GB model with the backwards compatibility - I had something that looked like a freeze right near the beginning of the game - about the third time I got into a car - but then after 20 seconds or so it carried on and has never been a problem since.

Of course, it hasn't stopped me from getting frustrated when I fail a mission too many times and turning it off myself :)

I've had no problem with my original 60gb PS3 however I know a few guys in our forum who have. The patch sorted most of them and changing to a nice modern router sorted out a couple others ( silly thing tio need to do admitedly but there you go).

I haven't heard of any freezing problems now.

As to the chap who took this as an opportunity to jump on the PS3 back and praise the 360. Do stop it, you look stupid !

my VCS2600 still works today, i bought it in 1978 !

Still play ADVENTURE often...