The update will take an hour or two to happen, so the game will be down until approximately 7AM EST/4AM PST. And ouch -- this patch will also wipe out all player statistics.
It's been a long time coming, Slant Six! Let's hope everything goes smoothly.
The 1.3 patch for SOCOM Confrontation adds a ton of new features, such as Trophies. The PlayStation Network-exclusive online game will certainly test your skill. These are Trophies for the truly dedicated SOCOM soldier.
SOCOM fans looking forward to playing Confrontation over the holiday break won't be able to enjoy patch 1.30. Those expecting all the features of 1.30 will be disappointed to hear that the patch won't be available to download until the new year. "Unfortunately, due to the Holidays the update will not be approved by SCE Format QA until early next year. Our QA staff will be here, testing the game over vacation, but the SCE QA teams which must approve the update before release will not."
As of now, it appears the patch will be available during the week of January 5th or January 12th. While it's disappointing to have to wait so long, SOCOM fans have proven to be some of the most patient gamers out there.
This is what we're talking about! SOCOM Confrontation has had a less-than-stellar launch, but it looks like things are finally turning around. The upcoming version 1.30 patch is quite the biggie -- it add features like Trophies, revised items and controls, and the return of the prone move. However, it also significantly expands upon the game's lobby system, allowing the online experience to go more smoothly. For a game that has no single player component, this is quite crucial.
The Quick Match/Party system will be added in the upcoming patch. What does this mean? It means that SOCOM players will be able to jump into appropriate games, with the friends, in a much faster and organized way. "Once you select quick match you are taken to the party screen where you can invite other players to join your party. On the party screen, you can chat with your party while you are waiting for everyone to join. Once everyone has joined, select join game and your party is matched with other players of similar skill. For the 1.30 update, you can select from 3 different game types for the quick match; 16x16 Ranked, 16x16 Unranked and 16x16 Respawn. All large maps and game modes are available and the playlists are selected at random."
It's great to see Slant Six finally making Confrontation a game worthy of the SOCOM brand. While it's unfortunate that it has taken so long to get to this point, we're reminded of the old saying -- better late than never.
We've brought word previously that SOCOM: Confrontation was getting a 1.30 patch to fix a large set of bugs and add in tons of community-requested features, including Trophies. You can find a whole list of those changes here. However, the v1.30 patch will also be adding more than just the previously revealed content. The patch will also add in the ability to use the D-pad for the lean-in feature, instead of using the regular Sixaxis controls. Players can toggle between the two options in the middle of battle as seen in the clip above. Also featured in video (after the break), SCEA and Slant Six shows off the new transparent scoreboard.
However, there's still no mention of a release date for the v1.30 patch. Fans have been waiting for the patch since news first came out nearly a month ago, and hopefully, they won't have to wait much longer.
Posted Nov 28th 2008 8:18AM by Andrew Yoon Filed under: News
Hope you weren't waiting for your SOCOM fix, our dear European reader. Looks like SOCOM Confrontation has been delayed to "early 2009," according to Eurogamer. While American gamers have had their hands on the game for a few months, the experience has been less than stellar, with a very buggy launch followed by a number of frequent patches. Perhaps when Confrontation lands in Europe, the game will actually ... what's the word we're looking for? Oh yes -- work.
The game will be bundled with the official PS3 Bluetooth headset, just like it did in America. Should it be priced the same as in the US, the bundle will still be a terrific deal.
SOCOM: Confrontation didn't launch with Trophies; instead, it shipped with a lot of bugs. Slant Six even admits that "the launch was pretty rough on all of us." However, with patch 1.20 already out fixing a majority of the problem issues and a 1.30 patch coming soon, things are turning around.
In fact, the much coveted Trophy support is said to arrive in the upcoming 1.30 patch, among other new features. You can find a list of all the new features and bug fixes for the new update after the break. The crew notes, however, "that some items listed may be delayed to a following update if additional development is required beyond what our schedule for the 1.30 update allows." That means, don't take it as a 100 percent guarantee.
Unfortunately, SOCOM Confrontation has been plagued with a number of game stability issues since release. The bugs have been significant, rendering the game unplayable in many situations. A patch tomorrow will fix a myriad of problems:
Fixed many issues which would cause the game to crash, hang, disconnect and exit to the PS3 XMB.
Fixed an issue which would cause large numbers of players in a high player count game to be simultaneously disconnected.
Fixed an issue which would cause players to be invincible.
Fixed a physics issue which would cause players to occasionally "warp" around on the map.
Fixed an issue where a "corrupt save data" message would be incorrectly displayed after updating the game.
Fixed some player model issues related to team swapping.
Client/server optimization.
Fixed an issue where the scope camera had an incorrect offset from the barrel of the gun while prone or leaning/peeking.
Hey, look. This update looks pretty familiar. It's mostly similar to the European update today, with the exception of SOCOM: Confrontation, which is now available to download for $40. We humbly request that you grab the bluetooth headset bundle rather than the downloadable version. The more PS3 owners with headsets, the better. Whoops, we're getting off topic. Here's the full release list:
Playable content
SOCOM: Confrontation ($39.99)
Sno-Cross Championship Racing PS1 game ($5.99)
MotorStorm Pacific Rift demo (free)
Add-on content
Tiger Woords PGA Tour 2009 "Spyglass Hill" add-on course ($7.49)
Eye of Judgment Set 3 expansion ($14.99)
Eye of Judgment Set 2 & 3 expansion bundle ($19.99)
"The trophies will become available via patch in the coming weeks," SCEA's Jennifer Clark told us when we inquired about the game's strange lack of Trophies. Yes, if you buy SOCOM Confrontation, you'll find that it's absent of the collectible Trophies everyone's been raving about. It's strange that Slant Six wasn't able to include Trophies into the final version of the game, but this may explain why we had so much trouble finding out the Trophy list so soon before the game's release.
We're hoping that the Trophies that are enabled will take advantage of a retroactive rewards system. Undoubtedly, hardcore SOCOM fans are ready to spend hours in the online world of Confrontation. Of course, let Burnout Paradise teach a lesson: perhaps it's best not to expect retroactive Trophies to um ... y'know, work.
Are Japanese players even interested in the very-Western SOCOM franchise? We're not entirely too sure, but this new trailer released for the Japanese market will try to attract players to the 32-player online fragfest. Thankfully, video footage of the game can be understood in any language. Chances are, though, if you're one of the many that are eagerly anticipating the game -- you're already in the beta.
It has been 10 days since the start of the SOCOM: Confrontation beta, but Slant Six has finally provided a manual for us. We are not sure why this wasn't provided on or before the day the public beta was released, but better late than never, we suppose. Check out the manual here.
Those of you who are looking forward to another patch for the beta shouldn't have to wait much longer -- another patch is in the works and the focus of it will be to resolve the following issues:
Abnormally long network synchronization issues when some users in a game have a poor network connection. This issue causes 4-7 minute (or longer) load times when late joining a game.
An issue where respawn game late joiners were sometimes stuck in spectator mode and could not respawn into the game.
Remove the latency detection network test which is causing some users with poor network connections to receive the network latency icon (red X).
We'll provide you with an exact release date as soon as the information is available.
We know that a number of you have been having problems with the SOCOM: Confrontation public beta. Well, there is finally some relieve in sight: it has been announced that a patch will be applied today at 5AM PDT/8AM EST/12PM GMT. There will also be server maintenance at that time for about 1.5 hours.
According to the SOCOM blog, the Public Beta 1.10 Patch won't fix everything, but it should "address a number of stability and late joining issues," lower the volume of the proximity chat by 50%, add support for European EULAs as well as dedicated servers for Europe and Australia. They are also looking into other issues, with a promise of "more updates to both the server and client in the future."
Eurogamer will be giving out their SOCOM: Confrontation beta keys starting at 4PM UK time, which is half an hour from now. You must be in the United Kingdom, and you have to first register here with Eurogamer. Make sure you are signed in, and keep checking their page for more information. They will be given out on a first-come, first served basis. Finally, unlike the US beta keys, these UK beta keys will only work on one PS3. Good luck!
Those of you on the other side of the Atlantic might have not heard much about those SOCOM: Confrontation beta keys since they were mentioned last month, but now we have a little bit of news for you guys in the UK. Apparently, Eurogamer will be have 6,000 of them to give out to UK gamers whenever the beta begins. No other information was available, but details should be announced in "the next few days."
Furthermore, late last week we learned that the US beta was delayed until September 5th. We knew that Europe was suppose to get the beta on the same day as the US, but as of now Eurogamer claims that "Sony has yet to confirm exact details for Europe," which hints at a delay. We'll keep you updated as soon as more information is released.
