Mr Orange

Anyone have anyclue as to when these Socom servers are going to be back to normal (at least back to what is normal for Socom)???? Its been a royal pain in the you know what since Christmas trying to play the game online. I just want to be able to easily log on and play.

Is there a reason for all these problems other then all the new players from Christmas???

Gallant Pig

Easy guess: lots of people got PS2 network adapters + SOCOM for Xmas. It will get back to normal when Sony decides they want to add more server to handle the load.

gcribbs

I am sure they will add some servers soon. also kids go back to school then which should lessen the load a bit also.

Gallant Pig

Unless they get hooked on it and play hooky, the game is highly addictive online (when the playing conditions are good)

I'm really interested in where the servers will be at in a year from now, since they don't have money earmarked for keeping them running ($60 for SOCOM includes a headset, I'm guessing that's where the extra $10 goes to).

It's a pretty cool game though when the conditions are right, I can't wait for the sequel and excellent server conditions. That's the reason I'm not selling my PS2 NA.

gcribbs

I am sure money will come from further sales and Socom 2

The tough thing with a no member funded online service is that you will need to take money from game profits to run the servers or else it will not work.

Of course if sales slow down you no longer get money to maintain the servers so you either need to sell a new game to use those same servers or upgrade the game making the old game obsolete and using the new revenue to fund your servers.

Mopower

I have Socom, but can't find a freaking network adapter.........oh well.

Gallant Pig

Yeah good points Gary!

Mo - they are kinda sitting on them... staggering their release and not flooding the market since it would thereby flood their servers. Kinda sucky, but necessary with the way they are approaching the online gaming business.

If you really want to play online, might I suggest Ghost Recon + XBL? To me it's a better game in various ways, and at least its equal in other ways. Check it out for sure.

gcribbs

I have both and am not sure I want to play online ...oh well

Sony has sold every network adapter they can make. They will have sold over 400,000 this year(might be closer to 450,000)

so although some more will hit stores before the end of the year it will continue to be hard to find for at least another month or two.


The scary thing is that they might hit over 1 million shipped next year

gcribbs

actually not true. The manufacturer for Sony is supplying them as fast as they can. as soon as they arrive they are shipped out and sold. Sony from what I have heard has far more orders than they can get product. I doubt this will change till Feb or so.

I agree that the server issue is a problem. This is because they did not believe that they would sell all 400,000 by the end of the year. They figured that the manufacturer being able to provide this many units was enough.

They were wrong so they are scrambling to increase server capacity and increase network adapter shipments. short term nothing will change.

Gallant Pig

Interesting. If that's the case, then they are botching this. People will get turned off on the fact they can't get online with their PS2 and go for the alternative. They should have had tons of them ready to go since they had a year headstart over MS and they knew they were going to do online as well. Demand shouldn't have been that hard to recognize with some simple research.

The good thing is this is last generation of consoles that will be launched without NAs built into them.

Mopower

I agree, I have Ghost Recon for PS2 and although I can't play online, I find the single player game great. A lot of strategy involved and not as much "Run and Gun" as SOCOM. Would be pretty cool to play it on XBL. I hope people on XBL play it like it should be played and not just "Run a Gun". But I can't afford an XBOX plus a game I already have.

On a second note, I would rather pay $60 or even $70 bucks for a good SOCOM or Ghost Recon online game than pay a monthly fee for online play.

gcribbs

sadly it is the case.

I think they assumed that 400,000 was plenty and they could have sold 600,000.

The good thing is that it takes a few months to ramp up production(they already did a bit which is why they will hit a sales number higher than 400,000)

By next year the network adapter will be easy to get. Now they need to make sure that servers are easy to get on to

gcribbs

http://www.bestbuy.com/Accessories/p...FNetwork%2FUSB

order it thru bestbuy.com

I do know they continue to get shipments so maybe the 5-7 day estimate is close to the real estimate. I believe they have free shipping right now also.

Gallant Pig

The $60 or $70 overcharge you talk about is an interesting idea. I don't think it would fly well with people who can't take the game online though.

I love GR online, you really can't play it run and gun unless you want to die. After playing the non-online version for about an hour a week ago, then going to the online version, I was in the zone and chewing people up, what a great feeling. The controller alone makes it a better experience, I never push the R3 or L3 buttons the XBox controller, but I did that all the time with SOCOM, and my aim is deadlier with the big controller using a certain technique to grip it

gcribbs

It might work if the overcharge was only for a special network enabled code that came with it. or you could buy the none coded version for less and buy the code later for a bit more than the total for the coded version so they got a small deal buying the coded version right away.

personally I think PC's for years had online components that were absorbed by the existing price without charging more. I would hope the same happens for online console games.

I know MS is trying to change that although I am hoping it does not work since I just do not want to pay more to go online without 100% guarantee of no cheating(or my money back).

Lethal Nemesis

The SOCOM servers have always been a b****, but I guess I've learned to tolerate it. After all, it's free, so what do you expect? I hope they do fix the server problems soon because ever since the sudden influx of new SOCOM players, it can get tough to merely log on at all.

I finally decided to buy the Xbox, but I don't have GR or XBL. I don't feel like paying a monthly fee to play a game. I'm happy with SOCOM for now.

s}{ammer

Lethal, let me know when you get GR. I would love to play with you again. After having played Socom for so long, I had bought the xbox and GR. I played GR online and found it very hard to go back to playing Socom, or even the PS2 at all for that matter. I currently play GH, Buffy, Splinter Cell, and Halo. When I go back to the PS2 I can't even use the controls anymore. After playing Socom for so long and then switching to GR, when I go back to socom I would hit the l3 and r3 buttons nonstop and then also trying to find a game and then stay in it. Not being able to communicate because of lag or getting killed by the glitchers. All this while knowing I could be using GR and playing a good no cheaters, no lag, and no control problems game finally got to me. Socom was the only game I had been using my network adaptor for so when I was offered $100 for the 2 of them I took it.

Lethal Nemesis

Sounds good, and I'll let you know when/if I get GR. I bought my Xbox bundle a couple days ago along with Splinter Cell and Buffy (for my sister ). I also saw the XBL package, and I almost bought it, but then I remembered about the monthly fee. I haven't been keeping up with the Xbox, so I don't know if there's any type of "first year free" deal with XBL or anything like that. Guess I better do some research...

MrPink

The price of the xbox live kit includes online play for the first year. Then they have yet to say what the monthly fee will be after the year is up.