"Updating..."

[Sheizenhammer]

"This update will improve your gaming machine's speed. Please wait 3 hours for it to download, 45 more minutes to install and then re-enter all of your passwords and online information."

Am I the only one who misses the older generation of consoles and programs that, while relatively slow in themselves, didn't incessantly update everything? Hell, the amount of time I've spent looking at update screens on my PS3 and PC has probably amounted to all the time I ever spent looking at PS2 loading screens already (and I had that fucker for 10 years before it wore itself out). I put my PS3 online a couple of months ago, and while I like the overall result, some of the new content on some of the games was nowhere near worth the LITERAL 4.5 hour wait for all the backlog of updates to finish before it would shut up and let me play the damn things already!

The worst part of it, by a fucking MILE, is that only about 10% of these updates actually produce noticeable changes in whatever you're playing, or even deliver what's promised. "Performance enhancement?" Nope; same speed as always. Some shit about "stability"? The only games I've ever seen stability updates for are things that were already impossible to crash, short of trying to use every cheat code and mod available simultaneously. "New features"? What, changing a font colour used in the terms and conditions that no-one ever reads is a new feature these days?

I can live with Windows updating itself, simply because it does it while shutting down. Y'know, AFTER you're done with your computer, instead of what the current trend is, i.e. making people sit and wait for some random fucking loading bar to fill up so some random program tweak (that may or may not even exist for all I can tell) can enact some utterly pathetic background housework on a program that I only wanted to use for 10 goddamned minutes in the first place.

BAH!
Discuss your pet peeves with all the waiting around you have to do while your super-fast next-gen console / PC spends all of its CPU on fucking about reprogramming itself instead of actually playing anything.

[Sense-Offender]

I'm really reluctant to ever connect my 360 to the internet again. There are several XBLA games I'd like to get, like JJBA and Double Dragon Neon, but I don't know if it would be worth the required update.

[Sword-of-Kings]

That shit is annoying. I hate it when I want to play a game on Steam and I need to update it first. It wouldn't bother me so much if I had less restrictive data caps and higher speeds.

[Tony-DarkGrave]

whats your internet speed and whats the specs on your computer?

[Tony-DarkGrave]

this only took me three minutes.

[Atlas]

My PC updates quick and my PS3 will turn on randomly during the night to update and then shut off. My Xbox hasn't been on a while and it takes forever to update. Sometimes I like plugging the old GameCube or PS2 in just so I can start it, put a game in, and be on my way to enjoying myself.

[AngryGrag]

If it takes you any more than 5 minutes to download 89 MB then it's time to either upgrade your internet or your computer.