Playstation 2 Online at OnlineConsoles.com

Ferret7 and Viper over at playstation.com have unleashed a ton of information on an upcoming patch for Killzone. This is surprising, considering the game was a borderline success for Sony. Turns out Guerilla and Sony are committed to the franchise and are releasing this new patch to coincide with the Greatest Hits release. The patch is expected to be available very soon, in the next few weeks. There currently is an existing patch available which is 3MB large. I will be making whatever efforts I can to identify when indeed the brand new patch is actually being circulated. As there would be no indication online with Killzone if the patch you were downloading is the old or new patch. I will keep my ear to the ground on this.

This patch will work to resolve aspects of server lag and hit detection. They have been reporting a noticeable difference in lag issues during testing of the new patch. As far as hit detection here is what Ferret7 had to say on this:

“However, we did find a very sneaky bug that was affecting this experience. It was introducing shot deviation on the very first shot for some weapons. This was making it seem like you just couldn’t hit and kill people, and coupled with the server issues was becoming very frustrating. It was also changing the pacing of the gameplay – forcing you to run for the explosives instead of utilizing the skill of all the various weapons. We are very excited about releasing this fix – and hope that you are going to enjoy it as much as we do.”

They are also working on fixing some bugs that were causing players to crash when speaking over the headset at the end of games. Headset volume has been increased to allow for better communication. The pre and post game lobbies now let you talk to all the players, even during team games.

This patch will overwrite the existing 3MB patch if you have one already on your memory card. The new size will be the same 3MB.

When asked about International servers, Guerilla stated:

“As for international servers, there are a ton of technical issues with this one. Many of us dream of being able to do this - but there are so many hurdles to overcome. Research continues into this issue - but there's nothing definitive at this time.”

At the moment North American gamers are unable to play against PAL Region gamers. Killzone is being released in Japan in the coming months, and will have their own separate servers. For you PAL gamers, Guerilla says they only have control over the US Patch process, and are not involved with the PAL server administration. It seems it is a completely separate operation for each region. Seems pretty illogical doesn’t it? If I have any information on the PAL servers I will report it, however the administrators in Europe aren’t as forthcoming with the community as the North American administrators are.

Another interesting note is that while they are unable to currently bridge gaps to other major territories, they are setting up some custom areas for North American regions. A new Mexico lobby is up, allowing for a place for Spanish speaking gamers to congregate and play without getting racial trash talk from English speaking players. Guerilla is even implementing stricter community controls on cheating and abusive behavior. Looks like they are going to start banning players. All I have to say about this is… FINALLY. I hope they follow through with it as well. Griefers need to be stomped out. I wish I could get my hands on one of these big online games and clean it up. Maybe someday I will be working for a company doing this. (I can only hope!)

Ferret7 said:

“This Killzone community has gotten some "bad-eggs", and we just can't let them win! It's our community, and we don't have to allow them to threaten us, degrade us, or harass us. We can turn this around!”

Great attitude!

Killzone is already dropping in price. Online retailors are starting to reflect the $19.99 price point already, and stores should be following soon. GameStop, EBgames, and numerious amazon merchants have already dropped the price.