Game patches through third party hosting sites

[RichD]

This is something I recntly came accross with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. I was having problems with the game so decided to look for a patch for it. Logically I went to google and typed in stalker and ended up being taken to what looked lik the official Stalker web site. They dont host the patches themselves presumabley due to bandwidth issues and instead used a third party (I cant remember the name). There were two updates available but in order to get them you had to sign up an regester an account with the third party which would cost you a monthly fee! I didn't think this was right so started looking in the stalker manual to make sure I had the right site. I went to THQ home site and managed to find a link to the first update from a free site, however, I still cant find the latest update for free.

I was basically wondering if developers are allowed to do this or if they have an obligation to provide patches for free? and what peoples views in general were about having to pay for an update to fix a bug in software you have already paid for?

[kryyst]

Developers are allowed to do whatever they way. I don't think they should be able to but there is no law stopping them. Most that host on third party sites use filehosting sites that require a subscription to join. The first time I really noticed it was when looking for pluggins for Oblivion. Lots of the free ones are being primarily hosted on subscription based file sites.

[Kentigern]

:wave: If your looking for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. patch 1.0003 issued May 2007 have a look at this site http://www.guru3d.com/newsitem.php?id=5306
They have a free link to the US/International files.
Or you could go direct to FREE US file download at http://files.filefront.com/stk+us+1+3/;7477452;/fileinfo.html

[RichD]

:wave: If your looking for S.T.A.L.K.E.R. patch 1.0003 issued May 2007 have a look at this site http://www.guru3d.com/newsitem.php?id=5306
They have a free link to the US/International files.
Or you could go direct to FREE US file download at http://files.filefront.com/stk+us+1+3/;7477452;/fileinfo.html

Have I told you lately that I love you??? :D

[RWB]

Gameshadow is pretty nice...

[Sledgehammer70]

Gamespot, Fileplanet and a few other sites will allow patch downloads for most games without being a member... also if you're ever looking for patches in regards to some RTS and FPS games my site hosts patch files for a handful of them.

http://www.btgnetwork.com :)

[primesuspect]

I use (and enjoy) gamershell.com for all my patching needs.

[Thrax]

I get the name of the file from fileplanet, then go to filemirrors.com to find a non-****ty mirror.

[RichD]

I think it may have been game planet that i got directed to. I had no idea you could get patches from so many different sources. I dont usually bother looking for patches unless there is a problem. Is there not a danger of malware in downloading from third party sites or is it like all thing internety, only download from a trusted source?

[Your Amish Daddy]

You should always download from a trusted source, but if malware was being packed with a game update from a specific site, it wouldn't be long until something was done about it.

[Thrax]

I think it may have been game planet that i got directed to. I had no idea you could get patches from so many different sources. I dont usually bother looking for patches unless there is a problem. Is there not a danger of malware in downloading from third party sites or is it like all thing internety, only download from a trusted source?

Malware from a game patch virtually never happens; the files are too big and the bandwidth requirements too high to make it an effective and lucrative form of malware propagation.