10 'Revolutionary' Gaming Features That Already Happened 20 Years Ago

9. Mandatory Game Patches

In the modern console landscape the patch feels like it is as much of a requirement as a controller if you are looking to actually enjoy the game you have purchased. Practically every modern triple-A title ends up with an update of some sort, as the rush to get a game out on time leads to corners being cut in the quality control area. For console players the patch became a regular feature when the seventh generation of consoles appeared. Thanks to their online capabilities, the likes of the PS3 and Xbox 360 could offer fixes to any number of bugs whenever a fault was discovered - which is far too often these days. But, hang on a minute... The patch has been around almost as long as console gaming itself, and certainly long before the internet was readily accessible, thanks to Mattel's Intellivision. The console was released way back in 1979 as a competitor to the Atari 2600 and Mattel would often order changes to the code of games that had been discovered to have problems, meaning that later versions of the game would be fixed up so that future users wouldn't experience similar issues.