It is safe to say that SOCOM: Confronation was one of the PS3’s most anticipated titles of the year. SOCOM was the franchise that defined the PS2’s online experience, and most fans could not wait until its next-gen debut. Considering the massive expectations surrounding it, it came as quite a disappointment when the game that launched was virtually broken. Slant Six, the developers, soon released a patch that made the game mostly playable, but gamers have been looking to the upcoming 1.30 patch to bring SOCOM up to par. Although Slant Six gave a list of issues that 1.30 would address (here if you missed it), the release date has remained unknown until now.

On the official SOCOM site, it was just announced that the patch is scheduled to be released during the week of January 5th or 12th. Though Slant Six could have the patch ready sooner in time for the holiday break, it must first pass SCE Format QA, which is on vacation until next year. Unfortunately, this is out of the developer’s control, as there is no way for them to bypass this requirement.

It’s a bit disappointing that 1.30 won’t make it out in time for the holidays, as its release would have made SOCOM a rather nice gift for any PS3 owner. Hopefully the patch truly does address all the connection issues users have been having, and doesn’t introduce any new bugs of its own.

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