For instance, the updated version of MC3 has a small change (prevent speed hackers).. So for something that's only a few megabytes in size, why do we have to download the entire 1gb+ game? Can't they have a patch system like they do on PC games?
Actually, I think incremental patch updates can now be done for apps. But it's a relatively new feature and developers need to implement it, ie you probably won't see it happen much for awhile yet.
Yeah its frustrating, several times i've had to delete apps to then just update another large app i've got already (Got fed up of Bards Tale doing that so in the end i deleted it). Be good if they could just do the small updates instead of the huge file all over again.
I know some huge games (like Fifa 13) that only download a few MBs (or maybe even KBs) for an update patch. Unless of course if they're adding new content...then a whole download will be needed since it involves art assets. But if it simple tweaking in the code, a small patch should do. Not many devs implement this yet.
Usually I don't cry about it but when I saw the 1.09 gb MC3 update which only fixes speed hacks, it pissed me off -.-"
I remember updating a huge (file) game some weeks ago and was surprised when it updated in a few minutes. I checked the AppStore updates if it really updated or just crashed and was even more surprised when I saw that it updated. I didn't know "patches" were possible before that.
If this is true, then I just found the only reason I need to update to iOS 6. I absolutely hate updates in huge games. Causes a massive headache of trying to delete and redownload apps. My biggest gripe with the iOS system has been lack if incremental updates.
Not sure if Apple supported patches from the start, but for us indie devs it is a lot faster and cleaner to create a brand new version of a game rather than trying to patch pieces of code. We have recently updated our retro platformer GameGuy to add Game Center and other fixes(code only) but when sending to Apple there does not seem to be the ability to do patches. This might only be for the likes of EA etc.
Dont get me wrong i dont mind reinstalling 99% of apps. Its just the biggies which are a pain. As i said Bards Tale was a nightmare as the app size was huge, they kept updating that but as i only had say 800 mb left i had to keep freeing up space for the update. Any 'tiddlers' are fine if its the whole file, just the big 1GB + games are a nightmare. To be fair i should delete more stuff on my gadget though !
I don't mind too much apart from the fact it requires current space, plus download space and then install spec (some games being worse than others). Then it gets annoying, especially if the game doesn't have icloud support so you can't delete the original to make room for the update.