Topic: Is Blu-ray really a good medium for games? (Read 197 times)

PS3Scene · « **on:** January 17, 2007, 02:44:00 PM »

Is Blu-ray really a good medium for games?
Posted by XanTium | 17-1-2007 16:08 EST

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Quote

So there you go: you can either install game assets on the hard drive or by place redundant game data around the disc. The problem in both of these solutions is that one of the advantages of Blu-ray become less compelling. Why bother with a large Blu-ray disc when you're putting that data on the hard drive before you play anyway? You could have simply put that extra information on a DVD and then moved it onto the hard drive The same can be said about the redundancy approach: why not just use a standard DVD and have it load quickly in the first place instead of doubling or tripling up your data on a slower but larger disc?

The Blu-ray drive is useful for movies, of course, but for gaming, Blu-ray doesn't look like it's the best choice until faster drives are released. There is every possibility of a future PS3 revision with a faster Blu-ray drive, but that won't help current PS3 owners. Blu-ray may be the future for storage that's both large and fast, but right now it seems shoe-horned into gaming applications. It seems like developers may actually do better by shipping some of their PS3 games on DVDs. Games will load faster and manufacturers will save money on the discs. Would Sony allow it?

Full Story: arstechnica.com

Dirvance · « **Reply #1 on:** January 17, 2007, 02:29:00 PM »

This i actually agree with and i thought from the beginning. I wasn't in support of Blu-Ray being used for gaming unless it could match or exceed the speeds of current DVDs. Which is why i also praise Microsoft for sticking with standard DVD-9s.

I doubt Sony would let them use DVD-9s for gaming. It would place less worth on having to have a PS3 cause its games don't even use it (Blu-Ray). I think they should use DVD-9s and if the absolutely needed the space go Blu-Ray.

incognegro · « **Reply #2 on:** January 17, 2007, 02:40:00 PM »

Sony won't allow it. End of story. Hell they already said no to the devs.

Marrvia · « **Reply #3 on:** January 17, 2007, 02:45:00 PM »

Of course there is always an advantage to having tons of space on a disc in that respect. And I haven't played many PS3 games yet, but I haven't experienced any long load times. I have seen tons of games on Xbox 360 with long load times even though the drive is fast. Also, Xbox 360 has an annoyingly loud dvd drive and the blu-ray drive on PS3 is almost silent. So personally, I think Blu-ray is better. But of course my opinion can change if load times became really long on Blu-ray, so far I just haven't seen it.

VariableElite · « **Reply #4 on:** January 17, 2007, 03:38:00 PM »

Blu-Ray for teh winz0r!!!1

clicky clicky

Funny if it's true...

epsilon72 · « **Reply #5 on:** January 17, 2007, 04:42:00 PM »

Blu-ray shouldn't be used for games.

Now if someone could come up with a super-high-speed super-high-capacity flash storage medium and use it for games that would be the best (*thinks of the days of nintendo carts, wishes they had more capacity* (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif))

This post has been edited by epsilon72: Jan 18 2007, 12:43 AM

Kamasutra318 · « **Reply #6 on:** January 17, 2007, 08:13:00 PM »

QUOTE(epsilon72 @ Jan 17 2007, 06:13 PM)

Now if someone could come up with a super-high-speed super-high-capacity flash storage medium and use it for games that would be the best (*thinks of the days of nintendo carts, wishes they had more capacity*

)

That wouldn't be too affordable though.

bigjimmy · « **Reply #7 on:** January 17, 2007, 09:14:00 PM »

QUOTE

That wouldn't be too affordable though.

Lol i could imagine a 25gb cartridge.......flash memory FTW! lol

Pheidias · « **Reply #8 on:** January 17, 2007, 11:35:00 PM »

Flash memory pffftt. We should put games on regular ddr memory. Then you can say godbye to loadtimes.

VariableElite · « **Reply #9 on:** January 18, 2007, 09:21:00 AM »

QUOTE(Pheidias @ Jan 18 2007, 12:06 AM)

Flash memory pffftt. We should put games on regular ddr memory. Then you can say godbye to loadtimes.

DDR is volatile.

Plus, 10GB of DDR would run between about $900 and $1200, depending on the quality.

When my games start costing a grand apiece, they better jack directly into my brain and be better than real life.

heartofalion · « **Reply #10 on:** January 18, 2007, 01:37:00 PM »

QUOTE(VariableElite @ Jan 18 2007, 10:28 AM)

When my games start costing a grand apiece, they better jack directly into my brain and be better than real life.

Damn right, i dunno it seems like blu ray has its pros and cons, but we wont know until there are titles taht are well actually good and take up alot of space so there isnt much redundancy to reduce load times

Pheidias · « **Reply #11 on:** January 18, 2007, 03:34:00 PM »

Hey I thought it was speed we were after, and its not like trying to make a 25gb flash cartridge wouldn't cost you the same amount.

VariableElite · « **Reply #12 on:** January 18, 2007, 05:47:00 PM »

QUOTE(Pheidias @ Jan 18 2007, 04:05 PM)

Hey I thought it was speed we were after, and its not like trying to make a 25gb flash cartridge wouldn't cost you the same amount.

10GB of SD flash memory (5 2GB cards) runs about $85.

So 25GB, assuming you could find a game that had a legitimate use for it (no need to duplicate data, as there are no seek times from the head moving across the platter), would run a bit over $200.

Prices are from Newegg.com, btw, and assume that you can magically stack 5 SD cards on top of each other for 10GB.

calderra · « **Reply #13 on:** January 19, 2007, 09:39:00 AM »

Is BluRay great for a 40+hour JRPG with over 10 hours of fully pre-rendered cutscenes? Ab-so-lutely. How about a new generation of expansive turn-based strategy games? Absolutely!

Is it optimal for... er... anything else? No.
The interesting point from this article is indeed that regular DVDs do fit in, and load on, a PS3 just fine. Devs could get better load times and higher profit margins instantly by shipping on DVD instead of BluRay.

Will Sony allow this? Hell no.
CAN they allow this? Not really. They staked the farm on BluRay, now this is another stake in their collective heart.

It just boggles the mind- DEVELOPERS WOULD GET FASTER LOAD TIMES IF THEY SHIPPED THEIR PS3 TITLES ON DVD. RIGHT NOW. ON THIS VERSION OF THE HARDWARE. (emphasis added).

That's a major f'n problem for Sony.

incognegro · « **Reply #14 on:** January 19, 2007, 12:17:00 PM »

calderra, its funny u mentioned the jrpg thing cause I was thinking... if they need duplicate data to speed up seek times then if a game used near all the BD then wouldn't the load times be atrocious? A jrpg would suffer if it had to use all that data.

well atleast it will make the rpg seem longer...lol...isn't that part of the appeal to rpgs anyway...lol

This post has been edited by incognegro: Jan 19 2007, 08:19 PM

Author Topic: Is Blu-ray really a good medium for games? (Read 197 times)