HALO 3 to come on 4 DVDs ?

[Gorgon]

One particular 'highly anticipated' Xbox 360 title is currently taking up four 9GB DVDs, while many developers are reportedly struggling to fit their games on to just one disc.

So say fresh rumours that the extra storage demands of next-gen games are just too high, and 360's 'old' DVD reader is a technological bottleneck. A standard DVD holds 4.5GB, though dual layer discs can hold 9GB. By contrast, Sony's PS3 features new Blu-Ray discs which can store 54GB.

more at the source link:

http://www.gamesradar.com/?articleid=38259&pagetypeid=2

:sniper:

 

[CptStern]

meh bigger textures wont make the game fun ..Halo 2 was a snore fest

 

[AfternoonLemon]

It will not be a bottleneck, Half Life 2 (PC) quite comfortably fits on a DVD, and that is still the benchmark in gaming.

Eventually, games will either come on duallayer DVD's or over 2, but during the lifespan of the 360 it will not present any problems :dozey:

 

[Glirk Dient]

Sounds more like an article trying to scare people away from the 360.

using up 36gb for a game is just crazy. How would you play the game? You don't install game on the 360. It would take up more space than is available on the HD. Second you can't put it in 4 drives...since it only has 1. Conclusion is that article is BS. There is no way to play a game that uses 4 dvds on the 360.

 

[oldagerocker]

I guess it'd be like the old Final Fantasy system, where you get to a point and have to change disc.... cant imagine a game taking up that much space though, not yet.

 

[boglito]

Sounds more like an article trying to scare people away from the 360.

using up 36gb for a game is just crazy. How would you play the game? You don't install game on the 360. It would take up more space than is available on the HD. Second you can't put it in 4 drives...since it only has 1. Conclusion is that article is BS. There is no way to play a game that uses 4 dvds on the 360.

Haha, you must be young.

<please insert disc 2> during play used to be common in ye olde days. I especially remember it from the amiga 500 that didn't ship with a hd by default, but also some old pcgames used to pull that stunt back when harddrives were expensive and tiny. In the early days of cds it was also common to switch cds instead of installing the whole game.

I don't know exactly why a game would need to be 36GB, and I doubt the xbox2 could push something like that, but it is entirely possible to juggle discs during play.

.bog.

 

[dream431ca]

I said this before in another thread: Microsoft should have used larger disks. Next-Gen is not about 2 disk games. Presentation is very important and 2 disks for a game (at least for consoles) should not exist anymore..especially if they call it "Next-Gen" games.

And if Halo 3 comes out on 4 DVD's it will cost at least over 100 dollars..and piss off a lot of people..and be a disaster for the X360. Halo 3 is the only big game going for it right now. Microsoft is very bad at planning..just look at the launch of the system...lets hope that the launch is the only bad thing that happens to microsoft's X360...but I think not.

 

[jonbob]

Hmm, I was under the impression that few games today fill a single layer DVD...

 

[dream431ca]

Hmm, I was under the impression that few games today fill a single layer DVD...

Your correct..but games will get larger in terms of texture size and longer, and soon, the disks that they developers use today will be insuffecent for the space needed for future games.

 

[Icarusintel]

actually, it wouldn;t surprise me that this is happening, multi-disc games came out not too long after the PSOne was invented and DVD technology for games is a bit old by now, so it is reasonable a game could take up more than one, especially considering if it has expansive cinematics (like the Final Fantasy games) nad has a considerably long length

I figured Microsoft would be shooting themselves in the foot by not at least including HD-DVD compatibility at launch, and it looks like they might have done it

One disc is probably solely for multiplayer, which would mean 3 discs of SP gameplay, which sounds like it's damn huge, of course I would assume they could at least compress it down to 3 discs, but still, Microsoft's failure to implement the latest DVD technology could mean more multi-disc games, while PS3 games will only need a single disc

 

[Sui]

There's nothing wrong with 4 discs, as long as ye old <Insert disc 4> method is used. In fact, I used to love the Final Fantasy games for doing that.... *sigh* those were the days...

 

[Icarusintel]

There's nothing wrong with 4 discs, as long as ye old <Insert disc 4> method is used. In fact, I used to love the Final Fantasy games for doing that.... *sigh* those were the days...

the problem is, the technoloigy is there, and Microsoft could have implemented it to stay away from this, but they didn;t, that's what annoys me

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

it's simple progression though, and Microsoft seems to have missed a step

first gen
cd

second gen
dvd

third gen
dvd? NO..not rly

 

[Glirk Dient]

I still think it won't work. The textures and graphics are what is going to take up massive amounts of space. Ok...so you split up the single player and put it on different dvds...oh and use different textures for each part so you don't need it all on one disk right? Well...might work for single player but what happens when you go to multiplayer? Now your probally going to need that on a seperate dvd since people won't want to have to switch dvds every map. That would then limit the size of multiplayer, and if the textures are going to be that massive then downloading maps on xbox live would take days. Forget that, no one would do that. That article is simply rumors...most likely spread by people attemption to bash the 360 at what they perceive to be a major flaw.

 

[Icarusintel]

I still think it won't work. The textures and graphics are what is going to take up massive amounts of space. Ok...so you split up the single player and put it on different dvds...oh and use different textures for each part so you don't need it all on one disk right? Well...might work for single player but what happens when you go to multiplayer? Now your probally going to need that on a seperate dvd since people won't want to have to switch dvds every map. That would then limit the size of multiplayer, and if the textures are going to be that massive then downloading maps on xbox live would take days. Forget that, no one would do that. That article is simply rumors...most likely spread by people attemption to bash the 360 at what they perceive to be a major flaw.

but you can;t deny that Microsoft had the opportunity to support the new technologies

It seems to me they didn;t simply to get their console out the door faster in an attempt to cash in, but they're still not going to have the marketshare they're aiming for in the rest of the world

I just think that since it's supposed to be a next-gen system it should have been all-new stuff

 

[-Psy-]

I remember Final Fantasy 9....When I got to change the disc I knew I was getting nearer to the end. Made me happy lol

 

[Naudian]

Wow, I'm surprised that textures could ever take up so much space...I find it hard to believe...maybe a few gigs for textures alone but nothing over 10gb jeez...

 

[smwScott]

Just for reference, San Andreas took up a full dual layered DVD even after they developed very advanced compression techniques. MGS3 apparently had certain scenes and features removed because they were already at capacity. Apparently they found a better way to compress it for Substance, or it's on multiple DVDs, I dunno.

The point is that a lot of big games, like the next GTA for instance, will definitely span multiple discs for the 360. What people don't say is that it could be the same for PS3, as the cost of Blu-Ray is fairly high, developers might choose to publish it on multiple DVDs anyway until the price goes down. However, that will eventually be solved, whereas the 360 will be dragging its feet in that area for its whole lifespan.

 

[DEATH eVADER]

It will not be a bottleneck, Half Life 2 (PC) quite comfortably fits on a DVD, and that is still the benchmark in gaming.

Eventually, games will either come on duallayer DVD's or over 2, but during the lifespan of the 360 it will not present any problems :dozey:

HL2 will look like a wee-baby when Oblivion comes out. Either that or Alan Wake

 

[Kangy]

Well, I'd rather have multiple DVDs for my games, instead of extremely slow blu-ray, which is how PS3 will do things. Swapping DVDs every 3 hours > Waiting 5 minutes for things to load. And honestly, I think that article is complete rumour mongering.

 

[Ravioli]

If they try to hype all those disgusting halo fans with this...well **** em, this only proves that they cant even make a good game with decent space like other gaming companys, they are atleast skillfull enough to make a good game out of low space, while these guys need these much space for just a game? .....that cant be good for business.....

 

[Icarusintel]

Well, I'd rather have multiple DVDs for my games, instead of extremely slow blu-ray, which is how PS3 will do things. Swapping DVDs every 3 hours > Waiting 5 minutes for things to load. And honestly, I think that article is complete rumour mongering.

the speed for the Blu-Ray drive in the PS3 isn;t set yet, so it's unsure how fast things will load

if you have to swap the DVD you're going to be waiting for loading anyway, think about it

 

[Axyon]

the problem is, the technoloigy is there, and Microsoft could have implemented it to stay away from this, but they didn;t, that's what annoys me

Because there'd be more people complaining that the console costs $100 more compared to a somewhat insignificant issue as having to swap disks for huge games.

 

[Icarusintel]

Because there'd be more people complaining that the console costs $100 more compared to a somewhat insignificant issue as having to swap disks for huge games.

the Xbox 360 already costs $100 more if you want the true version, since the cheaper one lacks some really important faetures, like a hard drive

 

[Axyon]

the Xbox 360 already costs $100 more if you want the true version, since the cheaper one lacks some really important faetures, like a hard drive

Uh, thanks for pointing out something completely irrelevant to this subject. If a new type of drive was to be used, it would need to be on both the Core and Premium models, resulting in both of them shifting up by $100.

 

[Sainku]

If next gen games are 40 gb's my hard drive is going to fragment itself to hell installing and uninstalling games.

 

[DrDevin]

Well it is a lot better to switch discs then pay more money for a console/games. Check out this quote:

Even though Sony's Blu-ray technology may inching ahead of HD-DVD in the race to crown the winner of the next generation DVD format, cost concerns are finally starting to sink in for disc/drive manufacturers:

How much? No one can say for certain. But in at least one early test, according to a top manufacturing executive who asked to remain anonymous, a manufacturing line for HD DVD discs produced nearly twice as many usable discs as a similar line pumping out the Blu-ray format, over the same period of time. That translates into higher costs for Blu-ray producers. Moreover, component costs for Blu-ray can be nearly double HD DVD costs, because elements are still hard to find, the executive said.

Both of which are more money then DVDs

So you want approx $50 added to the console and $5 added to each game because you are too lazy to change discs?

http://news.com.com/Cost+questions+dog+Blu-ray+DVDs+lead/2100-1025_3-5969815.html?tag=nefd.lede

 

[VictimOfScience]

Well, if it is Halo 3 that is so huge, maybe MS will have learned another lesson the hard way. They had every opportunity to implement HD-DVD technology but instead opted for FTM so they could maybe steal some marketshare from Sony. With games getting much more detailed, going with regular DVD as your storage medium was an insanely unintelligent thing to do IMHO. I hope the Halo fanboys have fun switching all those discs.

 

[gh0st]

its not going to be that big.

end fear mongering.......now.

 

[Ren.182]

this only proves that they cant even make a good game with decent space like other gaming companys, they are atleast skillfull enough to make a good game out of low space, while these guys need these much space for just a game? .....that cant be good for business.....

I'd rather have a game looking nice, with all pretty textures and effects then have the same game not looking as good.
Maybe the game is HUGE (playtime wise) and will take a considerable amount of time to complete. I don't see how making a game big is bad for marketing.

I don't mind switching disks personally. As long as the process is smooth and doesn't involve me restarting the console then i'm fine with it.

 

[Qonfused]

$5 more a game? Woo.

 

[Iced_Eagle]

Guys, this is from the Game Informer magazine and if I'm not mistaken, it has no mention of "Halo 3" in the article, but the website GamesRadar is just speculating.

Halo3 is months away, it isn't close to being finished, so how could they estimate how many (if more than one) DVD's it needs? From the Joystiq article they thought it was ES:Oblivion (then it was proven false), but still this would have to come from people who were close to finishing the product... Perhaps that one GTA-type clone Frame City Killer?

Either way, I don't care about switching DVD's (sure it's a pain in the ass but it gives you a feeling of accomplishment when you put in that 2nd disc)... However, the only problem is, what will happen when you have a free-roaming world like GTA on multiple discs? There is no linear story like Final Fantasy so you can't clearly mark where one disc should end and the next begin, because you could jump from disc 1 to disc 3, then to disc 2 etc etc depending on where you travel.

Either way, developers will find a way to make it work out...

The problem/risk with the PS3 is that if the Blu-Ray format fails, you are up the creek without a paddle... That would suck because then devs would probably move to the X360 because nobody would want to publish (or factories won't create) Blu-Ray discs... So you would end up with a very expensive book-end.

I'm 99% sure Microsoft has a plan already laid out for what they will do... Perhaps you could take in your console to a Microsoft-certified center and they would swap out your DVD drive to a HD-DVD drive when the time comes... Or Blu-Ray or whatever the next-gen format is...

Either way, there is NO proof that this is even true... Could be someone saying their game fits up 36gb uncompressed... Maybe after compressing their textures, models, etc etc they could get it down a bit...

 

[Cole]

Well, I'd rather have multiple DVDs for my games, instead of extremely slow blu-ray, which is how PS3 will do things. Swapping DVDs every 3 hours > Waiting 5 minutes for things to load. And honestly, I think that article is complete rumour mongering.

Blu-Ray is faster,
http://www.blu-ray.com/faq/#2.3
and HD-Dvd is .55 faster than blu-ray.

 

[Dalamari]

There is no way that a simple FPS game could take up 4 discs, maybe if this article was talking about Oblivion I might believe it, but not for Halo 3

 

[Icarusintel]

Blu-Ray is faster,
http://www.blu-ray.com/faq/#2.3
and HD-Dvd is .55 faster than blu-ray.

wow, nice little FAQ there, it is quite a bit faster, and the difference in speed with HD-DVD is so little it won;t even be noticeable

 

[Muffin Man]

Halo3 is months away, it isn't close to being finished, so how could they estimate...

I have a Helo fanboy friend and he gos to bungie site constantly, lst time i heard ( a month or so ago) they hadnt even started Halo 3

oh and

first gen
cd

second gen
dvd

third gen
dvd? NO..not rly

first gen = cartridges ;D

 

[ChiChi]

I have a Helo fanboy friend and he gos to bungie site constantly, lst time i heard ( a month or so ago) they hadnt even started Halo 3

oh and



first gen = cartridges ;D

Bungie stated that they started their "next project". They said[joked] that their side project was Pimps of Sea, and that flooded their forums full of idiots who actually belived them.

 

[Cole]

Well how are we going back in Gen's, from Nes? Atari?

If it's the N64 then it's both.
Discs and Cartridges, Discs increasing space, and Cartridges having much much faster load times.

The next is DVD and Special Dvd
Sony and Microsoft used DVD's, and Nintendo used a smaller designed DVD to offer extremely fast load times plus extra space(not as much as a regular DVD though).
The next one will be DVD, Blu-Ray, and well whats nintendo using?

 

[MuToiD_MaN]

First of all, 4 discs my ass. If Halo 3 ships with 4 discs of playable content I'll eat my hat.

if Halo 3 comes out on 4 DVD's it will cost at least over 100 dollars..and piss off a lot of people..and be a disaster for the X360.

Oh come now. The price of a game isn't affected by how many discs it ships on. UT2004 had 6 CDs but cost as much as any other game. Discs cost cents to make. You pay for the game that's on (or across) them.

An honest question I have is what 360 games that have been released so far have more than one disc? I might back of a little in my assuredness if there are any.

 

[63]

Well, I'd rather have multiple DVDs for my games, instead of extremely slow blu-ray, which is how PS3 will do things. Swapping DVDs every 3 hours > Waiting 5 minutes for things to load. And honestly, I think that article is complete rumour mongering.

My thoughts exactly.