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April 2nd, 2008 @ 06:06
This is worth a read. It’s an article explaining the reason behind the need for certain PS3 games to install to the hard drive instead of being read directly from the disc. It’s all down to the way a Blur-ray head reads the disc itself, apparently, which is different to the way a DVD drive works.
A Blu-ray head can only read at one speed, while a DVD head can read at multiple speeds. Discs, obviously, move faster away from the centre as they spin. A Blu-ray drive has problems coping with this, hence longer load times if a Blu-ray disc is treated by a developer in the same way as a DVD. Installs are a way of beating the “problem”.
Of course an install isn’t necessary. It’s just easier for the people making the game. Read the whole thing for yourself.
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the site wont let me make an order. I tried earlier but got the following error after clicking checkout,...
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:19 am
They get on my tits.
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:01 am
I’m now having to de-install and re-install games on my PS3 due to the massive amount of mandatory installs. OK so I go through far more PS3 titles than the average gamer but pity the poor sods who’ve got 40GB PS3s - they’ll reach ‘the point of no return’ that much sooner.
Most recently I had to de-install Devil May Cry 4 to fit GT5 Prologue on there. It’s not what console gaming is supposed to be about.
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:03 am
It’s very poor, definitely. It’s another big minus to buying a PS3, in my opinion. I’ll have an 80Gb machine, thanks SCEE.
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:48 am
When they say a game installs, does it install the whole game (like a PC would) or just some of the files? Even so, it’s pretty poor.
Anyway, how do they overcome this spinning-faster-at-the-centre-than-at-the-edges read problem with Blu-ray movies then?
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:25 am
Movies have a very low read-speed, iirc.
Aaaaaanyway, I thought that Blu-Ray’s ‘constant’ read speed had been touted as an advantage by some camps? I seem to recall reading that it’s faster than the slowest bits of a DVD but not as fast as the fastest bits. So…. shouldn’t that balance out? Sort of?
Regardless, installing ‘all in one go’ should always be an option. Why not stream the bits to the HDD the first time you read them instead? Slightly longer load the first time you go into a level, faster thereafter. No ‘up front’ waiting malarkey.