YURDAMASTA
08-17-2007, 06:32 PM
Two developers made comments that caused speculation as to rather the Xbox 360 use of DVD9 was really big enough for future 360 games, here are some comments from both developers Bizarre Creations and Epic games.
1st PGR4's Bizzare Creation
When word came out about Bizarre Creations having problems with DVD space, the flames of fanboy wars were almost uncontrollable. However, the folks behind Project Gotham Racing 4 were fast on their feet, quickly addressing the issue through a post on Bizarre's official website.
Naysayers went crazy over the forum post by Bizarre staff about DVD size limiting the game from providing different times of day per city. Now, here's what the guys in charge have to say:
DVD size is absolutely not a factor that we consider when designing our games... and PGR4 is no exception. DVD9 gives us more than we need to create a fabulous experience for you guys.
Rather than having two "fixed" times of day, this time around we decided to use our time to create a dynamic weather system, which effectively creates a much more dramatic palette from which to work with.
For those who are still confused, there is only one time of day for all tracks but the weather changes dynamically, which delivers more variation than day and night can give.
"We've never had to cut content to fit on the disc, and we probably never will," Bizarre said. To those who are still skeptic about DVD9's capacity compromising the gameplay experience, Bizarre added, "Each next-gen format has its own merits. It's not a case of one system having less of this, and the other having more of that... we are given a fixed platform, and that's what we work with."
2nd UT3's Epic Games
Unreal Tournament III may mark the start of tough times for the Xbox 360 as Mark Rein of Epic Games explains that the size of the DVD format for the Xbox 360 are forcing developers to cut down the game. Rein says during the Edinburgh Festival that Epic Games will
... compress some things. But you know, we may have fewer maps on the 360 version... Blu-Ray has definitely given us a lot of legroom.
As developers begin to warm up to the capabilities of each console, the market may soon see a larger demand on data like UT3. This ups the ante quite a bit as this would definitely be a boon for the Blu-Ray, gaining more favor towards the PlayStation 3.
However, data storage is quite easily bypassed with a second disc. This might not bode well for those who own the Core system though, as data may prove too large for a memory card. A Hard Drive would definitely be preferable when transferring between two discs. Might this be the reason behind the "Hard Disk Drive Required" sticker appearing on future 360 games?
It is not really surprising after Unreal Tournament III's issue with space on the Xbox 360; Microsoft has recently announced during Gamefest that some MMORPGs will be allowed to require a hard drive to run, explaining the circulating news of the "Hard Drive Required" sticker for some future 360 games. The idea is that a "Master Storage File" will have solid allocated space in the HDD that will contain all the files necessary for the game to run.
Microsoft warns developers though, that there are obvious reasons that they should limit the amount of space their games require. Ian Lewis, software design engineer at Microsoft says it succinctly: "Feel free to require 30GB for your game; that's just going to make your potential audience a lot smaller." This is not to mention the 20% who own Core Systems.
Their previous stand on the sticker was that "Every game will work with every Xbox 360 system. But just like some games will require you to have a Memory Unit to save games, some games will require you to have a Hard Drive to experience them." We'll have to see how this one plays out for the Core owners. Nothing's final yet anyway as these are all still in the works.
Also during Gamefest they explained their stand on Silver and Gold members for subscription titles. While it isn't final yet, the dominant idea is that Silver members will only have to pay for the game's subscription instead of having to upgrade to Gold.
1st PGR4's Bizzare Creation
When word came out about Bizarre Creations having problems with DVD space, the flames of fanboy wars were almost uncontrollable. However, the folks behind Project Gotham Racing 4 were fast on their feet, quickly addressing the issue through a post on Bizarre's official website.
Naysayers went crazy over the forum post by Bizarre staff about DVD size limiting the game from providing different times of day per city. Now, here's what the guys in charge have to say:
DVD size is absolutely not a factor that we consider when designing our games... and PGR4 is no exception. DVD9 gives us more than we need to create a fabulous experience for you guys.
Rather than having two "fixed" times of day, this time around we decided to use our time to create a dynamic weather system, which effectively creates a much more dramatic palette from which to work with.
For those who are still confused, there is only one time of day for all tracks but the weather changes dynamically, which delivers more variation than day and night can give.
"We've never had to cut content to fit on the disc, and we probably never will," Bizarre said. To those who are still skeptic about DVD9's capacity compromising the gameplay experience, Bizarre added, "Each next-gen format has its own merits. It's not a case of one system having less of this, and the other having more of that... we are given a fixed platform, and that's what we work with."
2nd UT3's Epic Games
Unreal Tournament III may mark the start of tough times for the Xbox 360 as Mark Rein of Epic Games explains that the size of the DVD format for the Xbox 360 are forcing developers to cut down the game. Rein says during the Edinburgh Festival that Epic Games will
... compress some things. But you know, we may have fewer maps on the 360 version... Blu-Ray has definitely given us a lot of legroom.
As developers begin to warm up to the capabilities of each console, the market may soon see a larger demand on data like UT3. This ups the ante quite a bit as this would definitely be a boon for the Blu-Ray, gaining more favor towards the PlayStation 3.
However, data storage is quite easily bypassed with a second disc. This might not bode well for those who own the Core system though, as data may prove too large for a memory card. A Hard Drive would definitely be preferable when transferring between two discs. Might this be the reason behind the "Hard Disk Drive Required" sticker appearing on future 360 games?
It is not really surprising after Unreal Tournament III's issue with space on the Xbox 360; Microsoft has recently announced during Gamefest that some MMORPGs will be allowed to require a hard drive to run, explaining the circulating news of the "Hard Drive Required" sticker for some future 360 games. The idea is that a "Master Storage File" will have solid allocated space in the HDD that will contain all the files necessary for the game to run.
Microsoft warns developers though, that there are obvious reasons that they should limit the amount of space their games require. Ian Lewis, software design engineer at Microsoft says it succinctly: "Feel free to require 30GB for your game; that's just going to make your potential audience a lot smaller." This is not to mention the 20% who own Core Systems.
Their previous stand on the sticker was that "Every game will work with every Xbox 360 system. But just like some games will require you to have a Memory Unit to save games, some games will require you to have a Hard Drive to experience them." We'll have to see how this one plays out for the Core owners. Nothing's final yet anyway as these are all still in the works.
Also during Gamefest they explained their stand on Silver and Gold members for subscription titles. While it isn't final yet, the dominant idea is that Silver members will only have to pay for the game's subscription instead of having to upgrade to Gold.