Xbox 360 Almost Gets Installs Right: Using Discs Is So Xbox 360 1.0

PseudoSavant has an interesting take on Xbox 360 hard drive installations. This is something Microsoft should really think about.

"One of the interesting aspects of the recently announced "New Xbox Experience" is that gamers will now be able to install/copy their games onto the hard drive. This will be a welcome feature for many people, and I really commend Microsoft on making installs optional (as they should be), however they just missed the mark on making it perfect.
...
I'm suggesting that Microsoft should change how their games are sold. Every game should come with a code that, when entered during an install, would allow gamers to play without inserting the disc."

[toughNAME]

Just don't start forcing installs on us

[Whoooop]

They will be mandaroty in time.... For some games at least.

Believe it.

[Ninja-Sama]

For sure.

[Primetimebt]

Highly doubt they go mandaratory with nearly 90% people still playing on false advertisted 20GB . Add in th fact the maxed out DVD with 7.5 I now have 6 GB left for saved games/videos/music.

[AngryXbot]

Come on now. You honestly think that a multi platform game that requires install will differentiate between PS3 and 360?

You honestly think that the developers will say "hey guys, you can install on both consoles but lets make it so that the PS3 install is mandatory but the 360 is optional!"

Ha ha ha aha hahahaha, I just LAUGHED MY AS OFF guys.

There is not optional install.

[gaffyh]

@Ninja-sama - Yeah I can see that happening, maybe not a full mandatory install, but at least probably a few gigs worth of textures and audio and stuff.

There shouldn't really need to be an install for a 1 DVD game, but I can definitely see it happening for Multi-disc games.

[codeazrael]

Devil may cry was a mandatory hd install for the ps3 and not the 360. And that was multiplatform.

[drewdrakes]

With a big enough hard drive, doesnt this also eliminate blu-ray's advantage? You just install all the discs and then only need the first one.

[Monchichi025]

The poor Sony fanboys. They don't understand what OPTIONAL means. But give them some lean ency because since Sony has Forced things down there throught from day 1, they can'd comprehend the concept.

MS will never make it mandatory or will allow the developer to make it mandatory because IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE. MS is all about the money and doing something like this would not make sense to the bottom line.

So speculate all you want, but MS has proven that they are all about options this generation.

[xhairs9]

First off using the word "fanboys" is against the rules. Second, why is your response to Sony supporters? It should be about the article.

As for mandatory installs? Hardly a burden amongst PS3 gamers.

[power of Green]

I agree with almost everyhting that was said; as of Now I don't really care about the disc being in the drive I will only use this with games like Mass Effect 2, Boarder lands and APB etc.

I do agree these are baby steps and MSFT will have to be careful with pirating issues although to assume MSFT won't be imporving this feature before full blown digital distribution is foolish.

[azmanmanz]

What?? Microsoft still fight for the pirating issue..? Hahaha hahahah

[Angelitos]

What is APB?

Also, gamers will just rent games, this is a dumb idea.

[Pain]

to bad Xbox is just Laptop PC parts jammed in a ugly PS2 clone case or else installs would be kinda kool.

lol yea Rent to own for err till u erase it lol , Developers will hate that..

and whats APB?

this APB? http://www.apb.com/

[GiantEnemyCrab]

With piracy the way it is already on the 360? This is something I'm sure they are being careful about to see if it can be exploited. What is the big deal with having the disc in the drive?

@#2: APB is All Points Bulletin a new game from RealTime Worlds(the guys who did Crackdown).

[chaosatom]

wtf. So u don't need the disc?

HOW BIG of a install are going to take place?????

[Petitionstation 3]

Devil May Cry PS3 MANDATORY install = 5GB in 22 minutes.
Devil May Cry 360 OPTIONAL install = 7GB in 10 minutes.

Winner = Xbox 360
pwned = vitz3

[uckitsayitchbay]

Nobody actually knows how fast or slow the install times are and i would be willing to bet that there longer than i M$ exec states.. so are you going to belive everything they tell you.. GOD I H8 M$ (ever since i had to PAY!! to get my RRoD fixed because i think i was one of the first batches of the RRoD so it wasn't as famous as it is now my next 3 were covered but i had to pay $99 to fix my first rrod and ms dont give a crap)

[Primetimebt]

@2.4 - They probably are going to be faster on the 360 because it can read data faster

@2.3

20 Xbox - 13.5 gb of storage
20 PS3- 15 gb of storage

Winner- PS3

120 GB Upgrade - $149
320 GB Upgrade- $100

Winner - PS3

Some may enjoy a faster install, some may prefer the more space, or some may enjoy the price of upgrade.

[Megatron08]

Funny how all the ps3 fanboy cant seem to understand that this is opinional unlike the ps3 were install are required to play the game. If you dont want to pay more for an extra HDD you just dont or to take the time to install the game you dont have to. Its that simple.

Anyways back to the article having a code that you enter doesnt really work either. If you rent a game you either wont have the code or if you did get the code you be able to keep the game without buying it. I think MS probably came up with the best way of doin installs

[agentace]

and what you dont seem to understand is the ps3 installs are about 200mb-1.5gb(some exceed that) and most ps3s have 40-80gb HDD standard so you never have to delete them..
..now the xbox,it doesn`t mattter that the installs are optional becasue your only going to have the option to install 1 game because your just copying the entire 7gb disc to the HDD and dont give me the crap about oh yeah i can just delete it and instaal another because you wont cause it would be a waste of time to install 1 game (10-30mins) then delete it to do another

[Megatron08]

@agentace I have a ps3 and most of the games that require install are 3-5GB and while i doubt anyone with a 20GB 360 will use the installs. I sure it be a nice little feature for those that have 120GB 360.

[psnSkareFace]

not all ps3 hav 2 b installed eg motorstorm

[Megatron08]

@psnSkareFace I did say "most" not all are require install either a few games have it as an option I just wish all game were optional

[ravinash]

Most of he noise comes from the cooling fan, not from the CDrom drive. So this won't make it run any quieter.
Now how much do those MS harddrive cost again?

My PS3 I got the 60GB model and filled it up in just under a year (now upgraded to 250GB). You just can't do that with a 360....and their expecting to run all these downloaded movies and content. Good luck.

[aiphanes]

A 60 Gb hard drive is not gonna cut it. With all the awesome games comming out on the Xbox 360 this christmas...you will need the 120Gb harddrive...and that is gonna cost you almost 50 percent of what a xbox 360 60 Gb system cost. Full game installs are gonna be at least 6 to 8 gigs in size...and lets not talk about Final Fantasy 13..

[SixZeroFour]

just for ppl that dont want to keep taking out and putting in the next disk for multi-disc games

also, it means less noise from the console, and prolly even less chance for the RRoD cause of it not overheating as fast

so installs are for the ppl that want
less loading time
less noise
less chance of console overheating
no wasting time putting in and taking out discs

that does not mean that you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO install the game in order to play it. I dont mind the loading times as it is right now, so i wont be installing many games...but if i ever do get a game that i MUST play and cant wait, ill install it, then uninstall it after finishing campaign and play ONLINE

[BURLY]

Microsoft learned many very valuable lessons about the console wars during their first attempt with the original Xbox. One of the biggest was the concept of re-engineering components of a console in order to reduce costs during its life cycle. You see, Microsoft did not own the intellectual rights to most of the components in the original Xbox and was therefore relegated to tedious negotiations with its hardware vendors in an attempt to reduce costs and compete with the PS2. Of course most of these hardware “partners” recognized that Microsoft was not going to walk away from its massive investment regardless of the situation and were fairly unwilling to compromise in the areas of royalty reductions in associations with hardware re-engineering.

Microsoft now not only owns the intellectual rights to almost every piece of hardware in the 360 but this time around they also integrated their business model into the design process and self designed most of the components themselves. Good examples of this is the direction given to ATI by its Windows Graphics Foundation Team (i.e. responsible for the Direct X standards) to create a GPU with unified shader architecture long before Vista had even launched, or the research and development of a new wireless protocol that was far superior (for videogame purposes) than Bluetooth, ...etc, etc. One fundamental design note however was the mention that they were not going to include a hard drive as standard because (compared to most of the other components in a console) you simply cannot reduce the costs of a hard disk drive in relatively similar terms over its life cycle. In fact this was in part directly attributed to the PS2’s ability to reach ridiculously low mass market prices and no doubt Microsoft wanted to emulate that model – if for nothing else but to reach the billions of people in the new emerging markets of India, etc towards the end of the 360’s life cycle.

Of course the very fast read speeds of the 360’s DVD disk drive would no doubt ensure that this would remain a sound strategy and from a technical standpoint; I see no reason why 99% of all games will still not require a hard drive and remain very playable directly from the disk. I would be somewhat remiss however to not take note that this announcement was delivered during the same E3 as that blockbuster announcement that Final Fantasy was going to be released on the 360 in North America and Europe. I say this because although DVD-9’s hold more than enough space for this generation of video game consoles (which can only really access a maximum of 256mb of TEXTURE MEMORY in the case of the PS3 and 512mb in the case of the 360 at any given time); games like final fantasy that will not use in-game assets during their cut-scenes and instead opt to utilize very long CGI videos – will indeed fill up a DVD-9 disk very quickly! Thus, if Microsoft was going attempt to steal traditional Playstation exclusives that tend to have very long video sequences (i.e. like Final Fantasy and Metal Gear) then an sound strategy would be to allow the games to be shipped on multiple disks and have some of the assets downloaded to the hard drive such that when you finally do start the game you will not be required to swap disks and the videos can be played in the same high definition glory as on the PS3.

Now I know that they have not yet made any direct reference to this developing scenario and whether or not hard drives will be required to play an increasing number of high profile games but an elementary bout of Game Theory would suggest that they probably would not for the time being anyways. However, perhaps we are just seeing the refinement of the Xbox dashboard in preparation to Microsoft’s big supposed Digital download strategy with the next Xbox and the current option to download the games to the hard drive is just a perk. Nonetheless, it is very interesting to think about whether or not Microsoft is potentially abandoning its low cost strategy of not requiring a hard drive in an attempt to accommodate some very high profile former Playstation exclusives (like Final Fantasy) in the same way that Sony also had to abandon its low cost strategy of not having a hard drive as standard in its console as a means to accommodate the tremendously slow read speeds of the initial batch of Bluray disk drives. In the end it may be said that the Hard Drive was the great equalizer between the two formats and heck this option will also allow Microsoft to release a Blu-ray equipped 360 without worry that it won’t be able to read game data on DVD-9’s fast enough for the 360’s existing library of games and also as to not handicap future development / optimization of 360 games – which will no doubt only be released on DVD-9’s and with the incredibly fast read speeds of the original 360 in mind.

[Kami]

you wrote a damn essay. can i hit you up when i need to write essays for school?
bubbles up, nice

[Ps3Fanboy777]

Definitely didnt read it either.

It is sorta pointless, you still have to have the disc in so why bother. Especially for the people with 20gb HDMI consoles. Like myself.. I can barely fit a demo on this thing before getting full. And definitely not buying their overpriced hd

[The Lazy One]

faster load times, probably helping texture pop in.

But even more important. NO MORE BUZZSAW.

edit: also, I read the whole thing. very good read.

[lagoonalight]

stop. posting. this.

[athlon770]

first, you are dead wrong in this following statement...

"I say this because although DVD-9’s hold more than enough space for this generation of video game consoles (which can only really access a maximum of 256mb of TEXTURE MEMORY in the case of the PS3 and 512mb in the case of the 360 at any given time"

The 360 has a total of 512mb with an extra 10mg of video cache. This does not mean that the 360 can allocate all 512meg of the ram to building textures and such, or are you saying there is no game code? In other words, while the 512meg is shared for both game code and graphics, the game code may take up 300meg leaving only 212meg for graphics assets. Also, the PS3 can use its memory accros the system bus. So you are wrong there as well. Just keeping you honest.

Everything else however was very well written. I agree that you will not need to install every single game to the hard drive and to do so would be silly. I don't agree with the writter of the article about missing perfection. Microsoft did a very smart thing here requiring the disc in the drive...think rentals. I go into Blockbuster to rent a game, I install it to the drive, then what, I get to keep it forever or untill I need the drive space again? I don't think so!

[DJ]

Good game engines store very little game content at any given moment, and instead stream that data. While it's easy to fall into the "256MB vs 512MB" texture argument, the truth is that both systems have 512MB to use for texture storage. Also, there is a LOT more game content that has to be put in memory: scripting, models, animation, endomorphs, sound, etc, though textures do take up the majority of the space needed.

If you need proof, play Uncharted. They only used GDDR3 memory for texture storage, and it's still the second best looking title on the market, just under MGS4. But I do know Killzone 2 is pushing game engines into new territory. It has TWO rendering engines, one in XDR memory and one in GDDR3 memory. Crazy stuff.

Also, the DVD vs. Blu-ray speed info is wrong. Blu-ray is technically a LOT faster than DVD. But if we're talking about PS3 and 360's data read speeds, they're pretty much identical. On average, the PS3's Blu-ray drive reads data a little under 1 Megabit per second faster than the 360's (when using dual-layer DVD). Not enough to notice, really. If single-layer DVD is being used (4.2GB) then the 360's DVD drive will read faster.

[ravinash]

A really good read BURLY, thank you.
Its nice to have people put some thought into their comments.
Also thanks to athlon770 and DJ for their constructive responses.
I really look forward to the responses that will be posted by the two people who disagreed with you.

[Ricegum]

Wouldn't it be bit difficult considering hard drive space lol

[Tunerboy8732]

I could name plenty of better ways to spend $180 I mean thats just ridiculous.I think the new feature is good but to be honest I probably wont use it that often because
#1My 360 is a falcon with a benq drive so its not loud

#2Loading time dont bother me

#3 I only have a 20GB HDD and im not about to waiste space just for 30% faster loading

Its a nice "OPTION" but not something i'll be useing on every game I play.

[chidj2]

One more time they have to copy to the PlayStation® 3 system because this is a really Next gen hardware.
And when all the bots where saying "we dont need installs" now this.
this is the proof that the DVD9 is so small for the Next gen and we the real Next gen consumers with the PlayStation® 3 have a complete experience in terms of Graphics, sound, gameplay, and fun.
This because the PlayStation® 3 system its the only one that can offer that.

Play b3yond

[power of Green]

PS3's handi-capped hardware has nothing to do with this lol.

PS3 having to have installs to run games or match the 360 is not the same thing as basically ripping games on the 360's HDD as an optional feature for gamers.

MSFT is not copying a *fix* to a PS3 hardware flaw that isn't even a feature its a requirment to install parts of games or full games on PS3 the devs must implement at a game by game basis. Without Installs games like GTA4 would seem like they're running a *2 Frames Per Second* on PS3 ontop of loading very slow lol.

[juuken]

I don't know PoG, MS has been doing a lot of similar things lately...

[power of Green]

PS3 is inferior to the 360 I feel sorry you for having to troll 360 news. Why do people buy PS3? with its POS hardware having to use HDD tricks to be on par with the 360?. Future game comparisons will drive PS3 fanboys/girls mad, with this new feature the 360 games will pull away even further in the reviews as well..

[jcgamer]

you can't be serious.

[juuken]

PoG, this is E3 news. It's not 360 news. 360 fanturds do the same crap when it comes to PS3 news.

We're all hypocrites.

And...WHAT? The PS3 is inferior to the 360? In what way? Wow...if that's the case, then I might as well sell my PS3 and get teh superior system. If the 360 was so superior, then why do consoles break right out of the box? Why were there RROD issues back in 2007? The PS3 is the most reliable system on the market.

You lose sucka.

[karlostomy]

This is why the ps3 is inferior:
http://theexplodingbarrel.c...

now please, princess, stop trolling the 360 threads.
See that? I asked you nicely.

[Ali_The_Brit]

thats right POG, why DO people buy the PS3? ask yourself, if the xbox is so amazing and better than the 360 in so many ways, then why oh why do people choose the PS3 instead?..hmmm... may have owned yourself there

[juuken]

And karl, this is why the 360 is inferior.

Dur, dur, look what I did THAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!

[BLUR111]

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[juuken]

BLUR...you're an idiot.

IT WAS A JOKE!

Lmfao.

Are you bots *that* stupid to believe this guy was serious? -__-

[Evil Rant Monkey]

<I would just give one of my friends the code, install it on there system, then keep the disc for myself. We'd both be playing the game from a single purchase.)

[RAF-TECH]

even PS3 demos have to install/

[Microsoft_Warrior]

LOL yeah i remember those days
thank god i got a 360

[DreDawgg06]

You guys all bring up valid points, Microsoft should encode all multi-disk games(RPGs, maybe Forza 3) so that you can install 1 disk and have another one in the drive for example.
Piracy cannot be stopped so the worry of keygens and such should be if anything more protection since it gives pirates even more things to crack.
For Vic B, Having to delete items shouldn't be that cumbersome. Xbox Live remembers what you purchased and is a short download away. Yes Xbox dropped the ball on choosing a more expansive 2.5inch harddrive and then overcharging them too, but its the size decrease that helps. Sadly harddrives weren't mandatory like the original 360 was, which helps developers and consumers, I mean Microsoft spend a billion dollars on the RROD! My point is the hard drive issue is overblown, You can easily get them online more half the price and when the 60 gig becomes standard go switch them out at a store for free and shove the savings in Microsoft's ass!

[Aclay]

Honestly, I don't think that anyone with a Xbox 360 will be doing installs on their hard drives unless they have a 120GB hard drive because I sure wouldn't if I had a 360.

Microsoft needs to lower the prices of those overpriced hard drives first and then maybe the option of doing game installs would become more attractive. $179 for a 120GB 360 hard drive?! That's just insane. The 120GB 360 hard drive should be at least $99 bucks.

If Microsoft is introducing optional installs for games, they need to stop selling the Xbox 360 Arcade with no freaking hard drive because what's the use of Microsoft coming up with optional Hard drive installations if they are still selling systems with no hard drives?

[Vespertine]

I think your right.

I brought a 120GB harddrive on Thursday just because of this feature. Microsoft is going to be making a lot of money from this, I'm sure more and more people will get the 120GB hard drive.

[supaflypriest1]

"If Microsoft is introducing optional installs for games, they need to stop selling the Xbox 360 Arcade with no freaking hard drive because what's the use of Microsoft coming up with optional Hard drive installations if they are still selling systems with no hard drives?"

You said it yourself, it is optional. There are far more 360s with harddrives than without, and even the ones without just wont install games. Win Win situation.

[uckitsayitchbay]

you can always mod your 20 gig hdd to add a 120 gig i read a nice guide somewhere and it requires almost no effort but you have to buy the exact rite drive for it to work

[SkolarVisari]

They are not giving you an option by making the installs optional they are covering themselves because they simply can't make hard drive installs mandatory because all models need to be able to play the games. If DMC takes seven to ten minutes to install that may translate to seven to ten minutes per disk which means that installing a two disk game could take anywhere from fourteen to twenty minutes.

[The Lazy One]

20-30 minutes?! for an optional install?!

WHAT WILL WE DO?!

[IaMs12]

to me that sound sarcastic, i just cant tell lol but if it wasnt these are perminant installs, which i mean when ever you play MGS4 you always will have to go through with a 5min install between chapters, this its one time deal no more installing, of course unless you remove it you will have to go through the process again...

[FPS nut]

I don't like installs on home consoles, they have no place here. It's nothing but lazy lazy lazy.

[N4Flamers]

while i actually like optional installs, i think this guy is nuts. He is critizising MS for making him get up and change the disc. Wow how lazy have we gotten. His solution is to further complicate a non existing problem. then he says that the system should ask you for the disc once in a while because he knows his "solution" is flawed. Also if it ask's you for the disc, wouldnt it be easyer to just not take it out in the first place instead of having to go find it where ever you put it.

[kevnb]

so are all pc devs lazy?

[gnothe1]

quote from you---->(ever since i had to PAY!! to get my RRoD fixed because i think i was one of the first batches of the RRoD so it wasn't as famous as it is now my next 3 were covered but i had to pay $99 to fix my first rrod and ms dont give a crap)

now since you had to pay how long did it take you to get your money back, because you do know that MS REFUNDED EVERYBODY that paid for the systems RROD repair. an if you really did pay you would know that unless you decided to leave that little fact out of your rant which in return makes you seem like a huge fanboy!! so fess up to your crimes!!

http://keznews.com/1476_Mic...
http://www.gamesindustry.bi...

but anyway no installs for me. i dont like'em on my PS3 so i wont like'em on my 360!

[Wii60Fan]

You are missing the point... they are entirely OPTIONAL!

[n00bzRtehgey]

PS3 was beat at its own game AGAIN lol.

[Bladestar]

just one small detail.. what prevents people from sharing this so called "code"... only one thing can prevent piracy and that having the disc... duhh...

I think microsoft got that cover for digital distribution.. if they ever decide to do complete digital distribution of xbox 360 games (which may not happen until xbox 720).. it would work just like arcade and Orginals... it's tied to your signin and account...

but this feature of copying a game into your hard drive requires the disc.. it can't be by code.. because it will not work when you rent, sell, or lend your game therefore a bad idea... NEXT!

[sak500]

As others pointed out, right now its optional. Meaning, i have 10gb on hdd left on my premium, since my current fav is BF:BC so i would install it and play it quickly. Now I want to get some achievements from another game say, (sic) Hellboy so i dont install and just play it off the dvd. Simple XD

Now note to Microsoft: FFS LOWER THE FREAKING HDD PRICES SO WE CAN GET THE BIGGER SIZED DRIVES. STOP charging us more...

[tplarkin7]

We get the ability to install games as an option, and before the feature is released, there are people nitpicking it. They whine about having to swap disks, even though we have always had to swap disks!

[eagle21]

Your console is going to EXPLODE with all the BS you keep spreading! :)

[azmanmanz]

xbox 360?? What is this? washing machine? plate? car? brick? oven? pls someone tell me about this..... yesterday i saw about 100set at repair shop... Why they return back for repair? U say what??? useless??

[IaMs12]

Yes i do believe that with maybe the next Xbox not the 360.. too many people would be screwed over
And thats a good idea having the code to do that, just as long as its optional im down with the idea :)

[aggh im on fire]

I had a chipped original xbox that i could do this on. A whole dvd game took around 10mins to install, most games then were around 3gigs. So but 20 mins i'd say.

[GametimeUK]

MS copying features that even the 360 users dont want lmao

[Mikey_Gee]

I can't wait.

The 360 will now run almost silent (now both my PS3 and 360 will be very quiet) and you will not be putting constant wear and tear on your DVD drive.

AWESOME FEATURE in my books.

[Citizen Cook]

I can't wait for the day when i can download all my games instead of buying them in the shop.

Should get the quicker and cheaper to...

Only think is, i don't think 120 GB would be enough. Not long term...

[immarriedtoafatchick]

people that talk about their systems too much need to get laid. and seriously have a reality check

PS3 is a real next gem system - Blu ray(movies and big games) (high disc capacity and faster load times are already there. Allowed to upgrade your HDD for very cheap these days too my ps3 has 500gigs lol i realized thats way too much but i got the hdd for like 90$ so i was like why not =) and its super fast install times are atleast 40% below what the media says on my system its a Hitachi.

Xbox360 is just a video game system with poor hardware and dvd9? ps2 had all those but even better it never broke down. my friends new elite broke down the other day he just trashed it and now we just play ps3

im not a fan boy im not picking sides but i do like to be on the side where the investment counts and you get everything in one package for one price.

Xbox fan boys criticize that the ps3 is too expensive? Not really in America you get what you paid for. PS3 for $400 is free online with a great service that upgrades every week, now has down loadable videos and a ton of great down loadable games. the library of the PS3 may not be the biggest but it is the best of quality games you would actually play till the end.

Xbox is here what the truth is 350$ oo 50$ cheaper omg! lets jump for joy, but wait dont forget tax so just about 389.38. ok so you bought just a videogame system now you go home and say hey i wanna play my new cod4 online $50 plus tax to play online, wtf! pay this once a year and you can play online, ok so now its 429.38 your total, so you play a little while your system blows like an engine boom 3 rings, wtf! so you somehow have no life for 3 months only wishing for your system to return, yay you are happy, then you go and see what new games comes out and realize there is nothing really fun to play that is up to date because people have been playing them, sadly no fresh start for you.

my point is why the hell are you gonna pay for something that has been proven to be a poor excuse for hardware and why would you go ahead and be such a bias to a system that works and already has proven powerful graphics and more to come?

I think there are just too many retards out there that dont realize ms doesnt care if you like them or not they just love the money you give them and the time you kiss their ass.

i love games i love paying for the system and i love to play online whenever i want with no worries of a 50$ fee or any fee getting in the way of my playtime sony doesnt beg for your money like M$ does but they enjoy that you enjoy their hard worked for product. I like companies that innovate, create, and invest. thats how money is always used as an investment.

and please tell me what the ps3 doesnt have that the 360 does have im so curious about what a fanboy has to say to that

EDIT: and dont tell me exclusives each console has great ones GOW for xbox and resistance for ps3(its just 10x the size of GoW :P cant be mad at that its true) im talking about the consoles own user interface

[kevnb]

If you could install a game based on a code, you could install the game then sell the disc. Or what about rentals?

[Yawnier]

http://igargoyle.com/archiv...

[CAPT IRISH]

sure its not you?

[andron]

While the 360 install is just copying the DVD to Hdd, the PS3 installs vary greatly in size.

And the coupon code wouldn't work. It would only make piracy even easier, just look at PC games. They have had serial codes and that didn't help much...

[moujahed]

Forced installations may actually cure the Xbox360's RROD... think about fools... just think about it.

[CAPT IRISH]

Everyone calm down. Its OPTIONAL!

[Rapture333]

I thought xbox owners (and Microsoft)were against installaing games? Now their more then happy about it?

[CAPT IRISH]

its not the same thing as the ps3 installs

[vhero]

This is a stupid idea as piracy bad enough on the 360 as it is this would make it worse.

[Mikey_Gee]

The Password/Code Idea is cool, BUT if a code is registered to a console, what happen when you go to trade in your game or buy a pre-played game ?? I think to avoid piracy .. YOU WOULD NEED TO HAVE THE ORIGINAL in the Drive ... and I am fine with that. My 360 is not that far away from me and I am not that out of shape that taking the 5 seconds to put in a different disc will not kill me.

One thing I would LOVE TO SEE which would get around HD space issues, is keep it as is (with needing the original in the Drive -- but not spining) but rather than being forces to copy to the OFFICIAL MS Hard-drive, allow folks to use USB external drives.

Many of us have LARGE USB drives. I know for me, I would love to be able to hook up my 2TB external USB drive to my 360 and use that to hold ALL my games. And by requireing the original for authentication, then I don't see how this would be a PIRACY issue at all.

Just my thoughts

[wicked]

Do you think streaming from the USB drive would be quick enough? Or copy from the USB drive to internal drive before playing?

[ScottEFresh]

Xbots make me laugh!

[SoonThai]

the reason why its optional for the X360 is probably because not all X360 Consoles come with HDD. If it was mandatory then those people get screwed, then more flaming. so stop using the optional card because its impossible for MS to implement mandatory cause it would anger lots of Core console gamers.

[DJ]

Well, the 360 has been hacked open for a LONG time, and I'm sure the pirates will find a way around this obstacle as well, but it is a great concept.

I almost wish Sony would let us install the entire games onto our hard drives. Then again, I'd be out of space within two games, but still. =P

[air1]

what part of optional install do you ps3 turds not get?

this is what it means, when/if mgs4 comes to 360 we do not HAVE TO INSTALL but can IF WE WANT. why do you sony fanatics understand only what you want? sony got b!tch slapped at there own game again.

the ps3 is supposed to be future proof right? well if you ask me micro seems to be showing it's future proof cause it is versatile it can do what the ps3 does but the kick is it does it better :)

look at what live can do and been doing since last gen, then look at what the psn can do and just started doing.

[SuperSaiyan4]

Especially with MGS 4 constantly have to watch snake smoke! Everything with the PS3 is waiting and waiting!!!!

I am very glad that with the 360 you will be able to install your top played games that you always play to the hard drive but needing the disc is perfectly fine and makes sense.

Full installation = no texture streaming, pop ups or anything perfect gameplay!

Only if Sony was good at anything they did oh well.

[DJ]

Was a bit of a relief. I mean 2 minutes, come on. You obviously felt otherwise. But your comment about full installation is false. Texture streaming is a game engine function, and without it our games would still look like launch titles. Pop-up is related to data not being in system memory when the engine needs it; this can be due to bad programming or reading off a disc drive (slow) instead of a hard drive (faster).

[Rageanitus]

Sorry Xbox Fan's as much as you bash the ps3 for installs, the xbox will soon have the same treatment.

Im sorry but doesnt this just ring a BELL install on HD some data is an advantage. Games are becoming more complex just like how pc games were make in the hay day.

Its funny how xbox fanboys that bashed the ps3 are now saying well now we get optional install ..... uhhhh think about it SO WHAT.... it still shows the light that installs provide an advantage to performance.

From the developers point of view since ps3 has a mandatory hard drive WHY NOT use it duhhh.

[cpt_kaos]

For a fraction of the price of the Xbox 120 gig hdd PS3 users can upgrade there HDD with ease and not restricted to a over priced add on.

[kenshin22up]

the idea that the article suggested got to be the dumbest idea I have ever heard

[TheTimeDoctor]

installs should be mandatory; why wouldn't you want a more optimized experience.