IGN: Mass Effect 2's Strange Disc Swapping Explained

Last month, BioWare Community Manager Chris Priestly noted players had to do one required disc swap for the Xbox 360 version of Mass Effect 2.

But that is no longer the case.

[josh14399]

i hate switching discs i hope i can install one of the discs and the game will run properly with just the first in. i doubt this would be allowed though because you could install it on your mates 360 and leave him the second disc while you keep the first and still be able to play the full game

[Cold 2000]

You hate swapping discs ? What do you do then when you want to switch games ?

[dirthurts]

Pwnd.

[Eamon]

lol @ Cold 2000

To be honest, if you're not made to swap discs very frequently then I see nothing wrong with swapping. Obviously a single disc is the much preferred option.

[ForROME]

Pwnd

[dragonelite]

duh not change he just plays one game all gen long.
Or call his mom to change his games i know i would im a lazy bastard :P

[kewlkat007]

I mean, that's like playing an individual "Whole(20hr)Game" in itself then putting another disc in but still playing the same game obviously.

Now if I'm on Disc 3 of a game and had to travel to an earlier world or part of the game but had to throw in disc 1 just to collect an item, well that would be a nuisance, if it's part of the main story game.

A side quest, not so much.

[Sez]

That made me laugh so hard.

Bubble +

[Cartesian3D]

by your logic ,a game with 1200 disk can make same experience as 1 disk game .. right ?

think about that for a minute .. swapping discs between games is different from swapping discs in ONE game!

thanks god you are not a manager in tech R&D, imagine 100 CDs (with 1000x speed ,drives sound like a tank or sth) for HD movies.. because swapping discs isnt a problem for ONE product.

[OmarJA-N4G]

Well no swapping & problems for me since I'm getting the PC version. :)

[Cold 2000]

...?

ME 2 is about 20-30 hours long and 2 discs. That makes a 10 second break to change discs every 10 hours or so.

Lost Odyssey is 40 hours long with 4 discs. Same thing, all together it will take you 40 seconds to swap discs in 40h+ game...

Changing discs every 10 hours or so isn't more inconvenient than changing blurays every time you beat a 10-15h long game, which is the average length for a game.

[Harry_Manback]

No sense in b1tching about it as we all know how limited data space is on dvd's.

As long as the overall gaming experience is worth it then so be it.

I'd much rather have an epic 20hr 2-disc game than a 10 hr 1-disc game.

[ryuzu]

But none of those storage solutions you're jerking off over exist in a console today - hell they're barely even available for home PCs.

A disk swap isn't a problem - well 'cept for the hardware issues in 360.

Even so, MS should either make much bigger disks and much cheaper or, if they really want their console to last for a few more years, provide some kind of cheap add-on drive, Blu-ray or whatever other circle jerk tech you prefer, I don't care.

I just don't want to see devs constrained.

r.

[lowcarb]

This whole disc swapping argument reminds me of The Cosby show episode when Bill was to lazy to get up and change the channel because he could not find the remote.

[Saaking]

There's nothing wrong with switching disks.... if we were still in the 90s. People We're in 2010. The PSone era is long gone and MS is stuck all the way back then. Switching disks is something that should be unacceptable today. It was okay back with the PSone and the early PS2, but not anymore. Right now, it's just a joke.

[commodore64]

@ saaking

.. but funnily enough, required installs seem to be a-okay with you?

[Cartesian3D]

now thats a logic.. 10 hours per disk is enough..

but your first one was stupid.. anyway Mass effect is a AAA RPG and 2 disk for 20-30 hours of AAA experience isnt a problem imo.

[zack61]

You just owned him. LMAO

[Ausbo]

the fanboys are just trying to find something bad about the game. Since all the reviews have been fantastic, they bash the fact you have to switch discs a couple of times. HAHAHA.

[Mike134nl]

Some people have the same problem with picking up a remote or a controller. It's a inconvenience but not a hassle. In the old days getting to the second or even fourth disc simply gave a sense of accomplishment.

Maybe they should give an achievement for the players to swap the disc to motivate them to swap the disc.

[EVILDEAD360]

I change changes games, dvds, blu-rays every single day. Multiiple disc still and always will be a non-issue.

I'd rather swap Mass Effect 2 a couple of times then not have it on my console at all.

Let's face it..how many people leave every single game that they start in their console until it's completely finished and the credits are rolling? Especially one that is going to take 20+ hours.

If it leaves the tray..and you put it back in at anytime..it's the same as a disc swap.

Again..non-issue

Evil

[fr0sty]

if this were a ps3 game, and it only had a dvd drive, where 360 had the bd drive, the tone of this thread would be drastically different.

as for swapping, if it's a linear game, it's ok. but rpg's where you have to go back to an old part of the game to do certain things, no go.

you can bash not wanting to get up to change discs all you want, but you can't deny that it limits the way developers can make their games. open world games that span more than one disc have to be cut down or designed differently in order to make it so you aren't swapping discs just to go to another area (like GTA for instance, or an RPG that isn't linear). this puts a limit on the developer as to what kinds of gaming experiences that they can give you. they must craft it around hiding the inconvenience of the disc swap as much as possible, spacing the need to do so as far apart as they possibly can. anything that restricts their creative vision is a bad thing IMO, no matter how little or how much it does.

[wicko]

Buy it on Steam if that bothers you so much.

[soljah]

i will wait for the 1 disc version on ps3 bluray lol

well for now disc swaping version it is. but as time goes on this is going to become a real problem for 360 versions of multiplats unless co's do like square did for ff13 and dumb down the game to fit old dvd tech

[HDgamer]

Get the pc version just like me, it's superior in every form. Mods > xbawx

[webeblazing]

they said they made the game that way to make it a non-linear game and to put more content on the game im glad they did this hopefully more games will be more ambitious and make their game more bigger im definitely gonna support these guys. it seems like yall dont wont more out of your games.

[IaMs12]

I honestly dont see the problem right now with it if you have to only switch it out twice.

Yes we all know MS screwed up, WHO DOESNT? Sony is hell of a ways from being perfect and yes that includes your freaking PS3. Im sorry to burst your bubble.

But honestly people, fighting about it wont do anything. What will it accomplish? Oh you have to switch your discs, that system officially sucks, time to buy another console that doesnt have the game you want on it.

There is no argument here. Yes it sucks they had to make it on 2 discs but there is nothing WE can do. Do you really want the other console to fail? Without Gears the PS3 would not have anything to shoot for, and now look what we got.

Its called competition, and Sony would suck without it, and so would MS. Good im glad the PS3 has the best graphics, because now MS just has to top that and vice versa. STFU and GTFU. Seriously you are a bunch of kiddies fighting about which is better the blue car or the red. In the end they both play games.

SO, try to enjoy what you got, and be thankful for what we got. Spoiled B#@$CHS

[Steffl3r]

You'll be waiting awhile. Bioware doesn't love your kind XP

[kalebgray92]

preordered it but that sucks

[mastiffchild]

Changing discs within a game is an unnecessary thing, these days in most cases and anyone who says they don't care at all is lying-everyone would prefer games on the one disc. Fair enough, it's not the end of the world and if you only change once it's pretty much OK(outside of the fact having two discs increases the chances of a damaged disc wrecking your game-and I've had a few scratched by 360s and a few killed by my kids and dogues)but if it goes like SO4 on 360 and they're in and out it becomes an actual problem rather than just not ideal.

Besides, can't we just install them now anyway-I install a lot of my games to 360 purely for their performance-so for practically everyone it's going to be a one time deal, isn't it?

[gamer2010]

This is honestly a non-issue for me. I couldn't care less. I will probably switch it out 5 times more just to play other games in between sessions of Mass Effect 2.

Let's face it, the vast majority of games do not need more than 1 DVD. Having a couple long RPGs that require multiple discs is not a problem at all.

[kalebgray92]

got disagrees saying it sucks even when mentioning i basically own it..payed in full but fanboys only see the word sucks and say "NO it doesn't" when really they would rathter not switch.

[nycredude]

Cold2000

Way to rationalize how it's ok in 2010 to be swapping disc on a hd "next gen" console. Can someone explain to me how swapping disc is somehow better than having everything on one disc? It seems you would have people believe swapping disc is the new thing to do to be cool.

Let me ask you would you want to get up during the middle of a great movie to flip the disc to the other side or would you rather watch it through without interruption?

Sorry i don't agree but I also own a 360 and although it amounts to not much more than an inconvenience, it still is unacceptable this far along in the industry.

[Karooo]

bioware has really improved mass effect 2 Disc 2 ftw.

[Immortal321]

you want bigger games, get bigger space that's all.

How hard is that concept to adapt?

[Sez]

Yes cause "EVERY" game on the ps3 is 40+ hours long thanks to blu-Ray disk. /s

most games on ps3 ( except rps) are if that 10hours long. Only thing blu-Ray has helped so far is in the graphics department and unconpressed sound. It did nothing to make the game longer or anything. So what are you getting at.

[infamous-butcher]

Ohh I thought Final Fantasy XIII just realeased on 1 Bluray disc with no compression and soon to be realeased on at least 3 DVD9 discs with compressed audio AND visuals. Or did I just dream that?
Swaping discs these days implys you've got a bad, format (ie DVD9) whereas back in the day with the PS it made you think WOO this must be a BIG game if its on three discs. Now we have far bigger memory avaliable on discs which eliminates the need for multiple discs. When a game comes out now on 3 discs we think thats dated hardwear when a bigger game is still available on one disc.

[Sez]

i see you didn't notice that i said (EXCEPT RPG'S) there aren't any games that go over 10 hours. yet the first game you mention is Final Fantasy XIII (which is a RPG). which is mostly CGI and cutscene. which takes up most of the space on disk.

game dev's focus too much on graphic and how close to realism they can get a game to look. instead of the lenth they can get out of the blu-ray disk. again how many games on blu-ray are over 10 hours? none. MGS4 even at over 50 gigs. without the codec and CGI isn't over 10+hours. so with so much space blu-ray has. why aren't dev's making games longer than 10 hours on blu-ray. because they are focusing more on graphic and uncompressed sound. i'm not sayng this is a bad thing at all. but for $65+ dollars (including DLC) games should be longer as well as look good.

i can't speak for anyone else. but i rather have a be over 10 hours.(especially if it's a good game) than have the best graphic ever. again thats just me and my opinion.

[Whitefox789]

I can agree with you on developers focusing too much on visuals instead of game time

[Sez]

Do me a favor ok. Stop acting like I don't own a ps3 ok. I haven't seen anything other than graphic or unconpressed sound that can't be done on dvd9. Stop kidding yourself ok. I haven't seen these long levels your talking about that you claim blu-Ray adds to. The distructable enviroments your talking about can't be done on any system. You bring up KZ2 and R2 ok let's take a look at these games. Halo3 is on dvd9 right. Yet it has 4 player co-op, split screen, forge,open world,vehicles, and more. Yet KZ2 and R2 don't have most of those feature if any. So what has blu-Ray added to as far as FPS's goes? Nothing but graphic like I said.

Oh and no MGS4 is not 15hours. It may have took you 15 hours skipping though the cutscenes and codec. But it's not 15 hours. Again stop fooling yourself.

[gamer2010]

Graphics are a function primarily of the GPU and memory, and to a lesser extent the CPU. Disc capacity has almost nothing to do with graphics. It only gives you more room to fit more content.

But like Vega75 said, most PS3 games are no longer than 360 games anyway. The dirty little secret is that many PS3 games simply repeat content on the disc in order to help with load times and seek times. That is only to offset the slower speed of the Bluray drive in the PS3.

Most games this generation simply do not need more than a DVD.

[heroprotagonist]

No, it's because most developers don't want to spend the time or money to create worlds that big that many gamers will never finish, which would also cause the price of games to go up. That is the real reason most games fit on a DVD this generation. A bigger capacity format will be very useful next generation, but it definitely isn't necessary this generation.

If all games were as long as Mass Effect 2 I would simply play far fewer games, because I wouldn't have the time to get through very many games. The length of most games this generation is just fine for me. Even games like Heavenly Sword and Halo 3 ODST were great games to me and I actually appreciated that they were short but sweet.

[LONEWOLF231]

Ahh.......better buy GPGs for it.
DISK SWAPPING scratches FTW!

*EDIT*
To be honest id much rather have in between game installs ala Metal Gear 4 than this game disk swapping. BUT since not many have HDD on their 360 this option is out of the question...........

[Sitdown]

swapping a disc once takes less time than the load times that MGS 4 had between some chapters. Again, not that big of a deal as some people would want to make it out to be. I can honestly say I felt no repercussions of the one time I had to get up and switch the Resident Evil 4 disc on the gamecube.

[Foxgod]

Complaining about swapping a disc once every couple of days, is a poor attempt to make blu ray look good.

Thats how sad the current state of blu ray is, they have to make poor excuses like that.

[Dead_Cell]

In a world of technological evolution, mass media data streaming, bigger hold capacity and constantly upgrading processing...
Swapping data discs is old, it should have gone out of the window a long time ago. If this wasn't something that one side of an oh so precious console war is sensetive about and was just another piece of technology the opinion would be unanimous.
It is archaic.

[ActionBastard]

Hell, I have more Gmail storage than the 360's media has.

[LONEWOLF231]

See i have no problem with disk swapping WHATSOEVER just with disk swapping scratches! I mean games now adays are expensive its not like they are cheap and due to normal disk swapping use and no matter HOW much you try to take care of the game they will scratch and Fck up your game disk! A fcked up game disk means youll have to rebuy that said titles IF you plan on getting the future DLC. I know that this sounds more like excuses and i am sorry for that BUT it is the truth! IT would be alot better if we had game install rather than disk swapping!

[OmarJA-N4G]

Nobody mentioned the blu-ray here insecure much?

BTW there's no need for excuses the blu-ray won the format & it's already the best.

[Foxgod]

Only morons scratch disc's during swapping.
Also, Even Blu ray will feature disc swapping eventually again.
Its commong to a media format, when it nears the end of its life cycle, that data has to be spreaded over multiple discs.

So dont act like that because you have to swap a dvd now, that you will never have to swap blu ray.
As soon as UHD becomes the standard (displayport), game and video data will no longer fit on a 12 or so layered blu ray anymore either.
Then you will need two 200GB blu ray disc's to store one game.

And just cause a media format ends its life cycle, it doesnt meant you can dispose of it right away, theres plenty of reasons left right now to favor DVD over blu ray still, like budget and manufacturing.

@Omar,
Blu ray is not the best in any way.
HVD got a lot more storage potential then Bly-ray, and theres more media formats that can do more.
Blu ray also isnt the fastest media, thats Dvd, and Blu ray also isnt the most widely distributed.

I personally am more into Flash storage, theres already 32GB sdcards, and by 2015 they will hit the 2TB per disc.

[Dead_Cell]

You do realise disc swapping basically doubles your need production at minimum, right? Disc swapping is far far off on a upgradable storage media.

[Foxgod]

Only 5 % of 360 games are on more then one disc, so its still better to manufacture 360 games.

If 100% of games where on multiple disc's then you would be right, but your not, cause you didnt use your brains when you wrote that comment.

Instead you wrote that ungrounded argument in an attempt to make me look bad, which i frankly do not take lightly.

[Doc Sony]

lol, STFU FoxGod

Blu Ray IS better.

You're a dumb 360 fanboy who's is trying to make inferior technology seem better than superior tech. You're basically saying you would CHOOSE to swap disks rather than have everything on one Blu Ray.

I don't mind swapping a disc once, but you should just keep your mouth shut with that sh!t.

Blu Ray won, HD-DVD lost, its over, move on.

[Foxgod]

Also, the reason i dont like blu ray, is because its again another optical format.

I am tired of using these ugly coasters all together, and want to move on to something different, at least with DVD we know its gonna be gone soon.

We have been using disc's for almost 40 years now, its getting stupid, even tapes didnt last that long.

@doc sony,
Better then what?
It sure as hell aint better then HVD, HVD will allow UHD on one disc, while blu ray will not.
I see Blu ray as an annoyance, its far too limited compared to what is about to come in the near future.

Blu ray is some annoying bridge that Sony build to close the gap between DVD, HVD, which isnt ready yet to manufacture.

But again, i did like something new, instead of Optical media.
It would be nice if everything becomes flash based, so that our games get stored on cartridges the size of a fingernail

And in before, but i would lose my games, or comments like that, we already use SDmicro cards, i dont hear anyone complaining about losing those.

[Dead_Cell]

I never mentioned the 360, I was talking about why the need for multiple discs for single media is a problem. For people to say it isn't is for them to logically favour the CD player over the Ipod.
Hard media is the problem.
Once again anger arises from over zealous console supporters who would rather defend a piece of emotionally void technology than actually see the point in what somebody else is saying.

[Karum]

Blu-Ray doesn't need to have excuses made for it, it's performing fantastically. What sad state is Blu-Ray in exactly? It's being well marketed, it's being adopted faster than DVD and BD movies get day and date releases with their DVD counterparts with TV ads saying "on dvd and blu-ray from xx date"

Where are you seeing these excuses being made for Blu-Ray? It certainly wasn't in the comment you were responding to.

If you feel swapping discs isn't a huge issue then just say that, nothing wrong with it. Fabricating something in your own mind about Blu-Ray and commenting on it when noone else did seems a little bit stupid to me.

Now as for my opinion on disc swapping, I'm lazy and I find it annoying for the 30 seconds it takes to do, but it's certainbly not annoying enough to not buy a game with 2 discs for my 360, not by any means.

[Sitdown]

Your post seems so extreme; Seriously, switching a physical disc is outdated? Should walking be considered outdated since there are other means of getting from point A to B? Just because new technology is out...doesn't mean everything else is old and outdated...you know why? Cause not every country has the ability to take advantage of the new technology. Not everyone has access to mass media data streaming...and even if they did, I think I would rather switch a disc every now and again than have to pay the extra money a month for a faster internet connection. Likewise...I don't mind having to switch a disc than putting my faith in a hard drive not going bad on me....I own an ipod, but still prefer playing cds in my car.

[Dead_Cell]

We have the ability to use larger storages of media, we can stream data endlessly, upload and download it as we wish.
And yet we're still swapping hard data discs because...because what?
It's just easier in general.

[ActionBastard]

Outdated is outdated. See, walking can't really be outdated as it isn't an evolving tech. You put one foot in front of the other, in succession, and move. DVD swapping? Outdated. Now, I hate the fact that children in Bosnia can't play or enjoy the PS3/360 via a 25MB internet connection, but technology waits for no one. It's always been that way.

[PopEmUp]

Foxgod is just one of those HDvd owner, so you see he got mad that Blue-ray is now a successful format, so now he have no other choice but to aggressively support the last gen format XD

[Karum]

He isn't talking about HD-DVD, he said HVD which is Holographic Versatile Disc. Which whilst it is capable of more data storage than Blu-Ray, it's way off being mass market not to mention the movie industry has so much invested in Blu-Ray.

Basically it's about as relevant to this particular topic/article as the price of cheese in sweden.

[Erotic Sheep]

Oh Foxgod.. you did it again. Just when I thought mankind could not be anymore stupid, you proved me wrong.

*claps*

Please, elaborate us on the so-called "excuses" we apparently are making for Blu-Ray. Because it seems that you're the one making excuses for DVD and why Blu-Ray seems to be worse.

[kewlkat007]

if there is enough competition and a market demographics for whatever product/services you may offer.

Take for example Nintendo/MS/Sony and look at who has had the most success up till now(On Paper) and examine each individual hardware specs.

Even the past tells us, being the first and sometimes way ahead of the curve can spell failure.

So having some slight limitation in Hardware never spells doom if your doing lots of other things right. In this case, yeah Ms went with DVD but is doing way better than the Original Xbox and have yet to see where it really matters as much since it's all relative to the Dev/Game being made..

[Sitdown]

because you are calling a simple action as outdated...everyday jump drives are swapped, hard drives are swapped, etc.. No matter how fast your internet is and how big your storage medium is...at some point you are going to need to swap it. Swapping will always be inevitable at some point....and will never go away....that is why saying it is outdated seems weird. Having viable alternatives does not necessarily mean something else has to be outdated.

@Action Bastard
Well how can swapping disc be outdated, because its not an evolving tech...its an action involving tech. And you are off base if you think technology waits for no one..if necessity is truly the mother of invention, does not technology sometimes wait on someone to need it?

[gamer2010]

"Because it's archaic."

Well, for that matter so are mandatory installations. The Bluray drive in the PS3 is slow so many games have to be installed to help with load times and seek times. It's just as archaic.

Not only that, but there are a lot more games on the PS3 that require mandatory installations than there are games on the 360 that require multiple discs.

I'd take the 360's situation over the PS3's situation any day.

[Karum]

Installing software to a hard drive is archaic? Really?

I guess every PC in the world is archaic then? Considering the majority of software requires an install?

Mandatory installs on the PS3 have to do with developers own tech not being up to the task of being optimised for the PS3's hardware. The majority of games don't actually require an install at all and the games with the best graphics, the biggest and best tech and those with the most going on at once don't require an install. This alone disproves your claim that Blu-Ray and the PS3's optical drive isn't up to scratch.

Please keep the stupid comments to yourself, they won't fly around anyone with half a brain.

Also, as for preferring the odd disc swap over the odd install, all up to personal preference. Although I personally prefer a 1 time install so that I never have to swap discs or anything like that. In fact, given the option I'd prefer installing all of or part of a game to my hard drive if for no other reason than to prolong the life of the optical drive and cut down on the system heating up. That's exactly why I install all my 360 games to it's HDD.

[kalebgray92]

so many newcomer fanboys like cold2000 have taken his place

[heylo]

PC cracked no-disk version FTW!

[LONEWOLF231]

HEHEHEHE..........i just "borrowed" that version.
I am too impatient to wait for the 360 version to hit stores.....lol
Ill be getting my Sapphire 5870 in about 3 to 4 hours so i cant wait to play this.

[toaster]

Stupid consoles are still fussing with disks?? That was so 2003.

[gamer2010]

The fact that PS3 fanboys complain about switching discs on a couple of games probably means that they are all a bunch of fat slobs too lazy to even get off the couch.

They are like those grotesque humans in Wall-e that have machines that carry them around and do everything for them. "what? You mean I have to get up off the couch after 10 hours of playing the game and I can't just sit on my @ss for the entire 30+ hours that the game lasts? No way! I can't do that! I would probably die of a heart attack!", says the PS3 fanboy.

Pathetic excuse for gamers. More like corporate whores.

[militant07]

why not allow people with big ass harddrive to install it and no disc swaping ?!

[GameOn]

Wouldn't it be ten times faster to switch a disc than to install?

[militant07]

install would take 7min ,anyway i always install my games to HDD and that the same with mass effect 2 but it still require disc swaping

[Bigpappy]

I am browsing over these stupid format fights, and none of them suggest that maybe you could just install it to the harddrive. One guy mention the harddrive and he was an even more misinformed doofus. Most 360 owners have hard drives, the problem is that M$ also sells the arcade version without the HDD. So those people are the ones who can not install the game. 360 gamers can install the disk just like PC gamers can.

[GameOn]

I get ya, I suppose it should be one or the other. I still think this disc swapping is blown out of proportion though.

[josh14399]

There is nothing wrong hating swapping discs considering its not 1999 anymore. swapping games i will have to deal with for now but changing discs part the way through a game is a bit old fashioned don't you think. At least the multiple discs in mass effect 2 are meant to help get rid of the texture pop and bad fps from the first game which stopped me enjoying it as much as i should have.

i would by all my games as downloads if they were cheap enough and they had the same release dates as in the shops.

[GamerPS360]

defend all you want but swapping disc in middle of game is inconvenient. But, I will rather take better graphics, more content and swap disc than not swap and settle down for mediocre.

If every game out there required for disc swapping, it would be problem considering PC and PS3 advantage but it's very few games and it's Mass Effect2. So who cares, just enjoy the game.

[AliTheBrit19]

Theres multiple disks?

Aww thats lame ¬_¬

[josh14399]

at least bioware have thought things through and made it so that the open world sections dont require you to change discs.

[AllroundGamer]

already had to switch to the second DVD, and i hope it was the last time in ME2 :)

[militant07]

you got yours?
lucky :)

im still waiing speical edition for me, and i cant play it til the end of exams (7/2/2010)

[GamerPS360]

lol why can't you play before exam ?? just use the time that you spend on N4G to ME2.

[gamingisnotacrime]

it takes 2 discs to do it on the 360, and im fine with that. I definetely prefer 1000 times more to have all the game in one sweet disc, like MGS4 fits in one sweet Blu Ray. I dont see this as a game braker deal, but it reminds me that DVD9 is outdated and games are only getting bigger. I doubt that after playing ME2, i will describe the experience as disc swapping, just like after going through Lost Oddysey's Four discs, all i could recall was the great gaming experience.

[Wolf873]

this way disc-swapping can be avoided. However, if it doesn't bother people it's not much of a problem, it takes less than a minute anyway. However, I do wonder why they aren't porting this game to PS3, I mean the vision for Mass-Effect would surely benefit from the storage capacity offered by the Blu-ray, wonder how the game will turn out then. Anyways, can't wait to get my hands on this thing.

[MasterOne]

This is 2010 and you need to swap disc on a Next Gen Console. MS once again flubed up.

[chrisulloa]

Honestly if you make fun of ME2 for having disc swapping you're not a fan of RPGs at all. Some of the greatest games of all time have had disc swapping and it doesn't hurt the experience.

[-MD-]

Most Sony fanboys that make fun of disc swapping aren't old enough to remember the PS1.

[CernaML]

I never liked disc swapping even since the PS1 days. <_< I was always annoyed about Gran Turismo 2 because of that.

[Trebius]

Storage mediums have evolved to the point where having to use multiple discs just seems silly...

it's not SO inconvenient though...I mean when I played FFVII I didnt mind having a 4 disc game, it was just something that HAD to be done...

But since Xbox is a gen behind it sometimes has to use extra discs...I mean look at FFXIII :(

If there werent a PC version of ME there'd be a lot of upset people lol.

360 users say it's not a big deal because they have no CHOICE in the matter...

Just like you have no CHOICE but to buy wi-fi, pay for live, buy a hard drive, STILL using wires for headsets and controllers isntead of wireless technology...

You all say it's no big deal! of COURSE it isnt! CAUSE YOU HAVE NO CHOICE!

[RBdrift]

oh I remember disk swapping back on my original playstation but the problem there is that was a decade ago!.This is supposed to be next gen ,not dated technology that goes back to the sega cd.So common and stop making excuses for the 360.

[karan8624]

I dont know how to spell your name, but +Bubble

And I DO remember switching dics on the PS1. I didnt care because I was exited that, WOW, this game is so big it needs more than one disc. If a game needed more than one Blu-Ray disc, I would say the same. Wow, must be a big game

But swapping DVD's when it could easily fit on a Blu-Ray.. not even fit, but get MORE content?
No, thats just stupid

[SSCOOLCHEA]

I remember that it sucks balls to disc swap. I really hate disk swapping between songs right now for my girls singstar .we have 142 songs

[insomnium]

That is the textbook definition of "butthurt" AND "blind fanboy".

Can there be no criticism whatsoever no matter how justified? You're such a tool. Somehow going back over a decade in tech is OK now?

After all the public bashing of the PS3 by MS it's unbelievable they actually go ahead and let games like F3 and this prove them wrong. MS is run by little children.

Personally I think multiple discs in games ruin the experience a bit. You just know there's no way you'll win against the bad guy in the early encounters. This ruined the experience in FF8 with the sniper carnival-thingy. No way to kill Edea (was that her name) no matter what the situation is since there are 2 more discs to go through. Somehow you just KNOW the game doesn't end until the last one.

I didn't like it back then even if I was much younger but now as an adult this would ruin the experience even more.

This quote says it all "The decision was made due to the nature of having to go to two discs"

[jackdoe]

This makes a ton of sense actually. To avoid the Star Ocean IV snafu where you had to switch disks based on side missions (an issue rectified in the International PS3 Edition), Bioware threw all the non-linear quests onto the second disk with all the linear stuff on the first. This leads to two disk swaps while playing through the natural course of the game rather than swapping every couple of minutes ala Star Ocean IV 360.

[washingmachine]

lol@disc swapping,in any case

[NoOoB101]

That's the kind of attitude that will never push anything forward. Not saying ME2 is bad, but this is not ps1 or ps2 and disk swapping should not be here. I don't mind swapping disks but i shouldn't have to with the technology that's out these days.

[Gameplay999]

People making a big deal to get up off their fat ass and switch a disc are... words cant describe. Its no issue whatsoever.

[jjesso1993]

lol this game so much easy to play on jtagged 360 lol both disc installed no disc's needed

[Software_Lover]

I mean, swap a disc, twice in this case, take a few seconds, and you're done.

Its not like you have to install at each chapter and wait longer or anything like that. I mean, thank god no one has done that. That takes longer than disk swapping. The dev who ever does that would be committing developer suicide right????????

But this doesn't bother me as Im getting the pc version anyway.
And I loved MGS4 by the way. Still have it.

[DJ]

You don't have to be a "PS3 Fanboy" to hate the concept of disc swapping. It's been disliked since the PS1 days. The fact that even the next Halo is going to have its gameplay modes split across two discs brings back nostalgic memories of Gran Turismo 2 (also on the PS1).

I'm just surprised that Microsoft keeps taking jabs at the PS3's blu-ray drive while 360 developers cry out for more disc space.

[Software_Lover]

People on here who have a problem with disc swapping ARE PLAYSTATION FANBOYS. Its just the truth. MOST (not all) most people who dont like Blu-ray ARE MICROSOFT FANBOYS. Its just the truth. Most people who hate Halo are playstation fanboys. Most people who hate on Uncharted are microsoft fanboys.

Its like that and thats the way it is. If uncharted or Halo were platform swapped, we would get different arguments from each side.

[rob6021]

I do agree the MGS install thing is stupid, but no one really cares cause the game is just plain awesome. I'd think few other games could get away with it without being docked. At least they do it in style too.

[Dorwrath]

Regarding Halo being on two disk.

With Halo 3 matchmaking you couldn't, or rather you shouldn't install the disk to the hard drive, it slows down load times during matchmaking.

ODST came with campaign and firefight on one disk and multi-player on the other. With two disks I could install ODST Campaign and firefight to the hard drive without having to install matchmaking.

If matchmaking on reach has the same issues when installed to the hard drive that Halo 3 has then I for one will be glad it's on two disks.

Disagree all you want. but you'll find clarification on Bungienet, by Bungie themselves.

[ironmonkey]

swapping disks lol thats sooo old tech

[Pootangpie]

about this I guess you sony fanboys are too lazy to swap games too because face it that's what your going have to do every ****ing time who cares if it's 1999 it's better then waiting 10 mins for an install every act disk swaps take seconds I could careless

PlayStation 3, which is based on a new processor called Cell that was jointly developed by IBM, Sony, and Toshiba. With a computational speed of 2 teraflops (2 trillion floating-point operations per second), Cell is being touted as a super computer on a chip. Accompanying the Cell CPU is a new graphics processor, code named RSX, which is the result of a collaborative effort by NVIDIA and Sony. Also included in the PS3 is a BD-ROM drive to play Blu-ray Disc ROM titles.

...

Microsoft announced the latest version of their game console, the Xbox 360. It's powered by a custom PowerPC-based CPU that can perform up to 1 teraflop, and it also has HD capabilities—16:9 720p or 1080i."

funny beyond 3d easily proves you wrong the PS3 can't even get past 720P for most games so STFU

[Dorwrath]

OMG we have to get off our couches a couple of time in forty hours?

The only ones complaining are the one who are to lazy to use parts of the body they call legs.

[Jrome]

Or the ones who don't like having multiple discs for one game :/.

[Jrome]

It's sad because there are actually people in here trying to argue that having to switch discs is a good thing :/.

[Software_Lover]

Whats the problem with swapping a disc? Really. What is the problem with swapping a disc other than laziness. Now if it was like Star Ocean iv as some have mentioned I can see where the issues would lie as it would get tedious to do so. But in this situation, whats the problem?

If a game is good, a game is good. Doesn't matter if you have to swap a disc, install every chapter or whatever. A good game is a good game.

[Allowen]

The problem here is not the trobble you will get by switching discs ,LOL.

I forgot the amount of games I lost because one of the times I switched a disk it ended geting a scratch and the CD rom/ DVD player stop reading it.

A few PC games such FF7, Farcry, F.E.A.R ,Everquest 2 etc and some old Sega Cd games I lost then because one of the many disks where scratched.

Now I only play games bought on Steam via digital download or on my PS3 .

I want to be able to turn on my computer or like my PS3 from 5-10 years from now and when I go play an old game I want to running right away from the dvd/bluray player or directelly from the HDD( Steam games).

Not in hell I will buy a game in multiple disks when I can get it via download or in a single blu ray disk.

[heroprotagonist]

I never scratch any of my discs and I fail to see how having more than one disc in a game would make me any more prone to scratching a disc. It doesn't make sense. Just imagine that second disc as a second game. I don't get why I would be any more likely to scratch a second disc in a set than I would be to scratch a second game.

[sweettooth]

no no no dont Explain to us Swapping
becuse we knowe the 360 cant handel any ps3 exclusive game in 1 disk thats a shame

[Nathan Drake2]

just 2 discs?that's nothing.ff13 will have at least 3 discs,rage 4 discs,doom 4 also 4 discs,so this is nothin.

[KingItachi]

Why didn't they just make it one swap and done, I hope if I want to go to a certain planet on disc 1 I hope I don't have to swap again.

[LiViNgLeGaCY]

My favorite game of all time was on 3 discs. I have NO problem switching discs for ME2 if get it for the 360.

[clarkjudo]

So, are we talking about the limits on how much information is stored on a disk? Is the really about the Xbox 360 VS PS3?

[Socomer 1979]

Multiple disc?
Outdated & outmaxed.
Poor ea & bioware had to pay extra for that.
No wonder ea is being crippled again.

I bet you all $1000 dollars ps3 gets all 3 mass effects in 2011 on 1 bluray disc &
ign will score it 8.5.

[champ21]

yea but since most ps3 gamers already have pcs.

and pc version is superior and cheaper, there is little reason to introduce a ps3 version.

[Figboy]

the 360 has games that make you swap discs. that's just the way it is, and there's not we can do about it but accept it and move on. there's really no point in whining about it.

and swapping discs to move to a different game is different from swapping discs to play the same game.

man, i haven't had to swap a disc when playing the same game since the PS1 generation.

i think ME2 will be the first game out of my 360 games where i've had to swap discs (i only own Crackdown, Mass Effect 1, and Fable 2, and they all came on one disc).

in either case, it's neither here nor there. ME2 is looking really sweet, and i'm getting it on the 360.

[Mikeyy]

All the DVD fanboys forgot the simple fact. If a game is forced to be put on Multiple Discs, then content gets cut. This is evident in FF13. Lots of content was cut.

This isnt about whether you are too lazy to get up and swap discs, that has NOTHING to do with the issue.

If you think disc size constraints, do not effect Quantity of content, then you are stupid.

[ReBurn]

Did you think about that before you typed it? Putting games on more than 1 disc causes content to be cut? Seriously? Why would they cut content when they've decided that they need more than one disc to hold the content? I'm really struggling with that logic.

[djtek184]

My Grandpa use to tell me stories about disc swapping.

[divideby0]

BlueRay disses....just shakes head and laughs...

this is only the beginning of this stuff like this...bigger and better games are more suited for BR, no audio compression no disk swaping is just the start.....Sony knew it...

whats even more lol funny is those all for disk swapping are the same ones who diss game installs...cant make this stuff up..

[kewlkat007]

What's even more funny, the bashing of Xbox 360 games and such being on multiple disk came way before "Metal Gear Solid 4" came around, if you wanna talk about installs.

While those been gloating about BD since it came on the scene, 360 gamers haven't really cared much about swapping disc.

Nobody is arguing more space is not better but you can and as you can see, still have Quality "AAA" be games made on DVD9. Would this game score a all perfect 10s if it was on a BD, probably not, so it doesn't matter in the end.

[divideby0]

MGS4 was that last gen....?

and compressed audio like mp3s are meh...unless you have a tin ear.

I so wish my 360 had a BR drive..I said it from day one..

format has nothing to do with the game rating..
ME appears to be a great game which is on my buy list..if it has mods I am gonna get it for the PC, if not the 360..

[ReBurn]

I think it's funny to see all of the "uncompressed this" and "more space that" when there aren't really that many games actually taking advantage of all of that extra space for anything meaningful. How many PS3 games actually have 100% uncompressed audio? And not just the background music streamed from the disc while playing. 100% fully uncompressed audio for everything? Good luck figuring that out.

Sure, games FF XIII will feature some (*some*) uncompressed audio and high bitrate CGI video. But a game with as much audio as a Final Fantasy game has would fill up even a 50GB Blu-ray pretty quickly if it were all uncompressed. So there will be some sounds that will be compressed because at the end of the day the PS3 still only has 512MB RAM and some sound effects are just going to have to stay cached in memory. That is unless you think going to the disc or 5200 RPM hard drive in realtime to fetch a sound effect or two is going to happen.

[jdigitalseven]

Because the PC has the install and PS3 has Blu-ray, they hide their insecurity with "its no big deal". Going out of their way to say it out loud is suppose to comfort them I guess....Like the nerd in HS gym who says "we're not going outside to play football today, its too cold"

[ASSASSYN 36o]

The real question is...why do you care? And where were you when the ps2 was swapping disc? Oh it was O K then huh.

[ReBurn]

I'm thinking the insecurity isn't with those who own a 360. Have fun with those installs, because people will be playing the game on the 360 before you ever see a title screen. They won't have time to feel insecure because of all of that extra time they'll be spending playing and not watching an install progress bar.

[Halo3 MLG Pro]

Only at N4G will you have an argument about a couple of disc swaps in a 30+ hour game. LOL! Man, I don't care if this game has 10 discs because it's going to be FREAKING SWEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

[Man_of_the_year]

Funny I was thinking about this just the other day. I was once a supporter for DVD9's thinking that most games this gen won't need to be outside of the DVD9 storage capacity except for that 1 or 2 games. And 90% of games don't don't need extra room.

HOWEVER it is becoming more and more apparent games requiring more space is evident with game such as Mass Effect 2. The gaming industry is just getting bigger at a rapid pace and games in turn are getting bigger.

Let me be the first to say "Yes. I was wrong and that more space is needed for games sooner than later and that MS was made mistake why they decided to stay with DVD9"

However I don't believe that Blu-Ray is the best decision for this gen as a gaming media storage device. It is just too slow to read the data off the disc. But Sony was right that DEV9's were not going to be suitable for late in this gens life cycle and knew that a larger storage media was necessary.

[insomnium]

"Yes. I was wrong and that more space is needed for games sooner than later and that MS was made mistake why they decided to stay with DVD9"

A) You want your bubbles back and you'll say anything to achieve it.

B) You truly see this now and are sincere about this.

I have to admit I lost all hope in you when you blocked me after that conversation we had but it seems like you haven't been acting stupid for a while afaik (haven't been following). Additionally I'm a positive person so I'm going to believe you are a B in this case.

From this point on I'll give you a chance and be neutral with your comments. You've redeemed yourself in my eyes. Who knows even I might give you a bubble some day. Keep up the good word =)

[karan8624]

Good thing the 360 cant handle UC or KZ like graphics or it would be 4-5 discs

[BlackAvenger7]

It seems like some of u guys use toilet seats in front of ur HDTV's, u know so u don't have to get up.. U make people who play games sound so lame and immature...

[ImmortalLegend]

Put the bag of chips/Mountain Dew down and change the damn disc. If gamers can't get up and change a disc, that just makes the stereotypes against gamers even worse. Anyways, Mass Effect is going to be a heck of a game.

[JudoChinX]

A lot of noise about nothing. You have to swap a disc. So what? The game is going to be 20+ hours long, so spending 15 seconds to switch a disc a couple times isn't really that bothersome. Oh well. To each their own.

[Cherchez La Ghost]

I change disc on my PC & DVD & Blu-Ray player almost everyday. What the hell is the diffrence?! You can have a 300 TB Blu-Ray disc. Guess what?! You still have to take it out to play another game. 'Nuff said on that argument. I can careless how many freakin disc I have to change. Mass Effect 2 is mine on day one!! You Mofo's need to quit this fanboy bullsheit! I don't know who is worse. Women who beoitch and gossip or people here in N4G!!

[ASSASSYN 36o]

LOL! You said it!

[ASSASSYN 36o]

Yeah thank everyone (ps3 gamers) here for stating the obvious. We xbox gamers would love to not have to swap disc just as much as you ps3 owners would love not to have to manually install updates (360 updates and installs them automatically), and required game installs (100% optional on 360).

Point is we can't do anything about it this gen. Yet you people continue to use the issue to troll and cry MORE about it than people who own a 360. I swap disc everyday and it isn't as bad as you ps3 gamers want it to be. Or did any of you never play ps2 games with multiple disc. Yeah so easy to forget the past huh. 90% of you all are hypocrites on the issue of disc swapping. Complain about it today when a lot of you where doing it yesterday.

If Bioware requires me to swap disc in order to have the complete experience then swap away I shall. Doesn't change the FACT that Mass Effect 2 is going to be a epic RPG game. Have fun trying to vilify it and this weak disc swapping issue you all are trying to escalate beyond any reasonable level. We (360 gamers) will still buy it and we will seriously still enjoy it. Troll away!

[ReBurn]

Oh, the same old tired argument. Not sure why so many people who don't own an Xbox 360 even care, but I guess they don't have any games on their console of choice to be playing right this moment so all they can do is troll on the internets.

Why is this a big deal? Really? Every person who plays disc-based games on consoles switches discs all the time. I don't understand why it is the end of the world if you have to switch a disc halfway through a game if you're already switching discs to change between games.

Let's look at this rationally. Taking a few seconds to switch a disc is not a big deal. It is going to be less time over the length of the game than the time you'd wait for a comparable game to install on the PS3 or PC. Yet many of you seem happy to waste up to 20 (or more) minutes of your lives waiting on an install to get exactly the same performance you'd see on the 360 with no install. And you want to say that somehow the 360 is inferior? I'd like to have some of whatever you're smoking, because a bottleneck is a bottleneck and every system has them.

[gamer2010]

Great post, ReBurn.

You are absolutely right, it is essentially a non-issue. It seems most of the people complaining about it are people who don't like the console in the first place.

I can tell you for a fact that I will not finish Mass Effect 2 in one sitting. Hell, I don't think I will finish it in 6 sittings. I wish I could, but I am an adult with plenty of other interests and responsibilities. I will be switching out the Mass Effect 2 discs anyway when I want to play something different, so why in the world would I care if I have to switch the disc a couple times throughout my 30+ hour playthrough?

It's a silly argument.

Even sillier when you consider that it is coming from the same people who claim that being forced to install a game that often takes many minutes to complete is no big deal.

[horndog]

they should just have sheppard smoke a ciggaret for 5 mins while the next chapter loads up just like MGS4.

[gamer2010]

It's a joke.

Mandatory installations are far more offensive and time consuming than switching a disc.

And on top of that, there are a lot more PS3 games that require mandatory installations than there are 360 games that require multiple discs.

I have over 30 games for my 360 and Mass Effect 2 is the first game that I will own that has more than one disc.
On the other hand I only own 8 PS3 games and 3 of them require mandatory installations. One of them being MGS4, which took up a hell of a lot of time and space.

Like I said in the Gamer Zone, I would take the 360's situation over the PS3's situation any day.

[horndog]

yes, good thing MS hasn't spent 30 million dollars on development of a game just to have a game flop as bad as KZ2. Who cares about the number of disk if it doesn't sell to start off with.

[Marty8370]

well you should start caring, cos the number of discs effect devs costs. So games will end up gimped to keep costs down.

Jump Out, Play B3yond

[Marty8370]

Go hand in hand, both dated.

Jump Out, Play B3yond

[champ21]

ps3 isnt exactly upto the modern times either.

sure its in a better situation then the failbox, however ps3 comes equipped with a half decade old gpu itself.

[gamer2010]

Not only an older generation GPU, but the Bluray drive is so slow that many developers have to implement mandatory installations for their games just so that they load and perform at an acceptable speed.

I have both consoles and I am far more annoyed by forced installations on the PS3 than I am with the occasional necessary disc change on the 360.

[hazelamy]

two discs swaps in a game like mass effect isn't a problem, but for a game like forza it would be, in that case you might have to swap discs depending on what track you want to play.
that could involve a lot of swaps.

[The Milkman]

If you guys like watching seasons of favorite tv shows you should be used to changing disc. Seriously if it bugs you to swap a disc after a couple of hours gameplay once, you have a issue... I think it may even be more than a couple of hours before you have to swap. Either way your lame to complain.

[The Simple Truth]

XBox 360 is just a souped up PS2.

Poor botz, always playing behind.
Maybe next time, M$ won't gimp their machine just to get a years jump on sony only to have them suffer defeat a few years later...

[t850]

yet the 360 still manages to outperform the ps3 in most multiplats.

by that remark i guess the ps3 sucks even more. Sony came in 1 year late there was no reason not to give ps3 an upto date gpu imo. 360 atleast had a good gpu for its release date. Though sure both of them are ancient by todays standard.

[heroprotagonist]

It would have been stupid for Microsoft to put a Bluray or HD-DVD drive in the 360. Nobody knew which disc format would ultimately win and it would have greatly increased the cost of the console. On top of all that the advantage of Bluray is of limited use for games. Quite simply, most games this generation do not even fill a DVD.

Going with DVD was the right choice for Microsoft.

Sony had a vested interest in Bluray, but if that wasn't the case I can virtually guarantee they would have stayed with DVD as well.

[The Simple Truth]

Now they are stuck with old gen technology.

[Lehman Brothers]

i must laugh at Saaking and his comment:

"Switching disks is something that should be unacceptable today. It was okay back with the PSone and the early PS2, but not anymore. Right now, it's just a joke."

You know.. even the PS1 and PS2 didnt need game Installs to the HDD...

INSTALLS = PC
Consoles = put in a CD/ DVD and PLAY!

YOu sound really retarded saaking, every time you mention the disc swapping problem.

[Cherchez La Ghost]

It's MS vs Sony here! No more no less. These small time web sites feeds fanboys everyday something to give them a reason to go to their website and register more traffic for them. If you don't have both consoles, why bother to slander?! Besides sulking in ignorance, what kind of satisfaction do people really get?! Really?!! Your ignorance will not stop MS or Sony making money.

IMO, I feel that the PS3 is a better built than the 360. But when it comes to content, the 360 is better than the PS3 online for various reasons. (Why in the hell Sony still won't give me custom soundtracks), LoL!!

I'm a gamer. I come here to get the buzz in the gaming industry. Not to be reading BS like this on a daily basis. Fact is N4G stop recieving this crap, they might just loose a percentage of traffic coming here. And I do see more Sony fanboys crack more around here than 360 fanboys. I hate you flaming fanboys with your ignorant azzes!! Take my bubbles, I don't give a ****!! I'm not getting paid or laid here. I still have the hottest Blu-Ray movies and games for both systems, LOL!!!!

To all the real mature gamers here in N4G, enjoy your day. Get some good gaming-in and root hard for some NFL Football baby!!!