Ever since its release, skepticism has shrouded Sony's PS3 and the viability of its Blu-ray drive. The Blu-ray format is essentially the evolution of today's DVD. With high definition televisions rapidly becoming standard in many of today's households, the demand for HD movies and games has increased as well. Media that is displayed in high definition requires a much higher storage capacity in order to be contained on a single disc. This is essentially where the difference between Blu-ray and DVD can be found. A standard dual-layer DVD can hold approximately 8.7 GB of data while a Blu-ray can hold about 50 GB. While there is no doubt a substantial difference between the two formats, we find ourselves questioning the necessity of so much space on a single disc.
Let's take a look at "Grand Theft Auto 4," an ambitiously large game that runs flawlessly on both DVD and Blu-ray formats. When looking at such an enormous game that comfortably fits on a single DVD, one begins to wonder if additional space is needed. After all, do gamers really need games larger than "GTA4"?
With that in mind let's consider the PS3's flagship game, "Metal Gear Solid 4." According to game developer Hideo Kojima, "MGS4" fills up an entire Blu-ray disc. That means it would require nearly 6 DVDs to run on the Xbox 360, which unlike the PS3 contains only a standard DVD drive. A game like "Metal Gear Solid 4" requires such a large data capacity because of the cinematic experience it seeks to provide. Containing over 10 hours of cutscenes and one of the most technically impressive visual and audio performances to date, it is no surprise Kojima needed all 50 GB of data.
