New Xbox Experience HDD VS DVD Loading Comparison

New Xbox Experience HDD VS DVD loading comparison while loading and playing Grand Theft Auto IV

[sonarus]

lol at 20% improved load times. Try 5% lol. Microsoft for the win:D

[KillaManiac]

In my view, any kind of improvement is better than nothing.

Unlike alot of stupid haters, I like when my PS3 installs games to most games...5 gigs for Hot Shots Golf (WTF?!). I know it means less loading times and fewer pop-ins.

So overall...I wouldn't say I am "excited", but I will install if there is a option for games.

So....Cheers!

[RememberThe357]

Looked like a pretty good to me.

[Lord Anubis]

lol, they are using Grand Theft Auto a game that constantly streams. This is the best its going to get for a game that requires constant streaming as for the rest of the games... who knows.

[jaysquared]

So if you put your game into your harddrive do you still have to put the disc in the tray to be able to play it?

[DanteLinkX]

Yeah you definitely need the original disc inside the console. If not, this would lead to infinite amounts of easy piracy (note the word easy, yeah, because this already opens infinite oportunities for hackers to install a lot of games on their harddrives lol.

[bomboclaat_gamer]

do what ps3 fanboys do to anyone tho says crap about LBP or KZ2. Take his bubbles away

[psycho360]

@jay

Good question. The answer is it will be a mandatory because if you could remove the disc and play it without it in the drive, you could easily install the same on all your friends, relatives 360s all at the cost of one game :D

[FURY__UNLEASHED]

FOR REALZ!

"Yay! I wait 10 minutes for an install to save 6 seconds! The pop-in is still there but who cares! YAY!"

After seeing how truly poor the "New Xbox Experience" is, I'm trading mine in this week!

BTW It's called the "New Xbox Experience" because during and after installation, you will experience new problems!

[deeznuts]

I dont' care too much for loading times, shorter is better, but I'm patient.

My question is, does the dvd still spin? I know it has to be in there to check, but does it spin the whole time? My dvd (new elite) is loud.

[cRaZyLeGs 93]

Uhh, you save 6 secs everytime you play, it all adds up. You are forced to install on the ps3, not on the 360 tho.. The 360 will finally be quiet also.

[MiloGarret]

What are you talking about? That was a vast improvment... May actually be worth it.

[vhero]

@bomboclaat_gamer taking away your bubbles for being so childish. Also people are under the impression hard drives make instant loading times this is a wrong assumption it makes it faster sure but differnces are minor this is a good move by MS no good for 20gig (or 14gig should i say) HDD users which is about 80% of there userbase but its a real nice idea. The only thing now is they should drop there HDD prices to reasonable prices to really hit Sony otherwise it kinda is pointless as most gamers wont pay the silly prices for the bigger HDD's.

[somethingSQUISHY]

I completely agree about the expensive HDDs for the X360. It's time for MS to just make the decision to lose money on those things, because with the increased use of the HDD by many games, those with older Premium units are going to be left in the dust. No one in their right mind should pay more than a dollar a gig for an HDD.

[StephanieBBB]

Must be something wrong this this guys xbox.

I haven't seen GTA load up on the 360 before but that was like 3 times the loading time than on the PS3. I get no black screen or nothing after the intro pics. It goes right in to the game.

[xhairs9]

They have no money left to spend in that area. They've put forth so much money on worthless exclusive DLC for games that die before their year-after release, that they have no money. Add that to the employee stand still etc. etc. and you've got yourself a crisis.

However, what they CAN do, is lower the price of their HDD, and now that we all know it's just a laptop HDD inside, the price of the HDD should NOT be above $100 for 20 gigs.

[DX F3NIX]

i hope people know that the PS3 came out with this first and now all of a sudden 360 does it and takes credit bastards....

[Wraith001]

Yes your right Sony were the first to Force there gamers to install, however MS is the first to offer Optional install on every game. :)

[NickIni]

Woah that's...awesome?

Only slightly faster, plus there's the install time. Is it worth installing a game just to have a slightly faster load time?

The thing a lot of people fail to realise, is that this is just a money making scheme from Microsoft :( Think about it. The 20GB HDD the majority of Xbox owners have won't be big enough to install many games. So they have to go and buy a new bigger hard drive. Oh look. The only one compatible is made by MS. That's what makes me dislike this update. It's like the carrot on a stick trick.

:O Just looked at Xbox HDD drives on the internet. A 20GB is £69.99, and a 120 GB is £129.99. That is the biggest rip off I have ever heard of. You can buy standard terrabyte Hard drives cheaper than that.

[IdleLeeSiuLung]

There are a lot of things people are saying here that is all wrong:

- 20% improvement on a 10 second load time is really only 2 second saved. So yes, you will not notice huge improvements....
- Offering this functionality is probably NOT intended to sell you on the hard disc, but rather to reduce the number disc read errors and warranty replacement. Who here is afraid of disc read errors? That is what I'm most afraid of on my Falcon 360. This kind of failure is only covered for 1-year by MS.
- The game is not being intalled, a copy of the game is on your hard drive. When the game is started the 360 reads from the disc to ensure you are legitimate owner and plays the content from the hard drive. There is no install though...
- The hard disk is a useful device, however, it is mostly used for downloadable content. If you don't download much, then you don't need it. The included memory card on the Arcade is enought to get you playing online assuming you bought Gold Live! subscription.

Man is there a lot of misinformed people over such simple features... No wonder multiple sku's causes confused consumers.

[slak]

this guy funny

[sumfood4u]

Well mostly due to Anime. which btw I plan on watching right now. School Rumble FTW well I gtg BTW Sorry to Anyone I offened in my previous messages 2-4 days ago that made me drop from 3 bubbles to a pathetic 1. I won't speak my mind so much, just kinda mad @ Square/Enix for messing with true fans hearts.

[bouncybullet]

Microsoft has been installing games on hard drives much longer than PS3.

Sorry to burst your bubble.

[skagrerrrr]

TEEHEE you are misinformed mate...I'd been installing games in the original xbox hard disk years ago...

[fufotrufo]

not a significant reduction but still good..this is going to help older games even more

[leila01]

and Fable 2 I hope ;)

[projectile]

Improvement of loading times for other games will probably be more. The makers of GTA IV must have optimized the loading for the first load as much as they could. By putting the "first" data in the fastest section on the disk and organizing it so that the drives does not have to go back and fourth as they have to in normal game play where you don't know what to load next.
The silent xbox is what sells it for me

[Internet Trolling Ex]

Blu Ray is still superior

[Stryfeno2]

PS3 GTA4 Resolution says HI!!!!

[pixelsword]

...didn't every critic say the PS3 version looked better?

I could be wrong, but that's how I remember it.

[STFUAJPG]

What does this have to do with bluray?

[marionz]

blue ray still superior even though it needs to load huge chunks to the hard drive anyway just to play LOL! yeah thats superior, whats worse is that even after loading your chunk of memory your games still look like trash compared to 360 games, bioflop ps3 anyone, superior hardware my @ss

[alexM]

.....Wipeout HD is 1080p native, 60 fps
WKS is 1080p NATIVE --first rpg ever to do that
GT5P is 1080p at 60 fps
RR7 is 1080p at 60 fps

too bad crap box doesnt even have a single 1080p game not to mention 60 fps

@marionz

haha

all ps3 exclusives look miless better than trash box 360 games

KZ2/GOW3/WIPEOUT HD/HR/WKS/UNCHARTED /RESISTANCE 2 makes any trash box game looks like pile of poo

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

Why these are droid "shut up" links http://www.techeblog.com/in... thats 1 http://www.gamespot.com/fea... thats 2 http://www.videogamer.com/f... thats 3, and for the kick in the nuts http://www.n4g.com/News-140... booya.

Now I know you droids live in fantasy land and you snort pixie dust off a chocolate covered mirror... so this little reality check is waaaay overdue.

Now, why don't your click your heals three times to go "Home" to last place, 95% multiplatform failure, 4 billion in debt, 45hr movie games, forced installs, wait forever, don't have anything to play, no DLC, 3rd rate online, follow the leader, sloppy seconds, trophie, Little Big Lego, washed out, lack of RAM, last gen GPU on back to Paystationvile.

Now scoot along, take your slug trail with you, and leave the true superior GTAIV graphics to the system that proves it "over and over"...:) again.

[PoSTedUP]

these ps3 fans must be eating you alive inside lol.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

"hook line and... sinker" works every time, I have a special droid bait on my hook...:)

[PoSTedUP]

hmmm... seems like your the one whos hooked... ; )

[power of Green]

Retarded fucer the 360 already ran games better over all, the 360 will run games better than it does now, pop-ups and load time issues will give the 360 an edge after NXE. The PS3 needed the HDD basically to match the 360 or even slightly beat the 360.

N4G's news style is like FOX news and how they say in their polls the republicans win debates.

[PoSTedUP]

woah, take it easy man

[karlostomy]

No wonder you remember it like that.

Your head is buried in the sand!

http://www.eurogamer.net/ar...

[pixelsword]

...if you want to talk about someone's head being in the sand, why don't you quote from more than one top-quality professional source?

IGN: GTA IV Looks Better on PS3 than Xbox 360
http://news.teamxbox.com/xb...

1up.com: "the PS3 version has the slightest visual edge, plus motion-control support"
http://www.1up.com/do/revie...

Gamepro.com: "EDITORS' NOTE: The PlayStation 3 version of Grand Theft Auto IV is largely the same as its Xbox 360 cousin, but there are a few key differences. The game runs at a slightly lesser resolution, resulting in a slightly "softer" look, but the game still looks crisp and vibrant. We also noticed deeper, more robust use of color throughout the PS3 game, though these findings could likely be replicated on the Xbox 360 version by fiddling with your television's video options. The PS3 version also has noticeably less "draw in" than the Xbox 360 version, which means it's rarer to see trees or buildings pop into view on the PS3."
http://www.gamepro.com/arti...

Gamespy: "For those who have to decide between the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, we should mention that these flaws are slightly less noticeable in the PS3 game."
http://ps3.gamespy.com/play...

These are by some of the most professional game sites out there and eurogamer, once again, is telling the opposite story; just like they did when MGS4 came out.

[Roukuko]

ya pixel just ripped you guys a new one

[pansenbaer]

Eurogamer is his Bible, apparently. I'm sure that's the only source that you will ever see him post from. You can't beat someone from TeamXbox saying the PS3 version looks better.

[Man_of_the_year]

Actually the 360 does have games that run at 60fps as well as games that have a higher resolution than the ps3 counterparts...Alex you really should do some research before you speak, you're making PS3 owners and PS3 Fanboys look bad. Please don't be so ignorant and there is no need for you to post the same quote twice unless you think PS3 fanboys can't read thus pasting it again a bit lower so that they can read it again to understand your points...

[pansenbaer]

@Jason 360 - Whats this I found?

So this is what its come down to?

'95% multiplatform failure' You say this like it is a statistic that is widely used. Multiplatform failure? So because the 360 has different colors, or maybe some anti-aliasing it is 'FAR SUPERIOR' and the PS3 version has 'failed'? Pathetic

'4 billion in debt' and Microsoft wasn't ever in debt between now and when they released their console? Don't forget the original XBOX did not make 1 PENNY!

'45hr movie games' I'll assume you are talking about Metal Gear Solid which I'm sure you haven't even played. Obviously it must be amusing to you to 'exaggerate' because you think it gets your point across better. Really it just makes you seem like a desperate fanboy. Maybe you should stop snorting your 'pixie dust off a chocolate covered mirror' and realize how much shorter they actually are. Regardless, Metal Gear Solid 4 is an amazing game that I had no problem with playing. I loved every minute of it. If you had a brain and bigger attention span, you might enjoy it as well. But sadly, "GIVE ME TEH GEERS OF WAR. I WANT TO TEH CHAINSAWWW!!" Mindless dribble is what you consider 'art'.

'forced installs' Not even going to touch this one. Just a sad, sad argument.

'wait forever' What does this even mean?!?

'don't have anything to play' Just as pathetic as forced installs. Please tell me what games we don't have to play? I have about 8 PS3 games and they all see a great amount of playtime.

'no DLC' I will again assume you are talking about games such as Fallout 3 or Grand Theft Auto 4, seeing as how the PS3 does indeed have DLC, just not your 'almighty' exclusive content! OH WOW! At any rate, using GTA4 as an argument is pretty sad because we both know that game has no selling power left in it. With the DLC scheduled to hit 'who knows when', it is really just going to be sad. And with Microsoft paying 50 million for it? That just spells out a pretty hefty price for you 360 fans to shell out.

'3rd rate online' Please explain why you feel it is third rate. So many people like to bring this up, but I honestly don't see where Sony fails. And please don't bring out menial crap like 'cross game voice chat' and 'cross game invites'. If that's what you pay 50 bucks a year for, count me out. I think that what you get on PSN is just a great as what you get on Live.

'follow the leader' Is this some pun regarding Sony copying Microsoft? Please, we all know that Microsoft's revamped dashboard is a copy of so many already established, GOOD ideas. Don't bring copying into this.

'sloppy seconds' Again, what does this even mean?

'trophie' AGAIN, WHAT DOES THIS EVEN MEAN?!?

'Little Big Lego' Obviously you are not in the Beta. I'm also guessing you attack this game to make yourself feel better about your 'third rate' exclusives coming out this Winter. You have no idea what this is going to be like or what it is capable of being like. Its like me coming out with some witty line, 'Crable 2' when I haven't played the first one and have seen a couple videos on the second. Its just rubbish.

'washed out' This point is also moot. Here, some reading for you! http://www.n4g.com/News-936...

'lack of RAM' This is obviously not as big an issue as you fanboys seem to think it is. Considering all they have accomplished on this 'lack of RAM'. If you knew anything about RAM you would also come to the conclusion that XDR RAM is ALOT fast and better fitted for CPU processing. If you didn't know, GDDR3 RAM is a graphics specific memory. That the means the 360 is using made-for-graphics memory for their CPU!

'a last gen GPU' Okay I'll give you one. Because on paper the Xenos has better specs. But it honestly shouldn't matter when more and more developers get an idea of what they are doing. That's what the SPE's are for. But saying that it is last gen does not really do you any good. The 360 chip is also, at this point, considered last gen and is outdated by anything that is put into a PC nowadays.

Mindless dribble; that's about all you are good for.

Oh and from your 'droid shut up' links:

"The 360 seemed to have a bit more pop-in"

"Neither of the machines run the game smoothly enough to confer an advantage"

"At a push we'd say that the pop-in is better in the PS3 game"

"Whether this is down to the PS3 offering higher quality video thanks to the Blu-ray disc's larger storage capacity isn't clear, but watching the in-game TV is certainly better on Sony's console."

Yeah these are sure to shut everybody up. I'm not trying to say the PS3 version is better, I am simply pointing out that there are just as many things wrong the 360 version as there are with the PS3. If you can't see this, you are obviously a blind fanboy.

As for your 4th source, it is the exact same as the 3rd. So no 'kick in the nuts' here, that's for sure

[karlostomy]

You seem to be getting most upset, son. Try to relax a little, before you pop a vein, huh?

And, BTW....do you truly expect people to read your 5000 word essay?
good luck, man.... XD

@ pixelsword... lol! Yeah, well done, you found some PS3 favoured reviews. But did they mention this in any of them?
(ready?)

GTA4 ps3 = 640p
GTA4 360 = 720p

You knew that right? Isn't that public knowledge?
Oh deary me....Pixelsword! PLEASE tell me you knew that?

Well I guess 640p is still ok for the ps3.

It's just not quite as good as 720p, is it?

*yawns*

[pansenbaer]

Oh the irony. I actually take some time to bring a thoughtful post to this discussion, bringing sources, insight, and research to the table and you have the audacity to call me a fanboy, probably not reading it yourself. I'm not upset at all. I just find it pathetic that you yourself cannot look beyond your own lame fanboy arguments to see that I am just pointing out the obvious.

[pixelsword]

And I again quote:

Gamepro.com: "EDITORS' NOTE: The PlayStation 3 version of Grand Theft Auto IV is largely the same as its Xbox 360 cousin, but there are a few key differences. THE GAME RUNS AT A SLIGHTLY LESSER RESOLUTION..."

Did they name numbers? No.

Did they have to? No; as you pointed out "it's common knowledge".

Karlosotmy, pointing that fact out doesn't help your case, as of now, even you are, and by extension you are saying that all of my professional gamer sites are saying:

"The PS3 at a lesser resolution looks better than the 360 at a higher resolution."

And if you're talking about a multiplatform port being bad because it's running at a lower resolution, then how can you hope to defend a in-house exclusive like Halo 3?

[PopEmUp]

is pretty on ramb eh?

[karlostomy]

360: 720p looks equal/better
ps3: 640p looks equal/slightly blurrier (ok..errr... warmer)

Had the ps3 been forced to run at 720p, guess what would have happened?

THAT ANSWER is why the resolution is so significant, fellow gamer.

It is just so obvious and puts to rest all prior arguments/ subjective opinions!

[M3 Superhero]

Heck ya its faster. Another plus for the PS3. And the PS3 is so OG.

[ErcsYou]

After watching the video a couple times i noticed that the maker of the video messed up in the end. The HDD version goes straight to game play and the dvd version goes to a cut screen first and then the game play.. i timed it before the user made the mistake and the HDD version was a little bit quicker by about 6 sec. Not much of a improvement but streaming from your HDD instead of Your DVD will be whisper quiet, great for those late nights of gaming..

Question?? Will i be able to install Games like Lost Odyssey? Not all 4 discs, just the last one.

[Finch]

Yes, you can install any disc you want. Like you can install disc 1 and disc 4. Put disc 1 in and you dont have to switch until you get to disc 4. Or any other way you want or just one disc out of the 4.

[vhero]

you will need to install each game you wish to play off the hdd so if you want to play DVD2 off the HDD you have to have disc 2 in disc 1 wont work as it has a different disc code so the game knows what disc is in the drive.

[agentace]

.. to put all 4 disks on then yeah

[likedamaster]

Yes, totally not worth it. Especially since we're not paying anything for it! No free features plz! You reek of fanboy man. Looking forward to it, I have my 360 hooked up to my computer monitor and next to my bedroom and at night it can seem loud. Less complaints from the Mrs. better for me!

[jack who]

PS3 GTA4 Resolution says HI!!!! lol winnnnnnn

sub-hd....

[alexM]

Wipeout HD is 1080p native, 60 fps
WKS is 1080p NATIVE --first rpg ever to do that
GT5P is 1080p at 60 fps
RR7 is 1080p at 60 fps

too bad crap box doesnt even have a single 1080p game not to mention 60 fps

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

http://www.vgchartz.com/for... and you just might have listed nearly every game on the PS3 that's 1080p...:)

[MUGEN]

7 seconds faster, not worth it.

[SeNiLe911]

and less wear and tear on your DVD drive?

[Auron]

listen to this man!
anyways I cant figure out why people are hating! It boggles my mind!! its a awesome feature there is no denying that!
+improved loading times
+Silent Xbox
+less wear on your DVD drive

seriously what are the negatives!?

[psycho360]

@fury

HAHA bye bye from Gamer zone (hopefully forever)...

Edit: HUh did he just toned down teh comment?

[Perjoss]

heh, people that complain about the noise the 360 makes... once you move out of your parents house you can really crank up your amp nice and loud and experience games the way they are meant to be played, and then you wont even hear the noise the 360 makes!

[mariusmal]

why isnt fury in the open zone ?

[bigman7387]

Alright Fury, truth be told, I'm not a Microsoft fanboy. If anything, I'm a Sony fanboy, but only by a little bit.
Now listen to this coming from a Sony fan:

Shut the eff up. You're an idiot.

[Finch]

How is something free and optional not worth it?

[CViper]

RidgeRacer
GT5p
Wipeout
White Knight

Those say LOL at the 360 not having any exclusive games that run in 1080p. Any form of it.

and what does Halo3's resolution say? Or Ninja Gaiden 2?

[karlostomy]

The point of comparisons is to compare what is objectively comparable.

GTA4 360 720p
GTA4 PS3 640p

That just says it all.

[pixelsword]

...since the majority of professional sites say the PS3 version looks better, then the PS3 at a lower resoluton looks better than the 360 at a higher resolution.

...and that your arguments apply to Halo 3 as well.

[LinuxGuru]

Initially it may not make a huge difference, but in-game streaming....it will.

Trust me, you'll start loving installs. In-game performance will be better, streaming will be quicker, textures can be more high-res of they're installed and streamed...etc etc.

[DiabloRising]

Could you explain how the textures could be "more high rez?" Because I'm not following.

@Gitaroo - Thought so. Thanks, was just curious.

[Gitaroo]

unless they start making games with mandatory install it wont change the texture quality, because games still REQUIRED to make without using the HDD for 360. The install features is basically ripping the whole disc ontot he HDD but all the data will stay exactly the same as they were on the disc. Only thing it might help is the texture pop out in some UE3 games.

[Charlie2688]

@LinuxGuru: Dude I think you are confusing actual installs (ala PC) which what the 360 is going to do that is incorporate an ISO loader (a la Daemon Tools) both having have completely different pros and cons

[LinuxGuru]

ISO loader, hmm?

I did not know this.

So basically the games will fool the 360 into thinking it's reading a DVD instead of from the HDD.

But because of the fact that the 360 thinks it still is loading from a DVD, will it limit the speed even thought the HDD is actually capable of much faster?

Does the daemon tools-like thing prevent the speed of the HDD from being fully used?

[Charlie2688]

@LinuxGuru: technically the ISO loader has to replicate exactly the driver its suppose to be in this case make a perfect virtual copy of the 360s DVD Drive with all the pros and no of the mechanical cons, it is suppose to work at the same speed but in reality thanks to the elimination of the physical aspect of things for example the initial load from an ISO loader works instantly with out wasting time spinning the disc and recognizing it, in terms of reading the content again in theory its suppose to read it at the same speed the real driver should but like mentioned before the elimination of any mechanical delay does increase the reading speed...but remember despite it all the speed wont be the same as if the game had actually been installed in the same process as a PC game (were it will use the full speed of the HDD)

[LinuxGuru]

*strokes beard*

I see, I see...

[ChanDangle]

Sweet lets go buy some overpriced hdd for those who didn't wait for the 60gig.

[Neo Nugget]

Sucks i have a 20 gig.( I mean 13.9 gig >.>)
The quieter 360 is the best part in my opinion.

[likedamaster]

a lot of that space is being taken up by the emulator for backward compatibility. It takes up a couple gigs. Its the reason u need a hard drive to play original xbox games.

[Marceles]

I bought an Elite last year and there's really nothing on it but demos, saves, and XBLA games. Any other use of the HDD will be a welcome addition. A few seconds off of loading...good, at least I'm getting some good use of the HDD.

[FantasyStar]

faster random access times does give the edge to the HDD. However, despite these shortcomings, I don't think I'll take advantage of this feature except for the games I play the most, Lost Odyssey would definitely benefit from this. 360 is one more step towards being a full-fledged PC.

Even though I disapprove of console gaming where you install>play, instead of just "play", this takes a good stress-load off the DVD-ROM and it's cheaper to replace the HDD than the DVD-ROM drive if something should go wrong. However you risk all your saved data that way. Hmm...decisions.

And people here are saying that PC gaming is dying when it fact, console gaming owes alot to PC gaming. Sony, you taking notes?! Make actual use of the data on the HDD instead of useless mandatory-installs.

[Xheratuul]

GTA 5 to be ps3 exclusive says hi

[thatCanadianguyisgay]

you wish troll plus who will care about GTA by then. gta4 kinda sucked

ya play one ya played em all

[Xheratuul]

It is only my opinion, please keep quiet.

[ThatCanadianGuy]

Don't mind my troll "Redzev" he just wants attention.Poor kid.

[Eiffel]

Lmao I can't believe some people still believe in that GTA 5 for PS3 exclusive bullsh!t. The next GTA if there even is one will be most defiantly multiplatform for one more money is made and two Rockstar has signed their ass away for money. And even by that time Microsoft will release their next console. While Sony remains with the PS3. GTA will never be a exclusive ever again.

Its all about Money Money Money. Something once a game developing company tastes they can't resist.

Know your sh!t.

[rjgbyrne]

Lets see Oblivion and even Fallout 3 would make this a much better option than playing off the DVD. Here's hoping you can do the same with the Xbox originals as well, then fable 1 would be worth replaying and many others.

[ExcessiveGBH]

Sorry no luck for Xbox 1 games to be installed on HDD yet. Only ones purchased off Market Place.

[HairyBrownSack]

whoever made this comparison is an idiot. try loading the same save file next time.

[rjgbyrne]

I know it might seem like an opinion but being in denial isn’t going to improve the situation for PS3 owners. I would love to buy a PS3 but am not going to until I see something marginally $200 better than the Xbox and fact is the blu-ray player is keeping it going a lot more than most other consoles. I think I will wait for PS4 before ever buying a Sony product, hopefully the will learn to use proven technology for their next system and choose to pump out the games like MS has this gen. It's laughable to think they are not almost the same machines with one having a blu-ray and they other twice as much ram. Hopefully psn will knock live down a bit in price soon too. The software relaunch of the dashboard is a great refresher to the system that Sony hasn’t proved psn yet! Not a fanboy here 'I think' but hopefully competition will stay strong between them as the Wii gimmick wears off. I would feel hard done by falling for the Wii! Although the DS is a great system with great games to boot.

[Xheratuul]

i see that you have been living in a cave.

[pansenbaer]

@rjgbyrne

So your saying the 80 GIG PS3 is not 200 better than the Arcade 360? You really can't compare those two. Anybody that cares about gaming can clearly see that the 200 bucks more is worth the money then what you would get for the $199 360.

[idiealot]

prior to this generation, i used a little program called hd advance for the ps2. if you had a hdd in your ps2 and this disc you could copy the entire game just like the NXE is doing. they ps2 would read/write approx at 1 mb/sec. i would install "my" game orior to even playing it. fyi that process takes a loooong time too. (until later i realized i could plug my hdd to my cpu and copy at a much much faster rate). this is a great feature to the 360.

and if they leila01 girl is a real gamer then hot damn! id like to meet her.

[FantasyStar]

I remember that. I did that too, and boy was it better. Stuff just loaded like that! If Sony would release a FW patch that would allow us the same venures as the 360 w/ better improvements, AND allow us to play the game without the disc. The NXE will get shot down. SHOT-DOWN HARD.

I'm getting all giddy just thinking about it!

[WitWolfy]

I think its awesome using the HDD maybe that will lower the chances of RRoD And plus now i dont have to worry about replacing my lens anytime soon :P hehehe ... Now to get a 60GB HDD here in SA thats another adventure of its own

[enjoi187]

Wipeout HD - who care about thisgame it always bargin bins for the psp and ps2 because its pretty gay
WKS is 1080p NATIVE - first rpg ever to do that..........thats not out could suck d!ck
GT5P is 1080p at 60 fps - love 3.. loved 4...this ise useless racing game waiting for the real 5
RR7 is 1080p at 60 fps - ill just laugh at RRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDGGGGGGGGGGGEE E EEEEEEEEE RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAC CCCCCCCEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRR R RRRRR

and too bad no of these.....
KZ2/GOW3/WIPEOUT HD/HR/WKS/UNCHARTED /RESISTANCE 2

will sell like gears of war and halo 3

Halo in the first week sold more than double of what uncharted sold in 10 weeks...
in the first week sold more than resistance in 10 weeks

dont dis halo....our fanbase will crush you.....unless your FF fanbase will come after me with emo hair and a sword 4 times your body weight.....

EIDT- but i cant wait for GOW3 ill be sucking on some titties coppen off heads and *ucking ladies in bed..i hope lol...this game will own

[Xheratuul]

i see that you are struggling on bashing the ps3. We need to pray for your xbotical fears to vanish........ come on, dont run away!!!

[kimi_maro30]

another ignorant botard

[qwertyuiopasdfghjkl]

I'll wait for a more respectable site to post their accurate results from multiple game tests.

[rjgbyrne]

She is a bit of a multiplat woman too but the Milk's gone bad!?!

[Xheratuul]

please do not talk of the flesh and human abomination..... what a grave sin you have commited.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

LOL

[peowpeow]

I wouldn't mind it.
For some reason though no noise already comes out of my 360 when i play it..am i lucky? Nice and silent

[psycho360]

Good that we get the OPTIONAL INSTALL. But this game still a long load time. Haven't touched it since completing the 4th or so mission became so boring specially the driving part. Whacky physics of cars.

Ok now bring on the Force Unleashed comparison the game which requires loading between option menues (sic)

[MGRogue2017]

You will also get a huge performance improvement by installing games.

[Strife Lives]

I want to see the difference in Mass Effect.Theres lots of sections where my old (now dead) 360 had to really speed the dvd up to load.But,my new BenQ drive does it a bit softer than the 747 engine Samsung drive I used to have.

[IcarusOne]

Agreed. Bring on the Mass Effect comparisons!

[dalectrics]

My Samsung was more like concorde, and I should know, I lived under the flight path.

Damn that plane was loud.

[rjgbyrne]

I shall return to the cave from whenst thou comest and pray for thy general swinery! Ha ha!

[Makidian]

How long does it take to get on the HDD? Oerall improvement though, but who really gives a sh1t. You think devs won't force installs on people once Microsoft re-introduces a HDD into the Arcade unit, because they will.

[DARK WITNESS]

6 - 7 sec faster is not worth it....

how long does the average load time take anyway ? i mean i have a 360 and ps3, but its not something i have really thought about or timed. I mean if it can cut a 10 sec load time down to 7 sec or something like that then thats a good thing... isn't it ?

i know gta's load time at the begining is long anyway.

what i want to see is if we will still get the texture poping on unreal 3 based games.

[Lukatoll]

You can't complain about something that isn't mandatory... Okay, it didn't take alot of time off the loading. Don't do it then.

I know that I can't wait until the New Xbox Experience comes out.

[WeaseL]

I'll give it 2 months and then the Pirates will be exploiting this

[DevastationEve]

I bench marked my old 20GB HDD by putting it in my notebook's 2nd sata bay. It gets around 35MB/s, and has 2MB cache. It's also a 5400rpm and is SATA 1st Gen compliant.

I just recently picked up a 60GB Premium, since I'm really interested in the install feature. I have gotten by with my old x360 now for over 2.5 years, but I do notice some significant changes with the newer models with regards to drive noise and console temps. Overall it runs quieter and cooler. My first test was SC4, which made my drive squeal like a b!tch when browsing through stuff in custom character mode.

Possitive results! Hopefully the installs add to that further!

[jay2]

Theres a couple of seconds inprovment but nothing to shout about.

[christian hour]

This is the one feature i see no point in... are loading times REALLY that bad? Just do what i do. TAKE up smoking, makes loading times welcomed! :P Fanboys make fun of ps3 games that have installs, yet they wont shut up about installing gamesto hdd on 360 to improve loading times. chuh.

Meh. I wont be using it anyways (least its not mandatory!)

[ceedubya9]

only complain about PS3 installs because they are mostly MANDATORY. I don't mind it as much, but if I had the choice I'd rather just play than wait for the game to install first. But, if it helps the performance of the game, then I can deal with it. Thankfully, my PS3 hdd is large enough and easily changeable.

No one denies the benefits. Its just that not many want to do it if it seems unecessary. I don't know about other 360 gamers, but I will only use installs for special cases. Games like Mass Effect and Lost Odyssey will really benefit from this, and cause these games to perform better than before.

[t_tocs]

Couldn't agree with you more. Loading times are a blessing sometimes. Hell, I love loading screens that make you hit a button when they are done. Lets me go get a drink, have a smoke, check email, etc.

[divideby0]

here is a fork for all the crow many have to dine on...when they were trashing console installing games....yum

[ceedubya9]

most people trashed mandatory installs, not optional ones. This is the key difference, but for some reason people seem to miss that.

[t_tocs]

hahaha, that's pathetic. They made such a big deal about this and for what? About 5 seconds less of load times. Give me a break. Plus, most xbox owners have a 20 gig HD and installing games is just ludicrous for them. MS really screwed the pooch on this one. Nice job.

[Condemnedman]

4.2 - @ SeNile911

"You wouldn't have to worry about "whisper quite 360" or "wear and tear on you DVD drive" I fthe 360 hardware didn't suck so bad!

PS3 is ALWAYS whisper quite(I can never tell if it's on if I don't look at the lights) and it doesn't have a 66% failure rate!"

My ps3 is not whisper quiet sometimes its louder than the box ??????

[jlemdon]

yes I'm going to save some money by getting an arcade/ then getting a 60-120GB HDD depending on which I see 1st.

[projectile]

wrong place...

[Bparks1212]

I dont know if you guys know how to count seconds or not but from the part that it shows the vehicle on hard drive compared to the 1 with disc its 15-20 seconds difference maybe u sony fans are just flaming like u usually do or maybe u aint fanboys at all of any system and u simply just cant count. For any1 who cant count go get a stopwatch and retry with REAL LIFE SECONDS.

[Allowen]

Some improvements are not worth to do an upgrade like changing a PS3's HDD with 5400 rpm for a new one with 7200 RPM. It is not worth according to many tests made in several VG sites.

But reading a game directelly from the CD VS HDD then the hard disck drive wqill always win, unless some day they make a DVD9 drive for the xbox that is speed x100.HEHE, but such drive would be way more expensive then a hdd.

Many people don't know that games installed in a HDD can be read much, but much faster then 99%of the CD drives(DVD,Blu ray etc) avaiable on the market.

Too bad that they still did not developed a new CD drive that is as fast as an HDD and same price or cheaper. When that happeens every Video game would be like a Nintendo Wii where no games requires any kind instalation(besides for save files).

[Bparks1212]

17 second improvement on load time just timed it.You might not think thats much but say u play GTA 1 time a day for a year 365 x 17 = 6205 seconds now divide 6205 by 60 which = 103.41 lets just say 103 minutes. 1 HR 43 Min saved GRANTED that u just play GTA. Is it worth it ???????? ya id say so thats enough time to watch a movie play a game for that extra time or anything u want.

[kewlkat007]

a 4-disc JRPG and I'm good to go?

[Ah-92]

I don't want to lose 9 GB for just a few seconds ...
but it's still great job from microsoft ..!

[NickIni]

Err...what?

This just displays faster loading times, and honestly, who actually cares? It's only marginally faster, and could easily be faked, and what's wrong with current loading times anyway?

[ReBurn]

At least there is some improvement, but it shows me that a lot of the load times really have little to do with the medium that the game is stored on. It would seem like seek times for hard drive installs would be considerably less than those of optical media, so it must be how the software is architected.

[DG]

Thats a big enough difference for me

[DevilWillCry289]

when would this be available or is it out now?
do i have to buy a specific hard drive or can it be download in the XB market?

[TheMART]

To all the PS3 fans saying this ain't worth it... Remember:

The 360 version already is loading faster then the PS3 one. Now it even gets faster, thus the PS3 is lagging behind.

Probably texture pop in is gone also because of the HDD loading. That obstacle is gone now where the PS3 had the advantage.

The 360 version has 720p, the PS3 version runs on 640p. 360 version is on top

Plus: it has been said newer games have better disc optimalisation. But for those hundreds of games that are already out there it will improve more in loading times. I am curious how a game like Gears of War 1, GRAW 1 and 2, PGR3 etc will perform because I still like to play those.

Not too forget: no DVD noise anymore, the laser gets less stressed thus longer life.

Best thing: you can choose to install its not forced like the PS3...

[likedamaster]

PS3 games have texture pop in too. I know 'cause I have one. One example is Uncharted: Drakes fortune. Unfortunately, a lot of games from both consoles suffer from this, either way they are minor. If downloading fixes these minor issues, I'm happy... if it doesn't fix 'em, I'm still happy. It's not a big deal to me.

[-SIXAXIS-]

Oh wow! It has loading times equal to the PS3 now!

[GUNS N SWORDS]

it wasn't much, but it's still something. i'll take it.

you know something, MS had said long long ago that 360 doesn't need to install games to the drive in the first place. if you ask me MS wasn't lying, you can play games now with or without it. the people that don't have an HDD can now bestow no anger or jealousy over gamers who do have the extra cash for an HDD.

[smuha723]

This change in the Xbox is made for older games that have long loading times. GTA streams everything so it's not going to be a big difference. Per XBOX product manager Germany.

"There are prominent examples, for instance: Project Gotham Racing 3, one of the first games for the Xbox 360. There the load times have been very long; those are going to get reduced immensely. Recent games are already optimized; there the gain is relatively small."

http://kotaku.com/5047825/o...

[PSWe60]

So am I to understand that you install the game to the HDD prior to playing in order to save on load times?

[DevastationEve]

The optional install will save you quite a bit in the way of loading times. It's funny though that they used GTA4 as an example. Sandbox games like that you can play for hours on end without ever actually getting into a mission:) Plus, it was built pretty efficient as it is, the only thing you'll be able to REALLY notice is texture pop in. I think games like Kameo and Ratchet Clank will benefit most from installs. Anything linear and very exploratory.

[AngryTypingGuy]

MS said that load time improvement will be a lot more noticeable on older 360 games, and that it would be only marginally faster for the newer ones.

I think the biggest plus by loading them on the HDD is that the 360 will run more quietly. The faster loading times is just icing on the cake in my opinion. Of course having the option to do it or not is nice too.

[silverchode]

a quiet 360, thats unheard of.
http://lolabrigada.files.wo...

[waldopepper]

Maybe this isn't the best example of it in action - games where lots of individual levels load when you jump from one level to another it will help more. Doesn't GTA basically do one big data load then streams it afterwards?

That said, I'm not actually bothered about load times, the noise aspect is why I will install games to the HD!

[MRMagoo123]

A serious question here , How long does it take to install the dvd to hdd in the first place? If it takes a very long time then would it be worth it for 6 seconds here 7 seconds there ? Im not trying to bag on it but i see alot of flaws for it , i mean what about the majority of 360 owners that have 20 gig hard drives isnt that only about 1 or 2 games space ? IMO i think MS have done this to "encourage" ppl to shell out on way over priced hard drives rather than thinking it would benefit gamers by giving faster load times.I want to point out here im not trying to be a fanboy of any kind they where just my thoughts when i read this.

[jlemdon]

does anyone think that the newer games will have better texturing???

[Zulwarn]

the BS3 needs install's even to keep up with the 360 games running from dvd disc

hahahaha!

360 with install/without installs >>>>>>> BS3
CONFIRMED!

[HB-Sauce]

If the disc spins less/none at all then I would do it if I owned a 360 that had a HDD.

[bouncybullet]

My first 360's dvd drive got screwed.
So this is a great feature for that reason alone.

I don't know what took them so long.

[tc91]

I dont care to much about the loading time tbh, silent xbox ftw.
seriously the noise from it is killing me

[Narutone66]

the 360 fans have to buy a bigger hard drive to install the 13 dvd disc FF13 games in order to play.

[GUNS N SWORDS]

all the loading times should be cut down to an acceptable loading time length.

and i'm surprised that they didn't show any gameplay of GTA4.