340°

Installing Xbox 360 games: Is it worth it?

It's a much-lauded feature of the New Xbox Experience, but does it really make a difference for load times? Gears of War 2, Call of Duty: World at War, and Mirror's Edge were all tested.

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Raoh5617d ago

hard call to make. i mainly do it with games i play often to eliminate the disc spinning noise.

as far as load times. cant say i see much difference.

anyone know if there is an issue with online games where one person has faster loading times with install and one person has slower loading times without installs?

just asking.

ChanDangle5617d ago

Agree with you there. I do it mainly for noise purposes only.

SynGamer5617d ago (Edited 5617d ago )

I have 327 games and counting indexed so far...including game performance ratings for 50+ games.

http://www.cheapassgamer.co...

Overall, the silence alone is worth installing games, not to mention many of them show at least *some* improvement in terms of load times.

Zeevious5617d ago

If you have the space and are regularly playing a game, installing to cut out DVD-Drive noise is great.

The couple seconds to nothing gained in loading though was a real disappointment to me. I don't see how loading from a 4200 or 5400 RPM Hard Drive can be the same speed or give you such a slight improvement it doesn't matter.

Maybe something to do with the disc protection, or due to streaming requirements it must throttle the actual speed to the DVD-Drive's data transfer rate?

Either way, it at least reduces drive noise, and that's at least enough of a benefit for me.

DA_SHREDDER5617d ago

My 360 runs alot cooler now since Ive been installing every game that I play alot. Everyone who has any experience with electronics knows the most important thing to do with your electronics is to keep them as cool as possible. You pretty much just extend the life span of your system by doing that. Also, less noise comes from the system. How can you go wrong by installing your games?

Kushan5617d ago

The reason load times aren't THAT different is two-fold. Firstly, the DISK is optimised to be loaded as quickly as possible, naturally some of those optimisations are going to be counter-intuitive when the data is copied to the hard drive, moreso if the game also caches stuff to the hard drive (As in Halo 3 and Gears 2). Secondly, when a game loads, it's not JUST loading data from the disk into memory, there's quite a bit more to it than that. Texture data is decompressed, game data is decompressed and calculated, various other forms of data are computed and this is where a lot of the loading comes from. It's not just the 360, the PS3 is the same, but in that instance the slower read speeds of the BR drive have a cumulative effect.

Zeevious5617d ago

I'd figured it was something like that...a .ISO-like disc image but I thought the DVD-Drives actual firmware had something to do with disk decryption/authentication. Emulation or redirection of that firmware might be in there somewhere too.

At first, after reading some of the times compiled in a list of installed games I wasn't going to bother. (with an average 5-second loading increase I guessed you'd need to play a game 120 times before getting back the 10 minutes you spent on installing it)

I'm glad I DIDN'T listen to the voice of unreasonable reason!

The quiet of running off the hard drive really makes everything sound better...Now if I could just get this suspiciously familiar looking guy to stop loitering on my screen, I'd be set. ;)

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 5617d ago
TBaT5617d ago

Ya really who cares about a few seconds difference in load times. The main problem was the noise of the spinning drive and that has been solved now. These people are missing the point.

tplarkin75617d ago

In games like Fallout, or Fable, a few seconds means alot when you are jumping back and forth on a map.

El_Colombiano5617d ago

With the MINI HDDs that came with the original Pros....not at all. you'd be lucky to fit two games in there.

But with the 120GB and 60GB....maybe a game or two. Partial installs FTW, full...not so much.

dragunrising5617d ago (Edited 5617d ago )

I don't know where you went to school but more than 2 games fit on a 60/120 GB hard drive. I have a 120 GB and have all 4 discs of Lost Odyssey installed- 28 GB total. I have Gears 2, Left 4 Dead, Fallout3, Ninja Gaiden 2, Cod: WaW, The Orange Box, Bioshock, GTAIV, Mass Effect, AND Dead Rising installed. One or two games my butt.

The games themselves take less than 5 to 8 minutes to install. In games with lots of streaming (think Lost Odyssey and Mass Effect) initial load times are cut down quite a bit not to mention texture pop in. The decrease in the fan noise is also nice however it wasn't bad for me to begin with (have a quiet Ben-Q drive).

Colombiano- considering your words, it would appear you have nothing interesting/relevant to add. Reported you as SPAM.

ActionBastard5617d ago (Edited 5617d ago )

I have Mass Effect installed and it has done NOTHING for the texture pop in. That game is a technical mess. Let's at least be honest. Unless you really are blindfromthesun?

Kushan5617d ago

I'm not disagreeing with the technical....limitations in Mass Effect, but surely you can't blame Microsoft on that one? Game installs aren't going to be a silver bullet that makes everything much better, but at least for the few games they do help, they're worth it. Mostly older games, it seems.

dragunrising5617d ago (Edited 5617d ago )

Sometimes I confuse certain terms. Sorry. Perhaps this clears up what I meant to say:

"No more “Loading” pauses when moving too fast. Elevator load times are identical (hardcoded)"

http://www.bingegamer.net/2...

And yes, I am who I say I am. Add me on Live if your still skeptical.

ActionBastard5617d ago

Thanks for the clarification blindfromthesun. Totally agree on the loading pauses, but the pop in is awful. And I definitely believe you are who you say you are. My reference was a failed attempt at a joke. Bubbles for remaining civil!

dragunrising5617d ago

lol, likewise. Bubbles. Sometimes its hard :-p

I appreciate your quest to end misinformation, though I wish you helped me with number three point O

Cheers

Richdad5617d ago (Edited 5617d ago )

FOr me they have reduced to a good extent, Texture popins where mostly occured in ME and GTA4 but after installation GTA4 textures popins where negligable and no matter how fast I drive say a car texture popins where still low.
In ME texture popins where still there but they where lower than on disc plus loading time while freerun gone and any tutorial and cutscene started without a hiccup. For me installation gave me better experience than before. Although I think as my 360 is 2 years old so and possible its drive is aging so that might have to do something with it.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 5617d ago
LostChild5617d ago (Edited 5617d ago )

I only seem to install open-world games like Fallout3, GTAIV, Saints etc or games with a lot of loading, to get from one place to another. But onces I am finish with those games, I end up deleteding them off my HDD and I have a 120g.

Blaze9295617d ago

Seeing as im pretty sure none of these games were optimized for installs, of course there wont be much of a difference. gears in fact runs worse when its installed. I got a 120GB HDD and just install few games to cut down the noise and shut of the disc drive plus it runs alot cooler.

Is it worth it? For a longer system life span, i say yes.

LostChild5617d ago

Totally agree even though I didn't have any trouble running gears but I did have trouble running Naruto and had to convert back play from disk.

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130°

Looking Back At 2008, An Unbelievably Incredible Year Of Video Game Releases

Huzaifa from eXputer: "2008 was home to the likes of Call of Duty: World at War, Dead Space, GTA 4, Far Cry 2, Left 4 Dead, and many other hits, which is outright remarkable."

ChasterMies37d ago

Some of these low paid video game “news” writers weren’t born before 2007.

just_looken37d ago

Here here

Those that were around before 2000's i am sure are like me that think we entered a world of non readers or those that follow without question.

I can not wait to see fallout 3 a goty game even though it was about water with non content until you add the dlc/updates then you got the performance/crashing

CrimsonWing6938d ago

I don’t think anything can compare to 2023

lucasnooker38d ago

1998 - the best year in gaming! Metal gear solid, crash bandicoot 3, medievil, half life, ocarina of time, thief, tenchu, resident evil 2, Spyro, tomb raider 3, oddworld abes exodus, banjo kazooie.

It was a different breed of a gaming era. You’ll never understand what it was like back then. The aura of gaming, it was different!

KyRo38d ago (Edited 38d ago )

I second this. Gaming was a lot more varied and fun than it is today. I'm 35 so getting on compared to some here but I got to see all the changes from NES up to now but I've never felt so disappointed in any generation than I have this current gen. I was expecting more from this generation rather than prettier versions of games that came before it. Game mechanics have become so refined that alot of games feel the same and has done for a while now.

Maybe it's time to have a break for a while. I love gaming but I don't feel I get much fun in the traditional sense out of it anymore.

CrimsonWing6938d ago (Edited 38d ago )

Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil 2, Abe’s Exodus, and Ocarina of Time are the only things from that list that I liked.

Here’s the 2023 game releases that I personally liked… and big releases that I didn’t care for:

- Dead Space Remake
- Wo Long Dynatsy
- Resident Evil 4 Remake
- Diablo 4
- Fire Emblem Engage
- Hogwarts Legcay
- Street Fighter 6
- Hi-Fi Rush
- Like a Dragon: Ishin
- Octopath Traveler 2
- Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters
- Final Fanatsy XVI (actually ended up not liking this, but it was still a big deal release)
- Baldur’s Gate 3
- Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon
- Lies of P
- Mortal Kombat 1
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
- Starfield (Ended up hating this one, but big release)
- Super Mario Bros. Wonder
- Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (I’m an old-school Zelda fan, but didn’t really enjoy this game)
- Alan Wake 2

I mean, honestly I’ve never seen a year of major IP releases like that, ever.

Profchaos38d ago (Edited 38d ago )

Isn't it just a generational thing realistically.

I've been gaming since way back and I some of my favourite games go as far back as the late 80s for me each generation has a year or two of game changing releases one after another before an inevitable dry spell.

I kind of agree gaming had a different feel games hit different because we didn't have the internet nothing got spoiled and you really had to put in the effort to beat a puzzle which could set entire groups of people looking for a solution. But most importantly games were experimental and not as cookie cutter as today even basics like controls were not universal today r2 is shoot l2 is ads garunteed you can't deviate from that in a shooter back then it could of been square, R1 or R1 and circle nothing was standard.

But as time moves on a new generation picks up their controller they are going to be interested in different things that PS1 demo disc with the t Rex blew our primitive 16 bit brains back on launch but to kids today it's laughable.
The new gen of kids coming into to hobby seem to value different things to us there seems to be a huge focus on online play, streamers, gaming personalities, and social experiences, convience of digital downloads. To me I value none of that but that's ok like my parents not liking the band's I would listen to its just the natural cycle.

Gameseeker_Frampt37d ago

Just about every year in the 7th generation was great and something we most likely won't experience again.

2009 for example had Assassin's Creed 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Dragon Age: Origins, Uncharted 2, Halo 3: ODST, Killzone 2, Borderlands, Bayonetta, and Demon's Souls to name a few.

just_looken37d ago

It still amazes me we got over 7 rockstar games ps2/ps3 but 3 for the ps3/ps4/ps5

Dragon age 1-3 and mass effect 1-3 in 7ish years what a generation.

380°

65 Year Old Gamer Racks Up Ridiculous Stats After Playing 1 Game for 15 Years

A very devoted fan of Call of Duty: World at War racks up incredible in-game stats while playing regularly for the past 15 years.

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gamerant.com
franwex332d ago

Well, he definitely got his money’s worth.

Abnor_Mal332d ago

Same as Shirley Curry playing Skyrim for years. In the next Elders Scrolls game they should have her in the game as some form of npc.

andy85332d ago

She is, I read she will be a character. Not a dig in any form but I hope she's alive when it releases

Relientk77332d ago

That's over 7,000 hours geez. What crazy stats

nitus10332d ago

Actually it is very easy to up the number of hours you have been playing a game. Basically all you need to do (assuming you have a PS4 or 5) is to place the console into stand-by without exiting the game, so if you do this a one hour gameplay actually becomes a 24 gameplay or longer.

boing1332d ago

What? So the game is still runinng when you put it to sleep? What?

EvertonFC332d ago

It's actually sad not an achievement but hey we need the full story details.

Knushwood Butt332d ago

There's someone on my friend list that has more than 6200 hours on Uncharted 4.

vTuro24332d ago

7k hours over 15 years isn't that crazy. The fact that he's been playing the same game for 15 years is more impressive.

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anast332d ago

And then you got people that want to finish a game every week.

Rhythmattic332d ago

Nailed what is the Spectrum... For good and bad, Quality or Quantity..Or the unreasonable to reason for. ;)

jznrpg332d ago

Of course you will hit a ridiculous stat after 15 of anything.
My main character for Everquest had over 500 days played in the first 6 years of the game. I was young then and had a lot of time on my hands. I don’t think I could duplicate that again until I retire and not sure I could match it if I tried.

EvertonFC332d ago

500 days in 6 years is nothing lol, you do realise how many days in a year right ?

poppatron332d ago

I might be getting the maths wrong here, I think 500 days in 6 years works out at an average of just over 6 hours every single day. For 6 years. That’s pretty serious

EvertonFC332d ago

Edit: wrote this early this morning, I understand it's lots of hours now lol at myself 😂🤣😜

RedDevils332d ago

The only way to achieve this, is by having no life outside of video game lol.

Outlawzz332d ago

Strange choice of game but hey that's some devotion. Congrats to them!

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80°

Battlefield 2042 Mirror's Edge Easter Egg Surfaces in Season 4 Map

It seems that in Season 4, DICE has snuck in a Battlefield 2042 Mirror's Edge Easter egg in the new Flashpoint map.