[QUOTE=Vexer]Most games nowadays do not require installations, there's only a select few i've played that did(GTA V, Watch Dogs, Destiny, Alien Isolation, Ground Zeroes)[/QUOTE]
All PS4 and Xbox One disk games require installation.
The Dark Side of Online Gaming
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ptdebate1
- Posts: 909
- Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm
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[QUOTE=ActRaiser][QUOTE=Vexer]Most games nowadays do not require installations, there's only a select few i've played that did(GTA V, Watch Dogs, Destiny, Alien Isolation, Ground Zeroes)[/QUOTE]
All PS4 and Xbox One disk games require installation.[/QUOTE]
Guys, I think I should help clear up a few things regarding mandatory installations.
First of all, it's very unreasonable to expect modern, HD console games to load from disk. The reason? Data transfer rates from disk simply aren't high enough to accommodate that much information. If it were possible, loading breaks would be frequent and insanely long! Here's a useful comparison using the PS4 as an example:
Blu-Ray drive: 6x (27MB/s)
Pretty fast for a Blu-Ray drive...not bad, huh? Certainly an improvement over the PS3's measly 2x (9MB/s)
HDD SATA II interface: 3Gbit/s or 300MB/s.
Wow. Big difference. In fact, the disk medium seems completely outclassed for every purpose other than simply distributing the game data to people's homes.
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The mandatory installations may seem like a chore if you're coming from playing, say, SNES or PS1 games, which weigh in at a mere fraction of the data of their modern counterparts, but there's simply no possible engineering solution to this problem--modern games simply require a certain amount of data to achieve a certain audiovisual fidelity that audiences expect. Disk drives aren't fast enough to accommodate these expectations comfortably.
Yes, yes, I know that many huge PS3 games were able to work around this issue and run quite well without requiring much of your time or precious hard drive space. Final Fantasy XIII (39GB) and The Last of Us (26GB) come to mind as notable examples. You'll notice that these games all have something in common, however: they are very tightly-controlled, on-rails experiences. They stream from disk gradually as new areas open up--there isn't much (if any) free-form travel or exploration. And despite Naughty Dog's excellent engineering, their games still require a lengthy initial load which, if added up over the course of all play sessions, adds up to much more time than a single initial installation.
I hope this makes sense and that I haven't said anything inaccurate. Information on PS4 data bandwidth was found on the PS4 Hardware Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_4_technical_specifications
All PS4 and Xbox One disk games require installation.[/QUOTE]
Guys, I think I should help clear up a few things regarding mandatory installations.
First of all, it's very unreasonable to expect modern, HD console games to load from disk. The reason? Data transfer rates from disk simply aren't high enough to accommodate that much information. If it were possible, loading breaks would be frequent and insanely long! Here's a useful comparison using the PS4 as an example:
Blu-Ray drive: 6x (27MB/s)
Pretty fast for a Blu-Ray drive...not bad, huh? Certainly an improvement over the PS3's measly 2x (9MB/s)
HDD SATA II interface: 3Gbit/s or 300MB/s.
Wow. Big difference. In fact, the disk medium seems completely outclassed for every purpose other than simply distributing the game data to people's homes.
---
The mandatory installations may seem like a chore if you're coming from playing, say, SNES or PS1 games, which weigh in at a mere fraction of the data of their modern counterparts, but there's simply no possible engineering solution to this problem--modern games simply require a certain amount of data to achieve a certain audiovisual fidelity that audiences expect. Disk drives aren't fast enough to accommodate these expectations comfortably.
Yes, yes, I know that many huge PS3 games were able to work around this issue and run quite well without requiring much of your time or precious hard drive space. Final Fantasy XIII (39GB) and The Last of Us (26GB) come to mind as notable examples. You'll notice that these games all have something in common, however: they are very tightly-controlled, on-rails experiences. They stream from disk gradually as new areas open up--there isn't much (if any) free-form travel or exploration. And despite Naughty Dog's excellent engineering, their games still require a lengthy initial load which, if added up over the course of all play sessions, adds up to much more time than a single initial installation.
I hope this makes sense and that I haven't said anything inaccurate. Information on PS4 data bandwidth was found on the PS4 Hardware Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_4_technical_specifications
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txsizzler1
- Posts: 207
- Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm
The Dark Side of Online Gaming
Games or systems that FORCE me to be online, I do not even buy. Period. That is why, the 360/PS3 will likely be the last generation of system I buy, unless I can get into the One/PS4 for cheap, with some games that do NOT require online modes.
That said, I do use Steam/Origin for some of my PC gaming. The deals that sometimes can be had, are simply too good to pass up. Like Dragon Age: Origins, I got for FREE last week through a promo Origin was having.
That said, I do use Steam/Origin for some of my PC gaming. The deals that sometimes can be had, are simply too good to pass up. Like Dragon Age: Origins, I got for FREE last week through a promo Origin was having.
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rdreynolds1
- Posts: 11
- Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm
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Absolutely brilliant article. Amen to all you noted, my friend!
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Vexer1
- Posts: 883
- Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm
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I think it's silly to avoid a system just cause it's online, like it or not things are evolving and this sort of thing was inevitable, it was going to happen one way or the other.
Companies do so make games and some damn good ones at that(they are not a "service" that's just silly), things have just simply evolved and are going to continue to do so.
Nintendo unfortunately has shown a stubborn unwillingness to learn from their own mistakes at times, you'd think they would've made better decisions regarding the Wii U.
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Rev1
- Posts: 1777
- Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm
The Dark Side of Online Gaming
I just read the article and I was really impressed. You pretty much covered every argument on why online gaming isn't all its cracked up to be. I really like articles like this as they give your site a lot of extra spice that many other review sites simply don't have (especially ones that are held together by one or two contributing writers). I agree that there is definitely a lot of repercussions to all the games requiring online games and that is one of the reasons I love being a retro gamer- I don't have to deal with this crap all the time. I don't even enjoy picking up games for the 7th and 8th generation of consoles nearly as much as older games because I know I'll have to deal with this stuff, especially the newest of the new. This was a great read, thanks critic.
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Vexer1
- Posts: 883
- Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm
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Really? I never play sports games so I wasn't aware of that, but that hasn't been my experience with any of the games i've purchased, none of them have ever been a "broken mess" or anything like that.
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ptdebate1
- Posts: 909
- Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm
The Dark Side of Online Gaming
[QUOTE=Vexer]Really? I never play sports games so I wasn't aware of that, but that hasn't been my experience with any of the games i've purchased, none of them have ever been a "broken mess" or anything like that.[/QUOTE]
You sure about that? You mentioned having played Aliens: Colonial Marines.
You sure about that? You mentioned having played Aliens: Colonial Marines.