Comments on: Yoshida: Why Sony decided against Microsoft’s no-hard drive policy

By: Entropy123

Entropy123 — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 10:56:05 +0000

I’m afraid that the blueray format has a locked speed that is very low for installing game data. It seems to be designed to keep the sound from the disc’s speed pace/changing from being too audible.

Unfortunately, this means that installing game data from disk is not practical. Sony is foolish for manufacturing a game system that takes advantage of Blueray and not tailoring it (Blueray) to support its own applications.

They should have allowed it to run at a higher constant speed if designated by the software, with varying speeds available… one of them including that minimal-noise HD playback they were going for.

-Entropy

By: Retroid

Retroid — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:20:04 +0000

….

/Plays Bubble Bobble

By: No_PUDding

No_PUDding — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:46:18 +0000

Oooohhh

Some controversy.

I just don’t want to pop more bubbles.

By: Psychotext

Psychotext — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:58:53 +0000

hehe… maybe to avoid confusion we should stick to what we know for sure? Without bringing installs into the mix, games load faster from DVD than they do from Blu-Ray.

By: deftangel

deftangel — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:54:03 +0000

I always thought the key thing was that on *parts* of a 360 disc, the load time would be faster than Blu-Ray whereas Blu-Ray was always a constant speed. Ergo, changing layers on a 360 DVD and reading some other parts of the disc would actually be slower. However, in practice, MS provide tools to make sure the data that needs to be on the fastest parts of the disc always is so the practical average transfer rate that can be relied upon when it matters is higher.

Or something.

By: ecu

ecu — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:30:50 +0000

The way I understood it was that blu-ray was a lot faster in finding a single point on the disk, but in terms of constantly reading/streaming data from it, it’s a lot slower. That anywhere close to being right?

By: No_PUDding

No_PUDding — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:25:47 +0000

(Bubble) <— —|

Pop!

By: Psychotext

Psychotext — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:22:02 +0000

Yeah, but seek times are higher on BR discs which is why in the the real world they always end up slower than DVDs.

By: No_PUDding

No_PUDding — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:21:00 +0000

Don’t lie, you enjoyed bursting his bubble. I would too, if I were right in saying that.

But I heard Blu-Ray was slower. So I think I’m gonna go with that unless you want to link me to some evidence.

By: Saigon

Saigon — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:15:48 +0000

I hate to burst your bubble Blerk, but BR does have an advantage over DVD when it comes to disk reading. The only way DVD will have an advantage is if it is using a single layer disk. If dual layer is used the speeds decrease dramaticly.

By: Psychotext

Psychotext — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:28:59 +0000

In the US the xbox’s price cuts generally came about a day after the PS2′s price cuts. Obviously it’s not so clear cut this time, but I expect Sony to react again in the US if the 360 sales increase, even though they can’t afford to do it.

By: Blerk

Blerk — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:48:17 +0000

I’m pretty sure the Xbox made it to £99 first.

By: DrDamn

DrDamn — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:45:50 +0000

@Psychotext
The PS2 was the more expensive console at the end wasn’t it? I seem to remember the XBox tended to come down in price first – maybe I’m wrong though.

By: Psychotext

Psychotext — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:41:48 +0000

Right for gamers, for sure. Not necessarily right for their bottom line. It doesn’t help that MS are able to put them into the same position that Sony put the xbox in with the PS2.

(In terms of price cuts rather than sales)

By: Blerk

Blerk — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:39:27 +0000

I do think they made the right choice, though. They didn’t get many things right this generation, but bundling an HDD as standard was definitely one of them.

By: deftangel

deftangel — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:35:25 +0000

lol@Blerk

I still remember all the fanboy debates about optical drives that read at constant velocity vs those they read at variable velocity etc etc etc.

By: Rhythm

Rhythm — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:30:31 +0000

Re: number 2 – Soul Calibur IV comes with an option to install to HDD. There’s next to no difference in loading whether you install or not :-/

By: Blerk

Blerk — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:26:41 +0000

Reasons for including hard drive as standard:

1. “Microsoft doesn’t have one as standard” tickbox checked.
2. Blu-Ray too slow for loading games from disc.
3. Other stuff.