Xbox 360 creates "limitations" for GTA IV

Joystiq, the ps3 doesn't unnecessarily have longer load times. Because of the hard drive, games like like oblivion (very similar to GTA in scope) actually have shorter load times for the ps3. Plus I found that fact that your "longer load times" link brought me to an article all the way from September 2006... well... somewhat unnecessarily as well (in other words, pathetic)

Dont hold your breath out for VMD... they have a hard enough time upgrading the firmware without bricking a significant % of consoles... now you want them to flash the DVD drive? How many variations are out there... not gonna happen.

funny how relative the terms "future proof" and "next gen" can be among some.

apparently, it only applies to not having to switch discs, and not other little things like controllers, graphic cards or online gamer platforms.


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Duh -- how many people actually DON'T have a hard drive for their 360?

Come on Msoft, just whack a Blu Ray drive in your inevitable Elite Mk 2, then release all games on BD ROM...you'll finally (nearly) match the PS3 then, and that's what you really want....

:D

PS3 will have to match 360 first Tony.

I remember when the first cd-rom appeared, I was like woow I dont need that much space, a diskette is enough!... the thing is that you WILL see that dvd-9 will become a "not enough" in the near future, so i guess sony is taking the real nextgen route...just like they did with the original playstation when they realized that cartridges where obsolete and we all know what happened after that...

PS3 folks love to always talk about the future.. All I can say is RIGHT NOW in the present I am playing better games that the PS3 wish it had. Everyone is focusing on one comment in the article, PS3 fanboys are running with it, because well you do those kinds of things when you're desperate. The 360 doesn't seem to be holding anything back when time and time again the 360 versions are getting better reviews, most recently FEAR. I'm sure in time the PS3 will be coming into it's own, while everyone else will be onto a new console and downloading games directly skipping the clunky DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray discs completely.. When this game is out I really hope we can all revisit this thread so I can serve up a big plate of "told you so".

sigh, auron, read my previous post @ 103. a media format alone doesn't make something "next-gen" by itself..

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i think its safe to assume that even the fools that bought the gimped 360 in the beginning have upgraded to a hard drive by now...and if they haven't that's there problem really.

the original xbox was the only console with a built in hdd last generation, and that didn't stop developers from porting games to all three systems quite a bit...including rockstar.

Joystiq has really become 360 apologists. The limitations of that system will cripple GTA IV, and it's written like it's not a bad thing.

Digi Smalls should STFU. A next-gen optical drive does put your console on another level. Try comparing PS1 vs. N64 sound and CGI. PS2's appeal versus Gamecube's appeal, size of games, cut-scene quality, amount of content, and so on. In the future, look for amount of textures, texture detail, CGI amount, Sound quality, world size, game lenght, and so on.

Games where you have to have all the content available at all times, or simply too fast to be switching discs; games where you have to stream the information as quick as possible; those games require large disc size, or large HDD size. Xbox 360 has neither. PS3 has both, so it can have a lot of content and at the same time reduce loading times.

More examples of games that need (or would be better off with) both an HDD and next-gen discs:

The Getaway
L.A. Noire
GTA 4
Virtua Fighter 5
Tekken 6
DoA
Gran Turismo
Saints Row
Crackdown
Project Gotham
And just about any sports game, fighting game, racing game or sandbox type games...

I feel sorry for those who rushed into next-gen and can only afford one console. :(

PC uses DVD and its just fine

Gee, an Official Playstation Magaine editor asking pointed questions... nahhh that's not biased at all. The fact of the matter is the PS3 has limitations of its own. How come the editor didn't ask if the lack of 512MB of unified memory, or a slower reading optical drive were limitations? Maybe if PSM editors weren't so insecure about the PS3 they wouldn't feel the need to even talk about the 360.

bootsie - i probably have had a PS3 before you did. but i'm aware of what i actually bought, are you?

frankly, you don't know what you're talking about. more disc storage doesn't mean having more things on screen or in game at the same time, that's memory, and PS3 has less available. learn the difference.

um, over half the games you listed are on, or coming for 360. the ones already out are all well-recieved and big sellers. how is that possible if it doesnt have "next gen" storage?

thanks for proving my point for me. i'm sorry for those who couldn't afford an education.


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brian spence - the interviewer asked what the limitations of the 360 were, and when Houser answered and then said there were limitations on *both* systems, the interviewer changed the subject before he could list PS3's. can you guess why?

this is why the source of the reporting is often times more important than the actual information, and why general industry sources are so vital.


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Wow the gaming public are completely uneducated. They asked if it was a limitation and he said yes. That means s**t. What was he supposed to say? How many of you didn't know that already? Of course a smaller storage medium is a limitation! This doesn't mean they were going to hit the limitation they just recognized it as a limitation and they will work with it in mind. F**k I'm beginning to get sick of this mindless banter.

@Digi smalls

You claim that you own the ps3...but you bitch about it more then any other owner I have ever met...I am not to sure you are sad or just confused....but do continue

suck,
why do i have to be sad or confused by being disappointed with my PS3 as a game machine? ever consider that maybe having both the 360 and the PS3 makes one...gasp...more objective?

being a (longtime) Sony customer, gives me *more* of a right to complain, which i can't say for the majority of these posters. i remain a big fan of Sony's developers, but this machine and its strategy is doing them and their customers a considerable disservice.


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here is my folding@home team: http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main.py?qtype=teampage&teamnum=54922

we're ranked in the top 3k out of 60,000 because all the games we're playing are on (or are better on) our 360s.

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@digi smalls

it's ok digi,....everything is going to be ok

again. try actually saying something next time suck.

Evoanubis-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Versatile_Multilayer_Disc

regarding vmd, everything I've read suggests a firmware upgrade on the drive would give any dvd drive the ability to read vmd discs. For PCs and for the 360, all that's needed is the capacity... we don't need the video functionality (but that would be a nice bonus & selling point for people in east/southern asia.) and no well known studios would really support it.

Regarding the article, we'll see how well GTA4 plays on either system. Of the games bootsielon mentions, i've only played crackdown, and I don't think being on DVD9 limited it... the ISO is 7 gigs, so what good would another 6-41 gigs of space do when 2 gigs of space was unused?

This isn't surprising to me, it was inevitable, really. I knew that someday a US game would come along (I actually suspected beforehand that it might be GTAIV)... that would push the DVD disc space of the 360 to its' limit.

Ultimately though, this means nothing. Blu-ray is a great product, but multiple DVDs *can* do the same thing that Blu-ray can potentially do for games. I for one don't mind dealing with multiple discs if it equals a less-expensive product.

So really, it will come down to there not being a difference in quality, merely a difference in quantity. And while the PS3 may be a solid product, I don't feel like paying $600-700+... for the ability to not need to change discs.

This is just BS... Plain and simple!!!

If they liked the PS3 so much why didn't they make an exclusive?

Oh... That's right! Over 10.000.000 users!

ps2 could have used cd rom 700mb or dvd 5-9gb. and yes complaints did come at the time of adopting dvd because some games actually came out on 700mb playstation 2 cd roms. but obviosly, sony realised that the next generation was about moving on (more processing power, more content, more storage) and they continued with dvd. dvd is a last generation media, this generation is about moving on.

4 or more cd roms or 1 dvd roms for ps2 games? lets apply this to gta. if it were to be seperated, then possibily different islands. you have to escape the cops and your car is almost finished, then suddenly it all goes quite, [Please insert disk 2], you insert the disk and then as soon as you come of the bridge, BANG, some crashes into your car and before you can escape you die. attempt no 1, repeat process again. and lets be honest, we dont all complete all misions in our first go do we?

"On the flipside, Rockstar is using the Xbox 360 to demo the game to the press"

Of course they are going to show the 360 version, if they showed the better looking PS3 version, then there will be 10 million 360 owners going "hang on the demo looked better than this..."

If there is a large difference between the 360 and PS3 versions (which I suspect there will be), it's much better to demo the lesser version, with the larger 360 userbase...

I can't remember who said it, but it seems that putting the game on two disks, with the option the load the first or second disk onto a hard drive if pressent would work pretty well. And if you don't have a HD, you'll just have to fuck off. 360 rules. The PS3 is a machine designed for idiots with more cash that chances of ever being laid.

Peace