MTV teams up with Mega Man to compare console download speeds
by JC Fletcher 
{ Feb 3rd 2009 at 5:00AM } 
Since the beginning of this console generation, one question has been on the minds of ... probably a few people, at some point: which home console is the fastest downloader? To answer that question, the staff of MTV Multiplayer engaged in an informal experiment using the one game shared by PSN, XBLA, and WiiWare: Mega Man 9.
The winner? It's kind of complicated! For one thing, it turns out that the Wii version of the game is much smaller: just 8.3 MB versus 63 MB on PSN and 88.7 on XBLA, necessitating a MB/sec measurement. In addition, the download speeds varied for the three members of the Multiplayer team, preventing a definitive answer. They tested the download speeds of various other (non-shared) games and got the same all-over-the-place results.
In the end, they were able to come to a useful conclusion: the PlayStation 3 downloaded games more quickly over a wireless connection, and the Xbox 360 downloaded games more quickly overall (because of its use of a wired connection). You guys can probably get some kind of fanboy boast out of that if you really want to.
The winner? It's kind of complicated! For one thing, it turns out that the Wii version of the game is much smaller: just 8.3 MB versus 63 MB on PSN and 88.7 on XBLA, necessitating a MB/sec measurement. In addition, the download speeds varied for the three members of the Multiplayer team, preventing a definitive answer. They tested the download speeds of various other (non-shared) games and got the same all-over-the-place results.
In the end, they were able to come to a useful conclusion: the PlayStation 3 downloaded games more quickly over a wireless connection, and the Xbox 360 downloaded games more quickly overall (because of its use of a wired connection). You guys can probably get some kind of fanboy boast out of that if you really want to.
Gallery: Mega Man 9 (WiiWare, PSN, XBLA)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
exiled360 @ Feb 3rd 2009 5:10AM
ill claim that as a win for xbox owners everywhere, plus we have a better mega man.
Lee @ Feb 3rd 2009 5:16AM
Shame about that dpad huh.
Lars @ Feb 3rd 2009 12:51PM
Straight out of the box the Xbox seemed to be faster than Wii and PS3. But once I DMZ'd them all, the PS3 got A LOT faster. But I use wired for all except the Wii, so I can't draw a good conclusion for the Wii's speed.
Now as to which I prefer, the PS3 wins out. The D-pad is on par with the Wii, but there's one key difference... I can download it again on whatever PS3 I want. I go visit a friend and think "hey, let's play some mega man" and a minute later we're playing my purchased copy on his PS3. And I hate the Wii's storage woes.
Iwa @ Feb 3rd 2009 1:33PM
Lars I too can download any 360 Live Arcade game I want at a friend's house.in minutes. I have my Live profile on a memory card.
exiled360 @ Feb 3rd 2009 1:48PM
oh no's the sony fangirls down voted me, what will do now
Tiptup300 @ Feb 3rd 2009 2:42PM
SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLE:
"We downloaded different things and we have no idea what we're talking about!"
kentuckyfried @ Feb 3rd 2009 5:11AM
The wii only has wireless. But the ps3 and xbox should both be tested against each other using a wired connection since that's comparing apples to apples (as close as it can get at least), or at least go wireless to wireless so that all three are on a level comparison.
bm @ Feb 3rd 2009 5:29AM
The Wii has wired. You need a lan adapter, but it's only a fraction of the price of the 360's wireless adapter.
Foetoid @ Feb 3rd 2009 6:36AM
Wow, its amazing how some gamers don't know basic facts like you can buy an official Nintendo lan adaptor for a wired internet connection on the Wii. Is the Wii really so shunned by hardcore gamers that this basic knowledge is beyond them?
kentuckyfried @ Feb 3rd 2009 7:15AM
^ I haven't used the wii since last...March (when did wii mario kart come out)? And I rarely ever take it online for anything. So I stand corrected. ^_^
Lord Negatron @ Feb 3rd 2009 8:48AM
@ Foetoid
"Is the Wii really so shunned by hardcore gamers that this basic knowledge is beyond them?
If your saying hardcore, um yes. I speak for my self, but when we go into any gaming retailer, the Wii selection is laughable at best. "Party this, horsey that"... Its a shame. Yes, it has great titles but overall "hardcore" and Wii don't really sound right in the same sentence. Unless one gets technical and uses hardcore in terms of old 8-16bit games bought and played on the game channel.
SoCoolCurt (PSN: KillaKornbread - XBL: SoCoolCurt) @ Feb 3rd 2009 10:42AM
each console has the same internet connection options. PS3 is just the only one that comes with wireless and wired built in, but you can get adapters for Wii (for wired) and for 360 (for wireless).
this test seems to be all over the place and doesnt seem to be a good indication of what's going on (especially with the file size differences). i know for me, my 360 is the slowest. then my Wii and then the PS3 is the fastest. its probably something to do with my connection and router set up though because the general consensus of everybody else seems to be the exact opposite. either way, none of them download unreasonably slow.
Haggard @ Feb 3rd 2009 11:48AM
Exactly. Of course the 360 won with wired, if they were comparing it to the PS3's wireless. Unless the last paragraph of the post is just badly written.
Gun Barrier @ Feb 3rd 2009 12:22PM
my wireless speed is 54 Mbps. That is much faster than any internet speed. It should not make any difference in download speed, i believe.
Lars @ Feb 3rd 2009 1:05PM
It's not that simple, Gun Barrier.
That's the maximum potential, true, but it's completely unrealistic. Wireless is much more prone to signal degradation problems and collisions. There's no way you'll ever come close to attaining the same speed as a wired connection, short of creating an RF filter around your game room perhaps.
Cody @ Feb 3rd 2009 1:39PM
@ Lord Negatron:
What are you 12?
Tiptup300 @ Feb 3rd 2009 2:29PM
What the hell, the wii doesn't have wired net by default? How gay is that!
eNrique @ Feb 3rd 2009 3:21PM
"my wireless speed is 54 Mbps. That is much faster than any internet speed. It should not make any difference in download speed, i believe."
Lars:
"It's not that simple, Gun Barrier. "
In fact it's way too simple, the speed you are mentioning is for your WLAN( let's say rour own network, like the one you use to stream movies from your pc to your PlayStation 3, etc.)
But your Internet speed is NOT 54Mbps, so it really makes a difference. Your real Internet speed depends on your ISP and the plan/contract you have.
Just saying.
intro94 @ Feb 6th 2009 3:31PM
it has wired, get ur facts
koehler83 @ Feb 3rd 2009 5:19AM
Why is there no source link?
koehler83 @ Feb 3rd 2009 5:20AM
Ah the picture is now the source link. I see.
koehler83 @ Feb 3rd 2009 5:27AM
The quote from the SOURCE:
"The PS3 is the console that won most of these races. So that’s the headline for now: PS3 Downloads Games Fastest Over Wi-Fi"
JC Fletcher @ Feb 3rd 2009 9:55AM
Also the link at the bottom labeled "Source".
Dan Rabot @ Feb 3rd 2009 5:26AM
So they couldn't afford a wifi adapter for the Xbox? or they couldn't use the included cable to wire connect their ps3?
This was a rubbish test.
Monkey Majiks @ Feb 3rd 2009 5:38AM
Actually reading the MTV article, this was to prove that the Wii was the slowest at downloading, which they kinda did in their round about way.
however, it actually comes out that the PS3 is the fastest at downloading for them. The 360 for 1 of the 3 tests was wired and it only just beat the Ps3 the other 2 tests were all over Wifi and the Ps3 came out on top each time.
Either way the test itself seems riddled with holes, different download speeds range wildy depending upon, country, location, provider etc. and even then, to get a "true" test of download speed, all 3 systems would need wired connections among other things.
The only thing this test does in my mind is raise the question that perhaps the 360 guys arent getting as much "extra value" as they were believing by paying for a subscription fee.
bm @ Feb 3rd 2009 5:38AM
"just 8.3 MB versus 63 MB on PSN and 88.7 on XBLA"
Wow, really? That's horrible. What the fuck are they doing to get to that filesize? Then again, I wonder the same with most modern games. I guess they need to sell hard drives.
Boo Radley @ Feb 3rd 2009 5:44AM
my guess is that the Wii version is actually an NES file whereas the Xbox and PS3 have bloated software code needed to play the game.
John Z @ Feb 3rd 2009 6:09AM
That's a fantastic theory, but I'd be more willing to believe that, on the Wii, the music is being procedurally generated, as opposed to MP3/AAC files on the other two platforms.
...Jan... @ Feb 3rd 2009 6:09AM
If it were a true NES file, it'd be in the kilobytes. Despite the look, they probably still used modern developer tools and coding to get that size.
I want to say the size difference is due to HD, but are HD Megaman sprites really that big?
bm @ Feb 3rd 2009 6:47AM
"I want to say the size difference is due to HD"
Yeah but no. The graphics are the exact same.
bm @ Feb 3rd 2009 6:54AM
"That's a fantastic theory, but I'd be more willing to believe that, on the Wii, the music is being procedurally generated, as opposed to MP3/AAC files on the other two platforms."
Doesn't sound very plausible to me. The music is the exact same. The only reason I could see would be if they were unable to port their music generation code to the other two platforms, but even that is very far fetched.
Lee @ Feb 3rd 2009 7:21AM
No, you see on VC games the game is bundled with the emulator itself each time. It's not effecient but that's how it is. And why 15 VC games can fill my 512mb internal memory.
I'd love to know why the game is smaller. The only thing I can think of it is the music, being rendered in real time on the Wii and being a compressed format for the 360/PS3.
Speak up Capcom.
Mr Khan @ Feb 3rd 2009 8:33AM
I believe it's that Wii is able to render MIDI in its basic form, while PS360 needed actual music files
Lee @ Feb 3rd 2009 9:17AM
Eh they could have just used reference instruments (see Duke Nukem PSP) which are only 30mb.
Undead Priest @ Feb 3rd 2009 9:39AM
@Lee Except Mega Man 9 isn't an emulated game on the Virtual Console.
bm @ Feb 4th 2009 4:00AM
"I believe it's that Wii is able to render MIDI in its basic form, while PS360 needed actual music files"
I don't know if I should listen to someone who calls anything on a console "midi". ;) Either way, even if it did use something Wii-hardware-specific (which would be pretty stupid), all those old games you've ever seen ported to any console all use a software-only music engine anyway, which is completely platform-agnostic. If the music is indeed the reason for the ridiculous filesize increase, then it's just lazy fucking coding. Just more proof that all that storage space for so called "next-gen content" really only exists to facilitate someone's bloated bullshit.
Fox @ Feb 3rd 2009 5:42AM
Actually the only conclusion MTV reached was that the PS3 was the fastest over wi-fi. They never claimed the 360 had the best overall. Check your facts
deanb @ Feb 3rd 2009 7:18AM
Joystiq are in a current phase of PS3 bashing. They can't bring themselves to say anything good about it.
Lee @ Feb 3rd 2009 7:23AM
There is currently something good about it?
doom saber @ Feb 3rd 2009 12:15PM
Deanb is right
Joystiq unfortunately leans more towards ps3 bashing; they tend to make any article about comparing connection speeds or inside jokes about storage space (mgs4) into some sort of PS3 bash feast. :(
Does it really matter about the download speed since at the end of the day, you will be playin MM9 on whatever console you bought it on ? It doesn't affect gameplay.
Matt @ Feb 3rd 2009 5:59AM
But what about install time? XBLA games run instantly.
jpw21683 @ Feb 3rd 2009 9:31AM
I was going to say the same thing, but I see the PS3 fanbois have already voted you down.
Trev @ Feb 3rd 2009 10:57AM
That's like saying "What about the week it takes to come out on the free xbl service?". It has nothing to do with download speed and is irrelevant even in a test that was as poorly conducted as this one.
Trev @ Feb 3rd 2009 11:08AM
Now that I found the source link (ha, forgot joystiq also links the pictures to it) it looks like they took install time into account for the PS3 version. When not downloading in the background (foreground downloading? just "downloading"?), it installs things automatically, which must be what they did.
So, yes, even /with/ the install time the PS3 was the fastest. That doesn't increase the quality of the test though. There really isn't an indication if they were timing and doing the size/time to get the download speed or checking it on a network device in the line.
sk8monroe81 @ Feb 3rd 2009 2:06PM
trev-
since when did the ps3 allow us to download a file and install a file at the same time??
most to all of ps3 installs are not background allowed, thus any background downloading stops at that moment, i think....
so u do have to take install times into account. as the install takes some time in itself.
if i download megaman 9 on xbox live and psn i would be playing it faster on the xbox live service, mainly due to the loss of install time.
if its possible i did not know this....
fill me in if im wrong people....
Trev @ Feb 3rd 2009 3:20PM
Reading is your friend, sk8. The PS3 will install things automatically if they're NOT downloaded in the background. Try it with something quick like a LBP costume. It downloads and installs straight away but only if you don't hit download in background.
And they DID take install time into account in their tests. PS3 was still faster. To quote the article, linked to through clicking on the picture here on joystiq.
Stephen's first times/speeds:
-Mega Man 9 demo downloaded and installed on PS3: 142 seconds
-Mega Man 9 demo downloaded on Xbox 360: 345 seconds
-Mega Man 9 download speed on PS3: .79 MB per second
-Mega Man 9 download speed on Xbox 360: .86 MB per second
Stephen's second speeds (didn't include times):
-Mega Man 9 download speed on PS3: .55 MB per second
-Mega Man 9 download speed on Xbox 360: .31 MB per second
Patrick's times/speeds:
-Mega Man 9 demo downloaded and installed on PS3: 80 seconds
-Mega Man 9 demo downloaded on Xbox 360: 104 second
-Mega Man 9 download speed on PS3: .79 MB per second
-Mega Man 9 download speed on Xbox 360: .86 MB per second
Tracey's times/speeds:
-Mega Man 9 demo downloaded and installed on PS3: 106 seconds
-Mega Man 9 demo downloaded on Xbox 360: 194 second
-Mega Man 9 download speed on PS3: .59 MB per second
-Mega Man 9 download speed on Xbox 360: .46 MB per second
Stephen also downloaded three other games, one on each system:
-Everyday Shooter game download speed on PS3: .67 MB per second
-Braid game download speed on Xbox 360: .61 MB per second
-World of Goo game download speed on Wii: .55 MB per second
You would be playing faster on PS3, even with the install time.
tmmoore_nc @ Feb 3rd 2009 6:00AM
I don't think this is a fair comparison really.
HyperNexus @ Feb 3rd 2009 6:07AM
I don't really care about which console downloads fastest, as long as it downloads. The main thing that piqued my curiosity here is the fact that the filesize for MegaMan 9 is so much smaller for the Wii than the 360 or PS3, what's with that?
snarfoogle @ Feb 3rd 2009 6:28AM
It makes sense that the Wii version is 10 times smaller because, y'know, the Wii has no storage space.
Lord Negatron @ Feb 3rd 2009 8:52AM
Good point, same with system updates it doesn't really matter which is fastest except from an analytical point of view. In the end, we are all doing the same thing, whether, watching a movie, playing games, music etc.