Blu-ray Validated: PGR4 Limited by DVD

[Josh]

We all knew that Sony's decision to use Blu-ray for PS3 games was significant, and we finally have an Xbox developer willing to admit it:

Originally Posted by CVG

The DVD vs. Blu-Ray debate is being fired up again this morning, as PGR4 dev Bizarre Creations blames DVD size for the reason you won't see different times of day in PGR4.

Speaking on its official forums, a Bizarre spokesperson said: "You won't see different times of day per city because this involves recreating all the textures again (one for day and one for night). Whilst this wasn't a problem for our dev team, it was a problem fitting all this data onto a single DVD."

Before you get too upset though, Bizarre says its come up with a sort-of work around by providing different lighting models per city.

"For example," reads the forum post, "Macau is always in the daytime, but if you play it during a storm everything looks darker and more foreboding. If you play during a blizzard then things are slightly tinged blue and everything seems more frozen. Of course, playing this track in sunshine will make everything appear bright and yellowy."

No full-on day cycles then, but some lighting tints to help set the mood.

Of course back at launch there was plenty of controversy over Microsoft's decision to ditch the larger HD-DVD format for the Xbox 360, but developers' concerns over the console's shrinking storage media never really shaped into a significant issue.

Speaking back in 2005, illusive Xbox front man J Allard down played the storage worries, claiming that improved compression rates in the future will solve all of the console's memory woes.

Is this where we'll see PS3 pull ahead in the technology department? Keep your eyes on those textures.

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