PS3 Games using the HDD for extreme load times

[JTK]

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/742/742347p1.html

Famitsu PS2 quizzed Teramoto on one area that's on everyone's mind right now: hard disk support. Ridge Racer 7 makes extensive use of the PS3's hard disk. In addition to saving your game and saving future download contents, the hard disk is used for speeding up gameplay. The game does a hard disk install to the tune of five gigabytes.

This is why you want the 60 gig PS3, folks.

Dave had mentioned several weeks back the idea of swapping out for some 100+ gig SATA hard drive if he ever felt like it. Can that really be done?



In any event, I think this is excellent news.

I'm all for anything by any means necessary that reduces or even eliminates load times.

Load times really should almost be complete relics of the past anyways by this point.

[Jazar]

I think Genji 2 does the same thing as well. Installs up to 4 Gigs into your PS3.

[JTK]

This was the major beef that developers had with the Xbox 360 (among other things

I'll never forget Gabe Newell from Valve a year ago or so ranting and taking a crap all over it because MS made something like a hard drive purely an optional accessory vs. a mandatory, integral part of the system like Sony has here with the PS3.

When developers KNOW they can count on that hard drive? It's just better long term, all the way around, in every respect you could possibly name.

[dobyblue]

Hell if it can be swapped out I'll be putting one of these bad boys in.
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/pro...sp?DriveID=238
The most reliable company I've used for drives in the last four years.

[phranctoast]

this is the exact reason i went with the 60gig ps3.

[ProvenFlipper]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

Hell if it can be swapped out I'll be putting one of these bad boys in.
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/pro...sp?DriveID=238
The most reliable company I've used for drives in the last four years.

I believe that the PS3 has a slot for a 2.5" drive.

[dobyblue]

Hmm....I guess it would have to be this one then.
http://westerndigital.com/en/product...sp?DriveID=264

If it's just the game loading then it probably wouldn't matter too much WHEN you changed the drive would it.
If most games take up 6GB max let's say, then you're good for at least 8 games that use the HDD. I've only heard of two games so far that will utilize it, but I'll speculate that there will be many to follow.

[theknub]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

Hmm....I guess it would have to be this one then.
http://westerndigital.com/en/product...sp?DriveID=264

If it's just the game loading then it probably wouldn't matter too much WHEN you changed the drive would it.
If most games take up 6GB max let's say, then you're good for at least 8 games that use the HDD. I've only heard of two games so far that will utilize it, but I'll speculate that there will be many to follow.

i can't see games taking up that much space on a consistent basis. what i hope is that the game will install while playing and when you are done, delete that data (except for the save of course). am i wrong? probably. but to only be able to store/play 8-10 games at a time is ludicrous.

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by theknub

i can't see games taking up that much space on a consistent basis. what i hope is that the game will install while playing and when you are done, delete that data (except for the save of course). am i wrong? probably. but to only be able to store/play 8-10 games at a time is ludicrous.

I imagine if they didn't delete that there would be an interface similar to the memory card interface where you can see what games are on, etc., and delete any that you want to remove.

[theknub]

Originally Posted by dobyblue

I imagine if they didn't delete that there would be an interface similar to the memory card interface where you can see what games are on, etc., and delete any that you want to remove.

i slightly agree. however, the difference i see is that you were always able to purchase a new memory card if you so desired.

[dobyblue]

Originally Posted by theknub

i slightly agree. however, the difference i see is that you were always able to purchase a new memory card if you so desired.

That is a huge difference and a very good point. Hopefully they'll seperate the downloadable content and saved game portion from the content that allows for quicker game loads.

[shido]

What I'm thinking is that the PS3 has about 6gb reserved solely for caching data to the hdd. This of course would be only temporary, so it gets deleted each time you start a different game. With the latest streaming technology, the game could be streaming all the necessary assets, such as texture or sound data way in advance. So you may get a loading screen when you start up level one of a given game, but as you play through the level, the stuff for level two and beyond may already be loaded in advance, so you won't have to wait long or at all between levels. I'm sure the 360 does something similar to this when a hdd is present, but devs can't be too dependant on the streaming because some people may not have a hdd at all. That's why it isn't very optimized on the 360.