XBOX 360 No Hardrive=DVD-speed affecting 720P,1080I Games

[freezeframe]

Another reason why I wont be getting an xbox at launch.

Streaming a DVD without the hardrive will be painfully slow when we are talking about 720P resolutions that Microsoft has been bragging about, since the Hardrive isnt standard in all systems developers are being asked not to code for it.

We asked Jacques Hennequet (Producer for Saint's Row), "If the Xbox 360 Hard Drive was standard across both SKU's, would flying aircrafts in the game have been a reality?", Jacques simply answered "Yes". While he completely understands why MS made the decision to not include a hard drive in the Core System, I think he felt somewhat disappointed, as it could have opened up much more possibilities within the gameplay for Volition's first Xbox 360 title.

[RoyalBoyle78]

Re: XBOX 360 No Hardrive=DVD-speed affecting 720P,1080I Games

Another reason why I wont be getting an xbox at launch.

Streaming a DVD without the hardrive will be painfully slow when we are talking about 720P resolutions that Microsoft has been bragging about, since the Hardrive isnt standard in all systems developers are being asked not to code for it.

We asked Jacques Hennequet (Producer for Saint's Row), "If the Xbox 360 Hard Drive was standard across both SKU's, would flying aircrafts in the game have been a reality?", Jacques simply answered "Yes". While he completely understands why MS made the decision to not include a hard drive in the Core System, I think he felt somewhat disappointed, as it could have opened up much more possibilities within the gameplay for Volition's first Xbox 360 title.

so buy the one with the HD.

[billmatic]

Re: XBOX 360 No Hardrive=DVD-speed affecting 720P,1080I Games

so buy the one with the HD.

since the Hardrive isnt standard in all systems developers are being asked not to code for it.

the point is that even the ones with the hard drive won't be making use of it.

[southpaww]

Re: XBOX 360 No Hardrive=DVD-speed affecting 720P,1080I Games

Another reason why I wont be getting an xbox at launch.

Streaming a DVD without the hardrive will be painfully slow when we are talking about 720P resolutions that Microsoft has been bragging about, since the Hardrive isnt standard in all systems developers are being asked not to code for it.

We asked Jacques Hennequet (Producer for Saint's Row), "If the Xbox 360 Hard Drive was standard across both SKU's, would flying aircrafts in the game have been a reality?", Jacques simply answered "Yes". While he completely understands why MS made the decision to not include a hard drive in the Core System, I think he felt somewhat disappointed, as it could have opened up much more possibilities within the gameplay for Volition's first Xbox 360 title.

Too bad the PS3 doesn't come with one standard either. (Right? I'm pretty sure I read that somewhere.....)

[IlliniM1ke]

Re: XBOX 360 No Hardrive=DVD-speed affecting 720P,1080I Games

I dont watch DVDs on mine anyway so wont affect me

[dagger55]

Re: XBOX 360 No Hardrive=DVD-speed affecting 720P,1080I Games

I'm guessing you are talking about this quote...

CVG: Looking across all three consoles - 360, PS3 and Revolution - what possibilities does the next gen offer to you as developer?

David Braben: They offer both huge technical opportunities to shine by making the best use of the machine, but also big risks. The quality expected for games on these consoles is very high, and this requires a great deal of work to produce the games. The 360 is pretty well here now, and I think we all have a good idea of what to expect; the PS3 and Revolution are perhaps darker horses. Perhaps one of the most significant elements of the PS3 is the Blu-Ray disc technology. I am a little nervous that with streamed data (ie where data is loaded constantly from disc), the Xbox 360 will still be quite restricted because of the DVD format disc. Revolution is (I think) different again, and is perhaps less powerful, but to be honest it is the platform we know the least about.

He said that he is 'a little nervous' about the DVD format....

if MS's VFD technology is fine tuned, problem solved.

[Blaxican8504]

Re: XBOX 360 No Hardrive=DVD-speed affecting 720P,1080I Games

since the Hardrive isnt standard in all systems developers are being asked not to code for it.

Wait, wait, wait. I am almost positive that awhile back, there was an article that stated (and I'm paraphrasing)...

"At launch, 85% of the XBOX360's will be of the $399 variety. With that in mind, developers have been told this and are developing their games knowing that the harddrive can be used."

Now, the only thing is, will developers develop their games knowing that a small portion of the consumers wont be able to get the maximum usage out of their system?

[freezeframe]

Re: XBOX 360 No Hardrive=DVD-speed affecting 720P,1080I Games

I dont watch DVDs on mine anyway so wont affect me

I think you are confused guy I am talking specifically about VideoGames

[freezeframe]

Re: XBOX 360 No Hardrive=DVD-speed affecting 720P,1080I Games

Wait, wait, wait. I am almost positive that awhile back, there was an article that stated (and I'm paraphrasing)...

"At launch, 85% of the XBOX360's will be of the $399 variety. With that in mind, developers have been told this and are developing their games knowing that the harddrive can be used."

Now, the only thing is, will developers develop their games knowing that a small portion of the consumers wont be able to get the maximum usage out of their system?

The answer to that would be not only No but Hell No.

Microsoft has asked them not to.

This was the reason developers didnt develop for the Ps2 Hardrive
because it wasnt standard in all systems thus alienating consumers.
As you can see from the post above developers are already saying they wont code for one.

2 things that bother me 1 is DVD-Rom isnt enough room for 1080i video cutscenes, and 2 is this issue with streaming at say 20-30 megabytes a second which 1080i requires will limit some games drasticly.

[ThatCanadianGuy]

Re: XBOX 360 No Hardrive=DVD-speed affecting 720P,1080I Games

This is coming from a guy from Volition? They're a medicore developer at best. Wake me up when somebody with some talent says something. Seems like he's just making an excuse. I bet that the next GTA on PS3 and 360 will have flying vehicles.

So neither the PS3 nor 360 will have a built in HD, developers need to find ways around things, and that's where the great devs will pull away from average ones like Volition. Not to mention I bet most PS3 games ship on DVD's, with a small percent on Blu-Ray.

[ab713]

Re: XBOX 360 No Hardrive=DVD-speed affecting 720P,1080I Games

Isn't it possible to code the games to check for a hard drive and if one is present load the data to it, and if not then just load directly from the dvd.

[Blaxican8504]

Re: XBOX 360 No Hardrive=DVD-speed affecting 720P,1080I Games

You said...

XBOX 360 No Harddrive

I said...

Wait, wait, wait. I am almost positive that awhile back, there was an article that stated (and I'm paraphrasing)...

"At launch, 85% of the XBOX360's will be of the $399 variety. With that in mind, developers have been told this and are developing their games knowing that the harddrive can be used."

Then you said...

The answer to that would be not only No but Hell No.

Microsoft has asked them not to.

This was the reason developers didnt develop for the Ps2 Hardrive
because it wasnt standard in all systems thus alienating consumers.
As you can see from the post above developers are already saying they wont code for one.

But these guys say...

Alright first thing first is that 85% of the Xbox360's Made will be the Premium Package that includes the HDD. The other 15% will be the core systems without the HDD.

Game developers are aware of this, with a 85% HDD attach rate from the start combined with MS's tools, makes it easy to enable disc caching and take advantage of it and also make tags to cache to RAM when the HDD is not present.

Developers are still writing games to cache to a HDD just like they always have on the Xbox. Those Xbox360's that do not have a HDD will experience 2x-3x more loading time. Also the absence of the ability to save music and save game data will be the only con of not having a HDD.

All you hardcore faithful have not been forgotten. The HDD will still play a very important role in the Xbox360 just as it has with the original Xbox. Nothing has changed from the Developers stand point. And nothing has changed from the amount of features available to the Hardcore gamer.

http://www.xbox365.com/news.cgi?id=GGurPdLrGr08171253

[freezeframe]

Re: XBOX 360 No Hardrive=DVD-speed affecting 720P,1080I Games

The problem here is it won't be supported by ALL developers like the HDD in the original Xbox was. Anytime you make something for a game system "optional" the support for it goes down the tube. This is going to hurt the Xbox2 in the long run.

[Blaxican8504]

Re: XBOX 360 No Hardrive=DVD-speed affecting 720P,1080I Games

The problem here is it won't be supported by ALL developers like the HDD in the original Xbox was. Anytime you make something for a game system "optional" the support for it goes down the tube. This is going to hurt the Xbox2 in the long run.

Ahh...touche.

[Flawless]

Re: XBOX 360 No Hardrive=DVD-speed affecting 720P,1080I Games

I bet GTA 4 will have flying aircrafts.

And HD-DVD and Blu-ray drives are unlikely to be as fast as a 12x DVD drive, unless they're in multispeeds themselves, so I doubt the PS3 or Revolution will be any better off in streaming data rate either.

FYI, Saint's Row has no loading for indoor/outdoor transitions. Considering the amount of detail in the levels combined with GTA not quite removing this loading time (even with a hard drive), it seems to me that Volition tuned their engine for stuff other than flying. I would rather have no loading screens, than to have the ability to fly.

With this said, I wish the HDD came standard. I mean it's standard in Japan, so why not in NA or Europe?