? about Disk Space-Madden/Fallout 3

[tank26]

For the tech savy posters. I know the dev team has talked about space issues. But how does a game like fallout 3 with loads of dialogue, characters, and a huge world that leaves all the bodies you killed and stuff you dropped exactly where they are when you go back, able to fit it on their disc space but not madden? is it technology, or is it the type of gameplay?

[monkeybutlerz]

Quote: Originally Posted by tank26

For the tech savy posters. I know the dev team has talked about space issues. But how does a game like fallout 3 with loads of dialogue, characters, and a huge world that leaves all the bodies you killed and stuff you dropped exactly where they are when you go back, able to fit it on their disc space but not madden? is it technology, or is it the type of gameplay?

I'm not sure myself. I wondered why they couldn't make it like Metal Gear Solid 4 or other games where you make an install onto the hard drive to maximize the game's abilities. I'm not too savvy in terms of the 360's abilities, does it have to do with low storage space or something? (not a sarcastic anti-360 post, just an honest question)

[jaiy360]

Never read devs were have space issues. Does anyone have a link?

And if so i doubt they are using almost 50 gb of a blu-ray disk. (Not a anti-360 post).

[kcarr]

Yes, they did admit that there were some limitations to the amount of content due to the x-box 360 not using blu-ray disks and therefore using less disk space. They don't want to have to make a different game for 360 and ps3 so they build to the lowest specs. They said they don't use the full capabilities in terms of space available on the ps3.

I really don't see why they don't make games that have a lot of the content compressed on the disk as much as can be done and then install onto the hard drive. Both 360s and ps3s have hard drives that you could install a large amount of the content to. There would still be limitations in terms of what could be done with the RAM available but in terms of dialouge, video, etc you could have a lot more saved information. PC software developers have been doing this for as long as I can remember, at least as far back as when they had those big like 5 inch disks. Now that consoles have that same ability I don't know why more games don't go that route.

As far as comparing this game to a game like fallout I can see some areas where there would be more space taken by a game like madden than with a game like fallout. There is a much smaller number of animations, no real video content, etc and the number of characters needed to be stored is much less. I really don't know exactly how all these things would break down but I could see where both have areas that would take more space than corresponding areas in the other game. Without knowing the exact space requirements for every element of each game it is really impossible to know why one would need more or less space or have room for more or less space in any area.

[dman1976]

just speculation, but can't you buy a xbox w/o a harddrive? So, marketing guys say oh we can't make a game that heavy uses the harddrive b/c not everybody has one. Am I way off base?

[monkeybutlerz]

Quote: Originally Posted by dman1976

just speculation, but can't you buy a xbox w/o a harddrive? So, marketing guys say oh we can't make a game that heavy uses the harddrive b/c not everybody has one. Am I way off base?

Now that I think about it, I think you're right. I wonder how much more the Madden Devs could do with the extra space. If they think the difference is substantial, that'd be a real shame.

[kcarr]

Quote: Originally Posted by dman1976

just speculation, but can't you buy a xbox w/o a harddrive? So, marketing guys say oh we can't make a game that heavy uses the harddrive b/c not everybody has one. Am I way off base?

OK, so is you want to make it so 360 users can play without a harddrive then just add the extra content for ps3. It is not our fault xbox 360 is an inferior product compared to the ps3. Why not take full advantage of the ps3's capabilities. Another option would be to look into making the original xbox's version able to be played on the 360, that way the 360 users with a HDD could play with the extra content.

[ngoulding]

Quote: Originally Posted by kcarr

OK, so is you want to make it so 360 users can play without a harddrive then just add the extra content for ps3. It is not our fault xbox 360 is an inferior product compared to the ps3. Why not take full advantage of the ps3's capabilities. Another option would be to look into making the original xbox's version able to be played on the 360, that way the 360 users with a HDD could play with the extra content.

EA won't do that. For better or worse the two consoles will remain the same because as a commercial decision it wouldn't make sense to annoy over half your customers. And as its official Microsoft policy that every 360 game must be able to be played on the core system (ie. no hard drive) the space available to Ian & co won't increase until the next generation of consoles.