Ahh, so how here is about to be a hypocrite?

[montrealsoon]

I am at a loss on how people can complain about mandatory installs (unless they are envious of such a feature which allows their system to respond faster). I could see a problem if a mandatory install was larger than the free space available on the smallest system (i.e., whatever the 20 GB PS3 had free). And how often are the installs more than a few gigabytes? Like it or not, creating two types of installs makes two testing branches to pay for, and PS3/360 games cost enough to develop now.

The new DVD install feature for the 360 is a great improvement, but it isn't as good as a well thought out install by the developer. Think of the install as being basically a cache for the most frequently accessed data; now, what the new 360 process does is copy all data on the DVD even if 80% is rarely (ever?) accessed. Add to that the vast majority of 360 owners have 20 GB drives, and using this feature will make the Wii storage look spacious (relatively, given the size of WiiWare titles).

Don't get me wrong, it is an excellent solution for the 360, but mandatory installs is a more efficient use of one's hard drive.