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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Capcom laments DVD capacity - Lost Planet 2 compromised

joeorc said:
augustoaag said:
joeorc said:

an I JUST POINTED that out did you not read what i just posted?

look the problem is the CAV drive is not a CLV drive which means that 16MB is optimistic value based on many thing's i just stated, and to be sure why do you think Microsoft section's off a part of the Disc!.

that's the point I am driving at the slower transfer speed between the xbox360's DVD drive and the Blu-Ray Drive in the PS3 is moot point. for the simple fact that on Average the Blu-Ray drive in the ps3 will perform just as fast as the xbox360 dvd drive in transfering Data .

only in certain area's will there be a slight speed advantage and that is pretty much slim due to the very fact that the

DVD drive have to read DL-dvd9's which will already slow their performance because if Microsoft did not section off part of that disc it would effect the speed even further.

since the DVD drive in the XBOX360 is a CAV not a CLV drive

why do you think the Blu-Ray drive in the PS3 is so expensive vs' the DVD drive in the xbox360

Blu-Ray is one part the other is the fact its a CLV optical drive. and it's also a 8X CLV DVD optical drive to boot.

Like I stated this is on Average, but the problem is on Average the xbox360's drive will dip in speed based on where their data is and the closer to the inner part of the disc the slower it is, that does not even take into account the laser having to go through multiple layer's. there is alway's going to be a hit in it's performance. to offset this Microsoft section's off part of the disc. but when have you seen the game's microsoft use that use up the full disc?

you do know the 16 MB's benchmark for a CAV dive is calculated for what the DRIVE's performance

is with SINGLE LAYER DVD's

the same drive reading a  DL-DVD's take a big hit in transfer of data

it's transfer rate is much lower than 16 MB/sec just look at it Average speed of 11 MB/sec it's Average speed drop's to 8.5x just on Single layer that's is Optimistic rate that may not even be that high. an rember that's just benchmarked for a single layer.

there is a reason why the xbox360's optical drive is cheaper than a TruX rated drive this is one of them.

to tell you the truth Microsoft would have been better off going with the HD DVD optical drive like the Blu-Ray Drive it was also a CLV optical drive


who the hell cares about SINGLE LAYER?

why are you talking of HD DVD?

why do I think the blue ray is expensive?

microsoft not using the full disc?

why is the "average speed" so interesting?

so?

What matters is the drive speed in games, and in ps3 it takes 22 minutes for the obligatory INSTALL of the game (5GB) , something that thanks to the dvd drive in xbox360 is not required. BUT if i want to install it all the data (6'5 GB) it is done in 12 minutes.

http://kotaku.com/353612/devil-may-cry-4-ps3-the-mandatory-install-final-time-22-mins

tekken 6 load times with and without installation...

PlayStation 3 Load Times (Not installed):
Time #1 (loading trophies, saved data etc…) 18 – 18.4 seconds
Time #2 (loading characters and preparing to fight) 16 – 18.8 seconds

Xbox 360 Load Times (Not installed):
Time #1 (loading saved data etc…) 0 – 0.3 seconds
Time #2 (loading characters and preparing to fight) 10 – 10.5 seconds

PlayStation 3 Load Times (Installed 4.6 gb):
Time #1 (loading trophies, saved data etc…) 1 – 2 seconds
Time #2 (loading characters and preparing to fight) 11 – 12.2 seconds

Xbox 360 Load TImes (Installed 6.7 gb):
Time #1 (loading saved data etc…) 0 – 0.3 seconds
Time #2 (loading characters and preparing to fight) 10 – 10.5 seconds

please go here http://www.lensoftruth.com/?cat=47

Look all the games that require an installation and its load times and keep saying that blue ray is better for games.

ahh, yes that very old and much tired old chestnut, have you not even looked at this entire thread. bewcause you just had to jump in and not read or take a gander on what i HAD posted...

you posted this:


who the hell cares about SINGLE LAYER?

why are you talking of HD DVD?

why do I think the blue ray is expensive?

microsoft not using the full disc?

why is the "average speed" so interesting?

so?

well I am tired of repeating myself IF you want to know why just read through the past post, you come in here and you think I was slamming the xbox360 ..good show you just made your self look very foolish. I was in this thread trying to give my opinion on thing's , if you would have bothered to read this entire thread you would know what I was talking about. but you instead had to jump right to this point and try to make it seem as alway's about the PS3 v's the xbox360 which it was not even about that with what I posted. If anything the only negative thing that someone could see was how i thought By microsoft not putting in HD DVD drive from the get go and instead sticking with DVD cav optical drive's that there could be in the future with storage issue's.

so once again congrat's on skimming through past most of the post's

 

Sorry i didn't think you were so dumb.

Go search rethorical question in the wikipedia and stop FLOODING the thread with unrelated stupid Sony loving crap.

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Capcom laments DVD capacity - Lost Planet 2 compromised (02/19/10, 08:50)
Capcom laments DVD capacity - Lost Planet 2 compromised (02/19/10, 07:57)

 



Maybe it's the fact that Sony was once on top of the mountain in this industry, and the fall from grace has been swift and brutal. The worst thing about being on top is the fall to the bottom, and maybe the transition from PS2 dominance to PS3 heel-dragging has had a damaging effect on the fanboy psyche, leaving them vulnerable and insecure. Maybe fanboys are suffering from a severe case of paranoid delusion, brought about by denial that the PS3 is in third place when once Sony was leading the charge.

-- Jim Sterling

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starcraft said:
In fact, they don't explicitly say that it involves the Xbox 360. Given the port job Capcom did on Lost Planet for PS3, it is entirely plausible that they had to duplicate too much data for the PS3 given it's Blu-Ray drive's slow read times.

Ultimately though, we know what this is. Hisiru pointed it out. They are just finding ways to make money. If they really made stuff THEN cut it they would offer it as free DLC. But they will actually have set out to have DLC from the beginning.

Certainly by all accounts it is inexpensive to have a game with two discs, Microsoft only charges substantial costs for three or more.

 

would you do that?

if you made a game and it had more content then the disc can handle... would you give it out for free?

 

i know i wouldnt because that would be very stupid. (if you fail to understand why...then faceplam)

 

alot of people on these forums are pretty stupid, iit would be an even worse idea to have the ps3 version with all the content and the 360 version with cut content. What they could have done is have the ps3 version with the full content and then the 360 version is downloadable for free but again thats not going to happen.



Reasonable said:
WilliamWatts said:
Reasonable said:

Oh c'mon, stop reaching.  Seriously.  If they're complaining about disk capacity it's not having enough space on BR, that's for sure.  It's entirely unplausible that they're having more trouble with BR capacity to store stuff more than once vs a single DVD.

OT - smells like an excuse for DLC for me, personally.  Why not release if free if its covered by the game's production costs?

If they did cut stuff due to DVD, it is annoying it won't be on the PS3 cut as I'm sure they feel both versions have to be identical, but then for most multiplatform titles the DVD is still used as the default size to aim for with final content levels - a few RPG titles aside.

I don't get why they don't just use more disks, though, with an option to install on the 360 if you want to remove any disk swapping.

Again, sounds to me like they're taking the suspicously easy money route to DLC vs other methods of solving this very solvable issue - if it's even accurate.

Microsoft charges extra royalties for extra discs, see Rage for example and John Carmacks statements relating. They could if they got their panties into a twist refuse to certify the Lost Planet 2 game for the Xbox 360 which would probably mean Capcom loses at least 60% of their sales.

I know extra disks costs more, my point was more that the DVD size for 360 is known well up-front, and waiting until well into development (as their quote implies) to make this decision isn't the best approach.  They should have either budgeted assets to remain on 1 DVD, accepted 2 DVDs and worked out their targets accordingly or worked with MS on other incentives.

If the 1 DVD is really becoming limiting, and given the 360 needs those titles to be on the platform more than ever, I actually don't know why the studios don't simply put pressure on MS around their charging scheme for multiple disks.  In truth the power is with the developers here not MS, MS doesn't have enough first party support nor enough install base globally to lay down the law right now.  I'm pretty sure they'd relax such charges if needed to keep the games on the 360.  The developers can also play the card that MS doesn't want the 360 to start appearing as limiting for games - which with Rage, FFXIII and now this is a very real danger.

TBH though my main point remains the same - if you know your goals beforehand it's not great design to break them so badly as implied.  This smacks of someone making a 3.5 hour film when the studio commissoned a 2 hour film.  You either fight the battle right up front and insist the film is going to be 3.5 hours and get it sorted out, or you rework the design to hit the target.

The other option that has just occured to me, but I believe it would break another MS mandate, is to have a mandatory install.  That way the entire game could be compressed on the disk then uncompressed when installed to the 360 HDD.

 

The IHV's do have a lot of sway over developers. I would say the two major rules Sony implemented "Though shalt not make the PS3 version worse than the Xbox 360 version" has really set the tone for the generation as far as multiplatform games are concerned. As well as "Though shalt put more content into thine PS3 version if it be late" so its not a hard stretch that "Thine shall not make games which span two discs unless thine desires additional royalties" Is a significant stop for them to use more than one disc and represents a significant expense. Lost Planet 2 doesn't have the same sway as say Rage because they expect up front that the sales will be heavily biased towards the Xbox 360 anyyway and the designer doesn't have the same sway with the media as Carmack - Tech god and extraordinary gentleman who drives a Tesla roadster. 

I don't see them as needing a justification for DLC and no reasonable game developer speaking to the media would court controversy, especially controversy which puts the main SKU into a negative light. In the case of Rage it was a case of 3 discs vs 2 and the embarrassment of multiple discs (for their image) escalates with the number of discs required. In addition to this, the engine was earmarked as something which multiple developers would use. So they compromised.

So if the developer courts controversy for no real gain then why does he do it? I suspect the content may have actually been important enough for him to feel the need to tell people about.

 



WilliamWatts said:
Reasonable said:
WilliamWatts said:
Reasonable said:

Oh c'mon, stop reaching.  Seriously.  If they're complaining about disk capacity it's not having enough space on BR, that's for sure.  It's entirely unplausible that they're having more trouble with BR capacity to store stuff more than once vs a single DVD.

OT - smells like an excuse for DLC for me, personally.  Why not release if free if its covered by the game's production costs?

If they did cut stuff due to DVD, it is annoying it won't be on the PS3 cut as I'm sure they feel both versions have to be identical, but then for most multiplatform titles the DVD is still used as the default size to aim for with final content levels - a few RPG titles aside.

I don't get why they don't just use more disks, though, with an option to install on the 360 if you want to remove any disk swapping.

Again, sounds to me like they're taking the suspicously easy money route to DLC vs other methods of solving this very solvable issue - if it's even accurate.

Microsoft charges extra royalties for extra discs, see Rage for example and John Carmacks statements relating. They could if they got their panties into a twist refuse to certify the Lost Planet 2 game for the Xbox 360 which would probably mean Capcom loses at least 60% of their sales.

I know extra disks costs more, my point was more that the DVD size for 360 is known well up-front, and waiting until well into development (as their quote implies) to make this decision isn't the best approach.  They should have either budgeted assets to remain on 1 DVD, accepted 2 DVDs and worked out their targets accordingly or worked with MS on other incentives.

If the 1 DVD is really becoming limiting, and given the 360 needs those titles to be on the platform more than ever, I actually don't know why the studios don't simply put pressure on MS around their charging scheme for multiple disks.  In truth the power is with the developers here not MS, MS doesn't have enough first party support nor enough install base globally to lay down the law right now.  I'm pretty sure they'd relax such charges if needed to keep the games on the 360.  The developers can also play the card that MS doesn't want the 360 to start appearing as limiting for games - which with Rage, FFXIII and now this is a very real danger.

TBH though my main point remains the same - if you know your goals beforehand it's not great design to break them so badly as implied.  This smacks of someone making a 3.5 hour film when the studio commissoned a 2 hour film.  You either fight the battle right up front and insist the film is going to be 3.5 hours and get it sorted out, or you rework the design to hit the target.

The other option that has just occured to me, but I believe it would break another MS mandate, is to have a mandatory install.  That way the entire game could be compressed on the disk then uncompressed when installed to the 360 HDD.

 

The IHV's do have a lot of sway over developers. I would say the two major rules Sony implemented "Though shalt not make the PS3 version worse than the Xbox 360 version" has really set the tone for the generation as far as multiplatform games are concerned. As well as "Though shalt put more content into thine PS3 version if it be late" so its not a hard stretch that "Thine shall not make games which span two discs unless thine desires additional royalties" Is a significant stop for them to use more than one disc and represents a significant expense. Lost Planet 2 doesn't have the same sway as say Rage because they expect up front that the sales will be heavily biased towards the Xbox 360 anyyway and the designer doesn't have the same sway with the media as Carmack - Tech god and extraordinary gentleman who drives a Tesla roadster. 

I don't see them as needing a justification for DLC and no reasonable game developer speaking to the media would court controversy, especially controversy which puts the main SKU into a negative light. In the case of Rage it was a case of 3 discs vs 2 and the embarrassment of multiple discs (for their image) escalates with the number of discs required. In addition to this, the engine was earmarked as something which multiple developers would use. So they compromised.

So if the developer courts controversy for no real gain then why does he do it? I suspect the content may have actually been important enough for him to feel the need to tell people about.

 

Your last point is what interests me about the comments the most.  It may just be me but if I was Capcom and I had all this extra cut content I'd keep quiet, release the game, state how bloody good it is, imply that I'd love to support the title further, then proudly annouce all this great DLC that's going to be delivered to expand an already great game.

With Rage I can understand how things crept out - and Carmack I love preciesly because he always speaks his mind and never spins stuff (he does have nice cars, doesn't he?) - but in this case Capcom, since they've clearly made the choice to stick to 1 DVD, could simply have kept their mouth shut, which would seem more sensible from a business perspective, but they didn't.

Now they've given the impression that:

1 - the game was comprimised because of 360 HW, which ain't going to please 360 fans nor MS

2 - the PS3 version didn't need to be comprimised but was anyway to remain consistent on each HD console, which ain't going to please PS3 fans nor Sony

3 - that they're going to make us buy the cut content which we'd actually have got with the title if they hadn't had to fit it on 1 DVD, which shouldn't please anyone who thinks about it whether you prefer 360 or PS3

 

Really odd thing to do IMHO.

 

Also, I know the HW guys have a lot of sway, but with PS3 struggling relative to PS2 and 360 down a bit YOY and reliant on third parties the most I reckon if they actually got together they could push back pretty heavily.

The PS3 examples you gave are actually not for all titles, nor rules the PS3 launched with so far as I know, but really a reaction to timed exclusives, and somewhat risky although they've paid of for Sony in the end.  I think those rules were aimed more at jRPG developers who Sony knew would look at 360 HW/SW sales in Japan and realize they had to bow down at bit and add stuff for the PS3 versions after going timed for MS initially - as I'd argue the 360 in the end never delivered enough sales for those titles to allow the developers to push back on Sony's ruling.

I know, or at least I accept there seems to be, pressure to stick to 1 DVD, but clearly it's not the same kind of rule Sony's mandatory ones (or other MS mandatory rules) as plenty (in ratio to the genre itself) of RPGs on 360 have had multiple disks, so clearly the precedence is there.  All the developers need to do is put pressure on the relaxation of any penalties for doing so.

I'm pretty sure if Capcom said LP2 was going to release with more content on PS3 due to BR MS would be more than happy to head that off by making it easy for them to use more disks for 360.  I honestly think the 360 needs the third party titles more than ever in its lifecycle so far, as it's already had it's big franchise launches, and with PS3 always essentially pacing it launch adjusted and growing in influence with developers after a shaky start MS simply can't have the DVD seen as limiting at this point.  If the PS3 were to start seeing more and more titles with better assets due to storage limitations it would really hurt the console at exactly the wrong moment pre-Natal and just after it dipped YOY raising the though it might just have passed the peak of its lifecycle curve.

Really, I doubt there will be a point again where third parties could push to change the rules/charges around DVD so readily if they wanted to try to.

 



Try to be reasonable... its easier than you think...

Reasonable said:
WilliamWatts said:

The IHV's do have a lot of sway over developers. I would say the two major rules Sony implemented "Though shalt not make the PS3 version worse than the Xbox 360 version" has really set the tone for the generation as far as multiplatform games are concerned. As well as "Though shalt put more content into thine PS3 version if it be late" so its not a hard stretch that "Thine shall not make games which span two discs unless thine desires additional royalties" Is a significant stop for them to use more than one disc and represents a significant expense. Lost Planet 2 doesn't have the same sway as say Rage because they expect up front that the sales will be heavily biased towards the Xbox 360 anyyway and the designer doesn't have the same sway with the media as Carmack - Tech god and extraordinary gentleman who drives a Tesla roadster. 

I don't see them as needing a justification for DLC and no reasonable game developer speaking to the media would court controversy, especially controversy which puts the main SKU into a negative light. In the case of Rage it was a case of 3 discs vs 2 and the embarrassment of multiple discs (for their image) escalates with the number of discs required. In addition to this, the engine was earmarked as something which multiple developers would use. So they compromised.

So if the developer courts controversy for no real gain then why does he do it? I suspect the content may have actually been important enough for him to feel the need to tell people about.

 

Your last point is what interests me about the comments the most.  It may just be me but if I was Capcom and I had all this extra cut content I'd keep quiet, release the game, state how bloody good it is, imply that I'd love to support the title further, then proudly annouce all this great DLC that's going to be delivered to expand an already great game.

With Rage I can understand how things crept out - and Carmack I love preciesly because he always speaks his mind and never spins stuff (he does have nice cars, doesn't he?) - but in this case Capcom, since they've clearly made the choice to stick to 1 DVD, could simply have kept their mouth shut, which would seem more sensible from a business perspective, but they didn't.

Now they've given the impression that:

1 - the game was comprimised because of 360 HW, which ain't going to please 360 fans nor MS

2 - the PS3 version didn't need to be comprimised but was anyway to remain consistent on each HD console, which ain't going to please PS3 fans nor Sony

3 - that they're going to make us buy the cut content which we'd actually have got with the title if they hadn't had to fit it on 1 DVD, which shouldn't please anyone who thinks about it whether you prefer 360 or PS3

 

Really odd thing to do IMHO.

 

Also, I know the HW guys have a lot of sway, but with PS3 struggling relative to PS2 and 360 down a bit YOY and reliant on third parties the most I reckon if they actually got together they could push back pretty heavily.

The PS3 examples you gave are actually not for all titles, nor rules the PS3 launched with so far as I know, but really a reaction to timed exclusives, and somewhat risky although they've paid of for Sony in the end.  I think those rules were aimed more at jRPG developers who Sony knew would look at 360 HW/SW sales in Japan and realize they had to bow down at bit and add stuff for the PS3 versions after going timed for MS initially - as I'd argue the 360 in the end never delivered enough sales for those titles to allow the developers to push back on Sony's ruling.

I know, or at least I accept there seems to be, pressure to stick to 1 DVD, but clearly it's not the same kind of rule Sony's mandatory ones (or other MS mandatory rules) as plenty (in ratio to the genre itself) of RPGs on 360 have had multiple disks, so clearly the precedence is there.  All the developers need to do is put pressure on the relaxation of any penalties for doing so.

I'm pretty sure if Capcom said LP2 was going to release with more content on PS3 due to BR MS would be more than happy to head that off by making it easy for them to use more disks for 360.  I honestly think the 360 needs the third party titles more than ever in its lifecycle so far, as it's already had it's big franchise launches, and with PS3 always essentially pacing it launch adjusted and growing in influence with developers after a shaky start MS simply can't have the DVD seen as limiting at this point.  If the PS3 were to start seeing more and more titles with better assets due to storage limitations it would really hurt the console at exactly the wrong moment pre-Natal and just after it dipped YOY raising the though it might just have passed the peak of its lifecycle curve.

Really, I doubt there will be a point again where third parties could push to change the rules/charges around DVD so readily if they wanted to try to.

 

I suspect this is what happened:

  1. Capcom approached Microsoft looking to get a reduction/removal in royalties on a 2nd disc.
  2. Microsoft told Capcom to go to hell (no compromises).
  3. Capcom capitulated and relayed news to designer.
  4. Lost Planet 2 designer makes interview in hopes of forcing Microsofts hand like the Rage/Carmack event.

If there was a compromise then they would not want to jeapordise it by speaking to the media in this fashion. My suspicion is that Microsoft ceded no ground on this issue.

In this case Microsoft holds the cards, unlike with the JRPGs in Japan they have the largest market for this kind of game. In addition to this, they also have the largest shooter release coming this year which Capcom will not want to release against and further to that they are the publisher of Gears of War and as Lost Planet 2 is effectively Marcus and Dom at the Winter Olympics they don't exactly have a leg to stand on in relation to this content which further increases the importance of the Xbox 360 version in relation to any alternatives the PS3 may offer.

Microsoft doesn't tell developers that they cannot release more than one disc but its almost typically a false choice because to do so would effectively double the royalties paid by the developer from say $7.50 per game to $15 on top of another dollar in packaging costs. The games which did release on multiple disks have the signature of Microsoft involvement somewhere, they are the only publisher which has released more than one game on multiple discs -> Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Forza 3, and Halo: ODST off the top of my head.

Im pretty sure there are firm rules about releasing games which have significant content differences, this goes beyond Joker Challenge missions in Batman AA. Microsoft has the trump card here in that they can refuse to 'certify' the game for release on Xbox 360 which effectively makes the game a PS3/PC console exclusive. But given the effort to secure Marcus and Dom this would probably hurt Capcom far more significantly than it would help Sony or hurt Microsoft.

The quality of the assets is really determined by more factors than just disc space. We have seen multiple examples of Xbox 360 games which have higher resolution textures etc due to factors outside of disc storage space such as streaming speed and memory. So to make a big varried game with a lot of different environements it would be expensive to implement and game developers have been scaling back their efforts and not increasing them as the generation has progressed.



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WilliamWatts said:
Reasonable said:
WilliamWatts said:

The IHV's do have a lot of sway over developers. I would say the two major rules Sony implemented "Though shalt not make the PS3 version worse than the Xbox 360 version" has really set the tone for the generation as far as multiplatform games are concerned. As well as "Though shalt put more content into thine PS3 version if it be late" so its not a hard stretch that "Thine shall not make games which span two discs unless thine desires additional royalties" Is a significant stop for them to use more than one disc and represents a significant expense. Lost Planet 2 doesn't have the same sway as say Rage because they expect up front that the sales will be heavily biased towards the Xbox 360 anyyway and the designer doesn't have the same sway with the media as Carmack - Tech god and extraordinary gentleman who drives a Tesla roadster. 

I don't see them as needing a justification for DLC and no reasonable game developer speaking to the media would court controversy, especially controversy which puts the main SKU into a negative light. In the case of Rage it was a case of 3 discs vs 2 and the embarrassment of multiple discs (for their image) escalates with the number of discs required. In addition to this, the engine was earmarked as something which multiple developers would use. So they compromised.

So if the developer courts controversy for no real gain then why does he do it? I suspect the content may have actually been important enough for him to feel the need to tell people about.

 

Your last point is what interests me about the comments the most.  It may just be me but if I was Capcom and I had all this extra cut content I'd keep quiet, release the game, state how bloody good it is, imply that I'd love to support the title further, then proudly annouce all this great DLC that's going to be delivered to expand an already great game.

With Rage I can understand how things crept out - and Carmack I love preciesly because he always speaks his mind and never spins stuff (he does have nice cars, doesn't he?) - but in this case Capcom, since they've clearly made the choice to stick to 1 DVD, could simply have kept their mouth shut, which would seem more sensible from a business perspective, but they didn't.

Now they've given the impression that:

1 - the game was comprimised because of 360 HW, which ain't going to please 360 fans nor MS

2 - the PS3 version didn't need to be comprimised but was anyway to remain consistent on each HD console, which ain't going to please PS3 fans nor Sony

3 - that they're going to make us buy the cut content which we'd actually have got with the title if they hadn't had to fit it on 1 DVD, which shouldn't please anyone who thinks about it whether you prefer 360 or PS3

 

Really odd thing to do IMHO.

 

Also, I know the HW guys have a lot of sway, but with PS3 struggling relative to PS2 and 360 down a bit YOY and reliant on third parties the most I reckon if they actually got together they could push back pretty heavily.

The PS3 examples you gave are actually not for all titles, nor rules the PS3 launched with so far as I know, but really a reaction to timed exclusives, and somewhat risky although they've paid of for Sony in the end.  I think those rules were aimed more at jRPG developers who Sony knew would look at 360 HW/SW sales in Japan and realize they had to bow down at bit and add stuff for the PS3 versions after going timed for MS initially - as I'd argue the 360 in the end never delivered enough sales for those titles to allow the developers to push back on Sony's ruling.

I know, or at least I accept there seems to be, pressure to stick to 1 DVD, but clearly it's not the same kind of rule Sony's mandatory ones (or other MS mandatory rules) as plenty (in ratio to the genre itself) of RPGs on 360 have had multiple disks, so clearly the precedence is there.  All the developers need to do is put pressure on the relaxation of any penalties for doing so.

I'm pretty sure if Capcom said LP2 was going to release with more content on PS3 due to BR MS would be more than happy to head that off by making it easy for them to use more disks for 360.  I honestly think the 360 needs the third party titles more than ever in its lifecycle so far, as it's already had it's big franchise launches, and with PS3 always essentially pacing it launch adjusted and growing in influence with developers after a shaky start MS simply can't have the DVD seen as limiting at this point.  If the PS3 were to start seeing more and more titles with better assets due to storage limitations it would really hurt the console at exactly the wrong moment pre-Natal and just after it dipped YOY raising the though it might just have passed the peak of its lifecycle curve.

Really, I doubt there will be a point again where third parties could push to change the rules/charges around DVD so readily if they wanted to try to.

 

I suspect this is what happened:

  1. Capcom approached Microsoft looking to get a reduction/removal in royalties on a 2nd disc.
  2. Microsoft told Capcom to go to hell (no compromises).
  3. Capcom capitulated and relayed news to designer.
  4. Lost Planet 2 designer makes interview in hopes of forcing Microsofts hand like the Rage/Carmack event.

If there was a compromise then they would not want to jeapordise it by speaking to the media in this fashion. My suspicion is that Microsoft ceded no ground on this issue.

In this case Microsoft holds the cards, unlike with the JRPGs in Japan they have the largest market for this kind of game. In addition to this, they also have the largest shooter release coming this year which Capcom will not want to release against and further to that they are the publisher of Gears of War and as Lost Planet 2 is effectively Marcus and Dom at the Winter Olympics they don't exactly have a leg to stand on in relation to this content which further increases the importance of the Xbox 360 version in relation to any alternatives the PS3 may offer.

Microsoft doesn't tell developers that they cannot release more than one disc but its almost typically a false choice because to do so would effectively double the royalties paid by the developer from say $7.50 per game to $15 on top of another dollar in packaging costs. The games which did release on multiple disks have the signature of Microsoft involvement somewhere, they are the only publisher which has released more than one game on multiple discs -> Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Forza 3, and Halo: ODST off the top of my head.

Im pretty sure there are firm rules about releasing games which have significant content differences, this goes beyond Joker Challenge missions in Batman AA. Microsoft has the trump card here in that they can refuse to 'certify' the game for release on Xbox 360 which effectively makes the game a PS3/PC console exclusive. But given the effort to secure Marcus and Dom this would probably hurt Capcom far more significantly than it would help Sony or hurt Microsoft.

The quality of the assets is really determined by more factors than just disc space. We have seen multiple examples of Xbox 360 games which have higher resolution textures etc due to factors outside of disc storage space such as streaming speed and memory. So to make a big varried game with a lot of different environements it would be expensive to implement and game developers have been scaling back their efforts and not increasing them as the generation has progressed.

Yah, good points.

I'll be curious whether this sort of thing remains the exception or we see more of this.  With Rage it simply seemed the odd game out, but now with FFXIII having space issues (although to be fair that's very specific to that title/genre and the amount of hi-res CG Cut Scenes the game has) and now this from Capcom there is a bit more weight to the DVD holding back content arguement.

The key factors for game assets are, so far as I'm aware, compression and capacity.  The resolution isn't a factor except in terms of how it relates to the other two.  I could have a game with just four textures, and they could be pretty damn hi-res then - although at some point the memory and bandwidth to support the texture would then become an issue.

I think a DVD of content still affords plenty of scope for assets, but on the other hand the examples are growing of developers feeling it as a definate constraint vs what they'd like to do with regards to game assets and the scale of the locales and variety of textures they can use.

Clearly Sony will attempt to make more of this, and presumerably will continue to push for big AAA games to have more content and asssets to put the pressure on to have more capacity or, as in the case of FFXIII, to rely on heavier compression.  They will be all too aware that enough compression would cause 360 versions of titles to look a little worse even though the 360 HW could handle better simply because capacity caused the assets to be shrunk in resolution.

I'm guessing this isn't going to go away as a hot topic but likely to grow in discussion.

Anyway, that's it for me for tonight!  Thanks for the chat.

 



Try to be reasonable... its easier than you think...

The DVD limitation was always a known disadvantage for the 360, and it was known from day one, but it was a calculated risk which has worked in their favour since they were able to launch 1 year ahead of the PS3.

It was known that eventually the DVD limit would start causing compromises with games as developer felt more comfortable making games with the hardware, and thus become more efficient in creating content in the same amount of time as it took to make generation 1 games, it was just a matter of time.

Now the compromises are only apparent on some type of games, since not all games require such amount of data, thus far it seems that the most affected genre has been the JRPG,Lost odyssey, blue dragon, star ocean and now FF13 and even RAGE will all require more than DVD.

The issue will get worse, it's not about being lazy when swamping discs, but the limitation it imposes on the developers and the game they are trying to make, and this is something that no gamer wants regardless of what console they own.

So lets be honest, all this info from developers lamenting the DVD limitation should come as no surprise since it was a given, after all each generation game data has kept growing and this generation is no different.

my 2 cents on this matter.



joeorc said:
johnsobas said:
it's worth doing, but it's not significant for any reason other than making a few bucks on hardware and hopefully building a brand for the future if piracy can be defeated.

so as of 2009 census

85,789,573 people is not significant?

as for Piracy

digital download's

and

Blu-Ray are good anti piracy measure's already

Thailand population:

63,723,953

indonesia population:

240,271,522

philppines population

as of  2008

88,574,614

chile population

15,116,435

Argentina population census 2001

36,260,130

Malaysia population census 2000

24,821,286

still think the market's there do not matter?

to put this intoperspective the united states population as of 2010  estimated census

308,712,000

in the year 2000 the census for the US

281,421,906

no it doesn't matter, it will have no significant impact this gen at all.  Population is meaningless, there is only hope for the future. 
Do you have any idea how much a PS3 costs for someone in Malaysia or Thailand?  You could have enough money to pay for food and a place to live for half a year or buy a ps3.  Don't even get me started on games. 



currently playing: Skyward Sword, Mario Sunshine, Xenoblade Chronicles X

Severance said:
Hisiru said:

"PS3 version could have contained the full experience right off the shelf, but it seems I'm going to have to spend more to get DLC that would have all fitted on the Blu-ray in the first place. FFS."

Do you really believe on that? Really? Why would they cut the content from the PS3 version too? Why wouldn't they make the game in 2 DVDs (which is not necessarily a bad thing)?

It's just an excuse to make more money.

its a shooter game, i don't think you can swap disk everytime you want to play a level , especially online.

uh huh.. I have a feeling you don't really know what "puting multiplayer on one disc and single player on the other" actually means.



And that's the only thing I need is *this*. I don't need this or this. Just this PS4... And this gaming PC. - The PS4 and the Gaming PC and that's all I need... And this Xbox 360. - The PS4, the Gaming PC, and the Xbox 360, and that's all I need... And these PS3's. - The PS4, and these PS3's, and the Gaming PC, and the Xbox 360... And this Nintendo DS. - The PS4, this Xbox 360, and the Gaming PC, and the PS3's, and that's all *I* need. And that's *all* I need too. I don't need one other thing, not one... I need this. - The Gaming PC and PS4, and Xbox 360, and thePS3's . Well what are you looking at? What do you think I'm some kind of a jerk or something! - And this. That's all I need.

Obligatory dick measuring Gaming Laptop Specs: Sager NP8270-GTX: 17.3" FULL HD (1920X1080) LED Matte LC, nVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M, Intel Core i7-4700MQ, 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3, 750GB SATA II 3GB/s 7,200 RPM Hard Drive

johnsobas said:
 

no it doesn't matter, it will have no significant impact this gen at all.  Population is meaningless, there is only hope for the future. 
Do you have any idea how much a PS3 costs for someone in Malaysia or Thailand?  You could have enough money to pay for food and a place to live for half a year or buy a ps3.  Don't even get me started on games. 

that's like saying " do not release the system in a region because not everyone can get it" yea no duh, the average person may not but the market is still there and , and that thinking of it will have no significant impact this generation at all, way to go..yea lets ignore any market that you do not deem as significant. there is a term for that but Im not going to say it, but what I will say is this, if the people who felt that way running companies nothing would ever be done to expand your market .

and just because there may not be the number of people /pop that cannot get the PS3 does not mean you should ignore the region like it does not matter.

the wii so far  has  launched in 38 countries world wide

the playstation 3 so far has launched in 36 countries world wide

the xbox360 so far has launched in 21 countries world wide

so don't tell me it does not matter!



I AM BOLO

100% lover "nothing else matter's" after that...

ps:

Proud psOne/2/3/p owner.  I survived Aplcalyps3 and all I got was this lousy Signature.