No, it doesn't. It makes it the same for both the PS3 and the 360. The ONLY advantage to doing this is that now you don't have to listen to the 360's disc drive screaming like a 747 powering up for takeoff. You still have to wait for the game to install. This is the same as the PS3 except that the whole game is installing. Other than the disc drive stopping, this will do nothing but bring the game's load times down to the level that you see on modern PS3 games. If you think installing a game to the HDD will eliminate load times entirely, you are wrong. (try playing a few PC games) This feature is not going to bring the 360 significantly ahead of the PS3 because most newer PS3 games already have very low load times and the disc drive was never an issue for PS3 owners. It will give the 360 a slight advantage because load times will be lower than the PS3, but not by an incredible amount. I'm not trying to troll, but I think a lot of people are getting waay too excited about this feature. It will be nice, but it's not going to shift the balance of power very much, if at all.

Man, this is only for 60/120 GB HDD owners really but I really dont feel like upgrading.

Its a nice feature though. Especially the noise cutdown and the fact that its OPTIONAL.

Im sure as a PS3 owner, Id rather have it optional. Imagine this feature for MGS4. There would be no installations during every start of every Act.

Sony Fanboys again and again.

• You have to install almost every game on the PS3
• This won't reduce load times significantly
• You have the option, if you like to install on the 360 or not.
• This will reduce load times significantly

THIS IS PS3-ADVANTAGE !!!111

I just don't get, why people can't say something good about another console. The PS3 is not my console of choice, but I don't say, that everything that comes with the it is bad. I can say it is reliable, it is quiet and not every game on it sucks. Why is there no Sony fan saying: "Hey, this option to install whether u like it or not is a good idea." or "the Netflix-deal sounds pretty cool" Believe me guys, it won't hurt you in any way.

So, I will bale to choose between playing right now or ripping the image to play from the hdd, lower load times, almost no use of the optical media (Less chances to scracth the dvd)... sounds good...

Ok. Lets compare installations on both systems:

Now, maybe it's me, but having the OPTION on ALL GAMES to have a superior playing experience will always trump possible, and/or unknown benefits that are forced upon me, if I was a PS3 gamer. The only disadvantage of the X360 install is that your doing a full install, therefore more memory is taken up. Outside of this, the X360's installation procedure will be universally better. Every multi-platform game that has required mandatory installations on the PS3 have seen only a slight increase in preformance: I can only wonder what the advantage would be if a user installed the same game onto their Xbox 360.

Sony should adopt this strategy too, I think. Although the installation times and memory it takes up would be substantially higher than the X360, and maybe have slower load times (due to the fact that the same game will most likely take up more memory, therefore requiring longer access times), it's still a better idea than forcing you to do something.

im going to love this update, my 360 will be just as quiet as my ps3

I assume you'll still require the disc in the 360 to actually play the game, otherwise developers could lose a lot of money from people who go to Blockbuster rent several games, install them and return them.

Chris - As mentioned in the OP, yes, your 100% right.

You will still need a disc in to validate you own the game. However, if it's a multiple-CD game (such as Final Fantasy XIII, Lost Odyssey, or Blue Dragon), you will only need 1 DVD, and shouldn't need to switch discs.

actually, according to NPD June 2008, the sales are exactly where they were 1 year ago.

Last year:

This year:

I am a Sony fan, and I have said, and still think all those options of the 360 are awesome. I am very glad it's there. Where I take issue, is now when the 360 has installs, it's all the sudden a great thing. When it was just on the PS3, it was the dumbest thing ever done in console gaming.

Now because they are being hypocritical, there only saving grace is to cling onto the "mandatory" angle. Funny how that was never there main arguing point as to why not to do it.

Anyway, so no. I have no problems with the options. I think they are great! It's the fanboys I have a problem with :)