I thought about both sides very carefully last year when I was thinking about which system to buy my multi-plats on. The PS3 fans made a very compelling argument against getting up to change discs. So I put my Xbox 360 next to my chair and the disks under the seat and the rest is history.

TBH, that was so funny I stopped buying PS3 games almost completely after that, because I couldn't be bothered to get up to change the disc!

Listen to PS3 fans! They teach well.

To be entirely honest, though, those $50 today don't only buy you a swap-free gaming experience, but also a top-tier Blu-ray 2.0 movies player, and in some cases - see Carmack's interview about Rage's textures - better game content.

I guess FFXIII will be the next big testing ground.

If disc-swapping is a problem depands on the game. As long as the whole gameworld fits on one disc, which is the case in most JRPG's, it's no problem. However if the gameworld is bigger than one disc it's going to be very annoying. Just imagine GTA4 was on 2 (or more) discs and every time you go from one part of the city to another you need to swap discs, it will feel like the C64 days all over again.

I can't even play through Street Fighter IV without swapping in a different game. Multi discs aren't a problem for me. I bought PS1 games BECAUSE they were on multiple discs (Final Fantasy VII turned me on to this). I was surprised when Final Fantasy X was all on one disc. Disc swapping isn't too bad.

There are somethings that I didn't mind back in 1997 like dial up and disk swapping but it is no longer 1997.

Is there anything that was okay in 1997 that's still okay now?  Dual Shock controllers, for example.........

I was okay with long installs and slow disc speeds in 1997, but it is no longer 1997.

Come on Megadude, get over yourself; when the system wars have come down to arguing whether getting up for 5 seconds versus a mandatory install, we have become petty indeed.

 I love the installs actually I'll take the faster load times any day since I never worry about Hard Drive space because I don't need to buy a $150 Microsoft HD.

@d12 how many tiemes has your 360 died on you again?

Actually without those mandatory installs the game would LAG,even with the Cell,even with the Blue Ray it would lag and stuggle to put up all the data at once.

It's Sony Selective Memory Syndrome or SSMS. When Sony does something it's fine, its only an issue when I competitor does it. PS3 Fanboys have been exibiting this for years now.

@D21Lewis

Excellent point on the Dualshock controller. That design blew when it was on PS1. Here we are 13 years later and Sony still has the the same controller.