Why some PS3 games need installations

[Shrygue]

via Joystiq


Back in the golden days when we did a lot of gaming on PC, installations were known as "get pumped" time. You looked through the instruction booklet, you saw if you could wear the cloth map as a scarf, you'd watch the bar grow and, in short, get totally pumped. But PS3 owners today are, understandably, a little less jazzed when it happens to them.

MTV did a little digging to find out why some games need it and some games don't and the answers may surprise you. In short, different parts of a disc move at different speeds. DVD players can read at different speeds, but Blu-ray players read at one, so DVDs being dropped onto Blu-rays causes the problems. A similar problem doesn't exist with the hard drive. There are ways around installing (obviously), but they sound like they require a bit more work for the developer.

For you PS3 owners: How much of a problem is installation? Is it a pain? Or do you welcome the return of "get pumped" time?

[Triv1um]

I don't mind it.

But I know eventually my 60gb will be full of these. All these 1gb+ instalations will end up not fitting.

But still, I dont mind at all.. If it improves the speeds of the game and stuff, I will more than happily do it.

[JKKDARK]

That's terrible, installing games like a computer

[Napalm-Death]

I don't mind it at all, if it decreases load times, I'm all for it.

[goity]

It doesn't take anywhere near as long as a computer. For most games it's minimal, and for others it never takes long. I'm pretty sure nobody who actually owns a PS3 moans about this (yes JKKDARK, that is aimed at you. Why do you constantly bash the PS3 for no reason?).
Besides, you aren't ever going to play 60 games at once, so just delete a few when you don't need them.

[Shrygue]

For me, initial hard drive installs are almost nothing - as long as I'm able to play the game I want, it's fine. I have plenty of space on my hard drive and if there reaches a time I don't, I just delete some content or so to make space - no problems here.

[DarthPaul]

Perhaps most games should be like Unreal Tournament III. You can use it with slower(fast) loading times, or you can install it and have faster loading times.

yes JKKDARK, that is aimed at you. Why do you constantly bash the PS3 for no reason?

Because he doesn't have one.

[simonjhall]

At least you've just got to install it + perhaps get a firmware update.
With PC games you often have to piss around with graphics drivers for ages if you've got a new and flashy video card...

[splodger15]

Doesn't bother me at all I'll just go something else while it installs

[Ultima Chocochu]

No one normally minds(myself included) because the game loads faster and runs smoother.
Plus it seems like when anything get's past 50% on a PS3 it takes seconds after that to finish it seems.