DICE on Xbox 360′s 9GB DVD Format, More Battlefield 3 Details

The Xbox 360′s DVD format is restricted to just 9GB, thus resulting in the game shipping on two disks for the console.

[doctorstrange]

It'll be interesting to see what format everyone adopts. I hope Sony and MS go for a similar size one, so multiplats will fully utilize the space.

[matgrowcott]

That's why it's so nice to see multi-disk releases on the 360. At least you know it's unlikely that anything has been trimmed to fit it into the 9GB.

[r1sh12]

@matgrowcott...Agree, I think some people make too much of a multi disc game. They took the best route by have SP on one disc and MP on another disc with an optional HD pack. Im sure many devs will follow suit, at least DICE took the time to do this. I wonder if MW3 is on 2 discs?
As long as a 360 user has a respectable hard drive (60Gb +) they should be fine with a couple of games installed.

[SkylineR]

Don't forget that the PC version also comes on DVD, not just the 360 version.

[gamingdroid]

Well if you really want that "texture pack", it's actually only 1.5GB. Any modern USB keychain drive will work with your Xbox 360 and you can install it.

Fact is, if you didn't pay for the hard drive then why would you expect that feature?

So I think it is a good happy medium that provides option for whatever option you choose.

[Solidus187-SCMilk]

Im sure MS will use blu ray. it would have been if 360 had it come out later I think.

Im sure MS want to have the standard HD movie format in their console. Back in 2005 it was not the standard and was expensive, now its standard and cheap.

[bumnut]

Disagreed by mistake. sorry

[gamingdroid]

I think they will use a proprietary format to make it harder to pirate.

MS can still offer the option to view Blu-Ray movies as an addition, but I think MS strategy is to go all digital download/streaming instead. That movement has already started and in 2-3 years time, we might see a decline in physical media.

[Legion]

I am not confident that they will go the Bluray route, they could have another medium up their sleeves that would have a better read speed.

[Solidus187-SCMilk]

legion, thats one of the reasons why they will go with bluray. The read speed of the PS3 bluray is slow because it is a 2x bluray drive. back in 2006, thts all they had.

By now they could get a faster reading blu-ray drive for cheap. Im sure the ps4 and next xbox will have likea 4x or 6x blu ray drive.

At least faster than the Ps3's early 2x blu ray drive.

MS will not go all digital, they know that about half of their 360s are not even connected to the internet, and it will take a long time to DL the bigger games of next gen. DL a 6 GB game now is one thing, constantly DL 15-50 Gb games next generation will prevent us from getting an all Digital console any time soon.

Id say MS will use around a 6x blu-ray drive, maybe even faster depending on whan the console arrives.

Im sure they want their console to be able to play bluray movies as its the standard now.

[death2smoochie]

Bypass Blu-ray and optical media altogether.
Just have the next round of consoles using massive HDD or SSD and have all games installed on them.
Only use the optical drive to install the game. So it won't matter if its
DVD-9 or Bluy-Ray.
You keep the physical copy and install it.
PC's do this and hopefully the next generation consoles follow. No more load times or little of it.

[Legion]

Solidus187-SCMilk "Im sure they want their console to be able to play bluray movies as its the standard now."

DVDs are still the standard, don't let anyone fool you. Bluray sales have not come close to surpassing DVD sales and won't anytime soon.

But yes, it would be nice to have a device that would play DVD, and Bluray... but I would care most to have the best media for my games to play versus having the best media device. So if they have a better media for gaming then go with it. As for the reading device... they can always spend that little more to have a device that reads DVD, Bluray without needing to use Bluray as their game media. And if it reads DVD, Bluray and gaming media then that is even better.

[ATi_Elite]

Next Gen: Sony Next Gen Blu-Ray and more installs
M$ PC DVD Rom and all installs

[john2]

It wasn't surprising when DICE revealed it'll ship on two disks - just can't wait for the game, either way.

[psb]

m picking this up for the PS3, I'm not bothered one bit about it shipping on two disks on the Xbox 360.

[XDF]

Then why bothered putting in your 2 cent worth of opinion?

[JaredH]

I'm gonna pick it up on 360 and I'm not bothered by having two disks either.

[Perjoss]

When games start using 6 or 7 discs then i might get a bit frustrated. I played Lost Odyssey with 4 discs and that was no problem at all, once you have the discs installed you forget all about it.

[wwm0nkey]

actually the 360 DVD9's only store up to 7.9gigs now. It used to be 6.8 gigs but they freed up an extra gig by removing the security checks from the disc and putting the security checks on the DVD drive itself.

[AngelicIceDiamond]

Hmm multiple discs never bugged me before this gen why start with a Triple A shooter.

[Venjense]

Well 9 gigs is better than the 6.6 limit used all gen.

[wwm0nkey]

Again the person who wrote this is wrong about the 9 gigs thing, Battlefield 3 does use the new format but the new format only supports 7.8gigs.

Good thing this generation is ending in 2 more years, so we don't have to see multi-disc games again. They don't bother me but having it all on a single disc would be great.

[Vortex3D]

Even PS3 Blu-ray can store up to 50GB, most developers only want to use 25GB and argued the Blu-ray disc is full and can't fit everything. Of course we know what the developers said that to find an excuse to sell part of the game as DLC.

A better question to developers who removed part of the game contents to be sold as DLC during launch. Since X360 version usually max out the discs and the DLC must be downloaded, why can't the PS3 version put the DLC on the disc but locked with a code?

[gypsygib]

I can't wait until devs start implementing HD audio next gen.

Although, there's no reason for PS3 games not to have HD audio as 25 gigs is more than enough.

[Perjoss]

Lemmi is right, most good looking modern games rely on a nice amount of video ram, neither console has a good amount of that.

[wwm0nkey]

@lemmi

If the topic was about RAM and GPU capabilities I would talk about those, we all know new systems need to get here but I will also be happy when there are no longer multi-disc games.

[xX_Altair_Xx]

Considering how MS say the future is digital it'd be interesting to see if they have the guts to go digital only with the X720. They've already dismissed Bluray as an option so I don't think they will backtrack.

[kaveti6616]

There's no reason why they can't use Blu-Ray now.

[GraveLord]

They'd be effectively killing off all of their fanbase.
People like discs and they always will.

No home console will ever be digital-only. Games will only keep getting bigger and bigger in size while internet keeps getting more expensive.

[Laxman]

OnLive is a home console. It takes it one step further and is stream only.

[lochdoun]

I can't ever foresee AAA games being download only.
Not gonna happen any time soon.

[KaBaW]

I can agree, that it is looking like digital will be the future, but not anytime soon.
They'll have some sort of physical media, for the next Xbox. Would be dumb not to.
There are still way too many people that do not have an (reliable) internet connection.
Microsoft would lose out on way too many sales, as well as the game companies.

[AceofStaves]

As long as bandwidth caps are in place, I can't see any major home console going digital only. We may see simultaneous release of digital and hard-copy versions of games becoming standard next gen, but I don't think we'll see digital only any time soon.

[drsnobby]

Bluray will not be the dominating format next gen.MS just may bring out there own disc format.digital distribution will be more available for gamers next gen.next gen will be a different story for MS and SONY.

[BlackTar187]

you really think they would release a new format when its not needed? sounds awfully expensive and if it fails seems a bit too much

[RankFTW]

Haha discs..

[GraveLord]

Multiple discs are no problem.........for story focused games like RPGs.

When there are FPS games coming on 2 discs you know your console format is outdated.

[maniacmayhem]

Single player game on one disc.

Multi player game on second disc.

No problem there.

[Laxman]

Hey, can anyone tell me if BF3 on the PC will have controller pad support? Like, could I use my Razor controller with it?

[solidt12]

I was using the xbox 360 controller on the PC Beta with no problem so it should work. The Drivers are already built into the game. I was doing better with the 360 Controller than I was with a mouse and keyboard.

[Laxman]

Ah okay, sweet. Yeah, im torn between the PC and the 360 version. I only just got a new computer capable of running the game, and I love the idea of bigger maps and more players, but I am no good at using the keyboard and mouse for shooting games.

[ddurand1]

Hopefully this is one step closer to companies selling MP and SP separately.

[KaBaW]

Why would you hope that they sell SP and MP separately?
Are you talking about two individual sales, for both SP and MP?
Or, just that you hope that they separate the two on individual discs?

[ddurand1]

I dont play the single player portion of games.

In a perfect world, a multiplayer portion of a game will be sold separetly and will cost 50$. It will include all planned DLC for the multiplayer version only.

Im sick of paying for games and only playing the multiplayer, and paying 60$ for them new.

[gypsygib]

Lol thats what you want but what you'll get is pay-to-play MP for every game. Have fun paying every publisher a monthly/yearly fee for MP.

Gaming will get a lot more expensive for the MP focused crowd.

[BlackTar187]

worst idea on this board lol

[AceofStaves]

I agree. I don't play the multiplayer options of games, so it would be great if I could buy just the single-player campaigns.

[AO1JMM]

I hope the next gen consoles do not have drastic limitations as some have this gen.

[AO1JMM]

So 2 people hope one of the next consoles is held back by poor choice in hardware?

No hard drive is a drastic limitation by the way....

[dan_chan89]

I'm picking it up on Pc you guiz.

[AriesSiren]

the multi disc never bothered me. its the compression that i dont like with 360. the audio on the PS3 is so much cleaner and better. Has way more channels of sound. DTS and HD audio is just so much better. Playing in DTS is just insane. Dark Souls, Mortal Kombat, Uncharted all support it and many other games do as well. Video(CG FMV) is uncompressed as well. I really hope MS releases their new console soon as DVD is old tech. I'll be suprised if they go blu ray. it will be best if they do for us, but not for MS.

[Bleach]

The Xbox360 version should be priced higher, especially if it's on 3 discs. Why should the publisher front the cost.

[zero_cool]

Sony has already licensed a prototype format folks known as an holographic versatile disc!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

http://electronics.howstuff...