PS3 load times minimized with new install feature

Sony’s recent Gamer Day, held at Dogpatch Studios in San Francisco, revealed that the PlayStation 3 can minimize certain games’ load times. According to MTV’s Stephen Totilo, who attended the event, the game Genji: Days of the Blade has an install feature allowing its 15-second in-game load times to go down to four seconds each. This is achieved by allowing the 4 GB game to be transferred to the PS3’s hard drive.

The interesting thing about this is that if the game installations leave a footprint on your machine, that could stop people from buying games second-hand. It’s good that you will be given the choice, but even so, many are going to choose to install to get quicker load times. This will be especially true on some of the more cutscene-heavy titles.

How far this feature will extend through the range of PS3 games is anyone’s guess, but I’m sure games that reach the 20 GB mark and beyond may be limited in what they install. It may just be that a core of functionality makes it to the hard drive while the rest is streamed from the disc. It’s an interesting idea nonetheless, but one that could anger gamers if it affects the second-hand PS3 games market.