E3 2011: Dark Souls PS3 Is Superior, 360 Version Heavily Compressed Onto One Disc

When Demon’s Souls was released several years ago by Atlus in North America, it was a PS3 exclusive. With the follow up title, Dark Souls coming this year, it will no longer be a PS3 exclusive title as a Xbox 360 version is coming as well. Now, the big question is, which of the two versions is better?

[Ilikegames76]

My other question is, did they remove contents so that the game fit on one DVD disc?

[Shanks]

If it's heavily compressed I think it means no content has bean removed.

[GfxPipeline]

Not at all. They certainly could have been faced with deciding the 360 version looks and sounds bad enough that they start chopping out stuff from the actual game so that the heavily compressed game data can fit on the 360's stupid last gen DVD format.

[Shanks]

True.

[Skip_Bayless]

I didn't know it was multiplat. I will not buy this game unless it gets a high meta-score.

[starchild]

Considering that it looks better than Demon's Souls and is supposed to be bigger I think the answer is no.

[DatNJDom81]

I wouldn't be surprised if they did. Expect dlc. If that.

[EVILDEAD360]

Bookmarked..just to show Karma later on down the road..

Owned Demon Souls day one and I could care less if it's compressed or not..I'm buying Dark for the 360..there no way in hades am I going to get my @ss handed to me again and again and again by a game and not earn achievements this time around..

Can't wait till it drops

Evil

[limewax]

Enjoy getting your achievements on your compressed version, Meanwhile I will enjoy my trophies from Dark Souls and Demons Souls :/

Could you explain to me what makes achievements superior to trophies?

[malamdra]

well, that's something you don't hear everyday

but it's not that relevant, this game is not for the 360 audience: it's the sequel to a cult game they don't know, and it's suppose to be even harder than DS

[AAACE5]

In all honesty... Who cares? Demon souls didn't sell well and this won't either!

This is a game targeted at a certain type of gamer who is quickly becoming extinct!

Hopefully i'm wrong and it gets the respect it deserves.

[oldjadedgamer]

@AAA

Demon souls did sell well. Thats why a sequel is being made.

[YoungKingDoran]

oh we're not going anywhere AAACE5

[BeOneWithTheGun]

So i got that key off the dark souls website (for getting the glyphs correctly) anyone know what its going to do for me? Im pretty excited about it.

[sdtarm]

wow all M$ fanboys are tripping out in this article

[qwertyz]

probably not but ps3 will still have FAR superior quality sound though :)

[sikbeta]

Dude, alright with the superior version, but f*** it if they cut content to fit in 1 DVD... still buying it anyway...

[Ninver]

@ llikegames76

I agree with your question. Demons Souls held nothing back on the ps3. I expect Dark Souls to be even bigger else we all know what prehistoric hardware kept it back.

[dragunrising]

I found Demon's Souls to be quite nice looking, however not because of the graphics, but the art direction.

I love how people see the word "port" and automatically assume the worst. Its common practice nowadays to make the PS3 version the lead platform on account its easier to port from the PS3 to 360. It used to be the opposite and the PS3 version suffered slightly (or not at all); no one seemed to think it was the end of the world then. There are plenty of ports with PS3 lead that look great. Dead Space 2 off the top of my head looks the same and performs the same on both consoles. Perhaps Dark Souls may suffer slightly on the 360, perhaps it will look/play comparable. The game isn't out yet.

Its hypocritical to say that the 360 is prehistoric when its only a year older than the PS3. The DVD format may be well on its way to the grave however compression technologies keep getting better. Wonder why Infamous 1 (now on the PSN and for free) is 6.6 GB? Compression. The quality is the same. DVD and compression have become bad words on N4G...

With all of that said, I will more than likely pick up Dark Souls on PS3 because its a pseudo spiritual sequel to Demon's Souls- not because I'm scared of DVD's and compression.

[Persistantthug]

And DVD is still doable.

However, the problem in the XBOX 360's case, from a game developer's standpoint, is that not every unit has a harddrive.

Yes the can compress, but then data must be DECOMPRESSED on the fly, and that takes comp. cycles.

That's why XBOX 360's own first party games like Halo Reach and ALAN WAKE are sub HD.

The harddrive issue was a real backwards step for this generation.

[Kon]

prehistoric hardware... You trolls crack me up. Oh wait, that wasn't funny at all

[jaosobno]

In case they did cut content:

I wanna give a big shout out to my man Steve @microsoft for using his money to shit on my gaming experience. Thx microsoft, this game wouldn't be the same without you (literally).

[Dragun619]

I hope they didn't cut content out, that would be disappointing but It seems that DVD will be holding 360 back now considering more titles like Rage, FFXIII-2, L.A. Noire, need more disc space. And it doesn't help when Wii U will also have 25gb discs too.

Anyways, I was already getting this on PS3, but you know what would be awesome treat? If From Software rewarded players who completed or got the Platinum trophy for Demon's Souls like Sucker Punch did for Infamous 2.

[hiredhelp]

Actually 25gb is good amount m8. If for multiplatform games they only use 25gb discs and even most exclusive ps3 titles have only few have used 50gb
So nintendo will be ok plenty of room for uncompressed data.

[Dragun619]

Yeah, I should of clarified that I meant Multiplatform developers are starting to utilize 25/50gb Blu-ray and soon the Wii-U with it's 25gb Disc. I think Multiplaform devs will eventually sacrifice some content in order to fit on one or even three DVD's when the other two consoles can have all the content stored on one disc.

[PhoenixDevil]

The reward idea is awesome though I dnt really kno what they could give, maybe some special armour or something, also with the world and soul tendancys being taken out I wonder how long this game will take to platinum I managed Demons souls in 96 hours n 31 mins :D either way im gona play the game through with no worry about trophies the first time just to enjoy the experience :)

[meetajhu]

Too bad +1 GB disc update didn't help. Yo microsoft you should have put ur Hd-dvd on the 360 instead of a 200$ addon. People should have sued MS for cheating them with that HD-dvd shi* yet people sue for a free service which was down for 1 month.

[kevnb]

sue them for making a product as advertised?

[morganfell]

If MS would have installed HD DVD, and eaten the cost they would have won the format war. I say "they" because MS was in the format war up to their necks.

Once the war was lost it was amazing how MS and their diehard supporters attempted to act as if MS wasn't pushing HD DVD and had no direct interest in the outcome. I can' believe people ate that kind of money because of MS and then just wrote it off as if it was okay.

[phinch]

@ Morganfell Not really, the reason the format war ended was because Blu ray bought the rights to Disney films, putting in the hd'dvd would have been good for gamers,but would have done poorley in the film industry which was the deciding factor.

[Tru_Blu]

@ phinch, where are you getting this info from lol. The format war ended long after blu-ray and the ps3 launched. The deciding factor was when Warner Bros finally had enough of 2 formats and said we are going blu-ray only from now on.

[l2dusk]

They can always pull a Saquare-Enix and sell the removed content a year later at full price =)

[Falaut]

OMG Head Pants!!!!!

[Tdmd]

And that's why I though since the beginning it should had remained a exclusive. Call it FFXIII trauma.

[pain777pas]

@Ilikegames76
I hear you bro but, don't hurt your head over this stuff because we all know that it will make DLC their best friend. This is the generation of DLC! LOL! It is still a good question though non the less. I didn't play the game. Yes, I'm Sorry! Should I pick it up? If so, why?

[hassi94]

Isn't it meant to be a very linear game? Why not just 2-3 discs?

[Son_Lee]

I bet that one 360 disc took a beating just like countless gamers will when this comes out.

[Godmars290]

The disagrees you got either have yet to play the game, or can't take a joke.

[qwertyz]

crysis 2 was HEAVILY compressed on 360 yet the ps3 version didn't have an advantage in visuals just sound quality

edit: why the stealth disagree or does anyone think crysis 2 looked better on ps3 ?

[Biggest]

"just sound quality"

You do realize that sound quality is an advantage, right? I like my games the way I like my women; Beautiful and worth listening to.

[qwertyz]

i know its an advantage I never said it wasn't so why the stealth disagrees ?

[coolasj]

You may disagree. But damn if this guy doesn't have a women already. I'm a sound advocate too. 2 towers and a sub-woofer really make gaming easier. And surround sound makes you god.

[Anderson8]

calm down dude..they're only disagrees.. dnt take it to heart

[Close_Second]

So, what was left out of the PS3 version because of the limited storage on the 360? Developers dont typically want to release console versions that are too different.

[Pyscho_Mantis]

the game was exclusively made for the ps3 in Japan....it was then ported to the 360 by Namco not From Software so nothing was cut.

[CaptainMarvelQ8]

The game needs to be removed from the disc in order to fit

[Apotheosize]

Demons Souls wasnt a big game either guys, dont worry about cut content or anything

Edit: Disagrees? Prove to me that DS took full advantage of Blurays size. It didnt, the game was around 6 GB

[JAMurida]

Why do you guys jump so fast at disagrees?

I see stuff like that all the time on this site. It's almost like you guys sit there refreshing your webpage a million times waiting for someone to agree or disagree with your comment, lol.

[rjdofu]

I guess they just find it hard to take different opinions.

@Apotheosize: yes i agree with you, but i'm sure some people just read your first sentence :"Demons Souls wasnt a big game either guys". And they disagree immediately & ignore the rest. Don't stress it too much mate.

[sikbeta]

We're talking about a NEW game here, you know, a game that could add More content compared to DS, but then cut some because it couldn't fit in 1 DVD...

[WitWolfy]

never finished the first one but will like to see how the two games compare to each other in the end.

[GamerPS360]

witwolfy, stay off N4G and enjoy life. BS

[HellzAssassin]

Agreed with C0MPUT3R... How could you not finish it!? It's... Demon's Souls! I've played through it around 8 times with just ONE character: at least 12-14 times overall, legit platinum, I do have like 4 characters as well, etc. It's incredible... I would recommend you getting back on that and finishing DS.

[WitWolfy]

Agreed, Im already 40Hrs in and it feels like I havent even touched it yet

[GoldPS3]

It don't matter. It will sell less than 100k on 360. The other rest will pirate it.

[Peaceful_Jelly]

LMAO, so true L0Lz/

[kevnb]

demons souls was like 6 gigs...

[ClimateKaren]

This is Dark Souls, evidently.

[JAMurida]

I would still like to see cross platform (PS3/360) with this and many other games. Would make the online part of it be much better.

On topic though, I'm sure the majority of people out there won't care about one version being better in terms of sound/graphics. For example, LA Norie. Game was on three disc, compressed stuff, etc..., while the PS3 was on one disc and it still sold more on 360. People just generally don't care. The only ones who do are a minority of gamers.

[SuperSaiyan4]

I have just checked the net and Demon Souls was only 5.8gb! In fact majority of PS3 titles do not even hit anywhere near the 25gb or even 50gb of a blu-ray disc. As said countless times before its all padding.

Xbox 360 discs now offer an additional 1gb of space so if Demon Souls was only 5.8gb in size then Dark Souls should have no problems fitting nicely on 1 dvd with minimal compression.

[Petro]

You haven't even played Demon's Souls obviously, cause you didn't even get it's name right.

[Zynga]

I have played this game a lot and still manage to write it wrong like he has. So what's your point?

[humbleopinion]

This comment is so epic. Makes the JPS look like the troll bait that it really is. Compressed audio/textures on X360? Not as compressed as Demon's Souls it seems...

[Godmars290]

Because dark Souls is exactly the same game as Demon's Souls. Same graphics, same level layout and sound. They didn't improve anything which would have required more memory.

[/sarcasm]

[KongRudi]

The game will look great on both platforms.
360-owners have nothing to worry about, it's not like you'll get a botched version.

I assume they're using updated version of the same engine as last game, a modified version of Sony's free Phyre-engine - that will port over well to other platforms, atleast other games using that engine (like the first Dirt-game, Gripshift) prooves that it's a great multiplatform-engine.
The latest Phyre-engine build supports MLAA on PS3, that will probably not be available on 360, but they will get the MSAA instead. I assume they will use Havok physics on both.

It's not the shiny graphics wich makes the game looks so good anyway, it's the general atmosphere you get when playing it wich is basically unmatched by anything.
From a technical standpoint, I assume that Skyrim and other games will look better, but I'll be very suprised if they can match the atmosphere.

As for what they mentioned, it's probably mainly the sound they've compressed; and it will sound the same as 99% of other 360-games, inferior quality Dolby Digital - compared to uncomressed LPCM, or lesser compressed formats like DTS, THX, wich is usually available on PS3.

[Jocosta]

Dude its a game, not a fine wine, get a grip.

[LFC1EE]

I hate flamebaiting and this site thats all it has to offer, they are both the same i'm not going to say i love sony so that i only buy sony products or i'm totally in love with sony same goes for microsoft at the end of the day they want your hard earned cash, they don't love you.

[DanteKnightsTemplar]

Well. 10yrs ago, dvds were worthwhile. In 2011..its embarassing to still put games on them.

[PirateThom]

Why are people bringing up Demon's Souls disc image sizes? Mass Effect 1 was one DVD and Mass Effect 2 was 2 DVDs... game development changes, content size changes, you can't look at a past game and say "well, this was true of this game, so it must be the same for the new one"... especially when this isn't even the same series.

[Bounkass]

It's all about the money these days...

[Run_bare]

i only have PS3.

[bloodybutcher]

i don't think Demon's Souls took much space on a disc, it wasn't even impressing graphically, more had a unique art to it,that's why i love that and still occasionally play^^and it was unforgivable gameplay and online part that made DS bigger then expected,Atlus had to print out more copies in US^^

[RAmar101]

Ps3 is the only console to get this on. If they said 360 had to be heavily compressed then it must be

[death2smoochie]

what would be embarrassing is if the game ends up looking and running better on the Xbox360 when released after all this
:-o

[00000000000000000001]

MS uses Lossless data compression, that means there isn't any loss of data. The game will be the same. If you don't believe me look it up!

[gamer7804]

I expect them to look pretty close, but its a ps3 dev team with the ps3 the lead platform, so it SHOULD look a little better on the ps3. If the situation was reversed i would expect it to look a little better on the 360. Just common sense.

[PandaJenkins]

Must look pretty damn nice on PS3 then. Saw a 360 demo from E3 and it looked better than demon souls for sure.

[Lex Luthor]

The graphics from the first demons souls game wasn't even impressive to begin with. As long as no content was cut i'm buying this game. The sequel already looks better than the first game, so i don't know why everyone is going crazy.

[Grannyvukka]

Nice....this is the way it should be. If PS3 had only garnered sales to the effect of the Dreamcast, then it would be understandable that everything was made on 360 as lead then straight up converted to PS3 the cheapest & easiest way possible.

I believe in multiplatform games to a degree (exclusives are great for companies & are good to see when you only have access to one machine & exclusitivity works in your favor), it is great to have the majority of software going to 2, or all three console platforms and pc, but the fact is that if one of the consoles has advantages over the other/s, then the developers should take every opportunity to make the game as great as they can, using every angle & advantage that console offers, then porting to the other/s as best they can, & if need be, just scrap other versions. Now, this would never really have to be the case with PS3 to 360 & vice versa, as both are nearly equal in power it seems (although PS3 may have the slight raw power advantage), & any differences in the same games are usually negligable anyhow. I mean, most of the games that are claimed were ported from 360 to PS3 & reportedly have issues, I cannot usually even notice, & same story when ported from PS3 to 360.

In all honesty though, the 1st game was not that graphically amazing, so I don't see 360 running that at full capacity with any problems, and even if this psuedo sequel looked 30% better graphically than the 1st, I still don't see 360 struggling to run it. If as good as 1st game though, it will be an awesome game & hard as a motherplucker to boot, so it's great that 360 owners get to enjoy it as well, considering PS3 owners have every hack'n'slash/sword & sorcerer type game there is (except Fable) on 360. I mean Ninja Gaiden crossed over to both, & Ninja Theory went from MS to PS3 to multiplatform, but left PS3 owners with one of the best launch games & hack'n'slash/action-ad venture games available today. So it's more than fair that 360 owners get to enjoy this great developers games, like PS3 owners did with Demons Souls & will with Dark Souls.

[BeastlyRig]

I guess saying this is a good way to get 360 owners to buy! praise the ps3?

[MasterCornholio]

It will probably look better on the PS3. Since most copies of this game will be sold on sonys console plus the PS3 version is probably the lead. What i cant say is if it will be a big difference like Bayonetta or a small one like Castlevania Lord of Shadow.

[EVO-OM3GA]

Why does the link not work, I wanted to read the article instead of just going by the headline seeing as 90% of the headlines on this site are troll bait.

Whether the game is compressed or not I will be getting it for my 360

[OllieBoy]

Expected this. PS3 version all the way!

MS probably begged From for some useless Kinect features.

[revengemadmax]

if its compressed.. then surely installing it to the xbox hdd will uncompress it? or have i missed somthing?

[SojournUK]

We are not talking compression as in RAR files etc on a PC. They are probably referring to the textures being downscaled and the audio/fmv-video will be at a lower bit rate.

[Persistantthug]

XBOX's don't have guaranteed harddrives and developers must and are required to make their games as if the end user doesn't have one.

DECOMPRESSING takes away CPU/GPU cycles and that's why some major XBOX 360 1st party games are stuck at SUB HD.

I've said it before, DVD isn't really the biggest deal, but the harddrive is sort of is, from a developers standpoint.

That was the real "step backwards" for the 360.

[ndl1531]

ms should have gone with hd dvd in the first place . even if movie studios didn't adopt the format they could have kept it as their own look at nintendo they always have to have this weird format like the nes cartridge the snes ,the n64 , the gamecubes little disks . ms could have kept hd dvd in their system but well that should have been decided long before the 360 was released right ? but im just saying if they HAD integrated it into the system they could have kept it for games no need for movies ..............ps.....does anyone know how much a hd dvd holds in data just curious?

[Kos-Mos]

Thank god we won`t play a gimped version on PS3.

[SojournUK]

Several years ago? - before the PS3 was launched?

[Mister_G]

Shame it went multi-plat in the 1st place :(

[SpinalRemains138]

1 disc?

How can you fit an entire adventure on a DVD?
I don't know about that. Sounds extremely fishy to me.

[TriangleOffense]

I dont think this game will get the same reception from 360 users anyway so this in the long run wont end up being a big deal. Bunch of little kids crying that its too hard will be funny though

[Kingscorpion1981]

This game is not Demon Souls 2!!! Demon Souls 2 will be announce next year and exclusively for ps3!