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[Keyser Soze]

Not sure if GAF has done one of these threads before (I checked "loading" in search and found nothing similar) so I will just blurt out what I was going to say.

With all the talk off realism next gen with all these 1000's of enemies supposed to be on screen at the one time (Kameo) and all these uber-realistic settings (PS3 demos) and all the talk about 60FPS while maintaining a realistic setting (*cough*PGR3*cough*). Couple this with the supposed realistic animation (DOA4 boobies maybe?) that games are supposed to offer will loading time be officially made redundant next gen…

…I ask this because no matter how realistic a game is, no matter how may polygons are on my screen, no matter how realistic the animation is and no matter how my FPS the game is going at the illusion of realism is always ruined if I have to wait 30 seconds staring at a black screen with something spinning in the corner.

With all the talk about upgrading “every aspect” of gaming next gen will any of developers out there sort the loading out. Are there any specs in the PS3/360 that hint loading times could be lessened or obliterated? Also will PS3’s change of media help with load time?

 

[Sanjuro]

Some games it throws you out some dont. Fable was in that in between mark where if you had to wait one more second it would have been too long. I remember the fucking Summoner for PS2 made me want to kill jesus.....and I did...O_O

 

[DopeyFish]

depends

a 1x Blu-ray drive is 6.75 MB/s (though what speed PS3 is using, i'm not quite sure)

While Xbox 360's drive is 16.62 MB/s (12X DVD)

load time is dependant on that and access time. as well as coding efficiency. (huge part)

So the media change on PS3 will hurt load times unless they release with a higher speed drive.

 

[Stinkles]

Texture decompression will factor in too. As will Drive/RAM cacheing.

 

[DopeyFish]

Texture decompression will factor in too. As will Drive/RAM cacheing.

i did say coding efficiency =] give me some credit

 

[Azure Dream]

It's too bad that Namco copyrighted (trademarked?) the ability to play minigames during load sequences, and is hoarding that for their own games. It'd keep your mind busy in those longer downtimes.

 

[Keyser Soze]

I was sure Blu-ray would help with load times. To hear it could actually be a hindrance is not good at all! It Should be fun seeing some companies fuck up big-time and stick us with minute long loads…

 

[sangreal]

A few games like Saint's row and maybe TH:AW are boasting no loading (beyond initial?) times next-gen. It definitely depends on the genre though. Any game where there is a sudden drastic change in setting will have loading time, no matter how minimal.

 

[Borys]

For every 50 games featuring heavy loading next-gen (inevitable, the jump in volume of read data should be easily 10x) there will be one game like GTA:SA.

 

[DopeyFish]

I was sure Blu-ray would help with load times. To hear it could actually be a hindrance is not good at all! It Should be fun seeing some companies fuck up big-time and stick us with minute long loads…

Well it has a much larger medium, and it's bottom end speeds are quite fast. But since it's the early drives the speed is still lower than the top of DVD.

So while there is a benefit of extra storage space there is a loss in reading speed.

Unless of course there would be 3X or 4X Blu-ray drives available for PS3. (which is unlikely)

Even though Xbox 360 is using DVD, it has a much quicker drive than Xbox or PS2 as it's now using the matured drives.

 

[sangreal]

For every 50 games featuring heavy loading next-gen (inevitable, the jump in volume of read data should be easily 10x) there will be one game like GTA:SA.

GTA:SA had some pretty annoying loading. I can't stand buying/changing clothes in GTA:SA because of the loading. Transitioning from outdoors to indoors was pretty annoying too. Obviously it had no loading in the open world, which did make up for it.

 

[Borys]

GTA:SA had some pretty annoying loading. I can't stand buying/changing clothes in GTA:SA because of the loading. Transitioning from outdoors to indoors was pretty annoying too. Obviously it had no loading in the open world, which did make up for it.

Heh, yeah I forgot about that one, pain in the ass that's why I NEVER changed my clothes (or image), only at the beginning.

 

[Amir0x]

depends

a 1x Blu-ray drive is 6.75 MB/s (though what speed PS3 is using, i'm not quite sure)

While Xbox 360's drive is 16.62 MB/s (12X DVD)

load time is dependant on that and access time. as well as coding efficiency. (huge part)

So the media change on PS3 will hurt load times unless they release with a higher speed drive.

If they release with a relatively crippled Blu-Ray drive speed like 1x, devs with pretty heavy loading dependent games can just choose to use the DVDs.

 

[evilromero]

Thank god for GameCube.

 

[jett]

Depends on the developer. I'm sure something like MGS4 will have FUCK AWESOME graphics and minimal loading times, while all of EA's multiplatform garbage will have excessive ones...

 

[DopeyFish]

If they release with a relatively crippled Blu-Ray drive speed like 1x, devs with pretty heavy loading dependent games can just choose to use the DVDs.

oh yeah! *smacks head*

but how fast is DVDs read on BRD?

 

[goodcow]

It's too bad that Namco copyrighted (trademarked?) the ability to play minigames during load sequences, and is hoarding that for their own games. It'd keep your mind busy in those longer downtimes.

You can copyright that? Asshole patent office.

 

[dicklaurent]

Copyright? Huh?

 

[FiRez]

It's too bad that Namco copyrighted (trademarked?) the ability to play minigames during load sequences, and is hoarding that for their own games. It'd keep your mind busy in those longer downtimes.

this must be joke.....................................is it right?

 

[truesayian]

GTA:SA had some pretty annoying loading. I can't stand buying/changing clothes in GTA:SA because of the loading. Transitioning from outdoors to indoors was pretty annoying too. Obviously it had no loading in the open world, which did make up for it.

and that's why the hard drive loader ruled...

 

[LakeEarth]

this must be joke.....................................is it right?

Yup, they patented having mini-games in between loading times. Patents suck.

 

[Fafalada]

There's no way in hell Sony will release with a 1xspeed BRD drive.
They pushed the DVD drive speed to highend with PS2 when they really didn't have to (the nearest competitor at the time was a LOT slower - heck only one machine had a faster drive this generation and that was a money loosing pit ).
Now I don't know if they can BR up to 4x speed, but 2x is the absolute minimum IMO.

Are there any specs in the PS3/360 that hint loading times could be lessened or obliterated?

No - it will come down to software as it always does since we started using optical media.

Also will PS3’s change of media help with load time?

Depends on what spec the drive will have really. A 4x speed would be over 50% faster then the theoretical maximum for DVDs, but who knows if we can hope for something like that. There's some room for argument that seek times on BR could be faster then any of the smaller media, but I've yet to see any official number for that, so it's all speculation at this point.

 

[mj1108]

Thank god for GameCube.

If anything, I expect Nintendo to continue their ability to accomplish near-0 load times.

 

[polg]

Thank god for GameCube.

yes, Nintendo has spoiled gamers...
the loading times in Metroid Prime were very nicely disguised.

 

[sangreal]

this must be joke.....................................is it right?

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-...,718,632.WKU.&OS=PN/5,718,632&RS=PN/5,718,632

 

[sonycowboy]

oh yeah! *smacks head*

but how fast is DVDs read on BRD?

Since they use two lasers, it will be whatever speed DVD they choose. The drive will be able to spin it plenty fast, so I'd assume that the PS3 would get a 12x DVD and I'd expect a 2x BRD

Also, you're listing of BRD speed is incorrect. It's 54Mbs, or almost 5x DVD, not 36Mbs, which is the speed of HD-DVD. However, 2x BDR would still be slower than 12x DVD.

http://www.blu-ray.com/faq/

 

[sangreal]

Since they use two lasers, it will be whatever speed DVD they choose. The drive will be able to spin it plenty fast, so I'd assume that the PS3 would get a 12x DVD and I'd expect a 2x BRD

Also, you're listing of BRD speed is incorrect. It's 54Mbs, or almost 5x DVD, not 36Mbs, which is the speed of HD-DVD. However, 2x BDR would still be slower than 12x DVD.

http://www.blu-ray.com/faq/

54Mbps is 6.75MB/s like he said..

 

[koam]

You can't copywrite that.

 

[sangreal]

You can't copywrite that.

No, you can't copyright it. But you can patent it (see link above)

 

[Kintaro]

Loading will be the same as any other gen. Either annoying ass loading like EA games or hidden loading during tunnels or w/e. Next Gen sure wont get rid of that. Especially with all the things people expect out of the next gen >.>

 

[..pakbeka..]

I won't accept loading next gen, at least not during gameplay, something like a short loading before a mission.

Nintendo and some other developers like Namco have already succeded in doing almost load-free games

 

[Azure Dream]

Yup, they patented having mini-games in between loading times. Patents suck.

Patented, that was the word I was looking for, thank you.

Space shooters during Tekken, Rally-X during Ridge Racer, it's a great idea, do you really think other developers would ignore the potential of it by choice?

 

[Reilly]

I don't mind loading. The only time I hate it is when I die and it has to reload the entire level.

 

[MonkeyLicker]

Would the XBOX 360 be able to load from DVD and hard drive at the same time?
Would they be able to maybe load the games textures on the hard drive and then only load the rest off the DVD?

 

[FiRez]

Yup, they patented having mini-games in between loading times. Patents suck.

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-...,718,632.WKU.&OS=PN/5,718,632&RS=PN/5,718,632

wow, Now I always wondered why I didn't see this idea applied again after the galaga mini-game in ridge racer

 

[AtomicShroom]

Would the XBOX 360 be able to load from DVD and hard drive at the same time?
Would they be able to maybe load the games textures on the hard drive and then only load the rest off the DVD?

They can do that on the Xbox already, and some very few games do (see Splinter Cell: CT and Doom 3 that have you sit through intro movies to cache data to the HD).

So they'll probably be able to do it on the 360 as well. I hope this feature gets used by more games next-gen.

 

[Truelize]

I freakin hate long load times now. HATE THEM. My biggest want for next gen is shorter/no load times.








That and objects that actually look round.