Looks like Microsoft is rolling out another system update preview with a curious feature that leaves quite a bit for speculation. http://www.beyond3d.com/content/news/771/ So... a new disc format. Participants get a disc copy of Halo Reach.
Bah, US residents only Don't care about the free copy of Reach, but I do like me some beta action... makes me feel important
Not even Canadians. So currently 360 games only use up to 6.8GiB(~7.3GB) with DVD dual layer capacity capable of holding 7.96GiB (8.5GB). Considering that Reach is only 6.6GiB when installed, is there a way to tell if there's more capacity available? There was one previous update that helped optimize the installed amount, reducing the redundant bits that were copied I believe (don't remember exactly). Maybe they've used any increased capacity for data redundancy, in which case, it might be worth comparing loading times from disc. Wonder if there is that much to be gained unless they somehow reduced the overhead by over 500MB.
I'm guessing this has more to do with copy protection than capacity. Hence newly protected copies of Reach to test the new code on the console. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for someone to counter this new format. I think that stealth dvd firmware is getting pretty hard for them to detect at this point, and they are forced to look at pre-release play as their main modified console identifier. People smart enough to avoid that activity are probably going unnoticed. Since it seems they are riding the current 360 platform a few more years, a new disk format might help them protect future content till they get there. We'll see.
Probably a dumb question but do developers and MS use binary measurements for game sizes? I never saw a game over 6.8GB when installed on my HDD. Also I could be wrong, but I'm not sure installed games reduce redundant data anymore. I remember Mass Effect 1 being one of the obvious games to benefit from the smaller footprint, but last time I installed it, the size was back up to the original number.
^ figured as much, sorry, should have mentioned that I can't access your link while I'm at work =p Thanks Al.
Ditto. Might actually get me playing Reach again. Won't have to steal it from my son anymore. Tommy McClain
I wonder why they took this long to do it if it nets them supposedly 1GB additional space alongside the ability to prevent piracy? I call BS on the above explanation because it seems a bit too obvious to leave for 4 years or thereabouts since piracy became piracy to only have it finished now.
Well, it has to be something. I want that 1-2 GB of space we've been told MS is leaving on the DVD for that video or whatever all this time back. 1 GB is 14% more memory and may help prevent some dual disc games as well.
Yeah, I don't think 1GB is going to prevent even dual-disc games. While they may be able to cram the actual raw data on the dual layer disc, they'll want a bunch of padding for faster random seeks for those who don't install the disc. It'll still be a nice breath of relief for those games that are hitting 6.8GiB and want to cram more textures or audio, of course.
Well Crysis 2 is 5.1 GB I think, and even Crysis 1 on PC was only ~9GB I think. I dont think DVD storage space is an issue this generation except for some corner cases (Rage, JRPG's, stuff with lots of video cutscenes). I did see Dead Space 2 actually shipped on 2 DVD's though. But yeah, the X360 is pretty cramped and this will help a lot. I would also say, it indicates to an extent the 360 will live a lot longer. If they were say planning next xbox even by fall 2012, I dont think they would bother with this. The only thing is the fact it is also an anti-piracy move supposedly, could somewhat mitigate that logic in theory, as they would likely do an anti-piracy move at any time, especially since 360 will have a long tail. The nice thing is this should be able to be used by developers fairly instantly. Even titles that have already been in development for a while can probably fill that extra GB easily. All they need is to know it will be available before they actually plan to ship.
Blu-ray requires the coating because it's manufactured like a CD. The data layer is practically on the surface of the disc. DVD is manufactured witht he data layer in the middle of the disc. I don't know if a coating would cause problems, but it's certainly not nearly as required, and adds a significant cost to each disc. It took Sony almost a year to get the coating on the Blu-rays right, and it still impacts their yields.
That makes it sound like they found a way to press more tracks onto a disc than you can burn and still be able to read them with the default X360 drives. The best analogy I can think of is something like being able to overburn on CD's back in the day. Except that DVD writers and blank DVD ROMs don't have the ability to burn more tracks and hence you won't be able to pirate on X360 anymore, other than through JTAG'd boxes, which isn't possible with any Xbox made in roughly the past year or currently connected to XBLive which hasn't already been JTAG'd. If it works, it would also theoretically allow them to ditch the security sector all together. I'm just wondering if what you quoted is actually accurate. Regards, SB
Yeah I remember reading about that. The solution they came up with for Blu-rays work so well I have no scratches on any of my discs. For some reason my 360 puts circular scratches on my games so I am forced to install every game which is hard since I only have a 20gig. Sorry for the OT. edit: Adding better coating probably won't help that problem though