Honestly, I don't think Blu-ray has done that much for gaming.

I love Blu-Ray movies and I think it was a wise decision for Sony to include it with the PS3 for a variety of reasons, however in an age when things are going more and more digital I question how much the Blu-Ray drive has actually helped in the long run. Obviously there are advantages to having that much storage space since it potentially means more variety in the game assets, but it's also a bit of a bottleneck since the PS3's drive is on the slow side, and all that data takes a long time to load up. Discs are becoming less and less relevant to the game market since many games support full installs, and when a game installs completely onto a system's HDD it ideally will not take up a very big footprint.

The PC gaming space has not even experimented with Blu-Ray gaming, because discs are seen as a dinosaur to that platform now. Many people just throw away their PC game DVDs once they get the CD key since they can download the game onto any PC they own once it's registered, and usually you can't play the game without registering anyway thus makign the disc itself nothing more than a retail manifestation of the CD key. Even if services like Steam aren't going to become mainstream for game consoles any time soon, full or mostly full game installs are becoming increasingly more common since they speed up load times, and it's sometimes quicker to install multiple DVDs on an Xbox 360 than it is to install one Blu-Ray game on the PS3.

I think that Blu-Ray is great as an entertainment medium for movies and I think it should be a standard feature for next-gen consoles much like DVD was last gen, but at the same time I don't really see it as having a very big impact on game development in the long run. It's good for movies since you can watch a 1080p movie with almost no compression artifacts, but for games I think that developers will continue to strive for smaller HDD footprints instead of loading up their games with additional textures and lossless audio files, particularly since this makes their games more viable for the growing downloadable market.

Of course it didn't, it's just a storage, a larger DVD...

Ultimately,its only advantage in gaming is the convinience of not having to change discs while playing on the PS3,but as you noted,that advantage is offset by slower read times,and mandatory installation requirments...

Why would it do anything for gaming? All it is is a dvd with more storage space on it >_>

Why would it do anything for gaming? All it is is a dvd with more storage space on it >_>

wis3boi

if you don't mind me asking.. who is that young lady in your user icon?

just curious.

Of course it didn't, it's just a storage, a larger DVD...

Ultimately,its only advantage in gaming is the convinience of not having to change discs while playing on the PS3,but as you noted,that advantage is offset by slower read times,and mandatory installation requirments...

Rocker6

At the same time come next round of consoles i dont think this will be an issue since read speeds are much better nowadays :P

Bluray has some advantages like being able to fire uncompressed sound data on the game and multiple voice tracks like Star Ocean but thats bout it really.

Here is a simple example.. having FFXIII on 1 disk and play it on the PS3 easier than having 3 DVD's like the xbox did.

i'd say it did pretty well what it was designed to do

I love Blu-Ray movies and I think it was a wise decision for Sony to include it with the PS3 for a variety of reasons, however in an age when things are going more and more digital I question how much the Blu-Ray drive has actually helped in the long run. Obviously there are advantages to having that much storage space since it potentially means more variety in the game assets, but it's also a bit of a bottleneck since the PS3's drive is on the slow side, and all that data takes a long time to load up. Discs are becoming less and less relevant to the game market since many games support full installs, and when a game installs completely onto a system's HDD it ideally will not take up a very big footprint.

The PC gaming space has not even experimented with Blu-Ray gaming, because discs are seen as a dinosaur to that platform now. Many people just throw away their PC game DVDs once they get the CD key since they can download the game onto any PC they own once it's registered, and usually you can't play the game without registering anyway thus makign the disc itself nothing more than a retail manifestation of the CD key. Even if services like Steam aren't going to become mainstream for game consoles any time soon, full or mostly full game installs are becoming increasingly more common since they speed up load times, and it's sometimes quicker to install multiple DVDs on an Xbox 360 than it is to install one Blu-Ray game on the PS3.

I think that Blu-Ray is great as an entertainment medium for movies and I think it should be a standard feature for next-gen consoles much like DVD was last gen, but at the same time I don't really see it as having a very big impact on game development in the long run. It's good for movies since you can watch a 1080p movie with almost no compression artifacts, but for games I think that developers will continue to strive for smaller HDD footprints instead of loading up their games with additional textures and lossless audio files, particularly since this makes their games more viable for the growing downloadable market.

Timstuff

you can pack a hell of alot more content in it thats for sure.

[QUOTE="Rocker6"]

Of course it didn't, it's just a storage, a larger DVD...

Ultimately,its only advantage in gaming is the convinience of not having to change discs while playing on the PS3,but as you noted,that advantage is offset by slower read times,and mandatory installation requirments...

razgriz_101

At the same time come next round of consoles i dont think this will be an issue since read speeds are much better nowadays :P

Bluray has some advantages like being able to fire uncompressed sound data on the game and multiple voice tracks like Star Ocean but thats bout it really.

One thing that hampered Blu was the PS3 was the only machine really pushing it for gaming.

DVD for instance, Sony introduced for gaming, but Xbox followed suit. It was easier for 3rd parties to justify supporting games of that size. This gen, companies have to tailor their software around the PS360's limitations, which also includes DVD. Most of the time you are buying a PS3 game, you are merely getting a 3rd party multiplat game designed for DVD and Blu was an afterthought, and rightfully so as supporting Blu isn't to those companies benefit. PC gaming did delve into DVD software, but it never pushed it like it did CD since most games you install anyways. Consoles rely more heavily on their disc formats.

Next gen, if 2/3rds of the companies support Blu, we will see more interesting support for the format. More games pushing lossless audio, multiple language tracks, levels designed to take advantage of the format, things of that nature. I should point out there are some great exclusive games that did take advantage of Blu ray (for instance sound), but clearly they are exceptions this generation. As far as movies go, I can't stand to watch a Brand new big Budget new movie steaming or DVD, it has to be Blu. It has to take advantage of my 7.1 and my HD Plasma.

Formats can't do too much as they are just storage mediums, but they can make a difference. For instance, what did DVD do for gaming last gen? When we can answer that individually, and then look to see 2/3rds of the consoles supported DVD, we can see that technology is only one part of the equation. The other is support.

We can go buy a bad ass 2160p UHD TV, but what's the point if companies don't support it with software? This is always the dilemma. :(

Here is a simple example.. having FFXIII on 1 disk and play it on the PS3 easier than having 3 DVD's like the xbox did.

i'd say it did pretty well what it was designed to do

finalstar2007

It did do pretty well at what it was designed to do... Play high quality HD movies. It COULD have been somewhat meaningful for gaming if the PS3 would have been a run away sales winner like the PS2, but the fact is that the extra capacity was very rarely put to good use in this multiplat focused gen. I mean extremely rare. As in it had no real affect this gen besides finalstar2007 saving a couple of trips to the entertainment center.

That said, it will be good for next gen and I guess its nice that Sony took that bullet this gen since costs will be next to nothing and read speeds will be good.

| Larger storage capacity
| PS3 owners dont have to switch disks in-between gameplay. Sometimes 360 games have 3 disks which is sad
| Can provide better graphic and audio quality
| You can watch Blu-ray movies, giving it an edge of versatility
| Durability

| Larger storage capacity
| PS3 owners dont have to switch disks in-between gameplay. Sometimes 360 games have 3 disks which is sad
| Can provide better graphic and audio quality
| You can watch Blu-ray movies, giving it an edge of versatility
| Durability

Davekeeh

Cool, but you just confirmed the title of the thread. And by better graphic quality are you talking FMV cutscenes?

I use just for movies.

[QUOTE="razgriz_101"]

[QUOTE="Rocker6"]

Of course it didn't, it's just a storage, a larger DVD...

Ultimately,its only advantage in gaming is the convinience of not having to change discs while playing on the PS3,but as you noted,that advantage is offset by slower read times,and mandatory installation requirments...

Timstuff

At the same time come next round of consoles i dont think this will be an issue since read speeds are much better nowadays :P

Bluray has some advantages like being able to fire uncompressed sound data on the game and multiple voice tracks like Star Ocean but thats bout it really.

not as simple as that for a console though is it?

yes games should still come in 2-3 dvds not to mention the lower res movies >>

it has done what it's supossed to be doing, making life easier with less discs and higher definition content.

| Larger storage capacity
| PS3 owners dont have to switch disks in-between gameplay. Sometimes 360 games have 3 disks which is sad
| Can provide better graphic and audio quality
| You can watch Blu-ray movies, giving it an edge of versatility
| Durability

Davekeeh

Which is why both PS3 and X360 have HDD...

Here is a simple example.. having FFXIII on 1 disk and play it on the PS3 easier than having 3 DVD's like the xbox did.

i'd say it did pretty well what it was designed to do

finalstar2007

Here is a simple example.. having FFXIII on 1 disk and play it on the PS3 easier than having 3 DVD's like the xbox did.

i'd say it did pretty well what it was designed to do

finalstar2007

It's nice that everything's on one disc. But it sucks that you need to install every little thing.

Sure,bluray drives are a lot better now, but as far as the ps3 goes. It's annoying.

[QUOTE="finalstar2007"]

Here is a simple example.. having FFXIII on 1 disk and play it on the PS3 easier than having 3 DVD's like the xbox did.

i'd say it did pretty well what it was designed to do

lightleggy

for some folks on here it somehow hurts immersion, and further cements the fact they probably never grew up with a PS1.

[QUOTE="lightleggy"][QUOTE="finalstar2007"]

Here is a simple example.. having FFXIII on 1 disk and play it on the PS3 easier than having 3 DVD's like the xbox did.

i'd say it did pretty well what it was designed to do

razgriz_101

for some folks on here it somehow hurts immersion, and further cements the fact they probably never grew up with a PS1.

PS1 came out in 1994,right?

Now,we're in 2012.Standards change...

Back then,gaming was much less advanced,and was a smaller market,but now,we progressed a lot,from overall game design,to system architecture,to industry's overall influence.

I don't think people are bothered by the action itself of changing the disc,I think they're more bothered by the idea they have to do so in 2012.

I know I would be.It's not a deal-breaker,of course,but it's an annoyance.

And yes,a message that pops up and tells you to change the disc after an interesting cutscene does hurt the immersion.

Nope, didn't do much of anything. Games aren't all that big. Most PC games are under 9 GB but PS3 games need 25-50 gb of storage. I think it was Sony's way of incorporating a new format and getting it into the mainstream. Kinda like the PS2 helped dvd's.

Of course it didn't, it's just a storage, a larger DVD...

Ultimately,its only advantage in gaming is the convinience of not having to change discs while playing on the PS3,but as you noted,that advantage is offset by slower read times,and mandatory installation requirments...

Rocker6

This.

I still remember the claims that the PS3 having Blu Ray would magically result in massively bigger games and the 360's ancient DVD technology was going to hold the industry back.

And then the PS3 continues to get 8 - 12 hour exclusives like Uncharted, Heavenly Sword and Killzone. :?

It just allows for a lot more space. It's necessary if we want games to keep growing in size.

Not really. The disc swapping is no big deal but It does provide better video and sound. But as for actual games....nah. Most games on the 360 and Wii are better than the PS3 stuff.

It just allows for a lot more space. It's necessary if we want games to keep growing in size.

Wasdie

Which I think is going to end up pointless anyway as the industry is already moving to a digital distribution model, especially with hard drive prices and high speed internet falling.

Here is a simple example.. having FFXIII on 1 disk and play it on the PS3 easier than having 3 DVD's like the xbox did.

i'd say it did pretty well what it was designed to do

finalstar2007

Any of you guys remember when people thought games on the PS3 would be much longer because of the extra space. Good times...lawlessx

Any of you guys remember when people thought games on the PS3 would be much longer because of the extra space. Good times...lawlessx

Will be hilarious if MS uses it on Kinect 2.0. Heil68

It's actually done quite a bit when you look at games like MGS4, God of War 3, the Uncharteds, etc. It gives devs a lot more breathing room. Plus, you can get mulitple games on disc just like the ps3 version of Dead Space 2. It's the new standard for physical game media.

It's actually done quite a bit when you look at games like MGS4, God of War 3, the Uncharteds, etc. It gives devs a lot more breathing room. Plus, you can get mulitple games on disc just like the ps3 version of Dead Space 2.ispeakfact

[QUOTE="ispeakfact"]It's actually done quite a bit when you look at games like MGS4, God of War 3, the Uncharteds, etc. It gives devs a lot more breathing room. Plus, you can get mulitple games on disc just like the ps3 version of Dead Space 2.WilliamRLBaker

microsoft already talked about blue ray when ps3 released. they said blue ray doesn't really do anything special and something better is out there. lolk2theswiss

Here is a simple example.. having FFXIII on 1 disk and play it on the PS3 easier than having 3 DVD's like the xbox did.

i'd say it did pretty well what it was designed to do

finalstar2007

bluray = scratch freehippiesanta

Of course it didn't, it's just a storage

Rocker6

...blu-ray wasn't made soley for videogames so what did you expect it to do?

...blu-ray wasn't made soley for videogames so what did you expect it to do?

Chris_Williams

Everyone who wasn't blinded by fanboyism knew that the increased storage wouldn't revolutionize gaming. It was the fanboys who continuously insisted that Blu-Ray was going to result in PS3 games magically being bigger and better than 360 games, since it only uses the DVD-9.

It's only good for uncompressed sound and higher quality graphical assets.mitu123

It doesn't even do that. If it did that it would be a pretty decent advantage.

Technically it could support much higher resolution textures and more variation in textures throughout a game, but the PS3 hardware bottlenecks that idea.

I suppose it could also hold data for high(er) poly models, but again the PS3 (and most gaming hardware and engines) puts a bottleneck on that as well.

The only visual benefit that Blu Ray brings is in the form of video.

[QUOTE="Davekeeh"]

| Larger storage capacity
| PS3 owners dont have to switch disks in-between gameplay. Sometimes 360 games have 3 disks which is sad
| Can provide better graphic and audio quality
| You can watch Blu-ray movies, giving it an edge of versatility
| Durability

Wiimotefan

Cool, but you just confirmed the title of the thread. And by better graphic quality are you talking FMV cutscenes?

Of course it didn't, it's just a storage, a larger DVD...

Ultimately,its only advantage in gaming is the convinience of not having to change discs while playing on the PS3,but as you noted,that advantage is offset by slower read times,and mandatory installation requirments...

Rocker6

Yet they have figured ways to make the load times as fast as dvd's and to do them without mandatory installs. Simply write the data twice on the BR. Not to mention next gen the speeds will be much faster and both the next PS and xbox will probably use BR. If it did nothing for gaming why will it be the new standard?

[QUOTE="Wiimotefan"]

[QUOTE="Davekeeh"]

| Larger storage capacity
| PS3 owners dont have to switch disks in-between gameplay. Sometimes 360 games have 3 disks which is sad
| Can provide better graphic and audio quality
| You can watch Blu-ray movies, giving it an edge of versatility
| Durability

jsmoke03

Cool, but you just confirmed the title of the thread. And by better graphic quality are you talking FMV cutscenes?

It really is its most underrated benefit.