As I'm sure most of you are aware (if you play console games, anyway), there has been a recent influx of games that require HDD installs on the Playstation 3. This has left many PS3 owners extremely frustrated and bitter.

Many games take up about 1 gigabyte, with some taking up 2-3 gigs, and a select few taking 5 gigabytes or more. When the lower end of the two PS3 systems on the market (as of this writing) has a mere 20 gigs of storage, some of which is taken up by the OS itself, this means many players are restricted to having 3-5 games installed at any given time. Yet, few people actively play 3 games at the same time. I'm a ridiculously hardcore game and I'm rarely ever actively playing two to three games at a time, let alone 4 or 5. Sony even saw fit to include the ability to delete game data (those huge installs) separately from saved games (insignificantly small files), so players can make room for new games without losing their saves.

Sure, it's a minor inconvenience if you want to play a game you had played a year ago, but its not a huge deal. I have over 20 downloaded PSN titles and about 12 games of various size installed on my 60 gig PS3 and still have over 20 gigs remaining. Every now and then I clean off some old titles. No worries. No frustrations. Even with a third of that space I could still have 4 gigs of box games and 8 downloadables, which is more than enough.

But then there is the issue of waiting for your brand-new game to install... do you make a sandwich? Do you pace back and forth? Do you (gasp) read the instruction manual? Yet, people wait months for games, sometimes years. Why does waiting a few extra minutes (most installs take less than 5 minutes, though some take 10-15) seem like the end of the world to so many people? We live in the era of microwavable burritos, that's why. People are so used to getting things instantaneously that having to wait a few extra minutes immediately becomes an ordeal.

Though, at the same time, if you purchase a downloadable game, you have to download it (duh). This takes time. Then you have to install it. This also takes time. But people don't complain about it. Why? Probably because it is expected. People feel weird (and by people I mean "console gamers") about purchasing a game in a box and not getting to instantly put it into their system and start playing. Again, because it is expected. Expectations determine the reaction.

I don't believe these are the root of the problem, however. The complaints don't actually stem from the HDD space or the install times themselves, but because of a magical white and green (or black and green) box call the XBox 360. This system seems to exist in a happy world, where installs are non-existent. Games like Resident Evil 5, Bioshock, Devil May Cry and many others simply don't require installs. The precedent has been set. Isn't the PS3 supposed to be "more powerful"? Why do its games need installs? I believe it is this ignorance (and I don't mean that in a derogatory sense) that drives people's hatred of PS3 installs.

Gamers often cite "Uncharted: Drake's Fortune" as an example of how to pull of a PS3 title with tons of graphical prowess and no install (or load times, for that matter). But this isn't entirely fair to the other titles listed above. Multiplatform games are often built with the 360 as the "lead platform" (because it is easier to develop for due to its ultimately familiar system architecture), meaning the game is made for the 360 and then ported to the PS3. As a result, multiplatform games simply don't have the budget to invest in ensuring streaming content (as Drake's Fortune does). Uncharted had its entire development budget devoted to the PS3, so it could utilize the technology as it saw fit. RE5 isn't so lucky. The fact is: falling back on the hard drive is much cheaper than utilizing the technology when making a multiplatform game. Since installs don't actually hurt the quality of the game (and often improve load times), it's not a sound business decision to dump an extra $250,000 dollars into a title that will sell anyway. It's not personal, people, it's just business.

It's also not a matter of lazy developers. Developers rarely fund their own projects and are always at the mercy of a little something called a "budget" (usually determined through negotiations between the developer, or "those who make the game", and the publisher, or "those who have the money"). Would you rather have high-resolution textures for HD displays or not require an install? Would you rather have 8 second load times or 30 second load times and no install? Should we release the game now with an install or delay the PS3 version 3 months to optimize data streaming? These are the kinds of choices developers have to make to keep a title from going over budget.

Frankly, I'll take my HD textures, my short load times, and my on-time releases, even if I have to read the instruction manual for five minutes while my new game installs... I know it will be worth the wait.