Update size differences between 360/PS3

[compl3x]

I hope this isn't a particularly stupid question, but after googling around I can't seem to find a straight forward answer.

Why is it that PS3 updates/patches for games are sometimes 50-100-250-500+ MBs but updates for 360 games seem to be much, much smaller? When I put in a 360 game and it needs updating it seems as though the update is only a few MB in size. When I need to update a PS3 title, even an exclusive, the updates can be astonishingly large.

Does the install size effect it? The architecture? I am just curious.

[firey]

I hope this isn't a particularly stupid question, but after googling around I can't seem to find a straight forward answer.

Why is it that PS3 updates/patches for games are sometimes 50-100-250-500+ MBs but updates for 360 games seem to be much, much smaller? When I put in a 360 game and it needs updating it seems as though the update is only a few MB in size. When I need to update a PS3 title, even an exclusive, the updates can be astonishingly large.

Does the install size effect it? The architecture? I am just curious.

Depends, the 360 has lower disc size meaning files are in most cases smaller. Also most patching now a days isn't a patch patch but a complete update of a file. Most pc games have gig+ updates.

My guess is that with the 360 files are smaller so require less to update OR they do typical patching where only some bytes get altered. With the PS3 files are much larger so they typically do a full file update.

[Astra.Xtreme]

It's probably a matter of compression and/or efficiency. Microsoft is a much more experienced software company, so they probably have more efficient methods for updating small pieces of the OS and games.

[pjak]

Isn't it because of MS restrictions? MS cap the size of patches, therefore games use "compatibility packs" to update files that are required especially multiplayer/online games. With Sony, these restrictions don't exist so they add everything inside a simple patch.