Some of Microsoft's original plans make complete sense now.

[Showan]

I went to Target today to take advantage of Target's current deal in buy 2 get one free in all games in stock (including the PS4 games that are starting to roll out on store shelves)... Yes I know this is the Xbox Threads, but I have a point...

When I got home and looked at the back of CoD: Ghost and KillZone:SF packaging... I noticed some astronomical numbers in the back. How high you say? Ghost has a minimum 49GB HDD Space, and KZ:SF has a minimum 45GB.. Talk about hogs on the ol' data caps most of our ISP's the world over have.

Which brings me to my point.

When Microsoft, first announced the Xbox One, they said all games would be digital (including those on disc) and the games would follow you.

I never thought this was so important, until now... Microsoft knew the limitations of the pipe in some parts of the world,and the data caps most people have from their IPS's...

Using the disc as a medium, to get your games played quicker and easier than downloading and using up your precious data (and more time consuming depending on your download speeds) was a genius idea on Microsoft's part.

I hope Microsoft finds a way to somewhat, find a happy medium...

For those with slow internet speeds, you may want to stick with physical copies of your next gen titles.

Especially if you have to wait till 50% or so, of the game to be installed before you can play them.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

I'm not looking forward to digital downloads on these new consoles. Internet infrastructure in the UK sucks, worse still for people with caps.

 

There is no way games like CoD need the 40 GB requirements either. I really hope that other devs are sensible in their sizing, especially when it comes to patches. It's bad enough with games like BF3 using 6 GB just to patch/make it compatible.

[Showan]

Microsoft should of gone about their 180' a tad bit differently... What do I mean by that?..

When buying a game off of store shelf and inserted into the Xbox One, an option should pop up on the screen asking if you want to convert the game into a digital title that follows you wherever you go (rendering the disc unless after install completes) or if you like for the game to be retained of the disc it occupies...

Good thing Microsoft is a Software company and may find a way to do this, in the future

[Dot Matrix]

I'm sure you'll see more of these policies come back.

[trooper11]

I think something that people like to overlook on top of all the digital game features is what MS' overall plan might be.

 

MS is pushing hard to unify all of its devices under one OS and a similar UI.  WP and Windows have merged at the core and will be merging at the app and api level over the course of the next year.  The X1 is also part of that and it already has the windows core, windows api, and app support.

 

At the same time, MS is also eager to develop more of their software as services instead of stand alone products.  Gaming could be the next thing they develop into a service and not something tied to a single device like an Xbox. I think there is a decent chance that you see MS move to make the Xbox an extension of pc gaming and not its own island like previous consoles.  That could mean games that can be bought on pc or X1 and played on both, XBL services migrating to the pc to mirror what is on the X1, and even the game streaming idea that could be pushed to smaller, cheaper devices.

 

There is a lot we still don't know about their plans, but a lot of their steps as a company seem to be moving towards opening up the console platform vs keeping it closed.

[McKay]

I'm not looking forward to digital downloads on these new consoles. Internet infrastructure in the UK sucks, worse still for people with caps.

 

There is no way games like CoD need the 40 GB requirements either. I really hope that other devs are sensible in their sizing, especially when it comes to patches. It's bad enough with games like BF3 using 6 GB just to patch/make it compatible.

 

The horrible part for me is I live on an RAF Station, which has it's own Exchange. On that exchange I get about 6mb/s, the highest speed I've seen my download speed hit was 1.1mb/s in Steam. The annoying thing is the Village the RAF Station is in has it's own exchange and people get 20mb/s on it.

[+DonC Subscriber²]

the Xbox One, an option should pop up on the screen asking if you want to convert the game into a digital title that follows you wherever you go (rendering the disc unless after install completes) or if you like for the game to be retained of the disc it occupies...

That's the problem. Just how do you render the disc useless? If it's done by telling Xbox servers that then it relies on another Xbox console being online to know that the disc is marked as useless.

Now if the online requirement for the console had been kept then you could install the game on disc and then connect to Xbox servers just to activate the installation. At this point, all games would have been digital except that you could load the files from a disc instead of having to download it over the network.

[Atomic Wanderer Chicken]

I remember when games were like 100mb in size. A game that calls for 50gb of HDD  is absurd. The Xbox One and PS4 better have plenty of HDD space for these games, at least 1TB

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Microsoft should of gone about their 180' a tad bit differently... What do I mean by that?..

When buying a game off of store shelf and inserted into the Xbox One, an option should pop up on the screen asking if you want to convert the game into a digital title that follows you wherever you go (rendering the disc unless after install completes) or if you like for the game to be retained of the disc it occupies...

Good thing Microsoft is a Software company and may find a way to do this, in the future

 

Suggestions like that have circulated the internet for years, along with ideas like using USB drvies etc. Either way, discs are here to stay for the foreseeable future and already Sony and Panasonic are working on the next-gen "blu ray" disc with 300 GB capacity.

 

I think games like CoD really just want to "boast" about their install requirements and it'll come back to bite them when people refuse to download that much or simply can't download it. The game still looks like the 360/PS3 counterparts, so people aren't going to put up with ###### like that for long without seeing major improvements.

[chrisj1968]

I'm not looking forward to digital downloads on these new consoles. Internet infrastructure in the UK sucks, worse still for people with caps.

 

There is no way games like CoD need the 40 GB requirements either. I really hope that other devs are sensible in their sizing, especially when it comes to patches. It's bad enough with games like BF3 using 6 GB just to patch/make it compatible.

 

I'm under the impression that caps on internet traffic are nothing short of anti-consumer. 

Q: How many here on neowin have say cable or fiber optic vs say DSL?

 

resaon why I ask is, caps on people internet usage is uber-control. totally against the consumer.

 

The OP may be on to something. would be interesting if MS went out and investing on internet infrastructure for xboxone users to by pass such nonsense

[Noir Angel]

Yes, putting games on a disk was a revolutionary idea, I bet games manufacturers the world over are kicking themselves for not having thought of that one before Microsoft :D

 

Microsoft were never going to go all digital, nor would any console manufacturer, they still make money from offering their products in brick and mortar stores.

[xendrome]

I remember when games were like 100mb in size. A game that calls for 50gb of HDD  is absurd. The Xbox One and PS4 better have plenty of HDD space for these games, at least 1TB

500GB each, that has been well known for months.

With high end graphics/textures and high quality 5.1 ch + surround, that's what you get..

[Noir Angel]

If you want higher quality, higher resolution textures, you will need more disk space. Simple economics of scale, still works in digital form

[George P Global Moderator]

500GB each, that has been well known for months.

With high end graphics/textures and high quality 5.1 ch + surround, that's what you get..

 

Yeah, I think these games also come with multiple audio tracks from basic 2.0 stereo up to things like 7.1 uncompressed (yes uncompressed audio can get big) to DTS and so on.   

[George P Global Moderator]

I honestly think that the size you need on the disc doesn't equal the size you'll be downloading from them if you go digital.  The game on the disc is, in order to help with load times and so on, uncompressed, thanks to the size BD offers us it doesn't have to be compressed.   The install on the HDD is also uncompressed, or it shouldn't be for the most part.   But the files you download online could be, then they are extracted and installed to your HDD.   If a game takes up 40GB of HDD, uncompressed, it could be a 20GB download, or less.     There's no reason not to compress things if you can.

 

Guess we'll know in time.

[Blackhearted]

I'm not looking forward to digital downloads on these new consoles. Internet infrastructure in the UK sucks, worse still for people with caps.

 

There is no way games like CoD need the 40 GB requirements either. I really hope that other devs are sensible in their sizing, especially when it comes to patches. It's bad enough with games like BF3 using 6 GB just to patch/make it compatible.

 

I agree with the issues pertaining to downloads. For some(like me, right now atleast) it'll be no issue, but for others with caps they could only download maybe one or two games a month.

 

I also agree with the problem with game sizes. There's no reason CoD requires 40GB and no reason for patches to be as big as that bf3 one you say. Unfortunately though, i wouldn't be surprised if file sizes continue to be bloated like this. Now that both consoles have blu-ray discs it's much easier for developers to just lazily throw things on the disc without much concern for the file size.

[chrisj1968]

I agree with the issues pertaining to downloads. For some(like me, right now atleast) it'll be no issue, but for others with caps they could only download maybe one or two games a month.

 

I also agree with the problem with game sizes. There's no reason CoD requires 40GB and no reason for patches to be as big as that bf3 one you say. Unfortunately though, i wouldn't be surprised if file sizes continue to be bloated like this. Now that both consoles have blu-ray discs it's much easier for developers to just lazily throw things on the disc without much concern for the file size.

 

well consider the data detail with 1080p resolutions, textures get heavier and the data gets larger.

 

erm .. even 720p for that matter..  :huh:

[+Eternal Tempest MVC]

I do wish would of done 90 degrees, not a 180.

Offer physical copies of games, and digital only that follows you around similar to steam, family sharing, etc. 

 

That way they offer both business models and might have the chance to gain the trust of gamers with a digital model without scaring gamers with limited broadband, caps, et / gamers that still like to collect games No internet requirement for physical disc, internet check for pure digital for digital versions. 

 

I'm also a bit caught off guard a the installation size of some of the newer games.

[trooper11]

Its interesting that pc games have not moved to bluray discs at this point. 

 

They just keep chugging along using dvds and no one really cares.  For as much as games have grown in size, you would think there would be a huge push to adopt blurays for pc gaming.

[George P Global Moderator]

Its interesting that pc games have not moved to bluray discs at this point. 

 

They just keep chugging along using dvds and no one really cares.  For as much as games have grown in size, you would think there would be a huge push to adopt blurays for pc gaming.

 

True, BF4 is on 3 DVDs and other games as well.    Still I think PC gamers don't care because you HAVE to install the whole thing to the hdd anyways, no messing with discs after that.

[spenser.d]

Its interesting that pc games have not moved to bluray discs at this point. 

 

They just keep chugging along using dvds and no one really cares.  For as much as games have grown in size, you would think there would be a huge push to adopt blurays for pc gaming.

 

I imagine it's just a cost-saving thing, even if those costs aren't much anymore.  PC game devs don't need to put their games on blu-rays because you install the game to the hard drive anyway.

 

I hope Microsoft rolls out it's original digital plans over time.  If companies don't start pushing this stuff out, ISPs won't have any reason to beef up their infrastructure and update their services to deal with more data.  Not to mention the convenience going digital provides.

[Alladaskill17]

I'm not looking forward to digital downloads on these new consoles. Internet infrastructure in the UK sucks, worse still for people with caps.

 

There is no way games like CoD need the 40 GB requirements either. I really hope that other devs are sensible in their sizing, especially when it comes to patches. It's bad enough with games like BF3 using 6 GB just to patch/make it compatible.

Apparently there is a reason for 40GB of data or else it wouldn't be the requirement, they don't just say "oh hey uh... yea 40GB looks good" they gain nothing from that. The high resolution textures and other data (sound etc.) are why the files are so huge. Really sucks my Xbox One will only have a 500GB HDD, unlike the PS4 that can be upgraded...

[-T- Member]

Apparently there is a reason for 40GB of data or else it wouldn't be the requirement, they don't just say "oh hey uh... yea 40GB looks good" they gain nothing from that. The high resolution textures and other data (sound etc.) are why the files are so huge. Really sucks my Xbox One will only have a 500GB HDD, unlike the PS4 that can be upgraded...

 

Although not available at launch, the Xbox One supports external drives via USB3, and they allow game installs to those, if I remember correctly

[spenser.d]

Although not available at launch, the Xbox One supports external drives via USB3, and they allow game installs to those, if I remember correctly

 

Yes, you can install games to external HDDs :yes:

[xendrome]

Its interesting that pc games have not moved to bluray discs at this point. 

 

They just keep chugging along using dvds and no one really cares.  For as much as games have grown in size, you would think there would be a huge push to adopt blurays for pc gaming.

Most computers have a DVD-Rom at least, Most computers do not have a Blu-Ray player.