Dude, that is so true. The all-nighter stay wired up on 10 cups of coffee gotta make the deadline crap gets real old real quickly. When you approach 30 and realize there is more to life than sitting in front of a computer monitor a panicky sweaty mess all of the time it finally hits you, there's life out there somewhere. Money is certainly not everything. Programming is definately a burn-out profession that is not worth the 10+ alsers and painful deadline crunches.
Thanks for disertation on optical drives, but my point is that a dvd player is cheaper and easier to produce (and is actually producable) vs the Blu Ray drive which is expensive and difficult to produce hence causing a big delay in the PS3. I just mentioned progressive scan technology as an after thought to the point that I was trying to drive home about Blu Ray.
A load of bull.
"more capacity = more replication of data = lower seek time = better streaming"
No way, tell me which as a faster seek time a 10GB Hard Drive or a 300GB Hard Drive? The more data you have to squeeze on something such as a disk or a hard drive the longer the seek time is going to be.
DVD's provide more than enough room for a good developer to store data on. Yes, if you want lots of pre-rendered movies and several CD's worth of audio in a game I agree Blu Ray is a good format (perfect for games which rely on those gimmicks). But for games developed by professional designers and software engineers, who don't rely on that junk, than a DVD is all the storage they'll ever need.
See Fight Night 3 or DOA 4 for the XBox 360 if you don't believe me.
I agree that Blu Ray is necessary if game developers want to include 10+ hours worth of pre-rendered HD quality cut scenes in a game. But, for practical gaming purposes DVD technology is more than adequate to store textures, sounds, models and programming. Besides pre-rendered stuff is tedious and boring, see the Final Fantasy series as a prime example. Also, how can Sony win if Microsoft already has total domination in the North American market. You figure by the time Sony gets their act together and releases their hardware at a competitive price it'll already be the middle of 2008.
Sony, should dump the Blu Ray technology. They should just throw a cheap old progressive scan DVD drive into the PS3 and launch the stupid thing by spring in Japan and Summer in the US. I fail to see how Blu Ray is going to give any sort of competitive advantage to Sony. The technology is expensive and tough to produce, and on top of that most next-gen games use less than 4 - 6 GB of disc space. Even if games manage to double the amount of disc compacity that they use, just fit the games onto 2 - 3 DVD discs and call it a day. The point is that Blu Ray is a terrible storage choice for Sony, and instead of pandering to a few nerdy gamers who want a gaming counsel that does everything from play games to cooking Pop Tarts, they should just dump the technology and give the average consumer what they want, namely a gaming counsel and not a half assed modded PC / Entertainment center.
I give Microsoft credit for not buying into that Blu Ray / Hi definition DVD crap and launching the XBOX 360 with a good old fashion DVD drive. Sure Microsoft has had some production problems with the XBOX 360, but by time Sony finally manages to produce a single PS3, Microsoft will control 99% of the next-gen gaming market. Go Microsoft and down with Sony! XBOX 360 / Windows Vista Rules! PS3, Linux and Blu Ray blows!
Sony has made a stupid descision to go with the Blu Ray technology. Sony, should just throw a cheap DVD player into the machine and call it a day. Besides how much information will developers need to store on a disc anyway. 8+ gigabytes is more than enough space for any game developer to take advantage of, even if the goal is set a new benchmark with a title. It's a serious waste of technology and development dollars on the part of Sony. How long are game developers willing to wait until Sony brings out this slick piece of technology? Blu Ray is a "geek" only device that appeals to the gamers who want a machine that can do everything from online gaming to microwaving hot-pockets.
If I were Nintendo at this point I would smell blood from the competition. Nintendo has a good chance of capturing back the game market that they once lost to two competetors who want to develop overly expensive machines that can't be produced within a reasonable amount of time. The point is both Microsoft and now Sony have seriously dropped the ball on developing overly pricy next gen machines that only appeal to the hardcore "geek" gaming crowd.
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Dude, that is so true. The all-nighter stay wired up on 10 cups of coffee gotta make the deadline crap gets real old real quickly. When you approach 30 and realize there is more to life than sitting in front of a computer monitor a panicky sweaty mess all of the time it finally hits you, there's life out there somewhere. Money is certainly not everything. Programming is definately a burn-out profession that is not worth the 10+ alsers and painful deadline crunches.
Thanks for disertation on optical drives, but my point is that a dvd player is cheaper and easier to produce (and is actually producable) vs the Blu Ray drive which is expensive and difficult to produce hence causing a big delay in the PS3. I just mentioned progressive scan technology as an after thought to the point that I was trying to drive home about Blu Ray.
A load of bull. "more capacity = more replication of data = lower seek time = better streaming" No way, tell me which as a faster seek time a 10GB Hard Drive or a 300GB Hard Drive? The more data you have to squeeze on something such as a disk or a hard drive the longer the seek time is going to be. DVD's provide more than enough room for a good developer to store data on. Yes, if you want lots of pre-rendered movies and several CD's worth of audio in a game I agree Blu Ray is a good format (perfect for games which rely on those gimmicks). But for games developed by professional designers and software engineers, who don't rely on that junk, than a DVD is all the storage they'll ever need. See Fight Night 3 or DOA 4 for the XBox 360 if you don't believe me.
I agree that Blu Ray is necessary if game developers want to include 10+ hours worth of pre-rendered HD quality cut scenes in a game. But, for practical gaming purposes DVD technology is more than adequate to store textures, sounds, models and programming. Besides pre-rendered stuff is tedious and boring, see the Final Fantasy series as a prime example. Also, how can Sony win if Microsoft already has total domination in the North American market. You figure by the time Sony gets their act together and releases their hardware at a competitive price it'll already be the middle of 2008.
Sony, should dump the Blu Ray technology. They should just throw a cheap old progressive scan DVD drive into the PS3 and launch the stupid thing by spring in Japan and Summer in the US. I fail to see how Blu Ray is going to give any sort of competitive advantage to Sony. The technology is expensive and tough to produce, and on top of that most next-gen games use less than 4 - 6 GB of disc space. Even if games manage to double the amount of disc compacity that they use, just fit the games onto 2 - 3 DVD discs and call it a day. The point is that Blu Ray is a terrible storage choice for Sony, and instead of pandering to a few nerdy gamers who want a gaming counsel that does everything from play games to cooking Pop Tarts, they should just dump the technology and give the average consumer what they want, namely a gaming counsel and not a half assed modded PC / Entertainment center. I give Microsoft credit for not buying into that Blu Ray / Hi definition DVD crap and launching the XBOX 360 with a good old fashion DVD drive. Sure Microsoft has had some production problems with the XBOX 360, but by time Sony finally manages to produce a single PS3, Microsoft will control 99% of the next-gen gaming market. Go Microsoft and down with Sony! XBOX 360 / Windows Vista Rules! PS3, Linux and Blu Ray blows!
Sony has made a stupid descision to go with the Blu Ray technology. Sony, should just throw a cheap DVD player into the machine and call it a day. Besides how much information will developers need to store on a disc anyway. 8+ gigabytes is more than enough space for any game developer to take advantage of, even if the goal is set a new benchmark with a title. It's a serious waste of technology and development dollars on the part of Sony. How long are game developers willing to wait until Sony brings out this slick piece of technology? Blu Ray is a "geek" only device that appeals to the gamers who want a machine that can do everything from online gaming to microwaving hot-pockets. If I were Nintendo at this point I would smell blood from the competition. Nintendo has a good chance of capturing back the game market that they once lost to two competetors who want to develop overly expensive machines that can't be produced within a reasonable amount of time. The point is both Microsoft and now Sony have seriously dropped the ball on developing overly pricy next gen machines that only appeal to the hardcore "geek" gaming crowd.