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PlayStation (Games)

PS3 To Use Blu-Ray Technology 410

Posted by simoniker from the blue-la-di-da-da dept.
Daetrin writes "GameSpot has reported an announcement by Sony that the PlayStation 3 will use Blu-Ray technology, a next-generation optical disc format which 'can hold 25GB on a single layer and 50GB on the dual-layer discs', as many people have been speculating. What Sony hasn't said for sure is whether the PS3 will be backwards compatible with DVD movies and PS2 games. However, they indicated that they will reveal more details about the PlayStation 3 at a premiere in Japan on March 31st next year. (And, if nothing else, there will certainly be plenty of rumors before then.)"
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PS3 To Use Blu-Ray Technology More

PS3 To Use Blu-Ray Technology

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  • Who needs 50 GB in a game?! (Score:4, Funny)

    by Zangief ( 461457 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @12:11PM (#9890540) Homepage Journal
    When 640Kb should be enough for everyone?

    (Yeah I know I am mixing ram with disk size here, but it is a joke. Laugh)

    • Re:Who needs 50 GB in a game?! (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ackthpt ( 218170 ) * on Thursday August 05, 2004 @12:19PM (#9890655) Homepage Journal
      When 640Kb should be enough for everyone? (Yeah I know I am mixing ram with disk size here, but it is a joke. Laugh)

      A joke? Seems the joke is we now have HD beyond our wildest dreams (only thinkable in the realm of sci-fi, lest you be mocked) 10 years ago. ("Wow, a 340 Meg HD, that's HUGE!") Yet, we seem to only have the same stuff as back then, just with higher definition. Heck, I don't think you can install Windows XP on less than a 5 GB drive. We once ran an entire information system and had student accounts on a system with 2 x 88 MB drives. Games which were elaborate and inventive (not to mention gripping) fit in 64K, now require a CD or DVD. Yeah, it's for the 5.1 sound and the massive graphics, I know, and compilers no longer optimize for size, so even code can be large.

      Just wait until everything is 3D...

      • I actually just did a fresh WinXP install on my other box yesterday. It uses less than 2.5GB with all necessary updates installed (less Media Player 9, don't need it on that box).
        • You can get it even smaller than that using Nlite [msfn.org]. I've gotten an XP install down to as little as ~700MB (Knock about 250-300MB off that if you disable system file protection), although I'm not counting anything in the "Documents and Settings" directory in that total...
    • You don't want to mix cache memory with storage memory. Though I don't know why there is such a fuss over blue-ray technology or not.

      The real memory that matters is the cache one attached to the processor. If a game runs too long, you can always swap in another disk. You can't do that for cache memory. Remember back in the days when Marvel vs. Capcom games for PS1 couldn't tag in a 2nd character because there wasn't enough cache memory?

  • Hmm 50 gigs (Score:5, Funny)

    by ParticleMan911 ( 688473 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @12:12PM (#9890545) Homepage
    Wow, those discs could hold thousands of DDR songs!

    • Re:Hmm 50 gigs (Score:3, Insightful)

      by scowling ( 215030 )
      If history is any indication, they won't.

      You'd think that they could release one US DDR for PS or PS2 with "Butterfly". But noooo.

      • Re:Hmm 50 gigs (Score:2, Informative)

        by ParticleMan911 ( 688473 )
        Unfortunately, this is very true. Because of the lack of songs on both DDR MAX and DDR MAX 2 I am leaning more towards the open source Step Mania [stepmania.com] to suit my DDR needs.

      • Re:Hmm 50 gigs (Score:3, Interesting)

        by karnal ( 22275 )
        Normally I would mock someone for being upset at missing one song out of many, but I must agree with you - that's one of the best songs on the DDR series to start out with.

        I've got a japanese version of DDR at home - can't remember the name, but it's got butterfly on it... (Thank god for mod chips)....
    • Somehow I doubt you mean Double Data Rate, which is too bad.

  • Bluray (Score:5, Funny)

    by NitsujTPU ( 19263 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @12:12PM (#9890547)
    Oh, you'll be able to play your old movies and games, they'll just be a bit bluray.

  • Sony wouldn't... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by ackthpt ( 218170 ) * on Thursday August 05, 2004 @12:12PM (#9890555) Homepage Journal
    Sony wouldn't do a proprietary thing, would they? [slashdot.org] Owning rights to all those movies and music are just tempting them to get back at the world for Betamax.

    • Re:Sony wouldn't... (Score:5, Informative)

      by doctor_no ( 214917 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @02:44PM (#9892651)
      Blu-ray isn't any less a proprietary format than HD-DVD. Nor is it a Sony format.

      Sony is only one of many companies that are involved with Blu-Ray, ppl mistake it for their format because they were the first to market the blu-ray. Here are the players:

      Hitachi, Ltd.
      LG Electronics Inc.
      Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
      Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
      Pioneer Corporation
      Royal Philips Electronics
      Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
      Sharp Corporation
      Sony Corporation
      TDK Corporation
      Thomson Multimedia
      Dell
      HP

      In fact, the only real backers for HD-DVD are:
      Microsoft
      Toshiba
      NEC

      And, arguably, HD-DVD is more proprietary than Blu-ray being that they require the player be able to play Miscrosoft's VC-9 codec, while Blu-ray is required to play only MPEG2.

      • Re:Sony wouldn't... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by shirai ( 42309 ) * on Thursday August 05, 2004 @03:26PM (#9893164) Homepage
        You make it sound like supporting only MPEG2
        is a good thing.

        This reduces the quality of the video coming out of Blu Ray or MPEG4 by a factor of 3. MPEG2 is not as good at compressing video with a given bit rate. In other words, the new codecs can hold 3x the quality or content in the same amount of space.

        But that is moot.

        Blu Ray is planning to adopt either MPEG4, WMV(VC-9) or both in July of this year. They've agreed that using an old codec is a bad idea. See the current August 2004 issue of Widescreen magazine for details.

        There is also a good interview with Microsoft on WMV. Whether you like Microsoft or not (and I'm guessing not for most), the Interview is informative.

  • Sony, Sone, Soni (Score:5, Funny)

    by Doesn't_Comment_Code ( 692510 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @12:12PM (#9890558)
    ... a next-generation optical disc format which 'can hold 25GB on a single layer


    What they didn't mention is that each disc is 3 meters in diameter.

    I understand this is also going to replace RFID tags as a theft deterent.

  • DVD players are so cheap (Score:5, Insightful)

    by duckpoopy ( 585203 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @12:14PM (#9890588) Journal
    Does it really matter if it will play dvd movies?If you can afford a $300+ console, you can afford a $50- dvd player.
    • In Japan it matters...space. One of the reasons XBox isn't doing well.

    • Re:DVD players are so cheap (Score:5, Insightful)

      by techiemac ( 118313 ) <.techiemac. .at. .yahoo.com.> on Thursday August 05, 2004 @12:33PM (#9890855)
      Ahh... but there is something that needs to be considered here. The "internal justification" aspect of marketing. I assume (and it may be a bad assumption) that most of the PS2s & XBoxen that are out there are not used for any sort of DVD playback even though they have that feature.

      But when it comes to either justifying the price to your spouse, signifigant other, parents, self, dog, goldfish, etc, it helps to be able to say "Well I'm not just using it for games... We can use it as our DVD player as well"
      It tends to make the $300 price tag hurt a little less. So while the feature will likely never be used, it has a marketing aspect to it (plus you don't want the "other" guy to be able to one up you with features). Marketing often tends to be what sells technology, not the other way around (though it would be nice if things sold based on their technical merit).

    • It only matters if it can play DVD movies if it also can play PS2 and PS1 games. Also, your argument is 100% wrong, because if you are already spending $300 on a console, the last thing you want to do is spend another $50 on a DVD player that's going to sit right next to it, or under it. Of course, the PS2 was too small to put under the DVD player, and small and heavy enough to where putting it on top of the DVD player meant creasing the case of your DVD player. I sure hope the Xbox Next has the same form

    • Just as an example, we've got 3 PS2s in this house, and all 3 of them are used as DVD players as well, with one of them being used ONLY as a DVD player.

  • At what cost? $$ (Score:5, Insightful)

    by curtisk ( 191737 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @12:15PM (#9890598) Homepage Journal
    ...to the consumer or is Sony just going to absorb it like most console makers do? Will this drive up the price per game? Also, since you are packing ALOT more data is the same space, wouldn't scratches and surface damage be even more crippling potentially?

    Also, Sony should make sure that they don't have all the "Disc read error" problems this time through.

    • Re:At what cost? $$ (Score:5, Insightful)

      by seinman ( 463076 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @12:21PM (#9890677) Homepage Journal
      "Also, since you are packing ALOT more data is the same space, wouldn't scratches and surface damage be even more crippling potentially?"

      Search Google for pictures of Blu-Ray discs. They come in little plastic cartridges, much like MiniDiscs and floppies. Unless you grossly mistreat them, you won't have problems with scratching.

      Is scratching even that big a problem now, on DVDs? Assuming you put them back in their cases when you're done, the things never seem to scratch. At least i've never had that problem.
      • I've never had that problem either (with my own DVDs), that is if you never loan anything out.

        But I do have many problems with rentals both games and movies on DVD, nothing sucks worse than watching a movie and 3/4 the way through it locks, or have a game freak out.... thats why I check em before I leave the blockbuster/video scene/mom and pop shop

      • Re:At what cost? $$ (Score:4, Interesting)

        by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Thursday August 05, 2004 @12:37PM (#9890897) Homepage Journal
        Blu-ray discs are CURRENTLY in caddies. However, they don't have to be. Someone or other (sorry I can't be more specific) has recently come up with a coating for blu-ray discs that is as scratch resistant as a CD (woop de doo) yet useful in conjunction with blue lasers. There is no guarantee that by the time consumer-level blu-ray discs become ubiquitous we will be using them in caddies. I hope we are, though. It's worth the price.
      • Those same cartridges were around back when PC CD-ROM drives were first coming out, and DVD-RAM uses them too. They didn't take off very well, even though it's a wonderful idea at protecting the CD, because it was a pain in the ass to swap out the CD that was in the caddy with another one.
      • uh..yea... you clearly don't have a two-year-old who really really likes video games and music.

        Scratches on CDs and DVDs are a serious problem. I'm all for sturdier media.

    • What scratches [blu-ray.com]?

      • Re:At what cost? $$ (Score:4, Informative)

        by curtisk ( 191737 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @12:52PM (#9891122) Homepage Journal
        I hear ya...but..

        Will Blu-ray Discs require a cartridge?

        No, with the added support for "no-cartridge" usage to the Blu-ray Disc specification it currently looks like the cartridge will be optional, but we still haven't heard of any definitive decision about this issue. There is research going on to hard-coat the surface to protect the discs from dust and fingerprints without requiring a cartridge, which looks very promising. By making the cartridge optional manufacturers will be able to downsize drives for PC usage and lower their media production costs.

        Emphasis mine above...From their FAQ [blu-ray.com], laso if you look at some of the other media images there, they all don't have the cartridge shell on them.

  • Will be known as "Sting Ray".

  • Sony HD standard just trumped. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by bludstone ( 103539 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @12:17PM (#9890625)
    Yup.

    Sony just punched the entire HD world in the face. Due to the popularity of the playstation, everyone will be able to play blue-ray disks. This will be the new video format that will have market penetration and therefor drive new MOVIE disk sales.

    You know all those dvds you have? (ive got about 300) You get to re-purchase all of those in HD on blue-ray.

    Huzzah!

    Although this means nothing if you dont have an HD-tv. Or, if you are a bargain hunter, youve got an awesome range of super-cheap dvds coming your way.

    • Replying to myself, i know bad bad bad.

      But sony could of ALSO just signed its own death warrant. If they are not able to reach market penetration with the ps3, and/or hd-dvd catches on first, then this is a MASSIVE problem for them, and could cost them a fortune.

      The #1 reason the ps2 sold well in japan was because it was the cheapest dvd player on the market. Not because it could play games. Keep that in mind.

      Also, most people are not going to see the big difference between DVD and HD, its just not as bi
    • Has HD really caught on?

      Do the super-bit editions of dvds really make a big difference? Will these 25 Gig version make that much of an impression to justifiy things?
      • Has HD really caught on?

        It has with early adopters. If there was an option to buy HD versions of movies at a reasonable (DVDesque) cost, I know that I would. The difference is pretty damn noticable - about the same as going from a crappy interlaced compressed sattelite feed to a progressive-scan DVD.
    • I don't see why you would have to re-purchase all 300 of your DVD's when you have the choice of not using them with a PS3 (if that _is_ what you're talking about)

      My concern is not whether or not the blu-ray laser can read older formats like DVD or CD, but rather because of the physical differences of this technology. Each disc comes in a case, somewhat like the M-O cartridges, effectively preventing the system from using cd/dvd as those have to be slot/tray loaded.

      A probable scenario is where sony intro

    • Sony DVD-compatable Blu-Ray (link) (Score:5, Informative)

      by javaxman ( 705658 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @12:44PM (#9891002) Journal
      Sony does have a press release [sony.net] where they talk about a 3-wavelength optical head for support of CD, DVD, and Blu-ray disks.

      Of course, it doesn't support HD-DVD.

      Since the PS3 is already stated to support PS1 and PS2 games, it *must* support CD and DVD, so you don't *have* to re-purchase your DVDs in Blu-ray, just your HD-DVDs. Of course, if you're an HD addict and just can't stand those "low-res" DVDs, then yea, you need to buy *either* HD-DVD or Blu-ray, but Sony just helped you decide which one, in that case.

      If you've already bought HD-DVD stuff, you *know* you're bleeding edge, and Sony just cut you...

  • I may be alone in this, but I'm just not hyped up about Blu-ray technology. For me it seems like the SVHS of the DVD era. Since you need a HDTV and a high end home theatre setup to really enjoy it, I can't see the average consumer jumping all over this, especially since everybody already has their regular DVDs. I think it will be good for games that want to cram a lot of FMV on a disc, but for movies I'm just not sold.
  • What do you do with 25 GB for a SINGLE GAME? I'm well aware that the big names can easily figure out what to do with it, but at the cost of higher production costs and longer turnarounds, which are already becoming a problem.
    • Simple. I'd rather have 25 GB and not need it than need 25 GB and not have it.

      Don't ask silly questions; giving people more space also gives them more power. Maybe they'll be more bonuses on the disk. Maybe they'll do those video tutorials streamed from it. Heck, they could even stream entire TV programs to a texture in the game if they wanted... remember that movie theater in Duke Nukem 3D? You could make it really happen.

  • is there a speed increase in the blue ray stuff? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by QuantumRiff ( 120817 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @12:18PM (#9890648)
    I mean, can it grab more info in a given time span? Does it grab multiple layers or tracks in one rotation? Will it fill the data bus, and keep it full? Cause 50GB is a damn lot of loading otherwise. Seriously though, why do we constantly get disk drives that spin faster, why not just scan more tracks at once? I've keep hearing about bue ray from the perspective of data density, but not speed.
    • It's 36MB per second for 1x, if I remember correctly, and it is supposed to get quite a bit faster as the technology improves. It needs at least 19MB per second of bandwidth for HDTV.
    • I mean, can it grab more info in a given time span? Does it grab multiple layers or tracks in one rotation? Will it fill the data bus, and keep it full? Cause 50GB is a damn lot of loading otherwise. Seriously though, why do we constantly get disk drives that spin faster, why not just scan more tracks at once? I've keep hearing about bue ray from the perspective of data density, but not speed.

      Doesn't higher data density imply speed increases? (since the disks are the same size) If a DVD has to make 100

    • It exists. I think it was panasonic a few years ago that put 4 or 5 lasers in one CD-ROM unit, read at 50x or so but spun really slow (compared to other equal speed drives) hence quieter and more reliable (didn't stress the motor as much).

      I think the problem was that it was too expensive.

  • specs (Score:3, Interesting)

    by stagl ( 569675 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @12:19PM (#9890657) Homepage
    what's the read time on the bluray discs? the PS2 load times were atrocious enough. i don't want to feel like i'm back on my c64 where you had to go make a sandwich while waiting for your game to load.

    • The official Blu-Ray FAQ [blu-ray.com] informs us that:

      "According to the Blu-ray Disc v1.0 specification, 1x speed will require a 36Mbps data transfer rate, which means it will take about 1 hour and 40 minutes to record 27GB. The Blu-ray Disc Association are currently working on the v2.0 specification, which will support 2x speed to cut the time it takes to copy content from one disc to another in half. In the future, the data transfer rate is expected to be raised to 8x or more."

      1x DVD speed is around 10Mbps. T

    • Re:specs (Score:3, Funny)

      by nuggetman ( 242645 )
      i don't want to feel like i'm back on my c64 where you had to go make a sandwich while waiting for your game to load.

      If you played a lot of games, you must be one fat fat man by this point
  • Am I to understand that it allows for disk rewriting, much in the same way that VCR Cartridges can be overwritten? If that's the case, this represents a huge leap forward for consumer optical disks.
  • They are really working hard to meet the Playstation 10 specifications at this rate. Good for them I say.
    • Funny, at first I thought you were posting slightly off-topic and talking about the PSX [sony.net], but now that I've noticed you've written "Playstation 10", I think just you don't know much about Sony's product line...

  • Government restrictions? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by RiotXIX ( 230569 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @12:21PM (#9890683) Journal
    Not meaning to be flamebait, but when a mass distributable personal-use portable media storage format like a plastic disc can hold something like 50 GB (10+ DVD movies), can't you envision some anti-piracy group (read MPAA in particular) stepping in and wanting to restrict it from consumer sale for being 'TOO' useful? Although I guess that's probably what they said about CDROMs and DVD ROMs...


    I'm still happy with DVD quality movies, thanks.

    • Nah, Sony is in bed w/the RIAA and MPAA. These two groups aren't going to step on Sony's toes as long as Sony makes sure that they did everything they could to keep from stepping on the other two assholes' toes as well.
  • Seriously, even if it's just 25GB or 50GB of textures and movies, doesn't this mean we'll be waiting even LONGER in between game cycles now. Sheesh, as if 2-4 years a game wasn't long enough! :)

  • Uh, what? (Score:5, Informative)

    by oGMo ( 379 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @12:23PM (#9890709)
    What Sony hasn't said for sure is whether the PS3 will be backwards compatible with DVD movies and PS2 games.

    Uh [ferrago.com], Yes [theregister.co.uk], they [opentechsupport.net] have [eurogamer.net]. Where [ign.com] have [infernalgames.net] you [ps3insider.com] been [slashdot.org]?

    Geez, this is like last year news, and a simple google search revealed all of these links.

  • Then I won't be buying it.

    The root reason that the PS2 basically took over the gaming market seems to me to be that they walked into the marketplace with a bunch of runnable software on a (then) new machine. The Ps2 was radically different from the Ps1, but the market inertia of having all those Ps1 titles runnable got the developers to support it anyway (with the notable exception of the Crash Bandicoot folks, who weren't up to the challenge according to their own publicity handouts.)

    From my perspectiv

  • Behind the Curtain: A Developer's Story (Score:3, Insightful)

    by grunt107 ( 739510 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @12:23PM (#9890714)
    50GB available for a game? Unless the games loaded HD video clips directly into the play scenario there seems to be a little excess capacity.
    IMO, the PS3 game makers would start including videos of the developer, a storyline about the company, music (and music video) clips for the music embedded in the game, web content (even links to 'sponsors'.
  • Cue the obligatory Sony Playstation hype machine.

    Hey... It worked before, didn't it? Maybe this time they'll actually deliver what they promise.
  • And of course PS9 will use Hyper x-ray laser technology (TM) and have telepathic sound hooked up straight to your brain.

    Anyone remember that commercial?
  • Nintendo was releasing two disk games near the Gamecube launch (Resident Evil 0). It's clear games have grown too big for CDs, now if PC game makers will just drop the CD format once and for all so I don't have to track 4 CDs just to install a game :).

  • Actually Sony HAS said it will play PS2 games. (Score:3, Informative)

    by Maestro4k ( 707634 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @12:28PM (#9890797) Journal
    • What Sony hasn't said for sure is whether the PS3 will be backwards compatible with DVD movies and PS2 games.
    This isn't entirely true, Ken Kutargi has already said publically last September that the PS3 will play PS2 AND PS1 games. You can find more on the story here [geek.com], but here's a quote from it:
    • "Mr. Ken Kutaragi, the boss of Sony Computer Entertainment division, has confirmed that the trend of backwards compatibility across next-gen consoles will continue. The Playstation 3 will support both Playstation 2 and PSOne titles when released sometime in 2005-2006."
    While no mention was made of if it'd play regular DVDs, since PS2 games are DVD-Based it's a darn good bet it'll be able to.

  • PS3 will be PS2/ DVD compatible (Score:5, Informative)

    by doctor_no ( 214917 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @12:31PM (#9890823)
    When the PS2 came out with DVD support, Sony didn't make the PS2 incompatible with PSone games and CD just because they decided to support DVDs. There is not reason to believe back-wards compatibility would be dropped from the PS3 likewise.

    In fact. Sony has developed a laser head that can read/write Bluray/DVD+/-rw/CD-RW.
    http://www.sony.net/SonyIn fo/News/Press/200405/04- 026E/

    Ken Kutargi himself already confirmed backwards compatibility.
    http://www.ps3insider.com/modules. php?name=News&fi le=article&sid=64

  • An interesting question comes up... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by vudufixit ( 581911 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @12:31PM (#9890828)
    Games are getting increasingly expensive to create. A game that could fill a Blu-Ray disc would undoubtedly require an unprecedented, possibly bank-breaking budget for the artists and programmers.
    • When the PS2 was announced, people said the same thing. The PS2 demo videos were the first truly "next-gen" 3d on the console anyone had seen. The argument surfaced that, due to the PS2's ability to push millions of polygons, no one would develop for it, as no sane developer would spend hours detailing the thousands of polygons that go into something simple, like a characters lips.


      Well, guess what. Not only was this never a problem, many would argue that the PS2 doesn't push polygons.


      Just like th

  • Backwards Compatibility (Score:3, Informative)

    by Xian97 ( 714198 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @12:37PM (#9890902)
    What Sony hasn't said for sure is whether the PS3 will be backwards compatible with DVD movies and PS2 games.

    I remember them saying almost a year ago that PS2 games would be backwards compatible

    http://www.theregister.com/2003/09/02/ps3_will_pla y_ps2_psone/ [theregister.com]

    Sony Computer Entertainment boss Ken Kutaragi has confirmed that the PlayStation 3 will feature backwards compatibility with the PS2 and PSone, ensuring continued support for older software formats in the new hardware.

  • well... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by nuggetman ( 242645 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @12:44PM (#9891008) Homepage
    What Sony hasn't said for sure is whether the PS3 will be backwards compatible with DVD movies and PS2 games.

    Isn't always keeping backwards compatibility to the previous system what got MS in to the DLL hell mess it's in now??

    • Re:well... (Score:3, Informative)

      by polyp2000 ( 444682 )
      Yes, but not so for PS1/PS2 --> ???PS3? reason being that in the PS2 the PS1 is to all intents and purposes done via emulation (probably with the aid of some additional clever chips)

      • Re:well... (Score:3, Insightful)

        by thatguywhoiam ( 524290 )
        PS3? reason being that in the PS2 the PS1 is to all intents and purposes done via emulation (probably with the aid of some additional clever chips)

        Not sure how it'll be done in the PS3, but in the PS2 the sound chip does double-duty as the PS1 CPU.

        PS3, it'll probably have an Emotion Engine just handling the controller ports. :)

  • So I'm wondering... I'd like to get some input from some game developers (professional or otherwise), what is the design mentality behind optimizing game content? I mean, after playing DOOM3 this week and seeing how completely immense game information is getting, doesn't it seem to make more sense to try to automate as much as the game as possible, rather than manually creating so much of the contect (art, FMV, etc.)? How much are developers concentrating on actually trying to use LESS space but deliver MOR
  • I think everyone is looking into this way too much. Just because the PS3 will support Blu Ray discs does not mean the game makers will use this technology to make/distribute thier games. Look at the PS2 for example, it supports Dual Layer DVD discs, yet there is only a handful of DL-DVD games out there(i.e GTA San Andreas). Just because the technology is there does not mean it will be fully utilized.

  • 50 GB disks = anti-piracy (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Capt'n Hector ( 650760 ) on Thursday August 05, 2004 @02:12PM (#9892210)
    I'm no expert in disk usage/compression, but is it possible to be so inneficient in disk usage, that a game that would normally take 1 gig is expanded to 50 gigs in such a way that it is incompressable using normal methods? I'd say that if this is the case, then Sony has a great way to prevent piracy. Forget DRM. Forget lock outs, or strict rules. SURE! put it on your computer, SURE! give it to your friends, just have fun copying 50 gigs over DSL.
    • Blu-Ray is actually designed to be a rewritable format from the get-go. I'm sure anti-piracy features are built-in as well, but I doubt size is one of them unlike the physical dimensions of a GameCube disc.

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