Disc Size

M

MR.KAZ

Lurker
I'm very interested to know,does the size of a video game disc affect it's performance as well as the limitations with respect to how much data it can hold? i.e. "Gamecube" discs as opposed to "PS2" discs.


Thank you for viewing this.

Sincerely,
MR.KAZ
 
Gamecube got shafted in many areas due to size limitations on the disc, including games that had to double up on the amount of discs, such as Tales of Symphonia and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.

Tales of Symphonia is a good example, as many of the characters had more "uber" special moves, and i think even Regal had a Unison attack combo. Not to mention the PS2 version had more costumes and what not.

Not to say the Gamecube got some better advantages. When RE4 came out, the gamecube surpassed its PS2 counterpart with considerably better graphics, whereas the PS2 version was forced to use pre-rendered, blurry cutscenes (The PC got this version, annoyingly enough). I think in place, the PS2 version got a few extras (one of the things that had to do with Ada, I believe).
 
Performance isn't really affected, for example disc speeds and load times, but yes there are limitations of data. A GC game can have the same data as a PS2 game, but depending on the size of the data it might have to be split up over multiple discs.
 
Polygon said:
Physical size does not equate how much it can hold.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it does actually. The gamecube versions of many 3rd party games were downgraded with features removed due to disc space limitations. and dont pass it off on "the gamecube is just not powerful enough to handle those features."

No? then explain this: the gamecube version of resident evil 4 was put onto two discs, and the ps2 version (with noticeably worse graphics, mind you) was put onto one disc.
 
Hinesmdc said:
Yeah, it does actually. The gamecube versions of many 3rd party games were downgraded with features removed due to disc space limitations. and dont pass it off on "the gamecube is just not powerful enough to handle those features."

No? then explain this: the gamecube version of resident evil 4 was put onto two discs, and the ps2 version (with noticeably worse graphics, mind you) was put onto one disc.
Click to expand...

That's not what he was talking about. He's talking about how discs can be manufactured to have as much space as needed. For instance, you have dual layer DVD's. They are the same size as regular DVD's, but they hold more data. Yet they are the same size, hence physical size does not equate how much data it can hold. It's just that the smaller GC discs were already manufactured to hold a certain amount. Which happens to be less than a regular DVD disc.
 
CreepinDeth said:
That's not what he was talking about. He's talking about how discs can be manufactured to have as much space as needed. For instance, you have dual layer DVD's. They are the same size as regular DVD's, but they hold more data. Yet they are the same size, hence physical size does not equate how much data it can hold. It's just that the smaller GC discs were already manufactured to hold a certain amount. Which happens to be less than a regular DVD disc.
Click to expand...

Bingo!

That saved me some time, thanks. :)
 
Polygon said:
Physical size does not equate how much it can hold.
Click to expand...

Not neccisaraly, no. As was pointed out, a DVD or CD can be manufactured with plenty of more space (One could point this out between computer hard drives).

However, this did hold true for the GC. The discs were made with less space, and many of the larger games were split over two discs. I suppose I worded my post wrong then.
 
Nova said:
Not neccisaraly, no. As was pointed out, a DVD or CD can be manufactured with plenty of more space (One could point this out between computer hard drives).

However, this did hold true for the GC. The discs were made with less space, and many of the larger games were split over two discs. I suppose I worded my post wrong then.
Click to expand...

Alright, think of it this way. A CD holds less than a DVD but they are the same size. A DVD holds less than an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, once again, same size. Size is determined by the format, density, and amount of layers. It has very little to do with physical size. Because of the format that the GameCube uses, mini-DVD, it has less space. It's about 1/3rd the size of a standard DVD, so it has 1/3rd the space. If you went double layer and density then it's size would increase. Think of it like mass. It has little to do with size. It is how much matter there is in an object. So, you have objects much smaller than the sun but much more massive. Hell, the sun is more massive the red giants that would extend beyond the orbit of Jupiter.

So, once again, size is arbitrary and does note equate capacity.
 
Byte Me

W'sup?

Is there an average amount of GB of "Hard Disk" space for "PS3" games?If so,how many of these games can be saved on my 60GB "PS3"?


God Bless,
MR.KAZ
 
Re: Byte Me

Not really, each game varies. From what I've seen, it looks like roughly 3.8GB to 4.2GB per each install.
 
Re: Byte Me

MegaDrive20XX said:
Not really, each game varies. From what I've seen, it looks like roughly 3.8GB to 4.2GB per each install.
Click to expand...

...?

Most of my Xbox 360 games use around 7GB for an installation, and I assumed a PS3 game would be bigger.
 
Re: Byte Me

well the only games that are larger, are games that force you to install. Like DMC4 or SOCOM at 6.5GB

Actually, 360 games are still pretty low after install. Most seem to be peak at 5.5GB or 5.7GB

The worst so far, is the PS3 direct download game, SIREN: Blood Curse at a lovely 10.5GB
 
Re: Byte Me

Fr0dus Maximus said:
But, isn't that like 5 different episodes.

And as Mega says it all varies.
Click to expand...

True, it's basically a mini series of games that you're installing...so it's no wonder the install is so large. I was kinda blown away when I saw that Gears 2 was 6.5 GB. Some of the installs on the 360 are huge.
 
Several people here felt the need to show how smart they are and explain to everyone how size doesn't matter with discs.
Size does matter, and so does density.

When it comes to using science formulas in this case, mass is fairly equivalent to data, and volume is volume:
density equals mass / volume

That's a formula. And every part is necessary. Yes, density will make a disc have less space, but so will size.

The gamecube discs hold about 1.5gb I think. Which is plenty if you don't need a lot of video or other larger types of data. I know a lot of games got changed, but gameplay and such things do not need to be changed with this size limitation. graphics need to be simplified along with generated graphics and maybe even sound. But if features are removed it probably has little to do with the size limits.
 
ljdarten said:
Several people here felt the need to show how smart they are and explain to everyone how size doesn't matter with discs.
Size does matter, and so does density.

When it comes to using science formulas in this case, mass is fairly equivalent to data, and volume is volume:
density equals mass / volume

That's a formula. And every part is necessary. Yes, density will make a disc have less space, but so will size.

The gamecube discs hold about 1.5gb I think. Which is plenty if you don't need a lot of video or other larger types of data. I know a lot of games got changed, but gameplay and such things do not need to be changed with this size limitation. graphics need to be simplified along with generated graphics and maybe even sound. But if features are removed it probably has little to do with the size limits.
Click to expand...

Density doesn't necessarily add to the physical dimensions of an object. Two DVD's side by side can have the same depth, width and height. But one of them can be denser and hold more data (eg. Blu-ray disc). Of course, there are times when you can hit a cap, but with science you usually can get past it if the technology is there.
 
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