Blu-Ray needed?

elwood731

elwood731

CAGiversary!
This comes from the recent IGN interview for Lair.

IGN: What advantage does Blu-ray afford you now? Everyone talks about how great the extra storage space is but are you actually using it for Lair?

Eggebrecht: The single level at TGS alone takes up 4 Gigabytes of data. We are using every ounce of that due to streaming of our textures. Sure you could chop them all down to tiny sizes and we would fit, but then again, it would not be the same game. In addition to all the textures and geometry, we also do have video on the disc, and all of that is in native 1080p resolution. Thanks to Blu-Ray we don't need to worry about that and can still fit the whole game on a single disk.
Click to expand...

Now, I'll be honest and admit that the argument "Blu-Ray is needed for storage!" never made sense to me. But, on the other hand, my knowledge of those sorts of tech details is limited. So, does this explanation make sense for the computer science degree holders among us, or is more smoke and mirrors?

I can't imagine why one level would require 4gb, but maybe that's just me.
 
Sounds similar to when they used to use redbook audio in PS1 games. Im not buying the storage argument. I'm thinking it would be great if the disc could be read a fast enough rate. For example 1000 more lines or 100 different voiced characters in Oblivion. I don't think it's bad to have more room but it's really up to the developer to use that room WISELY.
 
with that much room, I guess you dont have to worry about efficient coding or efficient anything. You just throw more space at the problem.
 
http://blogs.ign.com/Ted-Insomniac/2006/09/07/30283
[quote name='Ted Price from Insomniac regarding Resistance: Fall of Man']The 20Gb debate

The second topic that has been surfacing a lot lately is our support of Blu-ray as a medium. Yes it is true - we are currently using more than 20 gigs. And yes, we do compress our level data. The fact that we store so much on disc is actually not that surprising when you look at the numbers. Consider that even with compression, each of our “levels” (or loaded areas) has more than 300 megs of unique data. And keep in mind that we’re also streaming data during level playthroughs. It doesn't take too much level data before you've gone past what can be stored on a dual-layer DVD. And between single player and multiplayer we have a lot of level data (over 40 different large loaded areas) – yes, more than will fit on a dual layer DVD.

We also include a lot of data in the form of game movies in both HD and PAL formats, high quality audio streams for all supported languages and some of those Insomniac “extras” that our fans have come to expect.

I realize that some people will still be skeptical unless we provide an actual layout of the disc. But for now I wanted to give you some better info.[/quote]
It seems to really depend on the game and how the game is designed.
 
"We also include a lot of data in the form of game movies in both HD and PAL formats, high quality audio streams for all supported languages"

This is for the most part the reason why they use more room then normal games. All that audio and video that are not going to be used.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top