Rein says UT III struggles with DVD size, then clarifies
The on-going debate as to whether the 360 is cutting itself short with the limited space of a DVD took an unexpected turn, as Mark Rein yesterday admitted that yes, Unreal Tournament III is likely to be cut down for the 360. However he later went on to say that that wasn’t quite what he meant entirely. See how the whole saga pans out after the jump.
Speaking at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival, Mark Rein initially said:
“We’ll compress some things. But you know, we may have fewer maps on the 360 version… Blu-Ray has definitely given us a lot of legroom. If you think down the road, well maybe the next UT beyond this one, on Blu-Ray disc, we might fill the whole damn disc with all the cool stuff the mod makers make.”
At this point, Xbots exploded across the internet, quick to either slam Rein or Microsoft, depending on who they felt were more to blame, as Sony fans looked on mockingly. But the realisation is that, going forward, games are going to get bigger and they will need more room eventually, something that a DVD simply cannot offer. Sony at least got one thing right.
However, so as not to upset Microsoft (probably), Rein responded to the criticism via the official forums, with a rather long-winded post. Here’s the important stuff:
I continue to be disappointed that folks on the internet treat any positive thing we say about one platform as some sort of critique of another platform. We’re a multi-platform company folks please come to grips with that. We like the PC. We like the 360. We like the PS3. We like the Macintosh. We like Linux. We will deliver UT3 for all of these platforms and it will rock on every one.
The simple facts state that the optical disc on the PS3 holds more data than the optical disc on the 360. If we exceed size of the 360s optical disc then we’ll have to find alternative ways to get the content to 360 users such as making it downloadable. Adding a second DVD to a game like UT3 would be a challenge because when playing online you might not know exactly what map you’re going to be playing next and we have to be able to accommodate users of the core system. So does that mean the disc on the 360 might have a map or two less? Possibly although it is too early to tell for sure. People love Unreal Tournament because we always ship it with tons of great content but that also makes it a bit of a disc hog - in a good way.
Obviously, and as is true with most major games on 360 and PS3, you’re going to be putting your hard drive to good use if you want to experience the full richness of content that UT3 will have to offer over the lifetime of the game. the fact that you can do this is a good thing.
When it comes to user created mods on the 360 - we will work with Microsoft to find a way to support them. We just don’t have all the answers today and it isn’t our chief priority at this very moment because we already have our hands completely full shipping UT3 on PC and PS3 as well as shipping Gears of War on PC.
Basically then, the PS3 version (or the PC version if you hate consoles for FPS games) will be the superior platform, because it will ship with more content on the disc in the form of maps, and mods will be readily available straight away through the Playstation Store and various PC outlets. In comparison, maps missing out on the DVD could well come at a cost at a later date, with the mods having to go through a lengthy certification process before they get put out. Oh crap.
But what can Microsoft do? Piss off millions of users by switching to HD-DVD format for games? Or continue to be out-done by the opposition in the future? Interesting times ahead…
Thanks to Xanion and Gaz-DanaWalker for submitting.
“Basically then, the PS3 version (or the PC version if you hate consoles for FPS games) will be the superior platform, because it will ship with more content on the disc, and mods will be readily available straight away.”
I know mods will be available on the PC, but how does having Blu-Ray assist PS3 in getting user created mods?
Unless of course the PS3 gamers decide to wait for the game of the year edition that would be released about 6-8 months down the line, that would contain the extra maps.
Have you seen the competition? Game of the Year is FAR FAR from being written in stone on this game.
That’s not what I meant, but I clarified it anyway since I see why it could be a tad mis-leading.
(Xbox 360)I dont know why they cant have i disc for the single player game and one disc for multiplayer surley that would be all the space they need??
Look I like all the companies and what they are doing I currently own a XBOX 360 Elite and I HAVE to say PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Microsoft switch over to HD DVD PLEASE!! HD DVD is the future!
How long before we get HD-DVD only games…
won’t happen unless the hd-dvd gets bundled w/ the 360.
aka won’t happen.
Maybe stuff like this will force Microsoft to make it happen, it would make up for the rings of death
uhm….isnt the pc version on a dvd also??????
The pc version will probably be shipped on multiple dvds and played from the hdd
i know this wouldnt happen but i would be good if they could just use the HDD and said DLC to continue games, now that almost everyone has LIVE and the 120 GB HDD is out. I’d love MS to switch to H-DVD tho.
Or they can just have the downloadable content ready when the game ships for 360??
*pre-orders PS3 version*
did you do that online with your ps3 browser???
b/c untill utIII it’s not good for much eles.
streaming video?
why would MS charge for contnet thats free on another system, they’ve already shown that they wont go that far
another thing this is an xbox site and this article does sound a little sony fanboyish to be honest
Mark Rein is an idiot. He just needs to shut up and make the games. Always putting his foot in his mouth.
I have a PS3 and XBOX 360 and I will buy it first if the game is great. I’m not an Unreal fan so I really couldn’t care that much.
Plus, if you are talking about onling Maps, who cares if you get them from the disk or on LIVE. Also, aren’t they making it for the PC as well? How are they doing it for the PCs?
Last time I checked the most PCs are still using DVD.
Mark Rein knows what he’s doing. He is trying to hype the game because the user base on the PS3 isn’t great and he has an exclusive deal with Sony. For the money they are spending, they need more PS3s in people homes.
He knew what he said and so did we. Don’t be fooled by the fool.
Very well said.
Have people been absorbed by consoles so much they forget how a PC works?
Last time i checked, which is now, games can ship on more than one dvd and then be installed and only need the one disk to play. Unfortunatley, for the 360, that cant happen because not everyone can save a dvd’s worth or 2 onto the HDD avaiable. Whereas on the PC you can.
good god someone with brains for once
Consider the fact that there is usually only about 2-3 good maps on a game, I could really care less…From what I have seen they make a few great maps, and there rest are just fillers of sorts.
Its a fast growing problem. Hope they sort this out.
its lazy and they know it, they can take the easy road with blu ray, look at oblivion it was huge and has awesome graphics and was less than 5gb tell me why no one esle is capable of doing this, well maybe bioware are with mass effect but most over developers just seem more and more lazy these days
they churn out half arsed games and expect us to buy them, and then they churn out hald arsed excuses about space. sorry i keep going on here dont i
Score one for the good guys!! (PS3 ROCKS!)
ROFL!!! It is really really sad whenever somebody has nothing to do but troll a website dedicated to a console that he probably doesn’t even own. If you don’t like the 360 then why the hell are you on a site dedicated to one? Are you really that pathetic? I think a line from Dodgeball fits perfectly here. YOU ARE A SKID MARK ON THE UNDERPANTS OF SOCIETY!!!!
of course i have a 360 fool. i love my 360. but i love my ps3 too.
Lol if you love your 360, you sure have a funny way of showing it.
when have japs ever been good guys? really? have they helped anyone????
they’ve helped plenty with their tuna sushi rolls. Yumm….
why the fuk Rein is always on the news? why he always has some sh1t to say? I’m skipping UT3 4k it, Rein can eat it or to hell with it. augustusbot go suk sony somewhere else.”b1tch”
^^^^^^the magic and mystery of the QWERTY keyboard? or a small child with a typing problem?
you be the judge?
If you look at what Sony is bragging about filling up Blu-Ray discs, they usually include hours of translated text/audio for all regions. So, easy solution - make the version specific to the region. I don’t quite care for have Japanese audio tracks with my games - English only suits me quite well. So make region specific distributions - just don’t region lock them for people who may want this kinda stuff…
Oh well. All the more time for me to enjoy Halo 3 and all the other great 360 games.
I see they are already saving up on the use of colors… everything looks brownish.
The problem isnt the DVD9. The problem is that microsoft sells a 360 without a hardrive so they have to fit everything on one disc.
Whoo needs hundreds of maps for one game?
They could use HDD install feature of Xbox360.
hear hear!
The way I see it is; If Mass Effect can get a whole galaxy on one disc then Mark Rein can find some way to get Unreal 3 on one disc.
It sucks that Epic are letting (Sony’s) money influence the release schedule for UT3.
But then it sucks that MS ship a console with USB sockets, but refuse to let developers release games with Mouse & Keyboard support.
It sucks that MS released the Core edition of the 360 and now we all have to make do with “lowest common denominator” games - e.g. Where the content cannot be installed onto (then run from) HDD as per the world of the PC.
These short-comings may see some shift towards the PS3 at our expense - when veteran hardcore gamers from the PC look to buy a next gen console to play UT rather than throw silly money at a new CPU and Graphics card to play the game.
MS - think about it… it’s not too late to begin to level the playing field. Sure you’ll alienate a few Core system users - but the more important consideration is not to look weak in the face of growing competition - especially when your console is capable of more if the reigns are taken off.
I for one am happy that they don’t allow keyboard and mouse functionality on the 360 for FPS because it’s not fair for the people who have to use the sticks. If you want your twitchy shotty controls with your keyboard and mouse then just get it for your PC, you can spend 1,000’s to upgrade that thing right?
I can see your point - *but* - the 360 then stands out as the one platform where you can’t play with mouse & keyboard if you want to.
(Mouse & Keyboard support on PC, Mac, Linux and PS3 - but not 360!)
Anyone who’s played the previous UT games will have concerns about accuracy with a console controller… given the fast paced gameplay that the franchise is famous for on PC.
Plus a USB keyboard and mouse is generally something most people own these days - or can pick up in Tesco’s far more cheaply than a 360 controller.
So - would the *option* of keyboard and mouse really hurt the 360 community - interested to hear other users thooughts on this.
i know i would like my keyboard and mouse to work.
ever since the success of Gears
Of War which was in part down to Microsoft, Epic have become arrogant, i for one will not buy an Epic game again
I think its all part of the ms plan, if it dosent fit on the disc then it can be put on the marketplace and CHARGED for. And you know people will buy it. (all the muppets that bought the gears maps) This is the way thing will go, mark my words. Ms dosnt want disc’s in the futer they want “everything downloadable”
they wont charge if its already on the ps3 version, they’ve made all the rainbow stuff free for that exact reason
*yawn*
physical media is breathing it’s last breathes. The next-gen will not have DVD, blu-ray or HDDVD as their medium. Rather, you’ll buy everything witha credit card and d/l it to your console.
But thats the future, and this is now. Shitty news indeed for UT3 fans that own a 360.
Thankfully, I’ll be too busy playing any of the other dozen or so great looking games for the 360 to notice.
Agreed. Besides, UTIII is not a console Seller… so If we get the shitty end of the deal, big deal. We have so many other games to keep us quiet and happy.
halo3, biostock, Mass Effict….
and so on
LOL wow i rushed that comment
my bad