New Xbox Experience load times compared: DVD versus HDD

You've already been given the skinny on Microsoft's New Xbox Experience -- you know, that stupendous, sure-to-be-life-altering dashboard update that'll hit 360 owners on November 19th -- but one aspect that still hasn't been adequately addressed is the difference in load times between the DVD and HDD. If you're staring blankly ahead with a look of decided curiosity, here's a bone: the NXE will enable users to load full games onto their Xbox 360 hard drive for "quicker load times" versus the traditional DVD method. When tested on a variety of games, MTV Multiplayer found that the bootup sequence was between 9 and 15 seconds quicker via HDD, though loading a ~6.6GB title initially took around 11 minutes. Whether or not those precious ticks are worth it is totally your call, but avoiding the annoying hum of the optical drive has to count for something. A trio of comparison vids await you in the read link.

[Via Joystiq]

[punx @ Nov 1st 2008 3:27PM]

wow i could all ready do yjis on my ps3 damn micro $oft copycats its not gunna help you

sell that death box

[pagefault @ Nov 1st 2008 3:37PM]

Yeah except that on PS3 it's *REQUIRED* for some games and on 360 it's a luxury.

[icedemon @ Nov 1st 2008 3:40PM]

no you can't dumbass. The 360 installs the WHOLE game. Enabling playing the game from the hdd.

[benny boy @ Nov 1st 2008 4:03PM]

People like you shouldn't be allowed to voice their opinions.

[Valicore @ Nov 1st 2008 4:07PM]

You know Punx, I understand brand loyalty/defending the system you like, I did it too for the PS3... at first.

Just realize: You say "Micro$oft" like they're the devil corporation trying to destroy poor Mom & Pop Console Maker Sony. Sony is a huge conglomerate with a lot of money, don't think they're being victimized.

As a geek I favored the PS3 over the Xbox 360 because I believed it had better hardware and better potential.

Then they delayed the release of the PS3, and delayed it and delayed it. When did they get out the gate, like, a full year after the Xbox 360 was released?

Even when they finally managed to get it into stores, they were really prohibitively expensive (and still are).

Even if they managed to get past all that, they STILL would have failed because there aren't enough games, and those that are out there are fricken' fifty bucks.

I have to hand it to Microsoft for the Xbox 360.It was less expensive with more games and it launched with everything operation (Xbox Live for example). Even now they're adding features. You have to admit it's pretty cool that they're releasing a free update that is basically a completely new system with a lot of new features, some of which (like the Netflix partnership) are just plain awesome

Sony had their chance but they blew it, and I got tired of defending a company that kept screwing up.

In short: Don't be a blind fanboy, and give credit where credit is due.

[ALeX xD @ Nov 1st 2008 5:02PM]

Yeah...and when i had this feature on my xbox you were looking at you ps2's empty hard disk drive....
Microsoft chose to have a SKU without an HDD so its price would be lower... I guess it was a right move since now i can buy 2 360s in the price of one ps3

[JerkfacedFed @ Nov 1st 2008 5:40PM]

no, you most definitely CANNOT do this on the ps3

the ps3 REQUIRES INSTALLS of PARTS of the game on many games in order to allow for load times to be acceptable by the player since bluray is too slow to either sequentially read or randomly stream from

the NXE ALLOWS COPYING a FULL game to the hard drive and is OPTIONAL

big difference noob

[Nick @ Nov 1st 2008 6:22PM]

@Valicore

The PS3 has a great lineup of exclusives though..

-LittleBigPlanet
-Motorstorm Pacific Rift
-Resistance 2
-Gran Turismo 5
-Final Fantasy XIII Versus
-Heavy Rain
-inFamous
-God of War 3
-Uncharted 2
-Killzone 2
-MAG (256-man online!)
-SOCOM Confrontation

So much for not enough games I suppose (and since when does quantity equal better quality..?). And however it's a little more expensive than the Xbox's games, you get a lot more content thanks to Blu-Ray as opposed to DVD (50GB vs 9GB). I think it's worth the extra 10 or so dollars. Especially when you look at the frickin' awesome exclusives still coming out, it's safe to say the PS3 is very competitive even though it's twice the price of the Xbox 360 (the cheapest version WHICH DOESN'T COME WITH AN HDD, yeah thanks for this great update).

Also, the Xbox may have similar hardware, but just take a look at the PS2. People still like it after 8 years. It's not always the hardware that counts. In Japan the PS2 still sells better than the Xbox 360 for instance. The aim is to do the same with the PS3. And the PS3's hardware actually is better than the Xbox's, game companies just haven't quite figured out the best way to program for the PS3.

(P.S. about the Micro$oft thing, the fact that you're so happy that Microsoft releases a FREE update says enough :D.)

[Ian @ Nov 1st 2008 7:00PM]

Hey Nick, let me know hwo those games are since you've played them to know they're awesome ok?

-LittleBigPlanet - Out and good
-Motorstorm Pacific Rift
-Resistance 2 - Not out (but supposedly those who played the beta say its very very good)
-Gran Turismo 5 - Pay for Demo, Full game not expected for another year+ supposedly
-Final Fantasy XIII Versus - Not Out
-Heavy Rain - Not Out
-inFamous - Not Out
-God of War 3 - Not Out
-Uncharted 2 - Not Out
-Killzone 2 - Not Out
-MAG (256-man online!) - Not Out
-SOCOM Confrontation - Public Beta, Not Out


My basic gist? You can't count games that aren't out yet. You say Kill-Zone 2 is gonna be awesome, yet Kill-Zone 1 was terrible. GoW3, SOCOM, FF13, Uncharted 2, Resistance 2, and GT5 are the only games on there you can say with certainty will be decent... because they're all sequels. How do you justify saying games that have not even been seen in playable form (Heavy Rain for example) will be a good addition to the Sony PS3 Library? Just like those that said Lair was gonna be AWESOME?

/me goes back to playing Fallout 3

[Zeus.:God @ Nov 1st 2008 9:44PM]

I'm still waiting for Huxley with it's supposed 3,500 player online servers... Gonna' be awesome when they get into the swing of things with adverts and such.

[Syn @ Nov 1st 2008 11:30PM]

Too bad the install for 360 isn't partial. I mean... you have to install the whole game for faster load times. And with the over priced HDD that Microsoft offers... I think they are just trying to push more 20gb owners to get larger HDD. Where as PS3, You only install 1gb-5gb for the same loading speed. And you aren't forced to purchase SONY made HDD. Size, Speed and Brand is all up to you. Oh well. Each to their own.



Until their are exclusives for 360 that I want to play, I'll stick to my ps3.

[Jack Storm @ Nov 2nd 2008 2:20AM]

@ Nick

I know your just trying to defend your position (and value) of why you purchased a PS3 but calling Microsoft, Micro$oft, does not help you make a point and just makes yourself sound worst than your pointless bragging about $ony's(jk) system.

[Aaron @ Nov 2nd 2008 8:37AM]

Even though I'm a PS3 owner (don't press [-] yet...), I'm glad to see that Microsoft is doing this. There are only a handful of games that even partially load onto the PS3 (Metal Gear Solid comes to mind), but a lot that would benefit from it (Ridge Racer 7 comes to mind).

I hope Microsoft's decision sways more PS3 developers to consider doing the same. I also hope this makes Microsoft reconsider it's draconian views on upgrading your own hard drive and causes them to reduce the price on the add-on hard drive modules.

Also Vista. :)

[Pepsipoint @ Nov 2nd 2008 9:03AM]

Honestly, and I know the (-) is coming, I own both a PS3 and XBOX360, and I own three games for the PS3 and 20 or more for the 360. When I'm going to play or purchase a game , the first system i look for is the 360. Why? Not because I'm such a fan boy because honestly I'm not. But a year after a release, a 360 game will be 15 dollars, and a ps3 game will still be 25 or 30 used. Almost all the games come out on both systems, and the ten or so "exclusives" don't convince me that the ps3 is the better system for GAMING, and to be honest, in the past four months the only use my ps3 has had was to play blu ray movies. Can't not have the Hulk/Iron Man in standard def now can I? (and what's with sony not giving an HDMI cable with the system?)

I'm waiting to see what Sony's going to do with this system. That home thing they're putting out doesn't sound too impressive either. If i wanted to "hang out" with virtual friends I'd either play sims, or world of warcraft.

And yes. I own a ps2 and a ps1, in fact a few of them and every fun system in between. As i look around the room i see plenty of sony products so i'm far from a hater.

I just don't see it yet.

[Behnam @ Nov 2nd 2008 3:51PM]

@pagefault: "Yeah except that on PS3 it's *REQUIRED* for some games and on 360 it's a luxury."

The only reason behind it being "optional" is because of thousands of those "HDD-less" Arcade systems out there.
Imagine people buying games for their Arcade console and not being able to play them! A bunch of sweet lawsuits heading to Redmond I think...

[I @ Nov 2nd 2008 7:00PM]

I would rather see all three of the current gen consoles make it long term. It will promote competition and innovation.

[BananaBoat @ Nov 3rd 2008 1:05AM]

It's worth noting that the PS3 doesn't ALLOW installs, it REQUIRES them because Blu-Ray's read times are so craptastic at the moment.


Ok, that noted, you may continue your pointless fanboy flame war.

[Tony @ Nov 19th 2008 10:36AM]

I really, really, don't understand this hatred for one console and all out love for another. Just buy both? They both have good points and bad points.
Or, does being so poor that you can’t buy both mean that you have to love one and hate the other, like Apple vs PC? If so, why? Please explain your attitude.
Does my head in.

[Raheem @ Nov 1st 2008 3:30PM]

The videos aren't viewable from outside the US.

In response to the information:- I'd happily install things I play a lot (while I'm having a shower or something) to reap a few seconds saved in load up time. If it means a quieter console too then so much the better.

[tiuk @ Nov 1st 2008 4:47PM]

Yeah, I normally have one game that I play a lot more than the others (and it varies of course, first it was Gears, then Halo 3, then CoD4, etc) so since I only have a 20 GB HDD in my 360 I plan to only have one game installed at a time. I'd rather install everything, but most of the time I think this will work out for me.

[konshuss @ Nov 1st 2008 5:37PM]

what's the deal with these cheapskates only allowing US IPs to watch videos? what is there a bandwidth shortage?

[Wayne @ Nov 1st 2008 10:59PM]

I'd take slightly slower load times if it meant I didn't have to listen to the DVD-ROM drive spinning anymore.

[ScooterDe @ Nov 2nd 2008 7:15AM]

'annoying hum of the optical drive'? Sheesh, I can't hear it over the roar of the fan, whether playing a game or otherwise. Xbox 360 sucks as a media console for this very reason.

[Vanillacide @ Nov 2nd 2008 8:18AM]

@ ScooterDe: surely you mean the Xbox 360 B_L_O_W_S for this very reason.

Bad-dum ... ting!

[garrenteed @ Nov 1st 2008 3:34PM]

Hopefully the system will run cooler and I could stash it in a tighter place.

[mashupmark.com @ Nov 1st 2008 4:33PM]

Giggity! ;)

[Engadgetier @ Nov 1st 2008 8:28PM]

I thought it was Giggidy?

[Lowest Ranked @ Nov 2nd 2008 1:18AM]

Engiggidy*

[zsyco @ Dec 18th 2008 9:15AM]

It's not much cooler when running from HDD. I tested it out with a game not installed (Halo 3) vs one that was installed (Gears of War 2) inside of my entertainment center with the door closed. With Halo 3 the temp was 107 and with Gears of War 2 it was 98 each after 30 minutes of gaming.

Getting rid of the noise from the DVD drive was more apparent than I thought it would be and welcome difference. The most dramatic difference that I've seen in load times so far has been Call of Duty 4. I didn't time it prior to the install, I should have, but it I can see it's a lot faster.

[MMaster23 @ Nov 1st 2008 3:35PM]

Nice going Engadget . this was shown months ago....

[Valicore @ Nov 1st 2008 3:41PM]

Everyone's a critic...

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Nov 1st 2008 4:37PM]

Seems newsworthy, many of us don't spend all of our time on console fansites.

It's perfect for me; I have the 120G HDD but rarely play games -- and at that, only a handful. So I'll be able to load my entire games library, never have to get off the couch to swap games, and the whole thing will be quieter. Perfect!

Microsoft's adding a bunch of cool features I didn't even know I needed. Kudos.

[tiuk @ Nov 1st 2008 4:48PM]

Sadly, you'll still have to get off the couch. You still have to keep the disc in the tray to verify that you actually own it. Sucks, I know.

[Ignatius @ Nov 1st 2008 8:25PM]

If you didn't have to do that, then you could rent a game, install it, return it and have a full game to play.

[punx @ Nov 1st 2008 3:40PM]

i really dont mind i have a 250 gig drive soo bring on the installs :D

[ZeitgeistXIII @ Nov 1st 2008 3:43PM]

Eh 250gb? how did you do that?

[ThomasBags @ Nov 1st 2008 4:04PM]

Why a handy dandy screwdriver of course!

[Sentax @ Nov 1st 2008 4:44PM]

You're such a douche in the first post about this, now your all for it?

Gawd you are a dumbass...

[Abuzar Baloach @ Nov 1st 2008 4:49PM]

He probably means it as another diss at the 360 because he probably got a 250GB HDD for his PS3.

[Erb @ Nov 1st 2008 3:50PM]

Just thinking back to Halo 2 modding.

Putting things on the HDD is gonna make EVERYTHING more fun!

[a ham sandwich @ Nov 1st 2008 4:22PM]

if you played ONLINE with that so-called mod, i hate you as a human being. what you do by yourself locally is none of my business, but the second you make it my business by ruining the game or making the rest of us lag out, its not cool. not cool at all.

[Lowest Ranked @ Nov 1st 2008 5:05PM]

Amen.

[Valicore @ Nov 1st 2008 8:40PM]

Agreed

[Felipe @ Nov 1st 2008 3:56PM]

as long as i have the room for it, i got the 120gb hard drive, SO BRING IT ON!! plus, im tired of hearing the optical drive sounding like its ready to blow at a moments notice, so this is good.

[MrMuggs @ Nov 1st 2008 4:08PM]

The bummer is that you still have to put the disc in the tray when you want to play the games. It would be nice if the games you load onto your HD you could just switch to and play. Unfortuantely, when you're sitting on your couch and switch to another game you have to get up, find the disc, put it in the tray and then load the game...even though it's on your HD.

I don't mind getting up from the couch but it's sort of lame that I still need the disc each time I play.

[B @ Nov 1st 2008 4:57PM]

That's DRM for'ya.

[Backlin @ Nov 1st 2008 6:18PM]

A more useful implementation of DRM would be copying a serial number to the disc image and attaching your Gamertag to it.

Think about that one for the Xbox 720. Can't do it right now, I doubt the discs have serial number data in them.

[Samboini @ Nov 1st 2008 6:21PM]

It would be suicide for them not to require the disk , otherwise everyone would hire the game for a day and install it locally. Let's just be thankful we've got it in the first place!

[GenoMalice @ Nov 1st 2008 10:55PM]

... I'm sorry just had to comment on the guy above me... how do you "hire" games? like is there a rate per hour of fun like a prostitute?.. lool I'm messing with you.. excuse this post

[Grant @ Nov 2nd 2008 3:58PM]

"I doubt the discs have serial number data in them."
Nope, It wouldn't be feasible with the way discs are pressed, every disc would need to be individually written instead of the system they use now. They could implement a required serial number for installs, but you could get around that if you never connected to live and that would make the rental industry just not workable unless a custom made uninstallable version was specifically made for them.