LoadTimes
Latest
Google's fast mobile pages coming (with ads) in early 2016
Google revealed the "AMP" endeavor last month to accelerate mobile page-loading times, the slowness of which is a huge user bone of contention. It now says the fast-loading mobile pages will hit search results by early next year, and also gave more details about the project's raison d'etre: ads. The list of partners supporting the effort include its own AdSense, Outbrain and AOL, Engadget's parent company. The AMP project will cut mobile data use and wait times, but Google's not just being altruistic -- it's trying to curb ad-blockers, which heavily impact the company's ad revenue. Apple recently gave ad-blockers a big boost when it revealed it would support them for Safari on iOS 9.
Fox dreaming of a future where Blu-ray movies load faster, are judged by the content of their character(s)
At least someone is (seemingly) listening to our Blu-ray gripes. /Film hit a Fox hosted press summit and heard exactly the things we've been waiting to hear: a future where "advanced" Blu-ray players can do what DVD players have done for years: automatically resume play where we left off on all players, dramatically reduced load times and a live demo of the IMDB Live Lookup feature available on the Wolverine release. The company has nabbed a researcher from Panasonic, Joe McCrossan, who is heading up the efforts to improve viewer's experience and tossing around long promised buzzwords like iPhone connectivity and Digital Copy along with the previously mentioned features under development -- if he succeeds on making them reality we'll rename an Engadget editor Joe in his honor, and it might not even be the one already named Joe. [Thanks, chevelleman]
Ask Engadget HD: Which Profile 2.0 Blu-ray player loads discs the quickest?
CNET's UK branch already ran a number of Blu-ray players through a timed gauntlet, but this week's Ask Engadget HD question places the responsibilities squarely on your shoulders. We're hoping Mick's question enables us to compile some pretty meaningful data, so break out the stopwatch and contribute! "Which current Blu-ray player (Profile 2.0, of course) has the quickest load time? I'm looking for something that loads much faster than my BDP-S300. Manufacturers don't bother listing load times on their decks, so I'm looking for some help from the audience." You heard the man -- we want model name, startup time and disc load times, along with any other tidbits you feel like tossing in. Get to it, partners.Got a burning question that you'd love to toss out for Engadget HD (or its readers) to take a look at? Tired of Google's blank stares when you ask for real-world experiences? Hit us up at ask at engadgethd dawt com and keep an eye on this space -- your inquiry could be next.
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]
Crisis Core loads infinitely faster on PSP-2000
The PSP-2000 didn't produce improved load times for us, but it looks like new PSP software, like Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core, will fare differently. As showcased by this user video, this action RPG runs quite smoothly on the new hardware, but chugs along at an almost painful pace on the PSP Phat. This demonstration is quite possibly the most convincing we've seen that the PSP-2000 is a worthwhile upgrade for old owners. But, are you ready to buy a new system? Or will you simply wait it out? [Thanks, J!]
IGN: PS3 Oblivion loads quicker, looks nicer than 360
IGN got some hands-on time with the long-awaited PS3 port of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and came away with some quite favorable comparisons to the Xbox 360 version. Load times that were seven to ten seconds on the 360 have been reduced to three to five seconds on the PS3, according to IGN. What's more, the frame rate drops that accompanied entrances to detailed areas have been eliminated, and the graphics have been improved with higher resolution textures, improved shading and an increased draw distance (to minimize far off object popping up suddenly). Amazing what newer hardware and an extra year of development time will do, isn't it? Still, it's not all wine and roses for PS3 owners. While the "Knights of the Nine" side-quest will be preloaded on the PS3 disc, the rest of the downloadable content available to Xbox 360 and PC players will not be available, though the content packs "may find their way to the PlayStation Store at some point in time in the future." Hopefully PS3 adventurers will be too busy playing the massive main quest to notice the omission when the game comes out in March. [Thanks, Phranctoast]
PSP load times analyzed
Long load times have been a concern for PSP owners ever since the system was released. But just how bad are those load times exactly? Gamespot decided to find out, measuring the time from system start-up to actual gameplay in more than 80 PSP games.The results show the average PSP game clocking in at a whopping 103.4 seconds of load time, compared with sub-30-second load times for the average DS and Game Boy Advance game. Sports games were the worst offenders while puzzle games tended to be quicker on the draw. At just over four minutes, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2006 had the single worst load time in Gamespot's tests, a fact that should be unsurprising to anyone who's seen this video.Interestingly, PSP games rated 9.0 and above by Gamespot had shorter load times than any other scoring range. Does this show that reviewers appreciate short load times, or just that better games tend to be designed to load faster?While the tradeoff between loading times and storage space is always a tough one, we have to believe that a wait of close to two minutes is too long for a quick, portable game. What do you think? How long is too long to wait for a game to start?(Thanks, HaloBreaker)
Medal of Honor hype on IGN
IGN has a huge blow-out on the upcoming PSP Medal of Honor Heroes. They have one written-by-a-marketing-team write-up that features profiles of the in-game characters: Generic McAmerican, Jimmy Paterson, William Holt and John Baker. Snore... The other is an interview with the game's producer, Peter Choi. It very similar to a previous interview, but it's great to know that he understands some of the things PSP fans are looking for from a game: 32 player online (Infrastructure) multiplayer. I can't stress enough how awesome that sounds. "The game is also optimized to have very short load times, which is hugely important for gamers on-the-go." (Yes!) "User Hosted Server feature along with official EA Nation Server games, are both fully customizable and have very detailed leaderboards and stat tracking." (Yes!) If all that hype wasn't enough for you, then you might want to check out the newest trailer for the game. It looks a lot like the previous videos, but with even sharper, prettier graphics.
Blog debate: PS3 to load games slower than the Xbox 360
From the "PS3 can't get a publicity break" file comes news that the system's Blu-ray load times will be slower than the DVD speeds of the Xbox 360. Following our post regarding Resistance: Fall of Man's beefy 22GBs of data, Microsoft's Andre Vrignaud (aka Ozymandias) wrote about why storage capacity isn't as important as drive speed and -- wouldn'tcha know it? -- Blu-ray has bunches of the former and not so much of the latter. Former Sony employee Mark DeLoura responded with a long, thoughtful response sticking up for the format that fanboys love to hate, talking textures, audio, and even read speed. Naturally, there's some guffawing from the other side of the aisle as Ozymandias takes umbrage with some of DeLoura's claims, notably that textures and other media will take up a sizable chunk of that Blu-ray disc. One area they are in agreement on is that Blu-ray's read speed isn't as fast as the Xbox 360's. Says DeLoura: "Admittedly, Blu-Ray looks dicey from several non-capacity angles. Blu-Ray movies require a 1.5x Blu-Ray drive, or 54Mbits/second. Sony announced that PS3 uses a 2x BD drive, which is 72Mbits/second or 9MB/second. The Xbox 360 uses a 12x DVD, which should give it about 16MB/second. That is significantly faster for games and will result in shorter load times. And that 12x DVD drive should be a whole lot cheaper. (Note that the PS3 drive will do 8x DVD, and even that is faster than 2x BD.)" Says Ozymandias in response: "This is pretty much what I've been saying regarding drive speeds. A good example of where we're pretty clearly agreeing." So, they're in agreement. The PS3 will load slower than the Xbox 360, leading one to question whether bragging about 22GB discs is the most prudent course of action. Let's hope they use the compression technologies touched on in the debate to shrink the data down considerably, even if it obviates a key selling point of the console. ... but wait, it's not all settled. Be sure to read the comments on Ozymandias' last post to get a bunch of great feedback, including this gem on the finer differences between CAV and CLV drives ("a BD25 on PS3 fares better than a DVD9 on the 360"), or Kim Pallister's link back to his own feedback on the fight and the "innovator's dilemma." [Thanks, Hank; via DigitalBattle] Grist - Will Resistance: FoM justify the PS3 pricetag? [Joystiq] Point - Drive Speed More Relevant to Games Than Capacity [Ozymandias] Counterpoint - On PS3 and Blu-Ray [Mark DeLoura] Counter-counterpoint - Oddly, We're in Violent Agreement [Ozymandias]
FFIII gameplay preview
Yeah, we know. Final Fantasy III overload. But what's a fanboy girl to do? We are powerless to resist the lure of the lovingly updated classic. This preview has no random chatter, but only the FFIII goodness we crave. Nice look at the use of the stylus, the battle system, and more. Doesn't look like there's an issue with loading times from one area to the next, but this is just a taste, after all.
