October 20th, 2011
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We’ve all heard about the Battlefield 3 hi-res texture pack on consoles, and how installing on each system’s HDD will provide a noticeable difference in the game’s graphics — but what if you don’t have a HDD for your 360? Unfortunately for hard drive-less 360 owners, DICE refers to this version as “standard def”.
In a recent interview with Gamerzines, Battlefield 3 Executive Producer, Patrick Bach was asked if installing the Battlefield 3 texture pack makes a noticeable difference on the Xbox 360. Bach responded:
“It does make a difference, yes, absolutely. The whole engine is based around streaming textures, streaming terrain and a lot of other content.
“The thing with the 360 is that you need to be able to give consumers a game where you don’t have to install it on a hard drive, because there are 360s without a hard drive. So we need to give you the option of installing it, rather than just demanding it. You could call it a ‘standard-def’ version for the 360 if you don’t have a hard-drive.”
Battlefield 3 launches Tuesday October 25th, on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.
Source: Gamerzines
32 comments from members, join the discussion in the forum >>>
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This is the first mandatory install game in all 360 history, while not mandatory to install but mandatory to buy a bew HD. In conclusion: ITS MANDATORY
Technically it’s not, it’s optional. The ps3′s is mandatory because you can not play the game without installing it.
The devs however, just like for RAGE, REALLY REALLY recommend you to install it.
How big do you think the install will be?
The question is will LoT disregard their out-of-box “rule” and do the H2H with the OPTIONAL install (as stated in the last paragraph of the quote).
Since HDD installs are becoming “mandatory” on the 360 (if you want an optimal experience), perhaps LoT should do a 3-way H2H PS3 vs. 360 with and without HDD install (that way non HDD users can see where they stand).
would be useless and pointless to do such a thing cause any 360 owner knowing that this game demands install for optimal visual enhancement, will be forced by its graphic desires to but a hard drive or usb memory
I understand what you are saying, but just because a game recommends an install for optimal visual fidelity does not mean consumers can automatically afford to buy a HDD. Users who have a 4GB 360 S, and do not know how to make their own HDD, would have to shell out over $100 for the 250 GB HDD. Microsoft has effectively split the 360 demographic, just because people can’t (or choose not to) buy a HDD does not mean they should be forgotten. A H2H is an informative comparison, catering information to specific demographics while disregarding a huge chunk defeats the purpose of sharing information freely.
Yes that was anserine decision that they didn’t make with the first XBOX. Hopefully they’ll redeem themselves at E3 with neXtBOX.
I don’t think so. Based on EA DICE’s words, its a virtually mandatory install because of this. They managed to make the 360 version run without it. But anyway, let’s wait for the H2H, if they did it with RAGE, they’ll do it again with this game as well
ur right man,I ADVICE U TO GO FOR EUROGAMER!!! FOR A FACE OFF its like h2h in lensoftruth,they r SO PRO!
I think LOT should at the very least mention the benefits of HDD install but it doesn’t have to factor into their out of the box decision making process as long as they make all this very clear. Personally I think the out of the box method of H2H is not moving with the times.
Its the same for the ps3 with lowers hdd like me.What about the ps3 fat models? You need to install almost all the ps3 games,so its the same.I need to buy some hdd for the ps3 then because 60gb is not enough.
My xbox has 250gb so thats enough.If you dont have a hdd for the xbox you can easily get a 250gb one for 80 bucks here in mexico,so its almost the same case for the ps3.
These streaming texture games havent been kind to the PS3 or its harddrive…. I feel more RAGE texture pop in coming.
If LOT is gonna do a head 2 head without the texture pack installed on the xbox 360, then they should do it without installing the texture pack on the PS3, unless its mandatory, in which case both have to be compared equally.
Seems like the HDD install is more highly recommended in BF3 than it was in Rage, also judging by the article LoT put up, they will almost definitely compare the 360 version with the ‘hi-res texture pack’ installed since it affects more than just loading times.
Considering how much cheaper xbox 360 HDDs are now, it only makes sense.
360 HDD and cheap? LOL… Pull the other one. They are a rip off.
I said cheaper, not cheap.
they may be a rip off, but if you can afford to buy the console + videogames, you can afford to drop £20 on a 60gb hard drive.
Then they should put the ps3 on rgb full and adjust the gamma settings with the in game slider if the developer sets the gamma levels on rgb full of course the limited will look like shit and vice versa.If i put two pics of Rachet & Clank A crack in time and said the rgb full one is 360 and the limited one ps3 every xbox fanboy would say the 360′s version is more vibrant better colors and much clearer and I would have to agree thats why most of these comparisons favor the 360.
I can get a 320 GB HDD for 360 on ebay for $50
a year ago i bought a 250gb HDD on ebay for about $90, the cool thing is that it is a 7200rpm drive (not the stock 5400rpm), some kid flashed these laptop hard drives so that they are recognized as official microsoft xbox 360 hard drives. Its worked great for me and games load about 10-20% faster. Doesnt beat my SSD in my ps3 though lol
To answer this question:
” but what if you don’t have a HDD for your 360? Unfortunately for hard drive-less 360 owners, DICE refers to this version as “standard def”.”
If you don’t have a hard drive for your XBOX 360 then go buy one. No one wants to hear any bItching about not having a HDD or how much they cost. It’s just like complaining that movies aren’t being released on VHS anymore. Get outta here, times are changing.
I don’t mind the 360 install as long as they compare it not installed also. People with a hard drive less 360 will not have the option to install. It needs to go, PS3 vs xbox 360 installed. Then Xbox 360 not installed for those who have both systems and There 360 does not have a hard drive.
So basically no install for SDTV or install for HDTV…big deal. It’ll look the same as the beta, watch.
I must correct it. The real reason is that since some xbox’s don’t come with hard drive they opted to decrease textures and prevent from a necessary install. Which will look ugly.
I’m so glad I ignore LoT head 2 heads now. I expect this will be as biased as the Rage one.
FYI…. just incase it hasnt been stated yet, over on gamerzines they said the texture pack comes in at 1.5GB… So, if you dont have a HDD, just buy a 2gb+ USB stick and install the texture pack that way!
It can’t be done that way, It’s all or nothing on the 360. So full install or no install what so ever.
Incorrect sir.
The texture pack is on the MP disc. You dont have to install the full game, just the texture pack, you may wanna go see the install screen pic on gamerzines website, you will see its 1.5gb.
My humble opinion: If a gamer is casual enough to not own a HDD on his/her Xbox nowadays, this player won’t care about the textures’ res. It’s not like the game can’t be played at all…
Those who really care about graphics would certainly buy a HDD for it.
Agreed! Or at the very least, they would own a USB flash drive :/
Vad håller DICE på med? Om dom fortsätter så här så kommer folk att byta till andra spel, gör något!
Woops. I wrote in swedish it seems lol. What I meant was that it is not a good idea to make people angry about buying the game on 360 and people then play it and find out that if you don´t install the game, you will have worse textures than installed.Many people is probarly going to ber dissapointed by this game:( . Oh. well, at least mw3 is coming soon.
I think, pointless to compare the Xbox360 standard version to the PS3.
If H2H goes on, it must be the best available version form boot consoles.