Microsoft frees up 1GB Xbox 360 disc space after five years
According to reports, the new format for the DVD9 disc may free up to 1GB of storage to the game discs. Apparently Microsoft will be removing the security piece that exists on the current disc. It’s odd that the company took nearly five years to act on something that was circumvented ages ago.
As reported by Digital Foundry, a source confirmed that the new Xbox 360 DVD9 disc update will completely remove the 1GB of video partition on every 360 game disc. The DVD9 format, while has the maximum capacity of 7.95GB is limited to 6.8GB by Microsoft’s security layer, which takes up 1GB of the disc.
With the new format it appears that this 1GB video partition will be completely removed, discarding the old security layer. Considering the fact that the Xbox 360 was hacked since 2006 its strange why it took Microsoft five years to decide to remove the useless layer of security that was hogging up 1GB of precious disc space.
Developers have been complaining about DVD9 space issues for over three years now from Bizarre Creations to id Software. Apparently the jump from shipping a game with one disc to two carries heavier licensing fees publishers have to foot this generation.
However, changing a disc format after five years later is no easy task and has its own set of challenges. This is probably one of the reasons why Microsoft is doing a wide scale beta program, while graciously handing out copies of Halo: Reach.
As pointed out by DF, the Xbox 360 has gone through four different DVD brand drives (Samsung, Hitachi, Benq and Liteon). Also, the video sector with the security is said to be nestled within the inner layer of the DVD9, which is also the slowest part. Unlike Blu-ray, DVD drives operate at different speeds depending on the location of the data.
Developers will have to keep this in mind when programming anything inside the new freed up layer of the DVD9 disc. Also, publishers manufacturing existing games on the new disc format will have to be careful not to place data in this area as it may break the game.
I am sure that this will be welcomed by the development community and am curious to see if the upcoming Gears of War 3 will make use of this new format.
Related Posts:
65 Responses to “Microsoft frees up 1GB Xbox 360 disc space after five years”
Leave a Reply:
You must be logged in to post a comment. Don't have an account? Register today!
April 5th, 2011
“Developers have been complaining about DVD9 space issues for over three years now”
Don’t lie Mike. The xbots don’t believe there is a space issue with the 360 DVD. Lol you’re just being a fanboy. LOL
April 6th, 2011
Nearly there M$, just 40 more Gig until its the same as a Blu Ray disc lmao
But like ncaissie said the xbots swore they didn’t need or want any more space on their discs, they like changing discs multiple times lol
April 6th, 2011
Too little Too late is what I say.
But really now 1 extra GB of storeage space like thats gonna help.
April 6th, 2011
wow, twice what I thought they would get.
should make thinks a little better for the Devs, and so long as they don’t fill it with FMV cut scenes or uncompressed textures it should make a big difference.
@ oldschool
I have over 40 games, and the only game where I will ever needed to change the disk while playing is Lost odyssey, which has 4 disks.
I know Forza has two disks but I have never needed the second disk.
I can’t think of any others,
The Devs have done a good job working with the limited space, unlike 95% of the PS3 games that use an extra 25GB and have F all to show for it, because the don’t look any better despite having uncompressed textures.
As soon as we see PS3 games use the space for something that actually makes a difference to the game I’ll be impressed, instead of FMV and behind the scenes crap, the making off etc. . .I want a better game not a fucking documentary on how they made the game. .
as for uncompressed textures, which take up a huge amount of space, I have yet to see a multiplat where the use of uncompressed textures has resulted in better looking game/textures. .only thing it does is free up CPU time nothing more, and even that hasn’t helped the games play any better.
PS3 has some of the best Devs there are, and these guys are what has given the PS3 it’s best games, if these same Devs were working for the 360, I have no doubt that they would still have produced the same quality of games,
April 6th, 2011
Not just the Devs, the PS3 is the more powerful console. Simple as that.
The 3rd60 is meant to me a LOT easier to develop for so they should have made a game that looks better than Uncharted 2 if that’s true Godless. But the fact is it’s not possible. PS3 is a more powerful machine that has had better graphics since 2007
April 6th, 2011
and if the 360 had the BD drive as well then 360 games would have been better looking and become longer and put less strain on it outdated tech.
April 6th, 2011
Are there any PC games on BD yet?
April 6th, 2011
No M$ deosn’t want that to happen because that will make their console look even cr*per than normal and that will hurt them like losing the sixth generation of the console wars.
April 6th, 2011
sorry meant to say “that will hurt them like losing the sixth generation console wars did.
April 6th, 2011
So you are saying Microsoft controls the entire PC game market?
April 6th, 2011
They do make the Window OS ya know CarlB and they are trying to incorparate Xbox Live on the PC so er yeah they trying to control the PC market but Vaule won’t let them win that easy due to their Stream Works Service.
April 6th, 2011
“should make thinks a little better for the Devs, and so long as they don’t fill it with FMV cut scenes or uncompressed textures it should make a big difference.”
Or good games.
April 6th, 2011
@Godless, you can make almost any game fit on DVD if you strip it down and compress the shit out of it.
April 6th, 2011
“and if the 360 had the BD drive as well then 360 games would have been better looking and become longer and put less strain on it outdated tech.”
Probably not. I think the 3rd60 is maxed out no matter how much space you give it.
“Are there any PC games on BD yet?”
There should be. They put them on many discs and make you install a shit load on your HDD. Not many people have BR in their PC’s. I have a burner in mine.
April 6th, 2011
@Godless
6.8GB to 7.8GB is not a big difference.
This just anotehr proof showing how much MS needs Bluray and it also shows that MS is doing this because of all the “heat” they’re getting from developers.
You can keep making excuses but we all know 360 & DVD9 is holding this generation back.
April 6th, 2011
@CarlB They are trying. Look up a thing called XNA. It’s an SDK for windows and the 3rd60.
April 6th, 2011
The 3rd60 will never get BR. And it wouldn’t help anyway. Next GEN will probably get some other type of memory and will be large. Memory cards or cartridges maybe?
April 6th, 2011
“PS3 has some of the best Devs there are”
Microsoft had/has Bungie, Epic, Bioware, Rare, Lionhead, and many others. In fact, most PS3 devs besides Polyphony Digital, and Team Ico (GT series) were never consider great developers until this generation. Evolution Studios, Sucker Punch, Quantic Dream, San Diego Studios, Media Molecule, Guerrilla Games and all others are just starting to be considered as “great devs” because of all the power of the PS3 has allow them to distinguished themselves from the rest (who are limited by the 360).
April 6th, 2011
Let’s see now Bungie quit along with Bioware, Bezare Creations and Epic and have gone multi plat. I wounder why?
April 6th, 2011
7.8GB DVD9 versus 50GB Blu Ray Disc = Sony laughing all the way to the bank when DVDs get phased out.
April 6th, 2011
“Let’s see now Bungie quit along with Bioware, Bezare Creations and Epic and have gone multi plat”
and Rare and Lionhead aren’t making good games lately.
April 6th, 2011
Does anyone else feel sorry for guys like CarlB and Godless? They say they have PS3s and use them yet they can’t seem to take the MS D%$k from their mouths.
I haven’t had much gaming time in the past month. I tried Free Realm the other day and it was awful. There are a lot of in-game PSN purchases. I deleted it right after I tried it. I’ll stick with DCUO which I am paying for and not playing! I have this weekend off so I’ll try to get some DCUO time in. I am usually to tired and just sit there playing with my Ipad.
April 6th, 2011
Good news Xbots you can have an extra level on the crapbox 3shitty now isn’t wounderful? Microsoft cares about you and has given devs 1 GB of disc space for Kinect Mini Game as M$ did say 2011 is all about the Kinect.
April 6th, 2011
Whoops spelling error meant ot say “isn’t it wounderful?”
April 6th, 2011
I am like Jojo on this issue. I am tired of this what Xbox360 can do crap. This talk is pissing me off. The fact is Xbox360 hasn’t shown anything graphically superior to Ps3 games. Ps3 games have better graphics and sound then Xbox360 games so deal with it Xbots. I am sick and tired of all the excuses.
April 6th, 2011
First off, kudos to MS, a free gb of space is still a free gb…now, the question is…will it matter? I don’t think it will but still, it’s a nice feat…
Godless, how long you gonna wait on 360 producing graphics on par with the ps3…so far….over 3 years plus waiting….
And your a tad wrong about the ps3 developers only being grewt this gen…remember, most of these devs have been with sony, just under a different studio name
April 6th, 2011
@ godless about being a tad wrong, aimed that at the wrong person, roca!!!
April 6th, 2011
“They do make the Window OS ya know CarlB and they are trying to incorparate Xbox Live on the PC so er yeah they trying to control the PC market but Vaule won’t let them win that easy due to their Stream Works Service.”
So you are saying Microsoft controls the PC game market?
“Does anyone else feel sorry for guys like CarlB and Godless? They say they have PS3s and use them yet they can’t seem to take the MS D%$k from their mouths. I haven’t had much gaming time in the past month… I am usually to tired and just sit there playing with my Ipad.”
All I did was ask a question while continuing to play on my PS3 instead of my 360. All you can do is complain about said question while playing iPad games? I feel sorry for you.
April 6th, 2011
@jojo
Sony’s best studio since the PS1 was Polyphony Digital. Producing best selling exclusive with reviews in the 90s. The were doing good games (like Incognito, Naughty Dog, Zipper) but they were never considered one of the best studios.
Capcom, Rockstar, Square Enix, Bungie, Valve, Konami/Kojima Productions, Rare, Nintendo (mainly Miyamoto), Dice, Namco & EA were the ones dominating the past 2 generations.
Look at how some of Sony devs have become from average/good to great (most of them leading in graphics & genre defining games this gen):
-Evolution Studios
From World Rally Championship to Motorstorm
-Naughty Dog
From Jak & Daxter to Uncharted
-Sucker Punch
From Sly Cooper to Infamous
-Guerrilla Games
From mediocre KZ to a great KZ2
-Quantic Dream
From average Fahrenheit to award-winning Heavy Rain
-Media Molecule
From shitty Rag Doll Kung Fu to award-winning, genre defining LBP
They were good/decent/average devs but far from “the best devs there are” as Godless said.
April 6th, 2011
Har har..
More Phallic Sucking Fanboys jizzing all over the place again.
Please clean up after yourselves when you guys are done ok?
April 6th, 2011
“Are there any PC games on BD yet?”
No, but there are plenty of games that push past the limits of DVD9. We also don’t have the swap discs after the initial install
I really wish that as long as you had the ‘play disk’ (lets say it was disc 1 of any game) that you didn’t have to swap discs when using HDD install on 360.
Star Ocean was annoying w/ the disc swapping.
April 6th, 2011
@roca
True, although, they were building up their studios during this era, naughty dog, insomniac were considered too tier developers for their ratchet and jak( which are some of the best platformers in the industru) games, also, sony santa monica studios made their big splash with gow 1 and 2..not to mentiont team ico or studio liverpool ( wipeout series )…. but overal yes, I agree, for most of the newer studios, like evolution or whatnot, they’ve made their splash now….
April 6th, 2011
“All you can do is complain about said question while playing iPad games? I feel sorry for you.”
Did I say I was playing games? Nope. I said I was to tired to play games. I read comics, watch movies and surf the net on my iPad.
You said “Are there any PC games on BD yet?” insinuating that BR was not needed to make good games. The PC installs a lot on the HDD which is part of my post you so conveniently ignored. And can you install GB’s of each game on the 3rd60? Nope. Why? Because not all 3rd60s even have HDDs. So your retort was as usual a useless attempt to troll. I feel sorry for you.
April 6th, 2011
got to go guys bye and p*ss off the Xbots for me (not really don’t)
April 6th, 2011
@jojo
You are correct.
So lets say the best devs from Sony are Polyphony Digital, Santa Monica and Team Ico.
So far this generation they have all produced 2 games combined (soon to be 3 w/Last Guardion). So the ones carrying the PS3 this gen were the other good/decent/great devs who have upped their game by fully utilizing the PS3 capabilities with no limitations (unlike the 360)
April 6th, 2011
some PC games and 3,4,6-discs long and still require a massive install.
April 6th, 2011
@roca
Well said
@ncaissie
Carlb is a strong ps3 supporter, not sure what the commotion is about…
On your guys’ topic
The main reason why pc games are still on dvd is easy:
1. They are cheaper
2. Zipped files don’t need a whole lot of space because
3. Pc have huge hard drives…
The need to replace dvd with br on the pc front is small, due to devs being able to zip and compress a 10-15gb (as an example) on a dvd9…
I actually have a real example of this as I recently purchased Rift, which was on a single dvd and it was a 12 gb file….
Anywhoo, im still waking up and today work is slow so hopefully I’m making sense lol
April 6th, 2011
@jojo – While your point is taken, Rift is only 8.65 GB here O_o …
April 6th, 2011
@jojo
what do you say about yesterday?
you could tell we all were blorge members lol.
btw, after you left I got 6 in a row against him then he rage quit
You should practice more ofter and make You Ibuki as deadly as she was when we first played. MvC3 is messing up your timing and playstyle.
April 6th, 2011
Ah cool thanks for the correction SW, what server/ faction you on, I think I might have counted the file after the updates
April 6th, 2011
Have four guardian chars on Sunrest and just created a defiant on Briarcliff (Seems to have the highest pop).
April 6th, 2011
“Also, publishers manufacturing existing games on the new disc format will have to be careful not to place data in this area as it may break the game.”
OO So they still screw worse now. And that means is more easy to expand piracy for the Xbox 360 community. I don’t see this as helping anyone but people that love piracy .giggles.
April 6th, 2011
Guys I’m on my way to NY, I’ll be there until Saturday or Sunday…so I won’t posting much.
Don’t kill each other while I’m not here.
later.
April 6th, 2011
You coming to the best state ever. We got Take Two Interactive.
April 6th, 2011
“You said ‘Are there any PC games on BD yet?’ insinuating that BR was not needed to make good games.”
I think you projected and read into that one just a wee bit. I just asked a question. But you did bring up the point: Is BR needed to make good games? I don’t think so. It’s a nice to have convenience though.
“The PC installs a lot on the HDD which is part of my post you so conveniently ignored. And can you install GB’s of each game on the 3rd60?”
Yes. I used to all the time. No problem.
April 7th, 2011
It took some time for PC games to be on DVD too. I remember most games being available on CD-ROM and in some cases you could also get it on DVD.
They seem to follow whatever default drive is put in the most recent PC’s.
April 7th, 2011
PC will release the game on which ever format will sell best.
Sony has an agenda with Blu ray, that is why they choose it for the PS3 console, the devs will not switch to blu ray on PC until enough people own the drive for them to sell more than a few hundred copies of the game (and that will just never happen)
Sony may well decide to put a blu ray drive in there next console, but I will pretty much guarantee that neither the next Xbox or any PC dev will bother with blu ray.
Blu ray is probably the last physical media we will ever have, it will replace DVD for movies, and then DD will replace blu ray. I can’t see it replacing DVD for games, that will be a PS3 only thing.
April 7th, 2011
I think it’s just a cost thing/popularity thing.
It’s probably more expensive to press 10+ CD’s or one blu-ray than it is two DVD’s or one DVD-DL. At this point you can pretty much be assured that anyone with the hardware to play your game has an optical drive capable of reading DVDs.
With bluray being pushed as a HD movie format (even tho its all just data) and increasing popularity in digital downloads, I think people are more likely to spend the money on a player in thier living rooms than on thier pc’s. Well, at least until vendors like dell/hp/etc start forcing the drives on people.
April 7th, 2011
@ godless
I agree with ya for the most part….I also don’t quite see br replacing dvd on the pc….unless of course, games just get bigger and bigger, but aside from games such as WoW, Rift, Crysis, which nearly fill up a dvd9 start becoming the standard..and with hd becoming more and more standard in the home, it can happen but also we have to take into consideratiin the following:
-How fast can we bring Fios speed broadband across homes
-How fast will current ssd come down in price
-how
April 7th, 2011
@ godless
I agree with ya for the most part….I also don’t quite see br replacing dvd on the pc….unless of course, games just get bigger and bigger, but aside from games such as WoW, Rift, Crysis, which nearly fill up a dvd9 start becoming the standard..and with hd becoming more and more standard in the home, it can happen but also we have to take into consideratiin the following:
-How fast can we bring Fios speed broadband across homes
-How fast will current ssd come down in price
-How fast can IP providers find the mass market price sweet spot…
In my opinion, the longer the above takes, the more likely br will stick around that much longer….DD is the future, but the big question is when will it become the standard, dominant format….
Some of you seem to think next gen will see most consoles use some sort of non physical media….I strongly disagree…physical media/br, imo, has I believe 2 more console generations left before we see all consoles ceast to use a physical media drive…
April 7th, 2011
“Developers have been complaining about DVD9 space issues for over three years now” lmao no he isn’t. I pretends and sacasticly makes stupid statements. If you can’t see that then try reading his posts again. Not just this topic.
April 7th, 2011
@ Godless: We we never replace Discs or using something that you can purchase from a store. A lot of people prefer to buy movies or games second hand so it’s cheaper, DD is a total rip off, some how it charges you more to download than grab at Amazon. I’ll never go DD, I like having a DVD/BluRay collection on my shelves I can show off like a proud little geek.
I’ll bet anything the new Xbox will use Blu Ray lol.
April 7th, 2011
LOL same here OS
April 7th, 2011
“Blu ray is probably the last physical media we will ever have”
You may be right, but “last” could last a very long time indeed. I think optical will continue to evolve in capabilities, along with thumbdrives and SSD.
“2 more console generations left before we see all consoles ceast to use a physical media drive…”
If by physical you mean optical, yes, I can see that as a real possibility. I think consoles will still keep at least one model with a HDD/SSD and/or port (like say USB 3.0 for thumbdrive). I also think there is a real possibility that by that time (2 console gens from now will probably be around 2030) we will see discs replaced by cards.
April 8th, 2011
“I pretends” = “He pretends”
I think they will make great strides with SSD and it will get cheaper and mainstream.
April 8th, 2011
“2 more console generations left before we see all consoles ceast to use a physical media drive…”
Guys
I’m not sure we will get 2 more gens of gaming consoles at all.
I think the next gen could easily be the last ever gen of Gaming systems, after that I think we’ll see the processing power that comes built into TV becoming adequate to play games on.
My vision for the future, it that the TV will progressively take on more and more functionality to the point where it is basically a powerful PC
already my TV, a fairly humble Samsung 580, can do just about everything my PS3 can do except record TV, and play games.
it can play movies, music and display pictures direct from an external drive, it can watch streaming media iplayer etc. wirelessly it can view certain internet channels. .a bit like the PS3 really
give it a few more years TVs will come with built in recording to a 1TB drive & a fully functional web browser, possibly with support for Java games etc.
Give it a few more years after that and it will have the processing power of a gaming PC, a fully fledged gaming system the only device you will need in the house to meet your entertainment needs, with games controlled via warless USB or blu tooth devices
In fact I have an Acer touch screen PC in the bedroom which basically is all of these things, except that it is not powerful enough to compete against the consoles for hardcore gaming, but so much better for hardcore browsing
The days of stand alone gaming consoles could be numbered. .well the years are anyway, unless they stay far enough ahead in processing power to make them viable.
April 8th, 2011
That won’t happen any time soon Godless. The consol is portable and I like bringing my PS3 to other TVs in the house and to other hoses like when I go away for a weekend. There is no way I would take the TV everywhere. I don’t replace TVs very often and I have many TVs in my house.
If anything they will create Handhelds strong enough and able to connect to TVs and maybe wireless controller connections for multi player games.
April 9th, 2011
If games come from the cloud it wouldn’t matter which terminal device you used as long as it is capable of the proper display and input. TV’s and tablets have already been released with everything necessary to make this happen. All that’s left to do is build the servers and begin distribution with tech that already exists.
This doesn’t mean independent/hybrid devices will cease to be made either. Ideally, for my portable device, I would want a device capable of holding several games I can play offline, with my archive library in the cloud I could pull from anytime, similar to how kindle works now.
April 9th, 2011
PSP already works like this, while NGP looks to capitalize on it even more.
April 9th, 2011
Again, not even 1/2 the population would have an Internet connection to support cloud gaming. But it would be interesting.
The problem is it would set games back two gens in order to make them simple enough to proccess and stream.
April 9th, 2011
The processing power necessary to display and receive input as a terminal is a fraction of what is necessary to actually process the game itself. Current gen games are now being streamed to TV’s.
Essentially, if your device can display 1080p and take input (like internet connected TV’s and tablets do now), it is capable of playing games via the cloud. Granted not everyone does have a capable connection, but the 2 out of 5 in the target markets that have a capable connection now are more than enough to justify starting the process, as it will likely mean 3 out of 5 by 2020, when the architecture has been firmly solidified.
April 9th, 2011
Looks like it’s improved significantly in the past year, I guess that 2 out of 5 (with >/= 3Mbps) figure is already outdated:
http://www.telecompetitor.com/in-stat-average-u-s-broadband-download-speed-9-54-mbs/
April 10th, 2011
That still doesn’t get around the contention issue tho.
It’s fine to say you can push 10Mbps, but with mass usage that kinda goes down the crapper. Not to mention the whole fucking usage bullshit that is going on in some areas right now (fucking Canada >:| ).
And to get even a slow(T1) guaranteed leased line is still expensive.
April 11th, 2011
If your internet can’t stream video how can it stream the game and send receive commands needed to control the game? You also receive data for things like rumble.
April 11th, 2011
I don’t think we will ever see games streamed to any devices, not as a movie type thing anyways.
1, the quality would be crap, and the bandwidth required for 60fps 1080p graphics would be outrageous
2. the processing power required for the server to handle more than a few users would be outrageous
3. the lag between you doing something then getting the feedback from it would be notable, if the game were being streamed movie style, I just don’t see it ever happening.
With most people now able to download around 4GB in 1 hour, I don’t see DD being a problem at all, even if it meant the larger games downloaded in parts, allowing you to play as soon as you had part 1 then it continued to download while you played, as a gamer you would never know it was continuing in the background.
Even if game downloads were on average say 20GB that still only around 5 to 8 hours downloading in total, with ,most people able to play after just an hour or so downloading part 1.
Even my fairly shitty connection can do that, and if it took a bit longer So what. . leave it downloading overnight . .I don’t see a problem.
Christ, we were downloading 1GB porn movies over 56K back in the days. .it could take over a week and it only made it more rewarding for having to wait