PS2 DVD driver update (1 Viewer)

[James D S]

Sorry Morgan, I'm just not getting you. They included the largest drive they could with out breaking the magical $300 mark. PS2 owners, of which I am about to be one, should be so lucky.
BTW, a network addressable drive is easily feasable, as well.
It doesn't matter though, 8GB is still very large. Remember, it only used for buffering, not installing games on like a PC. So games are not going to "fill it up with everything."
No HD or a larger HD? That just makes no sense. IT sounds like an arbitrary distinction you are making.
I'm surprised that anyone frequenting a 'Home Theater' forum and who claims to have access to one wouldn't see the impressiveness of what Microsoft is trying to do. Oh well...
BTW: To clear some more confusion, the XBox does not come with a modem. It's an ethernet connection. Which paves the way to connect to MANY hard drives.
[Edited last by James D S on July 25, 2001 at 03:49 PM]

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I know that they put in the largest HDD possible without breaking the mark, but I still don't think they should have made it only 8 GB (that's my personal opinion). I will probably own an X-Box by the end of the year or by next summer, but I just think that it is the least worth getting. I have a great HT setup (I can't take credit, it's my dad's setup that I just use a lot) and it will take advantage of the X-Box in every way, but I don't see how people can get so psyched about something that isn't worth getting.
The ethernet connection for the XB can be used as a modem, thank you for pointing out the difference so that nobody gets confused.

 

[Sean M]

Morgan, you can add me to the list of people who don't understand your arguement. From the proposed uses that Microsoft has outlined for their hard drive, 8GB is plenty. 40GB is really overkill for a game console, unless you are going to install games on it (and Sony would really like to use it to store content that you have purchased and downloaded from the web, but that's another story). The data transfer rates from the hard drive should be better than those coming off the DVD drive, so why wouldn't you use it to cache game data?
When a console maker fails to include something in the box when the console ships that they plan to bolt on later on, they instantly fracture the market and reduce developer support. Not including a modem or broadband connecter (like an ethernet card), and not including a hard drive, means that the PS2 will never use these features as fully as it might have, and that the X-Box will. Sony's omissions are far greater than Microsoft's, IMO. Not including DVD playback gets a big "so what" from me and most other gamers. If you really want and need that feature, go buy the DVD playback kit (which includes the Software player from Ravisent, which, if it scales video, will crush anything Sony comes out with in the way of an update to its DVD drivers), it's not necessary to have a uniform front in this respect.
As far as not having anything eyecatching, or being less worth it than a PS2, the PS2 has been, until the release of GT3, the most worthless console I've ever owned (dead last of 13 of them). That will change this year as the good games start to arrive. In that sense, comparing the PS2 to Xbox this year, is like comparing the DC to PS2 last year. There was no comparision in software library strength (still isn't), but the PS2 was launching. Both the XBox and Game Cube will have decent launches, especially when compared to the PS2's, in terms of software, but next year, or maybe even the year after, will be the real year to see who has the better games. Besides, all XBox has to do to get something eye opening is for Sega to get Jet Grind Radio Future (the original still having surpassed anything released to date on any console in the last three years). The above paragraph is, of course, strictly opinion and I make no representation that these remarks, are, indeed, fact.
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"Experience is the one thing you can't get for nothing." - Oscar Wilde

 

[Kelley_B]

Sean M,
I agree with you about Jet Grind Radio, it is the best game put out on a home console since Konami relese their oh so awesome, best game ever, title Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Out of all the titles announced for the Xbox/GC/PS2, Jet Grind Radio FUTURE alon is worth me buying an Xbox for, and is the title I am looking forward to most, followed oh so closely by THPS 3 though

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I played a demo of JGR for DC, and it seemed kinda dull. It was fun and cool and all, and the objectives were simple but required some skill, but it had too much of a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater effect (fun for a while but loses its appeal quickly). I was rather disappointed by that, and never got the actual game. I hope that an X-Box version has better looking graphics (sometimes the cel shading looked a little off, plus the game didn't use many polys). If they add a couple thousand more polygons to the game and make it look like they added a couple thousand more polys, maybe I'll consider buying it when I get my XB.
Also, developers can still make PS2 games that require the modem, they will probably include a version of the game that can be used offline as well.
Developers for the XB might not want to have the "install on HDD" feature in their games, seeing as how it takes time to install the game before you can play it, plus you still have to load it up when you start playing it and you only get smaller loading times. Some people might not want to wait for it to install (FFX took about 12 minutes, I read this, and the XB games are on DVDs and in a DVD-ROM drive, like FFX) and some people might not use the ethernet card for online play, so making a game only be playable online would be stupid. All in all, developers for the PS2 and XB should develop games that don't depend on the modem or the HDD, but rather should include them as extra features.
(PSO was playable offline, it just sucked offline)
[Edited last by Morgan Jolley on July 27, 2001 at 04:46 PM]

 

[Patrick_L]

..........back to the original topic (drivers)- does anybody know if the supposed new drivers will fix the lip-synch issue

: that rears its ugly head on the PS2?
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Patrick

 

[Morgan Jolley]

What lip-synch issues? If its with a game, then no. If its with a DVD, chances are that its the DVD. Otherwise, I have no idea.

 

[Patrick_L]

well Morgan, unfortunately it's not the dvd's. i've got a standalone dvd player (also a Sony which, by the way, got the firmware upgrade) that does NOT inhibit the same problem with the same dvd. i've watched a total of 9 movies on the PS2 and 4 out of the 9 have had lip-synch problems. Raising Arizona and Practical Magic are two dvd's that come to mind. same as before, if you stop the dvd during play, then press play again, everything's fine. but that's not good enough. hopefully the "new drivers" will correct this.
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Patrick

 

[BrianB]

What lip-synch issues? If its with a game, then no. If its with a DVD, chances are that its the DVD. Otherwise, I have no idea.

Morgan, a lot of people have had issues playing DVDs on their PS2s, with the audio going out of sync with the video. It's something that afflicts certain 'regular' DVD players too. With the PS2, some people get it real bad, some people never see it. But it's a definite problem for a lot of people.
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Nothing In Particular

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Hmm...I had never heard about this until now. Thanks for telling me, I will look for this the next time I play a DVD in it (which isn't often, considering I have a DVD player in my living room and my "main theater," plus I have a DVD-ROM in my room).

 

[Michael St. Clair]

From a pure hardware standpoint, I'm totally in love with the XBox. The lack of even a 480p output (something the DC has!) from the PS2 was one of the reasons I sold mine. Any console of the current generation should support 480p, and hopefully at least 540p if not 1080i and 720p. The video memory limitations of the PS2 make it unlikely we'll ever have 480p gameplay. 480p DVD....we'll see.
Of course, ultimately, it all comes down to games, not hardware. Who knows, I may even buy another PS2 someday if the XBox doesn't get good enough developer support.
The fragmentation of the userbase of the PS2 by making the hard drive and ethernet an add-on virtually guarantees poor to mediocre use of those features by developers.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I don't see why people are so mad about the HDD and modem being separate. The modem is only about $40, and is a high or low speed modem and a NIC card built into one. As for the HDD, you don't NEED it to play games. Even if there is little support for it, you still don't need it. The people who will buy it are the ones who want a full experience from the PS2 and are going to download levels for games and videos and stuff. If you plan on buying the LCD screen, mouse, and keyboard, then the HDD is worth it.
I also feel I should mention that I don't think High Definition support is really that important. I know it makes the games look good, but does it really matter that much compared to everything else?

 

[Sean Eldridge]

The fragmentation of the userbase of the PS2 by making the hard drive and ethernet an add-on virtually guarantees poor to mediocre use of those features by developers.

I have to agree here. Developers just aren't going to know how many people have them. And unless they sell extremely well, which isn't likely considering how most peripherals have sold in the US, they won't be used to their full extent. Oh well, it's late and I'm tired.
later, Sean
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"My girls won 10 out of 11. And the 11th was won by a deaf mute. You can't beat that."

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Actually, the PS2 HDD sold out on Sony's website in Japan. I don't think it will do that well in the U.S., but it certainly did well in Japan. Also, the PS2 has set several records so far, such as the largest number of launch games for a console, the fastest selling game (twice--GT3 and then FFX--FFX sold 2.4 million copies in a week and made more profit in its first week than Jurassic Park 3), and the fastest selling peripheral (GT3 wheel). Of course, the records for selling were all in Japan, and the launch titles were for America, and a lot of launch titles were bad. Keep in mind that many Americans like some of the games that have yet to come out for the PS2, such as Metal Gear Solid 2 and Silent Hill 2 and FFX, so maybe the U.S. will have a million seller in less than a day.
(Also, FFX sold about 1.9 million copies in the first day)

 

[Dean Cooper]

Why? So you can say that my system can do those resolutions. I'd have to guess that at least 90% of TVs are not high-def. Therefore, most developers aren't even going to use the feature. Even in five years down the road, when the systems are getting to the end of their life cycles, I can't imagine market penetration of HDTV being even 40%(that being pretty generous I think). A developer isn't going to want to use all of his resources for a mode of play that a majority of TV owners won't be able to use. Not to mention the resources of the machine(PS2, XBox, GC, etc.) that are going to dwindle when you want to use such a feature.
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A lot of gamers will use a monitor instead of a TV if it lets them go to high resolution. So there is a use for higher resolutions even if you don't own a HDTV. Besides, how much more effort do you think the developer has to put in to making a game use the higer resolution? Not much at all, PC games use resolutions as high as 1600 X 1200 all the time and the Xbox has the best video option avaiable anywhere right now. I don't think it would have a problem cranking out great frame rates at HD resolution.
640x480 480p
960x540 1080i
1280x720 720p
I think we will see quite a few games give the option even if the average J6P couldn't give a rats ass about it. Just my 2 cents...
Dean