Are DVD players for gaming anymore? (1 Viewer)

[Rob Varto]

Back about, oh say 5 years ago, DVD players were the next big thing for computers. Some games (like Wing Commander Prophecy) were only available on DVD. Is that the case anymore? Should I even bother to equip my next cpu with a DVD player? I know I won't use one to watch movies so are games even coming to PC on that format anymore?

It seems to me that PC's have so much more capability than a console (of which I have all 3) but the consoles tend to have DVD games more often and I wonder why the PC doesn't.

 

[DonRoeber]

Quite simply, when a company puts out a game, they need to make sure it'll run on the most amount of systems possible, within reason. Once DVD drives are more common, more software will be written to require them.

Having said that, I just bought a DVD-ROM drive for my Dad's computer. He wanted to upgrade from a CD-ROM drive so that he could watch movies. The drive was $70. Hardly a financial burden. I haven't priced regular CD-ROM drives in awhile, but I can't imagine that they're so incredibly cheap that a DVD-ROM drive would be splurging.

I am impressed with the speed of saturation of CD-RW drives. My Dad's system has a CD-RW drive in it, as well as a DVD-ROM drive.

 

[Iain Lambert]

With the trend moving from big FMV fests to doing any necessary cutscenes in the game engine, the volume of space that would require a DVD isn't often needed. Also, many games want their whole set of data on the hard drive for access speed, so supplying that across multiple discs that only need to be swapped during install isn't a major issue - every time you require additional hardware you reduce your potential market, so why bother?

My DVD-ROM drive gets plenty of use, but thats for coverdiscs mainly. Also, its nice to do a complete install of SuSE Linux without discswapping from a bootable DVD, so thats recommended.

 

[Kelley_B]

The game that used DVD the best was Balder's Gate. 5 CDs vs. 1 DVD....I waited on the DVD version and am glad I did.

 

[rbirk]

I also waited for Baldur's gate DVD. It also took me a long place to find a location that also actually sold the DVD version. I am still waiting for the second version to come on DVD but have not seen it yet. Do any games come on DVD these days? Maybe it is like someone say, most games only requires a single CD nowadays?

The only DVD software I have bought (that is not a movie) in the last year is the Topo USA 3.0 which is pretty cool. It actually comes on one DVD and one CD. Why they could not fit the CD content on that DVD is another question.

Ron Birk

 

[NickSo]

DVD roms arent that expensive anyways, i've seen some as cheap as CDRom drives after rebates and such.. check out http://www.bensbargains.net
they have great deals daily on alot of computer stuff, save a bundle! Even more with Pricesearch.com since Bens also takes coupons and rebates from major retailers

 

[Jeff Kleist]

WIng Commander Prophecy was put on CD first, then they did a DVD
I just wish they'd do a sequel :frowning: