November 26, 2006
Blu-ray Unnecessary for PS3 launch games?

[Update]: Apparently the "padding" data on Resistance is only 420 MB per region, rather than 17.75 GB, making the topic of this post a tempest in a teapot.

Original entry text available below.

One of Sony's main selling points for the PS3 has been that it has a built-in Blu-ray drive, which is purportedly necessary to handle the immense amounts of high-resolution textures that next generation games will contain. Resistance: Fall of Man was cited as one of the reasons why Blu-ray is a part of the PS3 in the first place, as its developer claimed it took up 22 GB of disc space.

Now allegations have surfaced that 17.75 GB of the data on Resistance's disc is "padding" - duplicate files that are used to improve read times by pushing data to the outer edge of the disc. Not only is Blu-ray supposed to make such measures unnecessary, but if the allegations are true, it means Resistance could have fit onto a single-layer DVD, like a PS2 or Xbox 360 game.

Reports like this are unlikely to make consumers (most of whom have standard definition TVs) any happier about Sony's attempts to push their newest proprietary media format on them.