PC Software : V

» Tue May 17, 2011 9:29 am

Just thinking about the size of Skyrim, in terms of data, it's most likely not to fit all on one DVD, is it? I'm not sure I've heard of any PC games coming out on blu-ray yet though. Most people don't have blu-ray drives yet too.

Downloads are nice & convenient, but you lack getting any physical merchandise, something you can put on your shelf. Waiting for it to download is frustrating too.

People's opinions on this?

» Tue May 17, 2011 11:34 am

It's supposed to fit on a DVD if they intend to release it on 360 so that should be sufficient.

Or maybe it will be two DVD's... :mohawk:

» Mon May 16, 2011 11:24 pm

Multiple DVDs, I think most people don't have Blu-Ray drives on their PCs.

The game should also be available for download from online services like Steam.

» Tue May 17, 2011 3:45 am

It's supposed to fit on a DVD if they intend to release it on 360 so that should be sufficient.

Or maybe it will be two DVD's... :mohawk:

The Xbox 360 uses HD DVD, which are a bit different.
Besides, there are games which use more than one disk for it.

» Tue May 17, 2011 1:41 pm

Download, not because it's better but because it's the only option in my area of the world.

» Tue May 17, 2011 9:53 am

Oblivion fit on a regular DVD and Skyrim seems to use the same average texture size judging from the screenshots. So even if there is more content and more voice acting it should fit on a DVD-9 quite easily.

» Tue May 17, 2011 2:48 pm

Download only. Save the trees. If you don't have broadband, too bad.

» Tue May 17, 2011 9:07 am

Multiple DVD is much less of an issue on PC, you're installing the game anyway so you don't need them once you're done. Download, of course, doesn't have to be an either-or, you can have both.
However, it doesn't look like it'll have trouble fitting on a standard dual layer DVD anyway.

(On a side note, the 360 does not use HD-DVD, it had an external HD-DVD addon but the format has pretty much failed by this point)

» Tue May 17, 2011 3:16 pm

Oblivion fit on a regular DVD and Skyrim seems to use the same average texture size judging from the screenshots. So even if there is more content and more voice acting it should fit on a DVD-9 quite easily.

So, we're not expecting much graphical improvement from Oblivion? :confused:

» Tue May 17, 2011 1:57 pm

All the recent Beth games fit on one DVD, the Box version has to fit on a single one... So it likely will be a single DVD. Fallout was graphically improved from Oblivion - size has no real meaning with more advanced compression becoming available.

Download only. Save the trees. If you don't have broadband, too bad.

Maybe in ten years.

» Tue May 17, 2011 10:55 am

Multiple DVD is much less of an issue on PC, you're installing the game anyway so you don't need them once you're done. Download, of course, doesn't have to be an either-or, you can have both.
However, it doesn't look like it'll have trouble fitting on a standard dual layer DVD anyway.

(On a side note, the 360 does not use HD-DVD, it had an external HD-DVD addon but the format has pretty much failed by this point)

Ahh, right, my bad. In that case the format was a complete failure.

Regarding download only: it doesn't appeal much really. What about download on console too? That a possibility?

» Tue May 17, 2011 3:33 am

So, we're not expecting much graphical improvement from Oblivion? :confused:

Texture size is not everything. The engine is better than Oblivion's (shaders, distant landscape, dynamic shadows etc). How much better? Don't know, only videos and finally playing the game will really tell. But back on topic.

» Tue May 17, 2011 2:15 pm

All the recent Beth games fit on one DVD, the Box version has to fit on a single one... So it likely will be a single DVD. Fallout was graphically improved from Oblivion - size has no real meaning with more advanced compression becoming available.

Maybe in ten years.

Great news! I don't have broadband.

» Tue May 17, 2011 7:05 am

Texture size is not everything. The engine is better than Oblivion's (shaders, distant landscape, dynamic shadows etc). How much better? Don't know, only videos and finally playing the game will really tell. But back on topic.

Yeah, I guess, I'm not sure how that'll influence the data size of the game really. Which in turn, affects which forms of media is used for distribution.

Concerning sales: does anyone have any idea how much more sales downloads can bring in? I feel really sorry for the people who don't have access to the amount of gaming shops we have &, of course, they'd want a slice of the action too. Just wondering if it's cost effective. Even if it's not, would they bring it in? As far as I know, Bethesda isn't ran by Bobby Kotick.

» Tue May 17, 2011 4:26 am

Multiple DVDs. I can handle swapping through two (or three, four, five, whatever) disks once to install something. Assuming more than one is even needed.

See, back in Ye Olden Dayes, we had these things called CDs and eventually some games came on 4 or more of them... :banana:

» Tue May 17, 2011 3:42 am

Multiple DVDs would be nice. The vast majority of PCs still don't have blu-ray drives, I'd think.

» Tue May 17, 2011 10:38 am

Multiple DVDs. I can handle swapping through two (or three, four, five, whatever) disks once to install something. Assuming more than one is even needed.

See, back in Ye Olden Dayes, we had these things called CDs and eventually some games came on 4 or more of them... :banana:

I remember those days too. Pretty annoying when the third of four disks was scratched & didn't work. It increases the likelihood of the game getting damaged dramatically

That's an advantage of downloads, there's no danger to disk damage. Steam lets you redownload your game as many times as you like.

» Tue May 17, 2011 5:56 am

I thought Bethesda was trying to keep it down one DVD? At least, I think I read that in a thread about the map being roughly the same size as Oblivion. And in any case, if the game doesn't fit on one DVD, making the PC cersion use multiple disks, swapping out the DVD when you install the game isn't really that hard, and that's the only time you'd need to use all disks on the PC version, if the game used multiple disks. Otherwise, you'd really just need one of them for the DVD check, and I'm assuming there will be a DVD check.

Releasing the game only on Blue-Ray on the PC version would be foolish as many PCs don't have such drives yet, my own included.

» Tue May 17, 2011 12:00 pm

I'm a huge fan of making it pure download based. Of course this is not realistic at our current stage, but at some point I hope all games to be bought online.

» Tue May 17, 2011 9:35 am

DVDs. Or downloaded through steam.

» Tue May 17, 2011 4:24 am

I thought Bethesda was trying to keep it down one DVD? At least, I think I read that in a thread about the map being roughly the same size as Oblivion. And in any case, if the game doesn't fit on one DVD, making the PC cersion use multiple disks, swapping out the DVD when you install the game isn't really that hard, and that's the only time you'd need to use all disks on the PC version, if the game used multiple disks. Otherwise, you'd really just need one of them for the DVD check, and I'm assuming there will be a DVD check.

Releasing the game only on Blue-Ray on the PC version would be foolish as many PCs don't have such drives yet, my own included.

Could anyone enlighten me to the potential size of a DVD these days? I know they get better all the time, but am a bit unsure to their actual limits these days. In that case, it'd be bigger than Oblivion in terms of game data, which'll be required for all the innovations they're making :hubbahubba:

& I wasn't suggesting only blu-ray, but as an option.

» Tue May 17, 2011 10:31 am

Dual layer DVDs can store just over 8GB, IIRC. Compression (of game data) might've improved as well, though.

» Tue May 17, 2011 12:19 am

I'm a huge fan of making it pure download based. Of course this is not realistic at our current stage, but at some point I hope all games to be bought online.

Out of curiosity, why? For games you really love, wouldn't you want to have the booklet, hard cover etc?

» Tue May 17, 2011 4:32 am

I'm a huge fan of making it pure download based. Of course this is not realistic at our current stage, but at some point I hope all games to be bought online.

I think the issue is when people part with money, they want something physical in return. I'm a great fan of boxart & instruction manuals you see, I love them.

I've bought downloads in the past. They're just not as exciting as getting the product in your hands, to me anyway.

» Tue May 17, 2011 12:14 pm

I hope they use more than one DVD if necessary instead of reducing quality of things (textures or whatever) to fit it into one.