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 Ricardo Torres
Associate Previews Editor, Video Games
Most Wanted: Pikmin, Jade Cocoon II, Maximo, Jet Set Radio Future, GUNVALKYRIE

Load Bearing

The past few weeks have found me spending time with a lot of Game Boy Advance and GameCube games. While the the GBA doesn't match the power of any current-generation console, I'm really getting spoiled by their near-instantaneous load times. Of the current crop, I'm finding the Xbox isn't a slouch as far as its load-times go--though you'll have to look a bit to find truly quick-loading games. It's a shame, because the presence of a huge "working space" that streams data significantly faster than optical media would cut load times dramatically. Or eliminate them completely once the data you need is cached to the drive.

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One of the attractive ladies of DOA3.
So which games do it right so far? Dead or Alive 3 is one of the best examples of what to do with the hard drive. After a longish load that transfers game files to the drive (masked by what has to be one of the longest legal warnings in gaming history), you'll rarely wait more than a moment between levels until you stop playing. It's certainly not cartridge-level fast, but it sure beats the hell out of any off-the-disc loading I've ever seen. Unfortunately, it looks like DOA3 may be the only current title to really take advantage of this speed.

 
 Would you mind if games had a load of a few minutes while it installs to the hard drive if the rest of your game loads are negligible?

Yes.
Maybe a little.
No.
I'm not sure.

 
Sure, it might be that the folks working on launch titles had a lot more to think about besides keeping load times down. Then again, we're talking about a whole lot of console-only developers that really haven't enjoyed the capabilities of a PC, and perhaps it'll just take some time for them to really get comfortable with it. Yeah, I know installing something to a hard drive is a very PC kind of thing, and some developers have been consciously avoiding using that terminology for fear of spooking some console gamers.

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A whole lot of potential in one really, really big box.
I say give gamers some credit. If it helps our games run better, we'll deal. Plus, remember, we've been bitching about lengthy between-level loads for, what, years now, and I can't think of a single gamer who wouldn't trade a "snack break"-size load at the beginning of a gaming session to never have to wait for a load for the rest of the night. Hopefully, developers will take full advantage of the Xbox and realize that even if it may look like a PC and act like a PC, it ain't a PC. The Xbox gives developers all the benefits such as speed and huge caches, with none of the downsides such as erratic configurations and bizarre installs. And patches. The hard drive is not for patches. If everybody agrees on that, we should be in for some sweet gaming in the coming months.
 
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