The 360's crappy hardware is gimping GTA IV

by Colin Torretta { May 2nd 2007 at 10:30PM }

Okay, so maybe it's not as harsh as the headline sounds - but Rockstar recently acknowledged in an interview with OPM UK that the lack of a hard drive in the 'cheap' 360 SKU combined with the lack of Blu-Ray is limiting what the team can do in GTA IV. Unfortunately, this effects the PlayStation 3 version as well, since they are aiming at both versions of the game being identical.

This is one of the first times I've seen a company acknowledge that making a multi-platform game ends up limiting what they can do. Normally that sort of talk is up to fanboys - not Vice Presidents of major companies. It's a shame to hear that the 360 is limiting what GTA IV can become, but hopefully Rockstar takes a queue from The Darkness and adds-on a bunch of content to fully utilize the space that Blu-Ray offers.

Oh, and to be fair - Rockstar also said that the PS3 offers it's own challenges that they have to overcome (cough, the Cell BE, cough).

Tags: GTA IV, GtaIv

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

humpty @ May 2nd 2007 10:38PM

lol... great hook

kingofwale @ May 2nd 2007 10:41PM

lol, I like the title in Joystiq better. with the reference to "too few good men". good stuff

but yeah, I am sure most of us knew this from the beginning, Core is ruining xbox because developers can't 'assume' people will have the harddrive or not.

This is all about Krazy Ken's vision. (applying to Blu-Ray also).

Really, there's nothing new, PS3 will have 10 yrs life span, 360 will probably last 6-7 years. Nothing to it.

I would be REALLY pissed if they couldn't get GTAIV out because xbox team couldn't get it done. (more pissed if PS3 team got it done on time and was forced to wait)

T2, you better not pull a Capcom.

microsoftsucks @ May 2nd 2007 10:53PM

damn micrsoft they screwed the game up..why cant they build the game on the ps3 first then port it?? take advantage of the cell and blue ray space..but they just lookin for money

mccomber @ May 2nd 2007 10:59PM

I'm hoping it's being built for the ps3 and ported, since so far going the opposite direction hasn't fared well for us.
And hell yeah, it's great to hear developers saying what I've though since the ps3 launched. The biggest mistake MS made was not putting a hard drive in all 360s, and the inclusion of bluray WILL make a difference in games. Last gen titles were filling dvds, who honestly thought it wouldn't be a concern for HD gaming?

atsui @ May 2nd 2007 11:16PM

I'm not a fan of the ps3 right now, I would rather play my 360.. but I have always have doubted the space capacity for games like this and Mass Effect. It seems like content becomes more limited than what they could of added in the game if it wasn't for space.

My friends didn't believe me and said that they could compress good and.. and "hey look at oblivion!" that game.. well took up all the space.. had somewhat good graphics but sure as hell lacked a lot of specific elements when it comes to character movement and other things.

People would say games look better on 360 because it's a port then why do ports from ps2 look so much better on an xbox? They ported fear.. and messed up the game and has a lot of glitches and slowdown in the ps3 version.

So yeah, the 360 might be hindering certain games on multiplatforms, but they sure are giving ps3 some good competition. Man.. I wont go to ps3 though.. until it has a good number of titles that could be compared to 360.. right now it's a joke.

kingofwale @ May 2nd 2007 11:21PM

how does Day 1 Studios's inability to port a game properly have anything to do with Sony or the idea of 'porting'??

and the fact you are picking xbox over PS3 at this point means NOTHING to us. in case you didn't notice, this is "PS3fanboy" website, not "I'm-a-xbox-fan-please-convert-me"

Arno @ May 2nd 2007 11:37PM

FUD!

What about when they said how the PS3 has limitations of its own?

kingofwale @ May 2nd 2007 11:48PM

>What about when they said how the PS3 has limitations of its own?

Did you read the last paragraph?

atsui @ May 3rd 2007 12:33AM

kingofwale good, good

you hit the nail..

they bitch about trolls coming to stink up the place in all honestly they want them and they have fun with them. Then the commenter's bitch about 360 boys come here but say stuff that indicates they want them to come here.

I come here for news for I have an interest in the ps3.. and when they something stupid it's just obvious they'd come here and they do the same thing at the other fanboy sites. Hypocrites I say.

ndoerr @ May 3rd 2007 12:33AM

Seems scott tried to hide his identity behind another person's posting name. Pretty low-blow. Careful, you're teetering on perma-IP ban.

atsui @ May 3rd 2007 12:35AM

oops.. meant scott in my last post

Next-Gen-Gamer @ May 3rd 2007 12:37AM

kingofwale, do you ever stop? Telling T2 not to pull a Capcom. Get over it. GTAIV was announced to be multiplatform from the get-go.

Why do the reasons for which you have to wait matter? You're a consumer. You buy the game when it comes out. It doesn't matter which version took longer (if that's even the case). What matters is that you will be able to play this game if you own a PS3 or a 360. Grow up. There's fanboyism, and then there's psychotic obsession.

Did YOU read the last paragraph? Did you comprehend what the last paragraph meant? If you did, then you fooled me. Both sides have faults, but you only want to talk about one side. And to think, people like you wonder why the Xbots come on here and run their mouths.

And before anyone hits me with one of those "if you don't like the PS3 so much, why are you here" lines, go check out my latest blog. I talk about the 360's huge fault with the lack of a guaranteed HDD, and why Sony is stupid for not pointing it out every chance they get. Some of us noticed this fault from the beginning, but Sony isn't smart enough to start firing back. They just stand there and take shot after legitimate shot from Microsoft. Sony has ammo, and they're not using it.

kingofwale @ May 3rd 2007 1:29AM

as a consumer, I refuse to take crap from the company that makes the game, I think as an consumer, I have every right to demand it.

>I talk about the 360's huge fault with the lack of a guaranteed HDD,

first of all, I'm not going to read your blog, frankly, anybody who knew game developing processes (or just being a gamer) knew lack of harddrive and uniformity kills xbox, I don't need your blog to tell me what I knew from the beginning.

and secondly, why should Sony openly attack Microsoft? especially about something SO obvious that a 12 yr old will notice? Sony has enough problems to deal with themselves and frankly, if SOny is to go down, it will go down with class.

Next-Gen-Gamer @ May 3rd 2007 2:16AM

"as a consumer, I refuse to take crap from the company that makes the game, I think as an consumer, I have every right to demand it."

The company that makes this game is Rockstar. Its not like Sony or Microsoft are pumping millions into this game. And demand what? Demand to know which game took longer to make? Why does it matter. Besides, if you were to look at this realistically, and go by what we know, then you'd know that the only chance of one version delaying the other is if that its the PS3 version. 360 isn't new tech. It's tech that's been readily available for years, but improved upon. I don't know why you care which took the longest, but if it did, that'd be why. Satisfied now? I doubt it.

"first of all, I'm not going to read your blog, frankly, anybody who knew game developing processes (or just being a gamer) knew lack of harddrive and uniformity kills xbox, I don't need your blog to tell me what I knew from the beginning."

That's great. I wasn't talking about you though. Did you not read the part that reads, "And before anyone hits me with one of those "if you don't like the PS3 so much, why are you here" lines, go check out my latest blog."? Unless you were planning to go that route (which you didn't), then it doesn't apply to you. Stop digging.

"and secondly, why should Sony openly attack Microsoft? especially about something SO obvious that a 12 yr old will notice? Sony has enough problems to deal with themselves and frankly, if SOny is to go down, it will go down with class."

There's nothing smart or logical in that paragraph. Why should Sony openly attack Microsoft? Oh, I don't know. Maybe it has to do with the fact that Microsoft is constantly trashing the $600 machine that most people don't appear to be interested in.

And is it really that obvious? Most consumers don't see it. Hell, I've only heard someone ask Microsoft about it once or twice. They're avoiding this problem because Sony is being ignorant, and not taking the shot. Its not about class. Have you learned nothing since the last E3? Every company can be and have been classless at times. This isn't classless. Its about trying to save how your console is perceived, because the competition continues to point out everything wrong with it. And the worst part about it is that Microsoft isn't wrong. They're just avoiding any and all positives about the PS3.

Sony can either be gutless, which is what you apparently want, or they can at least TRY not to make the PS3 look like a complete waste of money.

mep @ May 3rd 2007 2:27AM

Well, they are using the X360 version as their "showoff to the press" version. So I'm sure it's not that bad really.

Shrimp @ May 3rd 2007 2:55AM

You know, you never see a post titled as this one is, over on Xbox360Fanboy.

Why must PS3Fanboy *constantly* be so antagonistic? Live and let live.

(before you jump all over me, yes, it's possible to be a fan of both systems, I have every right to be posting here)

L @ May 3rd 2007 3:27AM

Ok read this again!!!!

ITS ONLY TO DO WITH THE HARDDRIVE! ok
they may just end up maken the game need a harddrive----it woulden be the 1st

END OF STORY

ymmv @ May 3rd 2007 4:43AM

It takes balls to complain about Xbox fanboys flaming on this blog, when you've got headlines like "The 360's crappy hardware is gimping GTA IV" that just screams: "Hey fanboys, come on over here, we're gonna kick your ass!"

Killer @ May 3rd 2007 6:20AM

Wow, all the "If the game is going to be delayed for the ps3 because of the 360, I'm going to be pissed." mood. I'm surprised really I would think that after so many game delays for the ps3, (that were ps3 related), that you'd blame the difficulty of the chip. Guess not, you see that the 360 has a weakness so you start blaming it on that. Personally, I say screw those people that got a core. I mean who seriously bought a core and didn't get a harddrive? You really can't do anything with the 360 without a harddrive.

kingnick @ May 3rd 2007 8:58AM

Reality bites, much like previous GTA games were limited by the PS2 GTAIV will have to make compromises to run on both the PS3 and Xbox360.

I didn't whine like a little bitch when previous GTA games looked like shit on my Xbox and PC thanks to the PS2 and I'm not going to start double standards now.

We could argue all day about the tech specs but what really matters is final product which won’t be compromised as severely as previous GTA games were on the PS2.

I’ll wait until GTAIV is out for PC, PS3 and Xbox360 before I make my purchase and I won’t be losing any sleep on “what could have been”.

09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0 @ May 3rd 2007 7:22AM

I come to PS3Fanboy to read articles and info from a PS3 FANboy's perspective.

For all the people complaining about how the Xbox is treated...go debate at a general site like Joystiq or Kotaku. The blogosphere, though democratic in that anyone can start one, allows for narrow and compartmentalized views. This site seems to be for fans of the PS3 since that is its freaking name.

Colin...write inflamatory headlines (no nappy headed anythings please) all you want because the truth of your writing is that if people take the time to read the whole post AND the provided links they will see where the sarcasm fits in.

Signing off in a special way today...

RangerPrimeX @ May 3rd 2007 8:57AM

No need for the fanboy bickering. Yes both sites have fanboy in their title and love to take shots but really...... Both systems have flaws. Yes, MS should not have done a Core unit with no HD. They should allow publishers to say HD required and lower the HD prices. Sony is way too expensive and the slow sales show it. Maybe they should have stayed DVD to keep costs down and went some other way to move their Blu-Ray movie format or better yet avoid a format war altogther. I know they want to win a format war badly (betamax, UMD, etc..), but seriously.
Blah, blah, blah.
The game is coming to both systems same day so everyone should just be happy for that.

PERN$ @ May 3rd 2007 9:18AM

He goes on to say:

"To be honest with you we haven't solved all those riddles yet." The difficulties aren't limited to working on Microsoft's box, as Houser explains that "both have enormous challenges" and that "both have their own particular pleasures and pains".

Josh @ May 3rd 2007 9:19AM

Rockstar needs to quit being lazy and just get it done. Of course there things about each system that makes things complicated but developing games isn't an easy task. Everybody already knows that all 360's don't come with a hard drive and is limited in storage. Everybody also knows that the Cell processor is much harder to develop on which cause development costs to go up. If Bethesda can fit all of Oblivion onto 1 DVD and Evolution can develop a game like Motorstorm without breaking the bank then these complications can be overcome.

hoos30 @ May 3rd 2007 9:32AM

This blog is like school in the summertime...."NO CLASS!!!"

Colin @ May 3rd 2007 9:40AM

That joke is like Carrot Top..."NOT FUNNY"

SlavedHeart @ May 3rd 2007 9:57AM

Geeze... am I the only person here old enough to remember all the fanboy / developer complaining about how hard is it to program for the PS2? Programming for the BE might be difficult, but they can learn past it... you can't "learn" a blu-ray laser or HD into an Xbox, those people never learn... (those last 4 words were pure sarcasm, BTW)

KilgoreTrout XL @ May 3rd 2007 10:25AM

This post shall confirm that, as a 360 owner, I whined and pouted and wept and sobbed upon review of the post title.

But the joke's on you, PS3 owners: what my 360 loses in GTAIV content will be made up for with the extra decibels eminating from my insanely loud DVD drive.

HAH! IN YOUR FACE!

Chameleon @ May 3rd 2007 10:48AM

Next-Gen-Gamer you are my hero.

Dolla Dolla @ May 3rd 2007 11:00AM

If you want to be upset with anyone, it can be either Rockstar or Sony.

Why Sony, you ask?

Well, if the system had a stronger installed base, it would be exclusive to the PS3, no? Ah well, now we suffer.

Ennui @ May 3rd 2007 2:59PM

"This is one of the first times I've seen a company acknowledge that making a multi-platform game ends up limiting what they can do."

Seriously, fuckhead? Ever heard of a PC game?

Maximun2k10 @ May 3rd 2007 12:44PM

Who cares ???

After so many nice games released, what can they do to make GTA Playabable again ???

I hope is not the same BS, steal a car, kill people, 400 thousand repetitive missions...

SuicideNinja @ May 3rd 2007 3:13PM

"The biggest mistake MS made was not putting a hard drive in all 360s"

I agree. It never made sense. The original Xbox's hard drive was put to good use, unlike the PS2's essentially non-existent HDD. To follow that without one seemed ridiculous. If Take-Two was smart, they would just say a HDD is required. They wouldn't be the first to do it.

The multiple SKUs were a mistake for both companies. Sony should have just stuck with the 20GB version so the average consumer didn't just assume PS3's were all $600, and Microsoft should have just stuck with the Premium. Both still would have sold out at launch. MS was catering to a minority that would have caved eventually and purchased premiums anyway. Imagine how much less confusion there would have been...people came up with crazy notions, like saying the core 360 couldn't have a hard drive or the 20GB PS3 couldn't be wireless....ridiculous. Even the gamestore employees didn't have it straight most of the time.

wazzak @ May 3rd 2007 3:57PM

I am a fan of both systems...altough im still cant afford to buy a ps3, and they both have there fualts. the ps3 is an iffy price, (although im sure it will come down eventually) and is, like one guy said erlier, a bitch to programme for. And the 360 has very little HDD (although they brought out that xbox elite's 120gb HDD but is still god damn expensive) and overheats too eisily... so why fight over something thats pretty much all in all balanced out.

also yur supposed to be discussing GTA IV's capabilitys... so use this comment as a turn in the convo's right direction pease.

KilgoreTrout XL @ May 3rd 2007 4:24PM

Ennui: The irony inherent in the fact that you're a hot-headed douchebag- but nonetheless chose that handle- is not lost on me.

Fuck you, thanks for playing, and cheers! :D

aarrrrghhhhh @ May 3rd 2007 7:38PM

Looks like billG is ramming it in our asses again! A design flaw of 360 screwing up our ps3 game? Surely rockstar would be smart enough to have a separate team working on each console version??? Both versions have to be identical? EAT MY ASS, thats stupid.

Why hinder either system- just make it the best u can on both! Who cares if one console has better this than the other version? Each console have adv/disadv why not use them, surely these people have some brains.
Screw the cheap ass 360 owners without a harddrive they are a minority yes?
Screw sony for not paying up to make this exclusive! And screw rockstar for not using their brains. Yeah they probably to busy designing the 4000th boring mission (where you have to pick up some crappy item(with weak hp bar) while every car gets in your way) to optimize the game for either system.

To all the 360 jerks harping on about ps3- the people programming the getaway dont seem to be having any trouble programming the ps3. It seems that only lazy, fat, dumbass devs run into that problem! To be honest anyone who cant think their way around new problems is not the kind of person who you want designing your games anyway. "why innovate when you can replicate? its cheaper and easier!! Ships free with 3 times the boredom!"

John @ May 4th 2007 12:45AM

I KNEW this thing was gonna generate crazy fanboy stuff.

The facts are: Rockstar is giving exclusive content to Xbox360, and from their site, they seem excited about it.

Yes, the lack of a hard drive and lack of large disk capacity are problems...

But we're all going to get essentially the same game.

If you want great content, you are going to buy games made specifically for your machine.

Xbox has Gears of War, ps3 never will. Ps3 has Ratchet and Clank (and yes, this is a bonus)...

In a few years, it'll be just like it was.

You can't play Shadow of the Collosus on an Xbox... but a ps2 costs less than a DS...

This is a transitional phase.

Huge developers have to accomodate everyone, which means we have to go with the compressed-DVD format.

It doesn't matter. You're still going to love the game.

And in 5 years, when MS and Sony come out with consoles using huge flash drives, everything will be nearly equal again, and everyone will be happy, especially developers.

N0M4D @ May 4th 2007 7:40AM

The headline on this is just wrong…

Not including the HDD on 360 has a standard was a dumb move – that was always my opinion.

Will it hurt this game? Maybe, maybe not. Rockstar has been using the 360 version to show the game off, so I’m sure they’re finding ways to cope.

As for the whole DVD vs BluRay debacle, I’m not sold on the PS3 drive being an advantage just yet. First of all there’s the question if the format will come out on top (not only in the face of its “competition”, but with the advent of downloadable content…). And has it really proved necessary? Oblivion fit into one DVD9. The Darkness, in order to use BluRay’s “potential”, will have extra video content on the PS3 (I like in-engine stuff better, but it’s a question of preference). Blue Dragon spans 3 DVDs (again, I suspect because of all the FMV), and that doesn’t shock me either.

Meh.

Sengoku @ May 4th 2007 10:34AM

Xbox 360 games can require the hard drive (see Final Fantasy XI). In the future more games will require it, and MS already has a 'Hard Drive Required' icon for it, that goes along with the other notations on the box. This is really a business decision on Rockstar's part; they could require the hard drive on the 360 (since let's face it, most people bought the premium), but they want to hit the widest market.

unkn @ May 5th 2007 4:01AM

Well I for one, am really sick of the xbox360, for ALOT of reasons. I own both, and have about 20 games for my xbox360, and 6 for my ps3, and the xbox360 never gets played anymore, it's just collecting dust! XBL is seriously dissapointing, and is some serious BS. Also the games are SHORT, and have almost zero replay value.

Another thing is that, not only is the xbox360 hindering the capability of PS3 games, it's also hindering PC games! Everyone says "oh texture compression is the answer" well it isnt! I know first hand that compression only goes so far, until quality begins to reduce.

Then you all bitch that the PS3's BD is slow, uhh... that's why most games take a 45 sec temporary install to your hard drive on the ps3, so games actually load from both your hard drive and the BD drive! Slow read speeds is no longer a valid complaint, so stfu.

If you have EVER even played a ps3 on atleast a 30" HDTV, you'd instantly notice the huge difference in graphics, especially in motorstorm.

truth @ May 7th 2007 12:23PM

kinda proves what we always knew. Sony charging us extra for the Cell and all of the PS3's power was a pointless waste. Games that go cross platform (which is almost all of them) just won't take advantage of it. Making the PS3 no better than whatever devs create for the 360.

Which means in the end, you might as well just get a 360, since it has better networking and online features.