God of War III won’t be utilising a PlayStation hard-drive install, despite using the complexity of a dual-layer Blu-ray disc. The last PS3 game to make use of the greater capacity 50GB Blu-ray was Kojima Productions’ Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, which not only required significant HDD space, but also made a new lengthy install after every one of the game’s five acts. There will be no such suffering with Sony Santa Monica’s God of War III.
Like many of the PS3’s graphically most impressive first-party games, God of War III will not require a large HDD install. In fact the game will make use of only 5mb’s of your console’s hard drive, as evidenced by the GameSpot posting of the game’s box art (below) and also by Sony Santa Monica’s Director of Technology, Christopher Ericson, who tweets:
“God of War 3 does NOT do a HD install. The 5MB listed on box back is for save game only.”
Other PS3 games that don’t require significant installs are Killzone 2 and Uncharted 2, both simply caching to the harddrive from the Blu-ray without leaving permanent data behind. However, this feat is more impressive with God of War III for two reasons: one, the game is aiming for a 60 frames-per-second frame rate; and two, it also makes use of a dual-layer Blu-ray disc.
Tim Moss, Director of Technology at Sony Santa Monica, confirmed on Twitter that the US version of the game will be using upwards of 35GBs of Blu-ray space, later adding that due to over nine languages on the European disc, this version will take up over 40GBs.
So what does this have to say about Sony Santa Monica’s statement that the game will not feature CG cutscenes? With this amount of data being used it is highly likely that the game’s cutscenes are pre-rendered and then played back as FMVs. Not only does this align with the amount of data on the game’s disc, it also gives evidence for the developer not needing an HDD install, since loading can be hidden behind these videos. Naturally, the cutscenes will still be rendered using the game’s engine, and thus not ‘CG,’ but chances are they won’t be real-time. Of course, the game will feature a massive three-hours of bonus behind-the-scenes footage also.
Watch the latest God of War III trailer in 1080p here and enjoy the game’s many screenshots in our God of War III gallery.
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February 22, 2010
#1
Very good news. What was disappointing about MGS4 was that even after installing an act, you had to reinstall it later on if you played through it a second time. Glad to hear that when games are optimized for the PS3 system, that installs are not required. I’m running a bit short on HDD space here!
Oh and I thought the game was aiming for 30fps this time around? The demo definitely wasn’t running in 60fps but I was under the impression, from reports that I read, that it would be going at 30fps instead.
And not… clicking… trailer link. Still resisting… urge. 22 days left… I can do it!
February 22, 2010
#2
The game will be variable 30-60fps, like the previous games. The demo averaged at around 50fps…so we can hope for it being close to 60fps now it’s gone gold. Watch the trailer, it’s short =)
February 22, 2010
#3
thats good, these 4 gig installs were killing me lol
February 22, 2010
#4
Sounds great. I loved MGS4, but the installs after each act/chapter were a bit much.
February 22, 2010
#5
Sweet, just means I can get into the awesome game even faster even though an install would not be a big deal.
February 22, 2010
#6
Awesome! Just like Uncharted.
February 22, 2010
#7
I have 60gig ps3 and i have like 2gig left so im always glad when a game i want doesnt have a intsall. Need more room!
February 22, 2010
#8
Awesome. As much as I love MGS4 the installs really get in the way (Feel like playing chapter 3?. . . . 2 minutes to install just to realize you don’t feel like playing anymore, lol).
A definitive win.
February 22, 2010
#9
This game just keeps getting better and better.
February 22, 2010
#10
Unfortunately, won’t be getting it until Easter, as the last of my game money will be going to Heavy Rain
Luckily, I have that and the God of War Collection to hold me over.
February 22, 2010
#11
How much memory did mgs4 take off my hard drive?
February 22, 2010
#12
As long as the game runs fairly fast, it’s fine with me! MGS4 was painful to install, but worth it.
February 22, 2010
#13
Well, you’ll have to forgive MGS4 though. It’s still the time where Kojima is still trying to get used to PS3 hardware. Now that devs are starting to understand PS3 architecture they can much with it, coupled with the massive storage of BD.
FFXIII is another PS3 game that does not need HDD install, it ran smooth while using all the power of the PS3.
We’ll soon be seeing more impressive games than the previous on the PS3 w/o the installations.
I hope Kojima is taking notes on these new games, I wanna see ZOE3 w/o HDD install. =D
February 22, 2010
#14
Tarbis, has a pretty good point, MGS4 was made during the initial phase in which the ps3’s power was getting tested. Because of Mgs4 maybe we wouldn’t have games like Uncharted 2, God of War 3. Either way it is nice to know that God of War 3 doesn’t need installs/
February 22, 2010
#15
niceee, as i dont have a problem with installs anyways, so long as the load speed is good then im in!
February 22, 2010
#16
sweet, no install, MGS had that one thing going against it, whenever i wanted to play any level, the install would put me off,no doubt about its greatness. i am so happy 60fps
February 22, 2010
#17
Yup, MGS4 does Rock even with the installs and it is still one of the top references when you think PS3.
February 22, 2010
#18
thank u wen i first got MGS4 and installed it and went 2 see how much it took up i almost died looking at 4.6gigs gone out of my small HDD
February 22, 2010
#19
Wow, all that eyecandy and no installation??? AWESOME!
February 23, 2010
#20
you sure that box art is correct?
only because they already confirmed that GOW3 will be scalable to 1080P but according to that box art the max is 1080i.
either way cant wait for this its going to be epic, played the E3 demo like a 100 times now and am still not sick of it.
hopefully they will release another demo on PSN soon to give us a different taster.
February 23, 2010
#21
uncharted 2 dident require instal, howewer when you start a single player game it loads quite a whle
i hawe nothing against instals if they improve the games quality
February 23, 2010
#22
AWESOME! that’s great
February 23, 2010
#23
Anyone seen the Hot GOW III Chick Yet!?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXUDTnoXYXE
February 28, 2010
#24
The new God of War 3 game looks amazing. Its good that there is no install for the game, since it is a really awesome looking game. The God of War 3 game its going to look great because it needed a dual layer Blu-Ray to fit all the game data.