Unreal Tournament 2004 was released today without much fanfare or to-do. My friend and I were expecting lines or mobs but instead found more people interested in anything but Unreal. Just six months ago we stood in line for several hours at this very store in order to buy Warcraft III Frozen Throne.
Upon purchase I opened the box to find no less than 5 install CDs (and 1 more just to play the game!) and a hard drive space requirement of 5.5 Gigs. It took approximately 20 minutes to install the large game. Installing software has become so effortless that I almost forgot how bad it used to be in the old thyme days.
The last time I recall having to swap this much media to install anything was back in the early 90's. That precious pre-CD-ROM era (that was right before the known Internet kids) that required 12 'floppy' disks to install programs like Aldus Pagemaker. When the CD-ROM drive became standard equipment I thought the time of sitting in front of a machine and feeding it disks for twenty minutes was over. The humans had won.
I don't know what kind of shift or moment this should be called but there I was, in the year 2004, sitting in front of a machine and feeding it discs for twenty minutes.
Join the fray by reading through and commenting at the end.
This is probably not so much related but... get a Nintendo GameCube (if you don't already own one). Games usually come on a single disk and loading times are almost non-existant.
~Neko ^_^
Perhaps it's time to move into the install-from-DVD era?
I just got Apple's iLife 04, with GarageBand. GarageBand isn't even offered on CDs. DVD only.
Wow. 5.5 gigs. It's kinda crazy these days that you really need the newest and best computer if you want to play games. 3D modeling and video editing is up there as well. Back in the days of floppy based installs, I used to love making disk images and sticking them on a ZIP disk. That felt pretty slick when you didn't have to switch floppy after floppy after floppy. These days with bloatware it's hard to imagine anything installing without taking 50mb of hard drive space.
For the record I am a huge fan of consoles and own two of them. While Unreal is bloated beyond belief, it is an incredible looking and great game to play. That said, nothing beats the simplicity and fun to be had with a console.
I think it's time to hack up some old PC parts and consumer stereo equipment and create the IDE 50 DVD changer. This comes to mind.
i saw the whole package on one dvd at the store today, but i'm sure most of the copies of this game sold will be on cds. everyone has a dvd-rom, right? especially people whose computers are updated enough to play ut2k4. so why even release the thing on 5 cds?
I got the DVD version of UT2k4, the install time was more reasonable and the install is from just one disc. All of the video files for training you to make UT models are on the second DVD.
All in all it's a great game so far
You want to get yourself an XBOX with EvolutionX and XboxMediaPlayer.
I have it and my XBOX now tons of games on the 200Gig HDD, it plays almost any video format in almost any codec, mp3s, rips dvds and not to mention the PSX1, SNES, GENISIS and N64 emulators that run on there.
Did I mention it has an FTP server on it too ? Also that it has a skinable interface and even lets you use start muisc playing and then run a slideshow of your favourite pics.
I am not sure of the legality but as I own all the orginal games for the XBOX and some of the roms for the emulators I don't think I am being too naughty.
I'd be interested to know how it looks and plays. Love the game.
LOL... typical gamers. A post about a great FPS for PC turns into 'get a gamecube!', 'get an Xbox!'.
The fact is that the game is available on DVD, and you only have yourself to blame if you choose to get the CD-Rom version and have to tackle a pile of plastic to get it running.
On the other hand, game publishers have been very slow to release games on DVD and they should be moving faster as it's obvious that CD-Roms are way too small for the latest games. If they can assume that most of their potential buyers have a video card and processor fast enough to handle UT2004 then they should be able to assume that people have DVD-Rom drives. Perhaps the higher cost of disc replication of just someothing they don't wasnt to cover.
Is the DVD version of the game the same price? The only DVD version of the game I have seen was $79.99 and it was a Special Edition that inlcuded a headset as well. I would definitely like to get the DVD version if it is the same price.
I think today a DVD-ROM drive should be the standard. The price is virtually the same for a DVD-ROM compared to a standard CD-ROM. The only problem I see happening is people who only purchase one drive and make it a CD-RW. I know there are CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drives out there, but I doubt most consumers go this route.
Best Buy sells the DVD Special Edition for $30 with a free Logitec headset..currently out of stock however..
You would think a DVD is standard but it's not. I just purchased a Pentium IV box from Dell (with an upgraded video card) that did not come with a DVD drive. Nor did I care to pay Dell's price for one at the time.
Now if I had known that Atari was going to release a monster like this I might have reconsidered. I can only assume that this will become more and more common. Especially with upcoming titles like Doom 3 and Halflife 2.
The large install is not without it's rewards. I have to say that Unreal 2004 is the best looking game I have seen to date. Gameplay takes place on the largest maps I've ever seen with incredible looking vistas that take place in a number of different habitats. The weapons are a blast to use but it's the vehicles that allow for Unreal to lead the pack in FPS gaming. For now at least.
I was given a E3 (2003) release of Halflife 2 a week ago. The version I have is far far from complete, maybe even an alpha version, but it unpacked to a whopping 3 gigs. While the sound was broken and I have to use the console to switch maps, it was still very impressive. When Halflife finally makes it to market, it going to smash the competition for years to come.
I still wish that it hadn't taken until 2004 for a company to produce a game with the same amount of interesting and fun gameplay that Starseige Tribes had back in `99. Granted, the graphics are worlds better but to me the gameplay is still what matters. Vehicles? Did that. Voice communication? Did that. Massive, expansive maps? Did that. True teamplay? Did that.
Still...atleast UT2k4 gives us some justification for our machines until HL2 gets released in 2008.
I remember installing Windows 95 from 13 floppies. Chug-chug-chug-chug-chug (pause) Chug-chug-chug
Those where the days. When monitors were small, networks rare, and hard disks sounded like angle grinders.
Five gigs? That's my entire hard-drive!
Goes to show how far behind I am on on technology.
I just recently bought Gothic 2 and was surprised just how long it took to install with only 3 discs. If I didn't know better, I'd say my machine was injured, but Beyond Good & Evil installed in a reasonable amount of time. FWIW, I recommend both games. 8^)
Just got UT2k4 and I couldnt even believe it was 6 cd's. But to me that just makes me think the game is going to be better and costs more to produce. But anyways there is a DVD version although very rare to see, I went to 3 stores looking for it and gave up. Bought the cd version, man is this going to take awhile. But after I played the demo and had be bought. This game is just another great addition to the hall of fame of game in my book.
Even if the game takes a while to install of well, stop complaining im mean seriously 20 mins it nothing to install such a large software, and if you expected them to put 5.5 gegabytes on 1 cd your crazy. If it really bothers you get the DVD verison.
But anyways UT2k4 rocks! and i wonder what great mods will also come out of it.