Title Installing...Please wait....

[tippy2k2]

This is going to be half rant and half discussion so take that for what it is. Console whining ahead:

I have played the future of video games...

And that future is sitting here waiting for the freaking installation disc to finally go through. The future kind of sucks...

Seriously...this really kind of sucks. I received a number of games for Christmas. Maybe I'm terrible at choosing the order to play but I decided to go with Ghost first...

Installation disc!

Well this sucks but I suppose it's worth it. Well let's grab my next game, Splinter Cell Blacklist...

Installation disc!

Damn it! Well, I'll go with a digital download. GTAV is on sale this week so let's roll with that! There can't be an installation disc, it's digital! Ooof...7.8 GB of download. All well, it's worth it. Let's boot up the game and...

Installation disc! (What?)

The "installation disc" is larger than the game itself. There is a very real chance that I'm not going to get to play GTAV until Friday at this rate.

So Escapist peeps; do you mind installation discs? The waiting part sucks donkey but once you get to the sweet happiness that is playing the extra shiny game, it's worth it....right? Would you prefer these discs to go away and just let you play a "less shiny" version? What do you think of these time sinks that are installation discs?

Now where's my 3DS? I need a game to play while I'm downloading a patch to play a game...

(Again note; this is a console complaint. I'm sure you PC guys are sitting tall right now laughing about how you've had installation discs forever)

 

[Roxas1359]

Really it depends on the game really. I mean PS3 install wait times have made me a very patient man that's for sure. It does suck now that the game sizes are getting so large. I mean heck, PC installs for me take about as long as console ones do so I don't mind at all at this point. Whenever something is installing I usually do something else so as to not make the waiting unbearable.

So really it depends, but then again this is the person who played Kingdom Hearts Final Mix HD on Proud Mode, chose the hardest path so that it's difficult to level up at the beginning, and then spent the time to grind to level 21 on Destiny Island in both his LPs of the HD and PS2 versions, so I'm either loony or very patient. Probably the former in all honesty...>.>

 

[The Eupho Guy_v1legacy]

(Again note; this is a console complaint. I'm sure you PC guys are sitting tall right now laughing about how you've had installation discs forever)

Not really, well, at least I'm not. Being smug about being used to installing things doesn't make the process any faster .

I don't really notice install times on my PS3. After going through installing Emperor: Battle for Dune on a modern PC a while back, installing anything on the PS3 is a snap. (Note to any developers reading this: Three quarters of an hour is NOT an acceptable time-frame for a game to install). At least when I'm installing a game on the PS3 I can browse the internet on my computer (or play something on my Vita or 3DS).

 

[Casual Shinji]

The only thing that really ticks me off is demos that can take a staggering 2 fucking hours to download. Which is why I hardly ever do it anymore.

I've never had game installs take up more than 30 minutes, so I don't mind too much.

 

[Teoes]

A large portion of my games are bought through/added to my Steam library these days so the installation is bundled in with the download. At least while this is going on I can amuse myself with other things like the internet, a video, a non-Steam game or -gasp- something not on my PC! I've not been massively bothered by installations in that respect, unless it's a game I'm really itching to get started on.

I have in the past, during sales when I've bought a load of games (or having just bought a new PC and needing to re-install everything), taken advantage of the fact that I could leave my home PC on, then sit at work queuing up downloads remotely. An admitted drain of electricity, but damn it was nice to get home to everything done.

 

[Kinitawowi]

(Again note; this is a console complaint. I'm sure you PC guys are sitting tall right now laughing about how you've had installation discs forever)

Yep, pretty much. We also had the original installation for Command & Conquer, where at least there was something going on during the install rather than just a shitty progress bar.

Yeah, just read a book or make a coffee or something. Sitting there screaming "THE PRECIOUS I MUST HAVE IT" at your TV just makes you a crazy person.

 

[Kinitawowi]

the times do not really bother me that much. growing up with an amstrad, lets just say installation times dont really bother you after waiting 15 minutes to play each game

Luxury! I had a ZX Spectrum and that was uphill both ways in the snow! [/Python]

Nah, seriously, I remember Wizard's Lair on my CPC 6128. 19 minutes to load and 17 to complete. And for all those watching; that's 19 minutes every time you wanted to play the game. Not just once. Every. Time.

 

[Dandark]

I used to enjoy installing games on the PC. I put the disk in and get the install going then rather than just have a black screen with a progress bar they had a slideshow of really epic screenshots from the game that it would cycle through. RTS games usually had epic battles going on with a really good camera view you wouldn't be able to get in game.

Now though it's just the progress bar over a black or grey background....

 

[Exhuminator]

that future is sitting here waiting for the freaking installation disc to finally go through

Ooof...7.8 GB of download

I'm downloading a patch to play a game...

Things like these in console land piss me off. The whole point (to me at least) of playing consoles is to get away from things like installing a game and patching it. With consoles I just want to pop the disc in and start playing immediately. That's the positive side of consoles, the immediacy. If I have to install and patch a console game, then I might as well play its port on PC where at least I'll get a higher resolution and better framerate for my troubles.

 

[Auron225]

This just screams first-world-problems to me. May I ask how long does your system take to install a game? If it took an hour or if you had to do this every time you played the game then I'd see your point. My PS3 takes no more than 15 minutes with a new game, and it only has to do this once... I don't get what the big deal is. Do something else for 15 minutes - it doesn't need your attention. Go make a cup of tea or check your e-mails or see what your sibling/room-mate are up to. A watched pot never boils - it will feel longer if you stare at your screen willing it to go faster.

 

[TehCookie]

Installation CDs on PC are great, it's much faster than downloading. On consoles I agree with you. I don't mind quick installs but half an hour is waaaay to long. The worst part are required patches, on some of my friends connections we'd go shopping for 4 hours and be back before it was done installing a 200mb patch. That was because of crappy internet, but I shouldn't need internet to play console games. Or any single-player game.

 

[Tom_green_day]

Wait, do you mean a separate disc on console just to install? Is that just a 360 thing then? Sometimes games have to save stuff to the HDD of the PS3 but I've never had 2 discs! Although installing stuff annoys me as my PS3 has barely any space, I had to delete all my BO1 DLC just to install GTAV.

 

[Zipa]

Does anyone remember when one of the advantages of a console over a PC was that you could just put the disk in and play without having to install the game? Chalk that one off the list of advantages I guess.

 

[EHKOS]

PC's install everything too. I don't mind the installation, I usually have my laptop next to me because I like to play video games while listening to a TV show. I just wish the HDD size for consoles was a bit bigger, or that I could install my own, but last time I checked, Sony didn't want me doing that.

I think, I can't actually remember if you can hook up an external HD, or install a bigger internal one.

So yeah, the waiting is fine, I just do something else while I'm waiting. It's not like I absolutely have to play the game right this second or I'll go into cardiac arrest or anything.

 

[Milanezi]

It depends, it bothered me with some PS3 games, they took forever to instal, with the 360 I never had that problem, few games were an obligatory instal and those were relatively fast. My PS4 instals really fast and there's also that deal where you get to play while it instals (some games), like Killzone instals chapter per chapter and every chapter that has been installed you can already access and play.

One way or the other, installing isn't really a problem anymore. My trauma with installations are back from the day when you started installing the game in the PC and something weird happened halfway through messing everything and freezing the whole computer, thankfully, this hasn't happened in a loooooong time...

 

[Milanezi]

Wait, do you mean a separate disc on console just to install? Is that just a 360 thing then? Sometimes games have to save stuff to the HDD of the PS3 but I've never had 2 discs! Although installing stuff annoys me as my PS3 has barely any space, I had to delete all my BO1 DLC just to install GTAV.

Yep, GTA V has a disc dedicated to installation... But I think that's it as far as I remember... But games did get dismembered by the end of this generation on 360, The Witcher 2 had 3 DVDs, some games like AC3 had a disc separated for multiplayer that sort of stuff... PS3 didn't quite get that because of the Blu-ray capability I think.

 

[COMaestro]

I just wish the HDD size for consoles was a bit bigger, or that I could install my own, but last time I checked, Sony didn't want me doing that.

Actually, Sony has absolutely no problem with you upgrading the hard drive. I think Sony's the only console that is okay with this. For both PS3 and PS4 there are instructions on how to do this on the official PlayStation website.

https://support.us.playstation.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/362

OT: I don't mind the install times that much. I just try to pop the game in when I'm busy with other stuff so it can install and be ready when I come back to it. Also, if you disconnect from the internet, you don't have to worry about the game checking for patches when you play. Good way to jump right into a game. Then when you are finished playing, reconnect to the internet and check for updates then, and it can download when you go to do something else.

I'm liking the PS4 since it doesn't need to get install 100% done before you can play, and if I leave it in standby mode, it'll automatically download patches and updates while I'm at work or sleeping.

 

[Something Amyss]

Keep in mind GTA V may be a special case. After all, this is a game that cautioned you not to install the game disc to the same source as the install disc because the game needs to exploit aging hardware to run well. And doing it this way almost certainly avoided the problems associated with the PSN version.

Anyway, this is one of the main reasons I've been shifting away from consoles:

Does anyone remember when one of the advantages of a console over a PC was that you could just put the disk in and play without having to install the game? Chalk that one off the list of advantages I guess.

And games aren't plug and play anymore. And you may need updates.

This just screams first-world-problems to me.

So what? Video Games are a luxury. They are by nature a first world issue and almost anything you can say about them is a first world problem.

Wait, do you mean a separate disc on console just to install? Is that just a 360 thing then? Sometimes games have to save stuff to the HDD of the PS3 but I've never had 2 discs! Although installing stuff annoys me as my PS3 has barely any space, I had to delete all my BO1 DLC just to install GTAV.

Separate discs and multi-disc games are sometimes necessary on the 360 because they use DVD 9 instead of BD.