DVD Drought To Continue Despite Rapidly Growing Installed Base Of Drives

14-Apr-00

Despite the strong sales of DVD-based PlayStation2 in Japan and the fact that Dolphin and X-Box will run the high-capacity discs, few developers are making games for the format, largely because of cost and a lack of necessity. There are 23 DVD titles available for PC, accounting for less than one percent of unit sales for that platform in 1999, according to PC Data. There are only two DVD titles available for PlayStation2; Kessen and Dead or Alive 2. In terms of PS2 development, ""It's a question of do you need more than two CDs? If so then it's worthwhile. If you don't, then its not, "" says Epic Games Vice President Mark Rein. id Software CEO Todd Hollenshead echoes Rein's sentiment. ""Although it may be a luxury, it's not one we view at this point as being worth the cost,"" he says. One might think PS2's graphic power would require extra space, but Rein explains that textures and additional polygons aren't all that size intensive. ""There are some really awesome [PC] games that could use all the graphical power of PS2 that just don't need more than 650 megabytes,"" he says. Rein acknowledges the format is great for cinematics, which he says are ""a thousand times better [on DVD] than on CD."" Hollenshead points to improved sound compression as another factor. ""While the software engine and artwork model files that go in our games have increased in size, we've been able to make room by compressing the music media files,"" he says. What about using the space to make longer games? ""If you make a game too long, the customer never gets to finish it and they kind of lose interest in your franchise, and maybe they won't [buy] a sequel,"" Rein says. On the PC side, the installed base of DVD drives is growing, but the total is still small. Coupled with the fact that Windows NT did not support DVD until recently, Rein concludes it's a format to stay away from until it becomes ubiquitous. Additionally, there may be a temporary advantage to the format in the war on piracy. ""There are fewer people out there with DVD duplication systems... everybody's got CD-R now."" Rein says. Even so, Hollenshead, says, ""If [pirates] are determined and they have the resources, they're going to break whatever encryption they want."" Ultimately, both agree the move to DVD is inevitable. ""In the long run, everybody is going to switch over to it just like they switched from 3.5-inch floppy drives to CD ROM,"" Hollenshead says, adding that id's next title will definitely push the limit of one CD, and, ""In a couple of years... we'll probably take a closer look at DVD."" And now that Epic is planning a PS2 version of Unreal Tournament, Rein says the title, ""may very well ship on DVD."" Source: mmWire