Games on Flash Drives. Discuss.

[DEElekgolo]

http://i48.tinypic.com/1zmmkad.jpg
http://i49.tinypic.com/2ag4z8j.png
Wat.

[BobtheGreatII]

They were talking about putting games on USB drives, much like movies. Did you miss the memo? :-3

[ExAm]

Nifty. I'd buy a USB game.

[=sw=warlord]

Nifty. I'd buy a USB game.
About time they started doing this, it allows more storage and could also help prevent piracy, install the DRM on the usb and your sorted.
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/kotaku/2009/12/woods.jpg

[thehoodedsmack]

Games on USB? Reminds me of the N64 cartridge days. We might not even have to install anything. In fact, it might be great for combating piracy if it was all read-only. The only thing you'd need to save to your computer would be save-files.

[=sw=warlord]

Games on USB? Reminds me of the N64 cartridge days. We might not even have to install anything. In fact, it might be great for combating piracy if it was all read-only. The only thing you'd need to save to your computer would be save-files.
Yeah, been thinking on this for a while, USB2.0 can support upto 300mbps if i remember right which is usualy faster than sustained HDD transfers which means not only would the levels load quicker it should have a impact on ingame performance as well.

[Abdurahman]

yeah but flash drives are much slower than the max usb2.0 speed.

[=sw=warlord]

yeah but flash drives are much slower than the max usb2.0 speed.
Much slower at the moment, i would rather have a USB thumb drive for my data than a flimsy DVD.

[ExAm]

The biggest problem I can see with games not being installed on the drive is the lack of access to the files for modding. This would be very bad.

[Abdurahman]

I agree the flash drives are a good idea, but would they raise costs of games? New games are already ridiculously expensive, and we can all agree flash drives are much more expensive than dvds. Also, the loading would be pretty slow, considering hard drives are much faster.

If faster flash drives are developed, you know with USB 3.0 around the corner, it would be the perfect medium. Thing is, you would then have a drawer full of flash drives! :)

[Futzy]

I agree the flash drives are a good idea, but would they raise costs of games? New games are already ridiculously expensive, and we can all agree flash drives are much more expensive than dvds. Also, the loading would be pretty slow, considering hard drives are much faster.

If faster flash drives are developed, you know with USB 3.0 around the corner, it would be the perfect medium. Thing is, you would then have a drawer full of flash drives! :)
Digital distribution is the next step. I don't see a new physical distribution becoming dominate. If ssds were to become the new thing, you would probably download the game to a local hdd or sdd and then sell back or return the flash drive.

e: wait why is this in pictures

[flibitijibibo]

Not anymore it isn't!

I'd love to have USB drives for games. A whole lot less to carry when moving between states.

[Yoko]

I'd love to have USB drives for games. A whole lot less to carry when moving between states.
And a whole lot easier to lose and leave a couple states away.

The only way piracy will stop is if they can lock the game files on the drive. But then again, that'll just make pirates work harder to crack into it and get the files off.

[Cortexian]

What prevents them from having the game pre-installed on the USB device? I'm sure they could come up with something that has everything you need on the device, and also requires the device to be plugged in for you to play.

[ThePlague]

I'd love to have USB drives instead of dvd's. I could make a necklace or something with all of my games.

[=sw=warlord]

What prevents them from having the game pre-installed on the USB device? I'm sure they could come up with something that has everything you need on the device, and also requires the device to be plugged in for you to play.
Plus, you wouldnt need to worry about your DVD drive fucking up and chewing your DVD's, plug n play.

Pro's for DVD ROM:
Fast transfer speeds
stable and safe from viruses
Easy to stack and transfer to different places
Relatively cheap to manufacture.

Con's:
Damaged surface on disc can cause software errors and even leave the disc unable to read entirely.
Easy to break.
Bulky and are slowly becoming outdated in terms of media transfer speed.
Prone to weather conditions, IE: slight bit of cold air and any condensation formed on disk will cause errors and can even damage the disk.
Easy to copy and pirate
Limited file sotrage space

Pro's for Flash drive ROM:
Fast speed, USB2.0 can support upto 300Mbps which is faster than a conventional HDD[currently alot slower but there is alot of room for improvement]
Stable, provided drive is hardware locked the drive would be versatile against viruses
New possible medium for DRM which actualy works.[Only need a chip on the PCB which the software checks for before loading the application IE: no more Securom shit]
Small and portable so easy to carry about.
Plug n play ability no need to pre-install game just load straight off the drive.
Much large potential storage capacity[ we are now seeing 64Gb drives being sold for $20 compared to 7.4Gb DVD roms priced at $10 per pack of 6¬]

Con's
Currently low consistant speed ratios, lower than HDD but still faster than DVD
Increase in maufacturing costs for software developers would likely be passed on to consumers.
Possibility that it would eradicate unauthorized modding [unlikely but still]
Prone to occational chip faults causing software errors.
Easy to lose due to size IE lost behind seat cusion or what ever

I think thats about it for all i can think off, il add more to this if anyone can think of anything else i should add to list.

[Limited]

Your/Photo-taker box making skills are lacking...

[Rook]

This would definitely be an option for USB 3.0 (http://www.everythingusb.com/superspeed-usb.html), but that doesn't mean I still much prefer the files on my drive!

[Llama Juice]

Flash drives aren't all that strong either ye know. I've gone through two of em where something'll hit them just wrong while plugged into the computer and it'll break a connection on the inside of the device. Not so cool :/

They'd still have to install some stuff to your HDD, it couldn't all be portable.

At any rate, this stuff is interesting, I'm curious to see how it all pans out.

[Cortexian]

They'd still have to install some stuff to your HDD, it couldn't all be portable.
All you'd need on your drive is registry information and possibly some files relating to modding or community content creation (such as a "mods" directory or something).

[legionaire45]

Woot was selling some games on 8GB Flash Drives for like, $10 or $20 a while ago - I picked up a copy of Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow. No annoying CD key type thing from what I remember, which was a plus. Installing it was an awesome experience.

Online distribution is still king in my book, but Flash drives are a nifty little gimmick.

[=sw=warlord]

All you'd need on your drive is registry information and possibly some files relating to modding or community content creation (such as a "mods" directory or something).
Why would you need registry information?
The only thing needing installation is modding folders, the software would/should just load off the drive like a Video on a DVD, softwares on the media but dosn't need registering.
Plug in the game, auto menu shows up and your ready to play.

[Advancebo]

Selling little laptop consoles that only have enough space for the game thats preinstalled on it.

/idea :realsmug:

[Amit]

Why would you need registry information?


3rd party applications, such as Xfire would need the registry in place to automatically find the folder, unless you use the custom option. This is because USB Flash drive letters are different if you have multiple drives and devices, or changed the drive letter.

[NuggetWarmer]

What I've been wondering:

Wouldn't people complain about having to use the USB all the time? I mean, I really enjoy being able to have many of my games just launch off my desktop or wherever else they're stored. No CD required. Maybe they could include a computer install exe in the USB?

[=sw=warlord]

What I've been wondering:

Wouldn't people complain about having to use the USB all the time? I mean, I really enjoy being able to have many of my games just launch off my desktop or wherever else they're stored. No CD required. Maybe they could include a computer install exe in the USB?
What would you preffer, Securom infested software that you can install on your pc or software on a USB with the DRM built onto the chip?
I know which i would preffer.

[NuggetWarmer]

What would you preffer, Securom infested software that you can install on your pc or software on a USB with the DRM built onto the chip?
I know which i would preffer.

ur dum :downs:

[=sw=warlord]

ur dum :downs:
There's plenty of games that require you to have the DVD in drive even if its installed on your pc, so having a USB would be no different.
In all honesty i think the pro's outweight the cons.

[ExAm]

I don't think anyone realizes the terrible implications for modding that this poses. Impossible DRM due to format = no modding = bad.

[Cortexian]

Like I already said ExAm, it would be possible to have the game place a "mods" directory on your computer somewhere. As well as editing directories for all the files required to make mods or custom content. If implemented correctly they could keep all the actual game files on the USB drive with hardware DRM protection to prevent copying to HDD, and verification of integrity. This would allow end users to add in and create their own mods on their own PC without having access to the actual game files...

This could suck for people using things such as SoftTH and other game add-ons that require files being placed in the game installation directories or sub-directories.

[thehoodedsmack]

I don't think anyone realizes the terrible implications for modding that this poses. Impossible DRM due to format = no modding = bad.

If the game's developers want you to mod the game, it shouldn't be infeasible to setup modding tools that load maps and settings on your hard-drive, using the game's engine stored on the USB.

It would really come down to the developer's choice. If they don't want you modding their game, tough beans.

[ExAm]

My point is, games should be moddable whether the developers want them to be or not.

[=sw=warlord]

My point is, games should be moddable whether the developers want them to be or not.
Why should they?
Legaly the developers are the ones who decide wherther what should be modded and what shouldn't be.
Halo 2 Xbox was a very good example of when modding can be detrimental to other players.
If a game come's out with its own editing kit then great, adds more value to the product but i personaly wouldn't not buy a game just because it dosn't have a editing kit.

[Ganon]

My point is, games should be moddable whether the developers want them to be or not.

not really

[Warsaw]

Why is it whenever a new technology rolls around that everybody thinks it precludes modification by the end user? Honestly, when was the last time you saw a system that hasn't been hacked and modified at any point in its life span?

Even if they disable modding this way, someone will find a way to hack the DRM and get the engine onto the hard drive. Modding will then commence. It's inevitable.

[Dwood]

flash drives suck. Steam and Impulse ftw.

[ExAm]

Modding breeds creativity, and should always be allowed and encouraged, whether the developer provides an SDK or not.

[=sw=warlord]

Modding breeds creativity, and should always be allowed and encouraged, whether the developer provides an SDK or not.
If you want to mod to improve your creativity then buy a game that supports modding.:v:

[jcap]

Depends on what you mean by "allowed" and "encouraged". Of course, all developers should allow some sort of modding to their game through actual mod files to change campaign or maps. BUT, "modding" multiplayer stock maps is heavily frowned upon because even with an honor code saying only "modders" can play together, you are still going to have douchebag fucktards who ruin the game for everyone.

[=sw=warlord]

Depends on what you mean by "allowed" and "encouraged". Of course, all developers should allow some sort of modding to their game through actual mod files to change campaign or maps. BUT, "modding" multiplayer stock maps is heavily frowned upon because even with an honor code saying only "modders" can play together, you are still going to have douchebag fucktards who ruin the game for everyone.
As shown with Halo 2 xbox and now MW2.

[jcap]

As shown with Halo 2 xbox and now MW2.
I don't know what the deal is with MW2, if it's just glitches or actual mods on the consoles, however the point still stands that people can't be trusted. Hell, the MW2 case, I believe, is just a glitch. Imagine if the infinite ammo glitch couldn't be patched because some faggot modified their version of the game.

The Halo 2 case is an example of extremely poor security measures on both the game hardware side, due to the limitations of the original Xbox. Halo 2 should have done a checksum of every single map on boot, which would then compare against a table of known checksums. If there's no match, then no load. Now, if that check were to be bypassed via a modified exe, the Xbox should do a checksum against that exe and compare against the ONLY KNOWN latest exe when they sign into LIVE. LIVE would have the master table. If there's a match to a known good checksum, then it allows you to sign in. If it matches against a known BAD checksum, then it should ban you immediately. Additionally, it should run a checksum of every client's map in the party lobby as it's loading the map, to just make sure nothing was swapped out somehow. I believe this is basically similar to how Halo 3 and XBL work today.

[Jean-Luc]

I think the idea of USB games has promise, but I'm a little concerned about lifespan as USB drives all fail after a certain amount of writes to the drive. However, that could probably be circumvented if the developers force the software to do all its writing on the hard drive.

[=sw=warlord]

I don't know what the deal is with MW2, if it's just glitches or actual mods on the consoles, however the point still stands that people can't be trusted. Hell, the MW2 case, I believe, is just a glitch. Imagine if the infinite ammo glitch couldn't be patched because some faggot modified their version of the game.


Well it seems a little odd that you get infinite ammo, no cool down for any weapons including chopper gunner and AC130.
I think if the USB stored all the cache files and just loaded maps straight to the ram and installed savegame folders for the hard drive you would have a pretty good system.

[Phopojijo]

Games on USB? Reminds me of the N64 cartridge days. We might not even have to install anything. In fact, it might be great for combating piracy if it was all read-only. The only thing you'd need to save to your computer would be save-files.Exact opposite...

Being read-only is what makes CDs and DVDs so piratable.

You'd need writeback to allow the USB to know how many devices it's been installed on.

The trick would be streaming from an unreachable partition on the drive... allowing the user to cache asset files to their harddrives (/give option to install it there...), but keep the small stuff inside the USB stick... so tiny that the lower bandwidth of USB would be negligible performance wise, but enough that simply having the assets wouldn't allow piracy.

...
...

Or you could just trust your fucking users.

((I mean for piracy, not cheating of course... and there's a big difference why: Pirates who steal your game, tell their friends, and increase your long-tail sales/may even purchase your game... or its sequels... themselves. Cheaters who abuse your game, give negative word-of-mouth, and decrease your long-tail sales. That said, the best anti-cheating method is dedicated servers. Period.))

[AAA]

Selling little laptop consoles that only have enough space for the game thats preinstalled on it.

/idea :realsmug:


YEAH! LETS PLAY THAT!... Oh, wait... Hold on, gotta switch to my OTHER laptop... :smithicide:

CD/DVD's for games are the best in my opinion, I never go wrong as long as I take care of my discs.

No consideration for this USB idea... :tinfoil:

[Matooba]

About time they started doing this, it allows more storage and could also help prevent piracy, install the DRM on the usb and your sorted.
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/kotaku/2009/12/woods.jpg

And when you get bored of the game, it doubles as some extra storage.