Capcom having issues with SSF2THDR's file size

by Dustin Burg { Jan 30th 2008 at 3:45PM }

Packaging together 1080p sized graphics and two sets of fighting music into one Xbox Live Arcade game is beginning to become a problem for Capcom as development on Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix churns along.

According to an interview with director David Sirlin about their development struggles, videogamer.com learned that the XBLA's 150mb limit is becoming a thorn in SSF2THDR's development side. Specifically, the 1080p graphics are taking up a lot of space and, since SSF2THDR is releasing to the PSN, 1080p was decided to be the native resolution. Which brings us to the question whether or not the XBLA and PSN versions will end up being different. Capcom isn't saying anything just yet, but it's possible that some of the sprites or background graphics will have to be downgraded to 720p or the game's remixed music score may get cut. But we have high hopes. Let Microsoft's team of compression technology masters go to work on SSF2THDR and when they get done you could fit SSF2THDR on a 3.5" floppy. They're like magical compression fairies.

Tags: capcom, ssf2thdr, street-fighter, xbla

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Josh @ Jan 30th 2008 3:57PM

Not putting a hard drive in all 360 consoles has got to be the stupidest decision that Microsoft has made with the 360.

DSK UK @ Jan 30th 2008 5:44PM

I agree considering they set the trend with the original Xbox - Silly MS...Don't change stuff that you've done well :)

ccc @ Jan 30th 2008 4:05PM

The size allowence has got to go up soon anyways. There is noway the announced Quake 3 Arena will fit in 150 meg. I don't see why the Piece of shit Xbox originals get to be 1 to 2 gig in size while the much more successful Xbox live arcade has these stupid limitations. I hopeing they up it to 300 or 500 meg then we will see some really amazing games hit the Arcade. MS needs to stop holding the developers back bottom line. And for the record I say the stupidest thing MS has done is a tie between Xbox Originals and giving us Undertow for free.

SABCA @ Jan 30th 2008 4:09PM

You'd think they could handle it kind of like Naruto: Rise of Ninja. Tack on the second soundtrack as a free separate download to the game. That way they'd cost the same price on PS3 and XBLA for the same amount of content.

It's such an obvious "HAHA, PSN is better than Xbox360!" Style situation, that you'd think Microsoft would cut them some sort of break, to quell the naysayers early, if they need it.

Tony @ Jan 30th 2008 4:11PM

I thought MS was pretty clear that they'd make exceptions to this rule in certain cases? This seems as good of a case as they're likely going to get.

The size has to go up and it still could. They've already forced people with 64MB cards to buy something else to play most XBLA games that come out now... The new card is 512MBs anyway, so there's still room in there as it is. Forcing them up to the HDD next isn't an impossibility.

Cabal @ Jan 30th 2008 4:15PM

Since MS seems to see the 512MB memory cards as the new standard, why not up the file cap to something like 250MB?

James @ Jan 30th 2008 4:17PM

Am confused: I thought they upped this ages ago? How the hell did they fit Castlevania SotN (a ~500MB ISO when I put it on my PSP...) into 150 MB? Actually, bad example -- I bet most of that 500MB was Red Book audio tracks, so if they just recompress to MP3 it would presumably be fine. But I agree with #2 that Q3A is never going to fit into 150 megs, so even if I misremembered the limit (it was much smaller at the very beginning, right?), the current one can't last long.

Right?

dan stabbingworth @ Jan 30th 2008 4:36PM

Not entirely sure if this is correct, but I believe most of the data on the PSone was high quality audio, and they cut that for the xbla release.

JHTM @ Jan 30th 2008 4:19PM

i dont agree not including an internal HDD was a bad decision since the external design allows for EASY upgrading - try upgrading a PS3 HDD.

The mistakes MS made IMO was (A) not including a HDD in the cheapest model - i mean include a 20 gb or even 10 so people have SOMETHING - if MS eradicate the ARCADE and make the pro $250 they will really start to shift units imo

(B) imposing a size limit on XBLA games, let people decide if they want to use the space on a quality game

(C) not allowing DEVs to dictate HDD only games. i.e. GTA IV is obviously having difficulty fitting on a dual layer DVD, why not allow R* to use the HDD ?? c'mon how many people own a x360 with no HDD - i mean you'd be silly for doin so

Patrick @ Jan 30th 2008 4:58PM

Upgrading the PS3's HDD is easy as pie.

evilJaze @ Jan 31st 2008 8:29AM

Yeah. Duh.
Step 1: Unscrew HDD cover
Step 2: Pull out old HD
Step 3: Put in new one
Step 4: Replace cover.

voilà

Brian Fantana @ Jan 30th 2008 4:20PM

Another reason why MS's size limit is a joke. They truly fucked up huge by not making the HDD standard. I mean heel, they could have just made it 10 GB. What would that have cost them? No more than $5 per HDD if they mass produced them.

JHTM @ Jan 30th 2008 4:21PM

and for the record LIVE is so much better than that PSN c-rap, i also think XBOX originals are pretty cool - if they release DEF JAM F 4 NY.

Brucie B @ Jan 30th 2008 4:23PM

UP the Darn limit It Microsoft!
I'm Sorry But Screw the Cheap Azz Core Owners!

*That was a dumb move not to include a HDD*

DownwardMonkey @ Jan 30th 2008 7:07PM

What is a dumb thing Bruice B is your comment, considering how capable the PS3 has just proven itself visually with R&C and Uncharted and without the FPS drop or texture loading that I noticed in Mass Effect, as good as it looked. The PS3 is defiantly starting to snowball.

DownwardMonkey @ Jan 30th 2008 7:41PM

Sorry Bruice, I replied to the wrong post.

George Arauz @ Jan 30th 2008 4:25PM

Figures lol.. all the PS2.5 geeks are happy about this one.. although this victory will be short lived

JHTM @ Jan 30th 2008 4:32PM

*That was a dumb move not to include a HDD*

totally agree - LOVE the external design, LOATHE the fact a HDD wasnt included in the cheapest pack - hey theres always room for another SKU

we could call it the X360 Arcade Turbo Edition LOL

DeadPlasmaCell @ Jan 30th 2008 4:36PM

I got this bad feeling they're just going to release the game with 4 characters and offer the rest in downloadable packs.

doom saber @ Jan 30th 2008 4:54PM

*i dont agree not including an internal HDD was a bad decision since the external design allows for EASY upgrading - try upgrading a PS3 HDD.*

Upgrading a ps3 HDD isn't that hard as it is sounds, though one has to use a screw driver to insert the new harddrive into a metal frame (which takes about less than a minute.) I mean, when I first got my ps3, I tested it out how easy it was to take out the HDD by only removing one screw. but if I wanted to remove the HDD from the removeable metal frame, I have to remove 4 more screws, which as I said before, would probably take a minute or less. True, xbox360 HDD is just plug and play (that is what my brother did when he bought his 360 and later bought a HDD for it weeks later,) but I like how the PS3 uses a pc harrdrive since there are so many different HD size space one can buy for cheap (ex. 250 gb for 60 dollars.)

Hopefully, Capcom finds a way around this dilenima with the SSF2THD remix for the 360. I can imagine a patch or addon pack of some sort like packing the original SSF2T and the remix game separately or packing the remix game with the original soundtrack, but have the option to download the remix pack.

Patrick @ Jan 30th 2008 4:59PM

This is terrific...just great. Any guesses on when this game will finally come out?

Ghaleon @ Jan 30th 2008 5:01PM

I can't believe they might be forced to use 1080p sprites (WHO CARES) over an additional soundtrack because of PSN. 720p should be fine. It's STREET FIGHTER II. The fact that it's purdier now isn't what's going to KEEP people playing it online.

Can't they just downgrade the 360 one to 720p to fit everything then?

Orenthol @ Jan 30th 2008 5:30PM

I can't honestly believe some people are bashing the process of upgrading the HDD in the PS3.
Oh my god. You have to use a screwdriver! SCREW THAT! I'd rather pay a vastly inflated price for something else I can just stick on! Those screwdrivers are hard to use you know! *walks into a wall over and over whilst saying "Ow! I am a genius! OW!" *

Whocares @ Jan 31st 2008 11:44AM

yup.. that was almost just as hard as getting up to change a disc after like 10 - 15 hours

*sarcasm* I guess we really do need blu ray.. cause we much rather wait 30 - 45 mins to play a game :) *sarcasm*

Stranger @ Jan 30th 2008 5:54PM

Something like losing this game on XBLA only to see it go PSN exclusive needs to happen over and over again so that Microsoft can get their collective heads out of their asses and start including HDD's in every 360 SKU.

That way you wouldn't have these asinine file size and data buffering restrictions limiting the entire console platform for the sake of a handful of cheap ass gamers.

doom saber @ Jan 30th 2008 7:12PM

*I can't honestly believe some people are bashing the process of upgrading the HDD in the PS3.
Oh my god. You have to use a screwdriver! SCREW THAT! I'd rather pay a vastly inflated price for something else I can just stick on! Those screwdrivers are hard to use you know! *walks into a wall over and over whilst saying "Ow! I am a genius! OW!" *

I agree with your comment (as said on my previous comment that removing a harddrive isn't as hard as the poster I was commenting one, suggested.)

There is always going to be someone who is going to try to find faults with another system to justify why their system is better because of a version of their game is missing something. For instance, it is like someone saying something about one version of a game on another person's system, saying how one game doesn't have (insert special feature here) and the other person then goes around, saying "At least my system is better because it is (insert console color here)"

This reminds me of my previous A-hole of a roommate who out of the blue, said how he had issues of grammar and spelling (ex. he gets his singular and pural words mixed up,) but immediately said "I am better than you because I don't stutter."

With that said, people would find any faults of a system they hate to say why their system is better if their system has some faults, including trivial stuff like controller size, console color, logo, etc...

It is a way for them to sleep better at night, so to speak

ccc @ Jan 30th 2008 7:12PM

The answer is simple, Email Gates.

Jcarpio @ Jan 30th 2008 8:59PM

Well.. tit for tat.. PS3 was the cause for the GTA delay.. xbox for this one..

But just to pile on. I was never a fan of the core and I wish they could just phase it completely out.

DeadPlasmaCell @ Jan 30th 2008 11:18PM

Actually they should scrap the whole XBLA, PSN thing and just include it in SFIV as an unlockable bonus game.. that would be sweet.

rockmanjoey @ Jan 31st 2008 8:56AM

Unfortunetly, that would take the piss and take almost too long for it to come out. Street Fighter 4 won't be out for a while yet and I've been looking forward to buying this game ever since I heard of its announcement

Microsoft are stupid. The limit is silly. I will be getting this on PSN but Microsoft should just allow the limit to be bigger so no one loses.

Its really easy to remove a PS3 HDD, very piss easy. I have a 160GB HDD in mine and thats going to upgrade to a 250GB or a 320GB (still debating) so I don't have problems in the future.

I hope this game is out soon!

JHTM @ Jan 31st 2008 11:10AM

i take back wat i said about the PS3 - i was mis-informed and after some research, i love the fact you can swap out the HDD for any 2.5 inch sata drive - pretty darn cool if u ask me.

now in theory theres nothing to say you couldnt place an SSD or hybrid drive in there. I wonder wat effect that would have on the console performance, PCs show better boot time but game perf. is negligable

NuAngel @ Jan 31st 2008 9:52PM

First: #7/James: Q3A was never announced as an arcade title. It's 98% certain that the game will be on a bonus disc included with "Quake Wars." Just like Quake 2 was included with Quake 4. And yes, the PSX/PSP version of CastlevaniaSOtN had redbook audio - when re-encoded, it fit in the 150MB download limit.

This has me a little worried, to be honest. If 'portions' of the game aren't as HD as the others (backgrounds 720, but fighters 1080? Is that possible?) I wouldn't care for it as much. The true HD experience is something I have wanted for years. You could buy an HD cabinet of Street Fighter 2, or even SF3, and it's still not going to be what we can expect from all of the work going into this new game.

I'm excited for SSF2THDR. And I will be very angry if the 360 version has to bow out to the PS3 version.

Nu