Mandatory disc installations come part and parcel with PS4, but it seems long a laborious install wait times will not.

Game installs of several gigabytes took tens of minutes on PS3, but the PS4 uses an install-while-you-play system which, according to early testing, reduces wait times to around 30 seconds.

Kotaku timed the installation processes of seven PS4 launch games, starting the clock upon disc insertion and stopping it when the PS4 allowed you to boot the game for play.

Surprisingly, the longest idle time recorded was 42 seconds for Ubisoft's Just Dance 2014. Assassin's Creed 4 fired up within just 13 seconds. As system architect Mark Cerny previously indicated, PS4 gets you in-game pretty quickly.

As the site notes, these times don't represent complete installation - it takes several minutes for a full install which, for example, totals at 37GBs for Knack; they represent the length of time the PS4 takes to do a partial install and let you into the game to start playing.

It also notes that some games have longer wait times for those who choose to go directly to multiplayer - presumably the early stages of the single-player campaign are given priority during installation.

Interestingly, the site observed that the PS4 begins installing game content automatically the moment a disc is inserted for the first time.

Here are the recorded install times:

Knack: 32 seconds
Killzone: Shadow Fall: 0:38
Battlefield 4: 0:42
Injustice: Gods Among Us: 0:28
Just Dance 2014: 0:24
Madden 25: 0:23
Assassin's Creed 4: 0:13
America is bracing itself for the PS4 launch this Friday, November 15. The console arrives on November 29 in Europe and Latin America.

Posted: Nov 13, 2013 7:17 pm
Related Forum: PlayStation Forum

Source: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/438116/ps4-disc-installs-timed-at-under-a-minute/