How is GB calculated

[Lars]

Hello guys, 

 

This maybe is a very dumb question but i have don't know anything about technical aspects.

This question i ask mainly because of the big difference in PS3 and PS4 digital install sizes.

Also for games that are identical, because i thought that game size was the size of the file.

For example Dragon Age Inquisition on PS3 is 19.9GB, while the PS4 version is 41.4GB. And i don't know this for sure but i assume the game is exactly the same, apart from performance then.

 

Thanks in advance

Edited January 25, 2017 by lars9612

[Komrade_Konrad]

Games are not usually the same on PS3 and PS4.  The main difference between PS3 and PS4 versions of the same game is that the PS4 versions typically use higher resolution textures because the PS4 is powerful enough to use them.  Better looking textures take up more memory in the game files and the size of the game files are measured in GB.  There may be other improvements that increase the size such as higher quality sound files, but I imagine the bulk of it is better textures.

[BIOHAZARD-R-US]

Also, too don't forget that the PS4 installs the entire game onto your system whether you have the disc or digital. And often times games on current-gen systems have content or features that aren't even in the old-gen games, which also affects file size. Black Ops III didn't have the campaign for PS3, Advanced Warfare had a ton of textures removed from the PS3 version, and Alien: Isolation had a much more darker and blurry environment in order to compensate for lack of power on the PS3. Because the PS3 can't handle as much stuff at once, textures, certain environment objects and details or even whole sections of the game get removed or watered down

[Joe56780]

Also, maybe it's easier to think of the way PC versions of games typically have a lot more content, and can be played at much higher quality graphics wise than the console variants (not counting for bad ports). But since the PS4 is more powerful than PS3 they'll be able to use the better performance and add more quality to the versions of the game on the PS4.

[GalrenStormbow]

11 minutes ago, BIOHAZARD-R-US said:

Also, too don't forget that the PS4 installs the entire game onto your system whether you have the disc or digital. And often times games on current-gen systems have content or features that aren't even in the old-gen games, which also affects file size. Black Ops III didn't have the campaign for PS3, Advanced Warfare had a ton of textures removed from the PS3 version, and Alien: Isolation had a much more darker and blurry environment in order to compensate for lack of power on the PS3. Because the PS3 can't handle as much stuff at once, textures, certain environment objects and details or even whole sections of the game get removed or watered down

 

This. Typically disc-based PS3 games only do a partial install, if they even do any kind of install at all, whereas PS4 games always do a complete install to the hard drive. PS4 games, as mentioned above, typically have higher textures which requires more space, sometimes extra features that the PS3 versions don't have, etc. If they did disc-based installs on the PS4 like they did on the PS3 the games would take up less space but they would also run slower.

Edited January 25, 2017 by GalrenStormbow

[Guest]

Almost all ps3 games are 720p upscaled stretched to 1080....and ps4 are 1080....the higher resolution is huge. Probably already mentioned though.