BATTLEFIELD 3 "Mandatory" Install on Xbox 360

By Matt Mann / October 19, 2011

Battlefield 3 is not forcing you to install the game to your Xbox 360 hard drive, but they might as well be. If you don't install the game to your hard drive, Battlefield 3 will run at standard definition settings. There is a texture package that needs to be downloaded to your hard drive for the game to run at high definition. Patrick Bach the executive producer for Battlefield 3 had this to say:

"There's nothing magic about it, It's the same thing we do for PC and PS3, so there's nothing extra. So what it does is it gives you the same abilities, kind of, as the PC and PS3. You can actually stream information from the hard drive. It does make a difference, yes, absolutely. The whole engine is based around streaming textures, streaming terrain and a lot of other content." "The thing with the 360 is that you need to be able to give consumers a game where you don't have to install it on a hard drive, because there are 360s without a hard drive. So we need to give you the option of installing it, rather than just demanding it. You could call it a 'standard-def' version for the 360 if you don't have a hard-drive."

In other words if you are planning on buying Battlefield 3 for the Xbox 360, you will need to install the game to get the best performance out of it. I always install my games on the Xbox 360 because they generally run better and it keeps the console much cooler. Is this going to be a problem for any of you who plan on buying Battlefield 3 for the Xbox 360? Battlefield 3 is coming to Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC on October 28th. You can read our latest Battlefield 3 feature that was posted earlier today HERE.