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Both A Blessing And A Curse: HD LoaderJun 30 '04 (Updated Jul 28 '04) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line 'Yeah, but droids don't rip people's arms off if they catch people stealing games using HD Loader.'
Since the PS2 Hard Disk Drive was released along with Final Fantasy XI in March of this year, nearly nothing has happened since then with it. Sure, Resident Evil Outbreak supported it to speed up load times, and you can copy memory card saves to the HDD (which is certainly a good thing), but support has been minimal and many hopeful features (downloadable content, custom soundtrack options) have not yet come to light. Effectively, unless you play Final Fantasy XI constantly, there's little to no use for the HDD. Until now. Just recently, a new 3rd party program shipped out for PlayStation 2, one that's been mired in controversy since the instant it came to light - HD Loader. HD Loader is exactly what it does; lets you take PlayStation 2 games, install them to the hard drive, and then run them directly from it, speeding up load times and reducing the wear and tear on both your disc and PS2 drive itself. While not all games support it, HD Loader is a well-made piece of software, and one that does what's promised...but the spectre of the dark side looms large, as the Loader can easily be used for the wrong purposes. If load times on some games bother you, however, it can be an effective tool for making PS2 gaming a bit simpler. HD Loader's interface is simple and effective - after the program boots, you get a very clean screen with minimal options or fancy crap. To install a game, you can place a PS2 game (PS1 games are not supported at all) into the drive after HD Loader has booted, select 'install', title your game, and it's installed to the HDD within a half-hour tops, depending on the size of the game. From there, it's as simple as selecting a game, hitting 'play' on the main screen, and your console is playing a game directly off the HDD. This does two things for the health of your PS2 - eases wear and tear on your discs (no matter what, all discs will wear down with consistent use), and cuts down on use of the DVD drive in your PlayStation 2. No worries if your disc is already brutalized by wear - my FFX-2 disc is practically destructed from so much play, yet it installed perfectly with no trouble at all. The main goal, however, is to cut back on sometimes obscene loading times. Because a hard drive can access data faster than a optical drive, it's much faster to load up a section of a game. For instance, take Crash Bandicoot: Wrath of Cortex for PS2. Those who have played this CD-ROM based game surely remember the minute or longer load times between accessing levels and such...it's bad enough that I never finished the game. After installing to the HD Loader, the load times are less than 5 seconds, and thus 10x more playable than ever before. Other games, like Grand Theft Auto Vice City, are enhanced as well - the load between the two parts of town is nearly instant, as is the transition between indoor/outdoor areas. Basically, if you have a game that struggles with loading times, HD Loader will eliminate this. On the other hand, efficient games like Final Fantasy X or Final Fantasy X-2 (which have rather fast loading times already) will have little to no difference. There are some things to note about HD Loader, though. You do require an official PS2 Network Adaptor, because that is the connector that lets the HDD boot up. Another thing to note is it will work with a Sony HDD, and co-exists with Final Fantasy XI (it boots up and plays fine) and any other software normally installed like RE Outbreak. However, you can use another HDD, up to 120 GB. As long as the connectors fit into the NA, it will work, though you cannot use it for FFXI or anything involving the PS2 HDD - the PS2 will not even recognize it. The HD Loader people recommend Maxtor drives, as they come closest and fit easiest into your PlayStation 2, though I don't know for sure since I don't plan on using one, my Sony HDD is good enough. The reason I bought HD Loader was simple...imports. Many of the sites that sell HD Loader seemed to believe the program would let you install imported games without the need for a mod chip, but alas, this is not the case by default. The HD Loader will not install imports on its own (it will say invalid PS2 disc), but it can be done. A simple, yet risky swap trick is all you need (easily found on the Internet), because as long as you can get the HD Loader to install a game, it will play any other time you want. Which is exactly how I was able to install and finally play Final Fantasy X-2 International + Last Mission...the HD Loader has opened up the gates to finally be able to buy import games without spending money on a Japanese PS2 or getting my US PS2 modded. It's not a perfect program by any means, however. While they claim 95% of PS2 games work, there are plenty of incompatible games, that won't work even if you toggle the different compatibility modes by pressing the select button on the main menu. These are mostly dual-layered games, such as Champions of Norrath, Xenosaga, Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance, and the forthcoming Grand Theft Auto San Andreas. It's possible a new HD Loader update might have this support, but until then, only single-layered games are able to be installed. Another problem is how it handles memory card saves. You can't save to the HDD, but you can install to a memory card...but the timestamp always goes to December 30, 1999. This was weird because I was worried that something ate one of my saves, when indeed it was way at the bottom of the browser due to the timestamp. Finally...if you're looking to play online, HD Loader won't do much good. Any DNAS-enabled online game will fail to work, as the disc will not be in the drive, and even if it was, the information being transferred wouldn't be coming off that disc. Older online games work, but anything released in the last year will not work at all. Unfortunately, software like this has a serious dark side. As there is no authentication process to prove you actually have the disc after you install it...it could be possible to head on down to Blockbuster, go on a rental spree, install the games to the drive, return them, and voilą! A bunch of games you just ripped off. Or maybe install all your games, and then hawk the originals on eBay. Had the HD Loader people spent some time with an authentication process requirement, this wouldn't even be an issue (though admittedly it would really make it tough to play my imports since it wouldn't recognize the disc regardless of it being installed or not). On the bright side, this software will not be available at any major chains, only at admittedly shady mod chip sites and other lesser-known places (the main distributor's site looks like it came out of 1996), thus not easily available to the average gamer who could use this to their advantage. Of course, without discs, you're SOL if the HDD dies...which would be poetic justice. Most likely, Sony will find a way to make the Loader useless in the future, like making all games dual-layered or making DNAS something for every single PS2 game, not just online games. It's like Gameshark and Action Replay though - Sony makes it so they can't work, but next thing you know, a workaround to the workaround is available. The Last Paragraph Still, if you plan on using HD Loader the proper way, it can be a great tool to make PS2 gaming easier and faster. It might not be around long enough to work with future games, but until then, if you want a use for your HDD that is effective and actually does something positive for your existing library, this does well. And if you're into imports, it might just be the cheapest and easiest way to do so if you're not concerned about doing a bit of fiddling around with a special swap trick. It's just unfortunate that HD Loader will undoubtedly be used for the wrong purposes, no matter what the intentions of the creators were, because HD Loader can be a very effective and useful tool. Update: As of July 28, 2004...HD Loader is no more. The www.hdloader.com website is gone, and a notice remains saying the product is no longer for sale. However, another company has a HD Loader-lookalike called HD Advance coming along...the concept of speeding up load times with a HDD is still alive.  |
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by jeremy1456
