Alan Wake: the sub-HD debate (Eurogamer)

DigitalFoundry writes:

"Remedy has responded to online claims that upcoming Xbox 360 exclusive Alan Wake runs with a sub-HD resolution, releasing a statement saying that "modern renderers don't work by rendering everything to a certain final on-screen resolution".

Despite a review version of Alan Wake being sent out by Microsoft to the games media with a strict embargo that expires in early May, some websites have run videos and taken screenshots from which pixel counters reckon that the game's native resolution is 960x540. This appears to be a somewhat different state of affairs when compared with early Wake footage we took a look at back in August last year, which was definitely a native 720p."

[DigitalAnalog]

"If, as the pixel counters say, Alan Wake is running at 960x540 with 4x multisampling anti-aliasing, we do have an existing example of how this looks. Sony's Siren Blood Curse remake on PS3 runs with exactly the same framebuffer set-up."

Interesting...... very interesting.....

-End statement

[Rhythmattic]

I bought Siren Blood Curse ( never played the original) and love it.

As for AW,

PS3 users put it down, & 360 Users Put it up. Ah, the way of Singularity.

Tech wise, thats where this game will most likely suffer.. Frame- this and that, Res- This and that.. But as a game, no one knows yet.

I'm sure I'm getting this title. If it gets 6 - 6.5 scores, I'll Wait, but I'm sure its going to be a very decent game.

For me call it Alan Want.

[Anon1974]

I think Alan Wake looks great and I love the premise. There aren't enough of these types of games being made and I hope it does well. When I'm playing it the furthest thing from my mind is going to be "I wonder what resolution it's running at."
I've said it time and time again, are you here to play a game or count pixels?

The only people debating this are 360 fans who need to prove to the world that the 360 can match up to the PS3 graphically and PS3 fans who simply want to thumb their noses at 360 fans.

In the middle are actual gamers who are simply interested in playing the games and, thankfully, we're still the majority of gamers.

[Varodor]

miracle, low resolution doesn't matter
but what if alan wake have sh*t gameplay when gameplay will dont mater?

[AAACE5]

I don't know... I like great graphics and all, but I have kind of got past all this and am just looking for games that look good and are fun to play! It seems petty to judge every game that comes out based on graphics alone. There have recently been some sh***y games out on both sides with great graphics, but no one cares because they look good!

If Ps3 is the only console with HD graphics then so be it. I just want fun games that look good enough to see clearly in. Alan Wake looks to have fun gameplay and good graphics so that's all that matters to me!

[nix]

not when you play games like KZ2, UC2, Heavy Rain and God of War 3. 'real' gamers don't miss out on great games.

[Inside_out]

Wow, who are these clowns..."while we agree"...blah, blah, blah....Remedy is a class act...totally professional...listen to this idiot agree and disagree at the same time...lol...the game is in the review stages already...every person who has seen this game running have claimed this to be one of the best, if not the best looking game this gen...Remedy has bent over backwards, while most developers hide, to explain how this masterpiece was created, released a great in game trailer a couple wks back and blew everyone away....

Why Remedy waste there time with the haters who can't play this game anyways is beyond me...Remedy are amazing at what they do...make games that matter....He ends with, we will revisit AW when it releases....That what these morons should of said in the begging instead of trying to hurt the sales and reputation of Remedy BEFORE the game is even released....

Digitalfoundry caters to ignorant gamers out there...Remedy just schooled these losers on video gamming 101...Can't wait, big screen, big sound...one masterpiece...PS3 kids...back to your hole.....

[AliTheBrit19]

"real gamers dont miss on great games"

So I take it you have an Xbox 360 then to play its fantastic exclusives?

[Method]

Still doesn't change the fact that if the game was developed on the PC or PS3 it wouldn't have these poor limitations.

Remedy sacrificed their integrity as developers and gimped their game just for Microsoft's low standards.

[nix]

nope Ali, i'm interested in the game but to buy a fault-ridden-hardware for one game... i don't think it's worth it. i have commonsense too, you see.

[nycredude]

cez of rage

You need to either go back to school or something or lay of the sauce man. Also stop putting every Ps3 owners in one category. Only fools like you think that just because someone doesn't have both consoles that they CAN'T play some games. If someone wants to they can alway go and buy a 360. duh! You know there is no law against having both consoles. Only in your delusional fanboy world is it a sin to own both. I have both consoles and if Alan Wake is a decent game AND I have time for it then it's a definite buy.

I love how you fools come here and diss the "other side" thinking you are so smart and yet you are pretty much the same only on a "different" side. Next time do yourself a favor and just don't comment cause you sound like a fool.

While this doesn't really matter to me cause I can enjoy a good game no matter how it looks (hell MGS still is a great game to me), it's pretty clear that in order for the 360 to compete in the graphics department certain concessions are required. No biggie and the overall product still looks great. But let's not make Alan Wake out to be some kind of King of Graphics here, like alot of people are doing. It looks like a good game and let's leave it at that.

[sid4gamerfreak]

half life 2 runs in 1080p while crysis runs in 720p. Hmmm, which one looks better??

[raztad]

It's funny how DF cant wait to do Damage Control. I cant imagine how their actual analysis of AW will be.

BTW, Siren looks good but it's not exactly pushing PS3 limits.

@sid4

Interesting question coming from someone with a PC as a avatar. PC gamers are always trying to get games running at the higher possible resolution, because 720p looks "blurry". I do agree somehow, 1080p is much sharper, but a 720p game with high quality assets looks wonderful as well.

[DeepInterludium]

Siren's a good game, graphics aren't it's strong suit. It's a PSN game that was a port of a PS2 game.

I don't remember anyone touting Siren's graphics, saying it's one of the best looking games or saying that it surpasses 360's graphics.

That is the problem with Alan Wake, they hyped up the graphics so much and failed so hard to match expectations. It's the same thing that happened to KZ2, it was the best looking game by far, but people still complained it didn't look as good as the 2005 trailer.

Alan Wake looks like a blurry mess and is far from taking the graphics crown on 360, let alone come close to the heavy hitters on PS3.

[AnttiApina]

"This appears to be a somewhat different state of affairs when compared with early Wake footage we took a look at back in August last year, which was definitely a native 720p."

The E3 version was native 720p?!

[sikbeta]

Sorry, but WTH Siren Blood Curse has to do with AW?

Comparison?

Survival Horror?, OK, so?

PSN Game vs Retail Game?

2 years old Game vs incoming (2010) Game?

[Rhythmattic]

Actually sikbeta

It was available on BR. I bought It on BR.

As DigitalAnalog said , Its doing the same things "Tech Wise" as AW, Thats the only reason I reiterated.

I'm not Bashing AW, I'm buying it.

[AliTheBrit19]

So who else is picking up the very cheap (for its contents) special limited edition of the game?

[AliTheBrit19]

I'm not going to get into the Xbox 360 hardware right now

But by your logic, and only your logic

You are not a real gamer, because as YOU put it, real gamers dont miss out on great games, which is what you are doing.

And how did I come to this conclusion? well, I have common sense ;)

[Fanb0y]

Resolution honestly does not matter too much during gameplay.

Heck, Halo 3 looks incredibly detailed running at 640p no AA.

Alan wake is 576p with 4xMSAA. That makes a huge difference. You won't see 'low quality' frames. The details will still be there.

[sikbeta]

@Rhythmattic

[1] The European version with Extra Content, making of and stuff? I Envy You lol

[2] I didn't think you were bashing AW, I thought people were going to compare AW vs S:BC, which is a game that didn't set any Graphic Bar [still So Damn Scary]...

[Arnon]

You guys realize that the resolution of a game is not entirely indicative of it's overall appearance, right? MGS4 was gorgeous, and won many "Best looking game of 2008" awards, and the game ran below 720p.

We've all seen Alan Wake gameplay. The game is gorgeous, no matter what resolution or upscale it goes through. Who honestly cares what resolution it runs at?

[The Lazy One]

I don't know why people think running at a lower resolution is that bad. The game looked fantastic in the gameplay videos. I'm sure remedy did plenty of experimentation on whether having a 50 buffer composite with a 540p opaque geometry map or a 20 buffer composite with a 720p opaque geometry map to see which looked best. I doubt they chose the worse looking one. If the game composites to 720p before any AA or post processing is applied (I'm guessing they do it this way as they said they output at 720p, and they could just output at 540 and let the 360 deal with it if they weren't doing something else), then I'd doubt anyone would realistically know the difference unless they were a pixel counter.

[Xeoset]

Wow, what utter tools.

"All together the render targets take about 80 MB of memory, equivalent in size to over twenty 720p buffers."

"It isn't strictly 540p. But it isn't strictly 720p either."

"Alan Wake's renderer on the Xbox360 uses about 50 different intermediate render targets in different resolutions, color depths and anti-alias settings for different purposes."

""Modern renderers don't work by rendering everything to a certain final on-screen resolution, but use a combination of techniques and buffers to compose the final detail-rich frames, optimizing to improve the visual experience and game performance."

http://n4g.com/xbox360/News...

Anybody with a brain can see how this works, and why it makes for a better game. Think of it as the Xbox 360's RAM setup, 512MB it can throw into either the CPU or GPU, depending on the tasks, comapred to the PS3's 2x 256MB, which is dedicated, meaning that it has a cap. The prior is a better setup when considering demand/load.

With every Xbox 360 release we see this bull; thought those 3 shooters would keep the PS3 Fanboys at bay.

[raztad]

Please people stop acting like resolution doesnt matter. I dont know about you but I want my games to look as sharp as possible, otherwise I'd be playing PS2 games (in the best case) up to 480p.

Resolution matters big time, lower res means more blurrines. I was very disappointed when GoW3 was announced to be 720p instead of 1080p, and N4G exploded with fans arguing about it, if it was relevant to GoW3 how is not relevant to any other game.

What it's interesting is that probably Remedy decided to go lower res because it produces the best results in terms of overall image quality. Dont forget 4xMSAA is being applied and game is gonna be v-synced. As most of the game is under poor lightning blurriness is NOT big deal, fair trade off if you ask me.

[nix]

wake me up when 360 gets great games i like. the only games i want from 360 are GeOW series and Alan Wake. so, don't tell me i'm missing out on ANY great games that i'm interested in.

[Elwenil]

Honestly, who cares about the specs if it looks and plays great? How much to the specs really mean to the average gamer? Sure there are titles that have suffered graphically and should have been better considering the hype, but will any of this really matter when the game releases? Seriously, are you going to not buy this or any game because of it's specs even though it looks good regardless of the resolution and is fun to play? Admittedly I am not a 360 fan and I will not be buying Alan Wake or even a 360 in the near future but I seem to remember that same bellyaching about Uncharted 2's 720p resolution and 30 FPS and how that was such a raw deal. Did it matter? That was a fantastic game and looked stunning. In the end do specs really matter? Sure they do, but is it worth all of this constant debate for every game coming out in the near future? Probably not. Just my .02

[xXRight3yeXx]

360 fanboys bash GOW3 for being 720p. PS3 fanboys bash AW for being 540p. Do you see the difference in mentality?

I used to play my PS3 games n 576p on my HD monitor and i thought that it was HD. Turned out, 576p is not even near HD(SUB-HD). Then i switched my display settings and i found out about it and quickly changed it and the difference was HUGE. If you don't believe me, then try it yourself. 576p sucks.

[KiRBY3000]

you are right except for one thing when you say

"It's the same thing that happened to KZ2, it was the best looking game by far, but people still complained it didn't look as good as the 2005 trailer"

KZ2 graphics ended up even better than the 2005 trailer. it was as impressive while much more polished. 1 year after its release, it's still the console king.

people who complained must be blind or something.

[Triella]

I remember this Alan Wake rip off vividly :
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

oh wait...

[-Alpha]

Kirby is right about K2's final product looking better than the trailer.

Resolution REALLY doesn't matter. Resolution plays a minimal role in graphics, and for the love of god, games are about gameplay!

Real gamers should be hoping this game does great not hoping it fails. People love to complain about shooters on the market and then a game that does something neat like Alan Wake or Heavy Rain comes out and all anyone can talk about is how it's too different or graphically inferior.

People act as if Alan Wake looks like a horrible game as if resolution totally destroys its quality. 360 fanboys shouldn't be acting as AW is king of graphics and PS3 fans shouldn't be judging it for it.

[AliTheBrit19]

Well now your getting illogical again

You've changed "great games" to "great games I'm interested in "

I am sure there is plenty of people who find the Xbox 360 has many great exclusives THEY'RE interested in, and that the PS3 has no great exclusives THEY'RE interested in.

So you went from defining a "real" gamer by one who doesn't miss out on great games, to making "great games" what one is interested in

So you can no longer say anyone is not a "real gamer" because they could just say they're not interested in those games.

Nix - You put forward an argument, and then knocked it down again with your own comment.

[Elven6]

Method: That makes no sense at all, the PS3 and Xbox 360 have games that run at 1080p and 720p, they also have games that run below 720p the article gives three examples (Tekken, parts of Killzone 2 and Siren).

More examples,

PS3

http://forum.beyond3d.com/s...

360

http://forum.beyond3d.com/s...

Why do you think Remedy sacrificed their standards in development solely because the game is on the Xbox 360? If you make such outrages statements it's good to give some sort of proof and simply saying "not everything is running at 720p" doesn't cut it.

If you're still going to argue Remedy sacrificed their integrity on resolution alone I guess developers like Free Radical (Haze), Factor 5 (Lair), Kojima Productions (Metal Gear), Rockstar (Midnight Club, GTA 4), Insomniac (Ratchet), IW/Treyarch (COD), etc have also sacrificed their integrity since they made games that didn't run natively at 720p too.

Resolution has little or nothing to do with what a developer is capable of or what they believe in. Some of those developers stated above have made some amazing games despite the resolution issues.

[4Sh0w]

No you're missing the point, what they are saying is that standard 720p with NO 4xMSAA would look worst than 540p WITH 4xMSAA. Now obviously 720p native WITH 4xMSAA would be the best of both worlds but these console do have limitations, I think its apparent this is what Remedy is getting at in their explanation, they want the best visuals and performance possible with this engine:

"a combination of techniques and buffers to compose the final detail-rich frames, optimising to improve the visual experience and game performance"

Looking at the game it seems they made the right choice to me, but of course I trust Remedy's knows better than the fanboys, which DF seems to agree with when they state:

"It's another example of how overall image quality still looks very good, and it's pretty impressive just how much the 4xMSAA contributes to reducing the scope of the edge-aliasing."

It's not surprising to me because theres plenty of 720p native games that look worst than some of lower resolution games, you simply can't say that game A is graphicaly superior to game B just because game A has a higher resolution, theres simply too many other factors that determines HOW THE GAME LOOKS VISUALLY ON SCREEN, in fact COD4 was is still well known for its superb visuals, was only 600p yet it looked better than every shooter releaed during the same timeframe which many of course were native 720p.

Again this whole issue is much to do about nothing, some people just hate to see anything on the other console recieve credit where credit is due, Alan Wake is visually damm impressive, I just hope the story and gameplay will be just as impressive, but I have faith that Remedy will deliver.

[CrazzyMan]

Because it`s clearly now(in 2010) that PS3 has superior graphics(KZ2,Un2,GoW3).

This should be NOT questioned ever again. We should end this here.

People are not against Alan Wake, they are against x360, which limits game resolution and space.

Anyway, enjoy GAMING, Alan Wake should be a great GAME, i would expect nothing less from Max Payne develeopers. BUT it`s just a FACT, x360 LIMITS today`s GAMING.

[Greywulf]

And thats the PS3's worst effort Res wise.

[ThanatosDMC]

Funny thing is... Siren looks like crap guess that means AW is going to look like crap on our hdtvs...

Play Siren and turn off the grainy effect. It looks terrible... gotta love having a gun in the game though it's always short lived. Nothing like a bullet to the head to "fix" a freak of nature.

[Sarcasm]

Who cares? The real news is "Conversely, some of the textures on Kratos in God of War III are 2048x2048 in size"

No wonder he looks so sharp and detailed without a single jaggy on him.

[raztad]

@sarcasm

No jaggies are due to the awesome AA tech SSM used (MLAA), but yeah Kratos looks sick. SSM incorporated a technique to reflect Kratos muscles stress.

[Absolut_Turkey]

You know why I love owning a PS3? I no longer have to worry about the whole "graphics vs. gameplay" issue, because PS3 exclusives do a good job providing BOTH (i.e. UC2, GOW3, LBP, MLB: The Show, MGS4, Killzone2). And the people that keep saying graphics and frame-rate don't matter are either lying to themselves or die-hard Xbox fans.

OT: Alan Wake is going to be a damn fine game that everyone (regardless of console preference) should experience. I personally can't wait to give Alan a spin on my friend's Xbox (if I can convince him to buy it, he doesn't seem too interested in AW). That being said, Alan Wake WILL NOT be the graphical masterpiece many people here were trying to hype it up to be, period!

EDIT: BTW when I'm trying to convince my friend to buy this for his Xbox, the LAST THING I'm going to talk about are it's graphics.

[Elven6]

Greywulf: Not true at all, Ghostbusters before it was patched was 540p (960x540), Guitar Hero titles have also been between 570-580p.

http://forum.beyond3d.com/s...

Tech doesn't matter much, it's all down to what the developer wanted to accomplish and how far they can get without sacrificing overall quality. Resolution is usually the first thing to go when attempting to keep framerate, screen tearing down, etc.

[vhero]

Another article on this???? Can we please stop submitting these?? Do people really care enough for it to effect there purchase?

[The_Zeitgeist]

For example:
Congress used this in the 1960's to end
the discrimination of African Americans
by southern resturants.

[Imalwaysright]

@ Raztad I dont care about the resolution of games. If i did: the best game ive ever played wouldnt be MGS3, My favorite RPGs wouldnt be FFIX and Vagrant Story, I wouldnt bother buying Oddworld Abes oddyssey and MGS from the PSN and try to find great PS2 titles i hadnt the opportunity to play last generation like Okami, DMC and Resident Evil Code Veronica. I play all those games on my phat PS3 and guess what i have just as much fun playing those games as i have playing PS3 games. Just because you have more fun playing games in HD it doesnt mean that everybody has. Resolution and graphics, to me, will never make or break any game as long as i find it fun and has great gameplay.

[raztad]

@above

Well if you are fine playing blocky games, all the power to you.

MGS3 > MGS4 for me, but I played it when all I had was a PS2 and a crappy 480i TV. Give me a HD MGS3 and I'll be all over it. See I dont like the hypocrite stance (not saying it's from you) that now gameplay is the only thing that matters when articles about graphics comparison are the hottest in this site.

It's clear AW traded off resolution (as NG2 did and some other games) for more effects, more polygons on screen?, 4xMSAA and v-sync. The game is gonna be a looker, not doubts about it, but not the best looking game ever as many here were hyping to be, nor the "proof" the xbox is on par with the PS3.

[THE BIAS]

No Alan Wake not being in HD doesn't mean the game will be bad. All it simply means is that this is just another 360 game that isn't in HD. The xbox 360 is becoming a console that doesn't have HD games releasing on it anymore

[pixelsword]

1. The game ain't HD

2. I don't care as long as it's a good game.

Everything else can be forgotten.

BUT

I would like to say people are banging this game not because it is a 360 game, but because it was supposed to be touted as a game with killer graphics. Other than that, I think this game may be a hit.

[HolyOrangeCows]

The display resolution is native 720p, but the textures and geometric res are sub-720p, which is why the game is blurry.

[Ju]

Oh, wait, now I get it. And GoW1&2 "Collectors Editions" PS3 is the exact same as the PS2 version. Hm, yes, thought so. Must be idiots they made it 720p and 2xMSAA. Waste of time, huh ?

[MNicholas]

As I stated in my blog post

960x540 with 4xMSAA and upscaling to 720P or 1080P

is the best resolution for this game. It provides the optimum balance of shader quality, anti-aliasing, and resolution.

720P would have meant more jaggies (2x rather than 4x MSAA) and simpler shading.

No doubt I'll get a ton of disagrees (as usual) from people who never tire of being wrong.

[MNicholas]

As I stated in my N4G blog post

960x540 with 4xMSAA and upscaling to 720P or 1080P

is the best resolution for this game. It provides the optimum balance of shader quality, anti-aliasing, and resolution.

720P would have meant more jaggies (2x rather than 4x MSAA) and simpler shading.

No doubt I'll get a ton of disagrees (as usual) from people who never tire of being wrong.

[MNicholas]

http://www.n4g.com/up/43757...

[HolyOrangeCows]

You know what would be even more optimal for the 720p TVs that the majority of HDTV owners have? A 720p resolution with 2xAA

[MNicholas]

720P w/2xMSAA would have been ugly on any TV.

Read my blog post for more info on why it was correct for the developers to choose 540P for this game.

[HolyOrangeCows]

"1) Rendering fewer pixels(about 44% less) frees up significant computational and bandwidth resourceswhich can be used to make the pixels that are rendered look that much better"
The screens we've seen sure don't have 'prettier pixels' than what we've seen in games from earlier this year. With the bandwidth available at 720p, games have still managed to look great (And a lot better than AW).

"2) 4xMSAA is noticably better than 2xMSAA in preventing "jaggies" fromappearing and, in conjunction with the 360's excellent scaling chip, canprovide a smoother, if softer, image"
You call it "softer", I call it more blurry.
When you have such a low resolution, and add such an amount of AA, you're left with a blurry image. I'd take the clearer picture with a few jaggies any day.

"3) 960x540 divides perfectly into 1080P (1920x1080) so scaling to 1080P is simple and doesn't introduce new artifacts."
But we can ignore the odd scaling to the more widely used 720p?

Conclusion:
So putting it at a lower resolution frees up more power and bandwidth (No ****, Sherlock), it gives it a chance to blur the picture to heck, and it benefits the least common 1080p resolution?
Awesome.
Those are some pretty weak arguments.

[sid4gamerfreak]

lol i got so many disagrees yet one person has only responded to why they agree/disagree with me. If u disagree with me, why dont u tell me WHY?? Pathetic...

Lol, 576p and 720p are last gen according to pc gamers atleast....

[captain-obvious]

sub-HD wont mean that the game wont look good in normal / SD TV's

but it DOSE mean that it WONT look good in HD / 1080P TV's

[Chris_TC]

"I'm sorry, but for the aforementioned reasons, I cannot confirm the exact native resolution either. But, on the other hand, you can rest quite assured that the graphics quality is good. Even after so many hours of staring at the game, people I asked could just say that "it looks like 720p", even though some remember that there had been discussions whether to render in 720p or less."

http://forum.alanwake.com/s...

They can't confirm the native resolution. If it were 720p you bet they'd confirm it.

[PimpHandHappy]

MS removed the requirement that games run in HD on the 360 well over a year ago

[IHateYouFanboys]

lets not use that as a point to criticize microsoft on, or as a reason why there have been more sub-720p games lately though. remember, Sony never even had a minimum resolution, meaning companies were always allowed to release sub-720p gams (ala ghostbusters, tekken, gta IV, MGS4, ratchet and clank, etc).

the 720p minimum was never something that microsoft enforced anyway, since as far back as first batch of games there were sub-720p ones.

[Jamie Foxx]

Doing that they just made it a bigger issue than need be in all honesty,to me still looks like a good game regardless

[Convas]

They said it ran at 720p, not Native 720p. And before any Sony Zealots say that I'm just doing damage control. THINK AGAIN. Look through my Comment history. I wasn't one of the idiots praising AW as the Second Coming.

[Jinxstar]

But they did lie... It's like a sales man saying "Yes this golf runs on diesel" then you buy the car and find out the one he showed you ran on diesel but the one he sold you didn't. It runs on normal fuel... I see no difference...

Alan wake looks great and it kinda makes me think though. I am curious to know how much of the DVD they took up and if maybe the lower rez added more space and if so how much? I am curious still to hear about the games length... There are too many questions that need to be answered so I feel waiting for actual breakdowns from lens of truth or digital foundry would be better then speculation. Waiting for actual reviews to hear what the game is really like instead of the 360 vs PS3 black and white sides of the coin.

As a PS3/PC fan I can say this is the first game so far that makes me consider buying a new 360. I wont because I can play it at a friends house but my point is it's impressive. Looks good but at the same time if it is lacking in certain areas like game length... we'll see...

[nycredude]

At best it was misleading, which should be frowned upon.

[The Lazy One]

the golf thing is completely ludicrous.

It would be like if the salesman sold you a golf that he said ran on diesel, and OMG IT RUNS ON DIESEL! except it only has a standard FM radio instead of a satellite radio.

[Biggest]

Your analogy is even further off base. Remedy said their game runs at 720p. The truth is that there is something within the game that is 720p. But the game itself doesn't run at 720p. A thing within the game is 720p. They lied.

[Elven6]

They didn't state it was 720p persay, they simply said some elements of the game were being rendered at that resolution. It was also the Community Manager who said that and not a developer albeit the CM is usually supposed to act on behalf of the company.

Before this ordeal, I don't think they ever said anything about the resolution publicly?

[Convas]

From what I've seen in the gameplay, AW is a game that I will enjoy, and I'm still on target to purchase it. As I said before, I'm a bit disappointed that it isn't 720p Native, but ultimately, I'll have to wait and see if Remedy made a good decision with the resolution. Until then, I will bide my time, waiting excitedly for reviews and ultimately the game.

Edit: Wait, so I'm not going to enjoy Alan Wake? OH NO!!! How'd you find this out!?!?! Please tell me, I'm desperate to know!! LMAO.

[William Gates]

Think this game looks good
It's Sub HD !!!!
Now get over it you Silly BABOON'S
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

[caffman]

and got that down to one bubble as well! You really are a twat

[meatnormous]

He made an account cause he was down to 1 bubble? Isn't like no one else has ever done the same.

[booni3]

so theres going to be a new article about this games resolution everyday? i'm done discussing this.

[BeaArthur]

Agreed, everyone needs to move on. HD, sub HD, I care how it plays not how it looks. As long as it doesn't look like an original Xbox game I don't really care all that much.

[nycredude]

I agree this is getting out of hand but what happened the last time a Ps3 game was sub hd (however long ago). Problem is fanboys on both sides made their bed and now have to sleep in it.

[sikbeta]

Ah... guys get used to this, or at least wait for the next Multiplat Game that looks slightly better on x360 and see the same thing all over again...

[Nathan Drake2]

splinter cell conviction-576p,metacritic 85 bots thought it will be AAA
ff 13-576p,3 discs
metro "better graphics then KZ2 LOL" 2033-metacritic 77

and now alan wake-540p

when will it end?

[ChrisW]

Everybody with a PC knows that things can run smoother with graphics maxed out and set at a lower resolution. I'm going to assume the same goes for consoles.

Nonetheless, you can be certain that Xbots will be disappointed if it's running at 520p and less than 30fps.

As to when it will end? Hopefully with the next-gen consoles.

[Goldsack]

..when im bathing in their green blood!!!

[BrutallyBlunt]

Who does this really matter too? Meaning does it matter more to those who wanted this game or more to those who didn't want this game to begin with?

It's pretty sad how things like this get blown out of proportion for all the wrong reasons.

[Mc Fadge]

Playstation Lifestyle doing an article highlighting how other factors can more significantly contribute to the graphics of a game. I mean sure, the numbers are interesting, but it's how it looks in the end that realy matters.

[DigitalAnalog]

The real reason why have so many articles like this is simply because there has been too much commotion between the console powers of both systems. Unlike the previous generation there hasn't been a total unanimous decision to determine which console can put out better performance - an issue that didn't exist previously. Alan Wake is unjustified being placed in the middle of such nonsense bickering just to downplay the PS3's system.

And until the day where it's readily accepted that one console IS better than the other when it comes to tech, articles like this would continue to exist.

-End statement

[BrutallyBlunt]

Wouldn't logic dictate that a game console that came out a year later and costs more money to produce would be more capable on a technical level?

I mean you have to hand it to Microsoft to create a game console that turned Playstation fans into tekkies where they now have to magnify in-game pictures by a 1000% to see which is better. What happened to the earlier days of being a Playstation owner and just enjoying your games? Now it seems some can't seem to enjoy them as much unless they know they are better or the system is better.

Same with Xbox 360 fans who love to gloat how multiplatform games look better on the 360.

I'll buy Alan Wake for the immersion and enjoyment it hopefully provides. Yes it would be nice if is true 720p all the time but then again it would have been nice to play MAG with Killzone 2 graphics. Didn't stop me from buying it though and putting countless hours into it.

I think a lot of people have forgotten the meaning of fun and have gotten themselves wrapped up in other things too much.

[DigitalAnalog]

Blame it all on the fanboys who started this "PS3's hardware SUCKS" mantra in 2006. If that didn't happen no doubt we would be just simply be comparing game quality instead of how much pixels the console could push.

Multi-plat devs aren't helping either, especially from Crytek.

What happened to the good-ol days when nobody complained when the Xbox had the "better" looking port than the PS2?

-End statement

[theunleashed64]

dame! oh well bots enjoy more sub-HD games there's plenty more from where that came and it continues with halo rehash xD

[mcnablejr]

funny you say that.. i sold my copy of killzone 2.

[ChrisW]

"...to point out that individual elements of the image operate at their own individual resolutions, but in most cases the opaque geometry usually operates at 720p. Killzone 2 has a 640x360-sized buffer for particles, but is obviously 720p: no-one claims that this game is 360p."

And it's DAMN, not DAME! A dame is a matronly woman of advanced age...
Learn proper/correct English!

[Information Minister]

Damage control from a supposedly independent reviewer!? Would we have a similar article if it was Heavy Rain in Alan Wake's shoes?

Can't wait for their review of Alan Wake. No bias in the media that's for sure./s

[Consoldtobots]

I think it's hilarious.
360 fanboys and their paid media cronies slung soooo much mud and fud at the PS3 that now when the shoe is on the other foot they can't take the heat. The irony is the PS3 has picked up momentum and respect with the titles it has produced while the 360 just shows more and more cracks in it's development armor. What's that they say about throwing stones when you live in a glass house?

Ultimately that's the moral of the story, don't come into a market, much less a generation picking a fight with the big dog and then cry when it bites you in the ass.

[Information Minister]

What's hilarious is that I lost 2 bubbles for exposing the media's double standards.

It really angers me to think of how differently the bad ports of Bayonetta and FFXIII were treated by the media. We just had an article here, not two days ago, arguing that Bayonetta was inferior on PS3 because of the system's "inferior hardware", but FFXII on 360 was inferior because of poor compression and not the hardware. WHY THE HELL DID THEY HAVE TO COMPRESS IT IN THE FIRST PLACE?!

If Alan Wake was running at 540p exclusively on the PS3, we would get gloom and doom articles for a month. But since it's doing so exclusively on the 360, then suddenly sub-HD isn't really sub-HD and the water isn't wet anymore.

But what's really hilarious is that the users who took my bubbles are the same ones who complain about this site being crowded with PS3 fanboys. Guess that's another myth busted.

[AliTheBrit19]

The game looks great, and sometimes that good enough

I couldnt care less what resolution a technical assessment would show, its just a number, if the visuals are impressive its all good :)

[NnT3291]

im still confused. If the early footage was 720p, why are new videos on VGZ lower? Remedy lower the res or the VGZ videos are low quality ?

[Biggest]

The early build was on the PC.

[Redempteur]

Another reason why the pc version should still exist

[NnT3291]

Well, i will still wait for the final version analysis from DF.

[bjornbear]

if its an awesome game, leave it alone damn it!

[DigitalAnalog]

We all know Alan Wake is just the cannon fodder here treated like the "main" topic. The real issue here is the argument "<insert console> is superior than your system"

-End statement

[xg-ei8ht]

sid4gamerfreak - 0 minutes ago
PM
Track
Ignore1.10 -
half life 2 runs in 1080p while crysis runs in 720p. Hmmm, which one looks better??

Difference is, they are both HD.

And unless your running a 1080p screen, would it matter.

But that is not the point.

And please look at the pics of sirens curse, and tekken 6. They are horrid. Blurred and awful texture's, low end stuff.

If you cannot see that, case closed.

And no i'm not talking about gameplay.

Thing is, this is a major title for the 360 and the pc version was dumped. One would have expected it to be 720p.

[the-warriors]

320p or 100p who cares????

the gameplay and graphics looks better than all games for this generation!!

and im happy for that

[LTC]

My cr@p has higher resolution

[tudors]

.

[zootang]

Next case!

[Domer25]

Still on this topic I see. IMO alan wake is a game that i would definitely buy if i owned an xbox. And if RDR runs at a lower rez, i don't give two sh!ts cause i'm still buying it.

Happy 4/20 everyone------------be safe.

[Biggest]

I know it isn't just you doing this but. . . Why are all of you people in a HD topic when you don't care about game resolution? I believe this information was reserved for the "Alan Wake will set the bar for graphics on all console" crowd. That's awesome that you are buying RDR (I am as well). No one said it made Uncharted 2 look like a PS2 game. So no it is allowed to be a great game with no gripes about the graphics. Alan Wake was supposed to look better than Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday. That is why being SD is even mentioned.

[lowcarb]

And nobody is saying it's not's a graphics king other than a few PS3 fanboys. Sure it's not going to be as sharp as many had hoped but looking at the videos it surely will be the best looking massive world game on console in 540p or 720 for awhile. I think the people with common sense no that if the game were linear like UC2, KZ2 or GOW3 it would of ran 720 easily but Remedy didn't cut corners to deliver there game experience to it's fullest.

[Biggest]

Is lowcarb saying that Alan Wake is not a linear game? I'm not sure what he is trying to say here.

[hamburgerhill]

They did cut corners LowCarb but ultimately did so to do what was best for the game play experience. Now as far as linear goes we can't just say one is more then another. It will be interesting to see just how big the world is and if through episodic content will it somehow evolve the game into a bigger experience each month or so. This game has potential just like any but don't you guys think we should at least play it before passing judgment?

[Jdoki]

Big deal what res Alan Wake runs at, it looks decent, so who cares. I'm more interested to see what the story and game play are like rather than arguing over a few pixels here and there.

But I do like the way Eurogamer have come out with a defense article so fast, especially one with so many comparisons to PS3 games - this will do nothing to help their credibility as a non-biased website.

[cjflora]

I think we can all agree that gameplay is the most important thing in a game. So when you say "it's the gameplay that matter", we all know that.

While graphics aren't a final determination on how good a game will be, it does reflect how hard the devs worked on it. Graphics are like the whipped cream and cherry on a sundae. If you eat a sundae like that one day, and the next day you're served just ice cream, it makes you kind of sad. How come you didn't put whipped cream and a cherry on my sundae like the other guy did? How many people would accept a movie like Avatar being released on VHS only by saying "Hey, as long as it's a good movie I don't care."

The reason we all buy a new console every generation is so that we can get more advanced games, and with most previous generations that was a graphical upgrade. Now we have other factors, like the ability to play and store media, browse the web, socializing online, but graphics are still an important upgrade otherwise we would have all just kept out SNES's and Sega Genesis's and this would be a fight over Mario or Sonic being cooler.

So, my point is that while game play is most important in a game, let's not kid ourselves that graphics don't matter. A game not having the best graphics won't keep us from playing, but in the back of our minds we notice.

[darkequitus]

...Blah blah blah, Alan wake looks rubbish. /S

[Jdoki]

I agree with some of your sentiment, but the difference here is that people are not arguing about the graphics as a whole (such as art direction, textures, lighting, how immersive the graphics make the game etc), they are arguing about the difference between 540p and 720p - which to an average, non-fanboy gamer, is of no consequence at all.

IF Remedy have had to use techniques to produce the game they want which results in dropping overall res to 540p that's fair enough. In the same way that Bungie dropped Halo 3 to sub-HD res so they could incorporate a nice lighting system. I'm not a fan of the 'kiddie' graphics of Halo - but I can appreciate what Bungie did.

If people want to complain about the res of AW then at least have the balls to admit it's not about the game it's about 360 vs PS3.

[Biggest]

The difference between 540p and 720p is substantial and noticeable. There is a reason for people buying HDTVs. It isn't because the like the letters H and D.

The majority of the people "discussing" this topic are here for one of two reasons. They want to defend their 360's games. Or they want to LOL at the people that decided to prematurely crown their 360's games as the best looking games ever made. I fall into the second category. I have not and will not bash Alan Wake as a game. Yes, the story seems ridiculous and the first 22 minutes of script is extremely cheesy. But I enjoyed such Oscar worthy scripts as FFVII, Heavy Rain, and Metal Gear Solid. It's safe to say that Alan Wake won't be much worse or better than those. But I will bash the silly kids that thought Alan Wake was going to usher in a new era of graphical superiority for the 360. You guys were Pachter-esque with that prediction. The same thing happened to Metro 2033 and Splinter Cell. And it was funny then as well. Jdoki, it doesn't take me showing my balls to tell you and everyone else that I do not hate Alan Wake. I am here to talk about Alan Wake and its sub-HD resolution only because I enjoy making fun of 360 fanboys that don't understand how the world works right now.

[Ju]

In all honesty, and this has nothing to do with AW, if they'd make the next KZ3 540p "to make it look better" (lol) I will start my own blog b!tching about it.

[Jdoki]

Lol @ biggest

Yeah, I'm a fanboy for pointing out that 540p isn't a big deal. It wasn't a big deal for Halo 3 and isn't a big deal here. And it hasn't been a big deal in the multitude of other sub-HD games I have played on both PS3 and 360.

I agree with you about the idiot 360 fanboys claiming AW was ushering in a new level of graphical superiority - but then I also laughed at the idiot PS3 fanboys claiming Heavy Rain was ushering in a new level of story telling and mo-cap in gaming.

[cjflora]

I will find myself wondering in games why they didn't try harder. One of the best examples is that I played the God of War III demo, and a day later downloaded the Dante's Inferno demo. While the two play similarly, after playing the God of War WIII demo it made Dante's Inferno harder to swallow. The upside is that I made sure to play the full Dante's Inferno game BEFORE God of War III was released so I wouldn't notice as much.

[zaz12]

multiplat games may go the sub-hd way if games like alan wake and ssc sales are high.

[MastermindPS360]

im glad all the ps3 fans are talking about alan wake so much...non stop...they seem very interested.

[Biggest]

I think they call this deflection.

[The Time Reaper]

The game looks great regardless.... but funny how Eurogamer seems to jump at the chance to defend it.

[jjesso1993]

god these articles need stop alan wake going to be good game story looks good gampley yes this game was made for very long time and they probaly put lot of effort in to this game as they have in there others games but what they cant do is make the 360 more powerfull.if reallly care about the grahpics dont buy this game buy ps3 if you only like consoles but the best graphics will be found on the pc

[divideby0]

game still looks good...its still on my buy list, I just never thought graphically it was as good as it was being built up to be...especially with all the dark action scenes...there is a reason why its sub HD as the other games were also

[yewles1]

Oh how EVERYONE turns around in defense of lower resolution when it comes to a 360 exclusive..

DF talks so blatantly about "Pixel Counters" when it comes to AW, only to forget one minute detail...

THEY'RE PIXEL COUNTERS THEMSELVES!!! IT'S THEIR JOB!!!

This should insult the intelligence of most PC gamers.

The graphics portion of this two-way console war is officially over, with the PS3 coming out on top (just in case you're trying to keep score, the audio portion has the PS3 victorious as well). But all other subjects are still up in the air, this two console fight continues...

[yewles1]

"Bu bu bu... but we can't tell the difference?!"

When you pop that disc in, and it transitions back and forth between GAMEPLAY (540p) and CUTSCENE (720p), you'll notice the difference so quick you'll be stricken with an EPILEPTIC SEIZURE!!! XD

[Sir_Ken_Kutaragi_]

...a Limp D!ck at an Orgy...i.e ABSOLUTELY USELESS!!! ;-D

[caffman]

you would really know about!

[psyckmark]

Whatever the resolution is, it's not gonna stop me from buying the game day 1

[sagapo]

it looks good! I don't need some numbers to tell me.

[hoops]

If you care so much about a games resolution as you quoted above, then you should not be gaming on any console as NO CONSOLE game stays 720p constant. Not a single one.
The funny part is there are about the same amount of games overall on the PS3 that are subHD like the Xbox360.
Notice how not one person complained that Street Fighter 4 for the PS3 or MGS4 was SUBHD............

[raztad]

Sorry your comment got lost.

Most of my PS3 games are 720p and I have a modest PC where I can run some games at good framerate and 1280x720. I've tried to reach 1080p but the framerate drops crazy making most games unplayable, still I reckon 1920x1080 is way sharper than 1280x720 that looks blurry in comparison. Gonna get gaming PC as soon as possible.

[Dance]

Why isnt anyone complaining about these games being sub hd?

[hoops]

They say nothing because this site is full of hypocrites.
Not one console game for the PS3 or XBOX360 runs a constant 720p or greater.
And you will see plenty more subhd games in 2010 and beyond for these consoles. 512MEGS of memory causes this

[mayberry]

dance asked why no one is complaining about these games! Also some have posted about the "real" issue with this debate is console "a" is better than console "b".... well... IMHO we have to travel back in time when the debate on console attributes were hot an heavy! when kz2 was first shown 2005 E3. When that game was released xbox gamers said.."Yeah, it took all those years to develop, of course it better be awesome!" so ps3 gamers said. "O.K. when there is a game as long in development on your box we'll see what the difference will be!" Well the time is nigh, and the argument is returning with ammunition for whatever side you are on! I have both so i'm neutral! see ya!

[Ju]

Whoa. Hold on for a second.

Lair renders 2x800x1080 interleaved to 1600x1080 @ 60fps and then scaled to full 1920x1080 and one if not the highest polygon throughput today. They up to 170M olygons per sec with that game.

MGS4 runs 1024x768, 123k pixels below 720p, but 268k pixels more than 960x540.

R&C renders 16, not 180 lines less than 720p and runs rock solid 60fps.

Yakuza... I have no idea.

That is so far away from 960x540 you are really reaching out here. All of those game had their own achievements at their time - years ago, but got surpased by quite some big hitters since.

[IHateYouFanboys]

"Lair renders 2x800x1080 interleaved to 1600x1080 @ 60fps and then scaled to full 1920x1080 and one if not the highest polygon throughput today. They up to 170M olygons per sec with that game. "

and the game sure suffered because of that resolution, never being able to maintain that 60fps for more than a few seconds, and rarely able to keep the screen from tearing.

Lair is the perfect example of a game that should have been made in a lower resolution to improve the overall game quality.

also, games like Killzone 2 use 360p effects all over the place, mainly for things like explosions. but people dont complain about that, do they? lots of the things in Alan Wake are being rendered in 720p, just the geometry isnt. but the thing is that there are so many post-processing effects in alan wake - something like 50 different ones at a time - that they more than make up for the graphical difference between the geometry resolution being 540 instead of 720.

honestly, if noone ever told you Alan Wake was 540p you wouldnt be able to tell.

and whats more important is the fact that even at 540p, Alan Wake puts 95% of the other games released to absolute shame graphically.

[Ju]

Ah, ... no.

[IHateYouFanboys]

oh wow, great rebuttal......

[Meryl]

oh well this should shut up fanboys who claim it's up to uncharted standards, which might i add is in 720 but get's upscaled to 1080p

[Vip3r]

Funny how all the 360 fanboys were giving PS3 owners a hard time when it came to GTA4 etc running in sub-HD.

[i3eyond the Circle]

So Alan Wake is 547p and it looks better than a majority of 720p games.

720p doesn't equal a better looking game.

Engine, design, and development do.

Remedy have been working close with 360 hardware for 5 years and despite what some may think the 360 has better general purpose hardware.

The 360's unified shader could be working hand and hand with Remedy's exclusive engine.

The fact is you don't know and everything these fanboys murmur is pure speculation. Alan Wake looks amazing and does it at a lower resolution.

[hoops]

MGS4 was subHD and was the best looking game when it was released.
It still is one of the best looking console games this generation.
This site is full of hypocites for the system they give reach arounds too.
If people would actually reseacrh how many console games on the Xbox360 and PS3 were below 720p, not one of them woul dbe posting in these forums with a straight face. They both have almost the same amount of subHD games on each system.
If you want ot play REAL HD games, buy a PC

[Ju]

The thing and reality, though, is, 960x540 is not "below HD" it's rather half (!) - 50% - of HD or in other words 112% of SD.

[Consoldtobots]

its not 547...lol

its 540, get it?

540 x 2 = 1080, this basically proves MS is hinging its whole competitive strategy on the 360s ANA scaler. LMAO

[fullmetal297]

I think resolution does play major part in graphics. As a PC gamer, I try to configure the resolution to 1920 x 1080 to match the resolution of my monitor, even if it means toning down my other settings. More pixels on screen means less jaggys and no need to implement any AA.

While 720p is still considered HD, I don't believe its a high enough resolution. When changing from 1920 x 1080 to 1280 x 720 in BC2, the amount jaggys almost made me threw up. I actually had up the AA to x4 MSAA and got same # of frames as with 1920 x 1080 with 2x MSAA.

[Socomer 1979]

Deal with the fact that the 360 is outdated, outmaxed and outclassed by the PS3.

Now Go to hellz.

[gtamike123]

very dated "Xbox 1.5 beta"

[xg-ei8ht]

I get what your saying hoops, really i do i do.

But i think most people would have been happy at 720p x2aa.

My monitor is 19ich samsung 2ms, but it's native rez is 1440x900.

Which looks sweet, but in any other rez, it does not.

But on a monitor, your closer to the action, on a tv your further away. I still love the look on BFBC2 on PS3, and it does not have AA.

Maybe i'm getting old and don't care about such things as much any more.

I don't doubt alan wake will look good, and i'll be happy to see it on my own tv in action.

But the other night while playing BFBC2, i sniped 2 guys, move forward and 2 others appeared, i threw a nade over to them, they hopped around like bunnies and got blown up, i nearly cried it made me laugh so hard.

[hoops]

If you look at some of the games that are subhd on consoles this generation, you would never know...until they told you.
Games like COD4, Street Fighter 4, MGS4 for example all look amazing...and are all SUBHD. No one complained.
Is this fanboiy crap this generation thats doing it.
Looking at Alan Wake the graphics are fantastic for a console game. Easily matching the top looking games this generation.
If they told everyone it was 720p, no one would have noticed.
The funny thing is ALL console games. ALL of them...render in different resolution targets and are not locked in a specific resoltuion frame....

[Kors]

Eurogamer says: Look out for Digital Foundry's analysis of Alan Wake at review time.

I think it will be 540p.

[ThatCanadianGuy]

I look forward to spoiling alan wake.

[AssassinHD]

Come on man don't do that. Even if you want to give credence to this whole "console war" thing, there are just some things you don't do, even in war.

[ThatCanadianGuy]

Don't tell me what to do.

[Meryl]

don't make us all look as dumb as some users from the x360 have been please it is not smart to go spoiling games.

[insomnium]

The x360 fanboys started this bickering over which console is more powerfull the minute they heard the PS3 had a CELL proccessor in it.

Can you not remember all the BS that came because of inferior multiplats on PS3 in the beginning? I do since I was here 2 years ago.

First AW wasn't 720p and PS3 fans yet again got to laugh at all the morons who said things about AW being the new graphics king and stuff.

After that came that "AW IS 720p"-news and all the x360 fans once again started the same ol BS and laughed at the PS3 fans about themselves being right.

Now it clearly is not 720p so could you x360 fans please just stop all the BS about this?

To me this news has been a "yawn" since day one. The reason I get pissed off sometimes is you x360 fans claiming whatever to justify your very-few-good-exclusives-easil y-braking-pay-to-play-online-c o nsole. Why can't you accept things the way they are? Why do you have to knock on Sony all the time? Why do you have to be so immature?

There really should be some way to keep all the kids away from the internet. No logging in to n4g (or anywhere for that matter) until you are atleast 22 years old. Things would be civil and the world would be a better place. NOONE wants to hear little brats' opinions exept their parents. "Sure Johnny you can have some candy if you finish your meal".

Sorry to all the level-headed under 22s out there.

[despair]

There are level headed under 22s?

But I agree its just a big see saw of fanboy boredom. Its HD it not HD etc etc. Whats so hard about waiting for the game to see and even then if its a crappy game it wont matter if it has a higher pixel count. The argument should be its a great or not great game. (I'm going with great hopeful)

[lowcarb]

I disagree because you like a few others keep acting as if the game doesn't look amazing compared to PS3 exclusives. Not sure exactly how they did it but the game is a graphical beast no matter how you spin it. Both console have sub hd games so all this talk about the cell is irrelevant when it has had to go similar routes itself. The problem is PS3 fanboys can't accept the fact that AW looks this good and will go out of there way to discredit it plain and simple.

[insomnium]

From a technical standpoint the game is not up there with the best of them. This is due to the limited hardware.

This is not about what looks nice and what doesn't. AW looks mighty nice to me. However this is talking about graphics from a tecnical point of view. NOTHING MORE, nothing less. Hardware is what pushes the graphics to a certain technical level.

You x360 fanboys started laughing at all aspects of graphics when the PS3 launched. You compared them against the graphics on x360 and YOU HAD YOUR FUN no matter how obvious the reasons behind the scenes were.

These kinds of news are excellent in putting you x360 fans into your place. There is no way to BS your way out of tech talk. You laughed at the tech in PS3 and now it comes back and whoops your ass six days from sunday. It was bound to happen. Why were you stupid enough to struggle against the windmills?

@despair

I'm quite sure there are SOME around here.

[lowcarb]

Your not putting 360 gamers in there place lol. You speak of tech but from what I've seen technically AW is doing things I have yet to see on any PS3 game of this size. Stop trying to pretend this matters so much or that you've proven a point. Once again your not proving anything and until we play the game we can't say much about how it stacks up to other games. This semi 540p 720 game is looking better than most 720 games which says a lot. I don't need for you to try and explain to me what this is about when I can easily see that AW is the game that proves 360 can give PS3 a run for the money using dvd9. This is Remedy's first 360 game and one could only imagine what they could crank out if they went at it again. 360 gamers were not wrong and so far 2010 is showing 360 still has it.

[insomnium]

I...just...LOVE the disagrees. There is nothing you can say so you disagree? Cool.

Sorry to dissapoint you disagree'ers but there is no way to change the past by pretending it's not there. I was here when all this happened. Look at my history.

There was nothing but BS articles about PS3s graphics being worse than x360s and the consoles' powers being equal AT BEST. It was a bad port after a bad port and some of the devs had real problems in getting used to the PS3.

This was all known fact however. You cannot judge the PS3 because of that. Well you did judge it. You judged it good and you had your laughs and you felt so in control back then. So mighty and powerfull. Boy do you look stupid now huh? I'm sorry but there's nothing I can do about THAT. I tried to tell you but you just laughed.

Edit@ above

Why are the graphics not 720p then? This is not important to me I'm just telling you folks to STFU for once. This is important because it shuts you up.

Did I say that I put you to your place? NO I didn't. Are you dense or what?

OMG did you actually say this--> "I don't need for you to try and explain to me what this is about when I can easily see that AW is the game that proves 360 can give PS3 a run for the money using dvd9". So NOW you are telling me that DVD9 is not as good as BD? Why did you people tell me BD wasn't needed then?

The entire point in this is that the x360 doesn't have the hardware to be the king. I never said it wouldn't give the PS3 a run for the money since it DOES do that.

[lowcarb]

"Why are the graphics not 720p then?"

It doesn't matter because the game still looks great and better than most 720 games period. They did what they had to do in order to give gamers the best experience possible without sacrificing to much. MAybe if PS3 developers would go all out you would get a game like this.

"This is not important to me I'm just telling you folks to STFU for once. This is important because it shuts you up."

No it does not shut anybody up. As far as 720 I can see what your saying from a tech standpoint who cares. Every game uses different tricks to achieve it's image. This game doesn't have to be completely 720 to showcase the 360's muscle. Sure it would of been nice but it is what it is.

"Did I say that I put you to your place?"

These are your words "These kinds of news are excellent in putting you x360 fans into your place."

"NO I didn't. Are you dense or what?"

Yes you did! You appear to be the one that dense lol.

"So NOW you are telling me that DVD9 is not as good as BD? Why did you people tell me BD wasn't needed then?"

Bluray is needed for hd movies and has it's perks over dvd9 meaning less discs and all on one. Other than that it's what PS3 needs to run it's games better not 360. Would have been nice to have it but 360 is doing fine until next gen. The only thing your proving is how spiteful you are and angry because you could never prove a point which you still haven't. I bet you can't name one game with the scope of AW that looks this good on PS3 or even 360 can you? I understand your upset at 360 fans but seriously I don't think this proves anything.

[ALFAxD_CENTAURO]

Lol

[HDgamer]

Game like what? This doesn't appear to be a good game at all.

[ReBurn]

Yet another round of the most stupid debate ever.

[Rowsdower]

like sales dont equal quality

ah the good old days

[gtamike123]

Xbox 360 only does Sub HD :)

[StitchJones]

No way I'm buying this game after the amount of time it's been in development and with the whole graphic debate. I'm so over the lack luster performance of most Xbox360 games. Wake me when there is a PS3 version.

[jjesso1993]

lowcarb you stop kissing ms ass yes alan wake is goning to be good got gamplay but it is no where grahpically better than most ps3 exclusives did you see the gamplay videos the other day yes in the dark looks good but the day looks rubbish 360 tech is to outdated all time after ps3 brings out games with better graphics but 360 has not had a grahical game since gears of war the ps3 has 2-3 every year.

[hamburgerhill]

Yeah and maybe you should stop kissing Sony as well. He is entitled to give his opinion just like the next guy. Problem is you among others have no intent on even playing the game, yet somehow found your way into this thread to bash.

OT: I could careless about this topic and applaud the developers for being so upfront.

[Mkai28]

I read through most of the post and saw most of the comments were, 360 fanboys said that kz2 was this, and mgs4 was that. The cell is this and that, that is why I am saying this about alan wake.(As I recall , John Carmack was the one who said that the cell was a mistake) Even if you care(which are most people on n4g)does two wrongs make a right? "Some" of you are children bickering that my toy is better than yours.

All games have they're "issues", Gears 2 plays at 720p but has to load the stages sometimes while you play unless you install. Uncharted two has great graphics, plays at 720p but has some jaggies. But thats only if you are 5 inches away from a big screen. Kill Zone 2 has great graphics, but is blurry alot and has low res explosions. Mass Effect 2 has great graphics, but when they talk it looks like a cartoon.
All have "issues" or make it one if you look for it, this is fanboyism not looking at the good things in the "opposing"game. Spends too much time on the same issues, ect. Alan Wake looks good in my option, and more likely it plays at 720p on cutscenes, 576p ingame. Evenso, we don't look at the good things in wake. The lighting is one thing, wind physics on the trees and grass. some things have to be sacrificed for a more better experience.

[Figboy]

PlayStation 3 users are putting Alan Wake down.

i'm a BIG PlayStation fan. i play my PS3 more than i play my 360, and yet i'm REALLY excited for Alan Wake, and i'm picking it up day one.

just because i have a preference for the PS3, doesn't mean i'm going to hate on the Xbox 360 and it's games, ESPECIALLY when the games are looking to be quality.

also on my wish list for this year is Fable 3, and Crackdown 2.

and leave it to Eurogamer to try and run damage control on the Alan Wake issue, when Remedy has ALREADY clarified EXACTLY what they have done visually with Alan Wake. i don't need any more "clarifications." Remedy laid it out plain, and it still hasn't affected my decision to purchase Alan Wake when it releases next month.

some of you guys need to grow up.

[Mkai28]

that is well said, just because you prefer the PS3 more doesn't mean that you are against the 360 and it's games. Me, I am the opposite of you. I play the 360 more than the PS3, but recently I've been playing Gow 3 on PS3. Trying to beat it on the impossible..

[hamburgerhill]

Bubbles to you both. Believe it or not out side the internet realm there are many gamers who feel exactly the same way. Multi console owners have got to be the luckiest gamers this generation.

[Michael-Jackson]

dey kould not fit it oN da disk? so dey gimped its

lololololol

[Dragunov]

Is anyone playing tekken 6 in the low resolution setting? Maybe the people with old tvs but that was awful in my 42", first thing was changing it to 720p. Stop comparing it to MGS4 the resolution is almost 720p a fair comparison is tekken 6 with motion blur activated

[ALFAxD_CENTAURO]

Fanboys ''started'' bashing the PS3 before it was launched in 2006 here in N4G. Not only Xbox 360 fanboys.

Who started 1st? They trow the 1st stone, then the PS3 fanboys returned the rock in their faces.

[ReBurn]

The console war has been going on since forever. I remember when the Intellivision released and owners started lording it over the 2600. It didn't start with people bashing the PS3.

[ALFAxD_CENTAURO]

Ok, let me be more specific.

Who started the ''Console war in this Generation''

[Morgue]

I have a black and white 19" television so all my games look the same.

[Obama]

It's sub-HD. Case closed.

[ikral]

X360 is not capable to push current level graphics in high-res, so what? Multiplatform games do not utilise full power of PS3, so what? PC can top consoles, but dont have enough exclusive games to do that, so pucking what? I`m tired of hearing those facts all over again, day after day. Lets talk about how interesting game is, not how many dots it has on screen.

[Mkai28]

I knew if someone made since with a reply, the wise would follow. Why can't we talk about what makes a game great? As I recal in the Saturn/N64 time, ppl use to talk about mario 64 had the best graphics and gameplay. However those same ppl said that nights for the Sega saturn was also a good game and had nothing negative to say about it.

But this is a different time, it's all about graphics and flash. Sadly the first thing we hear about is, graphics are good but not "that game good". Let us get back to gaming forums where ppl acualy made since, and had respect for a gamer and his views.
Before you know it, ppl will be killing each other because someone bashed. I'll kill you for saying that!!lol
I don't mean to sound like a "Mr Rodgers" but it has to be stopped.

(A console war is something Sony,Nintendo,and Microsoft has to deal with not us)

[hamburgerhill]

"Why can't we talk about what makes a game great?"

You should track people that come here like yourself to discuss gaming news. Believe or not there are tons of guys looking for a good conversations but get caught up in daily nonsense here on N4G. We as gamers need to start sticking together and staying in contact. I personally want to hear and talk about all games this generation.

Edit: Nights and Mario 64 were both great games!

[edoman20]

HAHAHAHAHAHA

crapbox please fix me can only do SUB HD XD

cry patethic little stupid asstards bots

unreliable POS console and crap exclusives

what more can you ask? XD

[edoman20]

so AW goes to "OMG" status to "will be a god game"

way to go x360 fanboys

Other interesting thing is that this game proves that the x360 REALLY have inferior hardware than the ps3

[Toman85]

Maverick40: They always do when proclaming that 360 has the best graphics. And they act like multiplattforms are exclusive to the 360 it sells best there, stupid...

Alan Wake looks good to be on 360, but not jaw dropping. Its good to see not some Unreal Engine 3 middleware powered game.

And I agree, gamingsites should been 22 year restriction. Im 24 only and I own every piece of hardware this gen, does that make me a Sony/360/Wii/DS/PSP fanboy? I see whatever I like between games that is coming out for PS3 and 360, and I always see a winner every time :)

[Dellis]

If they saw and played 720P version then it was the PC VERSION, with 360 controller, like most of these SKUs are setup for the press

[rmedtx888]

Big deal... As long as the game looks great who cares about counting pixels...

[hatchimatchi]

bleh, does this really matter?

I don't own a 360 but this is probably going to be the game that makes me go out and buy one, that and trials HD, that game rules.

[Kazu0 Hirai]

Ok so the sony fanboys are saying this game is sub-HD. that is fine. But Alan Wake still looks better than anything on their console. So what does that say about the PS3?

[chickenlegs9]

@kazu0 mate take off your 360 goggles,stupid comments like that are completely unfounded.i can think of a whole list of ps3 games that(from what weve seen)look better,even some multiplatform games look better than this...this games been in development for 5 years better games have been and gone in that time,even with development of new game engines,i fail to see this game as ground breaking for the time spent on it,can anybody tell me what GAMEPLAY elements this games got to set it apart from other games in this genre?ie,siren,aitd,silent hill...etc

[Kazu0 Hirai]

To answer you mr. legs, what alan wake has to set itself apart from the competition is:

(1) superior graphics. only crysis on PC looks better than this game.

(2) atmosphere. when you play this game you will require a change of underwear.

(3) polish. max payne is one of the greatest games of all time. givin their track record and the amount of time since the start of development, remedy definately has a GOTY on their hands.

(4) ps3 envy. the fact that so many sony fanboys are jealous of this game it will create even more of a sh!tstorm on the internet and bring even more attention to the game.

Alan Wake will be GOTY hands down mark my words.

[chickenlegs9]

good old disagree button, thanks for infoming me about the gameplay as this is all that really matters to me...so i guess i'll just keep on reading all this mines better than yours BS.i for one do not care if the games 540p,720p,1080i or even 1080p...i want to know what this game does soooo much better than other survival horror games.after all thats all it is.no?

[Kazu0 Hirai]

The gameplay will be better than every other game in its genre because of the reasons i mentioned above plus the fact that it will have an amazing story and vastly superior controls compared to any other game. and i will say one more time, this game destroys any PS3 exclusive in the graphics department.

[PLASTICA-MAN]

It's : http://www.itspeanutbutterj...

[chickenlegs9]

agreed max payne was a great game(one of the best if you ask me)still thats not really answering my question tho...silent hill had crap the pants moments.as for best graphics scince crysis?no,have to disagree there,as this is a console game,crysis only looks nice and runs smoothly on expensive gaming rigs...id like to know more about the game i.e plot storyline.as to me this makes or breaks a game.so same question really,how does it redefine this genre?because i really cant see it...as for game of the year gonna have to say doubt it,dont game sales play a big part of that?and as its ONLY being released on xbox,i fail to see the sales surpass mw2(dislike for me)or other big games released this year...its a pretty game yeah,but for 5 years it should look better.

[DigitalAnalog]

So, I guess we can lay to rest this "Xbox360 is as powerful as the PS3" nonsense. Right, guys?

-End statement

[yakuzakazuya]

Only the most delusional fanboys think the 360 is equal to PS3 when it comes to graphics. What I do is, I simply use the ignore feature on them :)

[chickenlegs9]

what about kz2?u2(goty?)infamous?r&c? and of course god of war 3?if you cannot see these games as having great graphics then you sir need to go to spec savers...said this in other posts,great graphics DO NOT make for a great game...if you really believe this is going to destroy ANY ps3 exclusive graphicly you obviously do not own or by the sound of it have ever played any ps3 exclusive.do yourself a favour,go buy one...it'll blow you away.off out into the sunshine now,leave the ill informed fanboys to continuly argue over there plastic boxes...bye.

[deno]

Who cares. I still play my genesis and neo geo and you don't see me complaining.

[awesomeperson]

Lol heres some quotes from our good friend zero on the "Alan Wake runs in 720p, confirmed by Remedy" article.:

"in ur face poorStation Foolboys now Xbox fans boots in yours mouth once again
Buhahahahahaha "

"heheheehheheheh hey where r they?? FoolStation foolboys???? buhahahahaha
check AW support 720p
http://forum.alanwake.com/s...

Alan wake answer all PS3 graphics Buhahhahahahhaha

PoorStation 3 cant handle AW graphics Confirm by SONY

i cant stop laughing Buhahahahhaahaha"

Hey Zero/Warriors, I can't stop laughing Buhahahahahahahahaa.