‘Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag’ 900p and 1080p resolutions compared on PS4

A few animated GIFs and comparison screens have been posted for Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag on the PS4, revealing the differences between the 900p and 1080p native resolutions.

[kiz2694]

Wow that is much more noticeable than I thought, and I'm on my iPad! And this is just 900p to 1080p the change would be even greater from 720p to 1080p. Any news on xbones resolution yet? Cos I remember a preview saying it was more blury in draw distance and textures compared with the pin sharp ps4 version makes me think it's sub 1080p.

[Lovable]

Wow didn't even think it would be that huge difference, but damn...

[PraxxtorCruel]

OMG the difference is like night and day. How on earth did I not see this before? I can't even comprehend how great the difference is. Examiner you have opened my eyes and I thank you for enlightening me.

[Kryptix]

I can tell the difference very well. All the technical explanations in the comment sections from the knowledgeable people were telling the truth. More pixels mean sharper textures, upscaling doesn't create new pixels, it outstretches the image to fit the monitor and that results in a blurry image as we see in these comparison pictures.

[livininsin]

Can't wait to see 1600p!

[UltimateMaster]

I think it is 900p on Xbox One.
But Ubisoft is making 2 "PS4" resolution comparison because they don't want to start nor fuel fanboy wars. (Nor loose those Xbox One sales)

[Shake_Zula]

Fairly significant difference here!

[ChrisW]

Funny thing is, all of the screen shots were taken at 1080... If the 720/900 were taken at their native resolutions, they would look less blurry.

[FamilyGuy]

So this sh.. is real about MS forcing games to look the same. Both AC and CoD had to release at retail in lower resolutions so there "is no clear advantage" when comparing them to X1 titles. This is crazy.

How big were these patches that unlocked native 1080p playback?

[Boody-Bandit]

@FamilyGuy
I don't remember the exact size of the ACIV patch but it took about a 1 to DL and install.

Stop it guys.
Seriously, enough already! Resolution doesn't matter ONE bit (see what I did there?). Just ask Adam Sessler. /s

On topic
I purchased a slew of games at launch taken advantage of the Target 3 for 2 deal. ACIV was among them but I didn't open it because I knew the patch was incoming. The day the patch was released I tore the wrapper off of ACIV and disabled the my internet connection to the PS4. Played ACIV for an hour in 900p, re enabled my net connection to the PS4 and downloaded the patch and could tell the differences immediately.

Everything was sharper, more clear, better color separation and the draw distance looked cleaner. If 900p to 1080p has such an apparent difference I think it's time to put to rest 720p to 1080p is no big deal. It's just a silly debate and make those that claim otherwise look foolish.

Back to ACIV
PSN - BoodyBandit

[RumbleFish]

We have to accept that it's not about games or us gamers when the media is talking crap like "resolution does not matter". It's all about the money.

[Boody-Bandit]

RumbleFish - " It's all about the money"

+well said

And you're spot on.

[GribbleGrunger]

This is a much better comparison. I really don't know how the hell you're supposed to judge with pictures that small:

http://i.minus.com/ida3SiBB...

http://i.minus.com/ibmkI64o...

http://i.minus.com/iTgfydPM...

http://i.minus.com/ibtoNgg6...

[kiz2694]

Although I understand why you linked me these closer images. I find zooming in with the chrome zoom feature better, as i wanted to scale the images so that I was getting a better perspective compared to how I will play on my TV. Looking at these gifs so closely makes me think the change is less major cos we have to look so close. Im not saying it isnt a big change cos it really is :P but I find scaling to make the portion of the screen they gifed to appear 1:1 (so I imagine the rest of the image is there) on my TV, if you see what I mean? I feel this creates a better comparison.

Edit: just realised the images were zoomed in because I did it earlier on my TV which is alot bigger than my PC monitor, so the chrome zooming thing was still on 500%:P

[hulk_bash1987]

Wow that extra level of detail is surprising from just 900p to 1080p native. Thank God for Ubisoft optimizing and taking full advantage of the tools they have.

[GarrusVakarian]

Those GIF's need to be shown to anyone who says "there's hardly any difference between 720p and 1080p".

And that's from 900p to 1080p! 720p would be even worse.

[GribbleGrunger]

Yep, it makes you think that reviewers were lying when they said there's no noticeable difference between 720p and 1080p, but they wouldn't lie ... would they?

[DigitalRaptor]

Here's some unrelated but highly significant comparison gifs between 720p, 900p and 1080p:

http://i.minus.com/iW998p1o...
http://i.minus.com/ilKzpNr7...

Barely any difference/unnoticeable, my ass!

[DOMination-]

@DR

Doesn't look that different other than some lighting which is more due to them standing in a slightly different spot in the game.

[Sketchy_Galore]

Thanks for the funky pirate booty shaking gif and the less sexy ones that came after it.

[Snookies12]

@DOMination- - Are you kidding man? Look at the papers on the ground in DigitalRaptor's first gif. It's not just lighting, they go from extremely jagged edges to completely smooth. Not to mention the road, gun, and crate textures improve quite a bit with each jump in resolution. They go from blurry to really clear.

[ThanatosDMC]

Thank you! Bubs up. Sessler that *unt.

[BattleTorn]

Thanks. It was a joke that they provided gifs the size of thumbnails

EDIT: lol, yours weren't much bigger.

Albiet, better still.

[sigfredod]

but but but you only can tell the difference between 720p upscaled and native 1080p on a 60" or bigger tv they say, LOL

[AgitatedOcelot]

Or a 2 inch by 2 inch badly compressed .gif...

Yes it's a "barely perceptible difference" all right. Microsoft must have payed well for that catchphrase.

[Sarcasm]

Rumor has the Xbone version at 900p, although there's nothing at all about it. Would have to wait for a site like DF to confirm it.

[Blackdeath_663]

seriously for assassins creed as well? how can anyone buy a console know all multiplats would be significantly and noticeably worse

[starchild]

How can anybody play on a console at all? ...knowing that every game is going to be worse than on PC.

Uh, maybe people play on consoles for reasons other than getting the best graphics. Features, games, services...

It's strange the way you Sony guys are suddenly acting all elitist even though your favorite console will always be merely second best. Obviously if graphics were what it was all about you should all be gaming on PC.

(As an aside I just wanted to mention that I remember a time when the Xbox was cheaper than the PS2 and quite a bit more powerful: twice the RAM, faster GPU AND CPU. Should everyone have switched over to Xbox then?)

If you recognize that it's also about games, features and services then it's easy to understand how people will have different console preferences.

None of your price comparison nonsense is going to be the deciding factor either.

You can scream until you are blue in the face that PS4 is only $150 more than a Wii U and you get a much more powerful console, with certain features and services unique to the PS4, but if a person really loves what the Wii U is offering none of that is really going to change anything.

Likewise, you can scream "PS4 is $100 cheaper than XB1 and has better graphics", but if a person likes certain games, features or services on the XB1 more, then your attempt to make it all about price and graphical quality isn't going to matter.

I don't choose to play on PC only for the graphics, it is merely one of a handful of reasons that I do.

You guys need to realize that not everybody thinks like you do, nor has the same preferences as you.

[paidadvertiser]

Worse than on PC in that it's actually optimized and doesn't run like a sack of shit that crashes continuously? It's so weird to bring it up with a franchise that until now has seen the PC version delayed and unreasonably flawed. You have some idea why people choose consoles considering you're reading console news and commentary instead of enjoying PC games. Some people actually consider 1080p a feature of a game that was added in an update as a service to the consumer. I'd say they are recognizing important things, even according to you. Weird to start with a question that you then answer it yourself by the end, when no one was talking about anything to do with PC's at all.

[starchild]

Sheesh, you sure are dense aren't you?

I never said it was a bad thing it's getting a patch for 1080p on the PS4. It's a good thing.

I'm responding to Blackdeath_663's ridiculous fanboy comment. And you go off talking about completely irrelevant things.

I brought up the PC to illustrate a point. People game on consoles for a variety of reasons: games, services, features. It doesn't just come down to graphics. Every generation there are many millions of people that buy and enjoy the second and third most powerful consoles of that generation. In many cases the weaker console also ends up being the better selling console.

My first question was made using the same reasoning as his question and it's purpose was to show what is WRONG with that way of thinking, not to say that people should only game on PC. I'm surprised that went over your head.

His attitude that "why would anybody buy the weaker console?" is silly and misplaced.

As far as AC4 on PC, it runs perfectly fine on my PC. I haven't experienced any crashes while playing it either. I have it maxed out on my HD 7950 at a solid 30fps. It looks better than the PS4 version with more advanced god rays, higher resolution textures and assets, contact hardening shadows, better anti-aliasing, a higher level of HBAO, and a few other advantages. See here for an explanation of PC exclusive features: http://www.geforce.com/what...

[UnHoly_One]

"how can anyone buy a console know all multiplats would be significantly and noticeably worse"

Ask everyone that owns a PS3 that question.

[5eriously]

@UnHoly_One + 3h ago
["how can anyone buy a console know all multiplats would be significantly and noticeably worse"

Ask everyone that owns a PS3 that question.]

In future we will for 100% sure ask anyone with an eXB0Ne that question as it will be much more relevant. Obviously you are watching to many Sessler videos or "pod"casts to suss your own mind and forgot to follow the latest differences on the ps3 vs eXbox360 multiplat comparisons.

[T2]

@starchild - How can anyone play on a console at all? Is that a serious question?
Everyone owns a pc, not everyone enjoys fiddling around with settings, checking the box for "minimum pc requirements" , downloading the latest security patches every other day, waiting for your system to reboot after crashing, etc, etc...
I have multiple pc's .. I don't wish to game on any of them. There are some pc games I would love to play, but seriously its not worth it to check all the specs and then start fiddling with my ram, sound card, etc... And as you can clearly see, there are a few hundred million people this gen who agree with me. And no matter how many people come on here and say how you could build a better pc for 500 or some crap, I stil wouldn't want to go through the hassle...
In short I will buy any console that works well for the purpose it was intended. So no, it is not "second best" as you put it. It is a completely different machine.

[I_am_Batman]

Since the PS4 version was released with a 900p resolution it's a safe bet that the Xbox One version will be 900p. Seems like Microsoft's stupid policies prevent the publishers from releasing a superior version on the PS4 so the devs have to downgrade the PS4 version for release and patch it back up later.

[testerg35]

Where do you get that from? Even in the previous gen PS3 and 360 multiplats had different resolutions.

[thehitman]

I doubt that was the case. Most likely they just had to go gold before they could finish optimizing the game and decided to patch it later which is good for me since I just got AC4 and didnt start playing it yet. After I beat KZ I will move to that then to BF4.

[Sarcasm]

That's not true considering bf4 was and is 720p on x1 and 900p on ps4 from the get go. It's just a conspiracy theory.

It's more of the fact these are launch titles.

[mrmarx]

and thats why hope xbox goes away from the console business. go the way of the zune

[ThanatosDMC]

Yeah, i really hope MS doesnt try to mandate parity for their lower tech console.

[3-4-5]

Everything is just sharper and more "true" to how it is supposed to look.

Not something I NEED, but it is a noticeable difference that will strongly benefit certain games.

[Eddie20101]

People that are PC gammers should have already known this. When comparing higher resolution with lower resolution the lower resolution is going to look less sharp, but it also makes the lighting and shading look muddy and darker. When compared side by side it is very noticeable.

[kevnb]

we pc gamers have tried to tell you, enjoy!

[Rivanhalcyon]

How about we alll chill out, grab a beer, and play whatever f-ing game we want on whatever system we want.

[Christopher]

For me, I notice it with world textures, but not so much with character and ship textures. This is me playing it, not in those screenshots. Some of those 720p screenshots look much worse than what I've played since launch as far as character models go, though.

[Visiblemarc]

@ChrisW

That's the whole point of this "resolutiongate" thing. Most people's TVs currently, or will soon, feature a native 1080 display. So, it's only appropriate to compare up-res'ed 720 and 900p content. Hell, on the right screen size, native 100 x 100 could look incredible (albeit not a game, but let's say a tiny animated lcd watch display) but that is aside the point. 1080 is the standard, at the current time .

[Honest_gamer]

Differences are subtle but makes the game look much more immerse especially the ship and plant details.

EDIT

The gifs posted by GribbleGrunger make the differences extremely clear ps4 version looks insainly good.

[Permagrin187]

Still images don't do it justice at all.

[jay2]

Can I now not have disagrees when I say that people who can't tell the difference between 720/1080 need glasses if people are seeing differences from 900 to 1080 on iPads THANKS! Or maybe go for an eye test if you feel you can't tell a differences

[POR_QUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE]

I wonder if DICE after fixing BF4 on PS4 would patch BF4 to 1080p. That would be nice.

[SirDjss]

That is not gonna happen mate. Bf4 are more demanding game then this game :)

[ThanatosDMC]

That doesnt mean the PS4 cant handle it.

[ThatCanadianGuy514]

Playing a game below 1080p, in the freaking year 2013 and beyond is just shameful.It's been shameful on PS3/360 for years, but at least they have an excuse.

[isarai]

actually wasn't expecting that much of a difference

[kB0]

44% more pixels make my D!ck rock hard!

[Games_R_Us]

I no longer care about Resolutiongate. Comparing pixels is now just a headache.

Play the games you love. Despite more pixels, 1080p's etc on say PS4, the games are performing better, scoring better and are just better experiences (At launch) for the Xbox One.

Resolutiongate made the Xbox One seem so inferior, but the games are speaking for themselves.

Not trolling the XB1 here, I will own both soon, just saying, these pixel comparasons are just crap and so over it.

[kB0]

Your complaining about a free coffee...

Why even come here to dissect this? lol

Your one bubble refelects how much your comments are actually worth.

Why would you ever settle for less pixels if you can have more? Also why come here and start comparing consoles.

Make an L with your right hand and touch your forehead.

Later!

[Sarcasm]

The problem is that those same experiences can be had on the 360 at 720p. What's the real incentive other than paying $500 to talk to a dvr box and which doesn't work half the time.

The sad state of the gaming media praising the xbone for mediocre hardware is telling.

With that said it's a free country, people are free to make their on decisions on what they want whether x1 or ps4. But for my money I'm investing in the system that I know have the games I want to play for the life of the system, not the launch line up. This is based on what was delivered last generation with the ps3.

And part of the next gen experience is getting more powerful hardware and better graphics.

[AgitatedOcelot]

The kid gloves the Xbox is getting treated with now confuse me. It got skewered on the DRM fiasco. All bets were off then. Now all of a sudden it's a different story. Microsoft must have seriously castrated all their parent corporations financially or something.

Kinect is getting a free pass too. It's nowhere near as responsive as they made it out to be, and works about exactly as I was expecting it to work. That is missing what you say, having to yell at it, and being laggy and slow.

It isn't even natural language parsing like a bloody iphone or android phone can do better. It's just a list of very specific commands that you have to memorize exactly to get it to work. See the review where you have to say "Xbox Start Forza Motorsport Five" when "Xbox Start Forza" won't work.

Takes me back to this one http://trollgang.com/what-x...

[LordMaim]

I agree with everything you said except the games for Xbox One being better.

But you're right that the games are speaking for themselves.

[classic19]

its 2014 now, 900p to 1080p should be standard for these new consoles. stop lying to yourself:]

[ThanatosDMC]

Very good point. The year went by fast.

[ziggurcat]

so... it's native 1080p on PS4, native 900p of xbone?

[kB0]

Actually I think it's 720p on Xbox but don't quote me on this.

Ryse was the 900p game on Xbox, and I think battlefield was 900p on Ps4.(again not sure)

[GoldenMonkey35]

Wow, I wonder what the difference would be from 1080p to 1440p?

[bumnut]

Its huge, 1080p looks blurry after playing in 1440p

[James Vanderbeek]

man i feel sorry for the xbox 1 peeps getting 720p upscaled. guess thats next gen for them. at least they can talk to their system with kinect.

[AgitatedOcelot]

Maybe they can add a built in psychiatry feature to the Xbox one, so you can lay down on your couch and tell it about your feelings of inferiority and sadness brought on by playing games that still look like they do on the 360 for the next 8 years.

[DaGR8JIBRALTAR]

BAM!....right in the kisser!

[classic19]

lmao, bro you to funny. i see that punch line.

[Bill_Willson_CIA]

What is the Xbox one AC4 resolution?

[Nocando]

I have read that it is 900p

[MasterCornholio]

I read that it was 720P.

We will find out soon though.

Nexus 7 2013

[first1NFANTRY]

lol the difference is night and day. this whole resolutiongate issue has really opened my eyes not to trust the so called American game "journalists". what a joke!

all of a sudden resolution doesn't matter when the ps4 has a clear lead. filthy biased shills. any site that spews such nonsense ever again will be automatically down voted.

[GinkgoID]

1080p certainly crisper and clearer.

[MikeGdaGod]

there definitely a noticeable difference

[jjb1981]

I played prior to the patch and I noticed a huge difference. Looks awesome, no frame rate stutter and less jaggies

[allgamespc2012]

ya so whats new here? you guys are proud your consoles can finally reach 1080p? lmao....been doing it on my pc forever

[jjb1981]

Yay for you! Congratulations!

[imt558]

Here is the bigger pictures :

1080p :

http://i5.minus.com/i46YCSN...

900p :

http://i5.minus.com/ib1IkmO...

Noticeable indeed!!

900P upsceale to 1080p = native 1080p, Right Xboners!?

[Sarobi]

It should of been known by now that 1080p will give you a much cleaner image.. even if it's only by a little.

[Sarcasm]

Yup and this is going from 900p to 1080p, it's an even bigger difference from 720p to 1080p. But not to the gaming media, they stick their heads in the sand and praise talking to a interactive universal remote.

[Permagrin187]

The patch version is actually 1.02 not 1.03 like all of the websites are claiming.

And it's amazing.

[cyclindk]

Still mind boggling that these results are, not only by third parties, but so early in both consoles' life cycles... the gap will undoubtedly only become greater the farther in we go.

[HaHa_Ostrich]

this reminds me of a lot x360/ps3 multiplats comparisons. I mean the difference on a still picture is clearly there. But is it that much different in motion?

[Permagrin187]

Pre-patch was nice but post-patch it's incredible. It really needs to be seen in person on a large HDTV.

[GodSquad]

720p better looking, no doubt. Sarcasm.

[classic19]

lol on that. luv the picture=)

[chrisgay]

Why are GIFs all of a sudden being used to examine or showcase fidelity?

[Maxor]

LOL look at all the fanboys drooling at how good 1080p is. I got myself a 780 GTX recently and recieved AC Black Flag as one of my free games and wow. This game looks amazing in 1440p so resolution do matter. The higher the better. But until Gamefly deliver my copy I wouldn't be able to tell how good AC look on the PS4.

[windblowsagain]

Maxor that's good. I'm currently playing 1080p maxed. Looks good. Some of it looks great. Swimming still looks crap. Nothing touches Uncharted there atm.

But the most important thing with rez.

NATIVE REZ GAME - AT THE NATIVE REZ OF YOUR MONITOR/TV.

Playing a game on a 1080p in 1680x1050 looks blurry.

[arugula]

Does no one realize that the only difference in resolution is your field of view (how big the screen is!?

Resolution has nothing to do with actual detail being rendered. If they wanted to they can make 720 have more detail then 1080 but in 1080 you will have a bigger view. A 720 resolution will be more narrow then 1080.

If you are comparing 900 vs 1080. Only difference in 1080 is that you will see more. In these screen shots the only difference is detail. NOT resolution as both screen shots the viewing area is exactly the same. So you people are being mislead and dont really understand what resolution means.

These screens are same resolution except one is using better anti aliasing method thus making the image better.

[arugula]

Does no one realize that the only difference in resolution is your field of view (how big the screen is!?

Resolution has nothing to do with actual detail being rendered. If they wanted to they can make 720 have more detail then 1080 but in 1080 you will have a bigger view. A 720 resolution will be more narrow then 1080.

If you are comparing 900 vs 1080. Only difference in 1080 is that you will see more. In these screen shots the only difference is detail. NOT resolution as both screen shots the viewing area is exactly the same. So you people ar ebeing mislead and dont really understand what resolution means.

These screens are same resolution except one is using better anti aliasing method thus making the image better.

1600x900 compared to 1920x1080. The view should be taller and wider. these screens have no change. Heres an example image below. you should look.

[TruthInsider]

OMG just lol, you need to read up on what resolution is!

It how much of the image is "resolved" ie more detail.

As in 1080p more detail than 720p, size is nothing to do with it!

[feraldrgn]

People said we wouldn't even be able to tell the difference between 720p & 1080p, but even this is noticeable.

[arugula]

here is resolution differences

[SirDjss]

Welcome to the native 1080p era all you consol guys ;). You are a bit late by 10 years or so though ;)

[Edvin1984]

I sadly do not see the difference, and I do own this game right now on PS4 bought it last night. I got a new Sony Bravia R52 70" for my living room. However, even in those pictures I do not see the difference, and that's maybe because I am blind as a bat I guess. Only thing I notice is shadows changes here and there, but that's at what angel the game took the screen shot.

[TruthInsider]

Have you tried booking an appointment at the opticians?

[smokeyf]

Its easy for most people to see the difference in the amount of detail in these pics when they put their face 6 inches from their monitor. Put some of these images on your screen and back up 10+ feet and see how much detail you are missing. Now imagine being 15-20 feet from your screen(average living room viewing distance). Unless you have a massive screen and you have perfect vision, the human eye will NOT see any significant difference. These arguments irritate me.

@Edvin1984 You need to have 20/20 vision and be sitting approximately 10 feet(or less) from your 70 inch TV to see the full benefit of 1080p. I'm betting you are a lot further than that away with a screen of that size.

[Bio_Mod]

But what about all this resolution doesn't matter talk .......
I'd say point proven lol

[Drummerdude41]

And my friends are wondering why im buying a 1440p monitor for my rig instead of a ps4. Love the console but 1440p is amazing and only cost me 10% the price of a 4k monitor.

[kwandar]

So I'm wondering what the resolution of AC4 is on the Wii U? I saw a video comparison with the PS4, and while the PS4 was better (rain effects in particular), I didn't notice huge differences.

Love to see what Wii U versus Xbox 1 loooks like now.

[piffyd]

love the sony gamers all about resolution now, lol

on pc I play in 1600p without all the ugly jaggies and artifacts the ps4 version has

it absolutely destroys the last gen looking ps4 and ALL of its games

but go ahead and disagree with the truth and keep talking smack to xbox gamers

1080p is so 2006

[RealtorMDandDC]

I'm a fan of my PS4.....best investment so far I've made for my business....lol

[LordMaim]

Anyone care to guess why there are no Xbox One reviews of ACIV up anywhere?

[Rageanitus]

So all of a sudden 1080p is such a big deal. Remember the last gen.... ppl were like there is no difference bla blah blah