Batman: Arkham City - Graphics Comparison - PC (DX11) vs. Xbox 360 & PS3

It is of course no secret that the PC version mostly looks better than the console version(s). But nowadays having well implemented DX11-Tessellation the PC leaves the consoles far behind. Check the screenshot comparison on pcgames.de.

[WorldGamer]

Very impressive. However, arguable if this will really have an effect on how much and individual enjoys the game.

For the most part the enhancements seem aesthetic rather than functional, guess it comes down to what people value in the end.

Good stuff overall for PC gamers tho.

[decrypt]

Lol console gamers paying more and getting less.

@below

They are still paying more though :P per game it all adds up in the end. Sure the differences can vary ranging from slight to extreme, however why complain when its cheaper.

[limewax]

Maybe so but that isn't really an issue, I'm sure the consoles would also have the extra features if they were capable.

I'm getting a free PC version anyway, but I played both console and PC copies of AA, and I have to say the experience is no different, But it is very nice to watch the smoke billow around your feet or the paper fly around during a fight. It's just an added bonus

[colonel179]

It depends doesn't it? How much does a PC which can take advantage of the quality of the game cost? And how often do you have to upgrade it in order to run future games.

If you bought a PC the same time as the PS3 launch, would it still be enough to run today's games in a quality better than PS3/360 or you would have had to upgrade it once or twice by now?

[WorldGamer]

@ decrypt

Thanks for your well crafted comment, because you seem like a gentleman that likes to bring a sense of intelligence to your interactions with others, not just leave jerk like comments.

You must be popular on this site, and with good reason.

Elitist, gotta love em. :\

@ limewax

"I'm getting a free PC version anyway, but I played both console and PC copies of AA, and I have to say the experience is no different,"

Well said sir, speak the truth. You already got some disagrees, but gameplay on games on PC and Consoles are usually the same. DX11 adds nice visuals, but little else.

@ colonel179

"If you bought a PC the same time as the PS3 launch, would it still be enough to run today's games in a quality better than PS3/360 or you would have had to upgrade it once or twice by now?"

That is an excellent question, one I am sure you will get no response to. Fact is, PCs are cool, but if you are a busy person who has a job, a life outside of videogames, etc, consoles serve their purpose. Gamers come in all shapes, sizes and dedication to the hobby. Fact.

[Ranshak]

@colonel79

I built a PC back when PS3 launched. It cost me about 800usd. Specs were as follows:

CPU: coreduo 2.4ghz
GPU: 8800gtx
Ram: 4gigs

Today it still plays most games out at 1080p, it even ran batman AA at 1080p maxed out aside the physx. It played games like farcry 2 in 1080p 35-40fps. While that rig even today plays 95% games out in 1080p both the consoles do exactly the opposite having maybe 5% of their titles in 1080p.

Now sure that PC cost me 200usd more then a PS3, however till date its played every game better then the PS3 or xbox 360. If i were to give it a upgrade to bring it upto times today. I would upgrade the CPU to a quad core, plus i would give a GTX 560. I am sure alot more money would have been saved in 5 years of gaming on that rig, specially when considering the Steam discounts i must have saved a small fortune.

Hence yea in the long run console gaming is always more expensive.

[Autodidactdystopia]

Inni Minni Miny - More with PC.

are you in good hands?

[Messatsu290]

Don't even bother arguing with console fanboys, most of them are 14 or under and will never understand how a pc works.

[Morgue]

Who cares about PC gaming except PC gamer's and they way some of their posts sound, PC can stand for Pretty Childish. Go hang out at your WoW or Starcraft convention dressed in a costume and eat Doritos, drinking soda all day. Then go home and fap to 4Chan.

[DarkSymbiote]

Not everyone can pay a gazillion monies at once. You'd think with arrogance comes intelligence.

[Ranshak]

@darkSymbiote

"Not everyone can pay more per game bought. You'd think with arrogance comes intelligence. "

Fixed

Read my post above initial cost differences are negligible at best. Its the long run that counts, console gaming is always more expensive in the long run.

[evrfighter]

Arguable if what has an affect on the game?

When your shooting for an epic setting and environment. The immersion that graphics can give you makes all the difference. the small things like broken glass, debris with a physics system. Seeing smoke swirl as you run through it. the depth in the surroundings thanks to tessellation.

The experience will indeed change. Especially if you add 1080p 60+fps anti aliasing into the mix.

[WorldGamer]

You are still talking only visual fidelity, not gameplay. That smoke, glass, debris you speak of isn't going to get lodged in your foot, or make you harder for enemies to see or allow you to hide behind anymore than their absence allows you to do the same on consoles. They won't make extra sound if you step on it for enemies to hear. They will have the same effect as it does on consoles, NOTHING.

In the end, the overall gaming experience is the same. Might be painful to hear, but it is the truth.

I would say, if the difference was SNES to XBOX graphics, then that would be something. At this stage, I get the same gaming experience minus a few extra visual extras. That's certainly nothing to hold yourself above anyone else for.

Visual fidelity aside, no one above has said anything special. The arguments are thin at best.

Consoles, PC.... they ALL provide a great gaming experience.

[Somebody]

It's all about immersion. Yes some of the effects may be superficial but it is pretty big deal for the guys who have spent years coding them into their games. Like the guys in Pixar or Dreamworks animation studios, they spent years making mindblowing effects so I'm sure they would appreciate the movie goers would notice the nice little touches they've added, even if the effect lasted for a few second.

In Crysis, I spent the so much time in the village where we're supposed to rescue some CIA chick. All I did was played around with the smoke coming out of fuel station that I blew up. Seeing how the smoke scattered whenever I threw a grenade at it, then watching it gathered back into a column again. The scattering smoke does nothing (except in multiplayer, maybe). It's just for show but it does add to the immersion and I discovered it by mistake. I was distracted by the breakable vegetation in Crysis. In Crysis 2 I was distracted by bullet decals floating above indestructible tree bark.

Graphical fidelity, sound, physics and gameplay. Why sacrifice any one of those if the developers are actually capable of making all of them possible in one game? If there are hardware capable of producing all four types of immersions flawlessly in a game, why hold the developers back?

Let them loose and make even better games.

[SantistaUSA]

@WorldGamer come on man, saying that those extra features don't add nothing is just ridiculous. Is just like playing the game with surround sound versus just using the crappy tv speakers, it makes a huge difference on you experience.

I guarantee if those were the difference between the x360 and ps3 people would be bragging non stop.

And whenever the new gen comes out, the same people that says now oh it's no big deal, will be going crazy saying omg look at the graphics, so much going on the screen etc.

I'm one of the lucky ones that enjoy gaming in general, got the PS3, X360 and a killer PC. ALL Platforms have their strengths and weaknesses, I love them all :)

[Fishy Fingers]

Even at low res the difference is stark. Kind of makes up for the delay.... Almost.

[solar]

The PhsyX included also adds a lot to the immersion of the atmosphere. Ugh come on Nov. 15th!!!

[Orpheus]

You forgot 3D vision ???

[Fishy Fingers]

Not to interested in the 3D vision, even though I do have the option there, but the phsyX sure looks nice.

Getting in free with my second 570 was a nice treat too :)

[solar]

I got my copy free with my 2nd 560ti. ;) free and SLI for PhsyX!!! Cant go wrong :D

[Azurite]

I like that smoke effect when he ran through it.

[MasterCornholio]

Nice to see they did a great job with the PC version. Unlike Carmack with rage.

XperiaRay

[kramun]

After the patch the pc version runs fine. Don't know why you felt the need to take a swipe at Carmack in an article that's not in any way related to Rage.

[MasterCornholio]

Lol kind of ticked off at him. I got carried away sorry

XperiaRay

[ACBAA]

Definitely makes up.. now we need a confirmation on (ALL) DLC's being available for PC's aswell.. then i will totally forget they delayed this

[qwertyz]

the difference will be much bigger when you see the pc version maxed out and he console versions running in motion rather than compressed screens. the pc version can potentially be a full gen ahead of the console version

[pr0digyZA]

looks great, I knew about the physX and higher res textures and 3d but did not know it would have Tessellation. Definately getting it on PC,
now I am just wondering if I should get the ce edition as I see that it is cheaper than the consoles regular edition, and by then the dlc problems should be sorted.

[DlocDaBudSmoka]

ok i have the ps3 version and i want to know, if you have a 3D tv and if the game looks grainy in 2d, and seem like it gets crisper in 3d? so any ps3 gamers with a 3dtv that can give their input on this situatuon. idk if its just me, or my tv but shit is crazy. great game, just wanted to know if anyone else experienced this.

[kennyboy]

when i see a cg difference from the pc highest visual version compared to both other versions then i will buy the pc version

[Zephol]

a little difference

[Reaper9937]

Meh, I'm still getting it for PS3.

[Sidewinder-]

I could play Arkham Asylum with PhysX on up untill half-way into the first scarecrow world.

All those bricks and rocks flying about brought the game to a grinding halt lol.

But this looks brilliant.

[Hyperbomb69]

I dont understand why PC gamers get into the whole console war thing.. its like, yeah stuff can run better on PC but dollar for dollar consoles are better. At least I think so... =P

whatever no hate for PC players coming from me, Xbox? thats a different story, that console is a piece of crap! PS3 FTW!!

[Ranshak]

Console gaming is expensive dollar for dollar :) and that has been explained here multiple times.

[Pjuice]

we get into the console war cause the consoles are stealing all our devs and its pissing us off, we know the pc can do amazing things but were lucky to get a game to take advantage of it once every 3 years, finally devs are starting to regret it and changing the way they develop games i hope this is a hit on both consoles and pc so games can be built for pc first like they should be again. btw thanks steam for showing devs pc games still sell very well.

[Ingram]

You see, this is the main problem right here, consoles are not "stealing" devs, devs are flocking to consoles, are you serious? are you saying piracy and a segmented hardware market has nothing to do with it?

Most of you elitists put all the money on your hardware, then give the finger to devs by just pirating your games.And you are entitled to what again?

In a park of devices which ranges from C2D's w/ old graphics cards up to i7's w/GTX580, how the *uck do you code your game? how many PC's out there have top specs? not as many as there are consoles.

You PC elitists just expect everybody to have a high performance 700~$ rig then argue that "any 300~$ PC CRUSHES consoles" well, guess what, if that were true, you wouldn't be here crying about it because devs would still consider PC as their main release platform.

[Substance101]

@Vaistrat

Check out the Steam stats, 80% people there have either DX10 or DX 11 gpus. Which means they are ahead of consoles.

Steam alone made a Sale of over 1 billion usd last year. I think PC gamers are actually buying games not just hardware.

You code the game by scaling it for different hardware, just like how Crysis was made. People with low end setups could play it at 1020*768 with low res textures, low AA. People with SLI setups back then could play it at 1080p 2x AA high settings. Today people with mid range hardware can max it out. Its not hard beside multiplat release of every game is superior on PC(even if the PC is low to mid range).

An advantage of coding this way is that people dont have to bend over for remakes at the start of a new gen. With next gen GPUs your game just gets better for free. While console makers will take away BC then have you pay for upressed remakes.

Dude any 450-500usd PC will crush a console its a fact and in the long run due to cheaper games it will also be cheaper then console. A 400-500 usd PC of today will play most games out in 1080p.

You need to get your facts straight.

[Pjuice]

btw when i was saying i hope this is a hit on pc and consoles i meant bf3, i know batman wasn't made as a pc lead

[x800]

pc rules.

[TABSF]

I want to see better comparison.

For me:

* DirectX 11 = Check
* Tessellation = Check
* PhysX = Check
* 3D Vision = Check
* Surrounding Gaming = :(
* Higher Resolution = Check
* Anti-Aliasing = Check

It's also £10/$15 cheaper

Still needs to be experienced if you can't play on PC

[Ingram]

"Surrounding gaming" is when you force your friends to look at you playing while continuously bragging about your PC components and how superior and balanced they are, I pressume.

I've seen this feature before in other PC's, but I still don't get it.

/jk

[GROTSTOMPA]

As where this may not have much of an effect on which platform people will play on, I'm really glad I'm a PC gamer with all the PC love flying around this year. I just bought Batman: Asylum last night it was 10$ on Steam... so glad I did, what an amazing game, now I can't wait for this new one.

Amazing AMPED up graphics, lots of free/paid DLC, tons of indie games galore on Steam. It just goes on and on.. One of PC's most successful year in a little while.

Don't get me wrong though, PC has been doing great for a long, long time now despite rumors started by idiots who like to spread misconception about PC gaming. This is just one of the better years by far in a good... 1-2 years depending on your taste/genre in games.

[raWfodog]

At least you don't sound like some of these other PC elitists on here. There's nothing wrong with showing love for your favorite gaming platform but when you have to put others down to do it, you sound insecure.

Others could learn a lot from you, Pwnmachine. Please teach them... :)

[Toman85]

Those pics is not 1920x1080p, even with that resolution is the game mighty impressive looking game.
I must wait for PC version even tho Im jealous since consolegamers they have got the game or waiting for it :)

Have consoles, 21 of them, but PC version is the version that suits me best since I have a PC, 360 controller plugged on to my pc then HDMI to my 46" Full HDTV. And I can use my Nvidia 3D Vision with 1080p, full of choices :)

[anonym]

Wow, looks like they tessellated every surface on that screen. Looks great.

[RyuCloudStrife]

I see no difference really I cant tell which is which

[bednet]

look at the tree on the left, move the slider over it...if you can't see the bubbly Tessellation there then you are Blind.