Resolutions: Not Just for New Year...

"Rumour abounds that PS4 will run Call of Duty Ghosts and possibly other games in 1080p whilst Xbox One will only manage 720p; will you be able to discern the difference?" Codec Moments looks in detail at the 1080p vs 720p argument, and what it really means for the average gamer.

[KnowAll]

Some will care some will not, but everyone will care about the $100 difference, 720p certainly makes it difficult to convince people to pay extra

[4Sh0w]

Nah, other games say different. I know a lot about games just like most people here and I'm not going to let a few lower res games for a system launch taint my view of a console that will likely be around 8-10yrs, especially when I see a game like Ryse on that same platform look better than any next gen game. Whats there to worry about?

btw Res is 1 part of what makes a games visuals good, many other factors are at play, if res was all that mattered I'd be excited about Lococylce which is 1080p on X1= wheres the excitement for that? Right, although its a cool game, it gets nobody excited for next gen gaming because 1080p does not make a game next gen, its the package, which is why DR3, Ryse, BF4 and few other multiplat games are the ones I'm most looking forward to for next gens launch. If I were getting a ps4 it would be KZ SF because of the total package not 1 spec.

I wonder if someone could kindly answer this question, would Ryse(@900p) or any game for that matter be better for you if they maintained 1080p but scaled the game back in other areas or would you rather them go for the highest possible res that they can achieve (720p, 800p, 900p etc) while also increasing other aspects of the game design that will actually make the game to the naked eye look better?

[Pixel_Enemy]

Name an exclusive game on 360 that looks better than The Last of US, God of War 3, Killzone 3 or Uncharted.

What makes you think next gen will be any different? Sony's hardware and first party devs set the bar for console quality visuals.

Maybe that's just my opinion but that's the way I see it.

[MASTER_RAIDEN]

definitely wouldnt say rise is the best looking next gen game so far, considering the scope of other games out there. but even as a mostly ps dude i roll with what youre saying. like it or not ryse is one of the best looking launch games. if ps4's really going to separate itself visually, were gonna have to wait a lot longer to see that happen because as of right now, at 720p, a lot of one titles really look great in regards to console visuals.

[shivvy24]

I guess it comes down to what they prefer, I'm getting ps4 not because of power differences but for the games like infamous, killzone etc , some will go for power, cost, or for halo

[Destrania]

Bahahahaha, this is the best looking game on either platform? What?! Your dillusion is killing me, hahahaha. Poor, poor xbots. Edit: love stealth disagrees lmao. http://www.dualshockers.com...

[Bruce_Wayne]

You have to worry about the fact that the competitor runs games better for a lower asking price.

We already know that the PS4 is performing better on some games, and this is barely the first batch.
Btw, Ryse is just eyecandy. I don't see anything from its gameplay that screams "Not of this World."

Also, 1080p is a factor that separates current from next gen. If Ghosts runs at 720p on both Xbox 360 and Xbone, then what's the incentive in purchasing the Xbone version?

[4Sh0w]

Pixel Enemy, I'll highlight part of your comment:

"that looks better than"

Not only were those games great looking but they were also great overall games, some of my favorites actually.

I still don't get your point though because as great as those games were, what does that have to do with me enjoying all the other games like Gears of War 1 and 2, Fable 2, Mass Effect, Crackdown, Alan Wake, Halo 3 & 4, and yes a few Kinect games like Dance Central and Kinect sports with my kids, preferring multiplats on my 360, preferring Xbl over psn and thus playing my 360 more than my ps3 mostly because I play a lot online? I see a lot in the X1 that I liked in the 360 and I actually like how micro is expanding upon those things. btw I thought Halo4, Alan Wake and all the Gears games looked awesome, I'd say the TLOU graphics were the most impressive but its that latest game, I'd expect as much, but again whats your point? I also love the ps4 so you see its not about not liking ps3 games, its about liking MORE things about X1, for you its obviously ps4 but I have to at least for the near future get what I believe me and my family will get MORE value (playtime & entertainment) out of until I can fit ps4 in my budget. Both will be great, but I don't need anyone to tell which will be best, I just pick what works for me, just like every other hardworking person who has a hobby.

[Pixel_Enemy]

I don't know why you got disagrees 4Sh0w. You made a great unbiased point. I have a 360 but rarely touch it. I got it just so I can play a few of those exclusives you mentioned but most of the things I value in a console tend to come from Sony. I love their exclusives and hardware. I will eventually get an Xbox One just because I love gadgets and love to compare them first hand instead of basing my entire opinion on what I read online.

[Eonjay]

According to this article, I would have to move my TV another 5 feet back to get the same visual clarity by downgrading to 720p. This isn't a realistic option for me. I am going to see a noticeable improvement by gaming on the PS4.

[4Sh0w]

Thank You Pixel Enemy I appreciate the convo. I get a little furious and defensive at times but I don't dislike ps. I've owned every one and will eventually own a ps4. I know a lot of people love sony exclusives, so do I. I just love some xbox games too and I sort of "get what Microsoft is doing" a bit more with their try do everything strategy, not that sony isn't doing a lot more than gaming too its just about what appeals to me more that's all, no hate for ps4, just a choice. I don't get why that's sooo hard for some people to understand, its like a "you're with us or against us attitude" and I really do hate that kind of thinking.

[FamilyGuy]

I really don't see Ryse as "the best looking next gen game"

DriveClubs new short clips kill it
Norway Drift http://n4g.com/news/1382301...
Norway Impact http://n4g.com/news/1380899...
India http://n4g.com/news/1381642...
Scotland http://n4g.com/news/1381232...

On top of that videos of The Order 1886 kill it,
Deep Down kills it,
Killzone ShadowFall kills it,
Infamous SS kills it,

"Best looking" is completely subjective so a difference in opinion is understandable. You may think Ryes looks amazing but from my perspective it only has nice in-engine cut scenes. All the actual game play I've watched looked [pretty good] visually but the animations were horrendous, clunky, jerky and it looks like it gets boring after about 2 mins of play. On top of that the AI seems to be about as dumb as a box of rocks, just standing there taking turns attacking.
I'm sure the single player will be more engrossing and I like the setting but it just isn't at the top of my "best looking games" list.

[MysticStrummer]

"...especially when I see a game like Ryse on that same platform look better than any next gen game."

I remain puzzled by this opinion. There are better looking multi plats on both XB1 and PS4, in my honest opinion.

[Funantic1]

Ryse is the best looking next gen game so far. Not only that but it will be upscaled to 1080p. All X1 games will either be native 1080p or upscaled to 1080p. The X1's upscaler is an expensive state of the art high-end upscaler too. So the X1's version could very well be even better looking than PS4's games. Also the X1's upscaler could be good for indie games. Take a look at these upscaled pics and tell me that these pics don't look as good or better than the PS4 version. http://ic.pics.livejournal....

and
http://imageshack.us/a/img2...

[MysticStrummer]

@Funantic - "The X1's upscaler is an expensive state of the art high-end upscaler too. So the X1's version could very well be even better looking than PS4's games."

Upscaling is never as good as native.

[4Sh0w]

FamilyGuy, so you say. I have no gripe with your opinion.

Still imo Ryse is the most visually impressive next gen game at this point, surely some later games will surpass it on both, but for now those Driveclub links have nothing on Ryse, but in fairness I don't see why they should be compared. At any rate for now since everyone is only focused on lower res games for now, Ryse is the best looking for me, not sure how it will play, doubt it will be as bad as you predict but we shall see but the discussion was about graphics and in that regard once again imo Ryse is 2nd to none.

https://static.squarespace....

https://static.squarespace....

https://static.squarespace....

https://static.squarespace....

Oh and if you're always up for a awesome trailer Ryse has some top notch ones to:
http://www.vg247.com/2013/1...

http://www.vg247.com/2013/1...

Frankly, honestly Ryse is the one "killin it" at launch too, but you're welcome to link some footage of those games you think look better. Driveclub, just no, Forza 5 looks better once again at launch too: http://www.oxm.co.uk/64962/... Driveclub does look great though but who knows once its finished maybe it will be even better than Forza 5 and we all can make fair comparisons.

Funantic1 holy crap, are those legit? X1 pics look better.

[Destrania]

@4Sh0w

Oh boy... you do realize that those gifs you posted are all pre-rendered in-engine cut-scenes except for the second one, right? None of the others are real-time. Not even close. Even looking at the those gifs yourself you should be able to clearly see how bad the real-time gif looks in comparison to the others, right? Seriously dude, come on. It's not completely horrible, but it's far from great. Plus, there's barely anything going on at any one point in the game, and yet, the game barely runs at 30fps. Most everything except for the focal point is blurred beyond comprehension as well. smh.

[Skips]

@Funantic1

http://ic.pics.livejournal....
^^^
Nice try at trying to switch up the Gif to make it seem as if the Xbone has the clearer screenshot. XD

http://i.minus.com/ib0gOrDz...
http://abload.de/img/i3uk6t...
^^^
These are the originals buddy and the Xbone version is nothing but a jag fest running at lower resolution and lower framerate.

Also naming it "ORIGINAL.GIF" isn't going to fool anybody. XD

http://www.eurogamer.net/ar...

"the PS4 regaining 60fps much faster than the fluctuating Xbox One code. We see occasional XO wins in like-for-like testing too, but in our single-player tests, it is clearly the PS4 code that is in the ascendant"

"the PS4 offers a superior experience on several fronts. The resolution is higher at 1600x900, as compared to the tried and tested 1280x720 on Xbox One, suffering as it does for more visible aliasing artefacts. Visually, the PS4 has a marked advantage with ambient occlusion effects too, which simply isn't matched on Microsoft's platform with the build we played."

Fanboys LOVE to deny facts. Delusion and not to mention desperation at it's finest. lol

[Pixel_Enemy]

Even common folk know what the difference between 720p and 1080p is even if it is just that more is better like megapixels on a camera. People aren't stupid.

I mean they might not care enough about resolution to buy one console over the other when they are already invested into a certain brand but still.

[FanboysAreGimps]

Um.... More megapixels on a camera doesn't mean better, it depends on the lens and software also, oh and I'll bite on the end exclusive 360 game that looked better than the games you listed, Forza Horizon..... That game had no right whatsoever to look as it did visually, don't get me wrong that's the only game I can possibly mention as the PS3 really was churning out some visual feats in its last couple of years...

[Pixel_Enemy]

I agree Fanboys, I know megapixels aren't all that matter, I never said that. It is just the mentality of common people. The higher the number, the better the camera (to them). I am a professional photographer, it is how I make a living and paid for my console. Personally, ISO quality and glass are the two most important things to me.

[MrCastle]

The Kinect 2.0 is where the extra $100 bucks comes in.

[AnteCash]

Enjoy xbox fans.
http://i.imgur.com/sNgltsP....

[DigitalRaptor]

There are a few ways you can look at this.

1) The ones that are now saying it's not noticeable or "not a big deal" are the same ones that were calling out superior multiplats as a selling point of the Xbox 360. Why should these people expect special treatment?

2) a 50% gulf in pixel density is not close to being a negligible difference. Maybe to the untrained eye, but gamers should be smarter than that when they're the ones looking at screens for hours whenever they game. If you have a full HD display, it's hard not to notice the details inherent to a resolution that isn't 1080p.

3) 720p is a last generation resolution for consoles (except the Wii).

4) It was an intentional choice to limit the GPU and use esRAM to better focus on multimedia and non-gaming features. It is a big deal when you consider this has caused a bottleneck for the system for its lifetime - a system supposedly built for the future.

[mistertwoturbo]

Dead on assessment. Did people forget how bad they ripped the ps3 for COD black ops running in 576p vs 600p on the 360. Now that was a small difference. But now that the ps4 draws 125% more pixels than the x720, all of a sudden its negligible and resolution doesn't matter.

[shivvy24]

Wow did people really fight over that small difference , lol

[tagan8tr]

have to admit I do remember that misterwo

[mistertwoturbo]

Yes it was a big debacle about the superiority of the 360 over the ps3. It was the same story though, a lot of ps3 games were sub-hd because it was limited by the split 256mb of vram. Now the table has turned with the X720 being held back by ddr3 and esram and weaker gpu.

[MasterCornholio]

The two last gen systems were very similar when it came to processing power with the PS4 being a tiny bit more powerful but a lot harder to program for. Now even though both use APUs from AMD, the PS4s GPU is more powerful than the Xbox Ones plus it's GDDR5 ram is easier to work with and better for gaming. So for next gen I'm not surprised if there's a bigger difference between multiplats than before. While two versions of the same game might have the same visual effects, the PS4 version will run in a higher resolution at a more stable frame rate. A good example of this is Battlefield 4 (even though the PS4 version has better visual effects than the Xbox One version).

Nexus 7 2013

[SilentNegotiator]

"720p is a last generation resolution for consoles (except the Wii)"

2 out of 3 8th gen consoles are quite content with that resolution for a large percentage of their games, so apparently it is. lol

[BadlyPackedKeebab]

RE: 4)

I think it was a choice more to go with the CHEAPER to buy DDR3 which because of its bandwidth limits the number of CU's that its feasible to run. As they talked about with all the "Balance" stuff, more is not better for them because the poor memory situation means they cannot feed them. Thats specific to the One not console design in general. They then bolt on the ESRAM as a means of trying to minimize the damage done by running ram that is seriously not suitable for running graphics on a modern gaming platform. As you say though its not a bad choice for media and apps. I think it was always in MS's spec to make a media system that is "capable" at playing games.

[805Junior805]

JokesOnYou won't be playing that many games on his Xbox One I guess. I'll be playing plenty of games on my PS4 (:

[RiPPn]

Seems to me that bots are focusing far too much on resolution and not looking at the big picture which is that the bone is an overpriced unpowered machine. And while resolution on these launch titles is the primary difference in multiplats, what compromises will have to be made in order for the bone to compete on future more complex titles?

[BadlyPackedKeebab]

I concur. Yes... its not all about power and resolution I agree but... it is about the principle of paying more for less.

[Hufandpuf]

It's true that I really don't want to pay $100s more for a system with lower specs, but I'm going to be honest and say that the games on the Xbox One are what I WANT to play. The PS4 right now only has KillZone that I'm interested in and I don't think that one game is going to sway my opinion.

But don't get me wrong, having an underpowered system for a higher price does make me consider buying either a PC or a PS4. But right now, it's the launch games keeping me attached to the X1 right now.

[MrCastle]

What people keep forgetting is that the kinect is included with the X1. So if you subtract it, it's really a $380 unit. I would have bought kinect anyways, so it doesn't matter to me.

[Hufandpuf]

It still doesn't matter. Right now the price difference between the PS4 and Xbox 1 is a choice between features or performance. Without the Kinect your still paying the same price for a lower spec system. I'd rather pay $400 for a lesser performing system WITH unique features than to pay more for a system that selling point are the features and not the system.

[PixelKnot]

A Call of Duty game running only 720p on One is downright embarrassing.

[MysticStrummer]

MS fans are all about upscaling. It's related to the smoke and mirrors routine we've seen for years at E3. It's a yearly indoctrination and reinforcement technique.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

interesting article...

[Sevir]

Best Buy is having a trade in program for The overly zealous Xbox trolls, where you trade in your 1080p HD TV for a 720p Tv and you receive a $100 rebate. :p

[MysticStrummer]

Ohhh damn...

lol

+1 for funny stuff

[mistertwoturbo]

Now it makes sense, it will scale perfectly on a 720p hdtv. Can't wait to see the next xbox, 480p upscaled to 4K since its practically the same thing right? Right?

[NewShadow101]

WHY IS 720p BETTER THAN 1080p ALL THE SUDDEN!!!!! this has NEVER came up until today...

[MasterCornholio]

Nope it didn't start today. It started when PCs were able to game in 1080P while consoles were stuck at lower resolutions.

720<1080

And that's the truth because with a 1080P image there is more detail on screen than a 720P image.

Nexus 7 2013

[ground_beef]

Honest to god, I saw the gorilla. The worst selective attention test ever.

[Max-Zorin]

Never invite a N4G member over for a gaming session. He or she will simply walk out if your TV don't run 1080.

[vigilante_man]

Quite right too...