"There's no noticeable change in graphics" between Alien Isolation Xbox One and PS4

Be of good heart, pixel-counters. When you are having your head bitten off by a slimy, eyeless space-dinosaur this October, you will not be taken "out of the moment" by the sight of a texture that differs conspicuously from a texture you may have glimpsed in your best friend's version of the same experience. Creative Assembly's Gary Napper has assured OXM that Alien: Isolation looks pretty much the same on all platforms. Well, on PS4 and Xbox One at least.

[NextLevel]

It's crazy it's considered an accomplishment when the Xbox One hits 1080p on a cross gen game. The only time it seems to actual hit 1080p is with cross gen games like this Destiny, Wolfenstein and Forza Horizon 2 or downgrades like Forza 5. Even cross gen games don't hit it all the time like Titanfall and Tomb Raider.

[mhunterjr]

Tomb raider gameplay is 1080p on xb1

1080p is the most common native resolution for xbox 1 games. 900p is the second most common. And over the course of the first year on market, the trend has been defininately towards 1080p. With this exception of MGS:V, 720p has only plagued launch titles.

So while it would be nice to hit 1080p with more frequency, to pretend that this resolution is a rarity on xb1 is simply false.

[imt558]

It's mixed!

[NextLevel]

Tomb Raider is mixed 1080p and 900p

http://www.videogamer.com/x...

[mhunterjr]

@imt558

The game plays at 1080p, cutscenes 900p

[xboxftw]

You can't reason with fanboys. Gamers game fanboys complain or downplay rivals consoles.

I have a 50" panasonic 1080p plasma. I haven't not enjoyed an interesting game just cuz of it wasn't 1080p or had lower resolution. My TV displays the image in 1080p so whether the source which can be a movie or game is 720, 900 or 1080 there is not much difference. However if upscalling from 540p then you see blurriness.

[D-riders]

Upscaled 1080p

[mhunterjr]

@D-rider

'Up-scaled 1080p' isn't even a thing... As all sub1080p games are upscaled to 1080p...

Tomb raider, however, runs at native 1080p. The cutscenes are upscaled to 1080p.

[Christopher]

@mhunterjr:

Not only are you wrong about the Tomb Raider HD resolution, you're also wrong that more games play at 1080p than a lower resolution on the XBO. And, yes, it does matter that the cut scenes aren't at 1080p since they are in-engine cut scenes. If the game can't run an in-engine cut scene at 1080p... that's not running at native 1080p throughout then.

http://www.ign.com/wikis/xb...

@1080p - 17

lower than 1080p - 21

[mhunterjr]

@cgoodno

Not only are you blatanly wrong, despite your attempt at research, but you are displaying poor reading comprehension skills.
I never said there were more 1080p games than sub1080p games.

I said that 1080p is the most common native resolution on xbox 1. This means that there is no other resolution that is used more often than 1080p. The second most common is 900p. The list you have provided confirms all of this. Thank you for supporting my claims with a link.

Tomb raider gameplay has been confirmed to be at 1080p and the cutscenes at 900p. That's exactly what I posted. You don't seem to disagree with this... So tell me again... What was I wrong about?

Edit: There is no spinning on my part. You just apparently can't read very well. There are 17 1080p xb1 games. 11 900p. This is fact... fact that you supported with a link... you still can't tell me what I was 'wrong' about. But I'm having no trouble at all dismantling your flawed statements.

[Christopher]

***I said that 1080p is the most common native resolution on xbox 1. This means that there is no other resolution that is used more often than 1080p. ***

LOL. Right. Okay, try to spin that how you wish. Your attempts to mislead and argue a point that doesn't matter (like a PR approved statistic) doesn't take away from the actual argument and actually shows that the issue that you are arguing against is more dire than you want to let on.

Edit: Also, you said it ran at native 1080p (Tomb Raider). Since the cut scenes are done in real time and in engine, that negates your whole argument. They are not pre-rendered. They are running off of the same engine. You can say "gameplay" all you want, but it doesn't hide the fact that the engine, at some point, is unable to run at a native 1080p resolution while the competitor is able to do native 1080p throughout.

[UltimateMaster]

Source: TotalXbox.
No biased here people.

[SilentNegotiator]

"1080p is the most common native resolution for xbox 1 games"

Actually, it's pretty close to 50/50 of 1080p and sub-1080p games on Xbone.
http://www.ign.com/wikis/xb...
Not much of a "majority"
Whereas Ps4 is at about 90% 1080p. Quite a difference.

[darthv72]

You do realize (nextlevel) that 1080p is just a resolution and nothing more...right? Last gen there were 360 and ps3 games that offered 1080p.

Its more about how much fidelity is crammed into that resolution than the actual resolution itself. So when we see games that are produced at a lower res, we are not taking into consideration that there may actually be more fidelity within those lines than previous.

Pixels and just squares on a screen. Filling up those individual pixes with high quality textures, colors is the balancing act that developers decide on.

A few gens ago, it was all about the number of sprites on screen coupled with the number of colors and sprite size. then it became about polygons and frames per second. then it was about resolution and frames per second.

Today, everyone is more fixated on 1080p when what you should be asking is how much content fits within that 1080p image. you could have the old atari 2600 game of pitfall rendered in 1080p but it will still be the 2600 version of pitfall.

When they take that 2600 version of pitfall and not only render it in 1080p but give it an entire facelift with high quality textures and multiple layers of paralax scrolling and animation....now we are talking.

believe it or not, there can be trade offs in game development. We started with low res, low detail and over time it gradually improved.

here is the evolution of graphics over the generations. Each line sort of represents a generation of systems and their graphical ability. Keep in mind that some systems are capable of overlapping the different entries:

low res, low detail
low res, medium detail
low res, high detail
medium res, low detail
medium res, medium detail
medium res, high detail
high res, low detail
high res, medium detail
high res, high detail

So there are several levels that a developer can work with. They have to find that balance that will yield them the best results for the project they are working on.

[MARKSMAN7136]

Common? The hell it is lol I love my XB1 but I won't bs what it says on the back of the game cases for it smh

[Neonridr]

Need for Speed Rivals was 1080p on both.

[NextLevel]

Yep. It was cross gen aswell.
http://www.metacritic.com/g...

[mhunterjr]

I'm pretty sure every EA game as been 1080p on both, with the exception on battlefield which was sub 1080p on both.

[Ju]

Yep. Which makes me think EA didn't really invest much time in optimizing for the PS4. NFS should be 60fps there or have better AA. All other games have either a lower frame rate on XO or some stuff scaled down (Wolfenstein isn't 1920 - but dynamic resolution with a far lower lowest possible resolution on the XO - which is also hit more often). It is what it is. Unfortunately, the more the XO "get's away" with 1080, the more PS4 games get gimped (because it will just be good enough).

[buttclown]

@Ju It wasn't even 60 FPS on PC. It was locked at 30 all around. Look at this video of what happens to the game when you unlock the framerate to 60 on PC. Lol, it's awesome.

Start around 5:20 if you don't wanna watch him babble for a while.

[Dewitt]

This just simply isn't true and getting tired of the trolling in every article, Bubble Down.

[IrishSt0ner]

Nonsense strikes again. Every single game ever developed on PC, for every console, was downgraded to make it work properly.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

No NextLevel whats crazy is that you and others like you seem to dwell on these kinds of topics and can't seem to just enjoy the prospect of new gaming experiences coming out. Time to put your big boy shoes on and move along.

[No_Limit]

MARIA ..I mean next level..how did you get 6 bubbles in just a week after getting your alternative account?

[showtimefolks]

NextLevel

I am a pro ps4 fan but seriously dude stop trolling every xbox one article. Do you even own a ps4 or xbox one? and if you do when do you actually play those consoles? you are always first on every article

I mean what do you get some sort of pleasure out of bashing a console?

truly sad and you should stop and enjoy gaming without having hate towards another consoles. without MS sony would have had DRM from day one, without xblive we wouldn't have such an awesome service as psn-plus

competition is a very healthy thing,

fanboys on both sides need to stop hating and just enjoy the games please!

[ma1asiah]

@NextLevel

You do realise that Forza Horizon 2 is (a) being developed by 2 separate developers for both the X360 and XB1, and (b) that the X360 version is using an older engine I think it is either the Forza 4 or the first Forza Horizon engine. It's even been confirmed that the X360 version will not be entirely the same game as its XB1 counterpart which is using at its foundation the Forza 5 engine.

So I am not quite sure this qualifies under Cross Gen, outside of name alone

[Bigpappy]

Wow. Look at all the anger. Expect to se a lot more parity going forward. You guys had about 6 months of insulting Xbox games and users over resolution.

[Azzanation]

Funny you say FM5 is downgraded. Its one of the best looking racers on the market regardless what they took out. Plus that's 1080p/60frames.

[Axios2]

Looks like the developers are getting used to the tools

[user7402931]

it looks like its not a very demanding game so xbox one can keep up with this one.

and what about resolution?

[NextLevel]

"Looks like the developers are getting used to the tools"

It's crazy developers have to get use to tools to get cross gen games like this and Destiny to 1080p on Xbox One.

[mhunterjr]

Why? I would imagine its HARDER to get the performance you want out of cross gen games because the engines are designed for the older hardware and the developers are more spread out in their focus.

Making a multiplatform game not as simple as cutting and pasting code and sticking it on a better system.

[xboxftw]

Atleast devs are getting used to the tools in less than a year for xbox one. You clearly forgot that first 4~5 years most devs were still not able to grasp the ps3's architecture.

[Ihatetrolls76]

You do know that the devs had to get used to ps3 tools but guess you missed out on that last gen and I remember the xbox360 and original xbox being gimped because of PS. You are a hypocrite and all you do is troll and down play xbox. What will the excuse be if games start looking a little better on xbox ms paying devs lol your a joke

[ziggurcat]

@xboxftw:

except the cell architecture was a completely different structure than what was conventionally being used, and the xbone's architecture isn't even close to the complexity of the PS3's. in fact, the X360 had a very similar structure, so your "it's complicated" argument doesn't really hold much water.

[etownone]

Not every ps4 runs at 1080p and that's from multiplats to exclusives.

Shame this early in the gen, ps4/xb1 can't hit 1080p/60fps in all games.

From what I understand... It's the graphics card in both... Being compared to a mid level gaming pc.

[xboxftw]

Sadly it's true, despite a 7 to 8 years of previous gen, this gen shouldn't have to struggle to be at least 1080p / 60 every game. Last gen we saw big jump fro 540p max to 720/1080p.. It would have been the next step up and defacto for this gen. However i'm not complaining with games what are out on the consoles which are pretty good whether 1080 or not. I think things will only get better in coming months/years for this gen but again 1080 should have been the default target when MS / Sony finalized the consoles.

[etownone]

Remember how with every new gen of consoles... They were ahead of at compared to high end pc's.

Oh well..

[tee_bag242]

Yeah.. both these consoles are mighty underpowered. This gen should have been 1080/60fps no exceptions . The fanboy war should have at least been about games instead of which is closer to 1080p/60fps in every article... which neither ever are.

[Illusive_Man]

Witcher 3 is running at 900p on Xbox One and the Devs haven't even touched the new XDK and it's a year from launch. A few devs have and the results are fairly significant. Come 2015 there won't be too many games that don't run in 1080p.

[pompous]

And yet even if or when some games have resolution and/or fps parity, the PS4 will still have the better image quality due to the fact that xbox will have lower or missing graphical features.

[MSBAUSTX]

None of that matters when the PS4 non cross platform games suck big time compared to MS exclusives. I am glad your system graphics are slightly better than mine. But i want to play Halo, Dead Rising, Evolve, and Gears of War. So for people like me it doesnt make a dam bit of difference that you have 200 or so higher resolution. Mainly because i would rather play a higher quality game with slightly less resolution than crap ass games in full 1080P. Let the disagrees begin Sony faboys.

[beerzombie]

+what stock should I buy for my retirement since you can see everything in the future. The most important thing right now is I believe that X-1 has the more unique experiences right now and for the future. Were Ps4 seems to be doing a lot of indies and shooters and rehashes.

[LamerTamer]

A new SDK or even API is not a hardware upgrade. While being more efficient helps it isn't magic. This also assumes that all xbone tools are being upgraded but the PS4 devkit is at a standstill and is unchanged from when it was first rolled out (possible I suppose but doubtful). If SDKs were as good as they could get on both, the better hardware will always be ahead.

If you just look at hardware and GPU architecture the PS4 is better, just like high end PCs are better than both consoles. It is just a fact of hardware. If both versions look the same on both then the stronger hardware is not being used.

There are only a few explanations.

One- that M$ had gone around to devs and insisted that their versions look the same as the PS4. They may have offered "incentives" such as free dev stations or other "perks". M$ basically has unlimited money so it wouldn't surprise me.

Two- the devs are just lazy and develop for the weaker lowest common denominator system then port to the stronger one. It is always easier to port from weak to stronger as then nothing needs to be optimized on the stronger one. It is an easy port.

Three- their game isn't really too demanding so it runs as designed on the weaker console and up. There is nothing to add to make better on any.

The thing is since they say it is better on the PC that leaves me to suspect the reason is the first one otherwise some of that PC extra detail would have found it's way onto the PS4.

[Killzoner99]

I guess I'm passing on this game then. Sucks cause I'm a huge Alien fan but there's NO WAY I'm getting a game that's been dumbed down for the Xbone. Another Alien game ruined.

[marloc_x]

You gaming is weak..

[JCOLE13195]

Wow. Oh, so the WHOLE game is ruined now. You call yourself a gamer? Gimme a break dude.

[Flutterby]

Or maybe he is voting with his wallet to show devs that forcing parity to keep the owners of the inferior hardware happy doesn't fly with him . I didn't get watch dogs on my pc because of that very same reason. If devs don't take advantage of the power of each hardware they are just being stupid and don't deserve the sale.

[tee_bag242]

Go cry about it. Did you stop to think that either versions are not dumbed down and that the Devs achieved the visual representation they were striving for.
If you care so much about graphics get a PC and you'll relize the your supercomputer PS4 is just as guilty gimping games as X1. Take a look at how much Watchdogs was gimped to not make PS4 look like trash. Secret settings have been found and suddendly the 2012 E3 build reveals the bitter truth about dumbing down.

[_LarZen_]

If the developers have not bothered to take advantage of the extra hardware in the PS4 then they are lazy.

[MSBAUSTX]

Another ignorant statement. They merely want as many people to enjoy their game as possible. Simply because it has a little less resolution doesnt matter when . He gameplay is awesome and story is good. What a shallow gamer.

[LamerTamer]

And as many wouldn't enjoy the game if they used each systems strengths? THAT is an "ignorant statement". Actually by using parity less would enjoy the game because their system is not being taken advantage of, and they know it. So it is the *opposite* of what you said. I guess by your logic they shouldn't make the PC version of anything with higher resolutions either. They shouldn't use Kinect because the PS4 doesn't have it and PS4 owners couldn't "enjoy their game" as much as the Kinect equipped xbone owners could.

Just because "tHe gameplay is awesome and story is good" means that they should not make each version look as good as they can? Another illogical statement.

A "little less resolution" DOES matter as it means it will look a little less good.

It isn't "shallow" to want the best experience. This game especially is about mood and immersion. Graphic detail exudes immersion better as it looks closer to reality and fools your brain better into thinking you are in a real situation. Simple really.

[_LarZen_]

What a shallow answer MSBAUSTX. You type of people never stop to surprise me.

[jnemesh]

The only way they could achieve this is if they developed the game with the limitations of the slower system in mind. YAY, it looks "great" on both systems! Sure...by killing off the graphical complexity, you got the game to run at 1080p on both systems. It speaks less to "optimization" of the Xbox and more to the gimping of the graphics this game COULD have had if it were taking full advantage of the PS4s hardware!

[LamerTamer]

It is looking more and more like PS4 owners are going to have to look towards exclusive content to get the best console graphics, or jump to a high end PC. Even then they may gimp the PC version to be at parity with xbone.

[tee_bag242]

PC for multiplatforms. At least there's geeks working around the clock to ungimp and shadey parity

[sypher]

Weird there is an article about this, because word from journalists who played both versions at E3. Was that the X1 version looked last gen compared to the PS4 build they had running.

Though obviously that may change come release.

[MAULxx]

Can't wait to play Alien ISO.
As far as which console I'm playing it on, that choice was made when I chose to buy a PS4 last year.

[Corpser]

I'm happy

"as you'd expect, it sounds as if the PC will ultimately be the superior option in terms of visuals, provided you have capable hardware. Napper noted, "Obviously there are a lot more options to tweak and scale up on the PC"

[PersonMan]

So... downgraded for PS4 then?

[IcedOmega13]

I just want the game to not be Colonial marines

[SaffronCurse]

I hope developers won't shy and use each consoles advantage instead of trying to make the versions on par.

[Ma1nframe]

Sure their is. PS4 is superior and displays in Native 1080P while the x BONE is inferior and displays in 900p lol.