Blizzard Talking to Microsoft About 900p Res for Reaper of Souls, Could Update with Patch

AusGamers spoke with Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls Ultimate Evil Edition senior producer Julia Humphreys and senior level designer Matthew Berger about many things relating to the console release, but specifically if they'd be able to change the Xbox One's 900p resolution for the game to 1080p now that Kinect is no longer a development requirement in terms of processing power.

"It’s possible," Julia says. “We’d just need to look at what that would require, and we’ve actually [talked to] Microsoft about that.”

The full interview covers what's different between Xbox One and PS4, retrieving saves from last generation to this generation and much more.

[Ksar]

Good news.

[bicfitness]

Just like that Titanfall 900p patch, right? I mean that happened...Oh, wait. Its amazing how easily people fall for PR nonsense.

[gamertk421]

Amazing how jaded people can get...

[Mr Pumblechook]

Can console specs be upgraded with a patch?

[bicfitness]

Jaded? Nah, this is all fun and games. I'm just not taken in by corporate rhetoric, sorry, mate. That goes for any of the Big 3 and their BS-spin-machines.

[Drekken]

Great news for Xbox owners. Crap news for PS4 owners. This game should have released in June but instead we have to wait on the xbox version.

[ThePope]

Yeah it's MS fault. Cause you know Blizzard is really know for releasing games in a timely manner lol

[Jide]

The both consoles are the same. One is easy to develop for,the other is semi-difficult to develop for. End of story.I have both But I prefer the Xbox One

[Fishy Fingers]

I'm not getting into a console crotch measuring contest but they're clearly not the same. Simply looking at hardware configs or game performance will show you that.

Although, conceded, the difference isn't as great as some would like to believe. But there is a difference none the less.

[gamer7804]

There are lots of differences, not just performance...

PS4 has a bit more horsepower which the article discusses as being narrowed through removal of the mandatory 10% kinect reserve, Xbox & PS4 has different app ecosystem, different OS & features, different cameras, different exclusives.

[bicfitness]

Its the difference between a 7670m (X1) and a 7870m (PS4), within a few, minor pipeline variances. These machines are so close to PCs that anyone who is any sort of a PC gamer has been saying that there is a discernible, but not unbearable gap between the two. Just like when you upgrade a video-card, you can push up resolution a bit, add AA, or turn on v-sync. But neither GPU is really a miracle worker. PS4's at least, is serviceable for 5 years. Both machines will age poorly this gen, though the X1 will age faster, and certainly struggle more.

[MrUnfamiler]

One fact that also gets lost in discussion is the OS of xbox taking more resources than the PS4 OS. Even if they WERE the same on the hardware side, the PS4 would still edge out the ONE.

[Kribwalker]

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

The ps4 has 4.5gb of ram available for games use with an additional 512mb flex memory where it is believed that the xbox one uses 3gb for it's os. It use to use 10% of the gpu but that has also been lessened as well. For everything you get with the x1 os, I'd definitely say MS has that advantage, especially since it takes less resources then the ps4 os

[dantesparda]

These are the facts, not some dumb fanboys opinion:

PS4: 1.60GHz CPU
Xbone: 1.75GHz CPU +9.375%

PS4: 800MHz
Xbone: 853MHz +6.625%

PS4: 18CU +50% more
Xbone: 12CU

PS4: 1.84TFLOPS +40%
Xbone: 1.31TFLOPS

PS4: 176.0GB/s +258%
Xbone: 68.3GB/s

PS4: 1152 Shaders (cores) +50.5%
Xbone: 768 Shaders (cores)

PS4: 72 Texture units +50%
Xbone: 48 Texture units

PS4: 32 ROPS +100% more
Xbone: 16 ROPS

PS4: 8 ACE/64 queues +400%
Xbone: 2 ACE/16 queues

PS4: 25.60GPixels/s +88%
Xbone: 13.65GPixels/s

PS4: 57.60GTexels/s +40%
Xbone: 40.90GTexels/s

[CernaML]

1080p is one thing.
Frame rate is another.

[bicfitness]

Yes, and zebras and computers are exactly the same.

[MrUnfamiler]

They are not the same.Period. The esram is NOT harder to code in ANY WAY. It is just more time consuming. Unless you have some knowledge about PC architecture, please dont feed people without that knowledge your misinformed BS because some of them will take your word for it, and thus, be as misinformed as yourself.

[Drekken]

Why are there so many games with less resolution on the Xbox? All lazy Devs?

[MrUnfamiler]

-Drekkin Please dont take my comment as pro Microsoft. a quick look a my comment history will show you that i despise them as a corporation who trys to coerce consumers to conform with whatever makes them profitable, unless the backlash created by these anti-consumer practices is projected to cost a larger profit loss then it would to backtrack for a couple of years until they find a pace to implement them that will cause as little backlash as possible.

That being said, the reason the xbox is a weaker console is because of weaker hardware in the form of a lesser GPU and last gen DDR3 ram,plus a more resource hogging OS. Not because of the ESram being hard to code for.

[dirkdady]

There is about 40% difference in raw power from a hardware perspective. Watch Technobuffalo's in depth comparison between APUs.
http://youtu.be/0ruo84asvQo

[Agent_hitman]

900p only?. What's up with the power of ESRAM that MS been bragging about to push the resolution/fps and all the stuff about third party?...

[MegaRay]

Wait for the CLOUD! FFVII Remake gonna be rock

[Mkai28]

Crazy that this game didn't hit 1080p on the one with the Kinect. Just doesn't seem all that demanding. Patch it in? Has this game been released yet on the PS4 and XB1? 900p@ 60fps is ok, but 1080p@ 60fps would be appreciated..

[ChronoJoe]

It's actually a very pleasant game graphically, everything is modelled really we'll and the textures are all pretty high res, combined with all the particle effects and the need to keep everything at a stable framerate and you have a fairly performance intensive game.

[Raf1k1]

I agree. Would have thought it would hit 1080p as well. It's actually not all that demanding. As a Blizzard game it's been made to be playable computers that aren't that powerful.

When porting to consoles they want to keep them looking similar visually so they've opted to lower the resolution a little instead of lowering the graphical effects, texture resolutions etc.

[Kennytaur]

In a game like Diablo, I'd rather cut down on shadows or something to run at native resolution.

[Perjoss]

I feel exactly the same way, except I'd rather keep the shadows on max settings and play it in 1080p

[KRUSSIDULL]

I looked up a Radeon HD 6770 (1.36 TFLOPs GPU) benchmark on Diablo 3 and it shows that it could handle it at Highest details, AA enabled and 1920x1080p @ min 69 FPS and average 75.2 FPS so I if they are having problem with reaching 1080p @ 60 FPS on Xbox One I'm gonna call it a lazy port just like with CoD:Ghost.

[MasterCornholio]

Maybe they are just struggling with the slower memory and the ESRAM?

Thats all that I can't think of because the GPU and the CPU are more than capable of playing this game at 1080P 60FPS.

[NicSage]

I'm considering buying this because i'll have a copy of the game DRM free. I have it for PS3 & PC, but i'd like the ps4 one as well..

No internet required.

I am a Diablo fan.

[amnalehu]

This was really a great interview. The title is a little misleading as resolution was only touched upon. The most important thing regarding the resolution that I read was that the textures and frame rate are the same for the PS4 and XB1 versions. I doubt many people will be able to tell the difference.