Gears of War 2's Default Graphics Settings = Washed Out?

Kombo writes: "I was playing Gears of War 2 last night, and I couldn't help but feel that the game didn't look as good as I remember the original Gears of War looking. I started to think that perhaps maybe it was just that the engine was no longer as impressive as it was two years ago. The visuals just looked washed out."

[Danja]

This wont end well....5.4..3..2...

[meepmoopmeep]

they must have forgotten to take out the PS3 setting.

:)

[SeNiLe911]

Looks better then the original but only by a little since Gears 1 looked good as well.

For those with a 7-11 close by http://x2theg.blogspot.com/...

[InMyOpinion]

I had totally forgotten about the fact that you can change the visual settings in Gears. Gonna change it to 'vibrant' right now =) It made the first game look twice as good.

[reaferfore20]

Wow I didn't know 711's sold video games. The ones around here don't.

[s8anicslayer]

whatever the case washed out or not i'm getting this tommarow no matter the circumstance. and i'd rather buy it at circuit city and score free 1600 ms live points card with gears2,sweet!

[JeffGUNZ]

Some guys TV settings wern't correct, so he had to chage them? Really? That's news? Really?

[Maddens Raiders]

90% of XBOX games are washed out and have that stone washed jeans look to them or they over compensate bloom lighting and motion blur (DiRt, FNR3, Mirror's Edge), because the system isn't capable of processing a full color palette to complement the graphics on screen. Why do you think Gears has so few players on line? Microsoft can continue to fool its loyal die-hard fans -- and it will, but the rest of us know that this system is limited and is on it's way out.

[edhe]

Wow, completely 'out-there' unjustifiable lies.

Nice ! ;D

[harpua]

"Gears of War 2's Default Graphics Settings = Washed Out?"

death, taxes, 360 not next-gen

[b00mFargl3]

i dont even think anyone will take your statements seriously.

[Danja]

I think it's becaused the game didn't really improve that much visually and becuase the orignal game looked so good that ppl were expecting a biggger graphical update...

and the UT3 engine is rather dated now ...^.^

[ThanatosDMC]

Well, i wrote somewhere that Gears2 is comparable to UT3 on high settings especially the chinese villa deathmatch map.

There wasnt much of an upgrade so there wasnt much of a wow factor unlike the first one.

Wish they can add some sort of mod support later for the PC version. But i guess, that's what UT3 is for... just gotta grab files from Gears 2.

[Ren]

Two years ago of course it looked amazing , but now after games like MGS4 , Uncharted and Mass Effect(just to name a few) GeoW 2 lost the "wow" effect.

[PirateThom]

That's OK, when a Microsoft XBox 360 is connected to your high definition television set, you can change various settings such as brightness and contrast, so you can get optimal picture.

Sadly, the Sony PlayStation 3 disables this television feature which must be the reason games looked washed out with this device.

[pansenbaer]

Yeah, the Playstation 3 has nothing in the from of customizable options. All my games look horribly washed out.

[Tmac]

so washed out.. it hurts.

[elorm9]

That's a load of BS, just make sure your HDTV set is calibrated correctly and you're good to go.

[WhittO]

ur all being sarcastic right?

if ur colours look washed out its either because you havent turned the RGB option on in display settings OR your tvs are sh*t!

[Tmac]

Lol well i guess me and the other two dudes got it, guess u guys didnt :(.

[koston3647]

they are all being sarcastic

[reaferfore20]

Man I'm sick of the phrase "washed out". Everyone has that to say about something.

[Motion]

The colors in real life look really washed out.

[ultimolu]

They missed the sarcasm train Thom. ;;

[pansenbaer]

Man, 9 disagrees? I probably lost a bubble too. I should watch my sarcasm a little more carefully...

[WhittO]

or maybe after your post at the bottom "/sarcasm".

There are alot of people on here that would say exactly what you said while not being sarcastic lol

[pansenbaer]

Yeah, I know, I was basically making fun of them. Oh well, no worries.

[Th3 Chr0nic]

some guy had his brightness to high so that means gears 2 isnt as impressive....please give me a break. how much more of a cry for attention do u need guy? oh look at me gears is lame and i want to talk about it.

hype vs anti-hype ding ding let the spitting begin

[elorm9]

This was totally unnecessary, not everyone will have this problem if they've got their TV's calibrated correctly.

[Mr Fancy Pants]

this happens too with mirror's edge. the predominant color on that game is white so you go to the settings and bring down the brightness a little and that improves the contrast and makes the game look better.

LCD don't do good whites nor good blacks thanks to the back-light. when somethig it's too bright you bring down the brightness and everything it's going to look better but then the dark scenes are going to loose detail, but if you bring up the brightness for the dark scenes then the bright scenes are going to look washed out.

there are technologies in current LCD that adjust that crap, so when a bright scenes comes the TV lowers the brightness and when a dark scenes comes it bumps up the brightness but man i want to see everything the best! i want to really see dark scenes as good as an old CRT can produce.

-LCD are a pain in the ass! we need a new technology to replace that out-dated peace of crap! and plasmas are not an option. we need response times below 4ms too!

BTW for those people that are going to say something like: "my sony XBR looks fantastic!", -well yeah, because you're used to it by now but when a better LCD with higher contrast comes and you compare them then you gonna say: "wow my TV look really washed out!".

[spectyre]

OLEDs are supposed to look fantastic. Unfortunately with the way the world markets are performing, R&D will be put on the back burner for most consumer electronic companies.

[Brock Danger]

Just cause someone doesn't know how to calibrate their tv doesn't necessitate an N4G post.

[ReTarDedFisHy]

*takes cover*
"INCOMING!" lmao.

[BADJOYSTICK]

LittleBigPlanet looks better than Gears of War 2

[CliffyBee]

Sorry guys XD we pushed the feefixme to its limit (we broke 17 of them making this game run at about one third of the quality of METAL GEAR SOLID 4 (GOTY 2008))

This is as much as the 360 can be pushed - sorry, we at Epic (fail) know that it isn't really good. But we know my fans (pp, GiantEnemaLobster, et al) will buy it anyway due to their blind loyalty to me and my company :D

GIEF MUNIEZ PLOX, KTHNXBAI

[BUKKAKALYPSE]

Dude needs a better TV. He has a DLP for F -sakes.DLP = horse sh!t

[BADJOYSTICK]

The absence of Bluray and a cell processor has made the game look like a Wii game

[BLUR111]

The absence of Bluray and a cell processor has made the game RUN BETTER

[Maxned]

A quote from the article:

"So, when you get the game, if you think it looks washed out, drop that brightness level. You'll be surprised and impressed by just how damn good-looking Epic's sequel is."

Pretty funny how Sony Fanboys are DESPERATELY trying to avoid Cole's imminent curb stomp.

[CaitSith]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[joevfx]

if the default settings are washed out most likely this guys has the brightness on his TV way to high. they give you a brightness adjuster in the game for idiots that don't know how to calibrate there TV. the fact that he talks about graphics and washed out blacks in one sentence is mind boggle. are gamers really this dumb?

[DiabloRising]

One guy not knowing how to calibrate his TV settings isn't really news guys, c'mon.

Unless this guy is the same one in charge of Gametrailers PS3 comparison videos. Then that explains a lot.

[Fan Tastic]

I'd still give it an a solid compared to what's on the market today.

[zo6_lover27]

OMG!!!

*hides*

[Bots Of A Feather Fl]

Don't hide,there's no reason to be intimidated by the Jaggies and low-res Textures in Years of Bore 2

[BLUR111]

This is how pathetic you kids are.. one fanboy writes a bs negative story about gears 2 out of all the other real reviews and say this.

you just say it sucks cause it will be GOTY.

[BADJOYSTICK]

Go and play MGS4,then come back and tell me Gears 2 has better graphics

http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3...

I'd like to see Unreal Engine 3 attempt to render a similar image ^

[Deadman64]

Gears of War 2 has better graphics.

http://screenshots.teamxbox...

mgs4:
http://image.com.com/gamesp...

honestly. Splinter cell double agent is almost if not on par with MGS4.

[ReTarDedFisHy]

that looks terrible Deadman64!
I suggest never trying to make a point like that ever again.
And never the same comparison.

[Oner]

**cough** bullshot vs real shot **cough**

2922 x 2880 pixel bullshot CANNOT BE DONE ON A 360

Whereas the MGS4 shot is IN GAME @ 1280 x 720...

Bias misinformation much?

[na2ru1]

Since when has an in-game still image been the size of an MP3 song(3.41mb)?

imagine a bitrate of 3.40mb per frame, the xbox would melt.

in-game vs bullshot means you're insecure and in denial

[she00win99]

wow! naomi looks really beaustiful on that screenshot and deadman64, you just prove yourself that you never had a 360 or you never played gears.

[SIX]

Good tip to know. I'll give it a shot.

Here's the source I was referring to

http://media.xbox360.ign.co...

notice in Gears 1 the higher contrast ratio and dynamic lighting. I guess they took the criticisms of too much shiny textures to heart,and decided to tone it down a bit.

[Harry190]

Gears of War 1 looks a little washed out too.

[ambientFLIER]

Not anything to worry about. He said the brightness was too high by default, and that was on his TV. It might be perfect for everyone else. If not, just adjust it.

It's kinda sad that this is the only ammo PS3 fans have against the game.

[BADJOYSTICK]

http://i38.tinypic.com/dfhj...

And this isn't "Ammo",it's a furking fact that Gears 2 looks like dog shet compared to MGS4 aka the ONLY AAAA Exclusive Game Of The Year

[ambientFLIER]

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ nobody cares about MGS anymore. It was dead a day after it came out.

[NickIni]

Then how come MS are still sucking Kojima's willy over trying to get it ported? They wouldn't bother if it was dead or a bad game.

[Snukadaman_]

Look at bioshock and eternal sonata on the ps3 for that example.

[snoopgg]

and it comes out in Feb. Killzone 2 will be the best looking game on any console in 2009. Hows that for ammo!!!!!!

[ThichQuangDuck]

gameplay visuals change it to vibrant done good bye

[air1]

man, you sony fantics just cant take gears 2 being goty can you?!

graphics washed out,lmfao. you ppl keep telling your self that gears 2 doesnt look better then r2 while the rest of the gamers are playing the best shooter ever gears 2 laughing at you.

[NickIni]

Gears 2 won't win overall GoTY. The competition is far too strong. I reckon it will go to an established franchise, ie GTA IV or MGS4. Although LBP has a good chance IMO, due to it's innovation.

[snoopgg]

I am playing Restance 2 and So com right now and loving it!! I will be playing Gears 2 also, but can't wait for Killzone2 which will leave all in the dust!!! Xbots think that Gears2 looks good, but none will admit how farking sweet Killzone 2 looks. I can't wait til Feb!!!!

[Bots Of A Feather Fl]

As a matter of fact,I hear Epic contacted Guerilla Games and begged them to help them with textures

[Deadman64]

oh you mean these textures right?

http://screenshots.teamxbox...

[Oner]

**cough** bullshot **cough**

THE 360 CANNOT DISPLAY @ THAT RESOLUTION!

Nice way to try and pass fake biased misinformation as "truth"...

[ambientFLIER]

Cannot display in that resolution? Isn't that 1920x1080? In which case it can...

[Oner]

Do some research before you post. A simple right click would help clear that up.

So again a 2922 x 2880 pixel bullshot CANNOT BE DONE ON A 360

[Old Snake_]

Unreal Engine has changed...

[baum]

Because actually, UE3 hasn't changed. It's still the same engine as 3 years ago! And evidently, it sucks.

[bunbun777]

he is a man of few words, if you see his posts, then maybe you would understand...

p.s. Old Snake, i smile more and more i see your comments = )

[spongeboob]

This clown doesn't know how to calibrate his tv and decides to blog about it. WOW.

[Bots Of A Feather Fl]

Ps3= http://thesuperficial.com/2...

Xbox 360= http://img.dailymail.co.uk/...

[Deadman64]

You= http://img125.imageshack.us...

[Picture is being displayed using a Sony Playstation 3 with 1080p Resolution]

[NickIni]

not to the scale that deadman did if you scroll up.

And I would hardly call lamely insulting someone with a personal picture "owned" either.

[Rageanitus]

Gears 1 looked washed out and Gears 2 wont be any different since the engine itself for the xbox has not really changed much.

The pc version of Gears if you play on highest detail at above 1280 x resolution is MUCH more cleaner.

Having said this the game still looks pretty dam GOOD on a console that's where it stands.

[josh14399]

ive had the games since monday and apart from the some of the scenary which is impressive it aint that much better than gears1. which is still good but the graphics are ugly but good at the same time. what im trying to say is everything has like a dull colour to it even bright colors have. i wont deny i aint a fan of unreal engine 3 but i do think gears 2 is a lot better than the first. i have been playing horde mode all night and i tell ya there is nowt more fun than you being the only one alive and you have like 10 more high level enemies to kill especially the locusts with lancers because they are evil with the chainsaw after level 10.

[anubis12]

article flames......stop dissing gears ,dont be upset that it outsells every ps3 title...kinda like halo did also..gears 1 sold more than mgs..more than GTA on the ps3...any everything else on the ps3....therefore gears 2 WILL do the same thing IT WILL...20000 MIDNIGHT LAUNCH EVENTS..LOL

poor gears of war haters...they just dont know ahahahah

seems LBP has only sold around 230,000....so much for the GEARS killer....so i have heard.

games worth ps3 time R1&R2, FF13, GOW3...and of course blu-ray movies

[BADJOYSTICK]

http://i36.tinypic.com/2euq...

[Deadman64]

While your at the photoshopping... go ahead and add a little statement on the front saying "Guanranteed to sell more than Resistance 2 and LBP combined......Hell we'll even throw MGS4's sales in there!"

[NickIni]

Deadman, your a complete idiot.

SALES DO NOT MAKE A GAME GOOD.

Any real gamer knows that.

[Foliage]

Of course Gears 2 will have good sales. It's the only 360 game worth buying since Gears 1. You have a bunch of depressed fanboys like yourself foaming at the mouth to finally buy a game.

As for the PS3, it is floating in triple A games. Of course the sales will be distributed between multiple titles, that is what happens when the customer has a choice.

Now mindlessly purchase Gears 2 and wait for the next Halo.

[anubis12]

going to hurt the fanboys...lol as it sells 8 million

[anubis12]

i though haze had better graphics than mgs4

[AngryTypingGuy]

OK, so then adjust the brightness until it looks the best for your TV. End of issue.

[W831Liquidsnake]

wait.....ok wait.......ggrrrrr is that a puddle of water in that screen shot? I cant tell it lookes washed.....LOL

[GUNS N SWORDS]

"gears of War 2's Default Graphics Settings = Washed Out?"

set your 360 to expanded, fix your TV settings, or use Gear of war's in game brightness and vibrant settings.

[pumpkinpunker]

Yes.

[Bolts]

Just wait for the PC version.

[xg-ei8ht]

Kinda like Fallout 3 confirmed ps3 has the better graphics: Fact.

They did it again, just like oblivion.

http://www3.telus.net/publi... -360

http://www3.telus.net/publi... - PS3

http://www3.telus.net/publi... - ps3

http://www3.telus.net/publi... - 360

look at the lack of shaders on the 360 version.

The bugs look hd on ps3, sd on 360. Ouch.

And it's only going to get worse.

Mirrors edge better on PS3 - confirmed.

[felidae]

eeehm. sorry dude but i played both console versions of Fallout 3 and the 360 version looks and runs much better. this is not coming from a fanboy - i own both versions and would've loved the game to look better on the PS3 .. but it's not.

Mirror's Edge looks a little bit sharper on the PS3 but it plays smoother on the 360. i'll buy the 360 version ...

[Motojass]

you are really stretching it. In the Gamespot review it was stated the PS3 version is noticeably worse.

sooo much denial

pathetic

[ud]

I bought the 360 version cause some people said it was graphically better on it and my bro bought the ps3 version. The 360 version does NOT look better than the ps3 version, not in graphics, not in draw distance, not anything. They're pretty much the same.

But it DOES run at a bit better framerate

[GUNS N SWORDS]

the ps3 version is using none.

http://forum.beyond3d.com/s...
http://forum.beyond3d.com/s...

[felidae]

same here. i tweaked the brightness and it makes a huge difference.

the default brightness settings in Gears 2 are way too high for my HDTV.

amazing game btw!

[oldsnayke]

This guy is most likely just an old bastard who can't tell good graphics from bad.

[Thatlalala]

Isn't it supposed to look and feel washed out? Just like fallout 3 it's nice to get a break from those bright color's in Fable 2. IMO it sets the the tone and feel for the game. Even if it makes you depressed, that's what it's trying to do.

[AngryTypingGuy]

You're exactly right. Sera is a war torn planet. If they wanted it overflowing with color, they would've made it that way. For those of you wanting pretty colors, I suggest Viva Pinata.

[Amnesiac]

Did anyone really expect there to be that much of an improvement from GeOW1 to GeOW 1.5?

I could have guessed this 6 months ago. Oh wait, I did.

[vfitz66]

Dude I cant believe it. this is like the 1st time i've ever seen an article on N4G dissing a 360 exclusive.

Maybe I shud take the 360 fanboy's usual stance on this.

Hahahahaha this game suks, this random guy said it so it must be true :P. might aswell trade in your 360 for a PS3 cos its games a clearly crap.

But anyways he probs needs to adjust his tv. Gears 2 is an amazing both graphically and gameplay-wise but I do agree that gears 2 has probabely maxed the unreal engine 3. IMO this game could of looked even better if they had developed a new engine for it. btw anyone else notice how most characters made using the unreal engine look the same.

Gonna definately pick this up after christmas when I got my 360 which will sit quite nicely next to my PS3. Until then i'm gonna try n work my way through all the games coming out for ps3 this chrsitmas. R2 here I come :D.

[ultimolu]

...^.^

*points and laughs*

[XT-1000]

Funnny MS fanboys were laughing about some PS3 games having washed out graphics and now their best and the only good title this year has washed out graphics lol

[tee_bag242]

How can i say this in a nice way...

Don't be lame please

[Dmitry Orlov]

Comments on 360.kombo.com for this article:
"GiantEnemyLobster: you are a total moron, WTF is this comment??? you need some glasses gears is the BEST GAME EVER is an instant classic and the graphics fuses with the real life!!! washed out your a$$

Report Post reply » 12 hours ago
Darkseider Christ: you just can't help yourself can you? Now go back to N4G and be a good monkey."

OWNED.

[tee_bag242]

Most games will look better if you get the brightness and contrast right.. Plus easing up on the colour. Splinter cell and games like that sometimes reaffirm the importance of doing this.
Gears 2 Looks amazing as did Gears 1 - but there was room for improvement (i wont nit pick and get into that though). However this room for improvement was totally negligible in the games overall scope.
You just have to love quality games where developers respect the people that play their masterpieces.
Im all to tired of developers spending their all their budget on PR machines trying to doop customers into buying games filled with graphical shortcuts and cheap gameplay. Especially when your playing the game thinking to yourself "i bet they knew this game sucked before they released it"

[BoneMagnus]

now I can see!

[sak500]

WOW gears of war2 has just 2 channel sound, oh wait, i forgot to switch on my amp. People dont forget to switch on the amp otherwise you might get to hear only from tv speakers. There i posted this news.

[cpuchess]

Just the video trailers I have seen look superior to Gears 1. Can't wait to play this tomorrow.

[JasonPC360PS3Wii]

The answer is in the title "default" guess some people are just to dumb to go to settings.

[cliffbo]

adjust the brightness level... surely not? i mean, all those comparative vids of PS3 games looking washed out and were taken on face value? we have our answer: adjust the brightness. now perhaps we won't see any more dumb posts by 360 owners when those comparison vids are put up

[rawd]

ahahahahahahha Smears of Bore

[rawd]

aw wookit the upset X-Bot, so cute

[ropelli90]

Can someone please explain me what this "washed out" actually means when we are talking about graphics. The colors aren't bright enough or what? I'm Finnish so that kind of explains a lot...

[ThaGeNeCySt]

doesn't look washed out on my TV

[ZILLA]

thats what they meant.xbox is dying a slow and painful death,next price cut 99.00.what a piece of garbage.PLAY B3YOND waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaay B3YOND!!

[Marquis_de_Sade]

this article goes to show how few people actually follow the link, or lack the intellegence to guess that the use of 'default' in article heading suggests not the game as a whole.

[XxCYONIDExX]

Default will look different on all monitors and tvs.