Pitchford: PC Borderlands "destroys console versions in terms of image fidelity"

Don't mince those words, Randy Pitchford, Gearbox super-honcho. Want to know what Borderlands version to get if you want it looking at its best? PC. It "destroys" the 360 and PS3 versions visually.

"The PC version destroys all the console versions in terms of the image fidelity – assuming you have the hardware for it," he told RPS.

[xztence]

Well, that should be obvious.

[morganfell]

Considering their last game didn't exactly look stunning. Now they are working on 4 games on 3 platforms at one time. How much attention is each project getting?

[nycredude]

Considering that a high end pc is likely 4-6 times more money than consoles these days then the resolution should be 9600 x 5400 on PC right?! Wow that really is blowing it away! Wait... sorry. another BS article hyping up their game...

[Pizzagaki]

Err, why would the res be 9600 ?
what use would that be, displays dont even have enough pixels to display such a resolution.

What makes the pc version better, is better shading, lighting, reflection, drawing distance etch etch.

*blows whistle*

ahem, YOU ARE A NOOB!!!!!

[Bnet343]

How much does the graphics card in the computer cost though? :/

[Perjoss]

about the same price as a games console for an average one, double if you are talking about top of the range

[Pandamobile]

A 4870 costs about $150 and has 2-3 times more power than the GPU inside the PS3 or 360.

[Raf1k1]

Damn. I was going to reply with something similar but saw Pandamobile had already said it.

edit: It'll run fine on my GeForce 7900 as does Crysis on medium with no AA but apparently according to some it's been obsolete since a few months after I got it.

edit2: I want to replace it but I'm waiting for the DX11 cards.

[Tony P]

Of course he's right. 10 times out of 10 the PC version will be capable of better visuals... But uh, such a thing as being too blunt maybe?

You still want to sell your game on console, right? I wouldn't exactly highlight the drawbacks if you know what I mean.

[sukru]

"A 4870 costs about $150 and has 2-3 times more power than the GPU inside the PS3 or 360."

Actually 4870 packs 2-3 times more power than the CPU+GPU of those consoles (in terms of raw power).

A nice comparison for folding@home is at http://fah-web.stanford.edu... . It could be a good benchmark, since they optimize their real life number crunching algorithm on all platforms. In the client statistics, even an "average" of ATI or nVidia cards are faster than the consoles.

[raztad]

Well I dont know. My PC can run any game at medium settings and they look quite acceptable. I dont want to upgrade just to make sure I'm getting the absolute best visuals, so unless they are doing a bad job with the PS3 version I'll stick with it.

@above

Are you sure about gpu+cpu? The cell pack a lot of raw power, I mean a lot. Besides, GPU raw power is just floating point calculations that is why they are so fast. GPUs are useless for AI calculations, and other non-graphic stuff.

[sukru]

Yes, as far as I know, it should be "theoretically" faster than the Cell CPU + PS3 GPU.

But only for mass number crunching. Not general purpose operations.

Edit: GPU can be used for "other stuff" too. For example nVidia runs PhysX accelerator in GPU shaders. Also there are "stream processing" libraries (gpgpu.org) which makes programming them easier.

[Tehdaza]

GPU's since Nvidia's 8xxx series have started to move towards being GPGPU's (General purpose graphic processing units). They're good for almost anything now. AI, video encoding, physics calculations, raw calculations for things like Folding @ Home.

A $150 PC graphics card has more power than the PS3 itself. It's hard for console guys to comprehend, but it's true.

Edit: Damn, ninja'd by Sukru :P

[sukru]

While I find the power of the GPU fascinating (having a good one myself), I know it cannot replace PS3 (or 360 in that manner).

Edit: removed technical stuff

[ikiru3385]

in other news....the sky is blue and the world is round.

[iceman2929]

Actualllllly i believe the world is more of an oblong-esque shape.

[FragMnTagM]

More like elliptical...

[Ellessdee]

more like a cyclic polygon. gotta take into account all them mountains and sh*t.

[yess]

All of you have only seen the world on pictures,and they are all fake.The world is flat, with a little curve;-)

[iceman2929]

and this, my friends , is why i love N4G. When the fanboyism is nowhere to be found, it can be quite the pleasurable experience. bubbles for ALL!!!!!

[divideby0]

another cluess senstationiast author seeking headlines of a net article.
dugh...hey I am a black belt and can own all the white belts in my class

[-Mezzo-]

Was saying this necessary, wouldn't this effect sales. i can bet that in about a week he will try to clarify himself.

[Pandamobile]

How would this affect sales? Everyone knows the PC versions of multiplatform games look WAY better than the console versions.

[Raf1k1]

I think what he means is if this guy says it's much better on PC people might buy it for PC instead of console which doesn't affect overall sales but does for each individual platform.

Edit: @Pandamobile. Your bubbles seem to have disappeared. Here have one on me.
Edit2: lol something wrong with this sight. It keeps doing weird things. Is it Firefox or the site?

[Ares84HU]

It does effect sales when people know that the games developer doesn't give a rats ass about your console of choice.

This has made me stop getting the game because I rather give my money to people who actually care about their consumers. Example: ND

[Pandamobile]

Who's to say that Gearbox doesn't care about their console audience?

Just because they said that the PC version will look a lot better than the console version doesn't mean the console versions will be bad.

[evrfighter]

why would they care if more people bought it on the pc? everyone already knows console gamers will pay for mediocrity and DLC to begin with. It's the pc crowd who need to be sold on multiplats.

All in all it's not a bad move.

[raztad]

@evrfi

Not agree. I'm worried about this game. Probably they are making a pretty bad job on consoles. At the end borderland will end up overlooked for potential console costumers.

[asyouburn]

the speed of a car is said to "destroy" the speed of a go kart. . .

[Saaking]

PS3 destroys the 360 in terms of image fidelity.

[Barragan]

looks better on pc, let alone a multiplatform game, 360 even beats ps3 most of the time in multiplatform games, if thats what you want to judge ps3 off of, then your just hyping your platform and a no count developer up for no reason and it dont count for nothin

[shutupandplay]

Oh nice. PS3 fans can get his on their gaming RIG. This is good, now everybody gets to skip the crappy PS3 version. :)

[Saaking]

I prefer the comfort of console gaming though I do have a good enough computer to run most games. I prefer console gaming and yes, I will get the better version of this game be it the x360 or PS3.

[tdrules]

ps3 owner of game who also owns a pc= 360 misses out
pc owner of game who also has a ps3= 360 misses out.

so how does the ps3 lose out?

[LuHawk2]

lets see how long it takes for your dumb ass to figure it out

[PirateThom]

I'd like to think so. Why sugar coat it? The console versions should look worse if they've done their jobs right.

[Ares84HU]

...this is not the way to advertise your game.

Basicaly it says that the PS3 and 360 owners get a garbage port and the PC version is da bom yo.

As a PS3 owner this is not something I'm happy about. Though I do have a gaming PC but don't use it much since I finished Crysis.

So will I get this game??? Defenatly NOT!

I rather give my money who cares about their consumers like naughty dog.

[Raf1k1]

All it says is the PC version is better. We won't know by how much until we see from screens from each platform so for all we know the console versions could look great just not as great as the PC which is what everyone would expect anyway even if he didn't say it.

Having said that, his choice of words does make you think the console versions won't look good enough.

[Ares84HU]

It sais: PC version "DESTROYS" the console versions.

if it "DESTROYS" it than it must be miles ahead.

So there is your answer.

[Pandamobile]

Have you ever seen a side by side comparison of COD4 on PC and consoles? Have you seen the console version of CryEngine 3 tech demo vs CryEngine 2 on PC? Have you seen Fallout 3 on PC vs console?

Every multiplatform game on PC looks miles ahead of the console version. Most developers just don't admit it.

[GiantEnemyCrab]

Not only that but the games are usually $10 cheaper on PC as well.

Screw this game, he just talked me out of buying a game I had pre-ordered already. Nice one Raaanddeeeee!

[Ares84HU]

I know that a game looks much better on PC's all the time. I'm not a moron.

But what I don't agree with is a developer comming out in the open and stating it this way.

You see you can tell people to go to hell nicely or very immaturley. It's up to you which way you choose.

This idiot had to be like an immature jerk and say it like this...fine than if the console versions are the TEREBBLE than srew it I don't want it.

[NCAzrael]

Oh noes, for once a developer lavishes some attention on the PC instead of a console and now all you hypocrites want to bash on the game because of it. By now it should be common knowledge that the PC performs better. Just because a developer acknowledges that fact doesn't mean they don't care about their customers or that the game is going to suck on the console.

Given how much crap the PC has received over the past few years thanks to the rise in console popularity you would think that a little praise here and there would be allowed.

[STONEY4]

Full interview here.

http://www.rockpapershotgun...

[Pandamobile]

"HermitUK: Who’d win in a fight: Brick (Borderlands) or Heavy Weapons Guy (TF2)?

Oh, Brick would just kick his ass. If you’re talking a fist fight, it wouldn’t be any contest. Brick would just destroy the guy. He’d be screaming “blooooooooood!” the whole time and it wouldn’t even be fair. Now, if there’s some range, then Heavy gets his Minigun… Of course, Brick gets a rocketlauncher as well… And frankly that Heavy’s worthless without a medic. It wouldn’t even be close. Brick is like twice as tall, twice as wide…"

Haha. I love Randy Pitchford.

[evrfighter]

"Brick gets a rocketlauncher as well"

so do tf2 soldiers but a good heavy will destroy them in a minute =\

[Pandamobile]

Heavy Weapons Guy will punch him to death.

"IS GOOD DAY TO BE GIANT MAN."

[GiantEnemyCrab]

Not surprising.. But "blown out of the water"? Nice going Randy, you just talked me out of buying the game. Sounds like the console versions are going to be gimped dog sh*t.

/pre-ordered cancelled as of 5 minutes ago.

[Pandamobile]

Don't be a baby. Most console games are gimped versions of the original PC game.

COD, Brothers in Arms, Orange Box, all fail in comparison to the PC version.

[Ravenor]

Yeah your comment just smacks of whiner.

Console games always run at or below 720P with little to no AA, you can tell me all you want "No my tv says 1920*1080" but that's upscaled cupcake. A 22 inch monitor running at a lower then mainstream resolution of 1680*1050 looks leaps and bounds better then 720P on a tv.

All Pitchford is doing is telling us what we already know, the definitive experience comes on the PC.

[STONEY4]

Just buy the game, you probably wouldn't have even noticed or cared if Pitchford hadn't mentioned this. If you look at any console game that has come out on the PC, then look at the PC version, 99% of the time, the PC version looks way better.

[cyclindk]

Key point,

“The PC version destroys all the console versions in terms of the image fidelity – assuming you have the hardware for it,”

There's a reason WoW's graphics are garbage and why they have so many customers.. most PC players don't have freaking super-rigs.

[Tehdaza]

Lol...

The reason WoW looks the way it does is because it came out in 2004...

[cyclindk]

But they could have upped the graphics a dozen times by now, they just don't want to alienate any of their consumer base.

[free2game365]

No, Blizzard is just too cheap to do it.

[free2game365]

This guy is known for overhyping everything. I bet in the end it'll look exactly the same as the console one with the same textures/lighting/shaders.