2K: Mafia II PS3/360 Look and Run Identical

2K held a conference earlier this afternoon with a Q&A session about their upcoming release, Mafia II. One of the biggest controversies this generation has held is the comparison of the PS3 version versus the Xbox 360 version. Earlier in the week there was a screen comparison showing the Xbox 360 version as the clear winner, but that may not be the case after all.

[Chris_Hansen_Rocks]

all hell would break lose if the playboy pictures were inferior on one platform

[Hanif-876]

I've heard that a million times before about games being identical and when it releases its a completely different story. However, if the PS3 version looked just as good as the Xbox360 version then i'd get the game on launch but i'm currently a PS3 only gamer and i wouldn't take Mafia 2 if someone was handed it to me for free. i hope that the resolution is the same and they should take off that stupid blur that the PS3 version has.

[ProjectVulcan]

Me too. But this time I expect the final console versions to end up closer than the demos were.

As someone who will get it on PC though, it always pisses me off something chronic when a developer says the game will look/run the same on all the platforms, including PC. It certainly shouldnt, with the raw performance available. I didnt buy a powerful Pc for the developer to say the game will look the same as the consoles. They should at least stop the PR spiel and admit that PC will give improvements with higher end machines.

First they say that the game is built to optimise for all platforms, then claim it looks the same on all. Thats as good as saying we must be crap Pc developers because we havent been able to make the game look better on Pc hardware thats preposterously more powerful than console. Please developers....drop the BS and tell the truth for once

[OpenGL]

The truth is that the PS3 and 360 are starting to show their age. The 360's GPU is better suited for lots of transparencies as seen in Mafia II. The PS3's GPU is better in some other circumstances but those do not apply here. Sure developers can work around the RSX's disadvantages as seen in beautiful looking games like Uncharted 2 and God of War 3, but that takes time and money.

You can try to diss them all you want as a PC developer, but their game runs and looks better on PC hardware than just about every game on the market. Even my $800 laptop's Mobility Radeon 5650 is able to run Mafia II at a quality that surpass every game on the PS3 and 360.

If the final build of the game manages to be equal between the PS3 and 360, that's fantastic. I simply wouldn't count on it though based on the demo and previous multi-platform history.

Also, what do you expect them to say? "Sorry guys, the PS3 version looks worse because we didn't have the time or budget to spend, despite needing it."

[SilentNegotiator]

"To me they look pretty much the same. I've seen crazy people that put screenshots side-by-side on the internet, but if you are just running them on monitors side-by-side there really isn't much of a visual or performance difference. This again goes back to the Illusion engine and this is what it was designed to do -- to have the game look and run the same across both consoles and PC"

I would have felt less leery if he had said the game improved since the demo, but he is just the creative director and the screens from the Ps3 exclusive content were pretty reassuring.

[SephireX]

I played the demo on the 360 and objects in the distance can be quite blurry. This game may only look good on PC. I've both a PS3 and 360 but I'll get the game on PC if it gets good reviews. Devs need to start lead developing multi games on PS3. If all games were PS3 exclusives, I wouldn't bother buying a PC. The 360 drags multis down but that's the nature of business.

[raztad]

Stop judging a game based off a old demo. The stuff that really matter is not even the graphical differences, but the horrible performance. Do you really think 2K can ship a game is such an unplayable state. I'm for sure not buying if that is the case. I can bet game will be much improved in the final build.

[OpenGL]

You wouldn't buy a PC to play games on if all games were exclusive to the PS3? Such a big fucking surprise. I wouldn't own a PS3 and 360 if there were no games for those platforms either.

[0mega4]

the differences are never enough to bother the average person.

but they are enough to start a fanboy war

[TheXgamerLive]

but there close enough, enjoy the damn game, if it's your thang. me, ima get Halo Reach soon and Fable III, and Fallout new vegas. Games are expensive so ima limit how many i buy in the next 2 months.

[Hydrolex]

you will earn invest more money by spending more money on staff and selling a good game than a shitty one

[Traveler]

Sadly they are not identical from what I have seen. I am tired of developers lying to us.

[mercenarie]

Jack Scalici: "To me they look pretty much the same. I've seen crazy people that put screenshots side-by-side on the internet.

what's so crazy about posting side by side screenshots? a customer WANTS to be informed.. YOUR the crazy one, if i remember correctly you and the team have been bragging about the technology for the past few years and now that the demo has been released its kind of obvious that you guys ran the lips. 49% screen tear, grass gone, and so on.

and to 2K kiss my ASS, you did a horrible job with Bioshock PS3 i am going to wait for this to hit the bargain bin.

[aaron5829]

got my DS3 to work with my PC Games..

getting it for the PC...

PLaying splinter cell with a ds3 just feels like home.. :)

[yewles1]

WTH? There's a video comparison by Machinima that clearly shows the PS3 version to be inferior.

Edit: Here it is.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[despair]

this is for the demo which is of an older build, the final build comparison has yet to be done and from the few PS3 screens on Gamespot at the very least the missing grass is there.

Just wait for a proper analysis of the final product before jumping to conclusions.

[MariaHelFutura]

It`s sad but ALOT of sites run "biased" comparisons. I own a PS3 and 360 I`ve compared alot of demos and full games and 99.9% are identical.

[Pistolero]

You are lying...I have compared a ton of games on my ps3 and 360 and 95% of the time they are not identical....then you have comparisons from about 4 or 5 different sources often all saying the same thing...you have to be delusional to claim that it is all a conspiracy against the ps3....i know you are a big ps3 fan but face reality...the ps3 does not do particularly well on most multiplatform games.

[despair]

@Pistolero

so let me get this straight, you actually either purchase or rent copies of the same game for both PS3 and X360 just for the sole purpose of doing a comparison(I'm assuming side by side on the same model TV,with same settings or using HQ video capture tech).

And you have done this for a large sample of the multiplatform games(which number in the hundreds over the years) to get a proper readout to say with a fact that PS3 does not do Multiplatform games well?

[comp_ali]

of course this will not reach much degrees as the ones bitching about grasses.

[ingiomar]

Yeah just like ps3 fanboys did about some rocks in Final Fantasy for 360

[Karooo]

and stuff.

[yewles1]

Ghostbusters... RDR... Bayonetta... and yet NOTHING wrong with 576p FFXIII 360... Priceless.

[Roonie]

whining about the washed out version of dragon age for 360 either.

OT: But bu but teh grass on teh DEMO!!!!!(*SOBS)

[Pistolero]

Nope...FFXIII was definitely inferior on the 360...there is no debating that....Roonie on the other hand is lying about Dragon's Age...if you go read the comparisons it was found that the ps3 version had certain advantages and the 360 version had certain advantages....for example the 360 version has better anti-aliasing and framerate...the ps3 version had better texture filtering and a better depth of field effect...in any case the 360 version was not washed out.

[phatak]

nah. they did it because it came in 3 discs

[Newtype]

only good developers makes games equal in quality without sacrificing content.

[MariaHelFutura]

Almost all multiplatform games are identical when done by yourself on the same TV with the same settings.

@N4PS3Fanboys

Again....Almost all multiplatform games are identical when done by yourself on the same TV with the same settings. Fallout 3 for instance I`ve played it on both systems and it is completely identical.

[cereal_killa]

Funny how that is I mean Nooooo web site would EVER purposely make one version look better than the other we all no there are no sites out there that are biased towards the PS3 /s

All the Muppets on here all have there list to show how multiplats are 95% better on the 360 and in some cases they are true back in 2007/8 allot of these developers were just getting to know the insides of developing on the PS3 2009 started to show equal comparisons but no matter what no fanboy would ever admit it 2010 is no different we have plenty of the joke fake ass so called journalist who claim to have credibility do nothing but make up crap just for hits to there sites and no matter how much trash they post (HHG, Patcher, Joketaku...etc and that list can go on for a while) they always seem to get approved by idiots that have to many privileges on here... My point is I've played Bayonetta, RDR, BBC2 MW1/2 blah blah blah all on my PS3 and they all play fine and in reality do people really pause there games just to look at what the grass looks like on there TVs like WTF!!!! do you Muppet's really have that much time on your hands to really care about the look, how many FPS or Sales of a certain game, get a life people and stop worrying about things that mean nothing to you video games are ment to be a fun and enjoyable experience and some of you people think you'll die if your game or console doesn't sell more or look better than the competition Sony, M$ nor Nintendo will never send you pathetic losers a cheque for defending them as much as you do.

[N4PS3Fanboys]

That's what they said about GTA IV. And Fallout 3. And Red Dead Redemption. It seems just about every open world game runs better on the 360 for some reason. It is kind of sad though, that PS3 fans have to hope for their version just to be equal to the 360 version. I think they deserve better!

[yewles1]

Ahem.. I believe Oblivion, Burnout Paradise and Dragon Age: Origins would like to have a word with you... XD

[SmokeyMcBear]

don't forget free DLC

[WetN00dle69]

Oblivion........really?
Cause last i check the 360 displayed better textures and Lighting ohh and it ran alot smoother as well! The only thing going on the Ps3 side was the draw distance. I have both the Ps3 and 360 versions by the way. WHY? i have no clue i just have them.........lol

[hybridtheory12]

Oblviion on PS3 was the best version EVER without mods. great gfx and short loading times.

[Pistolero]

Who are you trying to fool?...Burnout Paradise was one of the few games that was 99.9% identical on both platforms and much was made of that fact...Oblivion was better on the 360 and Dragon Age was a wash...both consoles had some advantages over the other.
http://www.eurogamer.net/vi...
http://www.eurogamer.net/ar...

[Motorola]

Actually hybrid is right for once...i agree burnout was identical. However Oblivion was NOT better on xbox 360. I have all versions of that game. PS3 version was the best on consoles. Better visuals and the loading area was nonexistant, no framerate hitches. The PC version is nice 2.

[tyrex]

Thats why what we have seen of infamous 2 looks incredibly so far. and didn't the 360 version of fallout 3 have to have a graphical patch, or am i thinking of something else

[ThatCanadianGuy]

Who are YOU trying to fool?

Oblivion was better on PS3.
http://www.joystiq.com/2007...

[NinjaAssassin]

Then again, IGN also claimed Bioshock was better on the PS3 and that turned out to be a big fat lie.

[Lionalliance]

why the hell the release an older build while the 360 got the new one? couldn't the release both demos of the same build?

[tyrex]

when they are saying the 360 version looks better they are talking about the grass and trees. I don't think 2k forgot how something so small on the internet can get blown out of proportion. The minute graphical differences seem to be more important than gameplay

[Tyrant-Soul]

There is less detail on the ps3 version.Just look at the grass/trees and the ground around the litter bins.That said I will still buy iy for ps3 because thats my perfered choice.

[TABSF]

Well clearly this is just PR spin

The PC version is like a Gen ahead of the console version and I wish I was joking
"to have the game look and run the same across both consoles and PC."
The DEMO shows the PC is in a different league compared to 360 and PS3

Plus consoles don't have APEX or Full PhysX so it easily PR spin

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

They clearly all look the same =/

[-Judge_Fudge]

of corse they look the same, its only the grapix whores and fanboys care if one is inferior ..there not delicious

[KILLERAPP]

Classic case of mine is better than yours… Sad…

[MGRogue2017]

... That remains to be seen.

[N4OGs]

I dont even know why people take any comparisons seriously when we all know the media always lies about the ps3 version.
look at how they lied about gt5.

[Raider69]

Jack Scalici: "To me they look pretty much the same. I've seen crazy people that put screenshots side-by-side on the internet, but if you are just running them on monitors side-by-side there really isn't much of a visual or performance difference. This again goes back to the Illusion engine and this is what it was designed to do -- to have the game look and run the same across both consoles and PC"

FROM THE LOOKS HE IS STATING THAT THE PC VERSION RUN AND LOOKS THE SAME HAS CONSOLES!!EVERY ONE KNOWS THAT PC IS SUPERIOR!ALL THEY WANT IS SELL,THEY WILL NEVER RELEASE THAT WORST DEMO ON PSN FOR THE PS3 IF THE FINAL BUILD WILL RUN BETTER!DONT GET FULL BY IS WORDS BECAUSE IN THE END THE FINAL BUILD WILL BE EXACTLY LIKE THE DEMO!MARK MY WORDS!

[Official General]

You guys just dont stop with this bullsh*t do you? You all spewed the same crap about the PS3 versions of GTA 4 and Red Dead Redemption, how the 360 versions were better, blah, blah, blah, blah!

The truth is, most multi-platform games look identical on the PS3 and 360. GTA 4 and Red Dead Redemption both look brilliant on the PS3 and I'm sure they do on the 360 aswell. There will be slight differences because they are different machines with different specs, but you 360 guys are fooling yourselves if you think the differences are enough to scream and boast about. I have RDR on my PS3 and I thought it look brilliant - I saw the 360 version on my friends, and I genuinely dont think its looks better than the PS3 version, they both look good in their own ways.

You 360 guys know that this PS3 inferior multi-platform stuff is pure bullsh*t and it just aint true and you all know it does not hold any weight, and it has not done for many years now. That bold statement is just played out. I bet most of you guys have dont even own a PS3 to even see the differences. But if it makes you guys very happy, then yeah in your eyes the 360 multi-plaform games are better than the PS3's.

Here is another truth - the PS3 is STILL a much more powerful machine than the 360. The PS3 has better tech, better specs and better graphics as shown in it's exclusive games which I do not have to name.

I don't care what you 360 guys say about the PS3 multi-platform games. The multi-platform games I was into about on the PS3 all look great, COD4, GTA 4, Red Dead Redemption and Pro Evolution Soccer. I'm not gonna listen to your lies and no amount of boasts that "the 360 does multi-plat better" will make me buy a 360. I still dont wanna 360, it just cannot do what the PS3 can do - which is everything!

[phatak]

best comment eva bro. dont listen to these xbots. i had 3 xboxes, all red ringed and im done. before they use to say ps3 is 2 expensive, has no exclusives, then it was online sux, now multiplatform games perform better. 1 by 1 the ps3 has answered these questions by offering the best exclusives , same price, same online for free gameplay wise and multiplatform games looking equally gud. add in blu-ray and superior hardware and the exclusives which have a higher rating compared to the 360. xbots talk about espn, twitter and last fm. ps3 had that since day 1 with hard drive and wifi since day 1. no matter how slow they say the browser is, the point is I can do everything on my ps3 browser, from youtube to facebook to calling my grandmother using skype. I believe in quality over quantity and ps3 is pure quality. games like lbp 2 r gud enough that u can make limbo, shadow complex in the game. xbots think cross game chat is the best feature. well i believe having game sharing on psn is a bigger feature and dynamic themes ftw. and kinect? wheres the games, lol last year when my 3rd 360 was working, I was hyped for natal. now year l8tr kinect has no games even worth mentioning except for milo which is nowhere to b foubd. while on move I get all the hardcore games which i wont mention. PS3 is the only console that can do stereoscopic 3d. not that im a fan of 3d but the fact is it can and sony is pushing it.

[ChronoJoe]

If you look at the screenshots, of the final build. They look indentical.

Whereas the screenshots, of the demo, do not.

http://blog.us.playstation.... as you can see in the exclusive, PS3 DLC shots... the PS3 verion has elements like grass, and motion blur, which were missing in the demo.

You can also find a shot displaying the triangle button, if you'd like to suggest that those shots were actually taken running on a 360/PC, also displaying grass.

That, and considering the reviews that the game has gotten. Citing that they'res nothing else to do in the city, aside the main missions - really. The arcade style missions, available exclusively on the PS3 version are a rather large asset to the game, not only adding 'extra' but something new, filling a gap point are pointing out in the games structure. So unlike the RDR DLC, I imagine this will actually improve review scores for the PS3 version, which is interesting considering how this free DLC stuff is largely pretty much, crap.

[clarkdef]

What are you guys going on about "final build"? There is no such thing. The game is built once and all they can really do is adjust default settings for consoles or change lighting, they also can add and remove tached on stuff.

The game looks horrible on PS3 because it doesn't really use the SPEs to great effect, its not the devs fault, its Sony's for making a platform with too many rules. Regardless I love my PS3 and I game on it.

[bilbobob]

sony used a processor that requires new thinking. Lets face it sony 1st party games p*ss all over 360 ones. So the Cell cannot be all bad. so they got to learn something new, Boo F*cking Hoo, do the job they get paid for.

the 360 is easy money because its just an under powered PC and its sad to see that most devs will take the easy way out.

[JonDiskonected]

of course he's gonna say that(just like every develloper pre-launch)

he's not gonna say: ''well, we saw how rockstar gave ps3 owners extra content for giving them the inferior version of red dead redemption, so heck we though we would do the same thing''

[ChronoJoe]

What? You don't understand software development cycles, clearly. Or fundamentals of software development itself...

"The game is built once and all they can really do is "

Yes, but a demo, or any released product that branches off the original build, is built on a different cycle, branching off the original. Making it a different build. As it's based off a mid-stage in development, pre-released builds often differ, from the final build.

"All they can do, is adjust default settings for console or change lighting?"

Now this is where you get completely clueless. So much so, it's funny. Programming a game, has almost limitless opportunities for optimisation, and means of changing aspects of the game. Be this through having SPEs handle more of the load, or managing memory resources - there's plenty opportunity for games to change, completely.

[clarkdef]

Why did you have to call me clueless lol.

Anyway they can't rebuild the game, they can change the way/order lines of scripts/code are crunched, but not in a free roam world. U2 GoW3 can all have lines of code crunch in a straight fashion but not this game, as for build its just a dev excuss trust me.

[ufo8mycat]

Mafia 2 for both PS3 and 360 are really poor ports. My laptop, which includes a graphics card that is slightly weaker then what you get in a 360, runs Mafia 2 better and it also looks better.

Of course on my high end PC, the game looks incredible, as it should, since PC was the lead platform.

But now you know how us PC gamers feel 99% of the time when we get crappy ports from consoles. Suck it up, it's just one game.

[Neurotoxin]

Personnally i don't the ps3 is inferior, in actually fact its rendering a gardener and a lawn mower which explains the lack of grass.

[bilbobob]

more time and funds needed to develop games on the PS3 is a crock. After all most of these developers made a killing out of Sony on the PS2. Suddenly they decided to start moaning because they have to give a little back. Boo, f*cking Hoo!

[Dance]

waiting on lens of truth or digital foundry