Battlefield 3: Does Hi-Res pack prove that console graphics are poor?

Product-Reviews writes: Two things to think about here: 1) It’s great that EA DICE are thinking about improving the graphics further for the console version, but 2) Does it mean that gamers were generally correct in slating the quality of the console graphics, and this is a last ditch attempt by DICE to calm the fears? Why haven’t they included the hi-res textures from the start, and why has this bombshell only come out one week before release?

[Laxman216]

Nope.

[tr00p3r]

I agree to an extent, the graphics are more than fine.. but it does make you wonder.. when were they going to tell everyone about this last minute mandatory install?

Considering that it came via an indirect question during an interview, it seems like they were not going to make it public knowledge..interesting.

[Agent-86]

From my understanding, it isn't a mandatory install; it is optional. If you have the HDD space, though, I don't see why you wouldn't install it.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Everyone needs to remember not everyone has HDD space for that install on both the 360 and PS3....there are still many 20Gb units in the wild for Sony... So you build the game to spec so all can play (more sales)... Then you give the option for those who can to install hi rez. Everyone is happy.

[malol]

cant wait for the PC Hi-Res textures packs
going to be crazy bananas

[deadpoole]

I dont know why ppl are sooo stuck up about that games should just run off DVDs ... I would take installation of game on my HDD anyday over running the game using just DVD, BRD or whtnot.

Modern Warfare 2 ... Continuouse grinding, tearing, running, churning ... I dont know what happens is drive but this is how I feel when I play modern warfare 2 on PS3 ... noise is just toooooo much for disc spinning in drive.

I had to install Dead Space 1 and 2 in Xbox 360 because all that loud noise of disc spinnin was ruining the whole atmosphere. Plus HDD is always lot faster compared to any disc drive.

[AKS]

@deadpoole Agreed. I think some of the console wars nonsense plays into it. It seems like many viewed Sony as including a hard drive in every PS3 as a great thing but bizarrely having games actually utilize it is somehow viewed as a negative. I certainly don't want to put any additional wear on a BD-ROM drive than I have to. I am happy to install games whenever I can.

I thought these stupid mandatory install submissions would eventually diminish in frequency as people started to figure out that performance may be improved when installed and that HDDs are very cheap, but there seems to be no end to whining about installations.

[decrypt]

@AKS

Console gamers really dont care about performance, if they did they'd all be gaming on PCs. It doesnt really matter to them if every time load screen takes 10-20secs extra, the initial 5min install is just too much of a hassle.

[DaTruth]

Anybody can replace a HDD in a PS3, better to wear it out than to have to replace a BRdrive; that cost money and time to send it away! You can practically buy a new PS3 for that money!

The drive just died on my Ipod; there's F#$*-all I can do about it!

[damnyouretall]

i aint too worried about the last minute anouncment. if its the only way to make the game look better, well so be it. we all have hard drives man. why does this bother people? it only re asures me that it will look decent, and better than the beta

[banner]

@decrypt

What is it with pc gamers not understanding that console gamers don't like to play on little 22" monitors in a rolling chair.

[gamingdroid]

The issue I believe is that many gamers have grown accustomed to the instantness of consoles. I for one like that, but I also like options so being able to choose is nice ability.

That said, given the option I always install. Why? Because that darn optical drive spinning for hours means my console will die sooner.

It's easy to replace a hard drive, NOT so easy to replace the optical drive.

[SilentNegotiator]

They're adding nicer textures to the console versions than they originally had on the console versions. That's a sign that console graphics are POOR?

Besides, they don't even have all of the graphical options in the PC version of the beta. Will that mean PC graphics are poor when they add then into the final thing?

What kind of logic is that? They're "desperate" to calm people's concerns....but does that matter if they're ADDING THE HIGHER RES TEXTURES, anyway???

[gamingdroid]

I'm assuming that "high resolution texture" is standard on PC, which does shed consoles in a bad light.

I think it's pretty much a given that PC is superior in the technical/graphical department. Even if all the assets where the same, and the frame rate was fixed, you still would benefit from smoother experience, higher resolution and more effects.

I played Gears of War on PC, and it was night and day from the Xbox 360 version. I expect most if not all PC games to be considerably better compared to the console. Yet, I still choose my console for ease of use and instant gratification (for the most part).

[dredgewalker]

@gamingdroid

I played gears too on the pc and played the 360 version at my friends house. The pc version might still look superior but it's still the same good game on the 360. Sometimes we just get too obsessed with the "graphics" that we lose sight of one of other significant factor in a good game and that is gameplay. I'm still playing a lot of old games on my pc cause they are still good and their gameplay holds up to a lot of modern games. It's actually sad to think that most of the evolution in games are just "graphics".

[gamingdroid]

I didn't have my gaming adapter at the time and played the entire game through on the keyboard/mouse. I did not like that so it wasn't entirely the same for me.

You are right that the same game mechanic is entirely there and that the graphic isn't the what defines or makes the game fun. I certainly appreciate the graphics, but game play hands down win over graphics every single time.

The thing is the graphical gap is huge between console and PC so it is quite noticeable even on my cr@ppy PC.

I think the main innovation in games these days are from shooters really working well on consoles (and aren't second fiddle to PC), motion control, smarter AI, overall streamlined online experience and mainstream online features for consoles.

That said, I don't necessarily understand why people keep saying there is no innovation in gaming. I feel there is soo much innovation and I never have an issue finding games or things to do. I'm having a hard time finding time!

[fluffydelusions]

So people are expecting high end PC graphics from sub $250 consoles? For $199-$250 I cannot complain

[Organization XII]

my $250 GPU is 20 times more powerful than both consoles combined. I'm not trolling, that's a fact.

[OpenGL]

@ Organization XII

The Geforce GTX 580, the most powerful single GPU on the market is around 10x as powerful as the GPUs in the PS3 or 360 (at least on paper) and it sells for between $450-600 depending on the manufacturer and what version (1.5GB or 3GB) you get.

[superrey19]

@OpenGL

Well that's not bad at all considering it's a fairly new card and that's how much ps3 and 360s cost in the beginning. Come next generation, for another $500-$600, i would be surprised if the ps4 or 720 were 10x more powerful than the current gen.

[OpenGL]

@ superrey19

I'm not saying it's bad at all (the PC is my primary gaming platform) but he's exaggerating the power of PC hardware when it's unnecessary as it is already so far ahead.

[Blooper62]

PC gaming is overrated. Yeah having a $600 graphics card is nice and games will look pretty but they won't look $400 better than a top notch PS3 game. Which is a shame on the developers part. Think what a game thats 10x better looking than Uncharted would look like. It would be insane!

[gamingdroid]

I don't think anyone does, but isn't it a given that a more expensive piece of equipment is expected to give better performance?

The question is, if that difference actually yields a result that is worth it? For me, for the most part it isn't enough. The PC gap though is growing, so I'm more and more tempted to do it!

[Persistantthug]

Not exactly the same mechanics, but somewhat similar outcome.

[Morgue]

Should I plug my ram cartridge back into my N64 in hopes it'll play BF3?

[Gamer3000]

"Does stupid articles like this one prove that gaming journalism are poor?"
YES

[gravemaker]

consoles graphics are poor, this is obvious

[cochise313]

gears 3, uncharted 3, rage, gow3, killzone, Arkham city, and bioshock infinite all beg to differ. As old as the current gen is, it still produces some amazing visuals.

[Laxman216]

Yeah when you think about it, its actually kinda amazing the graphics some developers can come out with, given the technology is about 6 years old now.

[Washington-Capitals]

Games like uncharted and god of war specifically look amazing because of the ART DIRECTION AND PRODUCTION VALUE. Games like Crysis and Rage look good cause of their technical prowess of the engine. Different approaches but they both achieve amazing results.

Anyone remember a game called Okami on PS2? That game looked amazing, and that was because of the art direction not because the PS2 was some beast graphical machine.

[SilentNegotiator]

For $250 or less, consoles do great things in the graphics department. 720p is fine with me. No need to put anti-console sediment into every other article.

[stu888]

going to enjoy getting banned...

your a dick! this is obvious.

[Tyre]

@Gravemaker No there not, PC Elitists are just ridiculous over-critical and spoiled. Console gamers do not judge a game on its jaggie shadows or low-res textures in the 1st place and most of the time they are quiet and do not make a habit of posting negative comments about developers or games. U guys make me sick. Have a more positive attitude towards games, the gaming community and developers in general, cause this fashionable bashing will lead to nothing, there's no magic in a breakdown. U all should be ashamed.

[zeksta]

Simple answer: The Beta's graphics were reduced to cut the size of the download.

[nitrogav]

Exactly , just saving bandwidth .Imagine millions downloading 4 GB beta demos like the pc one . I got both the pc and ps3 betas down and loving both . Yes the graphics are better on pc but so what ? . The game is the same and good news about the hires pack with the full game . My preorder is ready and waiting .

[Optical_Matrix]

Well, if the person that wrote this article, would kindly look at the latest Uncharted 3 footage....he may need to re-evaluate that statement. Because judging by what I saw in that 2-3 minute video, ND have proven that console graphics are not poor. And don't even get me started on Gears of War 3, God of War III etc.

[WhiteLightning]

Oh yeah that Uncharted 3 gameplay I saw recently with Drake walking in the sand into the ruined village looked really poor.......

¬_¬

[qwertyz]

yep it did by pc standards even bulletstorm on pc looks better than that(UC3 did you know that ? there're quite a number of pc games that makes all console games look last generation so it all depends on what you mean.

but by console standards quite a number of console games look amazing such as crysis 1, crysis 2, gears 3, killzone 2/3, uncharted 2/3, RAGE, skyrim etc

most multiplats that have made it to pc over the past few years look better than anything on consoles

do you know that modern warfare 2 maxed out 1080p looks better than killzone 3 ? even with activisions ancient engine pc still destroys consoles

comparing pc to console is really not fair because pc completely overshadowed consoles since 2006 but consoles are pulling of some good visuals considering how old the hardware is, I'll admit that

[OdinX]

How delusional can you be? No one is doubting that PC gfx can and often times are better. But to say that some console games still look shitty when compared to PC exclusives is simply stupid. The difference from 720p to to true 1080p isn't exceptional or amazingly different (at least I can't see it), not as much as it is from 480p-720p.

[Shackdaddy836]

^^ 1080p is almost twice the resolution as 720. You'll see when next gen consoles come out that you're dead wrong....

[stu888]

this is why I hate PC gamers... saw witcher 2 max settings 1080p on a mates PC, it wasn't anything special.

Uncharted 2, Gears 3, graphics or not, shit on PC games in general. Next gen, what are the games that people will talk about that defined last gen? Uncharted 2, Gears, just all F*ck off and w*nk over your specs, or f*ck your USB drives or something..

cheers goodnight.

[hesido]

Resolution is overrated, after an extent. It doesn't enhance the graphics as a new rendering tech or better shaders would do. I wouldn't mind playing a game at 720p that looks as good as a 720p movie.

That said, I'm guessing new generation consoles will default to 1080p for non-stereoscopic modes and 720p for 3d modes. The 1080p will be the target as it will make the 3d transition much easier.

[gustave154]

you should have added /sarcasm at the end....

[InNomeDiDio]

Just because the Graphics can't match the quality of a HighEnd System does NOT mean they are poor. That is just laughable and Fanboy Talking.

[limewax]

Finally some sense. Yeah pc games look great, Its the best place to play multiplats by far. But console exclusives look great too. My year wouldn't be complete without GeOW3 on 360, UC3 on PS3 and Skyrim+BF3 on PC.

I would hate to be the type to miss these sort of experiences due to an unexplainable grudge against hardware personally

[MariaHelFutura]

I'm convinced pc gamers are all douche bags. They talk the most sh!t on N4G. Plus their all graphic whores. No wonder most devs don't care about developing games for them anymore.

[superrey19]

so what do you make of the all the console war fanboys on this site? There are way more of them talking smack all the time. They all claimed graphical superiority at one point as well, does that make them graphic whores? And why would devs care about petty arguments going on in a forum?

[damnyouretall]

console people bicker, then the pc gamers come in and say hey im fkn better than both of you. its about as low down as comparing what kinda of car you can afford. you have a benz? good for you go drive it and shut up

[solar]

about 0.000000000001% of PC gamers come to this site. and we talk the most sh*t? lemme go look at the 40 or so ps3 vs. 360 graphics comparisons posted within the last couple days.

[MariaHelFutura]

Less pc gamers come here, most of them who do are complete pricks.

[Jafooli]

This hi-res pack should do great things for the framerate.

[hot111]

Retarded website.

[Kahvipannu]

What a title... No, it doesn't, it just proves the age of the consoles, they have limitations, but this is good workaround from Dice. In general, consoles have pretty damn impressive graphics still, ofcourse not PC level, but insane still.

[denero1]

I'm a Pc gamer and a Ps3 gamer to be dead honest yes pc graphics are great but the difference isn't really all that amazing both still have nice graphics and currently most devs are focused on consoles so console users know they will get great quality games whereas pc users kind of are getting lackluster treatment as of late -_-

[leogets]

cant see the problem. dice have found a way to keep consoles nearly on par with pc is a great thing.

[ElDorado]

This article proves that you are poor.

[AllroundGamer]

it's nice to have the textures on the HDD, but if the RAM is so small they just can't fit there can they...

[Gamer-Z]

Hi-Res texture packs seem to be the new thing that devs are trying out. That's great because if this trend continues we will be seeing a lot of games with better graphics, i know one or two games that can do with a texture pack, coughMW3...

[andreasx]

it doesnt mean they are poor, it means you can get it even better!

[RyuCloudStrife]

nope it proves consoles can still stick it to the PC

[SITH]

Such a silly article. I don't see what it is trying to accomplish. We all want great graphics, that is a given. Why must it be further explored just because a couple of weeks from release the consoles get it? Pointless.

[The_Nameless_One]

When it's a game specifically designed for consoles? No.

[artdafoo]

It proves that consoles are 5+ years old and that the guy who wrote this article forgot that.

[RyuDrinksTheDew]

i dont know what happen, made me double post for some reason.

disregard this comment, my apologies.

[RyuDrinksTheDew]

actually, i think its the other way around.

it kinda proves you can get more juice out of them via HDD cache.

they just dont make it mandatory because there are still 20gb systems out there.

[outwar6010]

its not that big of a deal it just goes to show that dice could have done more work optimising the console versions

[hadriker]

DO the console version look worse than the PC? Of course. Does that by definition make the console graphics bad? No, it does not.

I've played the beta on PC and on PS3. while the difference is pretty obvious, it in no way means the ps3 version is bad looking. Its easily one of the better looking console games being made and the hi rez texture pack will make that even more true.

Obviously you will see comparisons. Especially with a game like this that pushes the graphical and technical boundaries as it does. Its a good way to see where consoles and PCs sit as far as their technical prowess.

The guy that made this article is just baiting for clicks.

[zackacloud]

You stupid gamers nothing change at all. This happening every gen. Simply : the beginning of the gen the console rule then after 3 to 5 years PC rule for short for 4 years at max.

And come on it useless nothing funny enough in this gen. I brefer play Crisis Core or KH BBS than playing any stupid RPG on current gen console or PC (except 2 and gamers know both of them).

[Tsar4ever01]

In a short answer, No, this does not mean that console graphics are poor. This only means that devs are laying out new a foundation to use "Graphic enhancer" software to compensate for the lack of graphical features seen in multiplat games first designed than ported off the pc.

I think this is great for this generation going onto the next, but because consoles are fixed platforms, HDD/SDD is going to be foremost the important features needed in gaming platforms from here on.

Console games that could be graphically upgraded through software "texture pack" installs. What a novel idea. Only if the the update won't hinder the "frames-per-sec" or "texture flicker" won't be a issue. I'm all for it. Pop-up's don't bother me as much as most people, because when I walk close to an area that just popped up from far away, I prefer the textures to be a sharp and crisp that it's suppose to be when I get up close.

[kamakaz3md]

What BS is that DICE and EA has made PS3 look bad by saying there pushing the consoles to there limits, when all they did was even the graphics out with the ps3 version and 360 version... Why is it that Uncharted 3 looks ALOT better, not to mention, R3, K3, inF2... and mostly all exclusives... hands down they look better and people know it, so thanks DICE, now your giving 360 fanboys a stubby!

[evilstuie]

i love how everyone is complaining about a console with 3 year old technology not being able to compete with the latest 6 core cpus and video cards. PC will always have better graphics because they don't have to sacrifice anything and the tech can always catch up. consoles are restricted to the hardware they've got and have to be down-scaled to suit. Don't like the low res graphics, buy a pc and play how it should be played

[XboxInnovation]

I'm tired of all the BF3 articles I'm almost wanting CoD back.

[NnT3291]

Just because consoles graphics aren't as pretty as Pc doesn't mean they're poor. Newly released and upcoming games like Killzone3, Gears3, Rage, Crysis2, UC3.. look amazing. Not everyone can afford a good PC that can run Crysis or The Witcher 2 @ max settings.

[Nunchez]

All we have to do is just wait till 28th then it'll be clear.

[mamotte]

They're RELATIVELY poor. Not poor in general.

And here we are, pointing the obvious in N4G.

[icecoldfire]

oh really i had no idea that console graphics are poor. then that means consoles can beat an i7 quad duo proccesor,a GTX590 with 20 GB of RAM.

/sarcasm :)

[SuperbVillain]

the only thing it proves is that consoles will be able to run this game with hi res textures,the end.

[Shadowaste]

it has nothing to do with hd space, its all about PR, everyone was crying about how terrible it looked on console, because they saw the pc version and thought it would somehow look close to that even though no console game ever looks close to a maxed out AAA pc release from the last few years.

The "High res texture pack" is a marketing gimmick to trick you, yet again into thinking somehow your six year old console will look as good as a 3 year old pc, it will not!

Also, think logically, if the game already runs at 20-30 frames at best on your console, how will adding more effects and textures into the mix affect it?

Marketing gimmick!!

[James Vanderbeek]

just look at uncharted 3 whoever thinks this. I think uncharted 3 looks better than any game i have seen to date.