Every generation brings us the promise of catchphrases in the form of photorealistic and so real you can touch them… But what do gaming graphics and the latest consoles really mean to the hobby itself? This generation, more than any before it, people are noticing more and more of the visual aspects related to the titles they play. 1080p, 900p, 720p and framerates all at the forefront of a games release. Some arguing that resolution means more than higher frame rates that many may not notice as much as they would if they game is of a lesser resolution. Others say that a lower resolution and higher frame rate feels more fluid and adds to the animation and feel of the game. Arguments that seem to be overshadowing the gameplay itself.
The question arises then, why do we buy new consoles every generation? It certainly isn't for the change of gameplay, which has remained the same since the early iteration of 3-D graphics. There have been some tweaks and some innovation, but most of it has been visual upgrades. Something everybody seemed to be fine with. The Internet has also given people who wouldn't have noticed these changes in the past, a way to learn about how their favorite titles are made and what goes into producing those great visuals on screen. One of the few cases where education may be leading to over examination. Pixel counting and side by side comparisons taking the place of content and gameplay enjoyment.
Still, it is hard not to get wrapped up in this myself. I do believe the games visuals are a way to draw people deeper into the experience. Giving gamers a realistic looking game, with unrealistic actions they can perform. Something they couldn't do in real life, but it looks like they are. Some games coming frighteningly close to mimicking the outside world we see every day. Ask 10 different people what they think the most important aspects of gameplay visuals are these days, and you will probably get 10 different answers.
Me... I'm fine with 1080p and a rock solid 30 frames per second. While 60 frames per second does look great in certain genres, others don't benefit as much. Sports games benefit from 60 frames per second, that includes racing, because of their high-speed interaction. Games such as Dragon Age are fine at a solid 30, because they don't require a knee-jerk reaction.
I do agree that graphics are the one thing that do need to change from generation to generation. It really is the only reason we buy new machines. Let's face it, we arent seeing any different gameplay from last gen to this. We're still playing the exact same games, with a new coat of paint and not much more.
1080p should be a definite. There is no excuse to have sub HD resolutions with the hardware in the PS4. PCs do it with lesser graphics cards and more background tasks happening. 30 fps locked, should also be definite. Along with VSync and at least 2xAA. While there are trade-offs, depending on what a developer wants to do with their game, one trade-off should not be resolution and a rocksolid 30 frames per second.
I know there are people who think 720p and 60 frames per second is better, and that's their prerogative. If that's the way they want to live. Ha ha ha. But, I don't feel we should be playing anything under 1080p, specifically for the fact that upscaling always introduces artifacts. Whether that be aliasing issues, color saturation issues or blurriness to the overall image being drawn on the screen. Something we should not be experiencing, with the power of these machines. Sure the CPUs are limited, but the GPUs are just fine. Especially since you can offload CPU tasks to the GPU now. It's up to developers to learn how to do this, so a game doesn't have to suffer because of a developers lack of knowledge on how to properly code for the given hardware.
It is also up to Sony to keep developers enlightened on the latest and greatest coding tricks to get the most out of the hardware. The more Sony can help them, the easier and faster it will be to develop a title that takes full advantage of the given hardware.
I've been fairly impressed with what weve seen in this generation so far, I can't wait to see what the greatest titles are going to look like in a year or two. then, whatever follows this generation. Which should look amazing.
I'm curious to know what everyone else's issues are with modern graphics on these consoles?
My biggest is pop up and draw in. With all of the memory in these newest consoles, I don't feel there is any excuse to see pop up and draw in. Watchdogs was horrible in this respect. Draw in of vehicles and pedestrians happened within a block to a block and a half. Very distracting and very disappointing. Especially for such a high profile title. Whereas, with GTA V, you barely saw any pop in regardless of how far you were looking off into the horizon. I'm hoping this will become the norm. A game world is only believable when everything you see exists whether you're there or not. When stuff pops into view..., it reassures the player that they are playing a game that is still having issues mimicking what we see in the real world. Which takes you out of the experience.
Other than that, I haven't really seen any true issues this generation. Aliasing has all but been eradicated. Tearing is very rare to see. I think if I had to nitpick, I would say the only other issue I see is LOD, which goes back to draw in issues. Grass that seems to grow a few feet from you or an invisible line in the sand that separates high resolution textures from the lesser.
Next-generation consoles visuals should look as sharp as watching a TV show or movie. While the effects may not be on par, the distance between reality and gameplay visuals will be shortened to a point that passersby would be hard pressed to tell the difference. I imagine, as I haven't seen, that a game that takes true advantage of high end PCs… In 4K, would look amazing and show what the future of console gaming could look like. I'm still not buying into the virtual reality headsets yet, until I see for myself just how advanced the technology has become. While the idea of walking around and looking around in a 3-D world intrigues me, the weight of the headset and the effort to put it on may be more than most gamers care to deal with, for a fun past time. Also, how much will it really add to the gaming experience? Other than to let you look around. Which you can do very easily using a controller and just turning.
Kinect and Move show that gamers arent into gimmicks. They are fun to play with for a little while, then the experience grows stale and the addon ends up in the closet beside flight sticks, racing wheels and 3D glasses that users find too time consuming to pull out and set up each time they want to play.
As far as I'm concerned, visuals will always remain the utmost reason to buy into a new generation of consoles. From the very beginning and Pong, til now... It is the first thing we recognize when a new system is announced. The first thing we see when a game loads up... and the last thing we see before we turn a game off for the night. While many will argue over what system they chose and why, the only thing that matters in bringing users a better experience is the power behind that piece of plastic that lies before them. Whether it be the PC, the Xbox, Wii or the PlayStation brand. The truth still remains that users will choose the system that offers them the best experience in their minds. Though, not specifically the most powerful. Otherwise, we would all be playing using high-end PCs with thousand dollar graphics cards in them. Which offer better visuals, but offer the same experience in gameplay... across all platforms, PC or not.
Everyone like to crap on 3d, but only a few games ever tried to do it well. Puppeteer, resident evil (3ds), motorstorm, SOTC, Uncharted 3, GT5, Crysis, Batman and a few others really made me glad that i owned a 3d tv
Ass creed 3 was TERRIBLE
Thats one of my favorite argument from the L33t kid.
"It doesn't have next gen gameplay"
Like seriously what does that mean ? Unless they introduce new gaming peripheral that are immediately shut down as gimmicky i am not sure what they are expecting.
Next gen = Bigger world and more detailed world and visuals.
Thats what it is.
It's the first year and I really don't see the difference between this gen than last generation. Sadly by jumping to PC, I am seeing more innovation, creativity, and experimentation from the PC side. I do want to point out that its the first year for the Xbox One and PS4, so with that said 2015 may or may not show improvements of say systems. This also means that by 2016 if and only if these consoles continue the way it started in 2014,then is going to become an issue down the road and prove that consoles are done. Hardware wise that is,meaning that Netflix game services will become the norm.
I can't notice any difference between 900p and 1080p actually on my 42'' tv
either people are seeing games on pc that im not or something because ps4 and xbox one are at the top of the graphics game when I look at the exclusives coming from them, sony definitely isn't making platforms to top anything in multiplats else youd know it, multiplat is where they want to show their prowless