What should be obvious but....

[charlesr]

....still needs to be stated for anyone to take any notice.

Good article explaing the totally obvious which you should all read, because it seems most people haven't noticed and think HD is the answer to everything. It's not.

[Yoshimax]

Yes it's a well written article but as he points out himself the true potential of multi-core processors is still unknown - So for all we know they may be able to squeeze a multitude more effects/polygons from the architecture.

Isn't this where the 360's internal scaler could come in really handy though ? Do as he says and knock out something at 480 with an absolutely insane number of polygons/effects and scale it to 720p on the fly ? (disclaimer : this may highlight my ignorance in this area)

Anyway, as somebody who flits between playing on a 28" non-widescreen SD and a 40" LCD I can assure him there's is a significant "ZOMG" for people when they see Gears Of War running in HD when they're used to SD.

[Widegoat]

Isn't this where the 360's internal scaler could come in really handy though ? Do as he says and knock out something at 480 with an absolutely insane number of polygons/effects and scale it to 720p on the fly ? (disclaimer : this may highlight my ignorance in this area)

That's what I was thinking, but I think the issue is that games devs can't(?) do this - they have to support 720p. Can anyone clarify this?

[Yoshimax]

Like Daytona USA with 80 cars on the oval circuit

[EJG1980]

Link - All games support 16:9 widescreen, anti-aliasing, and high-definition video (720p minimum).

It can't be 720P native though can it? Because isn't PGR3 slightly lower than 1280*720 and then upscaled? Unless MS gave the PG3 team special permission to run the game at a lower resolution and upscale because they wanted it out asap.

[Nijo]

It's a good article, but I would argue that 720p is actually fairly easy for the 360 to output. It is, after all, a PC, and PCs have been pumping out that res for ages. This is even true in his example: when you fiddle with the HL2 settings you don't necessarily go for 1600x1200, but likewise you don't go down to 480 either.
It's also not really fair to compare a digital world that has to be created by hand, with an analogue organic world that is just waiting to be filmed.

[charlesr]

LOL. anti-aliasing, 720p, scaling, blah blah blah. figures, specifications, resolutions. blah.

You've all missed the point entirely. It seems even when it's right there in front of your eyes, you are still incapable of seeing the obvious.

[MonkeyWrench]

I believe Capcom's own engine renders at a lower resolution too, not that you can tell in Dead Rising and Lost Planet.

[Simmy]

Maybe it's my eyes, but for me if I take Gears as an example and switch from a 40" HD LCD to a 32" SD display, I find allot of the little details and effects are lost, as the clarity is not there on screen to display them. So what would the point of using the power to add more details and effects in SD be, as allot of these would not be seen if you removed HD from the equation. As I say it may be me perceiving that I am seeing more when I am not, but the difference to me even with the 360 launch titles when displayed in SD or HD is night and day.

The DVD and Game comparisons are pointless to me as well. Even if games were displayed in SD the power is not there to give life like images yet, like the ones which he is comparing too. Even the very best CGI cinema does not do this, and it is therefore unfair to expect any console too.

[Soi]

The article also misses the point that higher resolution has lots of benefits over just "better graphics" in the loose sense. Everything is much clearer, effects or no effects.

For example, the 360 dashboard is so much nicer in HD -as the text is nice and sharp and readable. SD really looks bad with lots of text on the screen and this is an area in which HD shines. Ever tried to hook up your PC to a SD TV (I have via S-video from my laptop). It looks really really terrible.

[eastyy]

thing is i have oblivion for the pc and x360

pc version is in much higher resolution

and the x360 is just a standard tv (via scart) i cannot really see that huge of a difference (also the x360 version has effects my graphics card does not)

[Riskbreaker]

The article also misses the point that higher resolution has lots of benefits over just "better graphics" in the loose sense. Everything is much clearer, effects or no effects.

Bingo, I never expected DOA4 to look anything like Hero.

But, DOA4 on HD looks better than DOA4 on SD, hence the HD purchase.

For example, the 360 dashboard is so much nicer in HD -as the text is nice and sharp and readable. SD really looks bad with lots of text on the screen and this is an area in which HD shines. Ever tried to hook up your PC to a SD TV (I have via S-video from my laptop). It looks really really terrible.

I used to hook my PC up to my TV set when FFXI was first released in JP, the idea was create the comfortable feeling on console gaming by using a PS2 pad. It looked ****e.

[in5ane]

I hooked my PC up to my TV to play PC versions Simpsons Road Rage and GTA and get that 'console' feeling. I thought it worked pretty well.

I think the main argument here is pointless because we are still so far away from photo-realistic real time 3D. But HD does offer gamers a clarity that really does make a difference in the play experience, and of course looks good on todays large screens.

[Wools]

You've all missed the point entirely.

I think they have!

HD, although lovely, is just an expensive way of viewing what you're playing.

People said the only way to play Soul Calibur was through VGA, My friends said that you can't watch a DVD on anything except a Widescreen and now we're being told HDTV is a must for a 360.

I've been playing happily on a SDTV through RGB for years now and when TV's come down to a decent price with support on all major TV cannel's then I'll think about it. But I've still yet to fully update all my VHS tapes to DVD! Do people think a majority of us will buy a HD TV, HD Sky with only a few channels broadcasting and you have to subscribe to them, HD DVD with movies costing more than a DVD and then wait for catch up with stuff they already own?

I know that in 10 years HD will pretty much be standered but for now it can sod right off! Murdoch and Morita will have to wait intill they get my money!

[eastyy]

Still i would much rather have a great frame rate rather than high resolution