Hier der neue IGN Mailbag zum Thema Nintendo und HDTV, falls es wen interessiert
N-Query
HD graphics. Will Revolution be better off without them?
High-Def: 360 and Revolution
Perhaps hi-def visuals aren't really such a HUGE deal after all, eh Matt? I read in the NFS:MW review for X360 that the game didn't look as dramatically improved as expected when run in 1080i or 720p. So perhaps if Revolution has good anti-aliasing capability, and can push a sufficient amount of geometry, high quality textures, lighting effects, etc. at a good framerate, it'll be enough to take techie's minds off the lack of HD support, as I'm sure Perrin Kaplan desires. What are your thoughts on this? Of course, HD support wouldn't hurt, but I'd rather have a smooth-running, graphically impressive 480p game than a hi-res 1080i one with choppy or subpar actual graphics.
Matt responds: This is a good question and a topic I've been meaning to address, especially now that I've had some time with Xbox 360 and its games. Before I go into it, though, first let me give you a little history. I picked up an Xbox 360 the night before it launched and have delved deeply into about 10 of the initial games, including everything from King Kong, Madden and Need for Speed to PGR, Kameo, Call of Duty 2 and Condemned. I've got everything running in 720p on a high-end 50" Panasonic plasma. I expect that I've put a fair amount of time into each game -- admittedly some more than others. I keep trying to get into Kameo, but damn it, I just can't. Meanwhile, I'm just about done with the single-player career mode in PGR and I'm a good chunk into Condemned.
There's really no point in beating around the bush: there is a clear, significant difference in both detail and clarity when the games are running in high-definition. This is not something that can be shrugged off as either marginal or inconsequential. It's just not. The added definition gained in higher resolutions is substantial and if you've got a television that can display HD content, you're really going to find yourself oohing and aahing at some of these 360 games in motion. I have been particularly impressed with PGR and Condemned in motion. PGR because it has sacrificed nothing in the jump to HD; the cars look outstanding, the race locations are visually unsurpassed, I've never seen a slicker in-car driving view, the sheer number of polygons being pushed (cars and huge city backdrops included) is mind boggling and it runs with a very smooth framerate. I normally hate racing with the in-car view. However, with PGR I simply refuse to race any other way because it's so well put together and in turn immersive. Condemned, meanwhile, is a convincingly atmospheric and eerie first-person title that oozes mood and looks fabulous.
I think there's a common misconception that because 360 and PS3 games run in HD that all resources are immediately evaporated. It's not true. These machines are designed with higher resolutions in mind and as PGR proves, gamers can get the added definition plus texture, lighting and particle effects without throwing framerates out the window. That's not to say that all developers will be able to pull it off, but neither have they been able to do so this generation. Need for Speed Most Wanted has a sluggish framerate on 360. But guess what? It runs worse on GameCube.
Some believe that because Revolution doesn't need to worry itself with the delivery of HD, it can instead output greater numbers of polygons, more fluid animations, more detailed lighting effects, and so on. That is true, to a certain extent. But to say that this somehow evens the graphical battlefield is flat out wrong. Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 have more graphic horsepower than Revolution -- significantly more, according to some developer reports. Bearing that in mind, you're not likely to get Revolution games with graphics way better than the competitors minus high-definition textures. Instead, I think you're going to find that 360 and PS3 games do everything that Revolution ones do on a graphic level, except they also run in HD. So if you've got an HD setup at home, this puts Revolution at a noticeable disadvantage where visuals are concerned.
If you don't have an HD set, none of this is going to matter much. A funny story. When we first got our 360s in the office, we hooked one up to an HD LCD and started to play Condemned. We ran through about five minutes of the game and none of us were blown away by the graphics. A couple of us even said, you know, maybe Nintendo really is onto something -- these visuals don't seem to be that great of a leap over the last generation. Then, we figured out that we had forgotten to flip 360's video switch to HD out. We had been running everything in standard definition. People who pick up a 360 and play everything on a regular TV will absolutely not be as impressed as those who play their games in HD. It's a night and day difference. Incidentally, when we flipped the switch to HD out and rebooted the game, we were immediately taken aback at how crisp and clean the graphics were.
Revolution is the source of a really odd dichotomy for me. People can try to defend Nintendo's decision to cut HD until they're collectively blue in the face. I hear it all. Nobody has an HD television. They're too expensive. HD won't be a standard for a couple years. It goes on. The Big N's decision to stick with carts over CDs during the N64 era remains its biggest mistake, in my book. But its refusal to make Revolution an HD-ready console during an era when analog TVs are slowly being phased out comes in at a very close second. This shows an unparalleled lack of foresight and it's a decision that I think will ultimately come back and bite the company in the ass -- deservedly so.
And amazingly, in the very same breath I can honestly say with unflinching conviction that I am more excited about Revolution than I am PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. The potential of the controller is practically limitless and it has me more hyped than any advancement in video resolution ever could. Which is saying something, really, since I'm a self-advertised graphics whore.
I know Revolution games are going to play like nothing else out there and I'm convinced that the controller is going to make some titles on other consoles feel positively dated. Watch it happen. If the peripheral delivers on its potential, once you play an FPS with the Revolution controller, going back and playing Halo 2 is going to feel like a stupid exercise in clunky design. On the same token, I know Metroid Prime 3 is going to look fantastic, even if it's only running in progressive-scan. But I'm not going to lie, either: I will always wonder how much better such a game might have looked were it running in high-definition, too.
