Coming as a surprise to many gamers in the buildup to the next generation of console gaming is all the news surrounding whether games will run at 1080p or 720p.
This is a specification most gamers probably assumed would naturally be 1080p, considering many current-gen games already run at 1080p, and the new consoles were supposed to be much more powerful.
Nevertheless, there are a few games that have been announced to run at lower resolutions than 1080p (like the Xbox One version of Call of Duty: Ghosts), and it has the internet all riled up.
This War Is Fought Inside
This isn’t intended to be another “PlayStation 4 is more powerful than Xbox One” commentary, but simply a quick look at exactly what 1080p and 60 frames per second will look like in the next generation. Sony released an official gameplay video for Killzone: Shadow Fall that isn’t available to stream, but requires a download for viewing on your PC.
“Unfortunately, there are limitations to streamed video on the internet, many of the clips and trailers we’ve released thus far aren’t being viewed in the best possible fidelity and framerate…In order to properly demonstrate the framerate and resolution we achieve in Shadow Fall’s multiplayer, we’ve captured and lightly compressed new footage that we’re not offering through a video sharing service. Instead, we ask that you download and locally view the high-resolution, uncompressed footage directly from us.”
The video is available to download here, and needless to say, it’s beautiful. The world is lush, colorful, vibrant, and the action moves smoothly. The effort to make the game run at maximum performance seems to have paid off, as this may be one of the more beautiful launch titles of the next generation for either console.
War Is Beautiful
The war of words on the internet has gone back and forth between gamers, with some saying 1080p and 60fps is an absolute necessity if developers want to be able to call their game next-gen, while others say they can’t see a difference in quality. Digital Foundry recently put together a video showing the graphical differences between the PS4 and PC versions of Battlefield 4. The game is running on a maxed out PC with all the settings on Ultra, and while the PC certainly looks better, it’s clear to see how much closer a next-generation console has come to recreating that experience than ever before.
The battle for next generation consoles is far from over, and resolutions and framerates may, in the end, be a reason one console does better than another. What about you? Does getting the highest resolution and framerate possible factor into your decision making for which system to buy? Are you a PC purist? Share your thoughts on the Killzone video and the future of graphics in gaming in the comments below.
