After all this hullabaloo about how the PlayStation 3 is the only “true” HD console, here comes the release of FarCry 2 to slap Sony’s PR in the balls. In addition to people complaining about the messed-up widescreen and mandatory 3.5GB install, the PS3 version falls short of its Xbox 360 counterpart by only supporting 720p while the 360 version supports full 1080p.

I noticed this myself by looking at the back of the case for the game, a photo of which I’ve conveniently provided for you:

Obviously, it’s just the developer’s fault for being lazy and stupid and not because the PS3 isn’t living up to what it was promised to be — the only true HD console. After all, we know for a fact that developers love putting out gimped versions of the games they’ve worked so hard to create, simply to prove a point or because Microsoft paid them to.

I’m sure the PS3 version, despite these differences, plays just as well as the 360 version and will no doubt be an enjoyable experience for those of you without options. If you had a choice, however, go with the 360 or PC edition just to be safe. Word.

UPDATE: Some articles about FarCry 2’s resolution have been brought to my attention, but upon reviewing them, I do not believe they present new information that directly contradicts my statements. The articles mentioning the native resolution of the game, on PS3 and 360, as being 720p are only talking about the native resolution, and I made no mention of native resolutions. It is irrelevant.

Yes, both consoles run the game at 720p native resolution. The 360 can upscale it to 1080p, but the PS3 does not do so naturally, and the box implys that it does not do it at all. While it may be possible to “trick” your PS3 into outputting in 1080p, the game itself does not readily support it. Many PS3 games that I have seen clearly show that they support 1080p, either natively or upscaled, on the back of the box — FarCry 2 is not one of them.

I find it odd that if the PS3 could support 1080p on all games that it is not mentioned on the game’s case. Requiring customers to resort to some backdoor trick to achieve what is supposed to be built in to the console and that other games (on both 360 and PS3) more clearly support — it’s ridiculous.

I explicitly said that the game likely plays just as well. Sony has clearly done its job convincing their fanbase that the PS3 is obviously superior, which leaves me wondering they wouldn’t help advertise that on the games themselves.

UPDATE 2: It is also worth noting that in a recent IGN Insider head-to-head comparison of the game, the reviewer had the following to say regarding the differences:

“The only real differences are the PS3’s occasional framerate hitches and the dropping of some sound effects during hectic gunfights. These issues don’t really hurt the experience in any major way, but will be a minor irritation for some. If you’re at all interested in shooters, Far Cry 2 is an experience you will enjoy on any console. If you have the luxury of choice, the 360 version runs just a little bit more smoothly.”

OVERALL:
1st = PC
2nd = 360
3rd = PS3

Translation: gimped?

After reporting on the native rendering resolution of the Haze demo, some questioned my reasoning that the final game would sport the same resolution. This is despite there seldom being an example of a game’s resolution differing from its demo. In visiting Free Radical’s studio near Nottingham, creative lead Derek Littlewood confirmed our suspicions.

When I mentioned our story, Derek told me that the final game does indeed render at 1024by576, contrary to what is said by Ubisoft on the Playstation Blog; “From some other comments I read, I wanted to clarify that the game runs at 720p resolution.” Of course, Haze will output at 720p since the Playstation 3 can upscale, but this is not reflective of the game’s native resolution. Derek exclusively told us why they made the decision to render at a lower than HD resolution:

We prioritise a nice smooth framerate over a different res. Personally, I don’t really buy the whole thing. People did the same with Call of Duty, they did the same with Halo, and they say with those games ‘It’s not running at true HD!’ And it’s like, I don’t care. If the game looks good and it runs smoothly, those are the important things to me.

In asking whether the resolution was decided towards the end of development, Derek replied:

Yes. Well, as you develop an engine you’re aiming for a certain thing, but as all the pieces slot into place, you end up realising what sort of resolution you can run it at and that’s where we ended up with for Haze.

If you were to move forward with our next games, then as we optimise the engine we might be going, ‘Oh yeah, we’ll step things up and change things.’ But then different games we work on might have different requirements, so things may change there again. It’s all about how you use the resources you’ve got. But I don’t understand why people care whether there’s 20 pixels, 50 pixels, or 100 pixels more…

Naturally, I said that it’s not only a 100 pixel difference. 720p is over 300,000 pixels more than 576p:

Well, I always say, judge it [Haze] by the whole experience. Sit down with it and enjoy it. If people come away from that saying ‘Yeah, the resolution was a bit lower than I was expecting’ then I hope people wouldn’t, because it has other things it does really well.

For even more Haze goodness, our friends at PS3Attitude are holding a Haze week, starting tomorrow.

As seems to be the norm this console generation, not all games can hit that elusive 720p HD resolution.  First Halo 3, then GTA4 (PS3) and now the PS3 exclusive Haze.

As previously reported, a demo of Haze can be found on the Playstation Store, supporting 4 player co-op.  Graphically it’s solid, but what’s most impressive is that it runs silky smooth.  It runs at a locked 30fps, and even with a host of foliage and enemies on screen – it never dips.

Though there are more impressive looking games on the PS3, it’s with Haze’s gameplay and story that show off its true colours.  (More on this in our upcoming preview of both the four player co-op and multiplayer modes.)  Nonetheless, for Free Radical to achieve a solid PS3 engine with no loading throughout the game, they’ve had to make some concessions.

Qua51 of Beyond3d now confirms Haze’s resolution to be 1024by576 with no anti-aliasing.  That is, going by the demo, and there’s yet to be a difference in resolution from a game’s demo to its final release. At the end of the day, this is something we’re going to have to get used to.  If developers find they can put the saved power into a solid framerate, or better graphics – then should we really be complaining?

When we visited Free Radical at Sony’s 3 Rooms earlier this year, script writer Rob Yescombe had this to say about the game’s graphics::

We’ve got a 12 hour streaming experience and for someone to put that next to a game where they can spend 2 minutes loading a level every half an hour. Well good for them, but it’s a totally different game.  Just because it might be first person, just because it might be on the same platform, they’re totally different games, totally different things that we’ll be able to do.

So we want to give people variety of gameplay, and if that means you’ve got a texture that doesn’t look photo realistic, well guess what, you’re going to enjoy the game more than you would looking at a photo realistic texture.

And it’s hard to disagree with that.  Let us know what you think about the HAZE demo in the comments section and in our forums.

*Update* - Quaz51 of Beyond3d Forums has now confirmed that Haze uses 2xAA as opposed to the original 0xAA.

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A certain Gaming Blog got a tad worked up over a supposed Capcom Press Release, which states that the console versions of Devil May Cry 4 run at a sub-HD resolution. This press release was fake.

The press release reads thus:

PC version will supports DX9 and DX10 versions.The PC version support higher resolution (In order to maintain stability in the game at 60 FPS, XBOX360, PS3 supports only 1024 * 640 resolution).

Apart form the questionable English, which could be explained by being a poor translation, the “press release” is wrong. Both console demos of DMC4 have been confirmed by Beyond3d’s pixel counters to run natively at 720p. That is, 1280 by 720 pixels.

Although the blogger asks for confirmation from the retail game and not the demo, his fears should be put to rest. In my experience there has yet to be a game that has reduced its resolution from the demo to the full retail release release.

Furthermore, games are designed with a particular resolution in mind and a decision to lower the resolution would not be made at the last minute.

Need more evidence? Each console demo runs at a very strong 60 frames per second at 720p. There is no need for the resolution of the game to be lowered. Moreover, the development of both the demo and the full retail game were finished simultaneously, which would make a difference in native resolution all the more absurd.

As Nicolas Parson’s would say, we’ll give the blogger the benefit of the doubt and presume he was actively misled, rather than attempting to mislead others himself. One things for sure, he can calm the hell down:

NICE GOING, Sony and M$! Making consoles that can’t handle stable 60FPS at 1080p. I HATE YOU ALL *smashes head into wall*

Both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions of Devil May Cry 4 run natively at 720p and at 60fps.

Credit: Quaz of Beyond3d