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.

It’s fun to compare consoles, especially when the comparison involves one of the biggest games of this generation. Grand Theft Auto IV has been littered with websites giving their opinions on which version looks best. Surprisingly, most had no inkling of each version’s native resolution.

Eurogamer are the first to speculate that GTA IV on the PS3 runs at 630p. When in fact, it doesn’t… It runs at 640p.

Yes, GTA IV on the PS3 is sub-HD. And if it couldn’t be any more ironic (the traditionally Playstation series runs at a lower resolution) it has the same resolution as Halo 3 on the Xbox 360 – perhaps the first game to receive the sub-HD back-lash.

The man who spilt the news? The now infamous Quaz51 of Beyond3d technical forums. PS3 GTA IV runs at 640p with 0xAA, in comparison to the Xbox 360 version at 720p with 2xAA.

Eurogamer, who base almost all their multi-platform comparisons on Quaz51’s findings, were using opinions from B3D’s technical wizard before he had received a reliable PS3 screenshot. In receipt of a high-res shot, Quaz51 had this to say:

Good news [...] it’s 1152×640p (and no AA) exactly like Halo 3, Perfect Dark [Zero] or Dark Sector PS3.

The resolution itself is unsurprising, but the side by side comparisons carried out by numerous websites tell a more complex story. For example, in IGN’s head to head, the PS3’s Anti-Aliasing is cited as being the better of the two versions, even though the Xbox 360 has 2xAA. This could be due to the upscaling and post-processing effects smoothing the edges on the PS3.

In their review, IGN continues to state that due to the PS3’s mandatory install there is less loading and less pop-in than on the Xbox 360:

For those wanting to know which version looks better, the edge goes to the PS3. The textures and framerate are comparable, but the PS3 has far less pop-in. The 360 has richer colors, but the PS3 has better anti-aliasing making it look a little cleaner. Because GTA IV can preload onto the PS3 hard drive, the in-game loads are faster. Don’t worry Xbox owners, the load times are rarely more than 30 seconds and don’t occur very often.

In another nod to differences between the two versions, EGM mentions that the “PS3 version looks slightly more vibrant and sharp.” You’d think the Xbox 360’s higher resolution would facilitate the sharper look.

Native resolution, thus, appears to have less of an impact than we might have first thought. At least, you are more likely to notice indirect differences, than the lower resolution itself. For example, upscaling on the PS3 appears to have some positive graphical results, which may explain why some websites say it looks better. Eurogamer’s Rich Leadbetter hypothesises:

It’s worth noting that due to the post-processing effects the game employs (there’s a serious amount of stuff being done to the raw frame), the PS3’s lower resolution serves to mask a lot of the nasty after effects.

For example, look at the dithering on the signs in the background on those shots. A bit ugly on Xbox 360, but smoothed and blurred away on PS3, presenting a generally nicer look.

In the end, what really matters is that both versions run extremely well and at an almost locked framerate. There are certainly differences on paper, but many will find it difficult to notice them in the game:

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Which version of GTA IV should you buy? Due to the game’s impressive multiplayer – buy the version where your friends reside, because you could potentially spend hundreds of hours duking it out online.

Pixel counters at the ready!  There’s been some debate over the final rendering resolution of Metal Gear Solid 4.  Screenshot pixel counting has been hazy, so the first sign of a possible resolution is found in the launch of the Metal Gear Online Beta.  The Beta has now begun in Europe (yes it’s up, go and play!) and the results are in.

Over at Beyond3d technical forums, resident video game investigator Quaz51 (who also happens to be Eurogamer’s source in their console face-offs), has now proved his suspicions right.  MGO renders natively at 1024by768.

This resolution is not 768p as you might suspect, since 1024by768 is not a 16/9 isomorphic resolution.  Instead, it’s equivalent resolution (contains the same number of pixels) is 1182by665 – or 665p.  It is thus accurate to say MGO renders natively at 665p.

Why this resolution? Rendering at this resolution can aid in post-processing effects, help with tiling through the RSX graphics chip, and also has the advantage of natively supporting 4/3 Standard Definition TV’s.  In addition, MGO has been confirmed to run at 30 frames per second.

There have been many “sub-HD” games this generation, from Halo 3 to Call of Duty 4.  To most the differences will be negligible and won’t detract from the gameplay experience.  Moreover, with MGO offering a higher resolution than the above two games along with 2xAA (gets rid of teh jaggies), you’ll be hard pressed to tell the difference.

It’s still uncertain whether this will be the final native resolution of MGS4. For now, go and enjoy the Beta!

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