Digital Foundry Article Technical Discussion Archive [2015]

[Clukos]

Both consoles have good looking exclusives, even in the Xbox/Ps2 era. I remember Ninja Gaiden Black and Chronicles of Riddick looking great back then on Xbox.

It is logic when you compare spec of the two machine...

Logic isn't the strongest suit of console warriors though

 

[Nesh]

There were multiplatform games back on PS2/Xbox? I can't for the life of me remember; All I played were superb looking exclusive that IMO never found their match on the Xbox. Yes, PS2 games were extremely rough IQ wise, but boy did that thing have bandwidth, particles and geometry. I much preferred most "pixelated" PS2 games to the "blurry" looking games the Xbox had (that often seemed over saturated).

EDIT: As I said though; PS2 and Xbox both went in very different directions hardware wise though. PS2 was pure bruteforce. I actually quite liked the bland looking games on the PS2. Gave it a much more realistic color palette to boot and I still think ZOE or MGS3, or even Jak & Daxter was never quite done on the Xbox. The Xbox's best went in an entirely different direction tech wise - the most gorgeous games there with higher res textures and much more colorful, vibrant etc. Overall the Xbox was stronger yes, but both had verydifferent strengths.

I would say that it was the XB1 that had a more brute force approach. They crammed in bigger numbers and "off the shelf" parts to push the graphics. The PS2 was a peculiar machine that needed some more work to get the results.
The PS2 had more interesting games visually because they were artistically designed to fit the console's strengths. The XB didnt need such approach to present detailed visuals.

 

[Recop]

Both consoles have enough power to produce good graphics with a clean IQ.

You won't necesseraly see a huge difference between ultra and ultra high, even if the technical gap is substantial.

Sometimes, you need a much stronger hardware for the highest settings on PC while you only get a slight visual improvement.

Last gen, any minor change could hurt IQ since most games had a 720p resolution.

 

[chris1515]

You can have very good looking exclusives on Xbox One like Ryse...

I think the 5 best looking classical games/ graphical engine are anything with Frosbite 3 on PC, Quantum Break, Uncharted 4, The Order 1886 and Horizon Zero Dawn.

Special mention to exotic rendering or 2d stuff to The Tomorrow Children, Dreams, Cuphead and Unravel

Edit: I am a PS4 only owner and a non gaming PC

 

[Recop]

You can have very good lokking exclusives on Xbox One like Ryse...

I think the 5 best looking classical games/ graphical engine are anything with Frosbite 3 on PC, Quantum Break, Uncharted 4, The Order 1886 and Horizon Zero Dawn.

Special mention to exotic rendering or 2d stuff to The Tomorrow Children, Dreams, Cuphead and Unravel

Ryse is a good example of what i'm saying. It is a very good looking game with an excellent IQ.

And as reported by Digital Foundry, even the PC version with the highest settings doesn't look that much better than the XB1 version.

 

[DrJay24]

And as reported by Digital Foundry, even the PC version with the highest settings doesn't look that much better than the XB1 version.

But at 60fps instead of 24fps when there are three chars on the screen.

 

[Gitaroo]

SMAA TX1 or whatever AA being used in Ryse, Everyone has gone to the Rapture needs to be the standard post AA for every game. works so well in reducing flickering and clean. Can't be much more expensive than FXAA.

 

[Recop]

But at 60fps instead of 24fps when there are three chars on the screen.

I meant graphically.

But as you said, 60fps is a massive improvement for a better experience. :smile2:

 

[Jay]

But at 60fps instead of 24fps when there are three chars on the screen.

And I could run it on PC and get 20fps, so not sure what your point is. (someone else 90fps)

Anyway.

You won't necesseraly see a huge difference between ultra and ultra high, even if the technical gap is substantial.

Sometimes, you need a much stronger hardware for the highest settings on PC while you only get a slight visual improvement.

Precisely, and the similarities in architecture and difference in power between PS4 and XO may not be big enough to see huge difference in IQ, even going forward. Especially true for multi platform engines.

 

[pjbliverpool]

And I could run it on PC and get 20fps, so not sure what your point is. (someone else 90fps)

The point is basically that anyone who wants to play the game at 60fps/1080p can. But there's only one platform they can do it on.

 

[Jay]

The point is basically that anyone who wants to play the game at 60fps/1080p can. But there's only one platform they can do it on.

Sorry but in the context of the conversation and in relation to what Recop said that is irrelevant. Same for any multiplatform game if it's not locked to a specific res and framerate given a powerful enough system.
But if it needs to be said then its the only platform that can also run it at 10fps, based on system and settings.

Shame there's not been blind test study to determine combinations of res and IQ. Although I still think devs would go for easily to market res compared to pixel quality at this moment in time.

 

[Rangers]

I disagree. XB exclusives had a huge difference from PS2 exclusives and almost all multi platform games run at better framerares, had better resolution and effects minus the games that were developed for the PS2 and ported later like MGS2 and Burnout.
.

I dont remember it that way at all. The average multiplat (like an EA game) looked largely the same, with a few minor differences always in favor of Xbox, but fundamentally the same graphics. I used to read the IGN face offs in that era...

I'm having a hard time finding any real PS2 v Xbox face offs from that era on the net though to verify my memory...

Now of course you had exclusives that showed Xbox was stronger like Halo or a Doom 3.

BTW I was not talking exclusives. Only multiplats of the day.

 

[DrJay24]

Splinter Cell and GTA3 are examples to check out.

 

[Nesh]

Also Dead to Rights, Sonic Heroes, Spiderman 2, The Thing, Enter The Matrix, Wreckless, Medal of Honor and there are a few others too which I cant remember their titles because they were not so popular. Some FPS I remember didnt just have better framerates. They had a ton of effects missing from the PS2.

 

[Devious]

SMAA TX1 or whatever AA being used in Ryse, Everyone has gone to the Rapture needs to be the standard post AA for every game. works so well in reducing flickering and clean. Can't be much more expensive than FXAA.

Any form of SMAA (1x, 1TX, T2x) would suffice really. Especially on XB1 when you start throwing 900p in the mix; then FXAA just doesn't give you the best results in terms of image-quality.

 

[shredenvain]

I dont remember it that way at all. The average multiplat (like an EA game) looked largely the same, with a few minor differences always in favor of Xbox, but fundamentally the same graphics. I used to read the IGN face offs in that era...

I'm having a hard time finding any real PS2 v Xbox face offs from that era on the net though to verify my memory...

Now of course you had exclusives that showed Xbox was stronger like Halo or a Doom 3.

BTW I was not talking exclusives. Only multiplats of the day.

Don't forget Riddick escape from butcher bay. One of the most graphically impressive Xbox titles.
Another title I always thought looked great was Unreal Championship 2.

 

[BRiT]

Uhm, less subjective posts and more technical posts about DF articles.

 

[Globalisateur]

I just found this new guy on Youtube, VG Tech, that also does framerate videos that may include a list of interesting stats. Always interesting to see a different point of view...

That's his take about Gears of War Ultimate single player for instance:

While the frame rate isn't terrible, the games frame rate does dip sometimes during regular gameplay. Dips into the high twenties happen at some points, while less taxing scenes get away with no hit to performance

He tested the multiplayer too: We can notably see drops to 45fps (0:28) and 50fps (1:45) and some screen tearing throughout the video.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Can last-gen consoles handle Metal Gear Solid 5?
Digital Foundry on the highs and lows of MGS5 on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Spoiler

It's a fascinating result overall - at once, Metal Gear Solid 5 pushes last-gen boundaries but at the same time, comparisons with the latest consoles are hardly flattering. For some, the last big hurrah for Xbox 360 and PS3 release may well be the catalyst that inspires a next-gen upgrade.

 

[Clukos]

Edit: beaten

We were talking about subtle differences between versions, MGS V:

Subsurface scattering completely missing on X1 in addition to the resolution difference.