How should devs handle ports between consoles? *spawn

[Scott_Arm]

"Bungie told MCV “ not Bungie told Digital Foundry, so I don't see how its being misquoted.

What are you talking about? That's a completely different quote.

There are two quotes in my post. The first one was being misattributed to Phil Spencer. The second one is a separate quote that I never claimed was misquoted.

 

[upnorthsox]

What are you talking about? That's a completely different quote.

What are you talking about?

I like how the quote from the Digital Foundry article has now become words that Phil Spencer actually said. Those are the words of John Hight of Bungie, paraphrasing or simplifying what might have been a very long conversation.

 

[Scott_Arm]

What are you talking about?

From the article onQ quoted:

Phil Spencer is pushing developers to implement 1080p... Earlier this week it was revealed that Microsoft ... said “This is unacceptable. You need to figure out a way to get a better resolution.” ... In the aftermath of the furore Phil Spencer commented on Twitter “I just thought we could get to 1080p. If Blizzard thought it wasn’t right for Diablo they had the call on what shipped.”

From the Digital Foundry

"We did find it challenging early on to get it to 1080p. That's why we made the decision to drop to 900. That's what we demoed and were showing around E3 time. And Microsoft was just like, 'This is unacceptable. You need to figure out a way to get a better resolution.' So we worked with them directly, they gave us a code update to let us get to full 1080p." - John Hight of Bungie

So, "Microsoft was just like," is now "Microsoft said," and it's strongly implied by onQ's linked article that the person doing the saying is Phil Spencer.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

So, "Microsoft was just like," is now "Microsoft said," and it's strongly implied by onQ's linked article that the person doing the saying is Phil Spencer.

Yep. The MCV article is effectively putting words in MS's mouth, although the sentiments are very much implied by the choice of words given to DF.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Yep. The MCV article is effectively putting words in MS's mouth, although the sentiments are very much implied by the choice of words given to DF.

Yes, that sentiment is implied, that's why I wrote this.

I don't like the idea of Microsoft pressuring developers to hit 1080, just to hit that number. It would be incredibly stupid if they didn't give the devs the final say, in any case. It would be an easy way to strain relationships.

I would hope the real discussions between them were not as scolding as he made it seem.

Maybe it's being a bit nit picky, but I think people have to be careful when they start attributing words to the wrong people. The effect might be subtle, but for someone writing an article they have to be absolutely correct about those things. If someone else writes a story based on this one and writes, "Phil Spencer said, " that wouldn't be fair. We don't know what the actual words were, or how long the discussions were.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

Yes, that sentiment is implied, that's why I wrote this.

Yup. The quote was:

"Phil Spencer is a great friend of ours, and has been putting great effort into making sure that the Xbox One edition of Destiny hits 1080p and is a great experience.”

Now there aren't a lot of words here but to me, this sounds like Microsoft have deployed their Xbox coding ninjas to Bungie to help get Destiny to 1080p. There no no implied thetas or dissatisfaction here, they said "great effort".

 

[3dilettante]

Yep. The MCV article is effectively putting words in MS's mouth, although the sentiments are very much implied by the choice of words given to DF.

The DF quote is hearsay twice (edit: at minimum) over. It's Hight paraphrasing someone or giving a summarization, and then we have the article as another intermediary.
We have an article we must assume has quoted things properly and is otherwise correct, and then must assume that someone in conversation has quoted things properly and is otherwise correct, with multiple opportunites for misunderstanding and the tone and context stripped out each time. We don't even know if Hight is relaying something someone told him about what someone somewhere in Microsoft might have said.

The writing choice to put the Microsoft (did they all merge into a hive mind?) statement in single quotes within the double quotes used for the Hight statement is itself encouraging a specific interpretation.
The nested single quote is usually interpreted as stating that someone is repeating another's statement word for word, but it can be used for less precise purposes.

 

[onQ]

Assassin's Creed Unity is 900p/30fps on both PS4 & Xbox One

Ubisoft locked both versions at the same spec 'to avoid all the debates and stuff'.

Assassin's Creed Unity will run at 900p/30fps on both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, Ubisoft has confirmed, with the publisher opting to aim for platform parity to avoid discussion over the differences in performance.

"We decided to lock them at the same specs to avoid all the debates and stuff," senior producer Vincent Pontbriand told VideoGamer.com while explaining that it's the consoles' CPUs – not the GPU – that prevents Ubisoft Montreal from improving the game's performance.

"Technically we're CPU-bound," he said. "The GPUs are really powerful, obviously the graphics look pretty good, but it's the CPU [that] has to process the AI, the number of NPCs we have on screen, all these systems running in parallel.

"We were quickly bottlenecked by that and it was a bit frustrating, because we thought that this was going to be a tenfold improvement over everything AI-wise, and we realised it was going to be pretty hard. It's not the number of polygons that affect the framerate. We could be running at 100fps if it was just graphics, but because of AI, we're still limited to 30 frames per second."

Last year's Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag also shipped at 900p/30fps on both PS4 and Xbox One. A post-release patch, however, bumped the PS4 version to 1080p. Ubisoft has given no indication that it has plans to do the same for Unity.

Assassin's Creed Unity launches on PS4, Xbox One and PC on November 14.

 

[Nesh]

That is disappointing

 

[Deleted member 11852]

"We decided to lock them at the same specs to avoid all the debates and stuff,"

Yeah, because this decision will lead to no debate at all Nothing can possibly go wrong with this approach!

Nothing to see here, please move along

 

[DrJay24]

I hope the new "discussion" ends up hurting them worse and they change their mind.

 

[Deleted member 11852]

I hope the new "discussion" ends up hurting them worse and they change their mind.

Ironically, having read the Eurogamer article on Unity about ten minutes prior to this news, I'm out of this outing. This was the nail in the assassin's coffin for me:

The best that can probably be said about Unity's combat is that it has finally become more attractive to avoid it - due to how unfun and slow actual combat can be compared to stealthy, quick kills that let you move on undetected, but also due to the new enhancements in stealth bonuses that you can now acquire.

I enjoy a bit of stealth, I don't like being like 'open games' where I feel I am forced to stealth because the alternatives are tedious. So this is an easy avoid me for me.

 

[Shortbread]

Assassin's Creed Unity is 900p/30fps on both PS4 & Xbox One

Ubisoft locked both versions at the same spec 'to avoid all the debates and stuff'.

I thought this type of stuff didn't exist in the industry? /sarcasm

Anyhow, this is purely based on dollars, not hardware specs.

 

[HTupolev]

A developer just confirmed intentional parity?

And, to avoid the internet bullshlapskie?

Looks like the GAF thread is at 1000 replies in about an hour.

 

[DieH@rd]

Ubi just made a shitty move to all PS4 users. They gimped PS4 version of AC Unity down to Xbone 900p30 level "to avoid all the debates and stuff".
http://www.videogamer.com/ps4/assas...y_is_900p_30fps_on_both_ps4_and_xbox_one.html

So they wont even try to increase IQ of PS4 version because of external PR decisions. Just to be reminded, AC Unity has promotional deal with Microsoft.

Here is how the game looks on Xbone:

 

[tuna]

Why can't UBI run AI 30 fps? I was looking forward to 60 fps AC, but this is no buy for tuna. More time for other games!

 

[Starx]

Assassin's Creed Unity is 900p/30fps on both PS4 & Xbox One

We decided to lock them at the same specs to avoid all the debates and stuff

senior producer Vincent Pontbriand told VideoGamer.com while explaining that it's the consoles' CPUs – not the GPU – that prevents Ubisoft Montreal from improving the game's performance

Technically we're CPU-bound," he said. "The GPUs are really powerful, obviously the graphics look pretty good, but it's the CPU [that] has to process the AI, the number of NPCs we have on screen, all these systems running in parallel

http://www.videogamer.com/ps4/assas...y_is_900p_30fps_on_both_ps4_and_xbox_one.html

 

[function]

Xbox version should have 9% more AIs due to faster CPU.

Xbox One version has been gimped for PS4 parity.

I'm outraged.

 

[TomRL]

Weak. I'm not really bothered about the resolution. But parity is garbage.

 

[Shortbread]

Why can't UBI run AI 30 fps? I was looking forward to 60 fps AC, but this is no buy for tuna. More time for other games!

Makes you wonder why Watch Dogs was 1080p on PS4, all during the E3 showings, actual playable demos, confirmed by the developers months/weeks before the release... even by Sony themselves... then suddenly it was 900p. Just saying...