Why the bad framerate and drops

[MistaPi]

Why is this a problem on consoles? I mean If you cant optimize it well enough (witch I understand can be a problem on new consoles) you should cut the graphics down so there wont be bad framerate drops? Its a fixed platform afterall. Is it just that developers are choosing graphics at the expense of framerate?

 

[nintenho]

Expect motion-blur to make it look less noticeable? A lot less are 60 fps.

 

[Nesh]

Why is this a problem on consoles? I mean If you cant optimize it well enough (witch I understand can be a problem on new consoles) you should cut the graphics down so there wont be bad framerate drops? Its a fixed platform afterall. Is it just that developers are choosing graphics at the expense of framerate?

Well usually there are both graphical and framerate downgrades. Not just framerate. Cutting down the visuals even more to save framerate is probably an even worse choice.

The best optimized console games are games designed from the ground up for consoles.

 

[EricVonZipper]

Why is this a problem on consoles? I mean If you cant optimize it well enough (witch I understand can be a problem on new consoles) you should cut the graphics down so there wont be bad framerate drops? Its a fixed platform afterall. Is it just that developers are choosing graphics at the expense of framerate?

Most developers don't optimize for the worst case senario i.e: the screen filled with action(polygons, effects, aa, af, ect...)

The best developers start with the worst case senario and try to maintain a solid 30fps with all characters, expolsions, effects,aa,af,ect...basically EVERYTHING on the screen at once.Most of the time, a good developers game is running well above 30fps(50-80fps)but they won't sacrifice smoothness for eyecandy.

 

[NRP]

There was an interview several months ago in the one of the game magazines (OXM or EGM - I can't recall) where a developer was asked this very question regarding next gen consoles.

The answer: because consumers want better graphics.

Apparently, publishers and developers have conducted research which shows that better graphics are more important to the average gamer than solid framerate. Also, games with so-so graphics but stable framerates consistently get lower review scores than games with better graphics and less stable framerates.

There you have it.

This developer also said that in most cases they could improve the framerate, but they usually run out of time so you end up with great visuals and less than great framerates. This is just how developers have to assign their priorities. Graphics are higher priority than framerate.