Next Generation Consoles and Resolution Issues
By Dan Maurer
We’re just a couple of weeks away from the launch of the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4, and with those new consoles will come some big launch titles like Call of Duty: Ghosts and Battlefield 4. We’re now just learning that buyers of Microsoft and Sony’s new hardware won’t have the same experience with that game. Mark Rubin, executive producer at COD developer Infinity Ward, tweeted the disappointing news that only the PS4 version of COD: Ghosts will run in native 1080p. Xbox One buyers will have to be content with native 720p upscaled to 1080p, a decision the developer made to ensure that both games would run at 60 FPS. It’s a surprising admission from Infinity Ward, and a bit unusual not to see a high-profile game like this not take advantage of the Xbox One’s full hardware capabilities.
Also gamers found out this week that the Battlefield 4 experience on both consoles will be slightly different as well. It was confirmed by developer DICE that Battlefield 4 will run at native 900p, upscaled to 1080p on PlayStation 4. The Xbox One version will run at native 720p, upscaled to 1080p. Again this poses the question whether the next generation versions on Xbox One were rushed to meet launch, or simply a case of whether or not developers are having a difficult time fully optimizing the Xbox One’s hardware due to the esRAM that is attached to the memory sector of the console. Some developers have made mention that developing games for the Xbox One is as challenging as it was for the PlayStation 3 when it used it’s “Cell” processor technology.
At launch, all but one of PlayStation 4’s games (Battlefield 4) will run at native 1080p resolution. Meanwhile at launch only 4 games on Xbox One will run at 1080p native (Assassins Creed 4, NBA 2K14, Forza 5, and FIFA 14), while the rest will run slightly at slightly lower native resolutions. Ryse for example, will run at a native 900p resolution while games like Dead Rising 3 are running native 720p resolutions. While people seem to be upset that a system that is $100 than its main competitor PlayStation 4 can run better resolutions, we must remember that this is the first true HD system for both Microsoft and Sony. In fact, very few games on the 360 and PS3 ran games at native 720p. They were for the most part in fact, running at sub-HD resolutions and then upscaled to a 720p display.
Whether the performance boost is 19%, 33% or any number in between, that is still a tangible PlayStation 4 advantage, but not enough on its own to explain the BF4 and Ghosts differentials. The obvious conclusion being that raw compute power is just one part of the equation. Developers have faced a procession of issues with Xbox One GPU performance in the run-up to launch, some that are being tackled in the short term, others that will prove more difficult to address. Microsoft’s “mono driver” for the AMD GPU had been known for months to be delivering sub-par performance prior to Gamescom in August (hence disappointing Ryse and Dead Rising 3 showings at E3) and while improvements have been – and apparently continue to be – delivered, developers have been working around a moving target, unsure exactly what the power of the graphics hardware will be in the final retail box.
In the end however, it will be up to the developers to challenge themselves to harness the power of not just the Xbox One, but the PlayStation 4 as well. Launch titles are usually never the best indicators of a new console’s true power. I would expect to see the full power of both on full display as we come into the 2014 Holiday Season when developers have had a chance to get more familiar with each respectable system’s capabilities. Until then we will just have to enjoy the games we are given this holiday season, whether they are in 720p or 1080p.
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