In potentially significant news for those yet to pick a horse for the next-gen console war, the new first-person shooter outputs full 1080p graphics on PS4, but only 720p (upscaled to 1080p) gameplay on Xbox One.
call of duty ghost gameplay 1080p vs 720p
Call of Duty: Ghosts is the latest iteration in one of the most popular game franchises in the world, so it's only fitting that Activision's shooter has become the center of a big discussion of how Microsoft's Xbox One stacks up to Sony's PS4. The PS4 version runs at a native 1080p, and the Xbox One version runs at 720p upsacled to 1080, which may point to real differences in the power of these two consoles.
The other day, Infinity Ward's Mark Rubin explained that the Xbox One version had to stay at 720p to keep the game running at the crucial 60 frames per second. Now, it appears that the PS4 version, which does run at 1080p native, is having a hard time keeping the frame rate up. Nearly every reviewer who has talked about the PS4 version describes some kind of frame rate failure. Here are a few examples:
As the metrics emerge on key next-gen launch titles, it's clear that Xbox One is under-performing against its rival -- not just according to the spec differential, but actually beyond the difference in raw numbers. Our Battlefield 4 Face-Off preview reveals a 50 per cent resolution boost on PlayStation 4 with no appreciable compromise in effects or performance in single-player gameplay, while Infinity Ward's Mark Rubin confirmed rumors that Call of Duty: Ghosts runs at native 720p on Xbox One, with 1080p a lock for PS4. Assuming uniform features and performance, that's a massive blow for Microsoft.
Game developers have utilized varying resolutions over the current-gen period and we would venture to suggest that at a commercial level, it has had little impact on game sales. But the next-gen launch is clearly a very different situation -- consoles are at their most expensive, gamers want the best deal, and if they have invested in a 1080p display, why wouldn't they want to get the most out of it? Speaking to Guerrilla Games' MD Hermen Hulst in Amsterdam last week, he believed that Killzone fans would not take too kindly to a non-native 1080p presentation. There are areas in Killzone Shadow Fall -- particularly in terms of the game's state-of-the-art lighting and material detail, where the case for targeting full HD simply cannot be challenged from an image quality perspective -- the results are simply stunning. At the other extreme, 720p is so closely associated with the current-gen standard by core gamers looking for that next-generational leap, that its association with Xbox One on major triple-A games does the console no favours.
The next volley in the resolution wars came yesterday, when Infinity Ward's Mark Rubin confirmed over Twitter that the Xbox One version of Call of Duty: Ghosts will be running at "1080p upscaled from 720p," compared to a "native 1080p" resolution of the PlayStation 4. These tidbits seem to have a small but loud corner of the Internet convinced that Microsoft's system is overpriced and underpowered, incapable of keeping up with the PlayStation 4.
Digital Trends has calculated the distances and screen sizes where various resolutions actually matter. If your living room TV is 10 feet away from your seat, you need a TV a bit larger than 50 inches to notice the difference between 720p and 1080p. If you're 12 feet away, you need a screen larger than 60 inches.
Viewing distances aside, we're reaching a point of somewhat diminishing returns when it comes to improving a gaming image just by throwing more pixels at it. Back in the '80s, the jump in resolution between the Atari 2600 and the NES was about the same pure pixel ratio as the jump from 720p to 1080p, but it provided a much more noticeable effect on image quality (even if you discount the NES' wider simultaneous color palette and larger character sprites). The jump from 720p to 1080p is much less noticeable, even up close, than the jump from 480p to 720p that made Wii games look like muddy, washed-out relics compared to their Xbox 360/PS3 brethren.
It's hard to look at the Xbox One's technically "inferior" 720p output with the same kind of practical concern as those inter-console resolution comparisons of the past. Resolution aside, the games look practically identical, with similar textures, apparent polygon counts, frame rates, and particle effects (like smoke). The small aliasing difference due to the resolution pales in comparison to the similarities in the overall look and feel of both versions.
None of this is to ignore the actual differences in resolution between the PS4 and Xbox One versions of at least a couple high-profile, multiplatform launch games. If you're the kind of person who isn't happy unless his gaming rig generates the highest raw benchmark numbers, the PS4 seems to be your console of choice for the time being (though, really, a high-end PC still wins out on this score). If you're the kind of person who values actual gameplay, though, choose your next console based on the games. You can feel secure in the knowledge that, graphically, there doesn't seem to be much practical, noticeable difference in performance.
It has been noted that unlike the game's 1080p resolution on Sony PS4, the Xbox One fans might have to settle for a sub-1080p resolution or what is also called as the console's native 900p resolution.
Another famous franchise game Call of Duty: Ghosts will also sport the lower 720p resolution, however it is said that the resolution will upscale to 1080p as an output on the television screens. "The Xbox One is 720p, but it upscales to 1080p. So it is a 1080p output on your TV. The differences are probably more subtle than some people would notice, but some people will notice. It's such a hard thing to talk about," confirms Mark Rubin, executive producer of Infinity Ward, developer of Call of Duty: Ghosts to Gamespot.
Infinity Ward prioritised frame rate over display resolution during the development of Call of Duty: Ghosts, with the game targeted to run at 60 frames per second on each platform. While the game outputs at 1080p on PlayStation 4, the Xbox One can only manage 720p while maintaining the frame rate. Due to a "configuration issue" however, the PlayStation 4 version still required a release day patch to reach 1080p.[20][21]
Conversely, PC Gamer dubbed the campaign as "exciting but only passively entertaining" and criticized the "whack-a-mole" feel in the game's multiplayer.[73] VideoGamer.com praised overall gameplay, saying it "seems more refined and enjoyable than Black Ops 2" but criticized the campaign calling it a "po-faced, nonsensical rehash of greatest hits long past".[67] Eurogamer was less critical of the campaign, commenting that "the Ghosts campaign can't help but feel like a step backwards", but that "it's still capable of being devilishly entertaining" and "moment-to-moment thrills are still there, if muted by expectation".[54] Joystiq disparaged both types of gameplay, saying "It layers a fresh coat of paint over a tired design document; a document that brings players down a rote campaign path before landing them in a multiplayer mode that abandons many of the creative advancements seen in Black Ops 2".[62]
There's apparently a "configuration issue" in the single-player that requires an update in order to remedy the problem. If you don't download the patch, you'll be playing through the campaign in 720p upscaled to 1080p. 2ff7e9595c
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