Time to wear your crazy person hat - XBONE vs. PS4 videos.

I'm kinda glad that I had to cancel my PS4 pre-order yesterday, I think I need to take a step back a wait to see how this all unfolds over the next couple of months.

Obviously the XOne and PS4 versions don't look as good as the PC version, although to be honest they're closer than I was expecting. I've got to keep reminding myself that (as seen with the 360 and PS3) games are going to gradually look better on next-gen consoles as time goes on. Give it a year (BF5? I dunno) and perhaps the next-gen versions will look identical to the PC version.

Am I right in saying that PS4/XOne vs PC now is closer than PS3/X360 was in 2005/6?

As for Xbox One vs PS4.. I'm not going to make any judgements until I see fair tests on the release versions. I don't understand half of the graphics related lingo being thrown around in this thread, I understand resolution and framerate but that's pretty much it - and I'm a Computer Science student.. how disappointing.

"Crushed Blacks" is my new favourite piece of graphics jargon.

It looks fine across the Xbox, PS4 and PC. Sure, you can probably go and look at images and compare "jagginess" and "crushed blacks(??)" and you could probably make a case for one console being better than the other.... but does it matter? DOES IT REALLY MATTER? It looks good on both! The differences are fairly subtle (to a reasonable, non-obsessed person).

Anyway, I got a Raedon R9 290x Graphics card today, which is working wonders in my PC right now. I'll be playing BF4 on my PC, as I am wont to do. Even though it looks better on a PC (duh), I still maintain it looks good on the consoles as well, and I am sure you can have just as much fun with the game on consoles as you can on a PC.

Don't be a tool of the conglomerates. Both Sony and Microsoft want you to think there's a difference of night and day with their consoles, but as we've seen from footage and from the bloody tech specs, they're really pretty similar to each other. Guys and gals, stop pretending there's a world of difference between the Xbox One and the PS4. Honestly, their hardware is pretty similar and for the vast majority of cross-platform games, the performance on both machines is going to be pretty bloody similar. Get the console with the games you like. I can guarantee you they'll look pretty good no matter which console you buy.

I find it hard to believe that Microsoft would release a console with noticeable visual inferiority, I guess the reality is that it doesn't really matter. Even if the XBO has inferior visuals and performance, unless this topic takes on much bigger proportions and somehow manages to make it into "mainstream" channels (which is extremely unlikely), it won't have a massive impact on sales either-way.

I would actually hope that it is the money, that level of incompetence would be terrible. Then again he wouldn't be the only one.

Listen people: crushed blacks and lack of depth in lighting are ruining this industry!

As amusing as it may be, it's not exactly new, since it's an actual term that's frequently used in Blu-ray reviews when grading the quality of a video transfer, and has been so used since the birth of the format (if not since DVDs came about).

Digital Foundry Admits To Botching Battlefield 4 PS4/XB1 Video Capature

@darji said:

This is really something people complain a long time about digital foundry. I don't know why they can not fix this. As for the rest the more serious matter here is really the framerate differences. Despite the resolution thingy the performance is really quite surprising. I wonder how it will look with COD. But man How could Gies not see any difference here?

I don't know if there was something wrong with DF's capture. But if you look at the sky in the JackFrags image, you'll see that it has blown out whites instead of crushed blacks, which is just as bad.

So reading that thread and looking up other sources comparison, I refuse to believe DF did this on purpose and is most likely incompetence. but at that point, for a website focus on comparison to mess this up? Its what you fucking do! What the hell is happening in gaming when sites like DF are either taking side with fan-boy or just straight up incompetent? This is depressing from all sides.

I think I'll buy BF4 on the ps4.

I will not buy BF4 but it is good to see some next gen footage.

You could just...stop caring?

@rafaelfc said:

I will not buy BF4 but it is good to see some next gen footage.

too bad there is no Xbox One footage of AC4 from the Xbox one version. Only Ps4 and you are a bad person if you think that is because of graphical differences....

The only thing we have is a next gen vs current gen shot

I think it's more about DF trying to capitalize on the interest in this stuff at the moment, and releasing it before they got to do proper quality control. I agree, it's most likely incompetence.

And the stuff going on now isn't unusual. Remember how heated it got between Sega and Nintendo and their fans back in the day. I remember Jeff talking about the shit he got from Sega fans back then. It's just that the internet has allowed many more to take part.

Well, everyone makes mistakes, and right before launch with new hardware, there are likely to be more mistakes than usual. As long as they learn from this mistake and this doesn't become a trend at Digital Foundry, I don't think it's something to get overly concerned about. It's unfortunate, as it did mislead a good amount of people, but hopefully they will make sure it doesn't happen again any time soon.

And hopefully people in this thread will consider what we know now and give it some thought. Personally, I think the real test will be when tons of people actually get their hands on the game, but I can understand the appeal of trying to draw conclusions from early comparative footage, even if there is a mistake in it. It can be fun to feel like you're getting a better grasp of the game and the new consoles.

Eurogamer has this issue quite a while now. The contrast of PS3 and 360 version were always a bit different.

@ramone: Of cause I care, gaming is my hobby/passion. Still, I am pretty remove from this whole ordeal since I wont get a console for a year yet but I do hold DF in pretty high regard because they do good work. This is just disappointing more than anything.

shadows missing and what not on the bone

I don't know about you guys, but I don't play my games with binoculars on.

At the end of the day, these differences don't matter. Sony fans will be Sony fans and xbox fans will be xbox fans.

The lead up to these consoles has been the worst ever. Clearly visuals are all that make a game. But then all those indie games on ps4 also matter. Not sure where the line is.

The thing I find most frustrating is the constant barrage of technical jargon from the Sony supporters. The ps3 is a console that to this day has inferior ports. An entire generation where the vast majority of multiplatform games looked and performed better on the 360. It didn't seem to matter then. Now that the ps4 has the edge, it's the biggest deal in the world. Everyone who likes xbox one is suddenly an idiot for liking a platform that may very well get inferior ports this time. The hypocrisy is ridiculous.

The same applies to the controller. It's almost universally accepted that the 360 controller is better than the ds3. Better analogs, triggers and ergonomics. The things that really matter. Sony fans didn't seem to care about that either. They played inferior ports with an inferior controller. You know what? That's great. They enjoyed themselves and that's what mattered. Now with the DS4 having fixed those issues, it's the same thing as the technical nonsense. The xbox one controller is now terrible despite very few people having any real time with either.

These are launch games and the xbox one is more difficult to develop for. With time it will get better in the same way that the ps3 versions got better.

There will be great games on both platforms and you have to own both to play all those games. That's how it's always been. Having a preference is fine, but the hypocrisy is not.