Epic's VP Mark Rein has revealed that more than half of 360 users played Gears 2 on standard definition TV's.

EUROGAMER Interview with Mark Rein:


Mark Rein: Over half the users who played Gears of War 2 so far do not have HDTVs. [Dramatic pause]

Eurogamer: Oh.

Mark Rein: I think that tells you there are still a lot of people making the leap to HD.

Eurogamer: So you're saying we're have to increase the userbase of HDTV before we can beam games into people's eyes?

Mark Rein: No. My point is, of the systems that are out there now, the majority of them aren't plugged into HDTVs. So there's no way we're ready for the PlayStation 4 or the Xbox Whatever.



I had heard prior the take up was poor, but never imagined it was this poor. I wonder what Pachter's thoughts are. What are yours?



Thanks to GB member Godwind for the tip 
 
 
 
....

I'm really not surprised, to be honest.  I played Gears 1 on an SDTV!

Makes me proud of my 18 inch HDTV that I bought on an extreme budget :D

" I'm really not surprised, to be honest.  I played Gears 1 on an SDTV! "

" Makes me proud of my 18 inch HDTV that I bought on an extreme budget :D "

How would they know?

" How would they know? "

They are also making the assumption that those with HDTV have connected their systems up to take advantage of it.  Depending on the available inputs and knowledge of the consumer they could be using a standard RCA video input rather than component or HDMI.  Some of the first gen HDTV's only had 1 HDMI port which usually their HD cable box gets plugged into.  I have a hard time playing on anything other than HD these days but I guess most people can't miss what they havent used yet.

Yeah, when I got my PS3 the first game I played was Assassin's Creed, and I couldn't read the text. (At this point I was using a 12", my 22" had broke like a month previous to this) So I was like, fuck it, I went out and got a 32" Vizio. Didn't actually buy an HDMI cable till like a year later.

And, as mentioned before, god knows how they actually get a hold of this data.

Welcome to the real world. This is what people with lots of money don't seem to understand, the rest of the world is not as well off as you, and either don't want, don't need, or cannot afford to upgrade.

" @iAmJohn said:

" I'm really not surprised, to be honest.  I played Gears 1 on an SDTV! "

With Gears 1 it's slightly understandable, but the sequel, I find that pretty amazing.


@kmdrkul said:

" Makes me proud of my 18 inch HDTV that I bought on an extreme budget :D "

The fact that it's18inch suggests as much :D "

The real problem with HD has little to do with gaming and more with broadcast offerings.  As it stands, most television channels still broadcast in standard definition with the exception.  Gaming is usually the some of the earliest leaps into new commercial technologies before it catches on with other stuff.  I remember when CDs became popular.  While they were growing, most people didn't own them until the Sony Playstation came out.  The same with DVD players.

That's kind of weird especially considering how cheap you can get some HDTV's.

I have an HDTV, but not in the same room as my PS3/360. So I still play on an SDTV.

I'm not surprised seeing as I played Gears 2 on my SDTV. Heck, I play SF IV on an SDTV, tiny text and all. I understand the difference between the two and have seen it first hand for most of my games but its still not enough to make me want to play HD every single time. I think those who do it alot on HDTV's overestimate how big this practice actually is.

I play on SD.  I will be until August 13th when I get payed and go buy a 32" LCD.  This reminds me a lot of when you see Xbox and PS3 fanboys arguing over which is better and the PS3 people talk about Blu-ray and whatnot.  It may be a major selling point for them but to most people it's meaningless because they just view it as more expensive DVDs to buy.  This will obviously change but it will take a while.  I remember reading a thing about how most people who have HDTVs don't even have them properly set up and are watching in SD.

Gears of war 1 was a disappointment  for me as far as graphics went, there's no argument it was highly defined, unfortunately it was highly defined grey. It was so fucking monochrome I used to call it "Greys of War". GoW2 was a much better and prettier looking game, but I still don't think you would have missed much in SD.

Not surprised...

Most of the gaming population don't even, *GASP!*, post on forums on popular enthusiast sites.

They might buy and play a lot of games, but they aren't.... hrm.... I dunno how to put it,,,,

Us?

I don't think that's quite right either... but I can't find a word for it.

I guess I think a lot of us care not just what we play, but also how we play? (I'm lost here actually...)


But yeah, my HDTV/Monitor cost me around $450 (damn taxes!)  for a 32" a year ago, I doubt that people find the size or price adequate. (It's perfect for me since I needed a monitor as well as a TV. Any bigger would be tough as a monitor.)

I've never been too impressed with HDTV quality. I don't think it looks that much better to warrant the extra price. SDTV is fine by me.

I think this tells us much more about the audience of war porn games than the general attachment rate of HDTVs.

I'm surprised there's a single person who plays 360/PS3 on SDTV. HD is cheap now.

damn who would even get a next gen if you dont have a hdtv or good monitor atleast..

I'm kinda bummed out that my office hdtv is only 32 inches let alone the fact that im bummed out my 50inch hdtv is only 720p...

I've played 360 games on a huge HDTV. I have also played 360 games on my medium-sized SDTV. I just don't see what the hell people who say "OMG I can't believe you're playing on an SDTV, the difference is HUUUUUGE" are talking about.

" Welcome to the real world. This is what people with lots of money don't seem to understand, the rest of the world is not as well off as you, and either don't want, don't need, or cannot afford to upgrade."

" Not surprised...Most of the gaming population don't even, *GASP!*, post on forums on popular enthusiast sites.They might buy and play a lot of games, but they aren't.... hrm.... I dunno how to put it,,,,Us?

Its not surprising, I don't trust current day HDTV adoption numbers simply put i still think its less then half of the tv owning populace that has an HDTV, They pushed HD way to soon which is why so many games are sub hd resolutions and bad in preformance, If maybe so many of them devs  weren't forced to try HD resolutions then it would be one less step in the development process.

" I'm surprised there's a single person who plays 360/PS3 on SDTV. HD is cheap now. "

" I've played 360 games on a huge HDTV. I have also played 360 games on my medium-sized SDTV. I just don't see what the hell people who say "OMG I can't believe you're playing on an SDTV, the difference is HUUUUUGE" are talking about.

The difference wasn't even significant enough to be worth $100... the only thing that has made me consider buying a HDTV is games with tiny-ass text, and developers who do that are dicks.

I don't have an HDTV, and the 360 I own doesn't even have a HDMI port. :(

I love my 1080p monitor. <3

HDTVs are not very expensive anymore.

" Its not surprising, I don't trust current day HDTV adoption numbers simply put i still think its less then half of the tv owning populace that has an HDTV, They pushed HD way to soon which is why so many games are sub hd resolutions and bad in performance, If maybe so many of them devs  weren't forced to try HD resolutions then it would be one less step in the development process. "

" Its not surprising, I don't trust current day HDTV adoption numbers simply put i still think its less then half of the tv owning populace that has an HDTV, They pushed HD way to soon which is why so many games are sub hd resolutions and bad in preformance, If maybe so many of them devs  weren't forced to try HD resolutions then it would be one less step in the development process. "

" @WilliamRLBaker said:

" Its not surprising, I don't trust current day HDTV adoption numbers simply put i still think its less then half of the tv owning populace that has an HDTV, They pushed HD way to soon which is why so many games are sub hd resolutions and bad in performance, If maybe so many of them devs  weren't forced to try HD resolutions then it would be one less step in the development process. "

There aren't that many sub 720p (-considered HD) games on the evidence of this:

http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?t=46241

Modern Warfare 2 might be sub 720p, but that could change in a instant after optimization of the engine:

http://www.kombo.com/article.php?artid=13427 "

Not surprising at all since there are definitely a lot 15 year-olds that play Gears of War 2. And most 15 year olds can't afford HDTVs. Of course even on an SDTV, modern games like Gears still look WAY better then a previous gen game would look (i.e. PS2, Xbox, etc.). So people who are saying that the gaming hardware is irrelevant because most people still have SD sets need to realize that there's a more to graphical quality then resolution.

i dont even own an hdtv but that doesnt make the game any less fun

I have a pre hdmi port 360 but i still play in 720p. I can't stand SD now, the text is abysmall.

My first playthrough was in SD but now I'm playing it in HD.

Personally I can see a massive difference with HD, I was forced back to SD for about a week and I could not stand it to the point of not wanting to play until I had HD back. It's easy to take for granted that lovely crispness  and vibrance that HD brings, but I believe it would take quite some time to condition yourself to be able to enjoy SD again. If ever!!

The jump from SD to 720p is massive but going to 1080p doesn't seem to bring alot of benefit until your screen is at least 50" or more. In fact anything less than 42" with 1080p and your wasting your time, unless you plug your PC into it.

To those of you who say they can't see much difference, either the screen you were viewing was not setup properly or your just saying that because you don't have one.

Don't Act so suprised people....HD might be the way to go, but we're still only heading over slowly.

There's no way I am ready to play SFIV as I'm not playing it on a HDTV! I'm just not ready.

that list of games is only a list of games that have tried to be HD what about games on both systems that simply use 480p and then use the internal scaler in each system to reach desired upscaled resolutions, or the games that aren't nearly as advanced or don't try to maintain a 30-60fps.then you have games no one cares about because the developers and fanboys didn't make them out to be the 2nd comming of christ.No that list isn't very telling of the state of HD in todays games though it does say one thing, if the game is advanced and pushes the system to the limit more often then not HD resolutions TRUE hd resolutions *720p and 1080i/p* are not atainable they have to dial it back to make the game run smoothly. "

Does nobody wonder where Epic got those numbers from? I'm fairly sure Epic doesn't know what kind of TV I played their games on.

Or do they?

" Does nobody wonder where Epic got those numbers from? I'm fairly sure Epic doesn't know what kind of TV I played their games on.Or do they? "

I'm one of those people that purchased a HDTV fairly recently (December 2008).
My Sony Trinitron was still an okay TV set, so i didn't bother with it really.
Until... my parents bought a HDTV in the late summer of 2008 and all of a sudden i felt like an oldtimer, stuck with an old tv that i almost wanted to donate to a museum of archaic electronics.
So i bought a Full HD 100 hrtz tv for a decent price.
And yeah, it's an overall improvement... not just for playing games.
And to be able to plug in your pc via a hdmi cable is pretty neat too.
Watching streaming videos on your big screen is just great!

Good.  It's easier for me to pwn ppl with standard def.  I can see further in the distance with my HD.

Wow kind of surprising the adoption rate is so low, I work barely above minimum wage and was able to afford a 32" 1080p and a 19" 720p to set up two rooms in HD. HD sets are cheap now unlike only a few short years ago. Only problem with HD is the cable provider, there are only a few dozen channels that broadcast in high def and almost all broadcast in 720p and none go higher than 1080i. Though I'd wager thats more of a limit of broadcasting technology than anything.

I don't see why anyone would play a 360 on a SDTV. HD TVs are so cheap now.

Not everyone can afford games, consoles, and a huge fucking telly. 
 
*insert mildly jealous mumblings here* 

" Not everyone can afford games, consoles, and a huge fucking telly.  *insert mildly jealous mumblings here*  "

" @Linkyshinks said:

"@Icemael said:

" I've played 360 games on a huge HDTV. I have also played 360 games on my medium-sized SDTV. I just don't see what the hell people who say "OMG I can't believe you're playing on an SDTV, the difference is HUUUUUGE" are talking about.

The difference wasn't even significant enough to be worth $100... the only thing that has made me consider buying a HDTV is games with tiny-ass text, and developers who do that are dicks.

The difference may not be huge but it is instantly apparent. 360 games look notably better on a HDTV running in 1080p, than they do on a good SDTV. On a SDTV, colours bleed and textures look fuzzy in comparison, while on a HDTV the crispness of lines and vibrancy of the colours is instantly apparent. When playing through a HDTV, your playing the games as the developers intended them to be played. The 360's graphics were intended to be output in HD, The only time a game drops below the HD mark is due to engine issues - making the game run at a smoother rate. "

But the difference is far too subtle to justify the price. The only thing that looks notably better is tiny text -- hell, the first time I played on a HDTV, I didn't even think about the difference. If someone had said "this is an SDTV", I would've believed him. As I said, I don't even think the difference is worth $100. Games that look fantastic in HD look just as fantastic(unless you sit there and  look for a difference, and you don't do that when you play games) on SDTVs.

I just don't see any good reason to purchase a HDTV. It's a complete and utter waste of money. If the difference was significant, sure, I would definitely have considered upgrading. But as it is, I'm not upgrading anytime soon.

"