What is up with many PS3 titles only supporting 720P?

[swlovinist]

I went into a local Game Crazy store where I usually buy my games(because its the cool kind of store that is usually very non opinionated and honest upfront). I usually go in and shoot the breeze about games, on a break from work. Interesting note that an employee pointed out...who buy the way is a fan of all three systems, like myself(getting a ps3 with birthday money).

This employee pointed out an interesting fact on the back of the PS3 games...nearly all of the current releases only support 720p...including Rainbow Six Vegas 2. I know that there are a few titles that support 1080p, but for being a Blu Ray Player and supposedly the superior processor...what the hell is up with that? On an interesting side note, the some same games(Vegas 2) is supported in 1080p on the 360(going off back of box).

Is there something to this, or is this just a packaging mess up? Aside from Sony packing in a Blu Ray Player with laughable AV cables...why the heck is the system not supporting 1080p on all current games?

[Poofta!]

that cell processor is too weak... *sigh* if only the ps3 had blast processing =[

[Dangerboy]

I'll gladly swap you your game crazy for all 7 of the ones i go to.

Anyway, Poofta comically summed it up best; they just can't get the cell processor to play nice. Oddly enough, everyone slapped the 360 for adding on the HDMI, yet the 360 games have almost all supported 1080p after the switch.

I still recall it when Kaz said the PS3 was going to have 2 HDMI ports.

Ah, the days of yore...

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

There seems to be some type of confusion regarding games "running" in a native 1080 resolution mode, and games DISPLAYING in (or upscaling to) 1080i & p modes.

While the 360 can upscale just about everything to 1080i and 1080p - there are actually FAR LESS games that RUN in NATIVE 1080p on the XBOX360 than on the PS3, as running in native 1080i & p requires a LOT more processor work, which the cell processors do in fact take care of pretty well.

PS3 games that actually run in 1080 have it listed on the back of the game case.

I believe the ratio of native 1080 games on PS3 to native 1080 games on 360 is something like 25 to 5.

[swlovinist]

The employee was showing me several new releases...all 720p on the PS3(back of the cover). Anyone have a list to actually compare specific numbers? I am interested.

[DeputyMoniker]

I believe the ratio of native 1080 games on PS3 to native 1080 games on 360 is something like 25 to 5.

Hmm. I thought it was more like 5 to 1. ;)

[Sothy]

Dude I dont care if its 90 to 1 ratio I just want to play LAIR!!!!

[roushimsx]

sweet, my first double post. I think.

Text below!

[roushimsx]

Dude I dont care if its 90 to 1 ratio I just want to play LAIR!!!!

The sooner they patch in the ability to actually play the game, the better.


There seems to be some type of confusion regarding games "running" in a native 1080 resolution mode, and games DISPLAYING in (or upscaling to) 1080i & p modes.

This. Given that so many people can't even tell the difference unless they hit the info button to see what their TV is displaying, I'm going to go ahead and say that for most people it doesn't matter that it runs in 720p or 1080i instead of 1080p. People just like bigger numbers. Kind of like how people will buy TVs based only on superficial factors like how thin it is, how big it is, or what brand it is and inevitably whatever they buy works out awesome for them because it meets their standard.



I still recall it when Kaz said the PS3 was going to have 2 HDMI ports.


Wasn't that mainly because most TVs at the time had only 1 HDMI port anyway? I was under the impression that they intended to have a second HDMI port on the PS3 as a passthrough for other HDMI devices and to better integrate it into a home theater setup. Between the time they announced that and the time the PS3 was finalized, the number of HDMI ports on TVs jumped up to 2 or 3 and the prices of HDMI switchboxes plummeted.

[BydoEmpire]

The actual reason is that they can't get their games running at 60fps in native 1080p. As was already said, it's tough to tell the difference anyways, but putting 1080p on the box or in ads is a nice bit of marketing.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

The employee was showing me several new releases...all 720p on the PS3(back of the cover). Anyone have a list to actually compare specific numbers? I am interested.

Now, please keep in mind that while I'm providing these as a technical reference (they may not be 100% complete, but they're as much as I could find online as of 04/03/08) I am NOT making any claims as to the graphical or entertainment superiority of EITHER system.

This is just a technical reference. I enjoy both systems, and I think that for the most part, it's pretty challenging to discern the difference between 720p and 1080p, unless your screen size tops out over 50 inches.

And personally, as far as the selection of games available on both systems in 1080p (or locked down at 60FPS) I'd much rather play through Uncharted: Drake's Fortune or Bioshock in 720p than Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer or Boogie Bunnies in 1080p.

Here are a list of PS3 games that display and run in native 1080 mode

All Pro Football 2K7
Blast Factor
Calling All Cars
College Hoops 2K7
The Darkness
Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer
flOw
Full Auto 2 Battlines
Harry Potter
High Stakes on the Vegas Strip: Poker Edition
LocoRoco Cocoreccho!
Marvel Ultimate Alliance
Mesmerize™: Distort (Playstation Eye)
MLB The Show 07
MLB The Show 08
NBA ‘07
NBO '08
NBA 2K7
NBA 2K8
NBA Street Home Court
Ninja Gaiden
Pirates of the Carribean
PixelJunk™ Monsters
PixelJunk™ Racers
Piyotama
Riiiiiiiiidge Raceerrrr 7
Super Stardust HD
Transformers The Movie
Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection
Virtua Tennis 3

AND, a List of 360 games that run in native 1080

Boogie Bunnies
NBA Street Home Court
Virtua Tennis 3

[consolecrusader]

Honestly now unless your an obessive compulsive individual then you really can't tell the difference between 720p and 1080p, or even 1080p and 1080i. Now if you got a LCD just for PS3 thinking everything was going to be 1080p then you definitely needed to do your research a little bit more. I have not googled as to why all games are not in 1080p but I really don't care unless it looks nice. I mean you have to be nose to the screen to tell the differences. My friend has a Vizio 1080p 42inch I have the 37inch 720p/1080i VX37L and I honestly can't tell the difference and neither can he.

[roushimsx]

The actual reason is that they can't get their games running at 60fps in native 1080p.

And then you always have companies about Ubisoft Shanghai that don't care about having the game run at 60fps or running in 1080p. Just getting the game to run without constantly crashing is a major victory for them.


Honestly now unless your an obessive compulsive individual then you really can't tell the difference between 720p and 1080p, or even 1080p and 1080i.

Like Locke Frankie says, you really need a tv over 50 inches to tell and even then it depends on how far away you sit from your set. Dorm dwelling college kids with disposable income that sit 3 feet away from a 55" screen will notice the difference right off the bat while Tom, Dick, and Harry sitting 8 feet away from their 46" most likely will never know the better. Hell, many LCDs don't even do a native 1080 or 720 resolution and have to rely on scaling the image anyway.

That said, the difference between 1080i and 1080p is pretty easy to spot in fast motion games (like racing games). For PS3 owners, the easiest way to feel woefully inadequate with their 1080i tv is to fire up Gran Turismo HD and watch the replay mode.

Either way, 720p is perfectly fine with me as long as the framerate is steady. Hell, I'll even settle for 30fps as long as it never goes up or down.

[Poofta!]

first of all, sorry, i didnt mean the cell was 'weak', but it definitely has issues playing nice as Dangerboy mentioned, it has severe problems rendering 1080p +60fps. and for whatever reason (probably the same actually) the ps3 also is not too good at upconverting 720p to 1080p, so sony, to avoid fan backlash just left these figures off the box and prefers you to run it at the games' native 720p.

the 360 on the other hand, is great at upconverting 720p to 1080p and having it run like a dream, so well actually that manufacturers slap 1080p on the back of the game box because thats exactly what itll run at. i would say the 360 has fantastic 1080p/hdmi outputting, regardless of how 'late to the party' it was. it must be the warm chocolate pudding port.


interesting side note: Micro$oft, in it's infinite intelligence and glory, has made their official 360 hdmi cable work *only* with xbox 360s. Hmmm...

[consolecrusader]

Only good thing about the PS3 is Sony can keep sending patches to games and to the console to make resolution updates etc...very firmware friendly

[swlovinist]

Thanks for the info guys. I cant wait to be getting a PS3...just need a little more cash.

[Dangerboy]

Taken from firingsquad.com

"The other outputs on the back are the usual proprietary Sony cable connection, so if you have old PS2 cables you want to use (such as PS2 component cables), then you don't have to buy any new equipment. Also present is an optical sound output port which, of course, allows for surround sound output via an optical cable. Not exactly what everyone was expecting, according to the original mock ups which showed 2 HDMI and 3 Ethernet ports."

I recall the idea being was that you could have two TVs making a double sized image (like Gran Turismo super-wide mode) or the like. Or like how the PSP would have been a sideview mirror for the F1 game except, it didn't use it.

Now that I think about it...originally the 2 hdmi and 3 ethernet ports were accompanied by 7 controllers at once, and some other crazy things.

[Captain Wrong]

+1 for the "who can tell the difference anyway so what difference does it make?" crowd. The only game I've done an A/B on was Obilvion and they both looked equally good to me.

[Garry Silljo]

Edit, Nevermind.... already stated.

[roushimsx]

I recall the idea being was that you could have two TVs making a double sized image (like Gran Turismo super-wide mode) or the like. Or like how the PSP would have been a sideview mirror for the F1 game except, it didn't use it.

Now that I think about it...originally the 2 hdmi and 3 ethernet ports were accompanied by 7 controllers at once, and some other crazy things.

Just googled around and found the announcement of when they announced it with that functionality. They probably realized early on that it was a complete waste of money to provide two HDMI outputs considering less than a fraction of a percent would ever even use it (and even most game stores wouldn't bother displaying it with two screens hooked up). Good on 'em for cutting it, because that shit makes no sense. The established/accepted standard of networking consoles and having each render a different viewpoint is totally the way to keep on going.

The ethernet specs are a bit odd, too. From what I've found, they labeled it as 1x input and 2x output...i have to wonder if that's backwards or just completely retarded. 2x input and 1x output would make sense if they had intended for the PS3 to function as a router as well as a console. Shit, plug your other consoles into the PS3 to get online? Not a bad way to further integrate your system into a home entertainment setup.

You can still connect 7 controllers, but they cut down the number of USB ports from 6 (holy fuck overkill) to 4 (now we're talkin'!). It's a shame they cut that in half for the 40gb, but I guess they were really trying to cut costs wherever they could. Seriously though, only 2 USB ports? Damn.

My one big gripe is how the backwards compatibility layer doesn't allow PS2 games to output Dolby Pro Logic II over HDMI, it still needs to be carried over optical. Sucks for me because I only have one optical input on my low cost receiver and it's currently being used from the optical out on the TV (HDMI devices -> HDMI switch -> HDMI to TV -> optical out to receiver). I could shell out a few bucks on a cheap mechanical optical switch...but...eh... I'll just hold out until I get a new receiver. :)

[Poofta!]

roushimsx, i think you got it reversed, if you wanted to use it as a router, the ps3 would require 1 input (from the modem) and two+ outputs (for your 360 etc). all routers only have 1 input and that allows themselves to utilize the net as well as split off the signal to other PCs. i actually really wish sony kept the 2 hdmi and 3 ethernets, would be great to have a built in wireless router or even an internet extender w/ wireless capabilities at my entertainment center.

as for 2 hdmi, hdmi in and of itself is not very pricey, id gladly pay an extra 20 or whatever bucks to be able to have dual 32" LCDs for Gran Tourismo.

however i agree with everyone that the most annoying thing (and the only reason i dont yet own a ps3) is the backward compatibility of the currently available new consoles (40/80gb).

[roushimsx]

roushimsx, i think you got it reversed, if you wanted to use it as a router, the ps3 would require 1 input (from the modem) and two+ outputs (for your 360 etc).

yea, cocaine is a hell of a drug yadda yadda yadda :)

Removing the additional stuff probably didn't help lower the price for the end user so much as it helped lower the loss for Sony. Given that they're starting to move more and more units, how much are they down to losing on each unit sold?

Also, I'd love for them to just write a software emulation routine for the PS2 on par with their PS1 emulation. Lack of PS2 support on the 40gb and mixed support on the 80gb is some serious weaksauce.