Should Sony be concerned that an Xbox 360 game has graphics that look better and more detailed than its newer version for the PS3?
While we’re yet to play with or even see a PS3 in Australia, reports from PS3 owners are just starting to filter their way to the web, with plenty of reviews and head-to-head comparisons yet to come.
Our final judgement is being reserved until we get some hands-on PS3 action for ourselves, but at least one game available for both platforms looks far better on the Xbox 360 than it does on the PS3. The game? Ridge Racer.
Available as Ridge Racer 6 for the Xbox 360 and Ridge Racer 7 for the PS3, the PS3 version is said to run very fast, with an improved online gameplay experience over the Xbox 360 version.
But if you take a look at the side-by-side comparison of the graphics at the GameBrink.com website, the Xbox 360 version, even though released earlier than the PS3 version (which has really only been available for the past couple of days), has better, darker colours, with more detail in the road surface and in on screen graphics.
Update: It seems the volume of traffic this site has had sent to it from multiple sources on the Internet, including this article, has caused GameBrink.com’s site to crash. If it isn’t back up as you read this, no doubt it will be back up soon enough, so check back later to see the difference in the graphics for yourself. Apologies.
For anyone expecting the PS3 to simply have better graphics right out of the box for the latest games, this must come as somewhat of a shock.
Part of the reason is that which we covered earlier – more developers have had more time with the Xbox 360 and simply know how to program it better. The Xbox 360 is also known to be a much easier games console to develop for than the PS3, which some developers have described as a much harder system to develop new games for.
This is because the PS3 has a radically new processor inside which will take developers time to learn to fully harness the power of, and when they do, the Xbox 360 had better look out – although Xbox 360 games development and graphics advances will hardly be standing still, waiting for a PS3 knockout – there’ll be graphical advancements on the Xbox 360 too.
Of course, reports of the amazing quality of graphics in other PS3 games, especially with the realism of sports titles, are emerging too. However this was also said of the Xbox 360 when it launched, so we’d expect nothing less from the PS3.
The next-gen war doesn’t just amount to who has the better specs, for no matter what you’re given, you can push a games console to its limits if you only know how. One need only compare PS2 games from the 1st of its existence to the PS2 games available today.
While they’re not a patch on the graphical quality of the Xbox 360 or the PS3, they’re far advanced over the very first games to have appeared on the PS2 console.
And then there’s the Wii. Capable of amazing graphics all its own, it certainly beats the PS2 in graphical power, but just doesn’t look as good as the Xbox 360 or the PS3 does.
And while gamers are always clamoring for the most realistic graphics, whether it be on the PC, the Xbox 360 or the PS3, let’s not forget that some of the most popular and oft-played games of all time, from Space Invaders to Pac-man to Tetris and more, had graphics so basic as to be hilariously laughable by today’s standards, yet captured the imagination of millions around the globe.
Clearly, great gameplay and great graphics will always go well together. But give me a choice between a fantastically absorbing and enjoyable game with good enough graphics, and a graphical tour-de-force with mediocre gameplay, and I know which one I’ll chose.
It’s just like the movies. We all know about brand new ‘blockbuster-to-be’ movies with a stellar cast that bombs at the box office because the story and plot were lacking, proving that big-name stars aren’t enough to save a bad movie from derision and scorn. If the big-name stars in bad movies are the equivalent of great graphics in a mediocre game, then you know exactly what I mean.
The next-gen race isn’t just about the greatest specs. It’s about who delivers the most consistently high quality gaming experience, along with all the other functions that the latest games consoles offer, from online gaming experiences to surfing the web on your TV and much more.
So, with the PS3 barely out the door in severely limited numbers, and the Wii still yet to launch as this article is written, the fairytale (or otherwise) ending to the battle of the next-gen consoles is still yet to be played out.
