In many cases yes. Generally, I don’t think many people can tell the difference between 720p and 1080p. This isn’t like the jump from SD televisions to HDTV or VHS to DVD. Judging by the number of people that don’t even have their HDTVs set up correctly, or are perfectly content to watch stretched out SD feeds on their HDTVs, I don’t think it’s the big deal gamers think it is for sales of consoles.
What I do think matters is when every third party game has a resolution difference between the Xbox One and PS4 and the narrative turns into “The Xbox One is less powerful and games look like shit.” That’s a major messaging issue.
Edit: Frame rate is a little different. Obviously the difference between 60fps and 30fps side-by-side is apparent to most people. I don’t think there’s been as much of an issue here because the third party resolutiongate games have had locked frame rates on both consoles as far as I’m aware.
JoshL
5370
I’m pretty sure Happy Action Theater relies heavily on the Kinect libraries, so I doubt it.
For film or video, that may be true, although someone who actually did side by side A/B testing found 49 out of 50 people could pick out 4K over 1080p on 55" sets from 9 feet away. This is a screen size and distance those apocryphal resolution charts predict should not be possible. In the case of realtime 3D graphics with all the artifacts and aliasing that involves, the difference between 720p and 1080p is extremely obvious even on relatively small screens from normal viewing distances. When I did an A/B test on my own 40" HDTV I could see the difference between 1080p and 900p in Assassin’s Creed 4 quite easily from as far as 14 feet away. In any case your early adopters, who propel the first couple years of new consoles sales, are the most likely to be able to spot the difference. Elderly grandparents who have their cable set up wrong are not the target market for $400 game consoles.
What I do think matters is when every third party game has a resolution difference between the Xbox One and PS4 and the narrative turns into “The Xbox One is less powerful and games look like shit.” That’s a major messaging issue.
It’s not a messaging problem. It’s not a perception problem. It’s a fact. The PS4 is more powerful and the games will look better on that platform for the life of these products. The only problem now is the way Microsoft reps keep sticking their feet in their mouths trying to misrepresent this situation, or pass blame onto game developers.
With film and video keep in mind they are being downsampled from ultra high resolutions. With games the assets are being generated at resolution so things are a bit different.
Which would give a further advantage to higher native res.
Regarding 4K, it could also be the wider color gamut and higher dynamic range that participants used to differentiate it from 1080p, and not necessarily the resolution.
In fact, that article admits the possibility:
we had some difficulty matching the displays such that resolution was the only difference, even with full calibration.
Now now Tom. It’s amazing…it’s just that the problems involved are not game problems.
I got to use, today, a system a former student of mine has set up which teaches sign language using a Kinect.
(It works! I already know some basic sign language, for reference, and it was very good at detecting if I was signing correctly)
Elderly grandparents? I work at a tech sales company and the amount of young, tech-savvy people working here that have the HDTV cable/picture set up incorrectly would blow your mind. Many of these same people rushed right out and grabbed an Xbox One or PS4, or even both, at launch.
I got to use, today, a system a former student of mine has set up which teaches sign language using a Kinect.
(It works! I already know some basic sign language, for reference, and it was very good at detecting if I was signing correctly)
I didn’t think Kinect resolved to the finger level, or is that no longer true with Kinect 2.0/Windows?
As I understand it, the answer is in some pretty nifty technical trickery on a fast PC. And you need to keep your hands within a certain area for it to read.
He’s waiting for a proper 2.0 for Windows, which should be faster, more accurate and detect sign anywhere :)
Did you ever show them the correct way and see their reaction? In my experience when you fix the problem people are usually gobsmacked by the improvement, so even this anecdotal evidence doesn’t support your premise.
Not that it really matters with the PS4 and Xbox One. Both require HDMI which effectively mandates HD displays and automatically detects proper resolution. If you aren’t getting the full resolution benefit it’s because you don’t have a 1080p set or you’ve manually overridden the resolution. There’s no way to get confused and use composite video cables or run it through an RF adapter or tune into the SD cable feed or anything like that. Even if their TV is badly calibrated they’ll still get visible resolution differences.
I’ve fixed people’s HDTVs so that SD content was properly letterboxed and gotten “put it back the other way, I don’t like to waste all that unused screen”. These proper aspect-ratio hating people really exist.
Hopefully you’ve at least rigged the HDTV to short-circuit and burn down the house?
Well, those people aren’t human and therefore don’t apply in the current conversation.
mrbloo
5384
I had one friend who refused to believe his aspect ratio was wrong on his projector until I loaded up a GIS of circles and they were all ovals. He must have been constantly surprised with how slim everyone was on his screen.
Well they have always said TV adds 10lbs!
DrDel
5386
I keep staring at the X1 games library and there is nothing I want to play. I had Dead Rising 3 which was good. I have FIFA which is good as well.
The free Games with Gold , got them all but they blow…
When are the good games going to come out for crying out loud?
I also am dying to play the Last of Us but dont want to buy another console for one game…
Cyrano
5387
You think Guacamelee blows? I don’t even know what to say.
feanan
5388
For what it’s worth, i played Guacamelee for 10 mins, haven’t touched it since. Not my cup of tea, and did not enjoy it at all.
