While modern game developers for both the Sony and Microsoft platforms do whatever is in their ability to keep to the modern 1080i standard, I am thoroughly disappointed to see the lack of support for neatly done anti-aliasing in modern games, especially from 3rd party developers.

Now, I'm not claiming I'm an expert on the field of anti-aliasing, but here me out here:

Granted 1080p is an amazing resolution, but to those of you who pay close attention to the graphics in games... aliasing is still a problem regardless of what Microsoft and Sony wants you to believe. I think aliasing is not gone, just not that obvious any more. Colour contrasts on screen make aliasing issues in games more obvious.

By forcing the standard of higher definition to be 720p and applying techniques such as anti-aliasing, this would most likely remove aliasing to a greater extent than in today's 1080p games. The 360 and PS3 hardware is more than capable of doing these operations in real-time. The resolution most likely would not be as good as 1080p, but would people have paid attention to this if 720p was the standard higher definition from the start? Least likely.

Supersampling from 1080p to 720p is one approach. This leeches memory though. However, developers would be able to work around this.

Read more on anti-aliasing at wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti_aliasing

Either way, the whole point of this article is to start a discussion whether HD is really necessary right now? Many people still don't seem to have it, and even if the price for an HD television has gone down drastically in the recent year, it will take a few more years before the general public make it a standard.

Tags : anti-aliasing : articles

Comments

By: The Devil You Don't

On: 07:26 Dec 9th, 2006
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Well what about 5.1 surround sound not everyone has that should they cut it out of games. Just because not everyone or not a majority of people have something doesn't mean it shouldn't be done. If you were to take the number of right vs left handed people should we make riight handed only controllers forcing lefties out of the gaming world.

By: Dragonsoul

On: 08:48 Dec 10th, 2006
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^I see your point but I dont' think it applies here. With this, IIRC, people need to upgrade to get the same quality as others. A modern day "keeping up with the Jones" so to speak. HD may have come down in price but it's still a bit unfair to push for people to buy such still-expensive equipment just to get the whole experience. It's a bit of scam, IMO.

By: Dragonfly

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On: 08:58 Dec 10th, 2006
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The Devil You Don't;10872

Well what about 5.1 surround sound not everyone has that should they cut it out of games. Just because not everyone or not a majority of people have something doesn't mean it shouldn't be done. If you were to take the number of right vs left handed people should we make riight handed only controllers forcing lefties out of the gaming world.

A very valid, but I have to agree with Dragonsoul here.

Surround sound existed for years before it was even considered as part of the gaming experience. Even now, it's a common feature in most games but rarely a nessecity. HD-TV seems to me like it's being "forced" on the gamers.

There's a popular example of this; whilst I'm sure it was just bad design on Capcom's part, the general text in Dead Rising is unreadable unless it's viewed on a HD-TV, which completely destroys the experience.

General TV resolutions are being quickly outstriped by PC monitors, and it was only a matter of time betfore the TV was forced to catch up. This will limit the level of graphical clarity in future games, and I'm a believer that graphics are an important part of the gaming experience, at least when applied right.

It's too soon though. The new machines aren't powerful enough to take advantage of such high resolutions effectively, for reason blazelions explained better than I do.

This might make me sound like a Nintendo fanboy too, but I honestly believe I'm going to get the most enjoyment out of the Wii in the coming years, and that doesn't have high-definition graphics...

By: Pedro The Hutt

On: 06:34 Dec 11th, 2006
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That doesn't add up. >.>;; Left handed gamers just adapt to the right hand oriented controllers. Your TV however, can only do so much with a high definition signal when it isnt a HDTV. o:

By: atari2600

On: 09:55 Mar 19th, 2007
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I think that givin technology and advancement, hd and gaming are going to go hand in hand. I myself have HD (for like a month) and feel that it has gone done to an affordable option for gaming. IF YOU LOVE GAMES AND FEEL THAT IT IS NOT A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY BUY HD Your TV will last longer than your console preference.

By: Corrine

On: 11:05 May 18th, 2007
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Quite honestly.... graphics are a beautiful part of games but they are not essential to make a game great. It's the total package - sound/music, plot, gameplay, and graphics/design.

And I know a lot of games that are beautiful anyway that were never meant for HD. HD is unnecessarily expensive at the moment, and I agree with Michael and Dawn on their resounding points about that. It's not something the average gamer has and for companies to push things in that format is just a loss for them.

For now at least.

By: dilmanator

On: 03:13 Nov 5th, 2007
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If you were at all a PC gamer, then the issue of "HD gaming" is not new to you. At all.

Most pc gamers have been on at least 1280 by 1024 for at least 4-5 years now. The idea of "high definition" gaming isnt one thats too early. Its one thats far far FAR too late.

Theres no doubt that PC has always dominated consoles in terms of graphical prowess (And if none of you beleive me or think im jaded, then you clearly have'nt seen crysis.)

One of the reasons for this dominance is higher resoloutions. Higher resolutions means more pixels. More pixels means more information. More information means more detail and more detail will ultimately lead to better looking games.

My main issue with the wii is that it only runs at 480p max. This looks utterly horrible and made me go out and buy a new receiver with upscaling (and ill be talking about the receiver later on) Whilst this helps as it upscales the game to a higher res so it looks a *little* better, it still doesnt come close to holding a candle to the Ps3 or Xbox360. And it is a VERY long way from PC gaming.

HD gaming is an essential step for console gaming that is long due to the lack of advancement in the home entertainment industry. This is all changing now due to high end home entertainment equipment becoming more and more mainstream (HDTV's, Dolby digital 5.1 systems etc)

To be honest, i would'nt even think about buying a 360 or ps3 without the HDTV (and preferably the 5.1 / 7.1 setup). Whilst this may be seen as harsh by many, I personally think that buying a next gen console without HD is much similar to playing current gen consoles on a black and white TV. You miss out on so much of the full picture that ultimately, you miss out on the full experience of the game.

In the past year, I have bought a 32" LG 720p tv, a panasonic home theater system which ive now upgraded with said receiver with upscaling and HDMI inputs and Huge speakers (Basically a 700W RMS 5.1 system. Im serious about sound) and im quite happy to say that when i sit down, crank out the ps3, i get the full ps3 effect. (I will buy a 1080p tv when I move out and have room for it. The fact that most PS3 games dont run at 1080p anyway does'nt really help)

Expensive? God yes. Worth it? come over to my house and play halo3... Or gears of war, or blue dragon, or folklore, or really any HD game and you tell me. My experience is far superior to that of those who are hanging on to there old 51 cm tv with a mono speaker built in.

In conclusion, In my thinking, yes, HD is an integral part of the next gen console gaming experience. Those who dont want to make the jump yet always have the option of grabbing a wii which I personally think is a fantastic console which works on artistic flair as opposed to technical grunt. This does indeed work as games such as paper mario, metroid and paper mario look stunning, but the question is how long is it going to work? eventually artistic flair will need more room to move. 640 by 480 can work for just so long

By: Shad

On: 01:49 Nov 5th, 2007
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1080 is a lazy way of getting around anti aliasing. The new consoles should have the balls to run their games at at least 2x AA without having to rely on a TV as a crutch.

By: boa

On: 03:53 Nov 6th, 2007
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I'll go HD when I can get a decent TV at a good price...

Cheap HD TV's suck, seriously, my brothers �200 HD TV is as good as my SD <_<;;;

But it is purely price stopping me, as overall I agree with dilmanator. HD is damn near essential for modern games.

I also agree with Shad. DO it properly please console developers!

By: dilmanator

On: 05:13 Nov 6th, 2007
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Shad;35925

1080 is a lazy way of getting around anti aliasing. The new consoles should have the balls to run their games at at least 2x AA without having to rely on a TV as a crutch.

Shad, the 360 applies 4x on EVERY game on the system. The hardware architecture allows 4x AA without any loss to peformance. And many games choose to increase that (blue dragon in particular)

Ps3 applies 4x and 8x on most games anyway.

Hd is just a resolution. Nothing more.

By: Shad

On: 01:34 Nov 6th, 2007
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Well, that's my arguement out the window

By: lockwood

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On: 02:28 Nov 6th, 2007
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blazelion;10861

Either way, the whole point of this article is to start a discussion whether HD is really necessary right now?

A Nintendo Wii is fine too.

I have an HD TV. I use it for cable, games and 2 laptops. Is it necessary for games? Not at all. Obviously games like Gears of War get a huge boost by improving their graphics, but to be honest, I don't think it's that important.

Example: Resident Evil 4. I don't know much about the technical aspects of pixel ratio and anti-aliasing, but I do know art direction. Resident Evil 4 is a beautiful game because the planning, lighting, particles and texturing. There is a brown overtone to half the game, and a gray overtone to the rest. Using congruent colors is am age old trick for blending.

The Mona Lisa could have inspired the graphics of games like RE4, Twilight Princess and the like. It's not a matter of pixel ratio there.

I'll finish this thought later, gtg.