If you are playing on a 16:9 HDTV and think Shadow of the Colossus for the Ps2 looks ANYWHERE near as good as DOA4 on the 360 you are nuts. Perhaps playing on a smaller 27" HDTV makes the Ps2 look better but on my 50" HDTV SoC is grainy, jaggy and all around crappy looking in 480p widescreen. All Ps2 games look like crap on a large digital TV. The Gamecube fairs much better even when its not in progressive scan as does the Xbox 1. I wouldn't say they are nearly the quality of the 360 in 720p though.
Maybe you don't have 720p/1080i turned on and forgot to use component hook ups? DOA4 looks beautiful in 720p on a large display. Nothing in the current gen comes close. That goes for CoD2, PGR3 and most other X360 titles in 720p on a proper display.
Good question. I read in an interview somewhere to not worry because you'll be able to play multi-platform games like Madden with the old controllers still. I sure hope we can use the wavebirds for new games on it and not just gamecube titles.
Everyone always seem to ignore the fact that all gamecube controllers will work on the Revolution. It is suppose to have 4 ports for Cube controllers. Save your wavebirds because you can use them on it.
So there is no reason to worry about the funky Rev controller since you can use the Wavebird still. Thats a good thing since its about the best controller ever made. They will probably rebadge the Wavebird and sell it as a Revolution controller too just so there isn't much confusion.
The Xbox is currently the only console that supports anything beyond 480p. Games do look better in 480p on the gamecube, ps2 and xbox though. The only game that I have supporting 1080i is dragons lair 3d on the xbox. It does look good and there is no noticable loss in framerate. Too bad the game sucks. A few Sega sports games support 720p and I've read Enter the Matrix on the xbox supports 720p and 1080i but does have some slow down in those modes.
You must buy the HD A/V kit for the xbox to even get 480p. You have to order the component cables for the gamecube directly from nintendo to get 480p but the ps2 component cables are available everywhere.
I wouldn't say its quite worth it yet to get an HDTV just for gaming. Although a lot of games are starting to support 16:9 mode which is nice. Tony Hawk Underground, SSX3, Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando and Rogue Squadron III are all recent games that support 480p and 16:9 mode. I'm sure the next generation of consoles will have much more HDTV support. Most games look just fine stretched to 16:9 if they are native 4:3 though. I play all the games stretched and on most you can't really tell except during cut scenes.
4:3 programming doesn't have to have black bars on the side if you are worried about burn in. The sony/zenith directv HD receivers have a very good panorama mode that stretches the edges of the screen and you can barely tell its 4:3 stretched to 16:9. My sony HDTV also has wide zoom and zoom modes but it distorts the picture much more than panorama mode. I have been gaming on my big screen rear projection Sony HDTV for nearly 3 years and I have had nothing burn in.
Most game review sites do not list if a game supports HDTV or 16:9. I wish they would have a side bar on reviews listing which features it supports. However there are some websites that track which games support 480p and higher along with which have a 16:9 mode:
I wanted to add I am not saying all games should be short and sweet. The exception are real RPGs like Wizardy 8 and Baldurs Gate types. Although I did get bored with Knights of the Old Republic about 20 hours in but I just got sick of the endless lame dialog.
Games like GTA, Halo, Splinter Cell, Rygar, Metal Gear Solid, any Final Fantasy/Jap RPG are the ones guilty of needless length.
Greg
I completely agree with this article. I've been playing games since the 70s and its only been since the Playstation days that I started not finishing games on a regular basis. I remember when RPGs were RPGs and not wanna be movies. Its very rare these days for a game to be good enough (or short enough) to actually play all the way through.
I much prefer games to last 10-15 hours and be top quality all the way through. Most games that last 30-50+ hours are filled with lack luster content or stupid story cut scene filler that just adds to the length. There are a few exceptions like Zelda:WW which I actually completed. I also finished Metroid Prime which was 20+ hours of fun.
Besides those two exceptions the only games I've enjoyed through to the end in the past many years are Sly Cooper, Ratchet & Clank and ICO. All 3 of those were excellent from start to finish and didn't over stay their welcome with a bunch of repetitive gameplay to pad the game length.
If gamers want to suffer through repetitive gameplay and/or lame cut scenees in order to feel like they spent their $50 wisely then that sucks. If a game is good enough like Sly Cooper you'll want to play through it a second or even third time, there is your additional hours of game play and your moneys worth. Sly Cooper is a shining example of how games should be. It may only last 10-14 hours but its filled to the brim with variety and it oozes polish from start to finish. Most of all it is extremely fun.
I'm suprised I've only seen one person mentioned SojournMUD. I lost 2-3 years of my life to that MUD and still believe its the best out there. It is based (or was based) on the Forgotten Realms world and Everquest ripped off most everything from it. A few of the key developers on the original EQ team played Sojourn with me back in 94ish.
I also started my own mud called Darkover MUD (http://darkover.isilm.com/). I was bored during Sojourn crashes so I loaded up a copy of CircleMUD source on my linux box. I ended up wasting another year of life coding on it and getting others to help. If any of you played/have played it drop me a line, I'd like to hear about it. It has 20-30 players still. I'm very suprised it is still alive and kicking, I haven't coded on it in 8 years but others took it over from me.
Greg
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe you don't have 720p/1080i turned on and forgot to use component hook ups? DOA4 looks beautiful in 720p on a large display. Nothing in the current gen comes close. That goes for CoD2, PGR3 and most other X360 titles in 720p on a proper display.
Good question. I read in an interview somewhere to not worry because you'll be able to play multi-platform games like Madden with the old controllers still. I sure hope we can use the wavebirds for new games on it and not just gamecube titles.
Everyone always seem to ignore the fact that all gamecube controllers will work on the Revolution. It is suppose to have 4 ports for Cube controllers. Save your wavebirds because you can use them on it. So there is no reason to worry about the funky Rev controller since you can use the Wavebird still. Thats a good thing since its about the best controller ever made. They will probably rebadge the Wavebird and sell it as a Revolution controller too just so there isn't much confusion.
You must buy the HD A/V kit for the xbox to even get 480p. You have to order the component cables for the gamecube directly from nintendo to get 480p but the ps2 component cables are available everywhere.
I wouldn't say its quite worth it yet to get an HDTV just for gaming. Although a lot of games are starting to support 16:9 mode which is nice. Tony Hawk Underground, SSX3, Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando and Rogue Squadron III are all recent games that support 480p and 16:9 mode. I'm sure the next generation of consoles will have much more HDTV support. Most games look just fine stretched to 16:9 if they are native 4:3 though. I play all the games stretched and on most you can't really tell except during cut scenes.
4:3 programming doesn't have to have black bars on the side if you are worried about burn in. The sony/zenith directv HD receivers have a very good panorama mode that stretches the edges of the screen and you can barely tell its 4:3 stretched to 16:9. My sony HDTV also has wide zoom and zoom modes but it distorts the picture much more than panorama mode. I have been gaming on my big screen rear projection Sony HDTV for nearly 3 years and I have had nothing burn in.
Most game review sites do not list if a game supports HDTV or 16:9. I wish they would have a side bar on reviews listing which features it supports. However there are some websites that track which games support 480p and higher along with which have a 16:9 mode:
HdtvArcade
HdtvPub
HDGames (the best one in IMO)
Greg
I wanted to add I am not saying all games should be short and sweet. The exception are real RPGs like Wizardy 8 and Baldurs Gate types. Although I did get bored with Knights of the Old Republic about 20 hours in but I just got sick of the endless lame dialog. Games like GTA, Halo, Splinter Cell, Rygar, Metal Gear Solid, any Final Fantasy/Jap RPG are the ones guilty of needless length. Greg
I much prefer games to last 10-15 hours and be top quality all the way through. Most games that last 30-50+ hours are filled with lack luster content or stupid story cut scene filler that just adds to the length. There are a few exceptions like Zelda:WW which I actually completed. I also finished Metroid Prime which was 20+ hours of fun.
Besides those two exceptions the only games I've enjoyed through to the end in the past many years are Sly Cooper, Ratchet & Clank and ICO. All 3 of those were excellent from start to finish and didn't over stay their welcome with a bunch of repetitive gameplay to pad the game length.
If gamers want to suffer through repetitive gameplay and/or lame cut scenees in order to feel like they spent their $50 wisely then that sucks. If a game is good enough like Sly Cooper you'll want to play through it a second or even third time, there is your additional hours of game play and your moneys worth. Sly Cooper is a shining example of how games should be. It may only last 10-14 hours but its filled to the brim with variety and it oozes polish from start to finish. Most of all it is extremely fun.
Greg
I'm suprised I've only seen one person mentioned SojournMUD. I lost 2-3 years of my life to that MUD and still believe its the best out there. It is based (or was based) on the Forgotten Realms world and Everquest ripped off most everything from it. A few of the key developers on the original EQ team played Sojourn with me back in 94ish. I also started my own mud called Darkover MUD (http://darkover.isilm.com/). I was bored during Sojourn crashes so I loaded up a copy of CircleMUD source on my linux box. I ended up wasting another year of life coding on it and getting others to help. If any of you played/have played it drop me a line, I'd like to hear about it. It has 20-30 players still. I'm very suprised it is still alive and kicking, I haven't coded on it in 8 years but others took it over from me. Greg