The Official Graphics Card and PC gaming Thread

I guess opinions may vary. But Killzone 2 in (admittedly upscaled) HD literally made my jaw drop. It looks incredible.

 

The fact it's 1024x640, perilously close to EDTV, is not a good point. The game has nice textures, something I wish games would concentrate on more than stupid lighting effects, but that honestly can't make up for the lack of rendering power or screen resolution.

This is killzone 2 right? I'm not impressed.
http://endsights.com/wp-admin/images/killzone2.jpg

 

Haha have you even played it? It's one of those games you need to see in full motion. Like Crysis remember? How screenies look meh but full motion blows you away? That screenie does absolutely no justice at all to the actual game. The real thing makes that shot look like dog poop.

 

Even so, it's clear to see that the graphics are weak compared to something like crysis. The game undoubtedly looks much better in real life, but ultimately it's still a console game.

 

Oh yeah I agree with you 100% there. It's definitely still just a console game after all. But it's the closest any console has ever come to rivaling the top PC games. You owe it to yourself to get some hands-on time with Killzone 2 and an HDTV. It really will impress you especially for it being a PS3 game.

 

Quite often I find myself playing on console games and thinking "hang on, the graphics here are really good, why do I moan about PC games so much?" - then I sit as close to the screen as I do playing PC games and the penny drops. By sitting further back and being relaxed, the low graphics quality of console games becomes nullified. This is the main reason I don't loathe the Wii graphics I think.

 

Well that's the beauty of it. Big screen in HD = sitting farther away. I have no arguments with this at all. That's exactly what big screen HDTVs are meant for.

 

but but... I use the same screen for both... :S

 

That is why mankind has learned to adapt. If you're playing console games just relax and sit another foot or two back. It won't kill you ;P

 

exactly what I do anyway. Primarily because console games are played in the living room, where there is no desk. Tbh, I'd rather sit further back playing PC games too, but I need a bigger desk, and as if I'd ever spend money that could go on PC parts on furniture...

 

Maybe it could be spent on a nice reclining office chair though. Mine lets me lean back when I watch movies or play console games. And it only cost me $100. AND it has lower back support

 

Meh, my £15 Tesco office chair suffices fine for now. What I would like are a set of darker, and slightly less old looking curtains.

 

Oh you'd be surprised at how much of a difference quality furniture can make. When I got my new chair it made PC gaming AMAZING.

 

What are SC4 and SF4? *he says, trying to not sound like a noob*

Admitedly i didn't like the Killzone 2 demo when i played it (before that i was kinda interested in the game - i must have downloaded the demo within two hours of it going live), it was kind of bland, the graphics weren't as good as i was expecting and the controls felt a bit weird - it sort of put me off so i didn't really think about it much.

Today, i borrowed the full game off a friend. Love it. Not really sure what's made me change my mind... Maybe they've made the controls slightly better from 1.00 to 1.20 or something, but that feels fine now. I'm also getting into the story and there are some truly awesome sections where the graphics really do take a good stab at Crysis (i still think the train section in Crysis Warhead (among a couple of other locations) hasn't been beaten in any game).

Sam - i noticed you mentioned that the textures are good? I think the textures are the worst part of the game

I'm completely with you on the general graphics quality when comparing console games to PC games, the resolution and overall lack of anti-aliasing in console gaming does get on my nerves, but as Estuansis said, sitting back from the screen is all part of the console experience (the perceived quality for me at least generally rivals that of my PC) and sees me playing on my PS3 more than my PC at the moment.

I'll just list what i feel (so therefore only ones i've played) are good PS3 exclusives:

PS3 Blu-Ray games;

Metal Gear Solid 4, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Ratchet and Clank Tools of Destruction, Uncharted Drake's Fortune, Motorstorm, Motorstorm Pacific Rift, inFamous, Resistance Fall of Man, Resistance 2, Little Big Planet, Warhawk, inFamous, Killzone 2, Ridge Racer 7 and sort of Heavenly Sword.

PSN games;

Flower, flOw, Pixeljunk Eden, Pixeljunk Monsters, WipEout HD, WipEout HD Fury, Super Stardust HD (pretty much only fun with friends, i guess), Fat Princess, Echochrome and Everyday Shooter.

As yet unreleased games i'm interested in;

The Last Guardian, Heavy Rain, Uncharted 2, Ratchet and Clank A Crack in Time, Pixeljunk Shooter, Fat Princess, MAG, Gran Turismo 5, God of War 3, Agent, Eyedentify, Twisted Metal PS3, WipEout PS3 and Hard Gore PS3.

 

SC4 = Soul Calibur IV
SF4 = Street Fighter IV

Since Crysis Warhead still can't be run properly by any PC on high settings due to flaws with the game engine, I haven't pursued it very far, but the original Crysis was an enjoyable game to play and had plenty of nice features, whatever you say about the system specs required. The textures in Crysis are varied, to say the least. There are some awesome ones, and some truly dire ones (mainly rocks). The things that make the game look great are the shaders, bumpmapping and postprocessing. The things that make the game run like crap are the motion blur and shadows, which imo aren't that great anyway.
I heard someone say some xbox games are very mildly anti-aliased at 2x, not sure to be honest, I'll have to have a look, but I don't think many are.

 

SCIV Soul Calibur IV, and SFIV, Street Figther IV.

i mean the main problem with PC gaming is the hassle of it tbh. installign games, having to spend money top max out a game etc etc. then again for FPS; KB/M > Pad, and even if i had to spedn 1k on a brilliant FPS game on the PC vs £100 on the PS3 ill take the PC.

also SFIV being on the PC is shite, IMO kb for fighters = fail and the 360 pad has a horrible dpad.

 

I install games on the 360 because I can't stand the noise. I would on a PS3, but of course, the HDD is too small to install more than one game. Don't some PS3 games have mandatory partial-installs IIRC? The fact that console games cost 30% more than PC games doesn't help.
FPS on consoles as you rightly point out are weak at best, and even worse are RTS titles. As for Street fighter 4, there are other controllers on the PC that aren't a 360 pad, but you'd need to be serious about SF4 to worry about it. You'd need to be serious about the game anyway, as it's almost impossible to play the game properly anyway. Executing even the simplest combo takes hours of practice to get the timing exactly right to the millisecond. I'm sure I remember SF2 on the SNES being much more enjoyable.

 

lol combos are not that hard. 10 hit combos yeah, but simle 5-6 hit that are effect and can set up and ultra or super are simple enough.

GTA you had to, but the install procedure is just that, install, no hassle with it.

 

Im curious if you guys know what these kind of images are called. They're typically in the fun section of a newspaper. Its driving me nuts, can't find it via google. At least not quickly! LOL! I thought you guys might get a kick out of my first game anyway. Yes, I made this. Or at least re-authored the original LOL! Can you find 4 things wrong with this picture. WARNING, half megabyte!
LINKY LINKY LINKY

 

With most games except for GTA4 on the PC, that's as simple as PC game installs are too, it's only GTA4 with its RGSC, WLC and all the other crap that makes it arduous. When I mean combos, I mean a 3 button combo. The timing has to be so perfect you practically have to be a Beat-em-up veteran to be able to pull one off.

Typically that sort of picture is called 'spot the difference'