HD Era Dead on the Launch Pad?

[JediSanf]

1up recently posted an article on the 360s launch lineup (http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3145953) discussing the arrival (or not) of Peter Moore's fabled HD Era.

We decided to take a look through the games that were ported to the Xbox 360 for its launch to pose the question: Which games were just trying to cash in on the new console's launch and which ones are really up to par in the HD Era?
The article makes good use of Xbox/Xbox 360 side-by-side screenshots, but as we all know <insert obligatory bias here>.

[rjcc]

fanboy fodder. they already reviewed the games right?

[Vandenh]

>which ones are really up to par in the HD Era

Errr??? If they run in HD.. they are up to par. HD is just higher res... what are they expecting???

[*Legion*]

Another troll article.

Is this what Evil Avatar is going to be from here on out? Just let me know now so I can delete the bookmark.

[Neverborne]

...but as we all know <insert obligatory bias here>.

This from a website which typically skews towards the attitudes that X-box is great and can do no wrong, and Nintendo is teh Doom3d.

[Morratut]

This from a website which typically skews towards the attitudes that X-box is great and can do no wrong, and Nintendo is teh Doom3d.

Thats because nintendo is doomed. They are going for the Vtech/Tomy market. I'm sure they will end up doing a play and learn game with mario and Link next ;)

I saw this yesterday and most screens aren't even of the same scene. Of course some people are just cashing in on the 360.

The HD era is here and it looks gorgeous on my HDTV :D

[Savok]

Another troll article.

Is this what Evil Avatar is going to be from here on out? Just let me know now so I can delete the bookmark.
Agreed, way too many bullshit articles are making it past the editors. You people want this to be like the GameFAQs system boards in the days of old?

[Vandenh]

>The HD era is here and it looks gorgeous on my HDTV

Actually HD era is indeed here (PGR and CoD look amazing on HD), the article should have had a header "is next gen gameplay here?" or something like that. It is just questioning if the launch games have any "next gen" features (whatever that may be). It think it is very obvious that the 360 has a very solid launch lineup (far better than anything in the past) but the price MS had to pay was some upgraded versions of XBox1 games. Is this bad? I don't think so. People with a brand new 360 need some choice in gaming styles.

[inmostlight]

It looks to me like the article is complaining more about sloppy ports (especially from EA), which have been around forever. And, alas, probably will be around forever.

[bjornbarspingvinen]

well if they questioned next gen "features" NBA live and madden would suck so much. They are the only ones taking features away from their next gen games. Anyhow, reviewsites really suck because about 70 percent(yeah or something like that) of all "gamers" who write for these sites are biased one way or the other.

[Morratut]

I agree Vandenh completely. HD is here and now and here to stay.

Yes the gameplay hasn't changed that much but thats because of how we interface with the games.

[AspectVoid]

Personally, I don't think the HD era is here. I think a year from now it will be, but right now all you've really got are a bunch of ports and a couple of games that actually take real advantage of the hardware. A year from now when every game released takes advantage of the HD abilities of the new consoles, then the HD era will be here.

[Switcher]

Wow, looking at that article, I forgot that 90% of the 360 launch titles, you can play on other systems, and they look practically the same.

"In the HD Era, we are going to deliver the Zen of gaming...you achieve the perfect mind-body equilibrium as you forget your physical surroundings and you become completely immersed in the game itself."

Yeah Moore, and you can do that with higher res textures. You're on the ball.

[TrackZero]

Heh, I do enjoy Peter's floating head in the article though. ;)

But yeah, their choices of sports game to compare against really holds no grounds. Also that most of this quickly ported crap came from EA should be a big indicator.

Strangely they gave Kong a complete bashing, even though it definitely is better than on current gen machines. Though I would say their problems with Kong, Quake 4, CoD 2, Gun and Tony Hawk stems from complaints that these games already came out on the current gen machines. Well, guess what 1up? I haven't played a single one of those yet, and if I did, it would be on the 360 "so it's new to me!". It seems the core of their complaints are because as reviewers, they're already had to play through these games on lower end consoles and they're nit-picking.

[doyama]

The HD era is kinda-sorta here. I mean if you want to get technical, PC gaming has been 'HD' for about 2-3 years so everyone else has a lot of catching up to do :P

So in essence the console market seems to be moving towards HD. The Xbox360 is forcing everyone to use HD which is a double edged sword in my opinion. I think it will simply cement the stranglehold that EA has on the entire console market, because they will be one of a handful of companies able to support the increased cost structure to support HD gaming. Sony hasn't announced any plans for mandantory HD support (as far as I know). Seems odd because for them you'd think that mandatory HD support would have a semi-ripple effect into their electronics division in increased HD tv sales? Also suprising because HD penetration in Japan is light-years ahead of anywhere else. I think they might do some upscaling within the console to support HD but not make it mandatory.

The major hurdle for TRUE HD 'conversion' is TV and movies. If anyone is in the movies, or in TV especially, HD is the worst thing to happen in a century. Why? Because in HD people start looking 'normal'. All the fancy make up tricks to make people look spectacular in regular TV, spectacularly vanish in HD. Every pimple, pore, vein, scar, wrinkle, and puss covered blob comes out in HD bump-mapped glory! That's why movies and TV have been very very very slow to adopt HD. That's why someone like Lucas is pushing the entire digital movie revolution, because he HATES actors (known fact) and loves digital stuff which of course looks better in HD not worse. If you thought there were talent-less hacks in acting before, with HD it will get much worse. The number people who look 'good' in HD exponentially decreases, so you'll be forced to employ people who look good but have absolutely no talent (Paris Hilton comes to mind though to her credit she is good at MARKETING her persona, she just has no acting talent). Plastic surgeons are pratically drooling because everyone is gonna need surgery to start hiding everything possible in front of the HD camera.

But that aside, games will 'look' better in the future.

Whether they are better GAMES remains to be seen and I think is the more important question!!

[Yeti2005]

1up should have called the article "Are the 360 ports worth it?" or something like that. If the article is about supposed to about whether it's the HD era then why not mention some of the 360's best looking games like PGR3, Kameo, Condemned, and Perfect Dark?

[drakkarim]

interesting how in the pc comparisons the pc screenshots looked better then the 360 shots...

otherwise the only really improved port i've seen in there is the golf, i suppose since not much is ever happening on screen at any given time they can afford to spend a lot of processor resources on piddly shit.

[bjornbarspingvinen]

Well , I guess consoles were more interesting(launches) when for example Genesis, super nintendo got released. THe launchgames then were either only for that console or hard to get hold of arcade games. And also more "weird" japanese games. It gave the consoles more of a unique feel. Today we see alot of ports and sport games. The market has gone more western in style of games, and lots of games can be seen on the PC. I think that is part why consoles launches are a bit more boring now than before.

[rjcc]

Yeah, the xbox live improvements, the fact that live is always on, the custom soundtracks, the faster load times and downloadable content, etc. have NOTHING to do with the HD era.

There are many things that contribute to the next gen experience, and I'm sure 1up would be happy to tell you about thme if they didn't think that this sort of article would be much more popular.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

Yeah, the xbox live improvements, the fact that live is always on, the custom soundtracks, the faster load times and downloadable content, etc. have NOTHING to do with the HD era.

There are many things that contribute to the next gen experience, and I'm sure 1up would be happy to tell you about thme if they didn't think that this sort of article would be much more popular.


Except every feature that you mentioned in that first paragraph was either already on the Xbox (custom soundtracks, faster load times [supposedly], downloadable content), and the other two (live improvements, live always on) were entirely possible on the Xbox.

None of those things are next-next-gen in the least.

[Abdiel]

First:
Thats because nintendo is doomed. They are going for the Vtech/Tomy market. I'm sure they will end up doing a play and learn game with mario and Link next
Then:
Yes the gameplay hasn't changed that much but thats because of how we interface with the games.

So, Nintendo is doomed because they don't have HD and aren't offering anything appealing, but at the same time they are the only ones bringing us new gameplay by changing the way we interact with games?

[Ridlin]

My god that was a stupid article.

If they're going to do something that dumb they should have at least tried to match up the screenshots better, but they didn't even take the time to do that. They just grabbed random screenshots.

If you're going to do a serious article on next gen games, it shouldn't cover any ports, there shouldn't be any before and after pictures, because the very fact that there's a before picture tells you that it isn't "next gen".

[RMan]

I think the main point is we have high definition TVs, high definition games, and a high definition console, but the HD Era as Peter Moore described it is not remotely in sight. HD is indeed good, but Moore just went WAY over the line in the flat out lies department, and the games don't come close to what he indicated they would be (as if they ever could).

I love this one "To ensure that the next generation delivers, every game is built on what we call Essentials". Here's your list of essentials...
1-100 : a bunch of nice high standards for a game.
101: Published with heavy marketing or a recognized IP (note, meeting this requirement means you don’t have to meet requirements 1-100).

[51|RandoM]

Well , I guess consoles were more interesting(launches) when for example Genesis, super nintendo got released. THe launchgames then were either only for that console or hard to get hold of arcade games. And also more "weird" japanese games. It gave the consoles more of a unique feel. Today we see alot of ports and sport games. The market has gone more western in style of games, and lots of games can be seen on the PC. I think that is part why consoles launches are a bit more boring now than before.

The reason the launches are boring is because nobody wants to take any risk in this industry, at least on the software side. You end up with crappy sequels, so-so ports, and outright garbage, just to expand the library and fill the shelves.

I don't understand why really good games have to be such an exceedingly small portion of what is produced. Seems people don't care that their game sucks, they're going to make it anyways and hope there are enough uneducated consumers out there to cover the costs.

[rjcc]

Except every feature that you mentioned in that first paragraph was either already on the Xbox (custom soundtracks, faster load times [supposedly], downloadable content), and the other two (live improvements, live always on) were entirely possible on the Xbox.

None of those things are next-next-gen in the least.

Yes, the Xbox also played videogames, so does the 360. Perhaps you'll suggest that videogames aren't next gen, real life is.

They ar much improved from an infrastructure standpoint, however I must thank you profusely for being so quick to point out the FUCKING OBVIOUS.

[Phades]

Except every feature that you mentioned in that first paragraph was either already on the Xbox (custom soundtracks, faster load times [supposedly], downloadable content), and the other two (live improvements, live always on) were entirely possible on the Xbox.

None of those things are next-next-gen in the least.

Better implementation of a prior feature is the very definition of "next-gen." As in, the Next Generation of something.

[Sensei-X]

My god that was a stupid article.

If they're going to do something that dumb they should have at least tried to match up the screenshots better, but they didn't even take the time to do that. They just grabbed random screenshots.

If you're going to do a serious article on next gen games, it shouldn't cover any ports, there shouldn't be any before and after pictures, because the very fact that there's a before picture tells you that it isn't "next gen".

Even worse, some of the "screenshots" were concept art and screen grabs from CG intros.