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Best of E3 2009 Awards: Best Graphics

Which video game was best in show at E3 2009?
PLASTICA-MAN - contributor
Published: 150 days 15 hours ago | Video | E3 2009 | PlayStation 3 | Xbox 360 | Wii | Sony PSP | Nintendo DS | PlayStation 2 | Gaming | PC | Tech
 
 

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PLASTICA-MAN - 150 days 17 hours ago
1 - Well deserved!!!
and every site agrees on that: http://games.ign.com/articl...
Well, I can hear some people crying and others laughing!
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fishd - 150 days 16 hours ago
1.1 -
TLG also looks amazing!

http://i41.tinypic.com/2q0s...
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menoyou - 150 days 14 hours ago
1.2 -
To all the Xbox users on N4G who keep tying really hard to pretend that Splinter Cell, Mass Effect 2, Forza 3, and Alan Wake rival (or beat) graphics on the PS3, please take a hint: NONE of these were even nominated. So just stop. Even two multiplatform games were nominated above those 360 exclusives.
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el zorro - 150 days 14 hours ago
1.3 -
Alan Wake and Mass Effect 2 were both nominated as runners up in the best graphics technology category at IGN's best of E3 2009 awards.

All of these games are very close and not everybody is going to agree about which games look the best.

I think it is silly the way you say "rival graphics on the PS3" as if the PS3 has so many good looking games. It doesn't. It has a couple really nice looking games and everything else is pretty much the standard stuff you will see on either of the HD consoles.

You also fail to mention how the majority of cross platform games look better on the 360. That is a measurement of a console's graphical performance and could be used to say the same thing: "games on the PS3 don't rival the graphics of games on the 360".
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mastiffchild - 150 days 14 hours ago
1.4 -
Zorro-multi plats and their performance woll tell you nothing this gen as none are optimised ofr eiother system and aimed at being identical-how do you get any solid information about gfx prowess from that? With 360 being more what they're used to may be why you get a few very minor gliches on PS versions but, to be fair, you need a microscope to spot them either way and the devs do a greatr hjob of keeping them very even and, I guess, sometimes it depends which was lead platform too-but the waters are way too muddied for direct comparisons of any value.

However, I also feel that we never get to see the 360 in it's best light. Even Gears and Halo games aren't usually allowed the gestation peiod that Sony allowed the likes of GG with KZ2. Who knows, if MS weren't after bigger, market share they might allow a dev to really push the 360 in terms of graphics but, imo, up to now no game has even had the chance.

At the moment then neither te string PS3 exclusives nor the less even multi plats tell any kind of story really-well that's how I see it anyhow-honestly nothng can be proved under the current circumstances. It's telling that most exclusibves on either console outdo the jultis though which, at least gives a real reason for them to exist.
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CWMR - 150 days 13 hours ago
1.5 -
Comparing exclusives won't tell you anything either. There is no standard and consistent way to measure them. Way too many variables involved. All you can say is "that console can run that game", but that doesn't tell you whether the other console could run it or not. And you will never know because those games will never show up on the other console.

Remember when Gears of War 2 came out this past holiday, you had several reviewers going out of the way to say that it was the best looking game on consoles, even though Uncharted and other exclusive PS3 games were already out. Now, is there any way to conclusively prove that Gears of War 2 was the best-looking game out at the time? No. It is basically the opinion of those reviewers and comes down to how they perceive graphics. And we all perceive graphics somewhat differently. Some people pay a lot of attention to textures, others to lighting, others to art design, etc.

Multi-plats at least give you a baseline from which to measure and compare things.
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Perkel - 150 days 13 hours ago
1.6 -
Almost all people forget that in Uncharted there will be no LOADING Screens at all as in uncharted:drakes fortune.

This is big plus over every game. Amazing graphic and no loading this is True graphical showcase.
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RememberThe357 - 150 days 13 hours ago
1.7 - CWMR
You want to know what a system can do, you look at exclusives. It's like mastiffchild said multi-platform game are made to look identical on every platform. So, the only thing we can go by are the game that are supposed to be optimized for the system, and those are the exclusives.
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snipermk0 - 150 days 13 hours ago
1.8 - LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Alan Wake wasn't even on the list..
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Greywulf - 150 days 13 hours ago
1.9 - Once upon a time there were stories..
Stories about an amazing multiplatform game, with second to none physics engines, a pc demo, a detail less main character with no expression on his face...

stories about how ALan wake was going to show the world that the 360 hasn't run out of graphical might..

stories about how alan wake was going to put all games to shame...

stories that lasted 5 years until 2009.

Now the only stories we hear, are stories about how its a sandbox game, and of course it isn't supposed to compete with uncharted2/mgs4/Killzone2... where were those stories before e3?

Now that it turned out that alan wake looked a bit better than alone in the dark with a flashlight and a flare, what will the stories say?

I know there will be no response, just silent anger.
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SaiyanFury - 150 days 12 hours ago
1.10 -
While it doesn't completely surprise me that Uncharted 2 got that recognition, it's nice to see it reflected in the media as well. It's not just about good graphics, but overall presentation and Naughty Dog has a long history of bringing the goods. I loved the original Uncharted and am looking forward to the sequel, but as an Assassin's Creed lover, I'm personally looking forward to Assassin's Creed 2 more. Don't get me wrong, I've played through Uncharted at least 7 times, and I love it every time, but I'm a stealth lover. Assassin's Creed was more open to your approach and that great gameplay showed in AC2 really blew me away. Flying on Davinci's apparatus while raising your flying height from heat from torches and whatnot was awesome. I'm sorry that was seriously cool. Uncharted 2 will no doubt deliver the closest movie/game action that you'll find on any platform, but my personal love will be for AC2.
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theEnemy - 150 days 12 hours ago
1.11 - @zorro
Don't get me wrong, I loved double agent. Ended it twice on my PC. But it's graphics on the 360 and PS3 was abit far from it's graphics on the PC version.
1.12 360 man | 150 days 11 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show
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theEnemy - 150 days 10 hours ago
1.13 - oops
wrong reply :/
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wUTTer - 150 days 9 hours ago
1.14 - @ 360man
Please see my comment at 2.20, thank you kindly.
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JohnnyBadfinger - 150 days 9 hours ago
1.15 - I can agree with Uncharted 2
Im a 360 owner and loyalist, but i will with out any hesitation say straight out that Uncharted 2 is the best looking console game i have ever seen, gameplay i think its weak but thats not the point.

Graphically the game is excellent, and nothing short of amazing.

PS3s BEST game, CONFIRMED!
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ultimolu - 150 days 8 hours ago
1.16 -
Cannot wait for Uncharted 2. :D
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talltony - 150 days 7 hours ago
1.17 - OUCH!!!
Lol I am sure alot of the wonderful people on this site were going to comment until they saw that Uncharted 2 won best graphics! Seriously though how could you not agree with this?
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xwabbit - 150 days 6 hours ago
1.18 -
Y would alan awake and forza be there ?

PS3 had those graphics with GT5P and Uncharted 1 long time ago :/
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terrandragon - 150 days 2 hours ago
1.19 -
Okay Sony fanboys, what happened to "Oh, Heavy Rain has photo-realistic graphics!!! Best graphics ever!!" Heavy Rain wasn't nominated either.
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bspat13 - 149 days 22 hours ago
1.20 - @ 360 man
i've pooped prettier things than that
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x__JL__X - 149 days 17 hours ago
1.21 -
First off, UC2 looks AMAZING!!!! Splinter Cell does look pretty damn good, but not THAT impressive that some of you people can honestly sit there and say it puts UC2 to shame. Not happening. Graphics aside though Splinter Cell does look really fun (i've loved playing Splinter Cell games in the past, i'm halfway betting i'll get to play Conviction on my ps3 at some point too). I'm sorry, in my opinion though, nobody is topping Sony and their first party when it comes to graphics etc. Just not happening with how much of a beast the ps3 is, and the skill of the first parties, and the patience and leeway sony provides these developers.

also one other thing, i'm not getting this whole Alan Wake thing. In my opinion, Conviction blows that one away. I'm not buying the hype for that one at all. Sure the cutscene and cgi stuff looks real good, but once that video cuts to actual gameplay, it loses alot of that luster. The lighting looks good, but other than that, doesn't do anything for me. I honestly think infamous looks better in everything but the lighting of it.
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onanie - 149 days 16 hours ago
1.22 -
Congratulations to Uncharted 2 and the Naughty Dog team.
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thesummerofgeorge - 149 days 16 hours ago
1.23 - @tarrendragon
LOL! That's the best you could come up with? So your argument is that because Heavy Rain also had amazing graphics and didn't win that's a draw back? Heavy Rain does look awesome, but Gametrailers thought Uncharted looked better, and so they picked the best from every console and put em up against each other. When your insult is "That awesome looking ps3 game didn't win, it was a different awesome looking PS3 game that won" you need to go back to the drawing board.
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MUNKYPOO - 150 days 17 hours ago
2 -
everyone knew the outcome was uncharted 2. when i was watching this during e3 i thought i was dreaming
2.1 360 man | 150 days 14 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show
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el zorro - 150 days 14 hours ago
2.2 -
Splinter Cell has always been at the pinnacle of graphics and Conviction is no different. I too though Conviction looked better than Uncharted. Uncharted 2 looks good, but doesn't it almost look a little cell-shaded or something? It certainly isn't going for a realistic look. Very pretty though.
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Rockstar - 150 days 14 hours ago
2.3 - @ 360 man
I'm very surprised that you disagree.

/sarc

Also, best graphics doesn't equal most realistic graphics.
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Tomonobu Itagaki - 150 days 14 hours ago
2.4 -
Yeah, it's hard to accustom to colors when we keep playing Gears of War. or Killzone.
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TheBand1t - 150 days 14 hours ago
2.5 -
You're confusing cartoonish and cel-shaded with having actual color.

Uncharted 2, quite simply, blew Conviction away.
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el zorro - 150 days 14 hours ago
2.6 -
That's your opinion. I thought Conviction looked better. They both look fantastic, it's just that one looks better in some ways and the other looks better in other ways. If you break it down into technically measurable criteria like textures, lighting, effects, etc...you can see that the two games are very close and it is going to come down to which one you think 'looks better'.

I've always been a huge Splinter Cell fan and I like their approach to graphical design, and I also thought Conviction looked more life-like, whereas Uncharted 2 looks sort of fantastical with very saturated and unnatural colors. They are both two of the best upcoming games and are both beautiful so don't get offended at my difference of opinion.
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Jaces - 150 days 14 hours ago
2.7 -
Sorry 360 man, CGI don't count.
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theEnemy - 150 days 14 hours ago
2.8 - @zorro -
..has always been at the pinnacle of graphics ?

Splinter Cell ?

Srsly ?

Have you played/seen the last Splinter Cell named Double Agent ?
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TheBand1t - 150 days 14 hours ago
2.9 -
And it's my opinion that Uncharted blew away Conviction. Again, confusing unrealism with color.
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Darkeyes - 150 days 14 hours ago
2.10 -
You guys should be even grateful if SC looks as good as UC1. If you think SC and AW look better than games like GOW3, UC2, Heavy Rain, then sadly your fanboyism is blinding you. Every site out there and every individual (except for 360 fanboys and blind/colorblind people) have passed their verdict that UC2 trumps all games graphically. Even GOW3 shown at 720P blew any 360 exclusive.. Just wait till it gets released in native 1080P after 9 months of polish in march... Boy you guys will feel like idiots.

The graphical war is wrapped up this gen by PS3 like it or not. And this is just 3 years into PS3s lifetime... KZ2 started it... And the void has been widening with every PS3 exclusive.

Best looking Adventure/Action game: UC2
Best looking Action game: GOD OF WAR 3
Best looking Racing game: GT5
Best looking FPS: KZ2
Best looking TPS (well kind of like a TPS): MGS4
Best looking new IP: Heavy Rain.... EDIT: How could I forget TLG...

That list sums up the graphical war this gen.
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el zorro - 150 days 14 hours ago
2.11 -
@Jaces
None of that was CGI, man. The developers confirmed that it was all real-time graphics. The fact that you confused it for CGI shows just how impressive Conviction is graphically.

@theEnemy

Yes, at the time of their release each of the Splinter Cell games were always among the most graphically advanced games available. Funny that you bring up Double Agent because I recently started playing that again and I am marveling at just how impressive its graphics are for a game that old.

@theBand1t

I am not trying to cut down Uncharted 2. I think it looks absolutely breath taking and I plan on buying it. But if a game has unnaturally saturated colors like Uncharted 2 I think it is fair to say that that aspect is not as realistic. That is all I was referring to.

@Jaces below
Hey, I am not mad Uncharted 2 won, it was a very worthy contender and was deserving of the win. I am just saying that at the end of the day all of these games are pretty close and I think there is always going to be some difference of opinion as to which one looks the best.

Kind of like the way PS3 owners argue about whether MGS4, Uncharted, Killzone 2 or God of War 3 look the best. Obviously a large dose of subjectivity is involved.

There is no way to do any kind of realistic technical analysis or comparison between exclusives because the games are all to different and if you measure one thing it is too easy to leave out some great thing the other game is doing. One might have better textures, but the environments are a fraction of the size of the other. One might have great physics but the AI isn't as good as in the other game. These kinds of things make it nearly impossible to definitively say which games are more technically advanced.
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hitokiri - 150 days 14 hours ago
2.12 - @360 man
And just what makes you think that the Splinter Cell footage was from Xbox360? This is Microsoft were talking about here, they could have just used a high end PC to show off those graphics (same with Alan Wake). Last I remember an 360 controller could be hooked up to a PC, making it look like you were playing it on the console. Even then, it looks good, but not that good.
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Jaces - 150 days 14 hours ago
2.13 - @el zorro
Not really, I was just trying to get under his skin.

Anyway graphics are what they are, whether they're "cartoony" or "realistic" looking. Get over it, Uncharted won. So you may not agree and that's fine, but there's no need to go degrading other games because you see things differently.
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SuperM - 150 days 13 hours ago
2.14 - lol @ 360man
Couldnt you atleast try to be a little less obvious? Every respectable gaming site has declared Uncharted 2 as best in graphics. SC wasnt even nominated here. Sometimes you just need to realise that you are wearing fanboy goggles and understand that you are simply wrong.
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WEL - 150 days 13 hours ago
2.15 -
Conviction has really narrow stages and few animations and effects while Uncharted has beautiful particle effects(snow, smoke, fire, etc), lot of action happening on screen at once, lots of animations and cut-scene transitions without loadings. Exotic locations, beautiful water effects, impressive character models, really long draw-distance, real time shadowing.

Uncharted world feels really alive, even when you just look at his face on real-time Drake looks like he is alive because of all the gestures he does with his face(talking about the first here). When you're in a gun fight you can see on Drake's face while taking cover that he is scared and he even trembles! When you get wet, you're wet. If you just get your feet wet, you see only your feet wet and you dry by the passing of the time, just like in real life. That really is attention to detail!

Graphics are more than just some fancy lighting effects and lots of of high res textures... To me Conviction almost looks like the pre-rendered backgrounds you could find on most square rpgs on the PSX. Conviction looks generic as any other shooter of this gen, you could even see some screens and think that it is another game but that doesn't happens when you look at Uncharted. Uncharted has its own style.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves E3 09: Developer Walkthrough HD:
http://www.gametrailers.com...

BTW I only have a PS3 and I'm really envious of X360 owners having Splinter Cell. Putting graphics aside, Splinter Cell looks like it has some frenetic action scenes with some really interesting gameplay approaches. Gameplay is what always matter the most at the end so, X360 owners don't have to feel threatened by Uncharted 2 visuals. You have an amazing game there. I haven't even played Conviction and I can already say that it is going to be one amazing game!
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Information Minister - 150 days 12 hours ago
2.16 - @ 360 man
Did you just brain-fart?
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silvacrest - 150 days 12 hours ago
2.17 -
conviction looks like a PS2 game
uncharted 2 is above everything else at the moment

dont let your fanboyism make your decision

decide with your eyes
2.18 360 man | 150 days 11 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show
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LarVanian - 150 days 11 hours ago
2.19 -
Both Conviction and Among Thieves are absolutely terrific looking......terrific? Screw that! They're unreal looking games.
Conviction has great detail to the environments. But imo I would actually say that Uncharted 2 takes the cake in terms of graphics. Just look at the view of the city in the demo. It pretty much blew the entire E3 audience away. (Best draw distance too)
That said both Conviction and Uncharted 2 are going to be great games. And if you own both PS3 and 360.....well lucky you.
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wUTTer - 150 days 9 hours ago
2.20 - @ 360man
please take a look at alan wakes textures and tell me honestly that it's mind blowing to you.

pause it at 1:10.. those rock textures look like crap, not to mention the character models.

http://www.gametrailers.com...
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callahan09 - 150 days 9 hours ago
2.21 -
What are you talking about 360 Man? I'd nominate Forza 3 for best graphics sooner than I'd nominate Alan Wake. Alan Wake looks nice, but Forza 3 looks way better. The character models are unimpressive in Alan Wake, but the lighting is cool. The environments in Forza 3, though, are the most stunning thing I've seen on the 360 yet.
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venomcarnage89 - 150 days 4 hours ago
2.22 - @ 360 man and any other blind 360 fanboys
stick with me while i try to figure out your fanboy logic for a moment.

360 won E3 hands down because the majority of the gaming sites say so despite Sony's showing of many more great games.
And now pretty much every single site declares Uncharted 2 biggest graphics powerhouse of E3 this year but no, they must all be wrong because its not on 360 right? Its a double edged sword, playing that majority rules arguement over which console won E3 is now the card that plays against you.

Plus, this LCD screen your viewing Alan Wake on, you should use it to view Uncharted 2 on as well because if you really think alan wake looks better than your watching it on some black and white screen from the 60's.
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talltony - 150 days 4 hours ago
2.23 - @360 man
Do you really think that anyone on here expects to you say Uncharted 2 looks the best? your name is 360 man and all you say is things putting down the ps3 and its games while promoting the hell out of xbox 360. You are the worst kind of bot, Not only are you living in denial but you try and preach crap that i am sure you really dont even believe. your like eric cartman telling yourself your right all the time. i think your 50+ disagrees have spoken!
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JHUX - 150 days 2 hours ago
2.24 -
Jeeez... It's cool to like a game and think it looks awesome etc, but the 360 fanboyism coming off here is EXTREME rofl.. it's sad.. :(
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Sarcasm - 149 days 15 hours ago
2.25 -
Based off the video from E3, Splinter Cell Conviction looks FANTASTIC. It's best 360 game of E3 IMO. It's 360 purchase worthy. If I didn't have a 360, I'd buy one for that game alone. That's how good it looks to me.

But those who keep trying to downplay Uncharted 2's graphics are just numbskulls. The animations, the physics, the art style, the draw distance, the textures, EVERYTHING. Uncharted 2 has topped Killzone 2.

But honestly, if we want "CGI Realistic" graphics, then look no further than The Last Guardian.
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