Pixel Counters Must Die

PlayStation LifeStyle goes in-depth on the practice of pixel counting, exposing the truth behind rendering technology for games and why so many developers choose to run their games below HD resolution.

[Sev]

I really do think people blow the pixel counts way out of proportion.

If the game still looks and plays great. Who cares if the resolution is a bit lower than expected.

[CSM-101e]

Salvador Dali is widely regarded as one of the finest artist of the 20th century; in part because of his 'photorealistic' technique. But, if you look close, it's actually a 'painterly' style; very blurry, lack of detail. But when looked at from the proper distance, and as a whole, you can see the man's brilliance; both in technique and intent.

[no_more_heroes]

people who wanna see the 360 fall off the face of the earth and don't think it can/should have games with good graphics?
Do I get a prize?
(I REALLY hope people know what 'sarcasm' means)

[Sev]

Very interesting.

[slopeseeker]

I agree that pixel counting is blown out of proportion and has little effect on whether I buy a game. But he mentioned ghostbusters and I think it is a legitimate grip for gamers. That dev went to the trouble of making a statement that if the game was ps3 exclusive it would be better basically because the 360 was holding them back. Then, even thought the ps3 was the lead platform, they delivered a significantly lower resolution game with missing effects and lower quality textures. Devs like this need to answer to gamers and the press for delivering a substandard version on one platform especially after statements like the ones they made. That particular dev got all that was coming to them.

[LiquifiedArt]

They finally give US the consumers a truthful eye. The LIES and deciet to pitch a game as "HD" and run it SUB-HD is not tolerable and I won't support that kind of product. Every game this generation should AT MINIMUM run at 720p@30, this is NOT DEBATABLE.

[Johnny Rotten]

^^^ you must have a pretty weak game collection.

[ps3gamerkyle]

@CSM-101e

That's an excellent point you presented, about Dali. As long as the game looks decent, and not it shows the developers put effort into it, I'm happy.

People were dissing on MGS4...Freaking MGS4, because it runs in sub-HD resolution. However, it still is one of the best-looking games around!

[LiquifiedArt]

My Game collection is above average. In fact im' backlogged so i have to hold off on wasting money on games. (90% ps3 exclusives)

Don't you people have any backbone for shotty buisness practices?
---
Its like talking to a bunch of gullable kids. Grow up. Even you Sev! Your what almost 30? If you don't speak with your Wallet or your Vote you have ZERO VOICE in this world. Be thankful you have some voice at all.

People have no backbones for what is Good and Proper. You justify lies making them palatable. The whole idea of calling something HD which is NOT HD is ...A FREAKIN LIE!! And you'll openly support this?

Keep voting for "Change!" lol. Next time ask... "What kind of change?"

----

@Below
Did I say they do? Quote me where I said that? I won't personally support under HD titles if I KNOWN they are sub-HD before hand. Obviously if I'm decieved to believe they are HD but are not, what do I do? I take a mental note and am careful to purchase from that company again.

The idea of "Deceptive Practices" should make people angry. Not ACCEPTING! What kind of bullshit citizen is that? to say.. "Ahh its ok, he lied in court or ahhh the infinity dealer told me it had all time 4 wheel drive, but it only comes on 30% of the time..."

DO NOT Justify Deceptive Practices EVER! That beyond idiotic.

[Johnny Rotten]

^^^ my first system was PONG, some brown and beige thing with a side paddle that detaches, it had 2 white lines that moved up and down with a white circle. Yep back in the day we called that tennis!

I later upgraded to an atari and so on, so over the years I've come to appreciate the whole "smoke and mirrors" thing for what it is... an art form, not just an art form but an art form that needs balance.

HD is terminology that will change as the years go on and when it does I'm certain video game developers will too but right now developers are doing their best to have that special balance that video games need.

btw your "90% of exclusives" aren't running true 720p, sorry.

[DJ]

Is it really a 'deceptive practice' if the output resolution truly is 720p? Again, at what point do you say "This resolution is not what you advertised to me!"

If you check out the article, you'll see just how hard it is to tell the difference between a sub-HD and a 720p frame.

[hay]

Actually comparing resolutions(mine is bigger) is like comparing d!cks. Unfortunatelly not everyone knows that technique is more important than size...

[JOLLY1]

1...2...3...4...ha!

[edgeofblade]

Agreed. I don't care if you are a PS3 fan or a 360 fan. I would MUCH rather have a game that runs at 60 fps than anything less. COD4 and COD:WaW are such visual-realism treats because the framerate came first. My hats off to them.

lol@liquifiedart: People with "principles" make me laugh. The only thing I have seen principles do for this world is organize people into frothing, unthinking mobs that lose sight of the important things.

[Oner]

Hhhmmm, I agree with Sev to an extent but I have a view more in line with LiQuiFiedArt....but ultimately I look at it this way ~

I don't agree with how companies can get away with advertising something as something that it's not and in this case it's applied to Resolution Display or when the NATIVE resolution is not HD but UPSCALED to "HD" hence it's not HD. So I ask this ~ Would you buy an "HD" Movie disc if it displayed at Sub-HD levels (below 720)? To me that would be deceptive so shouldn't that apply to other mediums?

But then again what about DDL? Where an "HD" resolution might be 1920x1080p or 1280x720p but it is compressed to $#@! so it REALLY isn't "HD"?...Damnit! Now I am more confused than before as to where I stand! (LoL)

I guess the best way (in my opinion) is this, if the resolution is equal to or above 720p AND not compressed to display crappy artifacts then THAT'S really what HD is (especially since 720 is the defacto minimum standard for HD resolutions no matter what people try say/spin/profess or "principle").

[HDgamer]

fanboys care, they must know how many pixels they are getting even if they have to take a screenshot of their games, count the pixels one by one for 3 weeks and a month using photoshop at the highest zoom settings then talk down about the other console.

[edgeofblade]

Dude... who cares. Is it that important to be certifiably HD? This is why our significant others roll their eyes when we insist on getting "2010 Edition: now with 20% more buzzwords"! This is a faux-principled argument... in that people don't really care that much.

You shouldn't be principled for the sake of being principled...

[RumbleFish]

I don't give a f about resolution when the games look and perform well, but that Ghostbustersgame does not perform very well, in fact it performs horribly. The screen tearing is so bad, i will never give my money to such lazy devellopers!

[edhe]

When the company selling you games consoles that promise fullHD and don't give you it, it's tantamount to fraud.

Failed promises come hand in hand with playstation, so it shouldn't be a surprise. This late in the generation though there's no excuse not to have at least 720p for a detailed game, and 1080p for a basic game.

[evrfighter]

if you have to pixel count to determine if somethings 720p or 1080p because you can't tell the difference....

wait

that's actually pretty funny....silly console gamers.

[FarEastOrient]

Quick make some popcorn!

[DoucheVader]

Pixel counting is a passionate pursuit that is definitely taking care of by guys who are not participating in "adult relations".

[DoucheVader]

I concur, Pixel Counters can goto Hell!

[StalkingSilence]

I like a good pixel count/picture quality critique when buying a Blu-ray movie. I like to know how well they have transferred the master and check that it's not just a poorly upscaled DVD. For games, I do like to hear 1080p/60Hz, but that's not why I buy the game or not. Matters much more for movies than games.

Also, having well-mastered sound is often overlooked for games, but critiqued for movies. Why is that?

[DJ]

It's something that's puzzled me for quite some time.

I know Killzone 2 got high marks for its visuals, but only a very small percentage of sites raved about the audio work. When I played it at my friend's apartment (with his surround sound speakers) I found myself playing KZ2 differently. The audio had that much of an impact during multiplayer since I could hear different audio cues from other characters and the environment itself.

[Nikkelz]

so you are saying that if you paid for an hd console and the games arent hd and someone doesnt say anything that they dont have a backbone?
lemme ask you this,what if tecnology is holding us back....oh yea it already is,IF you INDEED read the article you would understand that in order for things to run smoothly sacrifices have to be made,4 times anti aliasing DROPS framerates because we arent at a place where the closer we are to realism the cheaper the medium that creates it is,ps4 is gonna put your worries to rest...but for now relax,get up with a female and do something becuz theres too much agression coming from your side

[Pennywise]

Listen, are you really trying to get some intelligent answers out of him?? It doesnt matter if the person loves Sony, MS, or Nin... if they have 1-3 bubbles they usually are people with limited capacity for thought.

I have no idea what being 30 has to do with any of this, but I would love to hear from liquid about that too.

[FantasyStar]

Y'know, judging a person by the amount of bubbles they have isn't any better than playing the "age card".

[Pennywise]

Fantasy, I see what you are getting at, but people take bubbles because the user has nothing good to say.

[StanLee]

HD gaming, what a farce.

[Nikkelz]

thats like saying you dont like crisp pictures,better lighting,ancd better sound.

dont confuse stupidity for logic....if you have ever watched a movie in HD and then sat down and watched the same movie in SD and NOT want to gouge your eyes out than a trip to the optometrist is in order..

peace and game on

[StanLee]

I enjoyed watching I Am Legend on my way home on my PSP as much as I did on my HD television. At some point we have to be able to enjoy and appreciate art direction and content. Heavenly Sword was a beautiful game, it didn't even run at native 720p.

[FantasyStar]

It's always good to know exactly how the image is being rendered. The article assumes that Pixel counting started with this-gen, when it's been going on since the days of Counter-Strike. The only problem here is that console-fanboys use that information for their own selfish gains and that is what's being addressed in the article. The selfish-gains of it.

I support pixel-counting regardless because it goes beyond simply counting pixels, but learning exactly how effective things like AA, MSAA, FSAA, AF, and textures really are. It's a friendly habit and PSLS is speaking out of line for bashing a day-old PC tradition without acknowledging its roots.

If we're going to go after pixel-counters, let's go after benchmarking sites as well. I'm sure by PSLS's logic, as long as any GPU/CPU/RAM/PSU/everydamnthing looks like it works, there's no need to look at the technical side of things. Not even for educational purposes.

Cause that's what pixel-counting truly is, educational adventures and a hobby.

[level 360]

Pixel counting is a tribal thing to gamers' - a good example is like with cars, you either buy Chevrolet cars because you grew up with them and think they are the best or disdain the brand with your life and side with it's main competitor which is Ford ( same story and so on and so fort... )

Also with Sony v XBox360 or Blu-Ray and now defunct HD ( which there are still continuing confrontation )

It's not really important, but it's that constant upping of the ante or setting the bar to a higher level that gives gamers' that reason and pride to debate, argue and bash each other to bits and in return gives the most pleasurable satisfaction.

[FantasyStar]

Have you been in topics that discuss Video codecs/containers? All the Xvid vs. Dvix, h263 vs. h264. AVC vs. MP4, AVI vs. MPEG4? Pixel counters at every single turn. And even then: we're not even going into debating between proportional bitrates when figuring out which codec runs the least bitrates, but produces the best picture. The world of pixel counting is far too big for N4G to really comprehend beyond simple PS3/360 comparisons. But it's to be expected I guess.

There's no pride in anything, but everyone helping everyone figuring out which product works the best. No one takes any sides in pixel counting world, but working together to find the best method to achieve the greatest results. We all work together to find the best codecs that work, the best version of a game, and we all go through it together. There's no bias when it comes to pixel counting because all we want to find are facts. The hard-rock numbers and even then. When it's proven that x263 is better than h263: the h263 fanboys don't defend it like console fanboys: they jump ship. Because it's not about fighting a war. It's about helping each other find the best video codec available. Same thing applies with AVI vs. MPEG (which is pretty old now). In the video world, pixel counting helps everyone.

But I speak out of line. In the gaming world, I guess pixel counting is degraded to a e-peen measuring contest. Thank the fanboys for that.

Totally besides the point of what pixel-counting really is. And I haven't even gotten into the anime world yet too. I wish people on N4G had more hobbies than just playing video games and yelling at each other over the internet about why the PS3 sucks, or the 360 blows. Maybe then they'll realize how foolish they are and see pixel counting as more than just a fanboy sport.

[Perkel]

if game looks good, resolution and polygons doesn't matter. You can create game that have xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx polygons and best possible resolution but without good art direction, game will look like crap.

[table]

Nice article for once on N4G.

[bjornbear]

In a bad resolution, it will be more noticable =S but none the less, i agree, who cares? Graphics to me come forth after how fun it is, and game play (game design) and story (if there is any).

Some people, especially this generaton have been to hung up on graphics =/ and this has killed gaming a bit, to them anyway. Its a shame because the true basis of a game is its game play, and in essance, how fun it is.

If it looks good, just extra points obviously, but its NEVER a pivotal point imo.

[blackstuff]

High Resolution gaming has been available to the PC for a long time now, although the realism only started getting impressive when the GFX cards started supporting more advanced shader models, anti-aliasing, etc. Resolution isn't everything

[ps3gamerkyle]

Can't argue with you there.

[Pandamobile]

I don't need to count pixels since I can set my monitor to what ever resolution I like :)

[DJ]

I like you already

[Lifewish]

well i do agree people blow the stuff way out of proportion..

[Avenged Sevenfold]

Smartest article I read this month. PSLS is one of few remaining sites that actually think before they write. Thanks guys! =)

[dopeboimagic92]

As long as it still looks good, I don't care about native resolution. It just needs to look good on my 46" XBR :)

[DJ]

Call of Duty 4, for instance. Still play that game a lot, btw.