Jeremy Conrad (former IGN editor): Xbox One version of BF4 and CoD: Ghosts is 720p

[Aeni]

Re: Jeremy Conrad (former IGN editor): Xbox One version of BF4 and CoD: Ghosts is 720

I disagree on the basis that 30 FPS was the standard for quite some time and we had spectacular games during that era. Fighting games are probably the only genre you could make a solid case for the frame rate being crucial, but that's because they're designed with individual frames of animation in mind right from the start.

I don't know ... a lot of games like "Beat Mania" type for PC run at 120+ fps for those really insane maps. You hear about those guys that own the highest scores for these maps playing on insanely high frame rates. Why? Because they all swear that there is near zero latency at 120+ ... if the system can handle, "unlimited" setting is best.

If anything, it should be that "highest resolution" shouldn't matter as much as "highest framerates". There is so many ways to make a game look good without going 4800 or w/e ... "real" gamers need a playable game, they don't give two shits about whether or not you can pick out that lone hair follicle on the cusp of a virtual pin-up's bikini line ...

[DakAttack]

Re: Jeremy Conrad (former IGN editor): Xbox One version of BF4 and CoD: Ghosts is 720

Capped frame-rate is good for stability and decreases the work load on the hardware. If your software is working the hardware to its limits, capping the frame-rate would free up room for a bit of post-processing, more cluttered maps, or whatever.

[Malacite]

Re: Jeremy Conrad (former IGN editor): Xbox One version of BF4 and CoD: Ghosts is 720

Yeah starcraft 2 is actually pretty bad for this, to the point that someone had to put out a guide on how to manually set a frame-rate cap on SC2 because it was literally destroying people's GPUs.

[Firewind]

Re: Jeremy Conrad (former IGN editor): Xbox One version of BF4 and CoD: Ghosts is 720

Looks like the PS4 Version of CoD Ghosts is going to be natively at 1080p

[Icemage]

Re: Jeremy Conrad (former IGN editor): Xbox One version of BF4 and CoD: Ghosts is 720

Sony's Adam Boyes confirmed that CoD: Ghosts runs at native 1080p at Brazil Game Con last week. That said, Ghosts is just an ugly game in general. That engine needs to be taken out back and shot, it's so old.

It's pretty crazy that Microsoft's development tools are so far behind that the PS4 is pushing +125% more pixels than the Xbox One for Ghosts and still maintaining the same framerate.

Also: TotalBiscuit is a tool and has no clue what he's talking about. You should not take his advice about console tech. Some of what he says is right, some of it is wrong, but you shouldn't believe it just because he says it. He's not a tech-head, and knows about as much as your "average" gamer about how game hardware and software work (which is to say... not much at all).


Icemage

[Firewind]

Re: Jeremy Conrad (former IGN editor): Xbox One version of BF4 and CoD: Ghosts is 720

Honestly? The video was open when I was making the post which is why I posted it.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Jeremy Conrad (former IGN editor): Xbox One version of BF4 and CoD: Ghosts is 720

Also: TotalBiscuit is a tool and has no clue what he's talking about.

I arrived at that conclusion and I only ever watched his rant on used games. I think much of the problem has to do with his deep bias toward PC and it trickles down from there

[Malacite]

Re: Jeremy Conrad (former IGN editor): Xbox One version of BF4 and CoD: Ghosts is 720

I know the name but never actually watched his stuff.

best to avoid?

[Firewind]

Re: Jeremy Conrad (former IGN editor): Xbox One version of BF4 and CoD: Ghosts is 720

I'd give him a watch. His videos tend to be interesting and opinionated, and his fanboys generally seem to be among the less annoying, but this is the internet so that doesn't say much. Agreeing with him or not is another thing. I like his videos even though there's a fair few things he says that I just think are stupid or plain wrong. Same goes with Jim Sterling and the Extra Credits guys really. I do find BBQ's post on accusing a PC gamer of PC bias hilarious though. It's like calling out a console gamer for console bias, or a Microsoft fanboy for loving the XBox.

The Used Game thing is a good example of an opinionated Vlog that did turn out to be a terrible contribution to the Uses Games debate. Basically he spent too much time ranting about the practises of GAME or Gamestop and didn't address the real issue: destroying the concept of ownership of games. While he did bring up some good arguments for eliminating used games, he just focused on a couple of points and stuck to the point of view of a PC gamer.

Don't get me wrong the video was interesting, but he could have presented his argument in a far better manner and he should have dedicated more than a single Vlog video to it.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Jeremy Conrad (former IGN editor): Xbox One version of BF4 and CoD: Ghosts is 720

His video on used games was enough to discredit everything else he has to say. For me anyway.

I seem to recall he was also in Microsoft's corner after the Xbox One reveal. Dude just doesn't seem to be on the side of the consumer on a lot of issues.

[Malacite]

Re: Jeremy Conrad (former IGN editor): Xbox One version of BF4 and CoD: Ghosts is 720

^ really? Pretty hard to take a guy seriously about DRM when you were in full support of some of the most anti-consumer policies ever presented.

[Firewind]

Re: Jeremy Conrad (former IGN editor): Xbox One version of BF4 and CoD: Ghosts is 720

I reiterate that I do not at all understand the logic behind completely dismissing an entire person's video series or all of their opinions because they put out a single idiotic video. It's just...It really just genuinely confuse me.

If I did that then I wouldn't be watching any of the great series I would be watching now. Let's list the shows I watch regularly:

Extra Credits? They are basically pro-developer and don't care much about the consumer, something that isn't bad in itself; it is nice to get the PoV of developers on major gaming issues. TB is pro-consumer if you bother to watch his other videos and just put out a dumb video on used games where he just ranted about GAME for 20 mins, but is suddenly written off as an anti-consumer idiot for siding with the devs in one badly done video.

Jimquisition? Hell no, Sterling often puts out a lot of pretty dumb shit for the pure shock or entertainment value. His filler videos especially are just him preaching stuff that is often wrong or completely misses the point. His video on people wanting a good launch lineup for consoles is a great example of how stupid some of his videos can get.

Co-Optional Podcast? Yeah, it's basically done live so plenty of dumb stuff is said there on the spur of the moment, especially when they they suddenly react to the chat on top of it. Plus while I find Jesse Cox a very entertaining LPer as he is one of the few out there that make even badly played LPs genuinely funny, he's not the best person out there to speak about the games industry.

Angry Joe Show? Joe Vargas is a good reviewer and one of the few out there that actually plays the games he reviews for more than an hour, he regularly puts in 30+ hours if the game will let him. But yeah, have you seen any of his interviews? He's getting a lot better at it, but his old ones just make you want to facepalm when he insisted on keeping the "Angry Joe" persona for serious interviews with devs.

Zero Punctuation/Extra Punctuation? Hahahahaha.

Everyone there listed has put out something moronic and just plain wrong at some point. I don't get why everyone else gets a free pass for it.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: Jeremy Conrad (former IGN editor): Xbox One version of BF4 and CoD: Ghosts is 720

In that list EC is pretty much the only* show I can really watch for an extended period of time (Totalbiscuit's included), and even then not so much recently. They've given some pretty good insights, but it isn't particularly uncommon for them to go straight into navel-gazing.

* Disclaimer: I'll occasionally partake in Zero Punctuation just to listen to an angry dude with an accent rant about things with wildly varying degrees of accuracy.

[Icemage]

Re: Jeremy Conrad (former IGN editor): Xbox One version of BF4 and CoD: Ghosts is 720

I don't get why everyone else gets a free pass for it.

I don't give any of them a free pass.

Of the shows you mentioned, the only one I watch with regularity is Jimquisition. Jim Sterling isn't always right, but what he does that many of the others do not is stay within the boundaries of what he knows/has researched. Angry Joe has improved dramatically over time, but he's still long-winded and occasionally difficult to watch. Zero Punctuation is amusing as comedy, but nearly worthless as a video game review because it's "too" opinionated.

The reason I detest TotalBiscuit is that he offers unsubstantiated opinions on technical merits that he simply does not understand. That he occasionally comes to the correct conclusion despite having the wrong reasons is immaterial; he's a hack, and he doesn't realize how much of a hack he is, and that makes him significantly worse than the rest.


Icemage

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Jeremy Conrad (former IGN editor): Xbox One version of BF4 and CoD: Ghosts is 720

The Used Game thing is a good example of an opinionated Vlog that did turn out to be a terrible contribution to the Uses Games debate. Basically he spent too much time ranting about the practises of GAME or Gamestop and didn't address the real issue: destroying the concept of ownership of games. While he did bring up some good arguments for eliminating used games, he just focused on a couple of points and stuck to the point of view of a PC gamer.

Don't get me wrong the video was interesting, but he could have presented his argument in a far better manner and he should have dedicated more than a single Vlog video to it.

TotalBiscut showed in one video he could (1) pro-developer to a fault (2) have a whole bit talking about false equivalence LOADED with false equivalence and (3) used his bad experiences with a job as his entire starting point. I can tell you from personal experience that Gamestop has two different worlds.

(1) The world as Gamestop corporate sees it.
(2) The world as people as people working retail know it.

Seldom do these things ever agree with each others, but one has to do the bidding of the other and tow the corporate line even it its full of shit. Interestingly, this is where the developers he shows significant bias toward are. SImCity is this years finest example of it. No developer in their right mind would make SimCity online-only, but Maxis was mandated by EA to do so. Maxis had to tow this unenviable position and claim it as their own when it really wasn't their idea. DRM, Online passes and copy protection are technological perversions concocted by a board room and people paid to do what they're told.

But people would rather blame people standing on the front lines. They'd rather blame the waitress than the cook, so to speak.

But as slimy as even Gamestop Corporate can be, and I'm speaking from experience here, there is some logic behind what they do. They based their entire business model on the fact that publishers only allow them a pittance of each new sale and they seen absolutely nothing for selling the hardware. We can trace this alllllllllll the way back to the NES and Sega Master System days. Publishers and even Nintendo like the arrangement they have with retail and the used market was born out of that. Video game retail is high stakes business and without some alternate means of revenue, its hard to keep a store open on selling new games alone unless you are a Best Buy, Target, Walmart or whomever buys in bulk.

Perhaps part of it is the cultural differences in retail, I'm talking about US retail here. Those that can't buy games wholesale and are not guaranteed rainchecks for products that don't move need the used market as insurance to keep stores open and people working. There is certainly a lot to be said to Gamestop's anemic allotment of employee hours, however, and they essentially profit at the expense of the people that work for them more than they do publishers. Gamestop is the retailer all publishers deserve and even as publishers try to transition to digital we see this mentality of maximum profit superceding consumer benefit - some people are just biased about who they let get away with it.

Nintendo charges full retail price for a digital game
Sony offers a mild discount complely negated by overpriced memory cards and a closed ecosystem.
MS commonly makes it a point to never make a GOTY edition available digitally because microtransactions, it also has a closed ecosystem.
EA - you've seen Origin

Its really just Steam, GoG and other digital storefronts passing on real value to the consumer on the digital front - its not anyone that puts out a console. Developers that work closer with PC benefit the most out of anyone in any othersituation right now. Its hard not to like it as a PC gamer, either, because you also get treated incredibly well.

Its something rather easy to get spoiled by. TotalBiscut clearly has. He just fails to see the larger picture because he knows his preference is probably the future of gaming that will win out. I think that's a good thing, but that doesn't change the nature of how publishers are now.

Its not a symptom unique to gaming, we've see these behaviors from corporate interests involved in movies, television, print media and music. They've all tried to first allocate blame libraries, video rentals, piracy and secondhand sales as sources of their poor fiscal performance and woes, but the reality is they created the necessity of those things through expecting people to pay a premium to consume media. Its a pattern only a complete idiot can miss and sadly, Total Biscut is that kind of idiot.

TL;DR - Its the publishers, TotalBiscut..

His video on people wanting a good launch lineup for consoles is a great example of how stupid some of his videos can get.

Um... wut?

His argument is incredibly sound there.

UbiSoft showing a willingness to delay Watch_Dogs is actually a good thing for PS4 and XB1 because it gives gamers something to look forward to within three months of buying these consoles. Even still, the first year of almost every console was pretty dry. PS2 had games between its launch and present, but nothing truly remarkable until Ico, Devil May Cry, MGS2, GTA 3 and FFX.