A lot of controversy has surrounded the Xbox One for a while since launch, all concerning the resolution and framerate of games that are coming out on the platform. While some games have managed to achieve glorious 1080p HD resolutions and smooth 60 frames per seconds, some of the multiplatform and exclusive titles have sat in the dark, having resolutions that are higher than 720p, but not quite 1080 and framerates that seem to continue the previous generations common 30 FPS framerates.
There’s a lot of debate around 30 FPS having a heavier, more cinematic feel, but this isn’t necessarily a good thing. While some games use this to achieve a certain feel, the fact that 60 FPS is objectively better has been a factor for many people sticking with PC gaming for a long time. The difference isn’t always completely obvious to a lot of people, especially those who aren’t used to being aware of the difference. If you sit someone down and show them the difference, however, it will start to become a lot more obvious.
With the new information that the Xbox One will begin selling without the Kinect bundled with it, this supposedly has helped developers use more of the Xbox One’s built in tech to achieve more power, allowing them to more easily achieve those specifications that people are craving. While it’s not entirely clear why around this time is when developers seem more positive about achieving this, it’s believed that because of the power that the Kinect uses is where they can pull out a bit more resources.
There are two major titles that have recently announced at E3 that they will aim to, or will, achieve 1080p 60FPS on the Xbox One. The first of these is Battlefield: Hardline, the new title that focuses on cops and robbers rather than soldiers fighting it out. Visceral Games, the developer behind this new entry to the Battlefield franchise, have stated that because they have looked to create parity between all platforms they develop for, the Xbox One and PS4 versions of the game will both run essentially the same. Of course, the PC will run better if your own computer can handle it, and the previous generation consoles won’t look as good, but this is good news for those who have been disappointment and feeling like the Xbox is a less powerful console than the PS4, despite their extremely similar technical specifications.
The second of these titles is Bungie’s new Shooter, Destiny. Phil Spencer, earlier in the week, had confirmed that due to the new Software Development Kit that was released in June, Bungie was able to increase the resolution on Destiny on the Xbox One. We then got more information at E3 from Geoff Keighley, who mentioned on twitter that Bungie had said it will get Destiny to 1080p 60FPS on the Xbox One. Again, this is great news, and hopefully bother of these titles will be able to fulfill their own goals.
Of course, these aren’t the only things that are being talked about in terms of resolution and framerate. 343 Industries confirmed at it’s reveal of Halo: The Master Chief Collection that all four of the titles included will run at 1080p and 60FPS. This is unusual for the Halo franchise as these will be the first games that run at this newer framerate, which may cause some confusion when people actually get around to playing it and may feel like it acts differently than they remember. This is also less of a feat than currently unreleased titles, as these are older games, and although they do have up-rezzed graphics, are still running on older engines so these features will be easier to achieve.
There’ll never be an end to the debate, but maybe now that developers have had longer, and a new SDK to play with we’ll hear a little bit less about this debate, as it really doesn’t get anywhere when the games coming out are fantastic no matter what they’re actually running at. Though for those who do care about this, maybe it will improve for the better in that way as well.
Keep an eye on Xbox Live Gamerhub for more news coming out of E3!
Sources: Gamespot, GamingBolt
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