GTA IV PS3 fights off resolution woes in the UK
PS3 or Xbox? 630p or 720p?
Gamers from the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 camps rejoiced when it was confirmed that Grand Theft Auto IV would be available on both consoles. But fans have begun complaining that the game’s resolution on the PS3 is lower than it is the Xbox 360.
It’s been claimed that GTA IV runs at a resolution of 630p (1120 x 630) on the PS3, which falls short of the 720p (1280 x 720) resolution claimed to be given to Xbox 360 gamers. On one forum, gamers have begun comparing like-for-like screenshots from both consoles and come to the conclusion that trigger happy PS3 players are coming off worse, resolution wise.
For example, one gamer wrote on his blog that there’s a slight “fuzziness” when playing the title on the PS3, whereas the game is much “sharper” on the Xbox 360. That suggests the upscaling of a lower-resolution image on the PS3 version.
But does 90 fewer lines of resolution mean that gamers won’t enjoy shooting people for no reason as much or driving mercilessly through the streets of New York Liberty City? Probably not, and it’s certainly not having much negative impact on UK sales.
GTA IV sales on Tuesday in the UK hit 609,000 copies, according to point-of-sale numbers collated by market watcher Chart Track. The analyst also found that, on the same day, 335,000 copies had been sold for the Xbox 360 and 274,000 for the PS3.
Chart Track said that GTA: San Andreas sold 501,000 copies in the UK on the first day of the release back in 2004.
We asked GTA IV developer Rockstar to set the record straight on the relative resolutions of the various versions of the game, but it did not respond to our calls.
COMMENTS
@Liam
Yeah, I kind of worded that badly. What I was trying to get at is most 40"+ LCD screens are a full 1920x1080, but the smaller Plasma displays are lower resolution; typically 1360x768 or even 1024x768 in the case of the popular Panasonics. There are full 1080p plasmas out there, but they're pretty painfully expensive.
Correction about 360 load times and pop-in/pop-up
There's a lot of unfounded bullshit in the comments here from people saying the load times and pop-in/pop-up on the 360 version are "horrendous."
I've played 50 hours of the 360 version of the game and I can tell you that I've noticed pop-in only a handful of times and it has never caused an issue (e.g. I have not ONCE ran into something invisible that then appeared as in previous GTA games; in the rare cases that things do pop-in it's usually a higher res version of them replacing the original a split second after the object is on screen, and it's always been peripheral things for me).
Second, the load times are not horrendous. They're about 5 seconds max while the PS3 version is reported as having about 3 seconds max according to the reviews I've read. No big deal either way. You won't be staring at a loading screen on either version.
I haven't seen the PS3 version in action so I can't comment on how the visuals compare. As most sane people say, both versions are bloody excellent and virtually identical so let your decision be based on which console you own already, which controller you prefer, which console your friends own if you're interested in multiplayer, whether you care about the features of Xbox Live (and/or whether you care about having to pay for those features), and whether you are interested in the 360's exclusive downloadable content later in the year (which is supposed to be big, but nobody knows exactly how big yet).
I pre-ordered the 360 version long ago and considered getting the PS3 version as well, but after playing the 360 version I realised that every single reported downside it has versus the PS3 version is as tiny and unnoticeable as the (sane) reviews say it is. Unfortunately fanboys get hold of those comments and blow them completely out of proportion, as if an extra two seconds is "horrendous."
@Xbox 360 Exlusive Content
You do realize that the exclusive content will be a paid for add on. Also the ps3 will get extras down the track, no doubt after the $5b time exclusivity deal is done.
Ps3 is better at upscaling dvds? hardly
Someone said "The PS3 (for your benefit) upscales to 1080p better than the 360 - it's blindingly good with normal DVDs too."
I have both and yes Bluray looks awesome, but the 360 is far far better at upscaling to 1080p for dvds. The ps3 gives odd distortions around edges of peoples faces or some odbjects I have noticed. I'm not going on specs, or technical knowledge, just the evidence I see with my own two eyes.
I had hoped this would help me decide which version of GTA to get, I think its going to be 360 for its extra content in the pipeline.
@ Tom
doh! sorry mate - im half asleep today awaiting a lovely 3 days off :)
