IGN says: Oblivion looks better on PS3

by Nick Doerr { Feb 8th 2007 at 11:00AM }

Thanks for the screens and preview, IGN!

IGN recently previewed the PS3 build of Oblivion and you know what? There were good things and there were bad things. Bad things? All eight of the recent plug-in features won't be available for PS3 owners upon release -- but there will be the Knights of the Nine expansion. That's it for the bad. We're just going to back up and use direct quotes from IGN so we don't get flamed too hard.

"For one thing, the PS3 version has been optimized to take advantage of the Cell processor and hardware that the system offers. As a result, the game runs a lot faster than the 360 build." In the same vein, "the amount of framerate drops or hitches that cropped up in the wilderness as you accessed a new area on the 360 have been substantially reduced on the PS3 version. There is a plan to completely eradicate these issues as the game nears release." They're also getting rid of a number of bugs, including the "item duplication" glitch. Cheaters.

"The visual presentation of Oblivion has also been significantly enhanced. While it was a beautiful title on the 360, far off environmental details often displayed low resolution textures. This has been fixed with new shaders dedicated to rendering the foreground cleanly with sharper details, so rocky landscapes now have craggy appearances instead of smooth, non-distinct surfaces." This is surprising, since you often hear 360 advocates, er, advocating that the 360 has better texturing abilities (it's Greek to me).

Finally, "While there is still a fair amount of pop-in that occurs (which can't be helped due to the size of the world), the draw distance is farther than the 360 version. As a result, screens from the PS3 version should approach those from high end PCs running Oblivion, which is an impressive feat." Yes, the PS3 is capable of impressive feats. If you're a really, really hardcore Oblivion fan and own both the 360 and PS3, you may want to pick up the PS3 version for the enhancements, but keep the 360 version for the plug-ins. In all, this is awesome news for Sony.

Tags: Bethesda, Oblivion, Playstation 3, Playstation3, PS3, Sony

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

a.j. @ Feb 8th 2007 2:26PM

While I'm sure in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 seconds, we will have some loser fanboy on here saying "Enjoy our leftovers" or something witty, the fact is, the PS3 is slowly starting to show its teeth. Oblivion looking better is a great start. I just got my Virtua Fighter 5 import yesterday and it's absolutely beautiful. And yes, the 360 version will look awesome too..but wait...wait..what's that? Oh yeah, enjoy our leftovers when you get it. Sucks being on the other end of that doesn't it?

Dolla Dolla @ Feb 8th 2007 11:22AM

I think it was very smart of Bethesda to tweak the game more, even after releasing it for the 360. Most developers would've just ported the damn thing, bugs and all, without blinking. They have gained some respect from me.

TheSh0wstopper @ Feb 8th 2007 11:38AM

damn, this might mean I have to buy this game over again. I put a lot of time into it but did not beat it. Def a great game and i dont think i would mind revisiting it again.

LuckyChowmeinDude @ Feb 8th 2007 12:11PM

Also reason why you arent getting the DLC that the 360 version haves is because PS3 haves less ram , it cant handle the content.

hoos30 @ Feb 8th 2007 12:26PM

After one full year I would HOPE the Bethesda would optimize the code. Did any expect anything different? C'mon.

dontcry @ Feb 8th 2007 12:29PM

LuckyChowmeinDude

Stop being such a loser fanboy retard. Just cos you're stuck playing a worse looking 360 version don't get upset cos the devs decided that they could do better with the PS3 version. People like you need to grow up and realise all consoles have good and bad points. People like you make this world a worse place to live, everyone hates fanboys. So stop wasting bandwidth and just stick to 360 fanboy while the real gamers appreciate all aspects of gaming. And if thats too hard for you I know of a very good remedy for your stupidity involving a sledge hammer and your face.

Frosty @ Feb 8th 2007 12:43PM

Dontcry:

Nobody is 'stuck' playing a game on a certain console when that console is the only console that has the freaking game out at this time! Save your "our version is better than yours" when the ps3 actually has a released version. In the meantime, save your snide comments as drafts. And yes, I'm glad Bethesda has improved upon the 360 version. The lag was the only annoyance of that game... big bonus to the ps3 owners that they are able to limit that lag. Congrats, guys!

Brian @ Feb 8th 2007 12:50PM

#5, Do you even know what RAM is? Because your comment leads me to believe that you're an idiot.

Anthony @ Feb 9th 2007 12:35AM

Alright, so its not because of the PS3 hardware that makes it look better, its the extra development time, read this:

"Shack: Can you offer any insight into how much of that was made possible by the PS3 hardware versus simply the additional development time?

Pete Hines: It was entirely due to extra development time. It's not like the PS3 can do this and the others can't, it's actually something we were considering doing for the other platforms as well. We specifically did it here because we had some time and one of our graphics programmers said he could do it. Things like that are in the PS3 version, but everything else is just things that make the game load faster and run faster, so it runs as well if not better than the PC or 360 version. That was our goal all along. We felt like we were going to take however long it took until the PS3 version looked and played as well as it could. "

From http://www.shacknews.com/extras/2007/020807_petehines_1.x

Thank you and good bye fanboys.

Jon @ Feb 8th 2007 1:08PM

I would hope that the extra year of development time for the PS3 version would fix some bugs and tweak the game to run even smoother...but the truth is, had Bethesda been given an extra year to work on the 360 version...they would have achieved the same thing.

Good news for Sony...I don't think so. Good news for Oblivion fans...definately.

Pete @ Feb 8th 2007 1:22PM

You know, I read the comments of most stories I read on here and on Joystiq (mostly on here). One common factor I have noticed about the stories on here and the PS3 stories on Joystiq is the amount of 360 fans who come to this site. I have probably been to 360 fanboy maybe 3 times ever. I would go all the time if I either owned or was remotely interested in the console. However, I decided on the PS3 as my next gen console of choice (and the Wii as an impulse buy that I am happy I had the impulse to buy on launch day after I got shafted out of a launch PS3, but that's another story...). So granted, I am on here most of the time.

What's my point? If I, a person happy with my PS3 purchase, am truly having fun with my next gen system and love hearing news about my next gen system, I am either going to be playing that system or reading this site for news about it. What I will NOT be doing is going to 360fanboy.com and rejoicing at bad 360 news on the comments or spinning good 360 news into a negative to make my system look better. What does that gain? System superiority is all in the eyes of the beholder at this point. Aside from the company PR BS, it's all about us, the gamers, right?

I appreciate that you like your system 360 owners, I like my next gen system too, but that doesn't make yours better than mine or vice versa, so PLEASE save that for someone who cares to hear the consolism. Seriously, it is beyond pathetic to continue to see these comments polluted with 360 only owners.

So to conclude, 360 owners who stay to their own site, this message is not directed to you. To the 360 owner who regularly visits this PS3 fanboy site and comments regularly on PS3 news on other sites, take heed to this advice: the only thing it does when you comment on said stories is make you seem threatened by the presence of the PS3.

TheSh0wstopper @ Feb 8th 2007 1:28PM

The world would be a better place if everyone was like me and just bought them both.

dontcry @ Feb 8th 2007 2:17PM

Frosty

The 360 isn't the only place you can play oblivion, yeah its the only console but you can still get the PC version which is superior to the 360 version and probably to the PS3 version too, only time will tell that. And yeah LuckyChowmeinDude is stuck playing it cos even when the PS3 version launches hes gonna be too much up his 360 to realise that there is a better version out there. This isnt a whole 'our version is better' thing, its a simple 'stop being a fanboy and posting stupid shit on a PS3 site' thing. If you want to spread Sony hate and Microsoft love then go to 360 Fanboy. And before you call me a PS3 fanboy I own a 360 and I like it alot but it isnt the be all and end all of the new gen.

Sonyguy @ Feb 8th 2007 3:10PM

It is amazing how much arguing goes on at this site compared to some of the other fanboy sites I have been to before. But we have to take it because our console is the most expensive and way overhyped by Sony so what do u expect? I like the system for certain reasons and disike it for others but every system is like that.

Now about this oblivion thing I dont understand why everyone is saying "Mine is better blah blah" The fact is that it looks great on both systems. If the 360 version came out a year later it would be th eone looking better but besides that the 360 version is getting the most of the updated graphics through xbox live updates so it will look better as well. Just enjoy the game and stop arguing over whos looks better!

Naaiif @ Feb 8th 2007 3:46PM

I'm really not sure why LuckyChowmeinDude hasn't been banned yet, he's clearly only interested in the 360, and is trying to force his views onto others who may/or may not have made up their minds.

C'mon Nick do something.

ndoerr @ Feb 8th 2007 4:14PM

@ Naaiif -- Something has been done.

Matt @ Feb 8th 2007 4:32PM

to #11 (Pete) - There is no bad news on the 360fanboy site. At least not the amount we see here for the PS3. The 360 is the underdog and people always want to see the underdog come out on top. Secondly, thanks to an earlier post in another similar blog that resulted in PS3 vs. 360 war, there's one main reason we 360 fanboys come here: Schadenfreude
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude

knight marquise @ Feb 8th 2007 6:33PM

@ a.j.

"While I'm sure in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 seconds, we will have some loser fanboy on here saying "Enjoy our leftovers" or something witty,.."

Well, I would hope not.

"the fact is, the PS3 is slowly starting to show its teeth."

Um..unfortunatley, it hasn't yet, but I do have faith in the sytem.

"Oblivion looking better is a great start. I just got my Virtua Fighter 5 import yesterday and it's absolutely beautiful. And yes, the 360 version will look awesome too..but wait...wait..what's that?"

Oblivion will get the graphics update on the 360 as well, it will not look better on the PS3. Bethesda stated that.

"Oh yeah, enjoy our leftovers when you get it. Sucks being on the other end of that doesn't it?"

You were right, a loser fanboy did show up, as it was your fanboism that reared it's ugly head. Your attitude is the type that keeps driving the 360 fanboys here. It's the PS2 era attitude, which is why the 360 fanboys flock here to gloat. As Matt so eloquently stated: "Schadenfreude".

PS2 Fanboys used it on the xbots, now 360 fanboys are using it on the PS3 owners. And you, sir, show that were the tables turned on this generation of consoles, you would be doing no different.

*sigh*

onimusha @ Feb 8th 2007 7:25PM

This thread almost convinced me never to come here again, but heh i like the news maybe ill just stop reading the comments.

errr..global warming,...corporations....AREC BARDWIN!!

Aragorn @ Feb 8th 2007 9:11PM

As a 360 fanboy... let me just say how truly jealous I am of the ps3 owners who're gonna be playing oblivion.

then again, I've been playing oblivion already for nearly a year, but whatever :p

matjet @ Feb 8th 2007 10:12PM

hear hear pete!

FTW @ Feb 9th 2007 12:28AM

""Oh yeah, enjoy our leftovers when you get it. Sucks being on the other end of that doesn't it?"

You were right, a loser fanboy did show up, as it was your fanboism that reared it's ugly head. Your attitude is the type that keeps driving the 360 fanboys here. It's the PS2 era attitude, which is why the 360 fanboys flock here to gloat. As Matt so eloquently stated: "Schadenfreude"."

OWNED.

maverick_saturn_626 @ Feb 9th 2007 7:34AM

The only time a 360 fan comes here is when they see something to argue about. Its very immature and rather sad if you ask me, but then again, why should I be concerned, I'm not a 360 fanboy, so I'm lucky I was not consumed by this awful desiese of arguing over a console and looking like a right mental issue victim over the internet :) I thank the heavens I was not born so retarded, this is good news for PS3, and will be good news for 360 once it gets its updates, so either you deal with it, or don't bother commenting at all.

tom @ Feb 9th 2007 2:54PM

is it really that shocking that the game looks better after an additional year of development time? I dont think that you can infer that the PS3 is a superior box from this information.
Yeah Im stoked for Virtua Fighter 5 also - Im bummed that I cant play it right now, but not enough to shell out hundreds for another machine. Enjoy it PS3 fanboys.

Scott Krueger @ Feb 9th 2007 4:53PM

@LuckyChowmeinDude

The 360 Does Not Have More Ram.
360 has 512 that can be split up between system and Video. ie. 256 System 256 Video, 300 System 200 Video, etc.

The PS3 Has 256 System and 256 Video. Dedicated, however the Video can Access the System if the developer needs to.

Call me Crazy but don't all those numbers add up to 512 of Ram.

It is not that the PS3 can't handle it. The Article States "All eight of the recent plug-in features won't be available for PS3 owners UPON RELEASE"
Which means it is coming. They are Trying to Release the Game 1st and Then get the DLC Content Later.