PS3 Poll Police: Are comparison videos necessary?

by Nick Doerr { Jan 20th 2008 at 5:30PM }

The Poll Police ranted about a hot story this past week. GameTrailers, a site who we have nothing against as a site or as people, were getting slammed by internet-savvy folk for using some questionable methods in their comparison videos in regards to PS3 and Xbox 360 titles. While it's all subjective (the only true method of fair comparison is to rig both titles up to your television and see which one works better for your particular need), it raised quite a bit of flame. So, the Poll Police ask you: are these comparison videos necessary, or do they only serve as gasoline for the fanboy fire?
We shouldn't throw our two cents around lightly because one writer's opinion might not reflect another and we'd hate to skew our views as a website. As we said, the best method is to do a comparison yourself on your own television -- but that's usually a pain in the ol' behind. Last week's poll? Sure, it's after the jump. Check out the results.

The game is Resistance 2. It's not called Rise to Man. Not officially, not yet. So until we hear otherwise, let's stop calling it that. Even though it makes sense. Most of you thought the game looked at least pretty cool. The majority of you agreed the title really seems like a game of the year contender. It's going up against some pretty AAA titles, though. We personally don't think they'll hit the '08 release mark, but Insomniac has put out a game every year, so who knows.

Tags: poll-police

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

bluesky_v2.01 @ Jan 20th 2008 5:43PM

What's funny is that comparison videos are absolutely useless, unless you have both PS3 and xbox360 and want to decide which version of the game you want to get. These videos tell us nothing about the game or the console itself. If the versions are too different the company that made the game is bad, not the consoles.

Mein Bratwurst @ Jan 20th 2008 7:22PM

I agree. Also, eventually you're going to end up buying the game for whichever controller you prefer playing with.

EL_CHUY @ Jan 20th 2008 7:33PM

Well in a sense you're comparing what developers set as limits for each console. Take the orange box for example it was not that the ps3 wasn't able to run it as smooth as in the 360 or pc, it was more of not taking the time to make it run smooth. (ps3 exclusives look and run great) In that case a video comparison was necessary for us to see the difference (that had nothing to do with system setting or power) of each version. Now if you are going to be comparing a game in the two consoles is common sense that you would use top setting to really compare how it would look if I had both consoles. (I don't play with the default settings) gametrailers and videogames do these comparisons and I thank them for taking the time but as it was brought up by ps3fanboy they need to start comparing using the best setting for each console and the same TV if you want to be fair. or if not at least say on what setting each console was at the time of comparison.

IseWise @ Jan 20th 2008 5:53PM

I do like to see the comparison videos because I tend to be a little bit of a graphics whore, but I voted that that they are not that helpful. I do not own a PS3 myself, my brother has it at his dorm, I have the Xbox 360 here at house, so if we had both consoles at the house and where trying to decide between which version of game we should get, I might care about the comparison videos at little more. Also I have always have liked the comparison videos that gamevideos.com puts up because they slow down the footage to so you can see the frame rate difference between the consoles. Bit I do agree that some of the settings should be changed and tweaked to get the best picture, that how TVs, DVD players, and just about any other electronic device that has settings is reviewed.

Ty @ Jan 20th 2008 5:53PM

Yata! I 1th!

Hey stop showing discussions on comparison videos. No one cares. This isn't reaffirm PS3fanboy, its just PS3 fanboy. I wanna hear about PS3 games and the console. Not about others. Gawd DAAAAMN!

bs6268d @ Jan 20th 2008 5:54PM

yes um gt4 360 or ps3. Dmc4 ps3 or 360

Always sways my decision

Popfrogs @ Jan 20th 2008 6:16PM

GT4? Oh, you mean GTA4. I think it looks like junk from the trailers, badly modeled characters, horrible frame rate, etc. but people never focus on graphics for this series for some reason.

Vincent @ Jan 20th 2008 5:58PM

I decided not to buy Assassin's Creed at all after seeing their comparison video (plus hearing some other comments from friends who had it, but the comparison video did have a lot of weight). If the company can't make both versions decently, they don't deserve my money imo.
So I voted on the first option, however I do agree that such videos serve more as fuel for flame wars than anything else.

Ty @ Jan 20th 2008 5:59PM

I hate stupid people. Go learn some logic. No its not really important in the end. If a game looks better on a specific console its because the devs went and made it look better on that console. Also you need to compare all aspects of quality when it comes to games from visual to audio. If you find that the version for your 1 console is bad then don't blame the console, blame the shitty devs for sucking so much. I mean why was Orange box a laggy mess on the PS3? Crappy devs. I mean how can Uncharted be so good and Orange box be so bad!? Wasn't the Console's fault.

Musouka @ Jan 20th 2008 9:40PM

Then I'll gladly lecture you on logic. Why did Valve not port their shit over to PS3? Because they'd have to actually for once stop copy/pasting code in the last 5 years and port their engine and legacy shaders to OGL2ES. Their code is a mess and I bet they can't read it anymore. Then, coding for anything but x86 must be also a nightmare for them.
Gametrailers are some of the most biased guys I've seen, against the PS3 for some reason. From reviews and everything you can see it there. Fortunately, they do host latest and HD videos for just showing ads - thus we all should love them :). Yet, it's quite disrespectful what they do with this latest "comparison Composite vs HDMI" video and article. Stating that every PS3 owner, that visits their site, is as uneducated in tech as your average grandma. [so that none of us ever saw/cared about that Full RGB option]

Laurens Holst @ Jan 20th 2008 6:25PM

I voted for “Yeah, they're objective and insightful”.

While I don’t know so much about the objectiveness, especially considering that the PS3 versions on GT *always* look brighter and more bland — I doubt that it is a coincidence (even though they are posting HDMI-composite comparison videos).

But I do find it interesting to see which is the better version, and in what way. I don’t have an XBox 360, but if I had one I would definitely use it to make an informed decision on which version to buy.

~Grauw

leiwei @ Jan 20th 2008 6:45PM

I always found those comparison videos to be pointless. It's better to compare a single frame from one version of the game to the same exact frame on the other version. Just like comparing the screencaps of a DVD movie vs its HD counterpart. You get to see the changes & increase in detail between each shot. Having a comparison "video" where everything is in motion makes it somewhat difficult to discern the differences. Heck 24 frames of those differences flashed by us in a matter of a second. Besides, most of the time, those comparison vids always have it split where the 360 is on the left and PS3 on the right. How the heck is that a comparison when we haven't seen what the image is like for the either system on the opposing side?

aahatimy @ Jan 20th 2008 8:12PM

Even though they can be rigged the videos show if the games lag or not and other stuff.

Haiddasalami @ Jan 20th 2008 8:17PM

Dose not matter for me. If I see a game I like I buy it. Reviews are pointless to me and just give me more info for the game. For example lair, everyone hates it but I love it.

Nichelo @ Jan 20th 2008 9:06PM

i dont trust comparison vids anymore.
i look for words from the Devs to see witch version is better

Consolcwby @ Jan 20th 2008 9:10PM

I've said this to people time and time again: The only way to see (graphically) if one console is better at rendering than others is to see the actual render output before scaling, AA, ect. takes place, and see how long such rendering takes. A good example would be a PS3 game, running at 30 FPS but whose actual rendering is at 1920x1080, yet another unnamed console in which the same game is running at 60 FPS yet being rendered at 704x480. The question that should be asked is: how many FPS would the unnamed console run the game if it would render at 1920x1080? That is the ONLY way to benchmark true console prowess when graphic rendering power is concerned. AA and other effects on the render should (theoretically) slow the render down more, especially when there is more to render. Since a comparison is meant to point out similarities and flaws between games running on more than one system, a better method other than the one used by GT needs to be instituted. Util it is, this is just fanning the flame wars.

Obie @ Jan 20th 2008 9:13PM

Gametrailers need to do things properly...

Theres nothing wrong with comparison videos....
But EVERY PS3 has HDMI output, so PS3 vids should all be shown as HDMI with that titles highest possible resolution.

The 360 however has only a very small ammount of consoles (elite) which feature HDMI, While theres non-hdmi 360's around, 360 videos should be shown on the highest resolution available on the lowest console (non-hdmi)

Afterall the ps3's hdmi from the go was a big point, and its not fair showing 360 core owners graphics which arnt available to them

Spoondogg @ Jan 20th 2008 9:21PM

Problem is

Spoondogg @ Jan 20th 2008 9:33PM

Comparison videos are great if you can see an actual, uncompressed, full res version of the game being displayed. The problem is that these are all flash videos, and last I checked, the compression isn't capable of showing the full color spectrum that the HDMI, or even the component video is capable of displaying.

The only visual change we are going to see in comparison videos is higher poly models or vertical tearing. You're wasting your time if you watch them to see the color differences that HDMI seems to offer.

SuicideNinja @ Jan 20th 2008 11:49PM

Usually, the comparisons don't seem that far off. I've done comparisons on the same 1080p tv.

For the most part, the games I've tested look nearly identical, although the PS3 versions will have more jaggies since they aren't upscaled from 720p. Upscaling softens the edges a little bit, which helps in improving appearance. However, upscaling lowers the intensity of colors, so there is a trade-off.

bmac @ Jan 21st 2008 12:05AM

I like to see them just to see what differences there actually are... especially now that it's becoming a moot point for most titles. If anything, they let me know which developers are still dragging their feet on ps3 titles, and which deserve my money by making a good game on both.

Efeez1986 @ Jan 21st 2008 1:17AM

Everybody knows that the american gaming media is bias against the PS3 brand. This is why no one should listen to any gaming magazines or websites. If you want to know how good a game looks, rent it and play it for yourself. Xbox is an american brand, so the american media is going to support it, no matter how crappy the hardware is. The FEW multiplatform games that were better on 360 is due to the developers being flat out lazy or bias against the PS3(Valve). Why does everybody over exaggerate the number of games that's better on 360? Honestly it's only about 3 games, and those games are not must play titles. I could care less about Orange Box, Half Life is old news, Portal is overrated, and TF2 wasn't as spectacular as i thought it was going to be.

tboy @ Jan 21st 2008 5:56PM

So true... America cant seem to adopt an out of country system.

Leobebes @ Jan 21st 2008 2:22PM

You mean like how the ultra nationalistic Japanese populace has treated the xbox brand these past two years despite having a wonderful library of games? There is more bias with the Japanese than there is on the PS3. I will agree with you that bad ports is due to time constrained coding, but in the end both systems will prove to be identical. It's what each company does in developing their exclusives which will matter in the end to each individual gamer. Own both if you can and if you can only own one you'll be treated pretty well.

Will @ Jan 23rd 2008 1:43PM

Oh yes the media is biased against Sony and their game consoles because they're Japanese. Ever heard of Nintendo? Yes they're Japanese and the Wii was frickin praised on the news (and no i'm not a Wii fanboy)

And why do people get so stupidly defensive over a game console? Who cares if the PS3 has worse graphics then the Xbox I thought it was the games that mattered. Apparently not for PS3 fanboys...

Lars @ Apr 8th 2008 5:40PM

Will, your comment is so full of fail it's not even amusing.

I've seen GRAW2 on both systems. The PS3 version looks waaaay better. It's not a question of being a fanboy, it's just people defending a clearly wrong viewpoint.

I played the demo on the PS3 and I loved it. I got the full game on 360 and was sooo disappointed. As a result, I haven't even played it since the first day I got it.

So, yes, it IS about the games. Graphics are part of the allure of games for me, and the PS3 version is far better than the 360 version.

Ryan @ Jan 21st 2008 8:12AM

I have always thought its really stupid to even argue about which console is better. OMG xbox360 4life or PS3 owns! Who cares just go out and buy both...then you will have the best of both worlds and you can stop arguing like a bunch of little children. Ive done that since the days of NES and Sega Master System. I just buy every single console if they have something I want...not whine about it cause one game looks better. Appreciate everything because let me tell you how luck we are to even have these type of qualities games in the home....just a few years ago we werent even playing games online through the consoles. So i dont think we have too much to complain about. : )

Han @ Jan 21st 2008 10:29PM

it should be called
Resistance 2 : Rise of the Chimera

Karn Eggie @ Jan 22nd 2008 9:45PM

well i ahve both 360 and ps3 and the videos do help me when im making a game purchse and i DO appreciate it. I DO NOT APPRECIATE http://www.gametrailers.com/ site talking down to me like i dont know how to setup my system!!!

the apology or acknowledgment that "most" ps3 users dont know about the features is maddening, I BOUGHT A PS3 FOR THOSE FEATURES!!! :HATS . its irresponsible to think that the ppl who get these systems are dullards. were the ones TELLING you whats up and then you make condescending comments on our collective intelligence.

kuzeth @ Jan 25th 2008 1:03PM

i am to be a PROUD owner of a ps3 and 360...I cant get enough of the comparison videos, i just find it interesting to see which console has the better graphics on a certain game, but thats just me...if u dont like the comparison videos why dont u all stop bitching and stop watching them then and leave them for the people that do watch them, wether it be coz theyre bored, or they own both consoles and r trying to workout what platform to buy the game on

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Are comparison videos really necessary?
	Yeah, they sway my purchasing decisions.
	Yeah, they're objective and insightful.
	Nope, they're not that helpful.
	They serve only to fan the console war flames.

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