Probably one thing which can be said in everyone's favour about console games is that they're actually helping to keep studios alive.
Having said that (and being a PC only gamer) I agree that PC ports of console games usually do end up disappointing from a graphical standpoint. My pet peave of the moment is not even texture resolutions/polycounts but the insanely low FOV's that recently made games get shipped with by default.
The last three games I've played (more like looked at)- Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2 and Battlefield Bad Company 2 all suffer from this. It always makes the graphics look horrible because it's like you're moving through the game with your nose pressed up against all the objects in front of you- there's no breathing space or sense of depth and openness to the world at all- it can actually be pretty uncomfortable from a gameplay perspective.
Apparently you can change the FOV in Bad Company, but for some people it doesn't work and I happen to be one of those. It basically ruins the game for me (not that I have any time to be playing games at the moment anyway). The odd blurry texture pales in comparison to this problem and most likely if PC games were shipped at more respectable FOVs, then a lot of the criticism of textures would probably fade (as you're pulled way back into the scene, the texture issue becomes less noticeable).
Anyway.. PC games for innovation, console games for keeping the ball rolling.
Hmm, I didn't find the FOV in BC2 annoying at all, I thought it was kind of nice? But then I play iRacing at 65 - I like the more realistic sense of speed, and my real eyes are *NOT* transplanted from a fish. Perhaps I'll try BC2 in 2D and see if I find it cumbersome with the low FoV.
well obviously a black ceiling and walls would be a lot better but its not that noticeable and while im a bit of an image/screen quality fetishist the overall experience is just so much better than on a small screen (were talking 2m wide screen from about 3-4m away) that it more than makes up for its flaws
i must say that all those experiences were in a room with a low hanging ceiling (not ideal i suppose) painted white with 10cm wide wooden beams running along the ceiling in the direction of the lightpath every 50cm or so
presumably the beams reduce the bleed
i cant say ive ever noticed a patter of vertical stripes of bleed in black areas of the screen yet (not that ive tested for it but i might do so soon) as you might expect from the patter of black and white on the ceiling
that said during the limited time i had playing crysis and some ps3 games and the extensive time i had with it playing worms and rc heli/plane simulators its never bothered me one bit
if i find the time ill see if i can borrow the colorimeter from work (which supposedly works with projectors too) and see if i can get a few actual numbers
it most certainly does... at least in the short run
last year a colleague told me about his plans to buy a 40" or 42" tv so i told him to come visit my friend who owns a projector and take a look at it (the added bonus was that my friends father owns a 42" tv so he could make a direct comparison)
anyway we decided to show him the projector first and for about an hour went through a few movies showed him the difference between 720p and 1080p encodes (hardly noticeable actually)
after about an hour you get to the point where the projector stops appearing overwhelmingly big so at around that point we went downstairs to demonstrate the tv and ive never seen him look that disappointed before or since
so he forgot about his plans to buy an lcd tv and 2 weeks later he was the proud owner of a brand new projector
hm never used that but it seems that there is a 3rd party driver that allows most/all relevant ways of displaying 3d http://www.iz3d.com/driver
It'll always be a personal preference- as you say you're used to a lower FOV, so it's maybe not so much of a big deal. Racing games in general are probably suited to lower FOVs (being inside a racing car must be pretty claustrophobic), I also use a much lower FOV in LFS than I do in the typical FPS. If I'm running around an open world, I find I need that openness the greater FOV gives or I feel like I'm missing out on something, it will almost translate as a visual disability. The default of 55 in BF2BC is way too low personally.
I totally agree with you. When the FOV is too low on a FPS game, I always move the mouse around A LOT to try seeing everything around me and check every m² if I'm not missing anything. It's awful. But having a too big FOV is just as terrible (for instance, 100<FOV).
It also depends on the monitor (widescreen or not), resolution and distance from screen.
I think they're rightfully disappointed but are only to blame their own trust & security of the software. Some insider leaked it, not a release group. Once it's out there, people will inevitably want to play it.
And Dadge, STFU would ya please? I went to bed expecting you to stop and be mature. Silly me.
"Piracy continues to damage the PC packaged goods market and the PC development community."
Am I the only one here who found that line pretty hilarious, relating to this leak?
I fail to see the logic how a leak, most likely by their own employee, is related to PC piracy in any way at all. It might aswell have been a leaked xbox 360 version of the beta, would that have been caused by PC piracy too?
sorry for interrupting offtopic in this offtopic thread, but id like to ask if anyone played the leaked beta and compared to crysis 1 what its like? because crysis 1 was pretty boring