Are graphics comparisons even relevant anymore?

[Ivory_Soul]

I just saw this posted on GameSpot for Dishonored

http://www.gamespot.com/dishonored/videos/dishonored-graphics-comparison-which-version-kills-6397913/?tag=Topslot%3BBreakingDownDishonored%3BGraphicsComparisonWhi

A graphics comparison between all three versions. I honestly think the PC version should just be discarded from comparisons these days because its obvious consoles can't keep up. People keep doing these comparisons and the PC is always the best version like we should be shocked or something. I think it should just be console comparisons now until the next generation (WiiU doesn't count).

[madster111]

It's good to remind the dirty console plebs of their place in the universe.
Glorious PC master race is the only real choice.
_________________

[used44]

They've never been relevant to me.

[LinksOcarina]

Not really, but there is a noticable difference sometimes.

Dishonored comes to mind, on the consoles it looks pretty bland, on the PC it looks exquisite.
_________________

[MattAY]

It's ironic because there is hardly any fudging difference between the console versions. So without a PC comparison, having a comparison in the first place seems pretty redundant.
_________________

[danielrbischoff]

Graphics comparisons have always been stupid fanboy bait.
_________________

[WickedLiquid]

Yeah, there are different ways to compare the 360 and the PS3 but graphics isn't one of them. Graphics were never really an issue, even Sega wouldn't say the Genesis had better graphics than the SNES, instead they created a marketing term called blast processing to show it could run faster.

I can remember being a kid and always being amazed at "bits". Every generation of console would double in bits but we didn't know WTF a bit was. When the N64 came out it got a little crazy, every fucking game ended in 64 to remind you you're dealing with 64 bits buddy. Even the working title for Ocarina of Time was Zelda 64. I can remember telling my mom how awesome 64 bits was and she asked me "what's a bit?" At which point I gave a blank stare and tried to save face with some mumbo-jumbo about 3D graphics.

Video game developers knew how to market to kids. I think maybe once the internet became popular near the end of the 90's kids educated themselves on video games and we didn't resort to advertisements as facts. The last I heard about bits was when the Dreamcast was released. Sega said it was 128 bits, again just doubling Nintendo. But tragicly it died and with it died all this bit talk. Sony replaced Sega in the console wars but then the Xbox was released and since then all people seem to compare nowadays are those two while Nintendo takes a backseat and says "been there, done that".

If we were still talking about bits that double every generation, the PS3/360 would be 256 fucking bits, or hell maybe more, we made the jump from 16 to 32 to 64 in one generation. Can you imagine how inferior you could make a console of the same gen look if you said one was 256 bits and the other was 512? It wouldn't matter how identical they looked, becaue just like blast processing, ads work on gullible kids. But regardless it wouldn't change the fact that both consoles look the same.
_________________

[Wes]

Untill the Dreamcast you couldn't get arcade graphics on a home console. There are exceptions like Turtles in Time on the SNES but graphics on newer arcades were always above and beyond what you could play at home. It's the same today with PC graphics and should be viewed as an entirely different thing.
_________________
Life is not a predetermined path but a branch of many choices that make us who we are.

[danielrbischoff]

And TMNT IV had an onboard chip to help it look that good.

Graphics will improve forever and ever, but games are bigger than that, and some incredible art can be made in less than photorealistic fidelity.
_________________

[LinksOcarina]

So I propose that reviewers stop talking about graphics and talk about aesthetics instead.

The difference is major, because soon we will be judging games not based on how realistic they look, but how the design of the world is in-game, and if it clashes with other design choices.
_________________

[Ivory_Soul]

Good points guys, all of them. I guess you either need the comparisons to let console gamers know that their CPUs and GPUs are 7 years old, and 512MB RAM will get you nothing but low-resolution muddy textures. Or to let PC gamers know just how awesome PC gamers are.

I think that console still have a place. Console exclusives. I only use my PS3 and 360 for console exclusives now. I just wish developers would stop porting games from consoles to PC without enhancing anything.

I also find it interesting that console fanboys tend to keep their mouths shut these days about graphics comparisons. When this generation first came out they were screaming, "What now PC gamers?! Checkmate!" Not really. Consoles and PCs were probably on par for about 3-4 years and then we just hit the turbo boost and flew on by.

[used44]

[UghRochester]

[WickedLiquid]

I also remember the whole FMV phase where developers were more interested in live action cutscenes over actually gameplay. Thank God those years are long over.

We've reached a golden age where graphics in cutscenes and gameplay are one in the same. Something I only dreamed of while watching FMV's on Playstation titles during the late 90's.

The goal now appears to be stlye over realism. We can achieve realism now that our graphics are all CGI, but making something artistic and stylish is what can set games apart (Limbo, Sound Shapes, Journey, Walking Dead, etc) .

But that's just me. I also enjoy the realism in graphics as well.
_________________

[hewhowasonceme]

Graphics to me have never mattered. I have more fun playing Minecraft than I do Crysis. Games are only fun when you attach your self to them emotionally. I play games for game play and depth, not graphics.
_________________
GR reader since '99

[used44]

Minecraft is gorgeous in its special way though.

[Sourdeez]

[Ivory_Soul]

Graphics matter to an extent. If the game looks god awful ugly when it's obvious it can look better, that is no excuse. When a game knows it doesn't look good and it designed around that, that is a game where people say, "Graphics don't matter here." I don't anyone who would play Gears of War or Assassin's Creed if it looked like total crap. Certain games need the graphics to immerse the player more.

[Longo_2_guns]

[Ivory_Soul]