Has the 360's graphical power peaked?

Games i think will beat GEARS, well personally for starters i think COD3 comes even or very close but upcoming games id say Alan Wake i think it is. BioShock, them graphics looks amazing, Mass Effect. I did have few in mind but off top of my head there are ones that stick out.

Also i think you have to remember that GoW is a third person shooter, so you are looking at things further away. where as in a FPS every wall you can look directly at close range if your with me. i loved the GoW graphics they were superb but on occasions in doors i would looks closely on walls and some of textures were a lil bit blurry or not superbly detailed. Fair do's the close of of faces on GoW were superb you cant deny that.
But i think FPS graphics will beat GoW, such as Bio Shock and probs Half life 2 episode 2.
 
Theres plenty of life left in the 360 yet i remember thinking something similar when mgs2 came out on ps2:eek: and besides graphics arent just about how good one character looks theres different ways of lighting/shading an environment or character, if npcs and objects can be much further improved. The point im trying to make is its not the graphics that will drasticly improve its the way they are displayed and how good some of the smaller deatails look.
 
I can't understand why GOW is held up as the pinnacle of graphics evolution, something which can hardly be topped. I thought it was quite a sterile looking game, copious amounts of texture mapping but no real detail. Must admit I didn't play it very far though, It's probably in the top list of the current titles graphically, but there is so much more yet to be improved in all of them.

Where is all the little detail, the dust swirling around, footprints, rubble being ground underfoot, water and mud splashing on the environments and players, environments (and objects) that deform correctly according to damage, rolling smoke, accurate reflections and shadows. The list of things you could add is endless.
 
I think I get what Guns is saying, the games maybe can't get to look anthing more than photo realistic, that time may not be far away. However the games will still get bigger and better, better A.I and NPC intergration, improved pysics engine's ect ect. The future is bright for us gamers and I would be happy to see Gears graphics in bigger and better games, as long as the games keep a big:D on our faces we will allways be the winners, wether that be on the 360, PS3 or a £3000 PC:eek: Also we get 24 players online at a push now, the shooter on the PS3 has 40 players, do we think we could get to the 64 player mark on consoles, if we do with the other things I have mentioned then thats improvement.:thumbsup:
 
I have been sitting here trying to think of a worthy response as there are some really good points being discussed here.
I think the answer to the original question is absolutely yes, there will games that surpass GOW. As someone else mentioned Halo 1 was excellent but Halo 2 exceeded it on all counts (ignoring the unresolved storyline issue :D )
Apparently some in Bungie were not even happy with how Halo 2 turned out as they ran out of time.
I think also lighting and physics are the way to go too.
Take the new rally game Dirt. The lighting looks very nice on that as well as the real time enviroment effects.
 
Dont get the wrong idea here im not trying to rag on the 360, was just kinda thinking out loud really, if Gears is pretty unimprovable (is that a word!?) then it would seem there isnt much more the 360 can do regardless of power i guess, maybe i titled the thread wrong, the power wasnt in question, the potential application of said power was.

i think if games have the graphics of gow then to be honest im not sure if i care if they cant get better because gow is stunning so as long as the games are as good as gow then im more than happy.
 
I dont think its peaked at all.

The best is yet to come like nearly every other console in history the longer the tools are available the more adept they become with them. Case example is god of war 2 on the ps2 how that game looks the way it does boggles the mind.
 
Of course it hasn't peaked, just because not every game that is released after gears of war doesn't have better graphics isn't a reflection of the 360's capabilities, it's a reflection of the dev's work. As has been said many a time, games improve over the course of a console's lifespan.
 
I can't understand why GOW is held up as the pinnacle of graphics evolution, something which can hardly be topped. I thought it was quite a sterile looking game, copious amounts of texture mapping but no real detail. Must admit I didn't play it very far though, It's probably in the top list of the current titles graphically, but there is so much more yet to be improved in all of them.

Where is all the little detail, the dust swirling around, footprints, rubble being ground underfoot, water and mud splashing on the environments and players, environments (and objects) that deform correctly according to damage, rolling smoke, accurate reflections and shadows. The list of things you could add is endless.

Ok im starting to regret the way i titled the thread as i think people are misunderstanding my intent.

I didnt say omgzzz 360 is dead or gears pwns all!!111

Nor did i say it was the pinnacle of graphics or it wouldnt be beaten, i said for the 360 right now and for the forseeable future, from what ive seen coming up, it looks to have the best graphics, and if as everyone keeps saying consoles always improve through the cycle why are games that are coming out later than Gears having lesser or "on par" graphics. Should they not be better?

I agree with everything you said that games can improve in every way you listed and more, but as you put it they are "little" details which largely to do with the way the player interacts with the environment (ie pysics etc)
 
It can be argued that games being released on the xbox towards the end of its life were as good as some of the games released on the 360.

It is about understanding the system to develop software that maximises the hardware, and that takes time
 
I'm gonna be all controvertial now, I totally disagree.:D

I can remember playing on a snes and being gobsmacked by the graphics. Coming from a nes and before that an atari 2600 and a spectrum I thought exactly the same thing you did. How could the graphics possibly get better.

QUOTE]

Your standards must be very low mate! I look at the 360 and i can see masses of room for improvement, not to mention looking at some of the tech iv been looking at and studying for the last few months inc Virtual reality and 3d environments and its easy to say that games will and can go a hell of a lot further in the future, and within my lifetime i can see them improving immensely beyond conception
 
Your standards must be very low mate! I look at the 360 and i can see masses of room for improvement, not to mention looking at some of the tech iv been looking at and studying for the last few months inc Virtual reality and 3d environments and its easy to say that games will and can go a hell of a lot further in the future, and within my lifetime i can see them improving immensely beyond conception

Absolutely, the point I was making was that technology always moves on.

The graphics on the snes were amazing at the time, it's nothing to do with my standards just what the technology is capable of at the time.
 
I'm gonna be all controvertial now, I totally disagree.:D

I can remember playing on a snes and being gobsmacked by the graphics. Coming from a nes and before that an atari 2600 and a spectrum I thought exactly the same thing you did. How could the graphics possibly get better.

QUOTE]

Your standards must be very low mate! I look at the 360 and i can see masses of room for improvement, not to mention looking at some of the tech iv been looking at and studying for the last few months inc Virtual reality and 3d environments and its easy to say that games will and can go a hell of a lot further in the future, and within my lifetime i can see them improving immensely beyond conception

Cool, im glad id love to see whats coming next, got any links for me?
 
Has the 360's graphical power peaked?

The short answer is - No:smashin:

One thing that is dissapointing and appears to be happening on the PS3 aswell is better graphics over last Gen but less options etc.

IMO we are getting less game for our money these days in a lot of cases. EA are major culprits.
 
The 360 has nowhere near peaked in terms of graphical performace IMO. Like Kopite says, look at God of War 2 on the PS2 or even games like the original God of War, GT4 and the upcoming test drive unlimited (which doesn't look that far removed from the great looking 360 version).
 
Ok im starting to regret the way i titled the thread as i think people are misunderstanding my intent.

I didnt say omgzzz 360 is dead or gears pwns all!!111

Nor did i say it was the pinnacle of graphics or it wouldnt be beaten, i said for the 360 right now and for the forseeable future, from what ive seen coming up, it looks to have the best graphics, and if as everyone keeps saying consoles always improve through the cycle why are games that are coming out later than Gears having lesser or "on par" graphics. Should they not be better?

I agree with everything you said that games can improve in every way you listed and more, but as you put it they are "little" details which largely to do with the way the player interacts with the environment (ie pysics etc)

Fair enough. Personally though I think Oblivion is better looking than GOW, and Crackdown may even pip that. I guess it's all down to style and personal preference.

The reason you aren't seeing all games as good as the top tier titles is that there are very few developers with the resources available to produce this kind of content, and these games take a lot of effort to produce. The technology and assets behind GOW in particular have been in development for a very long time and worked on by some of the top people in the industry (and not all for 360).

Regarding the "little" details. Yes, they are little but their absence forms a huge void and, in my opinion, really detracts from the experience. It's very distracting when it's pouring with rain but the characters either stary completely dry or just become shiny. I want to see water drops flowing down armour plating, clothes getting heavy (I can see a wet t-shirt game coming out of this), puddles forming and water flowing. I've seen these effects demonstrated in part and they look stunning, but it sorely needs bringing together in a game.
 
What always helps Console game graphics to improve with each software "generation" is that its a fixed platform. Just like back in the old days of 8 and 16bit computers, you'll have dev teams coding and re-factoring that code to be ever more efficient without having to worry about all the "compatibility" compromises they have to make when writing for a very large open platform like a PC for example.. And yes, with PC games they'll end up pulling ahead as there will still be that leap every six or so months when nVidia/ATI release another graphics card/chipset.. but the new consoles won't be any slouch simply because of that fixed-platform that the developers become increasingly more familiar with.. The God of War games being a case and point (as many other have already said here)

In short.. we're up for some stunning looking games in future! :)
 
I think we may be approaching what is possible graphically in terms of what our eyes can actually notice. I think that games will continue to look a tiny bit more detailed and therefore prettier but where i think the biggest gains in terms of moving games forward will be, will be in physics. Its all well and good having a fantastic looking world with great characters or whatever but if the way in which said character interacts or whatever in that world doesnt 'feel right' then just making it look good doesn't make it a good game. So i expect the physics engine's in almost every genre of game to show the most progress during this generation of hardware

u hit the nail on the head there mate

all about physics


the physics engine will see the most significant improvements IMO.



i.e gears of war 2 = same graphics but more interactive environment.

case in point = cyris on the PC (i think thats how u spell it)

i looked at the new trailer for that game and pretty much everything is interactive whilst the graphics look amazing.



as for the 360 and graphics - i think we are not really that close to what can be done graphically with the machine yet but i also think that the improvements in graphics that we will see in the future will not be that great compared to past generations.



I've started to look beyond graphics myselve - becuase lets face it .. most games today do look great - even the ***** games :D :D

but its the gameplay, physics, interaction, expanded play options ; thats what really counts and i think this is where we will see the 360 pushed.


p.s i thought graw 2 was a better looking game than GOW (just my opinion)
 
I'd bet good money on UT3 looking better than GoW, Epic with and extra year to work on UE3s graphics...
 
id imagine they can create a better looking game than GOW. Gears has some great artwork, but i never thought it was that amazing IMHO.

To be honest, people saying GOW is as good as it could get, that they cant imagine anything better please go and check out a trailer for Crysis on the PC http://www.crysis-online.com. It looks pretty near photo realistic and the lighting effects are amazing...

Im obviosuly not advocating PC gaming, but to see what any kind of platform might be capable of you really have to see what this this looks like - the question is could the 360 or PS3 make a game equal to this, or do we have to wait for the next gen consoles!


Who knows they might even bring it to the 360!
(real life Vs game)
070312-5.jpg

070411-10.jpg


from http://www.incrysis.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=4037
 
That game looks rubbish, look at all the jagged edges, and the lighting is all wrong....:rolleyes:
id imagine they can create a better looking game than GOW. Gears has some great artwork, but i never thought it was that amazing IMHO.

To be honest, people saying GOW is as good as it could get, that they cant imagine anything better please go and check out a trailer for Crysis on the PC http://www.crysis-online.com. It looks pretty near photo realistic and the lighting effects are amazing...

Im obviosuly not advocating PC gaming, but to see what any kind of platform might be capable of you really have to see what this this looks like - the question is could the 360 or PS3 make a game equal to this, or do we have to wait for the next gen consoles!


Who knows they might even bring it to the 360!
(real life Vs game)
070312-5.jpg

070411-10.jpg


from http://www.incrysis.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=4037
 
id imagine they can create a better looking game than GOW.

To be honest, people saying GOW is as good as it could get, that they cant imagine anything better please go and check out a trailer for Crysis on the PC http://www.crysis-online.com. It looks pretty near photo realistic and the lighting effects are amazing...

Im obviosuly not advocating PC gaming, but to see what any kind of platform might be capable of you really have to see what this this looks like - the question is could the 360 or PS3 make a game equal to this, or do we have to wait for the next gen consoles!


Who knows they might even bring it to the 360!
(real life Vs game)

Yes ive seen Crysis, hence why i said i havent seen anything that good on the 360 yet.

I know GOW isnt as good as it gets for graphics overall, thats not what i was saying.

Also The makers of Crysis have said they will be bringing it to the 360 however it wont be the super duper DX10 you picture above, rather it will be a game set in the Crysis universe probably based on a DX9 version of the game.

As you rightly ask will we see someting like the screens you posted above on the current gen or do we have to wait for PS4 or XBOX 720 ?
 
Cool, im glad id love to see whats coming next, got any links for me?

Unfortunately not mate, everything iv been working with is pretty confidentail, especially in regards to virtual environments and its progression, but its a very intesting subject area, and if your a uni student i can recommend an author who goes into depth on a particularly interesting area :smashin:
 
That game looks rubbish, look at all the jagged edges, and the lighting is all wrong....:rolleyes:

download the new trailer it shows some of the new technology being used in crysis

looks great

although when i saw the first in game footage showing what u had to do in the game - i didnt really like it that much
 
download the new trailer it shows some of the new technology being used in crysis

looks great

although when i saw the first in game footage showing what u had to do in the game - i didnt really like it that much

It was only a lighthearted comment, people just never seem happy, look at the forza 2 thread, people on there are complaining about brake discs glowing too much. I had to read the comments again....I honestly thought I had mis-read it :rolleyes: Crysis looks amazing, makes me want to get back into pc gaming, there is so much you can do with games on the pc...Anyway i'll stop going off-topic.
 

The latest video from AVForums

Is 4K Blu-ray Worth It?
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Back
Top Bottom