There's always something slightly disappointing when you follow the state of graphics technology in consoles. Instead of pushing the boundaries in the same way PCs do, consoles are lagging behind by half a decade, and even technology developers who discuss the systems are clinging onto outmoded limitations.
Writing on his blog, NVIDIA's Timothy Lottes, believes that the next-generation of consoles should focus on rendering 720p graphics that looks as "real as a DVD quality movie." Never mind the fact that Bluray movies have long since surpassed DVD in quality.
"In my opinion, a more interesting next-generation metric is can an engine on an ultra high-end PC rendering at 720p look as real as a DVD quality movie? Note, high-end PC at 720p can have upwards of a few 1000s of texture fetches and upwards of 100,000 flops per pixel frame at 720p at 30Hz," wrote Lottes, aiming lower than what even the present generation of consoles can achieve.
Other developers, including DICE's Johan Andersson and Human Head's Brian Karis echoed his views. Pixar's Chris Horne went a step further by saying that gamers should adapt to lower resolution graphics in the same way movie-goers have adapted to CGI films with low-resolution graphics.
"In the end it's still the same conclusion: games oversample vs film. I've always thought that film res was more than enough res. I don't know how you will get gamers to embrace a film aesthetic, but it shouldn't be impossible," he said.
Okay then. Aim low, game industry. Aim low.
Source: GamesIndustry.biz
