E3: What resolution are PS3 games running?
By Richard Lawler 
posted May 11th 2006 3:41PM
posted May 11th 2006 3:41PM
As the next-gen parade continues at E3, many people have stopped by to comment on their opinion of Sony's upcoming console after it was revealed that at least two of the upcoming titles would definitely be running at 720p, not the 1080p Sony has been touting as the true definition of HD. Just to clarify, no one has suggested that PS3 would not be able to output games at 1080p (well, no one suggested it until Sony revealed the $499 model would be without HDMI anyway).After all that, IGN took a look around and has only found two games on display targeting 1080p. The upscaled-GT4 demo Gran Turismo HD, and Wardevil, showing a real-time tech demo but non-playable. It is likely that if you have a TV that can accept a 1080p input the PS3 will be able to upscale games rendered at 720p or 1080i to match, just like the Xbox 360 does. How soon until the first major native 1920x1080 game hits? That still remains to be seen.
Games, yes--movies, no. Can't do movies at 1080p.
This is a quote from the live Joystiq E3 coverage:
5:12 - PS3 will support HD output at 1080i definition ... a level of sophisticaiton and reality that has never been experienced." PSP interopability with PS3 via network, memory stick, USB. "BluRay is a next generation format supported by major studios. Five of the six major Holywood studios are supporting BluRay."
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/05/08/engadget-and-joystiqs-live-coverage-of-sonys-playstation-3-e3-ev/
1080p is a red herring.
Everyone goes on about how important it is (in this case Sony was doing the boasting), but so few people have devices that can both accept and display 1080p.
Sure, someday, somewhere, some time, everything will be 1080p (except OTA), but when will that be? I do love the fact that 1080p has ended the 720p vs. 1080i debate.
The Xbox 360 and PS3 are both 100% "high def" if they are running at least 720p, right? Isn't that good enough? We're talking about a device that creates high quality HD images in real-time based on every twitch of your finger for Pete's sake.
I'm not going to be first in line to get a PS3, but the fact that consumer gaming has matured to this level of quality is pretty cool even if there are only 2 games out there.
Dave - the joystiq/engadget page is incorrect. if you listen to the actual audio from the presentation, he says 1080p, not 1080i. I noticed this the other day, but they still haven't changed it. I find joystiq/engadget to be a little anti-ps3, so it may be intentional.
God i'm tired of the useless specs!
When you're gaming you don't have time to sit there and marvel about how good something looks. That stuff gets you killed in many games.
I'm about fed up with these stupid companies promoting specs over everything. The blind leading the blind. Feh
Mike is correct, it is just a misprint from them liveblogging the event. There is nothing intentional about, directly before and after 1080p output is noted and a slide from the presentation is also included.
You can download the conference and listen yourself from e3insider.com
I believe HDMI only recently got a 1080p standard with HDMI v1.3. DVI already had a 1080p standard. I am not sure about component, but I think that it can also display 1080p. So the loss of HDMI on the cheaper PS3 does not mean it won't be able to display 1080p images.
Tomato - 1080p is backwards compatible to all HDMI specs. I don't have a reference to this, but I know I saw it somewhere: v1.3 allows 1080p as well as some audio format that slips my mind. I believe previous versions only allow for 1080p video to be broadcast. Sound must be transmitted over another connection. most likely optical or digital coax.
Just a note: Component does not support anything past 1080i. HDMI does support 1080p and possibly higher. DVI is limited to 1080p but DVI-D will send much higher signals.
Hmmm... I'd like to say that's good news--but it does complicate things. Honestly, I'd rather not have to use my console as my primary player; but, with the estimated initial cost of Blu-Ray players @ $1000, I may make an exception. I'm not certain which format to hope comes out on top. Certainly, Blu-Ray seems to have all the technical advantages in their favor--but the cost of the media and players seems, at least at the moment, to be prohibitively expensive.
I know this may be a stupid question, but the one thing I've wondered is as far as movies go, will the PS3 upconvert regular DVDs to a 1080i resolution?
The PS3 being able to scale a game to 1080p is no more impressive than the 360 being able to scale a game to 1080i. Neither of them are rendering games at 1080p and so the quality of a 1080p scaled, 1080i scaled, and 720p native output are all going to be virtually the same.
HD BEAT IS JUST LIKE THE BEAT OF THE 'BEATLES'.I think SONY is the best for that.