Watch Dogs Looks Better on PC Than PS4/Xbox One, Says Director

[Dragonbums]

Huh? You can build a PC to play this game with high settings for like $500 - $700. Why would a $1-2k computer need a "ton of RAM" to run a game? You don't need more RAM if you buy more expensive parts. I'm pretty sure 8GB will handle just about anything today. I guess some people go for 16GB (is that a ton?) so that they can edit movies while playing modded Skyrim or something crazy.

Yes. Those kind of specs CAN run a game, but it's not going to run a game at the same standards that most people mean when they say "PC is far superior to playing games than a console" I was able to play Skyrim on my then 7 year old laptop with 5 GB of RAM. I was able to have hours of enjoyment out of that game. However the game on my laptop looked like an overclocked Wii game with sometimes wacky shading and framerate drops.

This is just a minimum specs story that also mentions consoles since you'd have hoped the "next-gen" consoles would have faired well against a normal gaming PC out of the gate. It's newsworthy when a developer admits this too. It seemed like previous generations closed the gap much closer than this one. These really are underpowered machines for a product that's supposed to have an 8+ year long life span.

I personally don't care much about the next gen hype with graphical fidelity and all that stuff. I personally in favor of stylized games, but whatever.
On that note when making this comment I also wasn't aware of the whole controversy that surrounded Ubisoft and Watchdogs with the whole downgrade in visuals with their recent release trailer.

On that matter 16 GB tend to be preferred for editing movies, but to also do large pieces of illustration at 300 dpi on various digital painting programs. If your the kind of person who does really detailed work believe me the RAM processing adds up (especially if your using Paint tool SAI)

 

[andy_amfad]

If people stop jumping on developers for how a game looks maybe they will have some time in their developement cycle to refine and perfect the gameplay.
Then maybe we won't have an AAA game scene that's a big pile of shit.

 

[Dragonbums]

And on that note, no my Skyrim did not look all that hot on my computer. It could only handle the lowest graphical setting and anything more than that is pushing it. Is my laptop $400.00? Heck no. At the time it was bought it costed a pretty good amount of money.

Was it a crap laptop. Nope. It did things very well for what I wanted it to do. Games just weren't on the forefront.

First, laptop != desktop. If you buy a mid spec desktop (~$500), you need around twice as much on an equivalent laptop. Even if you spent an unholy amount of money on gods own laptop, it would still have a shitty mobile GPU that any decent desktop would easily surpass.
Ya know, the same way a smartphone isn't as powerful as a console?

Second "at the time it was bought". So when was that? You can't compare a laptop you bought 3 or 4 years ago to... well, pretty much anything to be honest.

No my laptop was not mid specs (and for the record I got a new one during Christmas this year) Either way it is still far more convenient for me than a desktop since I'm a college student. I would even say a fuck ton of college students only bring their laptops with them. Which also tend to be the primary demographic for these kinds of games. Laptops make up just as much of the PC demographic as desktop computers, and a good chunk of these very people use it to play games. If the solution to my problem is to buy another goddamn computer or spend even more money to make my laptop up to the high end specs of the "PC Master Race" then I rest my case.

Also what the heck do you mean I can't use my experience with a laptop I used for many things including gaming because of it's age? Is there some sort of baseline for when you can talk about a computer in gaming? Sorry, but I don't upgrade my computer every year. If it works I'm using it.
Regardless my opinion is still valid.

This is absolutely fucking ironic. PC Master Race crowd touts the horn for having the best shit for gaming...unless it's a store bought computer...oh and laptops don't count either. There is a reason why this attitude has gotten the demographic as elitist. You exclude the other majority of the PC crowd just so your baseline argument is still valid.

 

[Callate]

To answer the question: Why is this news? Well, because many people seem to be happy to assume the entire game is piss thanks to a few minutes of footage of the PS4 version. My question with that earlier revelation was, and remains: is there a version that looks like the footage they relased at E3 in 2012? This suggests that the answer might be yes. I'd still like to see it so I could judge for myself.

I'm still hoping the game will be well worth playing. Glad I bumped up my PC's RAM to 9 gigs; looks like I'm ready to go.

 

[Bad Jim]

And on that note, no my Skyrim did not look all that hot on my computer. It could only handle the lowest graphical setting and anything more than that is pushing it. Is my laptop $400.00? Heck no. At the time it was bought it costed a pretty good amount of money.

Was it a crap laptop. Nope. It did things very well for what I wanted it to do. Games just weren't on the forefront.

First, laptop != desktop. If you buy a mid spec desktop (~$500), you need around twice as much on an equivalent laptop. Even if you spent an unholy amount of money on gods own laptop, it would still have a shitty mobile GPU that any decent desktop would easily surpass.
Ya know, the same way a smartphone isn't as powerful as a console?

Second "at the time it was bought". So when was that? You can't compare a laptop you bought 3 or 4 years ago to... well, pretty much anything to be honest.

Actually, I spent a fair bit of money on a laptop a few years ago with an I5 cpu and a Geforce 330M gpu. It wasn't top end by any means, but it did run pretty much every game I tried to play, including Skyrim. I often had to set the resolution to 1280x720 to get a good framerate but with a few poorly optimised exceptions(like GTA4) I got good framerates. I even had a lot of fun playing Crysis.

That said, buying a laptop for gaming is something you can get away with halfway through a console generation, when the consoles have fallen far behind desktops. I don't recommend buying one now.

 

[Dragonbums]

[
1)The statement "because as we all know, no game looks better on PC." is provably false.

That still does not constitute as hate speech. Me saying 'PC sux' is not the equivalent of me shouting out the total genocide of say Islamic people.

PC's are not a demographic of living, feeling, and sentient beings that can be legitimately harmed and destroyed through saying they suck.

Let's keep terms like that to actual serious comments.

Okay, do you need to know more about the subject than the average person buying a PC from best buy? yes. Do you need to know a lot more than them? no. Do you need to know how to build a computer to get a decent machine for the price? it helps, but no.

Great. However that seems to be the requirement if your supposed to build this awesome computer that's cheaper than a console and has superior graphics over them. Something that a good chunk of PC owners do not care for going into.

It just takes a little research and a little restraint not to run out and buy the first one you see that you can afford. it really doesn't take a lot of effort find on online retailer like NCIX or even cyber power that will build and ship a PC that will be a lot better value than what most brick and mortar retailers will try to sell you.

The whole reason consoles still exist is because people don't want to spend an iota of time doing research and searching for trustworthy online PC retailers who will be upfront and honest with them when making custom rig PC's. Consoles still have that advantage of plug in and play (with a few updates)

Anyone buying a PC specificity for gaming, that is not willing to put that small amount of effort in is asking to get ripped off. And it really is not a lot of effort to ask of someone.

Well you see that's the thing. They have to be GAMING PCs. Not regular PC's that work pretty damn well for what they do. Not that many people myself included cares so much for a gaming PC, but a really fucking good PC that can handle multiple design programs. Gaming comes on the side. Of course I have a feeling me admitting this will automatically invalidate my opinion.

And laptops are all well and good, but for the mobility you gain, you do lose a good chunk of the price to performance ratio. Due to this I generally don't expect most low to mid range laptops to keep up with the latest games for more than a few years.

Regardless they still make up the PC crowd whether you like it or not. And those people still play games. You cannot exclude them because their laptops. You also can't exclude old desktops because they are 4 years old. At the end of the day more people own middle aged laptops and desktops and are not seeing the whole "magic of PC" these same people more often than not are NOT going to spend more money to make another PC for gaming when the one they have right now serves them just fine.

 

[Norix596]

Well can't say this is super relevant for me as I'll be getting it for 360 (been doing most of my gaming recently on my laptop but there's no chance of it running well even on minimum settings)

 

[ThunderCavalier]

Console fanboys and ardent defenders of the new console generation, eat your heart out.

One of the first titles of the new consoles, and the developers already admit that PCs have eclipsed them.

I suppose it was obvious, but it'll be nice to have this article to use against the Microsoft and Sony fanboys that still believe that the Xbox One and the PS4 are more powerful than PCs.

Not a PC Elitist, but I hate it when people are deluding themselves and spreading stuff that obviously isn't true. I love consoles, but I'm certainly not gonna put them on a pedestal and say that there is nothing better.

 

[Hawk of the Plain]

Well you see that's the thing. They have to be GAMING PCs. Not regular PC's that work pretty damn well for what they do. Not that many people myself included cares so much for a gaming PC, but a really fucking good PC that can handle multiple design programs. Gaming comes on the side. Of course I have a feeling me admitting this will automatically invalidate my opinion.

You seem to be under the impression that a good PC for gaming and "a really fucking good PC that can handle multiple design programs" are two entirely different things, when if fact, apart from a few fringe cases they are one and the same thing.

Many of the components that make a PC good for gaming also handle rendering video or photoshop or just about any other design program you care to mention really well.

Regardless they still make up the PC crowd whether you like it or not. And those people still play games. You cannot exclude them because their laptops. You also can't exclude old desktops because they are 4 years old. At the end of the day more people own middle aged laptops and desktops and are not seeing the whole "magic of PC" these same people more often than not are NOT going to spend more money to make another PC for gaming when the one they have right now serves them just fine.

Laptops have their place as well, and there is always going to be a demographic of people who value mobility more than the better performance you get from a desktop, no one is denying that. Hell I still have a laptop for when I need one but it has been a long time since I have done much gaming on that. And my desktop is a beast in comparison to that.

But what you seem to be ignoring or at least underestimating is that while there are a lot of people that are happy with "A computer" there is also a lot of us that want to push the limits, that want to get the best we can out of our games, there are enough of us that major players in the PC hardware industry (intel, AMD, Nvidia) still compete to deliver the best high performance consumer components they can.

And another thing. In 5 years the PS4 and Xbone will be half way through their expected life-cycle, and while a $500 PC today will compete with them. In 5 years the same price will get you a PC that will annihilate them. And someone who just wants "A computer" then should have not trouble getting one that will easily beat them. And while 5 years is a safe number to say that will happen in, we could start seeing that happen in as little as one or two years.

 

[SnowWookie]

And on that note, no my Skyrim did not look all that hot on my computer. It could only handle the lowest graphical setting and anything more than that is pushing it. Is my laptop $400.00? Heck no. At the time it was bought it costed a pretty good amount of money.

Was it a crap laptop. Nope. It did things very well for what I wanted it to do. Games just weren't on the forefront.

First, laptop != desktop. If you buy a mid spec desktop (~$500), you need around twice as much on an equivalent laptop. Even if you spent an unholy amount of money on gods own laptop, it would still have a shitty mobile GPU that any decent desktop would easily surpass.
Ya know, the same way a smartphone isn't as powerful as a console?

Second "at the time it was bought". So when was that? You can't compare a laptop you bought 3 or 4 years ago to... well, pretty much anything to be honest.

No my laptop was not mid specs (and for the record I got a new one during Christmas this year) Either way it is still far more convenient for me than a desktop since I'm a college student. I would even say a fuck ton of college students only bring their laptops with them. Which also tend to be the primary demographic for these kinds of games. Laptops make up just as much of the PC demographic as desktop computers, and a good chunk of these very people use it to play games. If the solution to my problem is to buy another goddamn computer or spend even more money to make my laptop up to the high end specs of the "PC Master Race" then I rest my case.

Also what the heck do you mean I can't use my experience with a laptop I used for many things including gaming because of it's age? Is there some sort of baseline for when you can talk about a computer in gaming? Sorry, but I don't upgrade my computer every year. If it works I'm using it.
Regardless my opinion is still valid.

This is absolutely fucking ironic. PC Master Race crowd touts the horn for having the best shit for gaming...unless it's a store bought computer...oh and laptops don't count either. There is a reason why this attitude has gotten the demographic as elitist. You exclude the other majority of the PC crowd just so your baseline argument is still valid.

Wow, aren't we defensive?

I simply pointed out that you can't compare a laptop to a console. One is designed for portability, the other processing power. Also, that you can't compare old technology with new.

But hey, don't let that get in the way of your little rant.

And if the demographic of PC gaming is elitist, all I can say is thank fucking god. I sullied myself with the great unwashed on XBox live once, and it was a godawful experience. I'll stick to playing games with the other grown-ups with jobs who can afford a decent machine and hence are less likely to be ignorant bigoted homophobic misogynists.

 

[Zipa]

/r/pcmasterrace are going to have a field day with this thread.

 

[Lightknight]

/r/pcmasterrace are going to have a field day with this thread.

Hey man, I have a great PC but this is a game I may rather play on the console if the difference isn't that blatant.

Like I said above, because they had to make a ton of console ports and only one pc version I can see why there would be a difference unless they created entirely different engines under the hood for the 7th generation and the 8th generation.

This kind of thing always happens at the start of the generation when the previous generation is still so strong.

 

[Mau95]

Well I came here to say "Well duuh!" but everyone beat me to it :[

 

[Shadow-Phoenix]

Wow, aren't we defensive?

I simply pointed out that you can't compare a laptop to a console. One is designed for portability, the other processing power. Also, that you can't compare old technology with new.

But hey, don't let that get in the way of your little rant.

And if the demographic of PC gaming is elitist, all I can say is thank fucking god. I sullied myself with the great unwashed on XBox live once, and it was a godawful experience. I'll stick to playing games with the other grown-ups with jobs who can afford a decent machine and hence are less likely to be ignorant bigoted homophobic misogynists.

I like how you managed to trounce everything by saying "nuh uh can't compare old to new because I said so!", type rebuttal.

I'd also say you''re getting defensive with that last line, didn't really need to go that far but i guess you needed to prove that you were somehow agitated that someone else happens to be on the other side of the opinion spectrum.

Btw I've played plenty a PC game with the "unwashed" before, where some scream down their mic's or insult you via text, it's not like PC gaming just has only highly respectable grown ups, gods no, every platform has their fair share of utter shit stains, to say PC gaming doesn't is an outright lie, none of that "well it didn't happen when I was gaming", no they do actually exist before anyone even thinks of using the easy card.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

"We fucked up the console version, so now we beg PC gamers to take us seriously. We love you. We really do. No, please, don't go!"

That's what I heard.

In a world with a more cohesive internet community the PC response would be "we're not touching it until you get rid of uPlay."

Oh how I can dream.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

And if the demographic of PC gaming is elitist, all I can say is thank fucking god. I sullied myself with the great unwashed on XBox live once, and it was a godawful experience. I'll stick to playing games with the other grown-ups with jobs who can afford a decent machine and hence are less likely to be ignorant bigoted homophobic misogynists.

As a mainly PC gamer I have to say firstly, you're attitude disgusts me. And frankly it should be obvious why. Secondly, if you don't think there are jackasses on the chat/mics of PC multiplayer games then you are either blind/deaf or don't actually play any competitive MP games. Hop onto Chivalry or any COD game. Loadout? League of Legends? Hell, even Path of Exile has jerks.


Listen, the jerks are not a platform specific problem. They're more of a problem in competitive games in general.

You're attitude is a bad mark on us PC gamers.

 

[Robert Marrs]

In other news water is wet and the sky is blue. I don't care if it looks better. If it still does not hold up to what was shown at E3 you don't get my money. Next time don't show off something you can't deliver and I won't be disappointed.

 

[Robert Marrs]

And if the demographic of PC gaming is elitist, all I can say is thank fucking god. I sullied myself with the great unwashed on XBox live once, and it was a godawful experience. I'll stick to playing games with the other grown-ups with jobs who can afford a decent machine and hence are less likely to be ignorant bigoted homophobic misogynists.

As a mainly PC gamer I have to say firstly, you're attitude disgusts me. And frankly it should be obvious why. Secondly, if you don't think there are jackasses on the chat/mics of PC multiplayer games then you are either blind/deaf or don't actually play any competitive MP games. Hop onto Chivalry or any COD game. Loadout? League of Legends? Hell, even Path of Exile has jerks.


Listen, the jerks are not a platform specific problem. They're more of a problem in competitive games in general.

You're attitude is a bad mark on us PC gamers.

I think the main difference between pc and consoles when it comes to people being assholes are the options. On pc you can use a multitude of third party softwares to communicate with other people. On consoles everyone is pretty much stuck on the in-game chat with the exception of xbox live parties. Kind of thins the herd a bit when everyone is using skype or teamspeak.

 

[Clovus]

Huh? You can build a PC to play this game with high settings for like $500 - $700. Why would a $1-2k computer need a "ton of RAM" to run a game? You don't need more RAM if you buy more expensive parts. I'm pretty sure 8GB will handle just about anything today. I guess some people go for 16GB (is that a ton?) so that they can edit movies while playing modded Skyrim or something crazy.

Yes. Those kind of specs CAN run a game, but it's not going to run a game at the same standards that most people mean when they say "PC is far superior to playing games than a console" I was able to play Skyrim on my then 7 year old laptop with 5 GB of RAM. I was able to have hours of enjoyment out of that game. However the game on my laptop looked like an overclocked Wii game with sometimes wacky shading and framerate drops.

Nope, I mean that you can easily put together a $500 - $700 desktop PC that will outperform the current consoles. People/websites posts builds like that all the time. I played Skyrim modded with high-res textures and I only have 4GB RAM (but 2 GB VRAM). A year from now if you spend $500 - $700 you'll blow the "next-gen" consoles out of the water. Laptops always cost a lot more than desktops for the same performance due to smaller power consumption, restricted space, heating issues, included screen, etc.

This is just a minimum specs story that also mentions consoles since you'd have hoped the "next-gen" consoles would have faired well against a normal gaming PC out of the gate. It's newsworthy when a developer admits this too. It seemed like previous generations closed the gap much closer than this one. These really are underpowered machines for a product that's supposed to have an 8+ year long life span.

I personally don't care much about the next gen hype with graphical fidelity and all that stuff. I personally in favor of stylized games, but whatever.

Yeah, I play a huge range of games in all kinds of styles. Power does not only equate to graphics though. Take Minecraft for example. The console version is inferior to the consoles and graphics aren't the only reason. Processing power can allow more actors on screen, better AI, better gameplay affecting physics, etc. You can't make Half-life on a Nintendo or Commodor 64. More power increases the actual gameplay options that are available for a developer. These "next-gen" consoles will simply not be able to handle the next big important change in game: VR. You'll get a crappy, vomit-inducing version of it, but the power needed to properly provide that experience is beyond them. It's not just about the shinies.

On that matter 16 GB tend to be preferred for editing movies, but to also do large pieces of illustration at 300 dpi on various digital painting programs. If your the kind of person who does really detailed work believe me the RAM processing adds up (especially if your using Paint tool SAI)

Oh, yeah, definitely. I was just talking about in terms of games. If you're only running a game, I really don't see much need for more than 8GB. At least not until we move to 4K or something.

Well you see that's the thing. They have to be GAMING PCs. Not regular PC's that work pretty damn well for what they do. Not that many people myself included cares so much for a gaming PC, but a really fucking good PC that can handle multiple design programs. Gaming comes on the side. Of course I have a feeling me admitting this will automatically invalidate my opinion.[/i]

The only real difference between a "gaming" PC and a non-gaming PC is the video card. One of the easiest ways to save a bit of money is to just buy a mid-range PC at a store with no graphics card or a terrible graphics card and then just put in a good one. Building yourself will save a bit more, but switching out a graphics card is really easy.

Oh, just a note here: I think consoles are great. If gaming isn't your main hobby and you just want to have some fun playing games without worrying about specs and stuff, they work out pretty well. I own a PS3 and Wii (and grew up on Nintendo).

My point would be that if you are really into gaming though, then you'd do best to get a PC. The game selection is so much better, the games look and play their best, you can mod the games, you can make games, etc. I get annoyed when people claim that you need thousands of dollars to achieve this since it isn't at all true. And then you save tons of money on Steam sales and good free-to-play (TF2, LoL, DOTA, Path of Exile, Card Hunter, etc.). But, yeah, it does take some effort, so that might be worth it for everyone.

So, once you're done with school, if you ever get a desktop, just drop in a good video card and you'll be set.

 

[Zipa]

/r/pcmasterrace are going to have a field day with this thread.

Hey man, I have a great PC but this is a game I may rather play on the console if the difference isn't that blatant.

Like I said above, because they had to make a ton of console ports and only one pc version I can see why there would be a difference unless they created entirely different engines under the hood for the 7th generation and the 8th generation.

This kind of thing always happens at the start of the generation when the previous generation is still so strong.

I mean they are going to have a field day because of all the misinformation that is getting posted in the thread not because of your choice of gaming machine.

Don't expect to see a jump with the consoles as huge as we did mid generation with the 7th gen, the developers are already familar with the hardware and the architecture of the consoles as its the same as PC. There are no weird processors and such this time to figure out. This may be the first generation where the PC has started with a clear and marked advantage in performance as well.