Will console graphics ever beat PC graphics?

[6unn3r]

Personaly ive always been a pc gamer so i am a bit biased on this issue, however i think it's worth a look. Bellow is a screenshot from Crysis on the PC. Can consoles ever hope to match up to graphics like this? Given that it takes a pc to program and build a console game will there always be some measure of downgrading to make any given game work on a console? Or since the constant upgrading and updating of pc's is neverending will it take a console sent back in time to beat pc's on graphics and looks alone?

Ideas?

 

[Nomanslander]

Consoles are PC, except PCs you can't upgrade.

So no.

 

[TBR]

No, consoles will never overtake gaming PCs on graphics. The PC graphics necessarily have to be better, because games are programmed on PCs, as you mention in your post.

The welding torch a guy used to make a Ferrari doesn't go faster than the Ferrari, therefore your argument is invalid. Heck, the entire factory can't even reach more than 5mph without some sort of natural disaster.

The fact of the matter is this; for now, the PC can rely on brute force. It doesn't matter how finely the three companies that know how to use the cell can optimize their PS3 game, because there are PC's with nVidia 480's and 8GB of RAM.

There are some really pretty console games, and that's because they only need to be developed for one platform, one type of hardware. It can then be finely honed at all levels. A PC game cannot be fine-tuned so much, because it will have to work on a bazillion combinations of parts and operating systems. Vista, Seven (OK, two OS's). And there's been dozens of high-end graphics cards over the last 3 years, a bunch of processors and all manner of RAM.

But, it doesn't matter if the game isn't run at 100% of that hardware's theoretical maximum if you've got more than 4 gigabytes of RAM.
And it shows it, and often.
COD on consoles is effectively every graphical option set to low on a PC version rendered at 600p.

There are some games which would be difficult for a PC to handle well enough. GT5, for instance, simply because PD keep delaying the game to add in 500,000poly cars.

Of the other more common games, though, there really aren't any that are
a) multiplat, and/or
b) effectively medium-settings on a PC or better


That said, if SONY were to announce tomorrow that the PS4 would have two of those Cell things and an nVidia 480 (or maybe a GTX 500 if such a magical thing existed), then it would be a different story.
If they could find anyone theoretical enough to program for it.

 

[mariofan1000]

Maybe, if PC developer's stopped assuming everyone owned a super computer.

 

[JeanLuc761]

Maybe, if PC developer's stopped assuming everyone owned a super computer.

Given the vast majority of PC developers DON'T assume this, I don't think we have anything to worry about.

OT: Console games will never beat PC in visuals, due specifically to hardware limitations. You can't upgrade a console, ever, and the parts inside are generally out-dated within a month.

 

[LightningBanks]

PC's would always be better bec ause of the sheer size and power you can do. When anew console comes out it can be on par with pcs, but yeah, the constant updating would eventually take over.

Also I think console games arent being toned down propely. The amount of times Ive played left 4 dead 2 lag free on pc, but the xbox version cant even handle hordes sometimes.

 

[Count Igor]

Consoles are PC, except PCs you can't upgrade.

So no.

Err. Did you get that bit the wrong way round?

OT: Doubt it. PC's have the sheer power and size over the console's right now. Maybe soon they'll be almost par, but not quite.

 

[ThreeKneeNick]

Probably when graphics hardware gets so advanced that it can display an unlimited number of polygons, or at least unlimited in the sense that adding more doesn't make a visible difference.

 

[Dublin Solo]

No, consoles will never overtake gaming PCs on graphics. The PC graphics necessarily have to be better, because games are programmed on PCs, as you mention in your post.

Though consoles will never be able to overtake PC when it comes to graphics, it's more related to the fact that consoles have very limited resources compared to PCs. The programming platform has a very limited impact.

Furthermore, a lot of videogame companies actually develop their game firstly for a console (Xbox360 or PS3), then port the result to PC. The result will almost always look better on PC.

EDIT: I must add that this applies to companies who actually develop for consoles AND PC. It doesn'T make sense otherwise.

 

[Capt. Crankypants]

Consoles are PC, except PCs you can't upgrade.

So no.

Err. Did you get that bit the wrong way round?

Nah, he didn't. He meant it in the sense that "Consoles are PCs, albeit PCs that you are unable to upgrade"

He's saying they're similar, but PC's have the advantage of being able to be upgraded, while consoles do not.

Glad I cleared that up

EDIT: Corrected a small boo-boo. Thanks for the heads-up Red Right Hand.

 

[TheComedown]

No never, its in the nature of a console, as soon as you put the hardware of a top gen computer into a console its locked in, 3 days later a new gpu/cpu, new hdd type will come in and shit all over the console that is locked there for at least 5 years, and in that 5 years PCs grow and grow and pulsate and begin to glow and ooze green goo...

Umm... yeah never.

 

[SuperNashwan]

I guess there will soon be a Playstation 4, and an XBox UberMegaMax or whatever name they will give it, and that will take their abilities to the next level - though as others say, because the hardware is then locked in, the PC will tend to inch away over it again. Really PC and console development is the same, its just consoles come in less frequent and bigger instalments. PC is small increments all the time.

 

[Danzaivar]

Graphics chips for consoles are made by the same people who make the GPU's for the PC. As long as that's the case then I sincerely doubt it, since as people have said you can upgrade a PC but not a console so it's only a matter of time before the PC's skip ahead.

 

[Aphex Demon]

I thought this said, 'Wii' graphics beat pc..

Haha

OT: No, Never, correct me if i'm wrong, but Consoles technically use some PC hardware right? (Not that it is necceseraly compatible with pc, but the same concept)...

 

[Hyper-space]

Imagine if instead of consoles you just had attachments, which you could connect to the back/front of the computer and it would allow you to play console games on it.

That way, you would not need a new console every few years in order to match the ever evolving PC graphics.

 

[Red Right Hand]

Consoles are PC, except PCs you can't upgrade.

So no.

Err. Did you get that bit the wrong way round?

Nah, he didn't. He meant it in the sense that "Consoles are PCs, albeit PCs that you are unable to upgrade"

He's saying they're similar, but PC's have the advantage of being able to be upgraded, while consoles do now.

Glad I cleared that up

Haha, that typo only made things worse.

 

[teebeeohh]

no, because console hardware is updated every 5 to 10 years, PC hardware is update constantly. And no matter how skilled the team, graphics is always directly related to hardware