Should Halo Infinite drop Xbox One and go Scarlet exclusive?

[Mr Puggsly]

Pemalite said:

Mr Puggsly said:

Supporting X1/X1X is very different than a low end/stripped down Scarlett. If a low end Scarlett were to exist, that may become a baseline for developers. If there is only one Scarlett, the high end model, that becomes the lead hardware for Scarlett development.

While X1/X1X ports doesn't necessarily need to affect games that use Scarlett as the lead. Developers would simply have to strip those games down into functional products for 8th gen specs. But this is assuming MS will keep bringing AAA games to X1 after Scarlett launches.

The transition to the 9th gen is going to take years... Just like the transition from 7th to 8th gen... Many games just looked like enhanced 7th gen titles early on.
So for years, the base Xbox One will be the baseline for developers on Scarlett.

A lower-end Scarlett would still be a step up and won't be the baseline until that transition was entirely completed.

Now to state that developers will build games for Scarlett as a lead platform and strip them down for the Xbox One/Xbox One S/Xbox One X, but not a lower-end Scarlett is a pretty bold claim, one that I can't adhere to.

Will be interesting to see how Microsoft supports the 8th gen devices once Scarlett is on the Market, I am hoping for a quick cut-off.

Mr Puggsly said:

Alright, you're saying Halo 3 has frame pacing issues that evidently isn't reflected in frame counters. Okay, that's fine. Perhaps the frame pacing issues that really bothers people is what you see in Halo Anniversary on 360.

I think we can blame the lack of polish in GTAV being from early hardware optimization.

Correct, because the frame time variances happens far to quickly for frame counters to typically log.

Frame pacing issues also occurs in Halo: Anniversary on 360. - I think it just feels more pronounced on Halo 3 and Halo 3 ODST because of the way the buffering systems are set up. (Which were a necessity for some rendering aspects.)

Back during Halo 3's heyday, I didn't really care though, it was a fantastic title that I sunk hundreds of hours into and had a blast in it's multiplayer... And it was a visual showpiece for the platform with it's HDR lighting, tessellated water effects, long (for the time) draw distances and so on... But going back to it doesn't feel great, it's a better experience on Halo: The Master Chief Collection with it's 60fps lock.

That is a testament to the MCC collection as a package though and why any Halo fan should pick a copy up over the original releases... Unless you are a purest.

Well we have to assume its gonna take years for developers to really squeeze the potential out of new machines. Engines will improve, it seems developers adopt more advanced effects over time, etc.

I dont necessarily see it as the transition from generations takes time per se, I see it as trends in development changes. I mean early, mid and late gen content has looked very different on 7th and 8th gen.

Its evident that around 2013-2014 games were already using the 8th gen consoles as the lead. Cross gen games of that period remind me of Switch ports. It was simply obvious the 7th gen ports were getting muddy and compromising resolution more than usual, but also pushing more advanced lighting/shadow techniques.

I don't know if X1 and PS4 will be treated as lead platforms for AAA projects, perhaps more on the CPU and RAM. They could do that while still pushing graphics because that scales more easily.

Its worth considering X1 and PS4 support could deter some studios from making ambitious experiences that absolutely require 9th gen power. However, I also feel developers are interested in pushing GPU more than CPU. I just don't feel CPU has really been a very limiting factor on gameplay most developers are trying to create.

I'm suggesting if a low end Scarlett did exist, that could be treated as the baseline for Scarlett software optimization. If there is only one Scarlett and it has more cutting edge specs, that becomes the baseline Scarlett optimization. In comparison games are optimized for X1, not X1X.

I took another look at that Halo 3 video from VGTech and youre right. What youre referring to is a slight judder that may not even happen in some places, it actually is reflected in that video. When most games have frame pacing issues its constant which makes the experience feel rough. Halo 3 in comparison is nothing like that, so I didnt consider it frame pacing.

People might play 360 versions of Halo for MP stuff like playlists, crossplat for 360 and X1 users, fire fight modes from ODST, achievments, maybe forge stuff, etc. Some of that may seem minor but 360 versions have activity.