| QuarantineStudio said: Wasn't the PS3 more powerful then the Xbox 360? We all see how that turned out. Power isn't everything and one day most will understand this principal. Just enjoy whichever system you have. |
How that turns out is that when developers finally learn of better ways to write code on the PS3, the games basically sold themselves?
That situation is different now, however, since both systems are based on PC architecture. We're talking about PS4 (7860 graphics) versus the XBone (77xx graphics), on a hardware level the XBone is already way behind.
Think of it this way, PS4 hardware ceiling is 5 stories tall whereas XBone ceiling is 3 stories tall. No matter how optimized the XBone is, the most it can ever achieve is at the level where the hardware limit is, i.e. 3 stories tall.
Now back to reality, MS is currently reserving 10% of the system power, meaning the actual ceiling for XBone now will only be, as an example, 2.5 stories tall. So in future, as some MS developers mentioned recently, MS will gradually release those power, going from 2.5 stories gradually to the upper limit which is at 3 stories tall. And this is the so-called secret sauce or future improvements everyone is talking about.
Software optimization can NEVER exceed what limited hardware it is running on with respect to overall performance, so regardless of how good MS is at software, the XBone is limited purely by its hardware, period. Thus it can never be better than the PS4.
Coming back to the OP, yes, just like PS3 the XBone can do 1080p, and just like the PS3 the XBone games will be severely limited in terms of polygons, framerates, textures, AI, effects, coding efficiency etc if it wants to push 1080p. So there will be a serious tradeoff, no question about that.
One good example is Forza 5, which can't even do day/night weather transitions and other things. If they push the game at 720p, I'm sure those limitations will be gone.
