Microsoft's decision to provide a VGA cable for the Xbox 360 was a brilliant one - not since the Dreamcast has a
console manufacturer made it so easy for gamers to plug their console into their computer's monitor. However,
Microsoft's VGA cable has a problem which goes beyond video quality - which happens to be astounding (especially when
compared to S-video and other inferior inputs).The problem with the Xbox 360 VGA cable is one of aspect ratios. There's an option in the dashboard to play games in either the default 16:9 (widescreen) or 4:3 (standard) aspect ratios. I happen to own a 4:3 LCD TV. One would expect that the console would be able to play games using the full screen space of either ratio, but unfortunately this isn't the case. There are several possible situations that you'll encounter using this cable on a 4:3 monitor.
- Everything will look just fine. The console will display the game without stretching or using black bars above and below the screen (the only game I've found that plays perfectly is Need for Speed: Most Wanted).
- Stretch City. Similar to the picture on the right, the console will stretch the image vertically in an attempt to fill in the extra vertical space from playing the game on a 4:3 monitor (this is possibly the most annoying part: the tracks in Project Gotham Racing 3 appear to be much thinner, which can be very distracting).
- Black bars. In this situation, the console sticks some chunky black bars on the top and bottom of the screen, taking up approx. 25-33% of the screen area (Perfect Dark: Zero, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, Kameo, King Kong and Full Auto all feature black bars).
This is a relatively minor annoyance and mainly a matter of aesthetics, but the inconsistent ways that the different games handle 4:3 high definition televisions is concerning. Why can some games play perfectly both in widescreen and standard aspect ratios, while the majority can't? And why don't users have the choice between stretching the image and having black bars?
Other Xbox 360 annoyances: 001, 002, 003, 004, 005, 006, 007, 008, 009, 010, 011, 012, 013, 014, 015
Xbox 360 delights: 001, 002, 003, 004, 005, 006, 007, 008, 009, 010, 011
