Not so fast, Sega: EA has a 1080p game too
by Ludwig Kietzmann 
{ Feb 7th 2007 at 5:45PM }
It's clearly a time of miracles, with mega publisher EA revealing to Gamasutra that it too, has achieved the "basically impossible" and delivered an Xbox 360 game running in that Shangri-La of resolutions, 1080p. Yesterday, Sega gushed that Virtua Tennis 3 would bring 1080p gaming to the 360 "for the first time," an issue that has prompted EA to wag its enormous finger and point towards the upcoming NBA Street Homecourt. EA claims the basketball game runs happily at 30 frames per second in 1080p resolution, and that it will see release on 20 February. Virtua Tennis 3 is due for release in March. Until then, you'd best lay low until the resolution gunfight is over -- they have to run out of bulletpoints sooner or later.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rob @ Feb 7th 2007 5:51PM
If I play the game in 720p is it going to run at 60fps?
LuckyChowmeinDude @ Feb 7th 2007 5:54PM
bah EA youre crap , give me 60fps and ill be impressed.
Stephen W. @ Feb 7th 2007 5:56PM
Didn't Splinter Cell Double Agent run in 1080p?
Rob @ Feb 7th 2007 6:02PM
In the back of the Xbox 360 Sonic the hedgehog case it says it runs in 1080p. I don't know if it's just upscaled or native.
Bangbang... @ Feb 7th 2007 6:11PM
my televison, along with the majority of hd set owners, cant display a 1080p signal. so i dont care.
batman @ Feb 7th 2007 6:30PM
yeah i imagine the court, the players and the crowd must be SOOOO TAXING on the 360 and PS3.
you know, as compared to those games that have expansive/detailed levels, that actually uses up some of the RAM
this is no big deal people, move on...
Rubang B @ Feb 7th 2007 6:31PM
Contrary to popular belief, the p in 1080p actually stands for "pixels" and not "penis size," so this really doesn't matter.
Grindstone @ Feb 7th 2007 6:31PM
My HDtv doesn't support 1080p either; 720p & 1080i.
I apologize for not being "in the know", but have any PS3 games been 1080p yet? This would just be a little ironic if "true HD" did start on the 360 instead of the PS3. I'm not hating, just looking for a sense of irony.
Baby21 @ Feb 7th 2007 6:34PM
"bah EA youre crap , give me 60fps and ill be impressed."
I am not sure, I think you only need supports up to 165Mpixels/sec video (1080p60Hz) which only connector is HDMI where xbox360 don't have one.
Maybe it is possible to do on DVI but no audio.
Xeronis @ Feb 7th 2007 9:24PM
"8. Contrary to popular belief, the p in 1080p actually stands for "pixels" and not "penis size," so this really doesn't matter."
Actually, it stands for progressive, just as "i" stands for "interlaced..."
Fernando Rocker @ Feb 7th 2007 6:39PM
@8 mmmmm... the P is for Progressive, noob.
Mr Khan @ Feb 7th 2007 6:39PM
No, the "p" in 1080p stands for Progressive, segregating it from 1080i (interlaced)
(not that i disagree with your comment, just a correction)
skylarbonn @ Feb 7th 2007 6:41PM
8. the p stands for progressive, not pixels
fable2323 @ Feb 7th 2007 8:53PM
Well I DO have a 1080p capable TV and look forward to games that feature this resolution. Now if they could release games that I actually WANT to buy in 1080p....MGS4, Halo 3, Lair, Mass Effect, etc. Probably not gonna happen though...
Measure @ Feb 7th 2007 7:02PM
Ok, I've followed your "Basically Impossible" link, and it's an MS exec talking about 1080p on the PS3... not the 360.
So how is it relevant to put that link in this post?
John Doe @ Feb 7th 2007 7:04PM
1080p is stupid
its not like anyone can actually tell the difference
nate @ Feb 7th 2007 7:10PM
Lost Planet said 1080p on the back as well, as did a EA game...their college hoops offering..and only a couple PS3 games have said that...NBA 07 I know for sure..so who really knows what that means
Rubang B @ Feb 7th 2007 7:17PM
Damn I'm an idiot. I'm sorry. I've taken classes on this and here I am fucking up my lingo again.
The P actually DOES stand for penis size.
Anonymous @ Feb 7th 2007 7:36PM
I'm no certified expert, but I was lead to believe that 1080p was 1920x1080 at 60 frames per second, and that 1080i was half that resolution at 30fps, which in the span of 60fps would equal the full 1920x1080 except that because it isn't as fluid (not as good for moving images) 1080p was the preferred. I thought the ONLY argument for 1080p was that 1080i is (literally) only supported by CRT monitors/televisions because LCD's/Plasma's etc were 60fps (60hz) whether you like it or not (thus you couldn't display the interlaced half field) and that instead of 1080i being downconverted to 720p (basically) you could display the entire 1920x1080 on your Plasma/LCD.
Now, I could be wrong, but to me atleast, it seems like 1080p at 30fps (30hz) is a sham and the same as 1080i. I'd have to check with AVSforum guru's.
Jeff @ Feb 7th 2007 7:48PM
"Now, I could be wrong, but to me atleast, it seems like 1080p at 30fps (30hz) is a sham and the same as 1080i. I'd have to check with AVSforum guru's."
You're listening to one of those guys right now. (Well, maybe I'm not a *guru* there, but I am a regular poster.)
"1080p" implies nothing about frequency. There are only a couple of actual ATSC HD standards for 1080p, and 1080p/60 is *not* one of them. 1080p/24 and 1080p/30 are. A game running at 30hz at 1080p is actually more of a "true" 1080p game than a 1080p/60 game is.
That doesn't mean it's *better* by any stretch. Just that there's certainly nothing *wrong* with calling a 1080p/30 game "1080p" - it conforms to the spec.
1080p/60 only exists at all because LCD and plasma screens are natively progressive, so 1080i content is being deinterlaced one way or another anyway and shown at 60hz. So 1080p/60 became something of a default for 1080p content on these screens... not that there's anything wrong with that. It's the best looking "standard" (even though it's not one) that we currently have.
Point is, 1080p/60 looks better but 1080p/30 is a real ATSC standard for 1080p. So EA's not wrong in calling this out... even though Virtua Tennis will no doubt appear to run smoother than NBA Street.
jaysins @ Feb 7th 2007 7:56PM
@9 Actually VGA is more than up to the task. You need a dual link DVI to match the bandwidth of VGA. Look at gaming or the medical field monitors that use VGA. Only recently with the HDMI 1.3 specification have they finally started to really close in to VGA's 400MHz plus bandwidth capabilities.
I do agree with the poster who said 60FPS would be nice. I have a 1080p moniter and I personally would prefer 720p @ 60FPS to 1080p @ 30FPS. Just looks better to my eye when there is a lot of movement. Oh well, I'm sure it will look good regardless.
Oh and you can tell the difference between 1080p and 720p on a decent sized screen from a decent sitting distance. Especially if your like me and like to get close enough to your tv that you can see the edges only in your peripheral vision :) Unless you have bad vision. Here's a link: http://www.carltonbale.com/blog/2006/11/1080p-does-matter/
Baby21 @ Feb 7th 2007 7:55PM
/\ read this link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interlace
Diskoboy @ Feb 7th 2007 8:04PM
Rubang.... As long as you're comforatable with being a total retard, we'll support you.
No don't forget to pin your mittens to your jacket before you get on the short bus.
Steve 3.2 @ Feb 7th 2007 8:50PM
Which would be better though... 720p @ 60fps or 1080p @ 30fps?
bootsielon @ Feb 7th 2007 9:39PM
WOW!!! SPORTS GAMES!!!11
But seriously, who cares? Without HDMI you're not going to get great results.
EA and Sega (and Ubisoft, Take Two, Activision, THQ, Eidos, Atari, and every other big publisher out there): Give me an original IP game with the length of Final Fantasy, the beauty of the Killzone video, and the fun of Wii Sports, running smoothly at 1080p@60fps through HDMI and I'll buy the most expensive set on the market. Until then, get bent.
Borat @ Feb 7th 2007 10:49PM
"Which would be better though... 720p @ 60fps or 1080p @ 30fps?"
720p @ 60fps would be much better because let's be honest, there isn't a HUGE difference when it comes to 720p/1080p, even though it is twice the no. of pixels.
Just look at GoW. The only way to improve the graphics of that game is if it runs at 60fps.
why not the LS2/LS7? @ Feb 7th 2007 10:58PM
1080p/30?
1080p/30 is no better than 1080i/60 (standard).
1080p/30 is 30 whole frames a second.
1080i/60 is 30 whole frames per second (delivered in two halves).
Even the ATSC standard (standard for transmission of HDTV) includes 1080p/30, but no one, even the makers of HDTVs (who would do anything for a marketing edge) has sunk to the level of referring to 1080p/30 as simply "1080p".
Jeff:
1080P came about because "native" mode output is problematic for things like cable boxes. The overlaid UI changes appearance when you change channes. So cable boxes generally convert all input to one format, overlay the graphics and then output them.
Well, people started asking themselves.. Should I set my cable box to output at 1080i? This gives me maximum spatial resolution, but if I view a 720p (/60) channel, the system is robbing me of the temporal resolution that 720p (/60) has. But if I set it to 720p, I keep my temporal resolution and lose half my spatial resolution from 1080i programs.
The obvious answer was, we need an output format that preserves the temporal resolution of 720p (/60) and the spatial resolution of 1080i (/60). And thus, 1080p (/60) was born.
That's why 1080p (/60) came about, and it was before LCD projectors and panels were really effective for HDTVs. RP DLP ruled the roost at the time.
Saying that 1080p/30 game is "more 'true' 1080p" than a 1080p/60 game is absurd.
There's no evidence that Virtua Tennis is 1080p/60 any more than EA's game is. And honestly, we'll never find out. We'll be lucky if we'll verify if either game is even really 1080p spatial resolution at all.
On the other side, know that Sony's embracing of 1400x540 and other oddball resolutions and converting internally means that we may get "1080p" games on PS3 which are actually 1280x1080 and things like that output upscaled to 1080p.
Matias @ Feb 8th 2007 8:03AM
Heh.. Even if this is "true HD" and not the upscaled 1080p that an xbox tech was talking about earlier most 1080p monitors and televisions like the sony's and samsungs(which own a fuckload of the market) don't even support that signal from RGB/VGA. This has been a known problem hasn't it?
Also the xbox 360 test units with HDMI seem to have needed a new scaler. Probably for digital upscaling which is much better than analog. I have a feeling the current 360 owners don't get to be part of the 1080p update for games. Unless microsoft invents another 100 dollar peripheral.
Jason @ Feb 8th 2007 9:17AM
I've no wish to add fuel to any fires, but I will say that in my experience 1080i is the least appealing HD resolution. 1080p is, ideally, optimal all around of course, but games today should at least support 720p, which I've found to be noticeably sharper and more pleasing to watch. Upscaling DVDs really brings this home, as interlaced images just tend to give me a headache during action scenes. Given that games tend to be all action scenes (especially the "next" gen stuff we see lately), this seems like a big issue.
That said, most PS3 games label themselves as 1080p. A surprising amount of X360 games are as well--Sonic and Lost Planet immediately come to mind, and well, I'm at work, so I can't walk over and check the rest of them, but more and more are coming out. I think it should absolutely be the standard, simply because the new video game systems and HD DVD formats are the only things out right now that truly use high def to anywhere near its full potential.
It is somewhat ironic that the so-called "killer app" for the PS3, Resistance, is actually 720p. All in all, if you are shopping for a new TV, I wouldn't hesitate in recommending paying slightly more for 1080p for any set over about 42 or 47 inches.