Today's most comparative video: Orange Box PS3 vs. Xbox 360

by Ross Miller on Dec 14th 2007 1:00AM

Curious how the two Orange Box versions stack up? GameVideos have put the PS3 and Xbox 360 next to each other side-by-side - literally, it's a pretty impressive split-screen effort - of Portal and Half-Life 2. In fact, the visuals look very similar.

The major difference, where one might consider the PS3 version "downright unplayable," is the load times. For video HL2, the loading difference shown is not as great, but Portal's comparative load time shown is rather drastic. See for yourself after the break.

Source

Tags: half-life, half-life-2, hottestvideo, orange-box, portal, PS3, valve, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (147)

Looks like the only framerate issue is when the game auto-saves. Which the 360 version doesn't do. I wonder if you can turn it off. Other than that, 5 seconds longer to load isn't a big deal.

Not that I'll be buying it; I have the superior PC version.

Actually if you think about it it is somewhat of a big deal, because a more powerful machine is supposed to load and process information faster than a less powerful one would the same information...not longer, for instance a 1.0 ghz computer should not load the same material faster than a 2.0...and so on and so forth .. with the PS3 being more powerful it is supposed to load identical information MUCH faster than it competition not the same or longer.

I would agree with you, except for the fact that HL2 was also made for the XBox. Not the 360, but the original XBox. Which the PS3 outperforms by leaps and bounds. Granted, it's in HD and there are added post-processing effects, but still. The fundamentals should be there, so I find it difficult to blame the hardware.

That is the fault of the developer, Mr.Nitemare. It's already been proven that in the hands of capable devs the PS3 easily goes toe-to-toe with anything the 360 can do.

No one ever said it goes "EASILY" toe to toe with the xbox360. It may match the 360's performance, but clearly dev's don't think it's easy to do.

@Ramifications:
http://www.psu.com/PS3-development-was-easy,-says-COD4-developer-News--a0001806-p0.php

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/08/17/graw-developer-ps3-not-harder-to-code-for-than-360/

There's a couple right off the top of my head.

I think that the main issue here, the real reason it may be "Unplayable" on the ps3 is not because of crap load times or slightly different colors and textures, but because the friggin dualshock fucking sucks when it comes to first person shooters.

What this proves is not that the ps3 is weaker, but it exemplifies two things:

1. Microsoft is much better at making systems that are easy to develop for. Porting PC games is nearly effortless on the Xbox platform, and the fact that HL2 was on Xbox 1 really shows that. PS2 could never handle that game.

It's obvious that it's easier for developers to optimize for the 360. Also, being the more popular platform, it makes more sense to spend more time on the 360 ports.

2. The Blu-ray drive in the PS3 is in some way slower than the 360's DVD drive. I don't remember if it's seek times or data rate, or both, but I remember that being an issue in Oblivion.

Load times have more to do with optimization and the disc drive as well as amount of RAM the system can use (the 360 has 512mb of shared memory, while the PS3 has more difficult memory management, splitting 256/256mb of system/graphics memory)

it doesnt matter how powerful the PS3 is if the developers dont write code that utilizes the power of the PS3. this is because Sony likes to change the architecture of their systems every cycle while the 360 is arguably a more powerful xbox 1 in regards to programming architecture (and arguably then, an optimized PC). as a Sony fan, i can confidently say that it was Sony's arrogance that caused all this. ok they made a powerful console, but developers are generally lazy, they are going to work harder on the console that is easier to program for. i mean it does make sense, wouldnt you as a developer want to program for the 360? you can essentially make one 360 game and easily port it to PC and maximize profits with minimal effort.

now on the subject, i dont think the differences between these games make the PS3 version "unplayable" but i can see it getting a little annoying though. but seriously, just about everyone that wanted this game has already bought it on 360 or PC. we can thank EA, Valve, and the delay for that.

Developers say that for actual game applications, the 360 is faster, no matter how hard you code for it. The only thing the PS3 is better at, is protein folding. And the 360 has a faster GPU.

It's not an autosave, it's a quicksave. It's user-initiated.

To quicksave, you need to hold the start button. The reason the PS3 is quicksaving is because they told it to. The reason the 360 version isn't quicksaving is because they DIDN'T tell it to.

Its just a bad comparison. Lets see how they both run while saving or both not saving, because you'll notice when the quicksave(s) stop on the PS3, which is about the same time the machinegun fire starts, the framerate is just as good as the 360 version.

It's not the hardware's fault that it doesn't run as well. It the fault of the shit team that did a half-ass port of the game. If they really wanted it to run well they could have done it. I mean, all PS3's have HDD to cache to. If the game was ported in a way that took advantage of this it would load much faster. Look at Oblivion, it's a more taxing game and also runs better (also a port, but a good one).

@Bucket

I have the Xbox 360 version. And it does autosaves, in fact, you can't turn off autosaves at all. Most of the time when it autosaves, there was no stutter in the frame except for about 1 autosave out of every 10.

The visually simple, small maps game of Portal takes a long time to load on a PS3? gawd, I wonder how other games are... Hope MGS4 isn't bad.

thats blu-ray for you. it reads at less than half the speed of a DVD-9 if im correct. how long the game would take would then depend on the designers....

http://www.maxconsole.net/?mode=news&newsid=6060
Blu-ray reads just fine compared to DVD read times.

The dips in framerate are more than obvious. Not just you at all. Anyone whos says otherwise is just another wishful fanboy.

@WTangoFoxtrot

The 12x DVD drive in the Xbox 360 reads at 16.2 Mb/s.

The 2x Blu-ray drive in the PS3 reads at 72 Mb/s.

72 > 16.2.

is it just me or does the framerate skip around alot on the ps3 one, at least in the ep.2 video?

it's not just you

You're right. The framerate is very choppy on the PS3 version of the riverboat chapter.

I wish I could tell. Someone should take Gamevideos.com out into a field and shoot it.

Aren't we all...aren't we all.

Oh wait. Aren't most of us...aren't most of us...

Is it just me, or did Portal actually look slightly better on the PS3? I think I saw more lighting work done on some of the environments on the Ps3....

I thought they looked exactly the same just like all the other games...Sigh...This wouldn't matter so much if Sony didn't say the PS3 was like 3x's as powerful as the Xbox...W/E it doesn't matter they're both great but the PS3 has to get that "it" game...It doesn't have the game that will take it over the top...I'm not talking about the proven ones either...It needs this generations "it" game like Gears of War, or Bioshock....I sure Sony is working on it though. Cuz Nintendo needs theirs too.

it's definitely just you, i don't see a damn single difference graphics wise in portal between the two. What i did notice, however, is the awful framerate the ps3 version has in the river (end of 2nd video). Holy crap, is that really how it is?

I thought I saw it too

Of course that might just be the ps3 inside my head desperately seeking something positive out of this

I saw that too...load times are rediculous though.

Its because the PS3 outputs the full RGB color spectrum over HDMI cables. Its an option on the PS3 settings menu. 360 just outputs the standard spectrum (like cable or most dvd players). One of the only features that I'll admit PS3 has an advantage.

@cybereality:
What the hell are you talking about? Component cables give the "full RGB color spectrum" same as HDMI. If you believe that tech BS concerning 10-bit color that hardly any televisions can display, then you need some A/V education.

I thought it looked a little shinier on the PS3, but the difference seems minor.

Who cares, the PC version beats both of them :p

Well it looked rather the same than either being better, the only difference i noticed was in the second video with the frame rate issue on the PS3, and the loading times but thats it!!

I have a ps3 :'(

But I also have a pc :-P

Well, at least there's a difference we can easily see between these two games, unlike most games.

Other than the auto save skipping I see no problems whats so ever.

you don't see the frame rate issues in the second video?

I'm glad you don't. Sony needs people like you!

I'm glad I do.

Graphics look the same to me (I think the PS3 version has better color contrast), but the load time on Portal is sick. What exactly is it loading anyway? I mean, you were already playing that level, clearly all the same textures and sounds are loaded in memory. Should it really take *that* long just to respawn your character and maybe a cube or two? Alas, the power of the Cell processor.

Sony's PS3 cant catch a break can he? Sony should kill off the PS3 (like Microsoft did to the XBox) and just start production on the PS4 with powerful graphics and Wii duplicated motion controls with rumble.

@ The Artist

Nope see I'm a gamer that has this thing called a....drum roll....life. 80-90% of the gaming public would see these videos and see nothing except the auto save. Only techies that haven't been laid in years would care about such stupid nonsense that doesn't affect the story of the gmae not one bit!!!!!!!!!

You don't notice that huge amount of stutter during the autosave?? In the game, you're still supposed to pilot the damn boat while it's saving and stuttering all over the place. That DOES affect the 'story' of the game quite a bit.

yeah uhh frame rate is not something "only people that haven't been laid see" its something that makes the experience less enjoyable. if im playing a game that is choppy while driving, i notice it and if it's the same game i want to know which one it is better for to get it on.

...oh by the way %&(# off and die for trying to prove your point by saying they dont get laid because they are a geek..because we all know that geeks with the most amount of money get the hottest chicks (have you seen Gates wife???)

Even PC's stutter during autosave. I cant believe this feature is being brought up as the cause. If you don't want to autosave...don't hold down start to do so in the middle of the riverboat scene.

You know, they say excessive masturbation leads to blindness. Perhaps what's why you're unable to pick up on the glaringly obvious framerate differences?

The colors look alot better on the ps3 I think thats worth noting....

I think you mean the lighting looks less realistic on the PS3 version. The 360 is clearly rendering more advanced outdoor lighting.

@gannon

Why would Sony kill a system that has sold the same number of units as the 360 did (if not more) the last 13 months as the 360 its first 13 months?

not for the united states, ps3 has undersold domestically compared to the 360 within the same time frame.

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Today's most comparative video: Orange Box PS3 vs. Xbox 360

Reader Comments (147)

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