The fine people at Digital Foundry have posted a technical comparison of the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Final Fantasy XIII. As expected, the PlayStation 3 version is superior. Here’s DF’s conclusion:
“Adequate but a touch disappointing” best sums up the Xbox 360 version. Fine edges lose precision, and while the effect is mitigated thanks to the MSAA along with the multitude of post processing effects the engine has at its disposal, the fact is that the lack of resolution can make the 360 build look sub-par. The clean CG look of the PS3 game in motion is unduly compromised, and while it’s still a handsome enough title on Xbox 360, it lacks the pristine presentation of its sibling.
If you’re interested in high-level graphics talk, the article is definitely worth checking out. The read reminded me of my PC Magazine Labs days when we’d scream at each other about competing graphics card technologies. Ha!
Hmmmm, I think I’ll start a poll while I’m at it.
So wait, the CG looks less impressive or the actual gameplay? I expected the CG would since it isn't real time and takes up more space. (Which the PS3 version has more of.)
If the game is basically the same I really don't care.
@Sandrock323 It's both the cutscens and the gameplay. DF has a bunch of comparison videos you can check out too.
@Sandrock323 One of the criticisms is that Square Enix was perhaps too aggressive with compression. I believe there's still an extra GB it could have used.
Less than 29 if you include the DRM and other code that MS has on every dvd9
Can’t at work. I’ll check it out later. Still not surprised since they heavily compressed the game for the 360. As long as its just a not as clean looking thing, then its no big deal.
@R-Pad
I'm sure they did. My point was that just because they saved 1GB, that doesn't mean they could have used it to improve the game. Also, hardcore gamers have no room to talk since they were the one complaining that it might take too many discs. Square could have used more disc and not have had to compress it at all.
Just looked at the comparisons and people need to STFU. I couldn't tell the difference in the video between the two and the screen shots weren't that fare apart.
@R-Pad
Maybe, but would you want to try and figure out exactly which compression technique will get you that one extra GB? The only way to get that one extra GB would be to redo all of the compression with a different technique that may not actually give you better picture in the end. It could actually make it worse.
Three discs is ~30GB of data and they managed to use ~29GB of it. Not bad if you ask me.
@Sandrock323 If it could have made a noticeable difference then why not explore it? Hardcore gamers are pissing all over the Xbox 360 version. Keep in mind none of them have played it themselves and are just using the GF videos for reference.
Gah tried watching the video, but it wanted to time out on me. The photos you can definitely see a difference in sharpness and smoothing, but it shouldn’t be so big of a deal to people and it’s pointless to go Q_Q-ing over it lol.