Digital Foundry: Destiny Beta XB1 analysis and PS4 comparison

Can't hate on bungie..and don't feel like they intentionally held back the PS4 version for parity...

Considering the game is a solid vsynced 30fps on each console you've probably got a game that could have been pushed just a little.bit further on BOTH consoles...

Instead we all get a game that at the right moments is visually stunning..and performs solidly...

Xbone fans can be happy that they don't have a TECHNICALLY inferior game (you can argue on the content front its still inferior)

But PS4 fans can rest assured

- The Xbone is NOT "catching up"
- The PS4 is STILL more powerful
- The PS4 will still win the vast majority of DF Face offs in the future
 
"not looking good for Bungie"

people were shitting their pants over a very short ALPHA

they filled their pants even more with this beta

Bungie is doing fine
 
With the incredible amount of money Sony is putting behind the title, I would think it would be in their best interest to make sure the game- ahem- "takes full advantage of the PS4 hardware".

The recent knowledge of Microsoft Engineers assisting Bungie in optimizations has me wondering why Sony hasn't thought to do the same thing. The Fall schedule on PS4 has Destiny as it's crown jewel, third party title yes, but one deserving of a platform holder's brunt.

Unless there is some form of contractual obligation to do so the differences would be limited to whatever Bungie deems is inherent to the time spent developing the game on each platform. Also, it sounds like Bungie needed MS's help to improve performance to make it as good as the PS4 version. As such, if Bungie was comfortable with current PS4 tools, there was no reason to do the same with Sony and Sony seems happy with where the game is headed on their platform. After all, it is ultimately not a platform exclusive.

Personally, I am surprised that Sony didn't send someone to improve the eyesore real time shadow quality for PS3 version.
 
It's a cross gen game. It already carries that burden, and we can see it when we put Destiny up against even a launch game like Killzone. I didn't buy it for the graphics, and I hope no one else did, because this is not really a visually impressive game. It's visually competent though, and that's what counts. Some games are going to look similar on the two next gen consoles. It's got nothing to do with hardware parity. This is a design choice, and it's not a big deal. I'd be disappointed if they didn't try to push the PS4 harder than the Xbone with Destiny2. This is still a year 1 game, and it still cross gen. Next one should be purely next gen. PEACE.

I might not care about how the game looks but I would definitely prefer 60fps. Since it's a cross gen game like you said I would think that is achievable
 
Sony can't even put people on getting the much needed firmware updates sped up, I dont think they can send a team just to get Destiny a bit better than the xbone version, which the majority of people wont even know about or care. Without MS's team they would have had less than 1080p again which would make headlines so they needed to do that. In the end Sony just doesnt have anywhere near the resources MS has, so this just wouldnt be feasible, especially when the game was already at 1080p.

what a strange correlation to make. I doubt the developers working on firmware updates are the same developers that would hypothetically be sent to help squeeze extra juice out of game.
 
You mean Sony? Their fault for not sending people over. If their competitor can and they cant thats a sony problem.

I don't even know why it has to be an argument about Sony not "sending their guys". PS4 is a good deal more powerful. Bungie is looked at as a good dev. I don't see this as a Sony issue at all.
 
Unless there is some form of contractual obligation to do so the differences would be limited to whatever Bungie deems is inherent to the time spent developing the game on each platform. Also, it sounds like Bungie needed MS's help to improve performance to make it as good as the PS4 version. As such, if Bungie was comfortable with current PS4 tools, there was no reason to do the same with Sony and Sony seems happy with where the game is headed on their platform. After all, it is ultimately not a platform exclusive.

Personally, I am surprised that Sony didn't send someone to improve the eyesore real time shadow quality for PS3 version.

This.
 
It's Sony's fault they didn't send engeneers over to help Bungie with the more powerful and easier to develop for system? OK.

Bungie has delivered the game at 1080p with a solid framerate. If Sony isnt satisfied with that just as MS wasnt satisfied with their performance, they should send people over. Of course its their fault.

I don't even know why it has to be an argument about Sony not "sending their guys". PS4 is a good deal more powerful. Bungie is looked at as a good dev. I don't see this as a Sony issue at all.

I disagree, bungie games have never been the best looking games of their time. If we're being honest their games look pretty poor graphically compared to the best looking games of the time. Destiny is no different. They are renowned for their game design, not their technical prowess like say ND is.
 
It's Sony's fault they didn't send engeneers over to help Bungie with the more powerful and easier to develop for system? OK.
Why would you design an easy more powerful platform at a cheaper or same BOM when you can just send people over to help out with every title. :-P
 
Bungie has delivered the game at 1080p with a solid framerate. If Sony isnt satisfied with that just as MS wasnt satisfied with their performance, they should send people over. Of course its their fault.

It's 1080p/30fps, should Sony send people over to tell Bungie how to use better AA?
 
You mean Sony? Their fault for not sending people over. If their competitor can and they cant thats a sony problem.

Personally I think you're looking at it completely the wrong way. MS had to send engineers over to pull off 1080p. Bungie had no problems getting what they wanted out of the PS4 yet MS had to send their own staff. That sounds like an MS problem to me.
 
Cause the other is so much less so...

:/

No, it's no one's fault. It's expectations of certain people that aren't being met given the power gap that exists between the two consoles. For a change to happen it would have to matter to certain people at Sony. If they thought that expending their resources to improve a non-exclusive title beyond how it already performs (stable framerate, better resolution atm, overall very good looking) to differentiate it from their competitor, they would. But it seems that they have already invested whatever they meant to and further expense of money or other resources are not warranted because the extra improvements may not result in extra sales on a platform that has already outsold its competitor to begin with.
 
are people presuming the PS4 dev kits aren't improving ? Developers are getting more out of the PS4 ever day like the Xbox One.
 
We know that PS4 is the "lead" platform for Destiny. Maybe that just applies to marketing or exclusive partnerships; whatever.

However, why doesn't Destiny make use of the unique features of the DS4 controller? It does not use the mono speaker. It does not use the touch pad for swiping. Everyone has been wondering why we can't swipe up for ghost and swipe down to mount up.

Also, is there going to be a custom sound configuration for the Sony Gold wireless headset?
 
No, it's no one's fault. It's expectations of certain people that aren't being met given the power gap that exists between the two consoles. For a change to happen it would have to matter to certain people at Sony. If they thought that expending their resources to improve a non-exclusive title beyond how it already performs (stable framerate, better resolution atm, overall very good looking) to differentiate it from their competitor, they would. But I am certain that they have already invested whatever they meant to and further expense of money or other resources are not warranted because the extra improvements may not result in extra sales on a platform that has already outsold its competitor to begin with.

get that logic shit outta here!
 
I disagree, bungie games have never been the best looking games of their time. If we're being honest their games look pretty poor graphically compared to the best looking games of the time. Destiny is no different. They are renowned for their game design, not their technical prowess like say ND is.

I will lean on giving them a little more due credit than that. PS4 has the extra grunt so I don't see why they wouldn't take advantage of that.

It's like a 7850 to a 7970. Your PC will push higher frames and likely higher LOD or other effects just due to the extra raw grunt the 7970 offers.

Not what I said. But carry on.

I may have misinterpreted but you've done little to clarify. That would have been nice. No big deal I suppose.
 
Irrational to a fault.

How so? Bungies best efforts left the game at 1080 on ps4 and 900 on xbone. Thats the best they could do. MS knew they could do better so they sent their own people. If Sony believes they can do better, they should send people. Thats about as logical as it gets.

Again Bungie is not known for their tech, they are known for fun game design. I mean their Halo games were 30fps and they never could get them to 60fps after so many iterations right? Maybe they just kind of suck when it comes to tech stuff? If sony thinks their ICE team can bring it to 1080/60 or 1440 or 16x AA, do it! Send your people!
 
It's not just ps4 games that blow current games out of the water. Quantum break on xb1 easily goes head to head with the order

Have we seen quantum break actually running on an actual Xbox one? We don't know what the game is running on. It's one thing I've learned this past year is to wait and see what the game close to it's final build will look like running on the actual console.
 
We know that PS4 is the "lead" platform for Destiny. Maybe that just applies to marketing or exclusive partnerships; whatever.

However, why doesn't Destiny make use of the unique features of the DS4 controller? It does not use the mono speaker. It does not use the touch pad for swiping. Everyone has been wondering why we can't swipe up for ghost and swipe down to mount up.

Also, is there going to be a custom sound configuration for the Sony Gold wireless headset?

Same can be said for kinect features or rumble triggers on X1.

It appears they are going for a consistent experience across all platforms.
 
How so? Bungies best efforts left the game at 1080 on ps4 and 900 on xbone. Thats the best they could do. MS knew they could do better so they sent their own people. If Sony believes they can do better, they should send people. Thats about as logical as it gets.

Again Bungie is not known for their tech, they are known for fun game design.

Sony hasn't had to "send help" to any dev other than some support for dev side system issues. It's not stopped just about every multi platform game from performing and looking better. Why the burden be shifted to Sony just because Bungie seemingly is unable to figure out how to take advantage of the PS4's added grunt?

LMAO at all the PS4 is being held back talk. Classic.

Care to specify? Some are actually presenting a more well rounded point instead of one off sentences.
 
Same can be said for kinect features or rumble triggers on X1.

It appears they are going for a consistent experience across all platforms.

That is a shame, considering these companies spent time creating these cool features and huge AAA games aren't even taking advantage of them.

I'm still hoping for DS4 speaker/touchpad support and X1 rumble triggers at launch, or at least in a post-launch patch.

Do the right thing, Bungie :)
 
looking forward to the final product and how sales will go in this one. i actually liked more the beta but hoping for a little more polish and whistles in the ps4 version if possible
 
Sony hasn't had to "send help" to any dev other than some support for dev side system issues. It's not stopped just about every multi platform game from performing and looking better. Why the burden be shifted to Sony just because Bungie seemingly is unable to figure out how to take advantage of the PS4's added grunt?

especially when they can do nothing and still probably end up with the better performing version AND the game will still sell a ton
 
The only thing that irritated me is when the dev from Bungie agreed to full parity in the interview with Ryan I-want-to-work-for-Microsoft-so-bad-I-can't-stand-it McCaffrey.
 
Sony hasn't had to "send help" to any dev other than some support for dev side system issues. It's not stopped just about every multi platform game from performing and looking better. Why the burden be shifted to Sony just because Bungie seemingly is unable to figure out how to take advantage of the PS4's added grunt?



Care to specify? Some are actually presenting a more well rounded point instead of one off sentences.

I know and not every dev needs Sony to send people. But maybe Bungie does. If they are unable they are unable. What do you want them to do? Try to steal ND's programmers? Blackmail Corrine into coming back?

If I'm at work and i think i can do something better, I go do it rather than whining at the person who cant do it. If someone else is going over and correcting other people's oversights, you can be sure I'm going to go do it too. If i dont, then im being lazy.
 
I see 2 things. Maybe they are true or not.

1. Could budgie push the ps4 past 1080p? They won't obviously, but the ps4 might have that power. The xbox though might just be able to get 1080p.

2. In 3 years, things are going to get interesting. These boxes will get pushed to their limits, and then we are really going to see what they are made of. If there is a significant difference in power, that is when it will show. Right now a lot of these games are being held back by last gen.
 
Things we won't know until release, unfortunately. We do have to remember, this is still beta code. But one of these will be true:

1) They're exactly the same. In this case, they did hold back some extra bits on the PS4 in the name of parity. The console has more raw power, so the fact that it can be done is pretty undeniable.

2) The PS4 version is superior, thanks to its extra power. In this case, they pushed the limit on both consoles and used all they were given.

Frankly, I don't care either way. So what if they went for parity. So what if the PS4 version doesn't have any extra filtering or anything. Destiny is fucking awesome, and I'm going to play the shit out of it no matter what.

Those are not the only two options. Clearly it's also possible that Bungie wanted to achieve a certain level of graphical fidelity and after that put their time and effort elsewhere rather then push all hardware to its limits. Personally that would be my chosen route for developers on both the PS4 and the Xbox One.
 
I know and not every dev needs Sony to send people. But maybe Bungie does. If they are unable they are unable. What do you want them to do? Try to steal ND's devs?

it's possible all parties involved with these decisions are actually happy with how the game looks and performs on PS4
 
2. In three years, things are going to get interesting. These boxes will get pushed to their limits, and then we are really going to see what they are made of. If there is a significant difference in power, that is when it will show. Right now a lot of these games are being held back by last gen.

This is the primary reason I'm getting Destiny on PS4. I see Destiny as a long-term investment, and as time goes on, I believe the "gap" between consoles will widen.

I also expect a lot more timed exclusives for PS4, and I hate waiting :p
 
I know and not every dev needs Sony to send people. But maybe Bungie does. If they are unable they are unable. What do you want them to do? Try to steal ND's programmers? Blackmail Corrine into coming back?

The blackmail might work. You sold me on your argument!

it's possible all parties involved with these decisions are actually happy with how the game looks and performs on PS4

Yes, no doubt.
 
I see 2 things. Maybe they are true or not.

1. Could budgie push the ps4 past 1080p? They won't obviously, but the ps4 might have that power. The xbox though might just be able to get 1080p.

2. In 3 years, things are going to get interesting. These boxes will get pushed to their limits, and then we are really going to see what they are made of. If there is a significant difference in power, that is when it will show. Right now a lot of these games are being held back by last gen.


There IS a difference in power. The specs don't lie. Especially when the architecture is so similar
 
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