Digital Foundry: Destiny Beta XB1 analysis and PS4 comparison

To me X1 may have close the gap a bit for to make it 1080p for this game. But going forward both systems will get more power tapped out of it. Who knows by gen 3 or 4 games timeframe, Destiny could run 1080p60 on PS4 and not on X1.

MS provided dedicated team of engineers to boost the X1 version, that in itself is very good and more 1st parties should do the same. This in itself means that Bungie was not going for parity because they could not before the June SDK.

If Sony did the same, perhaps we'd see even better PS4 version.
 
One assumption we are making here that MS sending their engineers somehow precludes Sony from sending theirs. We don't know if Sony already did it earlier than MS (or is there?)
 
No, it doesn't imply that at all. Some people are just very sensitive about this stuff.

It is entirely accurate to say the XB1 has closed the gap a bit since launch. Going forward things should be stabilized now.

You sound so certain. Are they stable now? Or going forward? Or is it stabilized indefinitely?

The wording implies that the PS4 has no room for growth and the Xbox One is catching up. This is the narrative I see in thread after thread when the topic comes up. I understand the need to paint a rosy picture about things but I feel that at best it just confuses things and, at worst, is a bit delusional.
 
I mean the PS4 version looks like shit other than the resolution so I'm not surprised that they could pretty much achieve parity.

Yeah, the artstyle is really helping the game.

Besides the IQ and draw distance, not much about Destiny feels like a leap or as grand as it should be.

I imagine when they drop support of the last gen consoles we'll get a taste of what Bungie can pull on these consoles.
 
You sound so certain. Are they stable now? Or going forward? Or is it stabilized indefinitely?

The wording implies that the PS4 has no room for growth and the Xbox One is catching up. This is the narrative I see in thread after thread when the topic comes up. I understand the need to paint a rosy picture about things but I feel that at best it just confuses things and, at worst, is a bit delusional.

According to Digital Foundry the drivers have made big improvements in recent months. We also know the 10% reserved for Kinect is now available. We have no reason to believe big improvements are coming from here on out.

That is what I meant by stabilized. From here on out of course developers will learn how to use these consoles better and better, but that's always been a given. The hardware advantage for the PS4 hasn't gone away, the gap we saw at launch seems to have just narrowed a bit. That's all. There is nothing delusional about what I just said. There should be nothing confusing about what I just said.
 
A bit off topic, but I've noticed yesterday and today that my PS4 is taking longer to start up. When I first turn it on, I select my profile and it hangs up for 5-20 seconds before going to the main dashboard. It used to instantly go to the main dash as soon as I hit X on my profile. Anyone else noticing this?
 
To me X1 may have close the gap a bit for to make it 1080p for this game. But going forward both systems will get more power tapped out of it. Who knows by gen 3 or 4 games timeframe, Destiny could run 1080p60 on PS4 and not on X1.

MS provided dedicated team of engineers to boost the X1 version, that in itself is very good and more 1st parties should do the same. This in itself means that Bungie was not going for parity because they could not before the June SDK.

If Sony did the same, perhaps we'd see even better PS4 version.

This game is a cross-generation title. We will look back at it in a couple of years and realized how ridiculous it was to take it for a proof of the consoles' potential...
 
While I am not a huge fan of parity from a consumer perspective I do get it from a developer perspective, especially with a game the size and ambition of Destiny.

It simplifies the development process. It really does come down to that. Some view it as lazy on the developers part. Some view it is being practical. Whichever reason it is I am sure Bungie had their reasons, and based on their track record I tend to go with the latter.

I think it is also very easy to forget that prior to this game Bungie was for all intents and purposes exclusively a Microsoft developer. I am sure while they were excited about spreading their wings to other platforms, they were also very reserved about doing so. Especially since the PS3 was notoriously difficult to program for.

Yes, it is very well documented the PS4 has changed things dramatically for the better, but is it not possible Bungie did not even know the specs or development process for the PS4 when they even started development on Destiny? I am asking that sincerely as I do not know, but I do think it is very feasible, as I imagine Destiny has been in development for quite some time.

So really the way I see it, it actually makes perfect sense Bungie as a developer would opt for parity with this game. Their history pretty much reveals all the reasons as to why it was the most pragmatic route for them to take.

It is my understanding that Bungie is one of the developers Sony worked with when they started to work on the ps4.
 
This thread has not delivered.

I see no proof that PS4 could have gone 1080/60, even with XBO achieving 1080/30. Even still, I haven't seen true parity yet, judging by DF analysis anyway. Watching the 900p XBO footage, you can see it is quite blurry. Hard to believe 1-% freed up from kinect and a new SDK was able to catapult it to parity.

First of all, it was 10% not 1%, secondly the new SDK included driver optimizations which could've brought them from were they were (Shit) to where they are today (good) That could have a huge improvement in performance and bring performance to where Xbone should've been at launch, instead not only was the hardware weaker, but adding salt to the wounds were the "horrible" drivers as quoted by the dev.


You have to understand that Destiny was originally targeting 1080p for PS4 and 900p for Xbox One, that for many has been "Par for the course" and had it remained that way, no one would be complaining, but with the SDK optimizations plus the freed resources removed by Kinect requirements, they were able to boost Xbox One visuals. PS4 was already hitting the target, so I don't get what people are bitching about. Had Xbone remained at 900p, it would be considered normal business for PS4 lol.
 
Hey, look at the bright side. Maybe the PS4 will run nice and cool with this game without the fan kicking up to loud speeds.

edit: did anyone notice this in the beta?
 
First of all, it was 10% not 1%, secondly the new SDK included driver optimizations which could've brought them from were they were (Shit) to where they are today (good) That could have a huge improvement in performance and bring performance to where Xbone should've been at launch, instead not only was the hardware weaker, but adding salt to the wounds were the "horrible" drivers as quoted by the dev.


You have to understand that Destiny was originally targeting 1080p for PS4 and 900p for Xbox One, that for many has been "Par for the course" and had it remained that way, no one would be complaining, but with the SDK optimizations plus the freed resources removed by Kinect requirements, they were able to boost Xbox One visuals. PS4 was already hitting the target, so I don't get what people are bitching about. Had Xbone remained at 900p, it would be considered normal business for PS4 lol.

Its awesome that they achieved 1080p at the X1 and its good for the XB1 owners to experience this game at 1080p, because it is not visual impressive but has a unique style with clean graphics which should be played in a native res.

However I think they could do more for the PS4 version as well. Even if it is just a better AA which shouldn't be that hard to achieve imo. We may see this or other bumps in the final build, we could also the a decrease in the textures or AF etc in the X1 version, who knows. It's just that parity seems a bit unnecessary..

And even when the drivers are on par with the ps4 drivers and the SDK updates, the hardware difference is still there, and it's a quite big gap so... no need to discuss this for 20 pages. The hardware doesn't change over the generation and such a big gap won't be closed by software imo.
 
This thread has not delivered.

I see no proof that PS4 could have gone 1080/60, even with XBO achieving 1080/30.
Tomb Raider is proof enough, no?

Yea it's not solid 60, but Xbone there isn't a solid 30 either. I'll take 50-60 frames over locked 30 all day.
 
Tomb Raider is proof enough, no?

Yea it's not solid 60, but Xbone there isn't a solid 30 either. I'll take 50-60 frames over locked 30 all day.

Destiny's engine has very different demands to Tomb Raider (and is vastly better looking). You can't just look at one game and think it indicates how everything else should perform.
 
Xbone is probably the target platform.



Microsoft says no.
Are people here purposely being ignorant?

Bungie and Sony have been working very closely on this game from the beginning of development. It has been said thousands of times that the PS4 is the lead platform.
 
I don't wanna come across like I'm trying to start something here, because I'm not, but why exactly does that make you glad? Do you not believe that devs should get the most out of each console individually?

I know you're not asking me, and I also don't wanna come across like I'm trying to start something here, because i'm not, but nope. I couldn't care less. If the devs are making an exclusive, hell yes, they should push it as hard as they can, but if its a multiplat, I just can't care.

There are two reasons for this, first I understand the developers and publishers are in the business of making games to make money, not to cater to my console warrior ego. It makes good business sense to aim for parity, it will lead to more sales. That's regardless of how many gaffers get offended and turn their nose up with a haughty "I said good day, sir!" at the thought that the people who make the games care more about making money than stroking said gaffers' ego.

Secondly, regardless of which console is more powerful this or any other generation, being offended that a console's power isn't being used to the fullest extent when there is still PC gaming is actually pretty funny to me. Its like when the guy in the Aventador sees kids racing for pinks in clapped out jdm economy cars.
 
Destiny's engine has very different demands to Tomb Raider (and is vastly better looking). You can't just look at one game and think it indicates how everything else should perform.

So you think the ps4 frame is hitting 30 fps exactly? If TR was capped we would never know about natural frame rate.
 
First of all, it was 10% not 1%, secondly the new SDK included driver optimizations which could've brought them from were they were (Shit) to where they are today (good) That could have a huge improvement in performance and bring performance to where Xbone should've been at launch, instead not only was the hardware weaker, but adding salt to the wounds were the "horrible" drivers as quoted by the dev.


You have to understand that Destiny was originally targeting 1080p for PS4 and 900p for Xbox One, that for many has been "Par for the course" and had it remained that way, no one would be complaining, but with the SDK optimizations plus the freed resources removed by Kinect requirements, they were able to boost Xbox One visuals. PS4 was already hitting the target, so I don't get what people are bitching about. Had Xbone remained at 900p, it would be considered normal business for PS4 lol.

Thanks to few helpful Gaffers who pointed out my typo.

Yes, I understand PS4 lead platform, 1080p from start, 10%, SDK....

Not sure if Tomb Raider is a good comparison here, although it certainly has better visuals and effects and frame rate. I am not super sensitive to drops in the 45-60 fps, so I would probably enjoy at least an option to test an unlocked frame rate.

My point is this: Why would Bungie cripple the lead platform by capping at 30 fps?

I don't think the PS4 achieved a solid 60 fps. And it is pure speculation that it could or could not.
 
So you think the ps4 frame is hitting 30 fps exactly? If TR was capped we would never know about natural frame rate.

It's obviously hitting 30fps comfortably, but we have no way of knowing by how much. It is a lot better looking and more open than Tomb Raider so it unlikely to be running similar.
 
"All in all, it's a very encouraging scenario..."

They can barely contain their excitement that they don't have to say that the Xbone has a lesser version.
 
Tomb Raider is proof enough, no?

Well no, not really... The XB1 and PS4 Tomb Raider ports weren't even handled by the same studios, so it's not really anymore proof than something like Bayonetta would have been for the PS3.

Proof would be if 1080p60 vs 1080p30 was a common difference between multiplats on the two consoles. The fact that Tomb Raider is always brought up in these sorts of cases actually indicates that's it's an outlier, rather than something that should be expected.
 
Wasn't the framerate stabilized in the most recent patch? sounds to me like it wasn't even hitting 30 all the time, unless I read it wrong.

No, it was hitting 30 fps all the time before the patch, but there was a bug (fixed now) that caused the framerate judder.
 
I know you're not asking me, and I also don't wanna come across like I'm trying to start something here, because i'm not, but nope. I couldn't care less. If the devs are making an exclusive, hell yes, they should push it as hard as they can, but if its a multiplat, I just can't care.

There are two reasons for this, first I understand the developers and publishers are in the business of making games to make money, not to cater to my console warrior ego. It makes good business sense to aim for parity, it will lead to more sales. That's regardless of how many gaffers get offended and turn their nose up with a haughty "I said good day, sir!" at the thought that the people who make the games care more about making money than stroking said gaffers' ego.

Secondly, regardless of which console is more powerful this or any other generation, being offended that a console's power isn't being used to the fullest extent when there is still PC gaming is actually pretty funny to me. Its like when the guy in the Aventador sees kids racing for pinks in clapped out jdm economy cars.

In regards to the parts I've bolded, it has nothing to do with my ego, or any sort of allegiance to a company (I own both current-gen consoles), it's 100% to do with wanting something I have paid hundreds of pounds for to be used to it's fullest potential. Plain and simple. I don't see why PC gaming even gets a mention here, if I wanted the very best visual experience...then yeah, I would have gotten a PC, but that doesn't mean I can't wish developers would get the most out of each individual console that I own instead of treating them the same.

I'm just glad "parity" isn't the norm so far this gen, I hope devs continue to treat each console individually. People make their choice of which console to buy, the other camp shouldn't get their experience "toned down" just because the other guys went with the lesser powerful console. As someone said before, it isn't about not wanting the other camp to have as good an experience as you, it's about wanting the console you have chosen to be used to it's fullest. People play "inferior" multiplats on X1 everyday when compared to PS4 and PC, it's not as if people aren't buying multiplats on X1, so I just don't see the point in Bungie, or any other developer, aiming for parity.

With that said, I'm still buying this game, I would never let parity deter me from buying a game...it's just a little annoying is all.
 
My policy on parity is, if they went for it then I'm not gonna pay full price, disappointing to hear it's the case here, if this wasn't such a hyped game I wouldn't have bothered at all.
 
My policy on parity is, if they went for it then I'm not gonna pay full price, disappointing to hear it's the case here, if this wasn't such a hyped game I wouldn't have bothered at all.

So, if they make the best business decision for them, you're going to what, buy used? Wait for it to hit the bargain rack? lol, entitlement runs deep in PS4 fans these days.
 
Tomb Raider is proof enough, no?

Yea it's not solid 60, but Xbone there isn't a solid 30 either. I'll take 50-60 frames over locked 30 all day.

What's your definition of solid? The Xbox One went under 30fps I think ONCE while the PS4 dropped to 36 fps. So yes, it's proof enough that when a PS4 runs at 36fps at 1080p, the Xbox One will run at 28fps. The idea that a PS4 can double the Xbox One's FPS is laughable.
 
What's your definition of solid? The Xbox One went under 30fps I think ONCE while the PS4 dropped to 36 fps. So yes, it's proof enough that when a PS4 runs at 36fps at 1080p, the Xbox One will run at 28fps. The idea that a PS4 can double the Xbox One's FPS is laughable.

Ubisoft were certainly prepared to try, unlike bungie.
 
So, if they make the best business decision for them, you're going to what, buy used? Wait for it to hit the bargain rack? lol, entitlement runs deep in PS4 fans these days.

Best business decision? Based on what? You might also compare the userbase of the xb1 vs ps4
WW
 
ITT: People complaining about Parity

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Seriously, are you people fucking being serious?
 
I can see this game becoming a pretty big hit!

Their decision on parity isn't that strange, they just want both user bases to have similar experiences I would presume.
 
Seriously, are you people fucking being serious?

I don't get it either.

It is not a PS4 exclusive and is a cross gen title.

Someone who posted that pic a while back of people loving the game until they heard the XB1 will have a similar experience is embarrisngly accurate
 
I don't get it either.

It is not a PS4 exclusive and is a cross gen title.

Someone who posted that pic a while back of people loving the game until they heard the XB1 will have a similar experience is embarrisngly accurate

Yup. I have an xbox one, and I think the game looks fantastic in 900p, wouldn't care if it stayed 900p at launch. What I'm more worried about is how large the game will be. Finding out today that each planet only has one area is disappointing.
 
I don't get it either.

It is not a PS4 exclusive and is a cross gen title.

Someone who posted that pic a while back of people loving the game until they heard the XB1 will have a similar experience is embarrisngly accurate

Guess Bungie should have just made every version look like the 360 version since it doesn't matter? Seriously, if you're going to make the argument that not taking advantage of a superior platform is no big deal and nobody should complain about it, then let's hold every version back to the absolute lowest common denominator.
 
Guess Bungie should have just made every version look like the 360 version since it doesn't matter? Seriously, if you're going to make the argument that not taking advantage of a superior platform is no big deal and nobody should complain about it, then let's hold every version back to the absolute lowest common denominator.

Then it would look like the PS3 version, not the 360 version.
 
Then it would look like the PS3 version, not the 360 version.

Whichever, it doesn't matter. If people are making the argument that taking advantage of superior hardware doesn't matter, then I really have to question why they aren't sticking with the last-gen versions.
 
I don't care at all about parity, if the game reached its visual target, and there just isn't anything meaningful and realistic left to improve. The thing is though that (1) this is not the case here, since the AA in Destiny is not very good, and if (2) the XBO manages to pull off the same level of visuals in the final game, then (3) one would expect that the PS4 would have some room for a better AA solution. Currently, the IQ just is not very clean, and it hurts the game's visuals, so it's mildly disappointing to not see an improvement here. That might of course still change.

Declaring not to buy the game because of that, or blaming Bungie to be lazy, is still ridiculous though.

That's all.
 
...backed by a chromatic aberration after-effect. The Xbox One, meanwhile, adopts the flat designs also laid across the last-gen versions' screens, delivered without the extra visual twist.
Superior version confirmed.
 
Guess Bungie should have just made every version look like the 360 version since it doesn't matter? Seriously, if you're going to make the argument that not taking advantage of a superior platform is no big deal and nobody should complain about it, then let's hold every version back to the absolute lowest common denominator.

Or Sony should have sent more engineers to assist them, Bungie is making a game for 4 platform simultaneously.

Generally first party titles are the ones that take full advantage of a console as they have extensive knowledge on said platform and all resources are dedicated to it.

This "unhappiniess" only seemed to happen once people started to read that the XB1 could reach close to parity with the PS4. I do not recall reading threads with people who were unhappy with the Destiny alpha or beginning of beta
 
This "unhappiniess" only seemed to happen once people started to read that the XB1 could reach close to parity with the PS4. I do not recall reading threads with people who were unhappy with the Destiny alpha or beginning of beta

Good thing we have a full post history to draw from previous threads. The Destiny Alpha also had a Digital Foundry thread and you must not have read that if you don't recall anyone being unhappy.

We don't need to rely on what you felt or what you can recall, we can actually read verbatim how people felt.
 
They don't mind shoving exclusive content on PS, I doubt they'd hold back a few graphical bells and whistles.
 
It has (with this beta), and that appears to be the issue.

Think of it this way, if a PC game can use the extra grunt provided by better spec'd GU's then there really is no reason why devs can't and won't leverage those same advantages on console. It hasn't stopped every major multi platform game from leveraging those big advantages PS4 enjoys. I don't thibk the game looks bad on XB or PS4 though.
 
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