Digital Foundry -- Halo 4 Tech Analysis

"I thought you'd be taller"

Love that scene :)

343 keeps screwing up the scale. She is 6'9", yet in the CG Spartan Ops episode, she is barely taller than Lasky, who is much smaller than Chief, who is 7' in armor. And in the Campaign, most the people you come across are as tall as Chief. Hell, even some marines look about 2-3" taller.
 
343 keeps screwing up the scale. She is 6'9", yet in the CG Spartan Ops episode, she is barely taller than Lasky, who is much smaller than Chief, who is 7' in armor. And in the Campaign, most the people you come across are as tall as Chief. Hell, even some marines look about 2-3" taller.

343's not the only one doing this. In Bungie's Halos, the Chief's and the Arbiter's size wasn't consistent, in some scenes they were a lot taller and larger, in some they were just a bit taller/larger.
The only consistent game in this regard is Halo CE.
 
343 keeps screwing up the scale. She is 6'9", yet in the CG Spartan Ops episode, she is barely taller than Lasky, who is much smaller than Chief, who is 7' in armor. And in the Campaign, most the people you come across are as tall as Chief. Hell, even some marines look about 2-3" taller.

That's annoying. Shame, since one of 343i's stated goals with Halo 4 was to make sure they got the sense of Chief's imposing size and weight across.
 
Halo 4 is really let down by the limitations of this generation IMO. The art just begs for better hardware - it's painful to see the amazing textures in maps like Ragnarok ruined by aggressive LOD and poor filtering.
 
Halo 4 is really let down by the limitations of this generation IMO. The art just begs for better hardware - it's painful to see the amazing textures in maps like Ragnarok ruined by aggressive LOD and poor filtering.

Absolutely. This game is begging for more hardware. I can feel it everywhere.
 
coming from playing pc exclusively for the last year the game doesn't look good at all to me. it stutters and has jaggies and runs in 720p. for a 7 yeard old console it looks fine though but the UI is goddamn terrible and the MP is a travesty. so for that guy who asked if we remember bungie, yes i do and i miss them dearly now that i have played 4.


i haven't touched SP yet.

some of the outdoor textures...ughhh.
 
This game deserves a PC port. Gamers deserve to see what the engine's capable of without having to compromise with blurry FXAA, low res textures, no SSAO, and that shadow LOD.
 
The 360 deserves some exclusives.

Really? It's worth depriving gamers of a quality title, as well as preventing the game from reaching its full potential, just so they can label it an "exclusive"?

SMH.

Port it to PC and then call it a "360 console exclusive" if it matters that much.
 
Really? It's worth depriving gamers of a quality title, as well as preventing the game from reaching its full potential, just so they can label it an "exclusive"?

SMH.

Port it to PC and then call it a "360 console exclusive" if it matters that much.

People bitch and moan like crazy when Microsoft foregoes the 360 and ports everything to PC, then get pissed when they want to actually keep a game only for 360 to increase the system's viability.

There'd be no damn point to own a 360 if we went by your logic.
 
People bitch and moan like crazy when Microsoft foregoes the 360 and ports everything to PC, then get pissed when they want to actually keep a game only for 360 to increase the system's viability.

There'd be no damn point to own a 360 if we went by your logic.

Where the hell did you pull that little nugget of bullshit from? Give me one example of people complaining about Microsoft porting 360 games over to PC.

Really, no point to own a 360? There's always going to be people that don't want to shell out for a gaming PC. Are you seriously implying that giving gamers MORE options about how to play the game is a bad thing?

Seriously, maybe you should just call what you're doing a troll post and save some face.
 
There'd be no damn point to own a 360 if we went by your logic.
Really, there are no benefits of owning a console compared to a PC? Things like cost, ease of use, no technical issues or debugging system problems, or a standardized control system, or better suited for using in front of the living room TV cause KB/Mouse can be a bit uncomfortable on your lap?
 
Software is the king ,Halo 4 is Xbox, Their is no harm i keeping exclusive.

More people will buy 360 and try out other games as well

LOL.

Alright dude.

He is right. MS charges for online already and if they keep porting games then the point of having a 360 is null in the later years
 
Where the hell did you pull that little nugget of bullshit from? Give me one example of people complaining about Microsoft porting 360 games over to PC.

Really, no point to own a 360? There's always going to be people that don't want to shell out for a gaming PC. Are you seriously implying that giving gamers MORE options about how to play the game is a bad thing?

Seriously, maybe you should just call what you're doing a troll post and save some face.

Bullshit, I've seen on numerous occasions (on IGN, Gamespot, N4G, lolfaqs, etc) by gamers who felt their purchase of their 360 was devalued because of the lack of exclusives that justified that purchase to them. The only reason I keep both a 360 and PS3 is for their respective exclusives.
 
To be fair, PS3 + PC is a far better and more reasonable combination than 360 + PC. There's a lot more library overlap on 360 and PC, especially when you look at the games that were touted as 360 exclusives that were also on PC. So maybe his point is that true 360 exclusives are necessary for MS to get people to not preferring the PS3 + PC path.
 
Really, there are no benefits of owning a console compared to a PC? Things like cost, ease of use, no technical issues or debugging system problems, or a standardized control system, or better suited for using in front of the living room TV cause KB/Mouse can be a bit uncomfortable on your lap?

I'm talking from a game library perspective. All those features you mentioned factor into it if you take the whole picture into account.
 
Bullshit, I've seen on numerous occasions (on IGN, Gamespot, N4G, lolfaqs, etc) by gamers who felt their purchase of their 360 was devalued because of the lack of exclusives that justified that purchase to them. The only reason I keep both a 360 and PS3 is for their respective exclusives.

Then those gamers are whiny, petulant children. Seriously, they can't enjoy the game because they know too many other people are able to play it?

What the fuck am I reading

To be fair, PS3 + PC is a far better and more reasonable combination than 360 + PC. There's a lot more library overlap on 360 and PC, especially when you look at the games that were touted as 360 exclusives that were also on PC. So maybe his point is that true 360 exclusives are necessary for MS to get people to not preferring the PS3 + PC path.


Coldfoot provided plenty of reasons as to why someone could justify gaming on a 360 over a PC.


And my point is a PC port of the game would allow it to look as good as it possibly could. That's just fact. If you want to play Halo 4 and have it look like those original shots 343i released, it would have to be on a PC.
 
To be fair, PS3 + PC is a far better and more reasonable combination than 360 + PC. There's a lot more library overlap on 360 and PC, especially when you look at the games that were touted as 360 exclusives that were also on PC. So maybe his point is that true 360 exclusives are necessary for MS to get people to not preferring the PS3 + PC path.

Yup 360 and PC does over lap a lot.

Still its worth it imo their are enough games to justify its purchase
 
Then those gamers are whiny, petulant children. Seriously, they can't enjoy the game because they know too many other people are able to play it?

What the fuck am I reading

If I have a gaming PC, and before the 360 launched MS touted that the Gears franchise, Halo franchise, Alan Wake, Lost Odyssey, Forza, etc were all only going to be on the 360, I'd pay $400 at launch for a 360 for those games.

Next thing I see they're porting all of them to PC, I'd be pretty fucking pissed I shelled out 400 bones.
 
Then those gamers are whiny, petulant children. Seriously, they can't enjoy the game because they know too many other people are able to play it?

What the fuck am I reading

Halo 4 is a system seller.
Being Exclusive more people will buy 360 in future years and may also try out other games which are exclusive to this system as well/
 
why do PC Gamers want to play this game anyway? its inferior and stuff.

Dunno who said that...I'm a PC gamer and I'd love to play the game at a Vsync'd 60 FPS with non blurring AA and M/KB controls. That would be fantastic.

If I have a gaming PC, and before the 360 launched MS touted that the Gears franchise, Halo franchise, Alan Wake, Lost Odyssey, Forza, etc were all only going to be on the 360, I'd pay $400 at launch for a 360 for those games.

Next thing I see they're porting all of them to PC, I'd be pretty fucking pissed.

Why? That's the price you pay for being impatient / an early adopter. By your logic, Microsoft should never have released the 360 Elite because it would make early 360 adopters regret their purchase.
 
It's a pretty common opinion yes.
Profits overtake fanboy opinions, and a PC port would not detract anything from the 360 in terms of sales, compared to the amount of revenue it'll bring through PC sales and pushing Windows 8 for Microsoft. There are people who won't play Halo on a 360, they either prefer PC's superiority in tech and controls or refuse to buy a platform where online play is not free.
 
Then those gamers are whiny, petulant children. Seriously, they can't enjoy the game because they know too many other people are able to play it?

What the fuck am I reading




Coldfoot provided plenty of reasons as to why someone could justify gaming on a 360 over a PC.


And my point is a PC port of the game would allow it to look as good as it possibly could. That's just fact. If you want to play Halo 4 and have it look like those original shots 343i released, it would have to be on a PC.

Well there is plenty of reason to own a 360. But if your time and money is limited and you are only going to pair your PC with one console, I think the PS3 is the clear choice if you assume you like the titles on both platforms equally.
 
And my point is a PC port of the game would allow it to look as good as it possibly could. That's just fact. If you want to play Halo 4 and have it look like those original shots 343i released, it would have to be on a PC.

Or the game will get ported on 720 and play then


Profits overtake fanboy opinions, and a PC port would not detract anything from the 360 in terms of sales, compared to the amount of revenue it'll bring through PC sales and pushing Windows 8 for Microsoft. There are people who won't play Halo on a 360, they either prefer PC or refuse to buy a platform where online play is not free.

Ported to PC does not always lead to revenue, Piracy is also a big issue on PC.
MS also bundles Halo 4 as well, so they earn more profit by selling their hardware also Live revenue and Dlc revenue
 
Profits overtake fanboy opinions, and a PC port would not detract anything from the 360 in terms of sales, compared to the amount of revenue it'll bring through PC sales and pushing Windows 8 for Microsoft. There are people who won't play Halo on a 360, they either prefer PC's superiority in tech and controls or refuse to buy a platform where online play is not free.
Profits overtake anything for the companies yes.
 
Compare Halo 2 on PC with Halo 2 running with the Xbox 360 upgrades and tell me the 360 is even in the same ball park.

Have you gow 1 and gow 2 on PS3 ?
Halo Aniversary on 360 ?
ICO/SoTC on PS3 ?
Okami HD ?

They are fantastic


Halo 2 never got a remake which it will get soon.
 
Ported to PC does not always lead to revenue, Piracy is also a big issue on PC.
MS also bundles Halo 4 as well, so they earn more profit by selling their hardware also Live revenue and Dlc revenue

I doubt many people are buying 360's for Halo 4, if they haven't bought a 360 for all the previous Halo games already. Plus, it can be used to drive sales for Windows 8 and to get gamers to upgrade, like they did with Vista. Unlike Vista, Windows 8 is not shit, so people will actually like it. Then there are some people, like me, will never own a console where you have to keep paying forever to unblock your internet connection to 99.99% of the IP addresses on the internet. It can have ANY game as exclusive, still not gonna happen. In fact, the XBL paywall is only ensuring that I will never join the MS ecosystem with Windows 8/Phone 8/Tablets etc, despite the fact that they don't have a paywall like XBL.
 
Why? That's the price you pay for being impatient / an early adopter. By your logic, Microsoft should never have released the 360 Elite because it would make early 360 adopters regret their purchase.

Huh? All 360s play the exact same games. That analogy doesn't work. Exclusives are one the main selling points of consoles that the manufacturers gloat about it. You can't expect gamers not to be pissed when they purchase their consoles for that reason when they had a good gaming PC before and didn't need to.

It would be on Microsoft for proclaiming something will only be exclusive to their system, and then completely lie about it. It'd be the gamer's fault for taking them at their word?
 
I doubt many people are buying 360's for Halo 4, if they haven't bought a 360 for all the previous Halo games already. Plus, it can be used to drive sales for Windows 8 and to get gamers to upgrade.

It didnt help windows Vista

and those who buy a 360 this late this gen will mainly buy it to play Halo.

Software is the reason which keep 7 year old hardwares to sell
 
Huh? All 360s play the exact same games. That analogy doesn't work. Exclusives are one the main selling points of consoles that the manufacturers gloat about it. You can't expect gamers not to be pissed when they purchase their consoles for that reason when they had a good gaming PC before and didn't need to.

It would be on Microsoft for proclaiming something will only be exclusive to their system, and then completely lie about it. It'd be the gamer's fault for taking them at their word?

How does the analogy not work? Halo 4 on PC would at its core be the same game as the 360 version, it would just have better graphics.

Just like the 360 Elite plays the same games as Vanilla 360s, but with less chance of overheating / RRoD, larger HDD, etc. Fact is MS upgraded the Xbox 360, but when the 360 launched, MS didn't say it would be made obsolete that quickly...

And as far as I know, Microsoft will still label 360 games as "Exclusive" if they only have PC ports.
 
Piracy is huge on consoles now.

I bet Halo 4 will be one of the most pirated games of 2012.

A Windows 8 exclusive would do well for Windows (even if it was just 3 or Reach). I know Vista and Halo 2 blah blah. No one liked Vista and Halo 2 was old news with the 360 out and all. Halo 4 will never come to the PC though. Not this decade at least. 720p and hacksaw jaggies will have to do for now.

Piracy on 360 is not as big as PC. Also the amount of modding and no live drive away most.
 
How does the analogy not work? Halo 4 on PC would at its core be the same game as the 360 version, it would just have better graphics.

Just like the 360 Elite plays the same games as Vanilla 360s, but with less chance of overheating / RRoD, larger HDD, etc. Fact is MS upgraded the Xbox 360, but when the 360 launched, MS didn't say it would be made obsolete that quickly...

And as far as I know, Microsoft will still label 360 games as "Exclusive" if they only have PC ports.

Do you own a console?
 
Watching those particles interact with the normal mapping on the floor is a beautiful thing to see. Those creases on the floor aren't geometry, they're normal maps if you're wondering.
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