Digital Foundry Tech Analysis: Watch Dogs on PlayStation 4

vio said:
Didn`t they show the game later at Jimmy Fallon and it looked even worse? This comparison is useless.
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Visually it didnt look worse, but performance was kind of crap. Daytime scenes in the pc version didn't look nearly as visually striking as the night time footage either.
 
So UBI show a 'demo' last year
- DF assume that's what the PC version will look like, despite other games from UBI previously showing demos that the PC version didn't look up to.
- so we now have a potentially unrealistic baseline right from the beginning.
- DF then compares an incomplete build of the PS4 version against this baseline and finds it lacking

I'm a bit disappointed in DF recently. When they have finished code and can analyse it they produce good results. And their interviews are often excellent. But when given limited access to early builds,their logic seems to go out of the window. We're intelligent people - you treat us intelligently with your analysis of finished games - is it too much to ask you do the same with demos?
 
mrklaw said:
So UBI show a 'demo' last year
- DF assume that's what the PC version will look like, despite other games from UBI previously showing demos that the PC version didn't look up to.
- so we now have a potentially unrealistic baseline right from the beginning.
- DF then compares an incomplete build of the PS4 version against this baseline and finds it lacking

I'm a bit disappointed in DF recently. When they have finished code and can analyse it they produce good results. And their interviews are often excellent. But when given limited access to early builds,their logic seems to go out of the window. We're intelligent people - you treat us intelligently with your analysis of finished games - is it too much to ask you do the same with demos?
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When did you saw DF saying "this is final code and it will look like this folks" ?

He just compared video from E3 2012 to E3 2013 PS4 demo. They have still few months of dev time and last few months are crucial to game performance.
 
Well personally speaking, my PC won't run it anywhere near as good as the PS4, so I'll get the console version.

Really hate when people say the PC version is far superior, not all PC's are the same.
 
Up until February, weren't most developers under the assumption that the PS4 had only 4gb of RAM and were coding their games for that?
 
While I'm glad DF does these analysis articles, I simply find it difficult to digest as they don't have both games in their possession. All they have to compare are videos of each version. They do caveat that this is pure speculation but people will read this and say, "omg downgrade is confirmed"
 
Obviously the analysis isn't final without the actual game, but it's still interesting stuff to read, and gives a rough indication about next gen performance.
 
I think it's okay if DF writes about the current technical state of a game.

But it would be better if they don't start speculating or comparing different beta builds to the PC version. The PC version will look everytime better than the console version just because you can bruteforce better graphics.
 
I hope those of us who are getting this on PC can crank the details and get better visuals. The game still looks great as is but I want something that's closer to the first demo. Hopefully the PC community can mod that stuff back in if it's absent in the retail version.
 
Nozem said:
Obviously the analysis isn't final without the actual game, but it's still interesting stuff to read, and gives a rough indication about next gen performance.
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It really doesn't though. Any demo's shown at E3 five months before the consoles even launch are going to be based on rushed code that hasn't really even begun to be optimized. Most of what we saw probably wasn't even code that was developed on final or near final development kits. You can easily expect any game that was running on development kits to look and run quite a bit better by the time those games launch, and that goes for both consoles.
 
There is nothing wrong with charting progress. I appreciate these little write ups.

It gives some insight what devs are targeting first for cuts or at the very least showing what the pain points are.
 
DF why not wait for a direct feed that you captured from the consoles instead of using a video from unfinished code months before release?
 
We've always said PC games are being held back by 7+ year old hardware of the consoles, now even the new consoles are being held back by their fathers outdated hardware.
 
But if we didn't write stories based on speculation we wouldn't have jobs... This also applies to the 24 hour cable newz channels.
 
TGO said:
DF why not wait for a direct feed that you captured from the consoles instead of using a video from unfinished code months before release?
Click to expand...

Because you need to have some cash flowing in.
Why not discuss some of the footage and conclude some stuff people are
willing to read about.
 
Kun Aguero said:
Yes, what's the point of doing a tech analysis for a game that's not been released, running on a console that's not been released?
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To compare it to the final version of the game? And because people find it interesting to see what the PS4 can do at this point compared to high-end PCs?
 
dragonelite said:
Because you need to have some cash flowing in.
Why not discuss some of the footage and conclude some stuff people are
willing to read about.
Click to expand...

Yeah, especially since the article explicitly tells us about the limitations of their analysis and about the game still being in development and optimization. In any case, I don't see why the conclusion that the PS4 version of a multi-platform title is to some degree a visual downgrade over a high-end PC should be so controversial. This is pretty much expected.
 
Ubisoft is notoriously bad at optimization of PC games.

Imagine how much better watchdogs would look on pc if it had competent devs.
 
I know this is a launch game but its hardly amazing looking, its slightly worrying if they can't get it running smooth on next gen hardware, especially as there are also current gen versions of the game coming out.
 
ElTorro said:
Yeah, especially since the article explicitly tells us about the limitations of their analysis and about the game still being in development and optimization. In any case, I don't see why the conclusion that the PS4 version of a multi-platform title is to some degree a visual downgrade over a high-end PC should be so controversial. This is pretty much expected.
Click to expand...


Because ubisoft have shown before that early demos are staged and the final PC version may not match up to it. So DF should not say the PS4 doesn't live up to the PC version if they are using the previous demo to compare to - that isn't the PC version.
 
RetroStu said:
I know this is a launch game but its hardly amazing looking, its slightly worrying if they can't get it running smooth on next gen hardware, especially as there are also current gen versions of the game coming out.
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I am not sure why it is so worrying. I think it looks really nice, but it is hardly the best looking next gen game that has been shown thus far.
 
I know they are different kind of games but its just funny to see next gen systems running Battlefield 4 at 60fps while struggling to run this game at 30fps.
 
people really need to reign in their ideas of what a gtx 680 represents. it's not some $1000 behemoth. a few months into the PS4's lifecycle it will already be considered decidedly mid-range.

this is the first generation where anyone who has built a mid range gaming PC in the last 3-4 years can pay less than the price of a new console to achieve far beyond next gen performance.
 
based on the last watch dogs videos i've seen, the gtav trailer looks better--and that's running on seven year old hardware.
 
ghst said:
people really need to reign in their ideas of what a gtx 680 represents. it's not some $1000 behemoth. a few months into the PS4's lifecycle it will already be considered decidedly mid-range.

this is the first generation where anyone who has built a mid range gaming PC in the last 3-4 years can pay less than the price of a new console to achieve far beyond next gen performance.
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No way.
 
nelsonroyale said:
I am not sure why it is so worrying. I think it looks really nice, but it is hardly the best looking next gen game that has been shown thus far.
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Watching the build shown in the video from NBC, I thought the graphics/textures looked a but current gen. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but, it's a bit disappointing to me. I'll still be happy to play it though. Looks like a good game IMO.
 
RibbedHero said:
Add a GTX 770 for under $400 to any PC built in the last 5 years and you've got a rig that will easily outdo the next-gen consoles. On the TFLOP side alone that PC would be double the PS4, let alone the XB1.
Click to expand...
Wouldn't that bottleneck the CPU? mid range PCs typically don't have more than 2GB RAM and fairly low wattage PSUs as well.....
 
BlindMonkey said:
Well personally speaking, my PC won't run it anywhere near as good as the PS4, so I'll get the console version.

Really hate when people say the PC version is far superior, not all PC's are the same.
Click to expand...

Well I think it's assumed the talk is about a high spec computer running the game on highest settings. Do we need to clarify with each comparison that we aren't comparing a PC with Intel integrated graphics?
 
Fuck, at this rate I'm only going to be getting one game for both Xbox One and PS4 at launch time and get everything else on PC.
 
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