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Two new DOOM 3 XBOX screens

signet

Member
Bregor said:
This doesn't even touch e-mail, browsing, office apps and all the other things that an Xbox cannot and will never be able to do.

You can do that all on an old 400mhz or less PC that won't run you more than $99 at this point. Anything over that is for games and you are fooling yourself if you think any different.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
D3 on medium? If you are going to slum it up at medium might as well play the Xbox version.

What?!?! Doom 3 on medium will look VASTLY superior to the XBOX version. Did you even READ what medium settings actually are?!? The actual texture resolution isn't even being downgraded here (unlike XBOX)! Not only that, the framerate will be smoother!

You can do that all on an old 400mhz or less PC that won't run you more than $99 at this point. Anything over that is for games and you are fooling yourself if you think any different.

Bullshit.

We have PIII-500 Mhz machines still floating around at work, but the majority of the machines are 2 GHz and over. For office apps, those 500 MHz machines just can't get the job done...even after reformatting. They are sluggish in daily usage.
 

Bregor

Member
signet said:
You can do that all on an old 400mhz or less PC that won't run you more than $99 at this point. Anything over that is for games and you are fooling yourself if you think any different.

The videocard is for games only of course, but you need a better processor for many other things. My seventy year old parents use Photoshop a lot- they love the new Athlon 2000 PC I built for them - they were tired of having to leave the room while waiting for Photoshop to load.
 

signet

Member
dark10x said:
What?!?! Doom 3 on medium will look VASTLY superior to the XBOX version. Did you even READ what medium settings actually are?!? The actual texture resolution isn't even being downgraded here (unlike XBOX)! Not only that, the framerate will be smoother!

missed the rolleyes did ya?

Textures downgraded on the xbox? How much more detailed do you want for what is 1) and unfinished game at this point and 2) running on the relatively low resolution of a TV.
 

teh_pwn

"Saturated fat causes heart disease as much as Brawndo is what plants crave."
I don't understand the "PC gamers must have all DX9 effects turned on and run at 1024x768 or higher. Now let's compare framerates." Why can't PC gamers disable DX9 effects and fly at 100 fps at 800x600?

The xbox version is way toned down. Lighting has been simplified, textures have several times less detail, and the models are chunky polygons while the PC has more animation and depth.
 

signet

Member
dark10x said:
Bullshit.

We have PIII-500 Mhz machines still floating around at work, but the majority of the machines are 2 GHz and over. For office apps, those 500 MHz machines just can't get the job done...even after reformatting. They are sluggish in daily usage.


So back when 400mhz were top of the line no one ever used any sort of offer apps? I call bullshit on you.

Yeah you might not be able to run Office Xp but there are programs that will work.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
signet said:
missed the rolleyes did ya?

Textures downgraded on the xbox? How much more detailed do you want for what is 1) and unfinished game at this point and 2) running on the relatively low resolution of a TV.

I'd like the textures to look closer to the PC version, for one. There are plenty of XBOX games available with higher resolution textures than what you see in Doom 3 XBOX (though none of them use the same techniques for texturing). The fact that it is unfinished means nothing, quite frankly. That argument is pulled out whenever someone is attempting to defend the textures of a game prior to release. I have yet to see an example where placeholder textures were used. The resolution of those textures will not be increased...

A TV is lower resolution than a monitor, but running at 480p, it isn't as if you can't clearly see all of the details. It looks very sharp and the downgrades would be obvious.

The game simply does look much worse than the PC version, there is no way around that. In motion, it looks somewhat accurate...but you can clearly see where corners were cut. Oh, and don't forget the additional loading zones and longer loadtimes in the XBOX version...

Yeah you might not be able to run Office Xp but there are programs that will work.

You clearly know nothing about standards...

We are currently running Windows 2000 Professional SP4 + Office 2000 as standard software on ALL PCs. When WinNT 4.0 was the standard platform and Office 97 was being used, those machines handled it much better. The machines run slow. Every task is simply much slower and it makes normal operation difficult for the users and it REALLY annoys me when there is a problem and I have to fix it. When I can reboot a newer machine 6 times in the time it takes to reboot an older machine ONCE...there is a problem. Productivity is LOST on these older machines...and we aren't just talking a "few minutes" here.

Perhaps I am speaking from a different perspective here, but I HATE dealing with those older machines. I had nearly forgotten, but we actually have a number of P2-233 machines lying around in various places as well. Before we had Zenworks running on Novell, I had to manually install certain updates on these machines. It took ONE HOUR to install service pack 4 on a P2-233. It takes about 5 minutes on a newer machine...
 

teh_pwn

"Saturated fat causes heart disease as much as Brawndo is what plants crave."
Yeah, my work uses plenty of P2 and P3 machines. We run apps constantly. It is a bit laggy, but it gets the job done.

Hell, we have one with a Pentium 1 Pro that has a "Year 2000 Compliant" sticker on it.

We do have new machines, but that's mostly reserved for people designing hardware with high end apps.
 

Ghost

Chili Con Carnage!
There are no proper comparisons but it is a fact, if you wanna play doom 3 and have a shitty PC, $200 for an xbox and the game is a good deal.
 

signet

Member
dark10x said:
You clearly know nothing about standards...


here I was thinking we where talking about running Doom 3 on personal PCs, I had no idea you were installing Doom 3 on your work PC. Think you can put in a good word for me, I'd love to work there.


Let me know a program that you run today that did not have an equivalent back in the dark days of 2000.


edit:

The fact is we are talking about playing doom 3 and nothing else, if you want to play Doom 3 on a PC it is going to cost you a lot more than playing on a Xbox. The trade off is on the Xbox the game won't look as nice. Now is a better looking game really worth that much more? I personally don't believe it to be worth it.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
signet said:
here I was thinking we where talking about running Doom 3 on personal PCs, I had no idea you were installing Doom 3 on your work PC. Think you can put in a good word for me, I'd love to work there.


Let me know a program that you run today that did not have an equivalent back in the dark days of 2000.

You are insane.

You can do that all on an old 400mhz or less PC that won't run you more than $99 at this point. Anything over that is for games and you are fooling yourself if you think any different.

You are clearly talking about Doom 3. -mega-barfy-rolleyes-

There is a difference between doing something and doing it well. A 400 MHz PC does not run Windows 2000 or greater very well.
 
You play a dangerous game, signet. Sure, there were equivalents back in 2000, but as the years progress, so do people and what their programs can do. There are a lot of features that help productivity that weren't available 4 years ago.

Fission Mailed.
 

signet

Member
dark10x said:
You are insane.



You are clearly talking about Doom 3. -mega-barfy-rolleyes-

There is a difference between doing something and doing it well. A 400 MHz PC does not run Windows 2000 or greater very well.


A 400mhz PC does not need to run Windows 2000, don't you get that. you don't need to run the latest to get work done. A 400mhz will run windows 98 and it's office apps just as well in 2004 as it did in 1999.
 
Sure PCs DO more, that is what they are built for in the first place. And thats why they are more expensive. You get what you pay for.

However, for John Q. Public who does'nt have $700 to spend on a PC to just play a game at somewhat decent specs, the XBOX at $150 is a godsend.

Why are PC gamers unable to understand this simple concept?
 

signet

Member
Tre said:
You play a dangerous game, signet. Sure, there were equivalents back in 2000, but as the years progress, so do people and what their programs can do. There are a lot of features that help productivity that weren't available 4 years ago.

Fission Mailed.


Wasn't aware that productivity what that much of a focal point of using a PC at home. Next time I am working on a term paper, I'll work on it with my faster PC, I'll be sure to finish so much faster.
 
Windows 2000 is the latest? :p

"Wasn't aware that productivity what that much of a focal point of using a PC at home. "

I'm sorry, if I want to do something, I don't want to be bogged down with minute long load times, freezes, and the machine practically not able to do anything else. My Mom's P333 barely renders webpages without taking 20 seconds.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
signet said:
A 400mhz PC does not need to run Windows 2000, don't you get that. you don't need to run the latest to get work done. A 400mhz will run windows 98 and it's office apps just as well in 2004 as it did in 1999.

You obviously don't understand the fact that, in my example, we can not USE Windows 98. It does not work properly with our network and we don't want to support it. We are trying to follow a standard. Installing Windows 98 IS NOT AN OPTION. The networking components of Win 98 are TERRIBLE...

However, even from a home standpoint, we have SEEN the light and what was acceptable 4 years ago no longer is. When I was using a 56k modem and a P2-450, I thought it was just fine...but I would NEVER EVER want to return to that. Current machines run current software much faster than older machines ran software of that day. WinXP runs much quicker on my P4-2.4 than Win98 did on my P2-450. I didn't know any better back then, though.
 

signet

Member
dark10x said:
You obviously don't understand the fact that, in my example, we can not USE Windows 98. It does not work properly with our network and we don't want to support it. We are trying to follow a standard. Installing Windows 98 IS NOT AN OPTION. The networking components of Win 98 are TERRIBLE...


And what does your networking situation have to do with playing Doom 3?

I had no problems networking a win 98 PC with WinXp PC, all you need is a 3rd party program like Allaboard.
 

shpankey

not an idiot
Tre said:
dark10x: I'm beginning to think these guys don't have a fucking clue what they're talking about, just defending their hive :p.

Why are you surprised? You know how it goes around here... same ol' same ol'.
 
My rig:

P4-C @ 2.4 GHz
512 MB PC1066 RAM
9700 Pro


This puppy is starting to show some age, but i don't think the 6800/x800's are going to be worth it. I'm gonna tough it out w/ DoomIII to see if frame rates are bearable. I know my rig will game HL2 @ 1024x768 at a more than playable state (maybe even smooth! o_O).

The next-generation after the 6800/x800 refreshers is the one i'm going to be interested in. Mmmmm, DX10?
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
signet said:
And what does your networking situation have to do with playing Doom 3?

I had no problems networking a win 98 PC with WinXp PC, all you need is a 3rd party program like Allaboard.

For shits sake...

This has nothing to do with Doom 3.

We claimed that a 400 MHz PC could handle all normal tasks. We weren't talking about Doom 3.

I was giving examples of why that isn't true. You clearly have no clue what I am talking about in regards to networking and it appears that all of your network "experience" is strictly home based. Putting two PCs in a workgroup is not the same damn thing.

In a corporate environment, older PCs simply don't get the job done. Networking and business computer usage has changed for the better since Win98 was big. If you were to build an entire company network based around Win98 today, virtually any IT person would laugh at you for a very long time. That would be foolish.
 

Gregory

Banned
Those are most likely just bad shots. This older screen looks much better and it`s also fully in-game with the hud, unlike these new ones.

doom3_042704_002.jpg


This looks almost as good as the PC version,imo.
 

signet

Member
And outside of a corporate environment what can't a 400mhz PC do? Did your corporation not use computers back in 2000?

Old PC have the same basic software packages as newer PCs.
 
SaitoH said:
While everyone has their opinion, I've seen this one reiterated numerous times and am a tad baffled. It does have a CG rendered quality, but in motion, you don't really notice it. I've only played that leaked alpha, but it looked amazing to me.

Definitely not plastic, IMO.

^_~

On topic: The Xbox version looks great, and hearing that it runs at a good framerate is fantastic news. Should make a lot of people very happy.

^w^

maybe, it reminds me of the plasticness of Deus Ex:IW and Thief:DS which im not too fond of either. And I still think the xbox version looks awful
 

Oni Jazar

Member
Aren't Xbox fans supposed to be well known for arguing that the best looking game is the one to get when it comes to multi-platform? You guys are sounding like Sony fans.

Anyways the PC version will be out in a week. If the game is as good as the early reviews are saying lots of you will be upgrading your PCs, too eager to wait for the holiday season. (which is when Halo 2 comes out and by then who cares about Doom?) :)
 
"Aren't Xbox fans supposed to be well known for arguing that the best looking game is the one to get when it comes to multi-platform? You guys are sounding like Sony fans."

I still don't get the PC / Console link some people try to establish. Markets are so different.
 

Bregor

Member
signet said:
And outside of a corporate environment what can't a 400mhz PC do? Did your corporation not use computers back in 2000?

Old PC have the same basic software packages as newer PCs.

I've already given an example of a use for fast PC's outside of the corporate environment: Photoshop.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
signet said:
And outside of a corporate environment what can't a 400mhz PC do? Did your corporation use computers back in 2000?

Old PC have the same basic software packages as newer PCs.

Yes, but networking technologies have improved. Our network runs faster and more efficient than it ever has. The newer hardware and technologies not only allow users to access data at a faster rate...it makes administration MUCH easier.

If we were running Windows NT 4.0 on a P2-233 machine and were upgrading to the latest service pack, you would need to walk around to EACH computer and manually install this service pack. Due to the speed, it would take a good 20 something minutes to complete. Today, we can update these machines from our office and have all of this done quickly and remotely. Do you know how long it took to walk around to 200 machines in order to install a service pack?

Computer usage habits have changed as well. People who were timid around PCs 4 years ago have basically been forced into using these things and have become efficient. People now multi-task quite heavily and generally work at a much quicker pace. They don't just sit down and type a word document...they are using massive databases and spreadsheets that didn't exist before (as they were handled through actual paperwork...a job which was more time consuming). How much experience have you had with 50+mb database files on a P2-400? With slower machines, these users are unable to work at the pace required. When a truck is sitting at the door, and they need to jump into their database for some entries...do you really think they'll mind waiting while the PC cranks away at the HDD for a while?

Outside of that environment, what can't a 400 MHz PC do? It simply depends on what you do. If you are ONLY writing Word documents and printing them out, then yes, a 400 MHz machine will do just fine. However, just as in the work place, usage is changing. People are doing MORE with their PCs than ever before and the older software and hardware just doesn't cut it.
 

signet

Member
dark10x said:
People are doing MORE with their PCs than ever before and the older software and hardware just doesn't cut it.

yet a 400mhz will do what most people need it to do (web, email, book keeping, office apps), the people who refuse to throw away money on a Doom 3 capable PC can get by just fine.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
signet said:
yet a 400mhz will do what most people need it to do (web, email, book keeping, office apps), the people who refuse to throw away money on a Doom 3 capable PC can get by just fine.

Old folks, extremely casual users, and people like you are the ones who can get by. People can get by on old machines, but you attempted to make the case that faster machines are ONLY USEFUL for games. You suggested that owning a machine over 400 Mhz only holds value for gaming. That is utter bullshit.

Why not just live in a cave, hunt for your own food, and make your own clothes?

I have. You evidentally have not, since you have missed the reason why a newer PC is desirable for Photoshop users.

He has missed this point many times already. He obviously has no concept of SPEED. Photoshop was available in 1999...and it ran slowly while offering fewer features. WOW, that's fan-f*cking-tastic right there! You can do everything on a 486!!!11 Speed and features be damned!
 

Bregor

Member
dark10x said:
Old folks, extremely casual users, and people like you are the ones who can get by. People can get by on old machines, but you attempted to make the case that faster machines are ONLY USEFUL for games. You suggested that owning a machine over 400 Mhz only holds value for gaming. That is utter bullshit.

Why not just live in a cave, hunt for your own food, and make your own clothes?

Hey now, some old folks get frustrated by slow PCs also!
 

signet

Member
So I guess if I wanted to play Doom 3 I should go buy a new PC right? After all I can use Photoshop and network the PC and all this other stuff but play Doom 3.


Sorry PC gamers I am not buying it, if I want to Photoshop I'll Photoshop (can't get enough monkey head on my friend's bodies!) . If I want to play a game I'll play a game on my consoles. Don't think gramps would care all that much that the textures of the Xbox version run at a 1/3rd of the resolution of the PC counterpart.


PC gaming is dieing for a reason, but you guys cling to it the future is just so bright lol


Really you guys have fun, tweak Doom 3 for hours so you can squeeze a few more glitchy fps out of your "rig", I'll sit back relax enjoy the gobs of money i'll be saving and pick up the Xbox version in a few weeks.


914444_20040503_screen001.jpg


Dam that is nice for only $150.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
Signet, you actually seem incapable of imaging tasks beyond your (very) limited scope.

I think that's the problem right there. You assume that, if it works for you, it must be good for everyone. You are ignorant. Flat out ignorant.

Oh, and for the record, I'm much more of a console gamer than anything else. My PC is used for many other things outside of gaming, but I certainly wouldn't trade it away. It just so happens that my PC can run Doom 3 just fine...even if that wasn't the point of buying it. There are many things I do today that simply couldn't be done on an older PC, and that's all there is to it. Gaming is just one of many things...

I do find it interesting that you are such a "hardcore" XBOX fan...yet you only spent $150 on the XBOX. Way to support the platform! How many XBOX games do you even own?
 

Shompola

Banned
Maybe he should have had said that most people who buy pc's today use the extra power to play games more than anything else.
 
At least by getting the PC version you can grow into it as you upgrade.

The Xbox version your always stuck with the same cruddy textures and choppy framerate. Basically you get what you pay for. There's no way around it.
 

signet

Member
dark10x said:
Signet, you actually seem incapable of imaging tasks beyond your (very) limited scope.

I think that's the problem right there. You assume that, if it works for you, it must be good for everyone. You are ignorant. Flat out ignorant.


I only assume that people with super fast PCs are buying them for the games and not for the added benefits of running office apps faster.


Yes they can be used for other tasks but they are made for gaming. As a gaming machine the Xbox is the wiser choice becasue it is cheaper and runs Doom 3 plus many others just as well.
 

dem

Member
Oh you poor souls who havent discovered the glory of pc...
I was once like you.
"Ew.. who wants to sit on front of a monitor when I could be sitting on my couch playing on a big tv!!"
"Ewww.. keyboard and mouse?? Give me a pad designed for gaming!!"
"Why would I want to spend 1000's of dollars just to play stupid first person shooters!"

I have since given in to the dark side.... and I would never go back.
 

signet

Member
seismologist said:
At least by getting the PC version you can grow into it as you upgrade.

The Xbox version your always stuck with the same cruddy textures and choppy framerate. Basically you get what you pay for. There's no way around it.

And how long are you planning to play Doom 3? It is not an life long investment, just a simple game.
 

Buggy Loop

Gold Member
No use talking to a wall.

Fast PCs dont do anything worthwhile outside of gaming? How about multiple torrent downloads? I sure would LOVE to see your 400mhz PC handle that while multitasking an internet browser and some MP3 playing. When i open my PC, usually i start up kazaa, bitcomet (torrent), a browser, zoom player for mp3 playing, then i've got norton AV 2k4 scaning in the background. The difference between my bro's PC which is up to date and that im using now (though not for long since he'll take it back for doom3's release), and my 800mhz PC is staggering, night and day, especially when you start moving files around.

Oh and gaming wise, its not like its exclusive to doom3, heck, thats only a tiny part the PC library that are exclusive to PC, emulators, etc.

But whatever
 
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