There's a good chance that the PS4 will once again be the only next-gen 1080p option for a huge upcoming title. CD Projekt co-founder Marcin Iwinski recently made comments that suggest that the Xbox One version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt won't perform as well.
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"We are still working on squeezing the juice out of the consoles and Microsoft are supporting us in this respect," Iwinski told Eurogamer. "The final effect, whether it's 720p, 1080p - we had the debate in the studio about it and actually asked our tech guys to explain how it works, and they sent me some complicated graphs that 'if I have this size of the screen, and I sit one meter or two meters from it, then I might be able to see the difference'.
"It's more of a PR differentiation," he added, "which is very important for Sony right now - and they are using it, obviously - than something that is really meaningful to gamers. We're definitely working to max out each of the platforms in terms of what we can get, because that's a crucial element of The Witcher. Will there be big differences? Really I don't think so. It's too early to say. If there will be, they will be tiny. It will be more like people talking 'hey, I have this and you have that and this is better'."
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He does have a point- while Sony has been jumping on top of this issue whenever they can, pointing figures at Microsoft and laughing at the inferiority of their system, most recently with Watch Dogs, gamers don't seem to really be able to notice it. If the game plays just as well there should be no problem, but of course people always like to have the best version possible, and right now the PlayStation 4 seems like the only option for that.
The Witcher 3 will offer different control schemes depending on your console of choice- Kinect and SmartGlass for Xbox One, and Move on PS4, but don't expect to have to dance around in front of the console to move your monster slayer. "It will be using the hardware whenever it really makes sense for the game, but it's all about you, your game pad and having fun," said Iwinski.
Of course, the PC version will have the best possible resolution of them all, the nature of the system allowing them to scale up for those who have amazing gaming rigs, making the whole battle seem somewhat quaint.
Regardless of which option you pick, it's obvious that The Witcher 3 will be something special. The last installment is one of the finest RPGs of recent years and the idea of an open-world version of it is almost too much to take. Hopefully we'll have more to report about the game at E3 next month.
