If you haven't been paying attention lately, there's been something of a scandal going on over Call of Duty: Ghosts' frame rate and picture quality on the next-gen consoles. Combine a huge game like Call of Duty: Ghosts with the fanboys of the Internet being what they are, it's led to even more divisive drawing of lines in the sand, and arguments over which version is superior, the Xbox One or PlayStation 4. With either console not yet available, the best thing to do is go to someone who would know, which is exactly what the Metro's Game Central did, speaking with Ghosts producer Mark Rubin.
While the Metro's question of was resolution the only difference between the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of the game, Rubin and a PR rep's answers, if you could call them that, were anything but:
"Yep, it's the only difference," said Rubin. "The TVs are different on some of them, but... they both have their different rendering engines but they're as close as possible. It really comes down to resolution. Xbox is upscaled 720, it's outputting at 1080p but it's upscaled from 720. Whereas PlayStation 4 is native 1080p. So that's really the only graphical difference. But it is enough. Some people here are saying they don't really notice a difference..."
The Metro's David Jenkins went further, asking, "...the obvious assumption from all this is that the PlayStation 4 is definitely more powerful than the Xbox One, is that true?" Rubin's response was that he couldn't answer the question, but couldn't say why. See the excerpt from the interview below:
GC: You can't answer it on a technical level or because you're being diplomatic?
MR: Can't answer that.
GC: You can't say whether you're avoiding the question for diplomatic reasons?
MR: [embarrassed] I just can't say anything...
[Even the attending PR guy is looking embarrassed by this point]
PR guy: It's very hard for us to be...
GC: Are the console manufacturers leaning on you to avoid these sort of questions?
MR: [unsure - speaking to PR guy] I don't know if that...
MR: [even more embarrassed to us] Yeah, there's things that we... We sign NDAs with the first parties [i.e. Microsoft and Sony - GC] and there are things that we're not allowed to talk about.
Interesting, a third party developer isn't allowed to talk about the technical differences between versions of a game that aren't even out yet. Meanwhile, Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami thinks the two consoles are remarkably similar, as does Battlefield 4's Executive Producer Patrick Bach, who said the two consoles have "more in common."
Funny that a developer for one hotly anticipated FPS would have so much hesitancy towards discussing the differences of the consoles and violating a NDA, while another is seemingly scared stiff at the very thought of it.
When asked if he agreed with Mikami's statements, Rubin responded, "I would say that's a bit inaccurate but I wouldn't be able to tell you any detail of why that's inaccurate."
Whatever Rubin's getting at, it looks like we'll have to wait until the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 are out and figure it out for ourselves.
Microsoft's Xbox One launches on Nov. 22, and will be available in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, UK, and the United States for $499.
The new console claims an 8-core x86 processor and Microsoft hopes it will take the place of the family room cable box by letting you watch Blu-ray movies and TV through the console, in a "seamless transition" that lets players switch from playing games to watching shows and/or movies. It will come fully loaded with 8GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive.
A cross-country tour where Microsoft is demoing the system at various locations is already underway, and demo kiosks have begun arriving at certain retailers.
As for Sony, the PlayStation 4 boasts Supercharged PC architecture, X86 CPU, Enhanced PC GPU, and 8GB Unified Memory under the hood. It will support the same PlayStation Plus service as the Vita and PlayStation 3. However, a Plus subscription will be required for online multiplayer games, but not for additional media services like Netflix. Sony has also updated the Dual Shock controllers with a touch screen and improved shoulder triggers, and bundles the console with a headset.
Demo kiosks have already started making their way to various retailers, with more and more rolling out the closer we get to the console's launch date.
The PlayStation 4 is set to release on November 15 in North America and on November 29 in Europe. Day one games available for the system include Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Battlefield 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Killzone Shadow Fall,Madden NFL 25, Minecraft, NBA 2K14, Need for Speed: Rivals, and more. It will retail for $399.
Be sure to keep checking back with Gamenguide for more of the latest updates.
