This generation of nVidia's GTX 680/670 is a pass.

[Danik]

Actually most of the time it is the small developers who are pushing the limits of graphic cards.

Crytek with Far Cry and Crysis
RED Project with Witcher 2
4A with Metro 2033

It seems to me that large companies have to cater to their stockholder's need instead of their fanbase. I.e. lower graphical detail = lower system requirements = their games will be playable by more people = more profit with less risk

Many companies do this. Blizzard is notorious for using this model to appeal to a wider audience. They even have massive number of fans who will go out of their way to call their graphics superior. I don't mind the artistic style they take most of the time, but their graphics are technically low most of the time and in my opinion run horribly for what they are. SC2 and D3 both run like garbage even with high end hardware. What's worse is that the difference between low, medium, and high is often very insignificant visually, but can result in drastic drops in performance.

 

[Grooveriding]

Many companies do this. Blizzard is notorious for using this model to appeal to a wider audience. They even have massive number of fans who will go out of their way to call their graphics superior. I don't mind the artistic style they take most of the time, but their graphics are technically low most of the time and in my opinion run horribly for what they are. SC2 and D3 both run like garbage even with high end hardware. What's worse is that the difference between low, medium, and high is often very insignificant visually, but can result in drastic drops in performance.

Blizzard has the best art department in gaming imo and some of the most archaic graphics engines around. The art team basically carries their games and manages to make them look appealing. Otherwise they'd be straight dog turd.

 

[RussianSensation]

How does a bad looking racing game justify a GPU upgrade? Sorry, those don't look good. Car models are nice and the added reflection gives them a nice look, but textures are complete shit (especially the 2nd pic) as is the dull lighting in both pics.

Not sure if serious. This is in-game. Did you look at the models in the other pics in my first post? Look at how military equipment looks in BF3 and compare it to the car models in this game. The details, the reflections, the number of polygons are a generation apart. BF3 is average looking overhyped (in terms of graphics) game with a nice lighting and character animation model. The trees look like sprites and textures for equipment, sandbags, buildings, grass/trees are lame. This game has better graphics than any PC game I can think of right now (perhaps outside of Crysis with mods), despite being in the Alpha stage. It's easily the best looking racing game in the world. If you think that's ugly......

Watch this 2 min video. This game's graphics blow BF3 out of the water. It's not even close:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NSjfaSw4_M

Blizzard has the best art department in gaming imo and some of the most archaic graphics engines around. The art team basically carries their games and manages to make them look appealing. Otherwise they'd be straight dog turd.

Did you see Tera? Makes WOW and Diablo look pretty avg even in the art department.

http://www.gamespot.com/tera/videos/video-review-tera-6377228/

 

[cmdrdredd]

Only if you're looking at the non-Gaap revenue figures. The Gaap revenue figures are different (and dont allow for book cooking ).

Going by the Gaap numbers EA's revenue in 2011

360 - 345 million
PS3 - 308 million
PC - 205 million

But even looking at your non-Gaap numbers the consoles as a whole still dwarf the revenue that the PC brings in.

Still, overall revenues from PC gaming was up. That's a sign. Console earnings are slowing down and in some cases posting losses.

I'm not going to argue art style...I have a place in my heart for Nintendo when it comes to that. I think the actual graphics of games are at a standstill because this console generation has lasted too long. Even if a developer uses the strengths of a PC GPU in their games, it doesn't change that drastically. Look at Batman: AC for example. It looks best on PC, but on a PS3 or Xbox 360 it does not look that much worse. The game engine was built long ago, at the beginning of the Xbox 360's lifetime. Until developers are forced to build a new engine to take advantage of new consoles, the PC will stagnate a bit because even while PC gaming is gaining momentum and making money, there are just too many console gamers which could be a bad thing if you look it at solely from the perspective of PC Gaming.

 

[blastingcap]

Not sure if serious. This is in-game. Did you look at the models in the other pics in my first post? Look at how military equipment looks in BF3 and compare it to the car models in this game. The details, the reflections, the number of polygons are a generation apart. BF3 is average looking overhyped (in terms of graphics) game with a nice lighting and character animation model. The trees look like sprites and textures for equipment, sandbags, buildings, grass/trees are lame. This game has better graphics than any PC game I can think of right now (perhaps outside of Crysis with mods), despite being in the Alpha stage. It's easily the best looking racing game in the world. If you think that's ugly......

Watch this 2 min video. This game's graphics blow BF3 out of the water. It's not even close:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NSjfaSw4_M

Did you see Tera? Makes WOW and Diablo look pretty avg even in the art department.

http://www.gamespot.com/tera/videos/video-review-tera-6377228/

FWIW I think the alpha-stage Project Cars graphics are very good. I don't play racing games enough to know if they are the best in their category, but the graphics definitely compare well with any FPS I've ever played. There is some additional work to be done with the underside of cars and lighting definitely needs work (I saw a Cars demo where it was obvious that the lightning engine messed up a bit as a car went into a very dark area). But hey, it's an alpha build, right?

 

[2is]

Not sure if serious. This is in-game. Did you look at the models in the other pics in my first post? Look at how military equipment looks in BF3 and compare it to the car models in this game. The details, the reflections, the number of polygons are a generation apart. BF3 is average looking overhyped (in terms of graphics) game with a nice lighting and character animation model. The trees look like sprites and textures for equipment, sandbags, buildings, grass/trees are lame. This game has better graphics than any PC game I can think of right now (perhaps outside of Crysis with mods), despite being in the Alpha stage. It's easily the best looking racing game in the world. If you think that's ugly......

Watch this 2 min video. This game's graphics blow BF3 out of the water. It's not even close:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NSjfaSw4_M


Did you see Tera? Makes WOW and Diablo look pretty avg even in the art department.

http://www.gamespot.com/tera/videos/video-review-tera-6377228/

The only part that was impressive from the two screen shots I saw was hi-poly car models, which is essentially what GT5 did with their models on the PS3. In-Race textures were bad. Tires had no texture, neither did the grass or the track and the lighting was horrible, which is to say, there was none. Everything just looked grey. I think you just saw a nice shiny high detailed car model and focused there ignoring everything else. The video looked better but that was reply mode which always looks better. Lets see some textures on the track and the grass and some real lighting in there casting real shadows and maybe you'll be on to something. I'm glad the game is in Alpha because quite frankly it looks like it.

I agree that it's not even close to BF3 but I think BF3 destroys this Alpha.

 

[Destiny]

Not sure if serious. This is in-game. Did you look at the models in the other pics in my first post? Look at how military equipment looks in BF3 and compare it to the car models in this game. The details, the reflections, the number of polygons are a generation apart. BF3 is average looking overhyped (in terms of graphics) game with a nice lighting and character animation model. The trees look like sprites and textures for equipment, sandbags, buildings, grass/trees are lame. This game has better graphics than any PC game I can think of right now (perhaps outside of Crysis with mods), despite being in the Alpha stage. It's easily the best looking racing game in the world. If you think that's ugly......

Watch this 2 min video. This game's graphics blow BF3 out of the water. It's not even close:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NSjfaSw4_M



Did you see Tera? Makes WOW and Diablo look pretty avg even in the art department.

http://www.gamespot.com/tera/videos/video-review-tera-6377228/

Is Project CARS out yet? If it is where can I get it?


...after Seeing Tera I'm in no rush to pick up D3...

 

[cmdrdredd]

Is Project CARS out yet? If it is where can I get it?


...after Seeing Tera I'm in no rush to pick up D3...

Too bad that after playing Tera I think it sucks utterly bad. I was bored so quickly. I did not like the combat one bit. The worst part was the questing system...poorly thought out.

 

[Ashenor]

Too bad that after playing Tera I think it sucks utterly bad. I was bored so quickly. I did not like the combat one bit. The worst part was the questing system...poorly thought out.

How long and what level did you play it to? I am a long time MMO player, and this game caught me by suprise. I love the graphics and the combat, i thought it was a very refreshing change. Its one of those things you really need to get 20+ and some the BAM's and start to run the dungeons to see how great the game really is.

 

[chimaxi83]

The only part that was impressive from the two screen shots I saw was hi-poly car models, which is essentially what GT5 did with their models on the PS3. In-Race textures were bad. Tires had no texture, neither did the grass or the track and the lighting was horrible, which is to say, there was none. Everything just looked grey. I think you just saw a nice shiny high detailed car model and focused there ignoring everything else. The video looked better but that was reply mode which always looks better. Lets see some textures on the track and the grass and some real lighting in there casting real shadows and maybe you'll be on to something. I'm glad the game is in Alpha because quite frankly it looks like it.

I agree that it's not even close to BF3 but I think BF3 destroys this Alpha.

BF3 has lighting over this alpha. That's about it, and I love BF3. Cars look amazing, can't say the same about BF3 ground vehicles. They look good, but this is another class. Tires have no texture? You do know that in real life F1 cars, a lot of them have zero tread? Smooth tires serve a purpose. Later in that video you will see tires with texture. I agree that the track needs work, grass not so much.

All in all, the game looks pretty damn good, better than BF3 in a lot of aspects, better than any other PC racing game to date.

 

[cmdrdredd]

How long and what level did you play it to? I am a long time MMO player, and this game caught me by suprise. I love the graphics and the combat, i thought it was a very refreshing change. Its one of those things you really need to get 20+ and some the BAM's and start to run the dungeons to see how great the game really is.

I didn't go far I'll admit. It just didn't hit me right. I played to level 20. I'm sure some people love it.

 

[2is]

BF3 has lighting over this alpha. That's about it, and I love BF3. Cars look amazing, can't say the same about BF3 ground vehicles. They look good, but this is another class. Tires have no texture? You do know that in real life F1 cars, a lot of them have zero tread? Smooth tires serve a purpose. Later in that video you will see tires with texture. I agree that the track needs work, grass not so much.

All in all, the game looks pretty damn good, better than BF3 in a lot of aspects, better than any other PC racing game to date.

Yes, I know full well F1 is back to slicks now, even still these just look like artwork done in microsoft paint by an 8 year old. vehicle models is the only thing this alpha has over BF3. BF3 has better lighting and textures. I'm sorry but it just doens't look good outside of the vehicles and "replay" which is a worthless metric to judge a games eye candy.

 

[Zebo]

Did not skip and had a not much slower GTX 580 @ 950. I consider it best generation in a long time. Low power and fast. Like 8800 days. Oh well different strokes for different folks.

What I don't like is nvidia controlling my overclock. Perhaps there will be work around in future that doesnt involve soldering.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Well, the boost clock is a great idea for those who arent interested in testing to find their max. What i would rather see is like they do on the new intel cpus. You select your max clock and the gpu will load up to that when it needs and as power requirements decrease it will decrease speed accordingly. So if you are playing battlefield 3 you get max speeds, but playing an older game doesnt need that power so it will just drop off. Sometimes i notice the gpu will boost reLly high over the boost speed that you set and at times that becomes unstable. I would rather be able to find my card's max and set it. That way the card doesnt all the sudden boost to 1280 and crash in a game when i have it set to 1210