No Style’s Checkpoint: Pre-GTAIV Edition

Metal Gear Online is now live for everyone meaning I’ll be spending time with it – the amount of time will depend on its quality. So expect something written up about this. As for the game, I have some idea what to expect, but it’s all very vague. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if I just don’t get what MGO is all about.

Grand Theft Auto 4 is just around the corner and reviews are beginning to crop up. IGN’s review is lengthy, but I didn’t bother reading it since it’s just a lot of anecdotes which you shouldn’t be reading, but experiencing for your own. IGN gave it a 10/10. Shocking? No. As for the differences between the PS3 and XBOX 360 versions, it appears that speculation of the PS3 version being “technically superior” appears to be true:

“For those wanting to know which version looks better, the edge goes to the PS3. The textures and framerate are comparable, but the PS3 has far less pop-in. The 360 has richer colors, but the PS3 has better anti-aliasing making it look a little cleaner. Because GTA IV can preload onto the PS3 hard drive, the in-game loads are faster. Don’t worry Xbox owners, the load times are rarely more than 30 seconds and don’t occur very often. The slight visual edge goes to PS3, but the 360 is no slouch. Either version will do you proud.”

Less pop-in, faster load times and better anti-aliasing are pretty significant for those who expect consoles and console games to live up to their potential. In reality, though, unless the game’s differences are as pronounced Assassin’s Creed’s – it doesn’t matter which one is better.

I know there those who can live with inconsistent framerate, load times, unrefined image and texture pop-in, but not I. These are issues which should not be plaguing games developed for fixed hardware. Developers know the console’s limits. If the hardware cannot handle it: scale it back. If I wanted framerate problems and texture pop-in, I’d have picked up the PC SKU and played it on my outdated hardware.

Mass Effect made this very apparent to me.

Truth be told, it was Mass Effect which discouraged me from purchasing software for the XBOX 360. It’s not that I don’t want to, but more like me and my intolerance for the hardware’s faults. It’s noticeably louder than any other AV equipment in the room, susceptible to RRODing or worse: Disc Read Errors which cause me to lose precious unsaved progress. I would gladly install 5 GB worth of data for 20 minutes (DMC4 for PS3 demanded this for ‘negligible’ gain) than be interrupted by long load times, texture pop-ins and the revving of a 12x DVD drive. Microsoft can fix these problems with future iterations of the XBOX 360, but until then, I’ll be increasing my PS3’s library. That is, unless wicked deals drop by.

I picked up Sega Rally Revo for the XBOX 360 two days ago for $9.89 “new”. (It’s actually the display box with a brand new disc) I tried it for a bit and unlike the demo which whooped my ass repeatedly without mercy, I was able to go to Championship mode and familiarize myself. The game is very solid. Exotic visuals and a slick framerate goes a long way. And then there’s the mud and terrain deformation which is just genius. A good preview of the game can be found on GameTrailers. If you have interest in cars, even just passing interest and can pick up this game for cheap: go for it.

As for the weekend, it may actually be spent getting to know Metal Gear Online and watching NBA Playoffs. You can also sprinkle in a bit of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass for the Nintendo DS as well.