As you’ve probably heard by now, Konami will be releasing Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One with frame rates and resolution. To be exact, MGS 5: Ground Zeroes will run at 1080p 60fps on PS4 and 720p 60fps on Xbox One, and 720 30fps on Xbox 360, and PS3. That’s right, Microsoft’s next gen (now current gen) console will run the game at the same resolution as the outgoing gen consoles. Series creator Hideo Kojima had this to say about it:

 Being asked so often about differences in “frame rate” and “resolution” depending on the hardware model make little sense to me, but I listened, so I plan to publish it tomorrow (laughs). 

Which begs the question, does frame rate and resolution really matter?

It should be clear at this point that the PS4 can produce stronger visuals than the Xbox One. Of course we’re still early into the current gen lifecycle and developers have a lot to learn about each console, meaning that visuals on both consoles will likely continue to improve. So while the Xbox One could catch up to the PS4 and even surpass it, let’s assume for now that things will continue on their current trajectory.

First, it’s not that games on the Xbox One look ugly. In fact, games like Forza and Titanfall (both exclusive to Xbox) both look quite fantastic but that doesn’t change the reality that many multi-platform games like Tomb Raider and now MGS5 will run at a higher resolution and frame rate on the PS4. In fact, it’s beginning to look like the fortunes of Microsoft and Sony have reversed,where previously, Sony’s first party studios could crank out amazing visuals on the PS3 where 3rd party developers struggled to offer the same and generally provided better graphics on the Xbox 360.

Of course it’s worth noting that, unlike the PS3, where first party games offered better visuals, Xbox One first party games are offering the same visual cap as 3rd party games, indicating that the issue at hand (if it can be called that) isn’t about the technical knowledge and/or difficulty of creating games for the console and is instead brought on by hardware differences. While both consoles offer 8GB RAM, the PS4 utilizes next generation 8GB 5500MHz GDDR5 RAM while the Xbox One opts for off-the-shelf 8GB 2133MHz DDR3 RAM.

In the end, this begs the question, do frame rate and resolution truly matter? While topics like this are hot button items on the internet, they seldom seep into the consumer world where the general public makes a majority of the purchasing decisions. This can be seen in the fact that the PS3 has always been sold at a higher price point than the Xbox 360 with 3rd party games which have favored the Microsoft console and for the last year, Sony has pulled ahead in sales, despite having the PS3 out for one year fewer.

Discuss:

Do you think frame rate and resolution truly matters to the larger consumer and will affect the fate of either console, or is it more internet hot air?