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Mass Effect 2 PS3 to be 'Just As Good' as X360 One
Nachiket Mhatre, Nov 29, 2010 1722 hrs ISTBioWare claims the porting won't affect the visuals
BioWare's greatest RPG franchise in the recent past - Mass Effect 2 - is being ported to the PS3, and the latest statement from producer, Jess Huston, to the official PlayStation Magazine claiming that porting won't affect the visuals.
Speaking to the magazine, Jeff said, "Oftentimes when you go to the PS3 you see stuff like down-ressing and using a smaller than 720p resolution to try and get back some of the framerate. We haven't done that. We really wanted to try to make it as good, if not better than the Xbox version."
However, in a clear departure from the layman's expectation of better graphics and framerates from the PS3, an alarming number of ports end up looking a bit off and feel a bit clunky, despite all the power of the Cell processor. BioWare's lowered expectations (just as good) from the PS3 port stands testimony to that trend.
On the bright side, BioWare claims to include 20 additional hours of gameplay with the PS3 version, in addition to "three years' worth of engine updates". Those worrying about missing out on the original Mass Effect's storyline, will find the included interactive comic good enough to brush them up on the basics of the plot and also act as a element to change the Mass Effect universe post your choices made in the first game.
Poorly optimized visuals, bugs and other annoyances are the bane of console ports. There is also another kind of console port - one that happens within the console territory. I'm talking about the Xbox to PS3 ports. The reason behind the poor quality of the ports is elementary as well. Developers and publishers, who pour million into their games, want to reach to the widest audience base.
The PS3 may be more powerful, but that also means games optimized for it cannot be easily scaled down for the Xbox 360. Ergo, the norm out there in cross platform games is to code them for the console with the largest user base - that is the Xbox 360 - and then port it to the PS3 and PC.
Speaking to the magazine, Jeff said, "Oftentimes when you go to the PS3 you see stuff like down-ressing and using a smaller than 720p resolution to try and get back some of the framerate. We haven't done that. We really wanted to try to make it as good, if not better than the Xbox version."
However, in a clear departure from the layman's expectation of better graphics and framerates from the PS3, an alarming number of ports end up looking a bit off and feel a bit clunky, despite all the power of the Cell processor. BioWare's lowered expectations (just as good) from the PS3 port stands testimony to that trend.
On the bright side, BioWare claims to include 20 additional hours of gameplay with the PS3 version, in addition to "three years' worth of engine updates". Those worrying about missing out on the original Mass Effect's storyline, will find the included interactive comic good enough to brush them up on the basics of the plot and also act as a element to change the Mass Effect universe post your choices made in the first game.
Poorly optimized visuals, bugs and other annoyances are the bane of console ports. There is also another kind of console port - one that happens within the console territory. I'm talking about the Xbox to PS3 ports. The reason behind the poor quality of the ports is elementary as well. Developers and publishers, who pour million into their games, want to reach to the widest audience base.
The PS3 may be more powerful, but that also means games optimized for it cannot be easily scaled down for the Xbox 360. Ergo, the norm out there in cross platform games is to code them for the console with the largest user base - that is the Xbox 360 - and then port it to the PS3 and PC.
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