[Michael Mullis]

For those of you who are still following the Microsoft Xbox, and any plans for HDTV games, a serious blow from Infogrames. I found out today that Test Drive has lost it's HD support. The following is an email I got from Matthew Guzenda, producer of the game.


This was my email to him:

Quote:

Hi Matthew! Webke sent me, she said to say! J This is Mike Mullis from Next Level Gaming. She asked you about the HDTV support for Test Drive for the Xbox, and I wanted to follow up with you if you have a few moments. Originally, I thought the game was supposed to be in 1080i, which was a major selling point for me, being an HDTV owner. Now with it not being that I wanted to see what happened, or why the decision was made to just go Widescreen. Or did maybe someone at Infogrames jumped the gun and the game was really never slated to be 1080i. Any information you can give me would be excellent. It was a feature I was most looking forward too. Thanks! Mike Mullis Director, US Operations Next Level Gaming

And the response:

Quote:

It's a little bit of both. Widescreen was always planned because it doesn't cost you anything in performance plus there are a ton of widescreen sets out on the market. You have to do some work because the viewing box is obviously different but it doesn't effect frame rate etc to run it. Running 1080i does cost you some performance and unfortunately it would have dropped us below 60fps. The hardware does do conversion however if you want to run 1080 you have to run in a high resolution. The normal resolution for the test drive is 640x480. When you run widescreen you're still running the same amount of pixels its just chopped differently. Running high res on x-box is just like uping the resolution on a pc game since we were right on the edge at 640x480 upping the resolution dropped the frame rate. In the end as with all projects you run out of time and you drop features from you're wish list. Since 1080i was a wish item but not a must have we ended up dropping support (it also saved us having to buy a hdtv set ). cheers Matthew

Sigh, looks like we're on hold for HDTV gaming a little bit longer.

 

[jtm1471]

Keep checking titles for HD support. I have heard some reports about certain sports games that the next version will be 720P.


JT

 

[Michael Mullis]

I've always got my eye open for them.

 

[Dave Teasdale]

Are there any games on any system at anything higher than 480P?

 

[ADebar]

would have loved to see a 1080i game, but widescreen support will suffice. after all, we currently have only about 5 widescreen xbox games

 

[bb1987]

Quote:

Originally posted by Dave Teasdale Are there any games on any system at anything higher than 480P?

According to acclaim's website "Burnout" has HDTV support, but I have also heard that it does not. Has anyone tried it?

http://www.acclaim.com/games/burnout...res/index.html


bb

 

[Chris Carollo]

Of course, there are PC games too, all of which support higher than 480p...

 

[MrWigggles]

Chris,


Good point.


All,


Be careful "HDTV supprt" that usually means supports the High Definition Output box. Look for words like 720p and 1080i.


The interesting thing is that all scaling is handled by the Conexant (I believe) display chip which has a maximum incoming resolution of XGA (1024*768) which then gets scaled to whatever. So any game that has 1080i support should have 720p support as well. It is mearly a output resolution setting on the Conexant chip.


-Mr. Wigggles

 

[CraigR]

I was looking forward to playing a game in 1080i....guess it will be awhile before we see something in 720P or 1080i.

 

[ragedogg69]

Quote:

Originally posted by bb1987 According to acclaim's website "Burnout" has HDTV support, but I have also heard that it does not. Has anyone tried it? http://www.acclaim.com/games/burnout...res/index.html bb

The link says that it is only 480p. They associated 480p with HD sets.

 

[bb1987]

Quote:

Originally posted by ragedogg69 The link says that it is only 480p. They associated 480p with HD sets.

Shows you how important it is to read the small print.


bb

 

[mchurchm]

I guess everyone who chose the xbox over the gamecube or ps2 solely for its hd support still have no hd game to justify their decision. Sure, there are more 480p xbox games than 480p gamecube games, but to me that doesn't mean anything unless there is 16:9 support to go along with it. I think the two systems are about neck and neck when it comes to 16:9 titles, with neither system having much to offer. I think the bottom line is that widescreen tv owners are still the minority and until that changes, game developers will not put the effort into 16:9 support since it is a feature which only affects a very small number of gamers, and I don't think there is any proof that adding 16:9 support will sell more copies of the game.


No matter how much any software developer talks about being interested in making a high-quality game, the truth is that high-quality really means whatever sells, and right now, widescreen doesn't sell. Or at least it doesn't increase sales enough to justify the time and money that must go into the extra development for 16:9 support.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Quote:

would have loved to see a 1080i game, but widescreen support will suffice. after all, we currently have only about 5 widescreen xbox games

What? At least a dozen, not five!

 

[luzovich]

Here's a snipit from a recent press release regarding Dragon's Lair 3D (due this fall):


"Dragon's Lair 3D: Return To The Lair will feature:


More than 150 new, unique 3D animations for Dirk the Daring allows Dirk to run, jump, roll, sneak, climb, crouch, crawl, swing, push, lift and somersault

A real-time 3D modeled and hand painted, textured world features new next-generation visuals


15 large, detailed, action-packed levels featuring more than 40 environments to explore and 250+ new rooms with numerous puzzles, traps, power-ups and hidden secrets to uncover


The first Xbox title announced to feature 1080i High Definition TV graphics mode."


I suspect there will be more 1080i games announced at e3 this week.

 

[AgtCooper]

Well, i was chatting with a fellow at babbages over the test drive game and 1080i and he was surprised and excited about it because he has a HDTV...but he also mentioned that Tony Hawk 2x and Tony Hawk 3 were in fact 720p compatible! I was skeptical of this fact until i plopped THPS3 into my xbox and enabled 720 mode. Even tho the tv was a mitsu it dropped the picture like a bad habit! Anyone with a 720 native compatible display want to try this out and confirm this for me? 720p mode on: display off.

 

[ragedogg69]

Looking at the THPS disc, I see no signs to suggest a ATSC signal. All I see is NTSC and Dolby Digital.

 

[DP1]

Well this is an outrage! Yank their license. Fine the hell out of em. Take their spectrum away! I'm sick of these SOB's dragging their feet...


Oh wait, I see this isnt about broadcasters, it's merely game developers.

Nevermind.

 

[ragedogg69]

LOL DP1!

"Voice of Reason" my ass!

 

[AgtCooper]

rage,

i know it doesn't say anything about atsc formats, but plop that baby in and enable 720p output through your xbox...i bet your picture will drop w/out 720p native...

 

[ragedogg69]

Ahh true, very interesting. Funny because this has happened to me before, just I didn't notice it.


OK, using GameSpy I can play XBOX games over the internet. To play however I must lug my XBOX upstairs and connect it to a 13" TV i have next to the computer. I was playing Halo and getting stomped might I add. So, I decided to try out THPS3. I started up the game and experienced the same problem as I do with my Mits. with the XBOX set to 720p.

Now I remind you I use the same cables that came with the XBOX for this TV. So these are just composite, not component. Game boots up and I get that nice XBOX logo that is always in 480i, then boom, loss of signal. The XBOX knows that when using these cables, to only deliver SD signals.


I havn't tried this alot but all my other games worked. I would search the instruction manuel but some little $#!+ already stole it from BlockBuster before I could. And remember kids, stealing is wrong! So I must assume that there is no mention of HD support in the instructions.