UPDATE (October 23):
We have a download date for BioShock PS3's patch. It will be out as an automatic update on November 20th. The patch is still in the works, but when it's ready, I'll be posting the change log for you to check out. Thanks!
UPDATE (October 14):
Hey guys,
I have good news from the dev team about a patch for BioShock PS3! They have been working on a patch to address the concerns some of you on the forum have talked about. As work is in progress I do not have a definite date for when this patch will be released as it needs to be tested and clear certification with Sony before it is scheduled and released. I do know this will not be until after the game’s launch, and I will update you with details on that date as I receive them.
I’ll be releasing the entire patch list when it’s all finalized, but for now I’m sure you’ll be happy to see that these two fixes are included:
Big Daddy Bouncer and Elite Bouncer Textures Appeared Pixelated
Fix for an issue where large blocky pixels would show up whenever viewing the Bouncer and Elite Bouncer variants of the Big Daddy.
White Bars
Fix for an issue where white/discolored bars would show up at the right and bottom sides of the screen during the plane crash / water scene at the beginning of the game.
I’m sure many of you are eager to see what Big Daddy looks like after this fix, so here are two screenshots of him in his patched glory!
http://www.2kgames.com/cultofrapture...addy_fixed.jpg
if you want to see the full-sized image of this, check it out here:
http://www.2kgames.com/cultofrapture..._fixed_big.jpg
http://www.2kgames.com/cultofrapture...ddy_fixed2.jpg
if you want to see the full-sized image of this, check it out here:
http://www.2kgames.com/cultofrapture...fixed2_big.jpg
ORIGINAL POST:
Hi there,
Last Friday some of you expressed some concerns and asked me some questions about the BioShock demo, and how BioShock would look on the PS3. I promised that the team was looking into all the issues brought up on Friday, and now I am reporting back with the latest news. Everything below is directly from the team – they took the comparison screenshots for me and we talked at length about all of these issues, and those conversations are exactly what I am reporting to you now.
Many of you wondered about BioShock’s graphical performance on the PS3, and whether it was comparable to the 360 version. The team wanted BioShock to be the same experience on the PS3 as on the 360. Of course, the PS3 is a very different machine to code a game on, and so the team used a combination of optimization and filtering to maximize the overall visual experience of the game. These optimizations improved frame rate and added the slight “blur filter” that some of you have pointed out in comparison screenshots. This solution offered the best performance benefit with minimum visual cost or change from the 360 version.
When making the decision on how to balance game performance and visual quality, the team did a lot of research, which included looking at implementation strategies and gamer reactions for other games that had brought a title to the PS3. One of the major goals for the team in creating the PS3 version of BioShock was to match the visual experience of the 360.
Below are a few comparison screenshots of BioShock on both the 360 and PS3, taken by the team. I have included the Big Daddy texture that concerned so many of you on Friday. However, the Big Daddy texture is not a good measure for the entire PS3 experience, and so I have a handful of other comparison shots of the 360 and PS3 version of BioShock.
Another issue people asked about was the appearance of “white bars” when using certain settings on certain TV configurations. This is a legitimate bug, and we are currently working to fix this issue and plan on distributing that fix along with the Additional Content game update. For the short-term, some have recommended changing the TV’s overscan setting as a workaround.
Also, some of you asked about the resolution of BioShock PS3. The team decided to include 1080 support for the game specifically for the benefit of some older-model HDTVs that don’t correctly respond to 720 and force the user to play on 480 instead. Our 1080 implementation is a scaled version of what you see in 720p, so therefore, the discerning gamer may notice the visuals are a bit less sharp when compared to the 720 mode. We did investigate rendering to true 1080 mode, but were not able to support it given the game’s memory demands.
We believe the BioShock PS3 demo fairly represents the performance and user experience of the full BioShock PS3 game, and is an accurate representation of the final product. We will continue reading and looking into any new comments that come up on this forum. I hope this post and the following screenshots help clarify some of the questions asked last week. Again, thank you for your diligence and devotion to the game.
http://www.2kgames.com/cultofrapture...n/bigdaddy.jpg
http://www.2kgames.com/cultofrapture...ison/floor.jpg
http://www.2kgames.com/cultofrapture...rison/gods.jpg
http://www.2kgames.com/cultofrapture...son/sister.jpg
Note: These images were taken from the final game. There is a slight discrepancy in some shots because for the 360 version the images were taken before the patch was applied, which means they are using the original widescreen format, but the PS3 version ships with the 360 patch's widescreen change.