‘The Last of Us’ looks better on PS4 but it’s not perfect

Just over a year ago, Sony and developer Naughty Dog unleashed the emotionally wrenching The Last of Us on the PlayStation 3. And while the post-apocalyptic tale was heralded at the time for its affecting narrative, the game’s technical prowess didn’t go unnoticed either, with many critics impressed by how well the game looked and sounded on the seven year-old PS3. Tomorrow marks the release of The Last of Us: Remastered on the PlayStation 4, which, as the title implies, is last year’s game with a fresh coat of paint afforded by the PS4′s more powerful hardware. How much of a leap is it, though? The tech-minded crew at Digital Foundry has put Naughty Dog’s latest under their microscope and notes that while there are some aspects of the game that best even PS4-native releases, there are still a handful of bits that betray those advancements:

“There are elements that remain far ahead of the majority of next-gen titles, but it is clear that it is a game of its technological era.”

In particular, Digital Foundry calls out the game’s anti-aliasing (smoothing out jagged edges on certain bits of a scene, like power lines or the edge of a door) and certain aspects of its lighting as being relics of TLoU:R‘s original platform. Perhaps the games’ most notable improvement is its doubled framerate, which aims for a Call-of-Duty-esque 60 frames per-second and a boost in resolution to 1080p, natively. Those improvements aren’t without caveats (degraded shadow quality that’s being addressed with a day-one patch), however, as NeoGAF was quick to point out and start a now 50-page thread about.

In my experience playing the game, though, these perceived setbacks are minor once you actually pick up a DualShock 4. Sure, when you’re comparing screenshots — or compressed GIFs — that’s one thing, but if you’re running through the game and not actively looking for any technical shortcomings they’re harder to notice.

Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD

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Source: Eurogamer, NeoGAF

The ‘Destiny’ beta is now open to everyone

Let’s say you wanted to give Bungie’s latest shooter, Destiny, a go before the game comes out in September, but the idea of pre-ordering video games goes against the very core of your being. Well, Bungie’s just announced that it’s opening the floodgates on the test-phase for the game and is letting everyone get in on the fun. At 7 p.m. Eastern / 4 p.m. Pacific, you’ll be able to head to the digital marketplace on your gaming platform of choice (PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One) and grab the multi-gigabyte file for yourself and see what everyone’s been raving about. And remember, on Saturday at 5 p.m. Eastern, 2 p.m. Pacific, Bungie is promising a special reward for whoever is playing, and that it’ll carry over to the game’s final version come September.

If you've wanted to play Destiny, but didn't have a code, you're invited to the party now. http://t.co/z8CbAGU47K pic.twitter.com/z4UQDj4T0e

– Bungie (@Bungie) July 24, 2014

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Source: Bungie (1), (2)

‘Destiny’ on PS3 is like the PS4 version but blurrier

While a bunch of the hype surrounding the Destiny beta is how great developer Bungie’s latest shooter looks running on the PlayStation 4, gamers on last-gen hardware have been playing through the weekend too. Based on the video that Digital Foundry put together (embedded below), the PlayStation 3 version expectedly doesn’t stack up next to its current-gen counterpart, but it doesn’t look terrible, either. If I were to describe it in one word, it’d be “softer.” The tech-centric outlet notes that while the levels themselves remain the same the overall shape and size, set dressing like foliage and rocks are less dense (and in some cases, completely missing), and lighting is less complex as well. Most impactful, possibly, is the PS3 game’s native resolution. While the PS4 version runs at a native 1920×1080, or 1080p, Destiny on Sony’s previous console is running at 1024×624 (sub-720p) — roughly 30 percent the total pixel count of its current-gen cousin.

The biggest victim? Shadow detail, as evidenced in this thread on NeoGAF. The amount of enemies onscreen, however, apparently doesn’t drop so there should be parity between the two versions in terms of how the game actually plays.

Considering that the PS3 is almost eight years old at this point, however, it’s kind of a miracle that it’s even capable of playing something like Destiny to begin with. And given that there are likely well over 80 million PS3s in the wild at this point and, as of April, only seven million PS4s, it makes sense for developers to continue supporting previous hardware. Take this April’s Watch Dogs and next year’s Mortal Kombat X, for example.

What about you: is Destiny the game you’re upgrading to a new console for (maybe even a white PS4), or hasn’t anything on Sony’s latest or the Xbox One caught your eye yet? The beta is down for maintenance now anyway, so you should have plenty of time to leave us a note!

Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD

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Via: Eurogamer

Source: YouTube