The current generation of consoles has been on the market for a few years, but looking back at sales data and Neilson ratings for 2008, I began to wonder how much graphics really matter to the average gamer. You have to consider the fact that today’s average gamer is not the hardcore guy playing the latest games all day long. The hardcore, which all of us here are certainly a part of, is very much a minority in the grand scheme of things. And the average or casual gamer isn’t looking for bleeding edge graphics.
The global success of the Wii goes to show that you don’t need to have the latest hardware to push product. While I will agree that many Wii games are gimmicky, there is plenty there to suffice for the average gamer. Games and systems are flying off the shelves. Also, Sony recently revealed that the PlayStation 2 has sold over 50 million units in North America. Their last generation console is still selling at an exceptional rate. These are currently the two best selling consoles, neither of which is in high definition.
In a recent Neilson study, the PlayStation 2 came out on top in terms of usage minutes, with the Wii taking the number 3 slot. Of the six consoles listed, four of them are not High Definition (PlayStation 2, Wii, Xbox, and GameCube). Those consoles combined accounted for 59.4% of usage minutes in the study, compared to 24.5% for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. All this data goes to show that most gaming is done on non-HD consoles.
In the US, HDTV sales only reach 25-30% of the population. Couple this with the fact that one in five HDTV owners can’t tell the difference between standard definition and high definition content and you’ve got roughly 20% of the population utilizing HD. Looking at the number of gaming consoles out there and the rate of uptake, it’s clear that a large majority of gamers are not using HD resolutions for their gaming needs.
If you add up all of this data, you can see that the current average gamer is most likely not playing on a high definition display. Sure, HDTV adoption is growing, but most consumers are still uneducated about how to get HD output from the components they have (if they can even tell the difference). While Microsoft and Sony are pushing the envelope with solid HD graphics, the average gamer doesn’t need that for a solid gaming experience.
I don’t think they matter, if they did then the the amount of sales for the Wii, 360, and P3, would be reversed seeing as how the Ps3 has the best quality, followed by the 360 and then lost in the distance is the Wii. However, the Wii and handhelds easily sell more than the giant HD systems.
They matter to anyone who has money.
1080P, (720P too) and blu-ray are amazing.
You’ll see the numbers increase in 2009.. specially when the cable companies will only support digital signals.
HD is amazing.. I don’t even watch tv in SD.. it’s fuckin ugly. HD or nothing.
and the ps3 is gorgeous… I can’t believe people still play ps2…. they probably are wishing every day they could afford a HDTV and a ps3…..
Hopefully prices of HDTVs and the PS3 drop this year… and hopefully people can save up to buy them…. they don’t know what their missing until they own it.
Trust me.
I’d like to nominate razy’s comment for “dumbest comment of the week” award.
They matter to people with money? Are you kidding? I was just reading an article about how Wesley Snipes is trying to get his hands on a Wii. How Barack Obama plays the Wii. My guess is, both those guys have plenty of money.
And with regard to the article above, you forget to mention that a huge number of consumers with HDTVs and 360s/PS3, etc have them hooked up with composite cables. The PS3 doesn’t come with an HDMI cable and all the early 360s didn’t even have and HDMI port. I’ve seen reports that a lot of “HD” gamers are actually not gaming in HD though they think they are.
No, HD graphics don’t matter. It should be obvious by now. DVD quality video is only 480P and it looks fantastic, even on big TVs. Cheap TVs with shitty upscalers can cause problems, but video game graphics, even HD graphics still don’t look as good as DVD quality video. So, no it’s not about HD. Only the silly 12 year old fanboys think so. It’s about fun and innovation. The Wii doesn’t have as many games for the shooter crowd, but it’s hella fun to play, especially with other people. If you spend most of your time gaming alone in your basement, maybe the 360 is a better bet for you. But if you game with friends and family, the Wii is the console of choice, bar none.
First of all, YES – graphics do matter to most gamers apart from the very old, the very young and girls.
Secondly, it’s funny how all of a sudden there are several articles floating about on the net saying how graphics are not that important, just as Killzone2 is about to make an appearance.
In case your haven’t noticed, there has been a format war that has been raging on now for a long time, and Graphics Power has been at the center of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
your still a pussy bitch.
why the fuck would you hook up your ps3 without HDMI?
I’m pretty picky with my electronics… HDMI or nothing man.. even my shitty Rogers HD box is hooked up via HDMI.
my roommate has a wii.. haven’t been turned on since mario kart was released.
wii sports ok… but whenever friends come over we playing the following..
NHL 09, Madden 09, Resistance 2, COD 4, and COD5, Soul Cal, Gran Turismo… Little Big Planet… WipeOut HD… Rockband 2. etc…
HD makes these games much better… looks much nicer.. and you can see more on the screen.
some of my buddies still only have a shitty CRT tube tv… but they can’t wait until they pick up a HDTV….
Only game I am looking forward to on the Wii in the future is SuperPunch out.. it’s going to be killer… but you have to admit… the wii graphics are terribly ugly compared to the xbox or ps3…. and most people who play the wii… hardly play games. my uncle and aunt bought one for the x-mas holidays… i believe its been used twice.
Does KillZone 2 mean anything to you?
google.
“ballet of death” and tell me HD doesn’t mean anything… you fuckin pussy bitch
you ever watch sports in HD? heard of something called superbowl?
any sport looks amazing in HD… I wish all my channels were HD… its fuckin amazing.
Most peole who like electronics feel the same way… its just expensive….
Im definitly a hardcore gamer, so heres my perspective from that point of view.
id like to say that graphics are important. i dont want to play a great game that has shit detail, bad colors etc.
the wii IS a last gen console, 480P is shit and even the average gamer could attest to that.
also id like to think the average gamer dosn’t have the wii as thier primary console, id hardly consider little billy and grandma jane(a key wii demographic) are the average “gamer”
razzy what ur psn? mines chadt33 lets fuckin game sometime
so now if u own a console, in your case Matt, your considered a gamer? because some 45 year old women bought the wii cus the commercial seemed fun and bought wii fit, now shes a casual gamer? cus a lil 4 year old kid is swinging the wii mote, he is considered gamer? to answer your article, yes, GAMERS do care about graphics and HD. there is no such thing as casual or average gamer because they dont exist. You, my misguided friend, are talking about the average casual person, and to that PERSON, the HD doesnt matter.
This is my opinion, my personal opinion.
If you had enough money to spend on a 360 or PS3 you should be able to get at least a small 30″-32″ HD television to fully enjoy the entire gaming experience.
I personally can’t imagine playing games on anything but an HD television. I can’t go back to standard definition, I just can’t and no one can make me.
The Wii is an exception to the rule for obvious reasons.
I’m all for “apodoption”… is that where you take care of Body Snatcher kids?
i consider myself to be a hardcore gamer, i own a ps3 and a mid range gaming pc (was cutting edge when i built it) and i don’t care about hd in the slightest my brother has a ps3 and a hd tv whereas i have a 576p tv (standard pal res progressive scan) and to be completely honest imho there is very little difference between games on his 1080p tv and games on my 576p tv the 1080p picture is sharper and text is much clearer but as far as i am concerned that is the only improvement. It is the same on my pc i would much rather play games at 1024×768 at max settings and aa than double the resolution and lower the settings, if the xbox 360 and ps3 games were in sd the developers would be able to use the memory and processing power saved compared to hd to add extra post processing and graphical effects which i think plays a bigger part in eye candy than a simple resolution increase. As for blu-ray watched batman begins in 1080p in my brothers and both of us agreed that apart from it being clearer it wasnt that much better than the dvd version certainly nowhere near the the jump in quality that occured when going from VHS to DVD
one addition to the above comment i hate interlaced video which is why i have a progressive scan sdtv i would say that i would not want to go back to playing on an interlaced screen even at 1080i as progressive scan gives a flicker free picture compared to interlaced
[...] Article here [...]
Yes.
Ignore the Wii – its innovation comes squarely from a novel take on controller usage, nothing more. It is by all accounts a glorified board game, which is not to say it sucks, but that it’s not a current-gen gaming console.
The older systems with large install bases are, well, older systems with large install bases. They’re present in more homes than the 360 and PS3 combined, have a large library of games to draw from, and are cheap, cheap, cheap. Folks played the NES well into the Genesis/SNES days because of this, and so it continues on today.
As for HD the medium, a few things really. First, HDTV occupies a fair slice of the market considering the relatively small offering of HD services by most cable/satelite companies and the price of the TV”s themselves. Second, the visual quality jump from VHS to DVD was actually less than the visual quality improvement from DVD to BD. The key thing that I think distracts most people from this change is that the physical medium has remained the same during this transition, while the differences between a large, bulky cassette and slim disc are legion.
It’s one or the other. Either you get a near seamless product or bleeding edge graphics. Force Unleashed is a great example of this!
Honestly, I’d rather have an over polished product that runs smoothly anyday.
So, no. HD doesn’t matter all that much to me… Well, as long as it’s not PS2 polygons and graphics on the PS3.
[...] Let’s face it, an estimated 21-million people are still using over the air TV broadcast signal and a large portion of those think that their TV is high definition because it doesn’t have an analog dial anymore. Recent Nielson ratings are showing most gamers are still pushing PS2 hardware, which isn’t high definition. In the US, HDTV sales only reach 25-30% of the population. Couple this with the fact that one in five HDTV owners can’t tell the difference between standard definition and high definition content and you’ve got roughly 20% of the population utilizing HD. Looking at the number of gaming consoles out there and the rate of uptake, it’s clear that a large majority of gamers are not using HD resolutions for their gaming needs. (loot-ninja) [...]
Yes HD does matter!
Through out games history, developers always add extra details to a games graphics and it’s environment! Upon playing the game, you won’t even notice these small amazing details, because you are too busy with the gameplay or drooling against the awesome main graphics that catches your eyes.
Take Sonic Adventure for an example, you’ll get distracted by the speed of the game, but if you slow down and walk and tune the camera at different directions, you’ll see such small details added around you.
d00m 3, you’ll be distracted with the shadows and lightening, move towards a leaking pipe and hear the detailed sound effects.
ETC you get my drift!
Upon being distracted, we need HD, it boost the work all the developers had put into a game’s graphics! There are some games that needs to be played in HD and some that doesn’t.
We even need surround sounds to enjoy games. Unreal Tournament 200* all have crazy sound effects, take the Redeemer for an example, it will be worth listening to that in a loud increased volume. Listen to d00m 3 in 7 surround sound and listen to small details that makes d00m 3 even more scarier!
Over the years people always take graphics for granted complaining such games lack details: Battlefield Bad Company, Left4Dead etc. They don’t know that if developers increases the destructions and other elements of the game’s mechanics, the game’s graphics will have to be reduced.
Make a comparison with Ninja Gaiden 2’s enemy on screen and Left4Dead. L4D has no problem with displaying 50 real time zombies all at once. But Ninja Gaiden 2 that has better detailed graphics than L4D, is having problems displaying 15 enemies on screen O_o.
Bad Company’s graphics isn’t all that, but my goodness! The dept of the fields, putting so much tanks, props and weapons on screen and so much destruction on screen at once. If Dice made the graphics better, the game will surely break.
HD does matter! I want to enjoy Gears of War 2 in HD, Killzone 2, Metal Gear, Heavenly Sword, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Little Big Planet etc all in HD!
Games that have better engine in environment destructions and heavy use in realtime do not require HD.
As someone who owns all three systems, a gaming PC, and a DS, I have to say that no, HD doesn’t matter.
But I’m not saying graphics don’t matter. They do, as they’re our first introduction to a game through screenshots or video. Also, even on the Wii you can tell the difference between a game that has a lot of visual effort put into it, and no effort at all. For instance, Super Mario Galaxy vs. Carnival Games or some such.
What matters more than anything to me is graphical style. For instance, Okami still holds up to HD games to me, mainly because of it’s style. I think that on the Wii, this is very important when you have to go against HD games. MadWorld is doing it right, for instance.
Most of my gaming nowadays is in my PC (I game at 1680×1050). Yet I still enjoyed Persona 4 and Tales of Symphonia 2 when they came out (on non HD systems). So yeah, though I see what high def is all about, I don’t really care. If the game’s fun, and I love the art style/direction it has, then I’m sold. Heck maybe this year, my Wii’s going to get a lot more playing time than my PC due to the games I’m looking forward to in that system.
HD is killing hardcore gaming. We, as hardcore gamers must decide. Will we accept lesser graphics for more games, or will we force our favorite developers to go to Nintendo systems because they can’t recoup the investment in an HD game. You guys all read the news. Everyone who bet on an HD game is suffering.
EA has greenlighted BoomBlox 2, but canceled Spielberg’s realistic HD games for the 360/ps3. That should tell us something about profit margins. Boomblox didn’t blow the doors off in sales, BUT it did make EA some cash.
The future might send your next favorite game to the DS, like GTA!!!
This is real. Don’t fear the casuals. Don’t fear the big “N”. Fear HD.
On a sidenote, at the last Consumer Electronics Show, it was a noted fact that the larger and/or better the family room TV was, the more likely it had a Wii connected to it. I guess people like really big Miis……
[...] Let’s face it, an estimated 21-million people are still using over the air TV broadcast signal and a large portion of those think that their TV is high definition because it doesn’t have an analog dial anymore. Recent Nielson ratings are showing most gamers are still pushing PS2 hardware, which isn’t high definition. In the US, HDTV sales only reach 25-30% of the population. Couple this with the fact that one in five HDTV owners can’t tell the difference between standard definition and high definition content and you’ve got roughly 20% of the population utilizing HD. Looking at the number of gaming consoles out there and the rate of uptake, it’s clear that a large majority of gamers are not using HD resolutions for their gaming needs. (loot-ninja) [...]
I personally don’t know anyone who would play a game strictly for the graphics. Those people might exist, i just do not know them. A game is a contest with rules to determine a winner/score. Should a GAMER, casual or hardcore, care about the graphics or the contest/rules? No one at all will play if the contest or rules are retarded. But everyone will play a game with poor graphics if the contest/rules are fair and fun. Graphics are irrelevant to the enjoyability of a game unless they are broken/glitched in a way that prohibit you from playing.
@ Razy
HD means nothing, you can show a terd in hd and its just a terd. It is the game you play. I have experienced hd, its great, but hd has nothing on a solid game, nothing. I think snes/sega games have more replay value than half of what is out there today.
Glad ya like it buddy, but your wrong if you think hd is the only way to play.
You are either too young, too spoiled or too ignorant to realize what true gaming is about, and that is the games, not the pretty picture. SO go watch a movie or the “superbowl” while the rest of us “broke” people have the same game experience with our sd tvs and enjoy them just as much as you.
Hd is great I just wish that the prices for the HDTV’s were less. Hopefully in the future HDTV’s could produce better picture quality for SD content when watching shows because SD shows look terrible in HD.
i notice a pattern here.
anywone who can afford HD says its the only way to play, however people who do not own one, argu that HD is ruining hardcore gaming.
thats ridiculous it is making it that much better. plus who gives a fuck about some garbage spielberg games!
lol
Ok HD is not the only way to play.. but it sure is the BEST way to play.
once you go HD you won’t go back to SD… simple fact.
Hopefully everyone will enjoy HD soon enough….. don’t worry it took me awhile to save up my coin to afford it… but well worth it!
HD is beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
yes it matters!
You don’t know what your missing until you have it.
@Razy
“You don’t know what your missing until you have it.”
That’s why HD doesn’t matter. If people who don’t have it, don’t know what they are missing, that means they don’t need it. In order for HD to be important, people who don’t have it need to know what they are missing.