Johan Andersson, a rendering architect at DICE working on the Frostbite engine and Battlefield 3, continues to prove why he might be the coolest guy working on an upcoming AAA game on Twitter -- sorry Cliff Bleszinski and David Jaffe.
After taking on what appeared to be nothing more than a trolling tweet bashing Battlefield 3's console graphics in a direct, straightforward way, Johan has continued to address gamers' issues and concerns with the console version of Battlefield 3 via Twitter.
His comments remain pretty straightforward and logical too. This type of honesty and direct communication with the community should be more common. Johan said the console footage shown was pre-alpha, which means the final build of the console game will look better.
He also said the console version of the game would run in 720p resolution and at 30 frames per second, but because no one on the internet ever seems happy, this news made some people even angrier.
Instead of getting drawn out into a flame war with fans and trolls alike, however, Johan stuck to his guns giving concise reasons for why the game will be 720p and 30 FPS. First, he explained that 99% of all games on Xbox 360 and PS3 run similarly, providing a link showing what resolution several console games run at. When that wasn't enough, he explained some of the technical trade-offs they felt needed to be made in order to make Battlefield 3 the way they wanted to make it.
According to Johan, they thought huge levels, lots of players, stunning effects, vehicles, and varied gameplay was more important than 1080p on home consoles. While games running at 1080p and in 60 FPS certainly look amazing, it does seem like developers need to make content cuts and sacrifices when bringing games to consoles.
As much as gamers want their current console to be able to do everything, they simply can't. While imagination might be limitless, things like processing power and RAM are not.
Whether or not it would be possible for DICE -- or any other developer -- to make Battlefield 3 prettier or better on consoles is a question that cannot be answered. The simple fact of the matter is that modern PCs are capable of producing better graphics than the aging Xbox 360 and PS3.
It is also true that developers need to make sacrifices and prioritize certain aspects when making games. Hopefully Battlefield 3 on consoles will be more amazing than we think, and won't come close to disappointing.
What are your thoughts? Do you think DICE is doing everything it can to make the console version of Battlefield 3 all that it can be? Do you think 720p and 30 FPS will impact your play experience? Let us know your take in the comments below.
Battlefield 3 releases October 25th for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.
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Source: Johan Andersson (via Twitter)