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Xbox vs. Xbox 360 with Video Capture: Side-by-Side Comparisons
feature
game: Xbox 360
posted by: Aaron Stanton
publisher: Microsoft
genre:
platform:
date posted: 06:17 PM Mon Dec 12th, 2005
last revision: 01:07 AM Tue Dec 13th, 2005


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Click to read.Video Comparisons and Game Consoles:

Last week we published an article comparing screenshots of King Kong on the Xbox and Xbox 360. The article was very popular, but ultimately left us with a bit of a bitter taste in our mouth.

The beauty of the Xbox 360 at this point is in its motions; lighting effects, rain fall, and physical interaction. Static images don\'t do squat for showing off the differences between the Xbox and the Xbox 360.

So we decided to re-do the article, this time using videos from each version of King Kong on both systems instead of static images. We try to reproduce each of our screenshots, but this time the side-by-sides move.

The differences between Xbox and Xbox 360 become much more evident this way.


Notes on High-Definition:

When we first ran last week\'s article, we pointed out that the screenshots were not high definition. A number of people wrote to say that this is hardly fair to the Xbox 360, something we agree with. However, showing low definition images is very REPRESENTATIVE of what the average consumer will see when they purchase an Xbox 360 compared to the Xbox. At the start of 2005, only 10% of TV owners had TVs capable of displaying high definition images. According to Kagan Research, that number is expected to reach 50% by 2010, about the point that the Xbox 360 will probably be ending its life.

The point is this: assuming that gamers have a higher adoption rate than the average population, I\'d guess that a gamer is probably 3 times more likely to own a high definition TV; I think that\'s a generous assumption. Therefore, 70% of the people that are likely to buy an Xbox 360 will not be playing the system on high definition screens. Seven out of ten people will see an image on their TV that looks like the screenshots from the article.

So does showing these images in standard definition short-change the Xbox 360? Yes. But is it a poor representation of what people can expect when they purchase the system? Absolutely not. In fact, to suggest that what we should be showing are screenshots that only apply to 10-to-30% of our readership and calling it average would be our failure as a game magazine.

If you have a high definition TV, you\'ll probably complain that these images are in standard definition; if you don\'t own a high definition TV, then these images are a more accurate representation for you than nearly any screenshot released on the Internet.


The side-by-side videos:
*All audio is taken from the Xbox 360 version of the video.
*Videos are roughly 3MB each. They make take a moment to load.



The Beasts of Kong:



Note on 1st generation vs. 2nd generation games:

Here\'s the thing: King Kong is a late generation Xbox title, and a first generation Xbox 360 title. In our previous comparison, we pointed out how unfair this was, and mentioned that really these comparisons are only valid at launch. They\'re helpful in deciding if you should pick up an Xbox 360 right now, or wait for the price to drop. There\'s a strong argument that says, judging from this, most of the experiences on the Xbox 360 can be had nearly as well on the Xbox, at least in terms of pure gameplay (not counting Live, and media player, etc.).

After the next few waves of games come out, this won\'t be the case anymore. Next generation games will quickly surpass what the current generation is capable of. This process will take a number of months, but will happen.

But people don\'t realize how much things can change between 1st and 2nd generation, so to help people see the difference we\'re throwing in one last set of screenshots (static, this time). Below, you\'ll find three side-by-side screenshots of first and second generation games from the Xbox. This includes games like Azurik, one of the first games to make use of dynamic lighting on characters, and Far Cry. We didn\'t include King Kong, because we\'re pretty sure you\'ve seen enough of that by now.

Compare the two. Now imagine that same level of improvement from Kameo, King Kong, Perfect Dark Zero, and go from there.

Screens:

Click images for larger version

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