GEOFFREY MORRISON BLOG

As I’ve talked about before, console games have to be written for a specific resolution (unlike computer games). Nearly every Xbox 360 game, for example, is 720p. The console then converts that up or down depending on how you set up the console. Those with older TVs drop it to 480i, those with HD sets can choose 720p or 1080i (and occasionally 1080p).

So far, the PS3 has a mix of 1080p and 720p native games. Apparently, and we’ll test this soon, the 720p games won’t convert to 1080i. If your TV doesn’t accept 720p, then you get 480p. Excuse me?

You see, this is why console gaming is lame. My computer will output whatever resolution I tell it, and if it doesn’t I smack it around. Hitting it always fixes the problem.

Sony said at first that they’ll fix the issue, but now they’re backing away from that. Sure interlaced gaming isn’t great, but if it’s a choice between an artifacty interlaced HD and 480p, I’m guessing most gamers would chose the former.

So if the PS3 is all powerful, and if it can scale 720p to 1080p, and de-interlace 1080p to 1080i, then why can’t it de-interlace and scale 720p to 1080i? I mean the 360 can do it.

So we have one console that will output 1080p to about 50 people, and one console that won’t output 1080i to a few more. Lame, don’t these things go through product testing?

Here’s the real question, how many of you have an HD display that doesn’t accept 720p? My hunch is that it isn’t many more in number than those that can input 1080p over component, but that’s just a guess. Send me an email at htletters@Primedia.com