Touch Ruminations: Progressive necessity
In the latest edition of Touch Ruminations, former DS and Wii Fanboy Lead David Hinkle talks about whatever he feels like. He's a jerk like that. This week, it's 480 lines of progressive scan, and whether or not it should be the standard on Wii. The opinions expressed here belong to the author and don't necessarily reflect those of Joystiq, Weblogs Inc. or its affiliates.
I've been so pumped for MadWorld, it's not even funny. Then Monday came around and we found out the game wasn't going to run in 480p and I knew it had to be this week's topic. Some people went bonkers, but, to tell you the truth, I don't think it's such a bad thing.
I'm not really convinced that 480p should be the standard, honestly. When we signed up for Wii, we signed up for an idea. An idea that says gameplay innovation should come before fancy graphics. It's a mantra that Nintendo has proven with their latest console, and I think we really can't be graphics snobs when it comes to the Wii.
Especially in the case of MadWorld, which is a game that is presented in primarily two colors. A black-and-white game isn't going to benefit from 480p, and having developers force that in is only going to drive the budget of production up and hurt us, the consumer, in the end. And that's one of the biggest draws to working on Wii: a lower budget compared to other consoles on the market.
That's not to say I don't enjoy a game being presented as best as it can be, but let's be real here. It's Nintendo's job to really push for a 480p standard on its console from developers, and for whatever reason, Nintendo hasn't done that. It's up to the console manufacturer to show developers how it's done on their system, to show how to maximize its full potential. For whatever reason (ease of development and accessibility to the consumer come to mind), Nintendo hasn't done that.
Whether you think all games should be 480p or not, it's really best left to a case-by-case decision. A game like MadWorld, who's style is in its lack of trumped-up visuals and somber color palette, wouldn't really benefit from progressive over interlaced. But, a game like de Blob certainly does benefit from it. While we'd all like the very best from our systems and games, sometimes 480p just isn't necessary.
