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We're now getting onto our fifth installment of this feature, and with every passing year the differences between the consoles continue to melt away. When we first started this feature, the differences between some versions of games were astounding. Fight Night Round 3 looked drastically better on the Xbox 360 with its improved lighting and shadowing effects. The following year, the graphics on both platforms got considerably more even--Oblivion even looked better on the PlayStation 3. Every subsequent comparison pretty much ended the same, with the Xbox 360 getting the benefit of slightly higher-resolution textures and other marginal improvements that wouldn't be noticed unless the images were put side by side. We'll see if the trend holds true with some of the best games from this year.

We captured the following shots at 720p across both consoles directly over HDMI using the Matrox MXO2 Mini. We enabled full HDMI range on the PS3. Each game has six sets of rollover images. The first image is a full screenshot set resized to fit the width of the page, followed by a zoomed-in image set that we created by cropping the original screen grabs to show you how the games look at a 1:1 pixel ratio. The following images work in the same pattern. Mouse over the captions to swap the images back and forth.

Assassins Creed II

Assassins Creed II continues the trend we've seen with the Xbox 360 getting marginally better textures. You can see a bit more detail in Desmond's jeans, and the number 2 is considerably more clear in the Xbox shot. The Xbox 360 might also benefit from normal mapping, which gives the floor surfaces, the brick lines, and the door rivets a more 3D look.

Xbox 360       PlayStation 3      

Xbox 360       PlayStation 3      

Xbox 360       PlayStation 3      

Xbox 360       PlayStation 3      

Xbox 360       PlayStation 3      

Xbox 360       PlayStation 3      

4856 Comments

  • vijayyajiv

    Posted Jun 23, 2011 7:20 am GMT

    i also once heard a clever guy saying that "what ever difference makes any of the consoles(xbox 360 mostly) better, its the developer's fault and not the console's". I had a good laugh because he sounds like microsoft pays the developers more than sony to make tem look better.Its crazy isn't it? xbox 360 shows better because,its GPU is constructed by genius programmers to show everything the developers worked at. It is clearly a GPU issue on ps3. If unchared 2 was released in xbox 360 simultaneously with ps3. xbox 360 would have shockingly looked better and ps3 would have been left behind,yet again.

  • vijayyajiv

    Posted Jun 23, 2011 6:56 am GMT

    you may be right.But static look on ps3 exclusives alone cannot be called better.But the programming.Exclusives seem to look better because,they are only one of their kind with no competetor in graphic comparison.(But i love uncharted 2 by the way.)

  • gamebuyer22

    Posted Jun 20, 2011 3:20 pm GMT

    @vijayyajiv
    Ps3s exclusives look way better then 360's though.

  • vijayyajiv

    Posted Jun 20, 2011 10:28 am GMT

    let's face it.when it comes to games,ps3 looks impressive on the paper with bluray and all that.but looks washed out on textures,frame tears,colors and contrasts looks barely upto the level of a seventh gen console,psn crashed resently.but xbox 360 show better textures,frame hardly tears, has richer colors and show better contrasts besides being stored in a 9gb dvd.This is because of the gpu and the pixel shader(instead of ps3's pixel blurrer) and frame buffer of course,red ring of death is clearly modified on the slim console,most of all, XBOX LIVE makes xbox 360 superior to any existing console or any pc.it's games are better sold than ps3 exclusive.xbox live gold is charged but its worth it since 360 has more live customers than psn.So we get to make more friends. also note that blu ray dont enhance graphics.it just plays what is in the blu ray disc.So ,xbox 360 is a clear winner.But ps3 is a good console.It is just no match for xbox 360.

  • tondeezy

    Posted Jun 11, 2011 2:10 pm GMT

    TEH CELL has better colors clearly! but 360 has slightly better textures..bairly..ps3 looks better

  • Carlos161

    Posted Jun 7, 2011 1:33 pm GMT

    It depends on the game, but they are almost the same

  • Hamzataq

    Posted Jan 29, 2011 10:54 pm GMT

    When u look at it closely for a couple of minutes u have to admit that xbox360 does win as far as AC 2 and Arkham Asylum are concerned and its a clear win for the ps3 if u look at DAO. however when ur in the thick of the game, whether ur assassinating the pope or fighting against one of the most famous comic villians of all times they don't really matter.......that what i believe anyway........

  • Kaeban

    Posted Dec 30, 2010 10:07 am GMT

    @game-on-man I have a 360 but i still agree that the ps3 is a more powerful console. PS3 users may have to wait to get the best graphics the console can deliver (just like with the ps2, i owned one). But your statement about FFXIII needing 3 disc has nothing to do with resolution or colours, it has to do with the disc capacity of a DVD+DL , that is much smaller than the capacity of a Blu-ray disc. Just saying

  • darfnader

    Posted Dec 19, 2010 9:48 pm GMT

    I really love reading your stupid fanboy arguments, seriously grow up! they're video games... i mean come on, look at yourselves, get a life!

  • Uncle-Tunee

    Posted Dec 18, 2010 12:38 am GMT

    People don't get it..blur is nice for consoles!
    If you want it clean and crisp get a pc

  • thiagoreale

    Posted Dec 6, 2010 4:28 pm GMT

    And what about PC????

  • Mat182maT

    Posted Dec 6, 2010 3:44 pm GMT

    I have to admit that dragon age looks better on ps3

  • Mat182maT posted Dec 6, 2010 3:41 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Mat182maT

    Posted Dec 6, 2010 3:41 pm GMT (hide)

    All games has more polygons and better texture quality on xbox 360. Look at the pocket of the guy on assassins creed, look at the green watch in the last pic of dirt 2 and look at the guy next to the watch. The 260 it's better!!!!!!!!!

  • Mat182maT posted Dec 6, 2010 3:31 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Mat182maT

    Posted Dec 6, 2010 3:31 pm GMT (hide)

    I can't believe your comments!!!!!! it's very clear that 360 has better graphics than ps3!!! look at the last pic of assasins creed, look at the second pic of batman... there are more details on the 360 than ps3, and textures are better rendered... I can't believe your comments.

  • Ross_is_lazy

    Posted Nov 11, 2010 5:28 am GMT

    They all look the same!

  • MTMind2 posted Sep 1, 2010 11:47 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    MTMind2

    Posted Sep 1, 2010 11:47 pm GMT (hide)

    @adrunkmunkey14

    I haven't been here for ages, so I'm here out of curiosity Anyway...

    I really don't get your comment about DA adrunkmunkey14, since this is what GS says about DA "In a departure from the norm, the PlayStation 3 version looks cleaner because of its higher-resolution textures and the increased depth the textures get from bump mapping. While the Xbox 360 version looks worse, it definitely runs smoother".

    How is saying the PS3 has higher-resolution textures and bump mapping that the 360 version doesn't and therefore saying the 360 version LOOKS WORSE, a problem for you? The only plus side for the 360 version is that it RUNS smoother than the PS3 version.

    I've never played this game, but from the reviews and forum comments I read, gamers agree that although neither version has a perfectly smooth framerate, the framerate problems are worse on the PS3 version, and the 360 version looks washed out and has lower res textures in comparison. So overall, GS appear to be spot on.

  • adrunkmunkey14

    Posted Aug 30, 2010 9:08 pm GMT

    this is retarded.what happended to u, gamespot? u used to be soo unbiased!

    In every one of these, it was "blah blah blah both look pretty much the same.... but the 360 has better this." Then when they get to DA (wich is clearly a ps3 win) they try and make it sound like the 360 version is pretty close. Idk about u all, but when i was looking at those pictures i was kinda shocked how crappy the 360 version was. Heres wat i think... For most of these, they look the same. In fact, the only one that really made a difference is DA, yet to me they seemed pretty hesitant to give the ps3 any compliments throught this whole thing. Gamespot, been a longtime fan, but im goin back to gtrailers (not that they're too much better, but i like the reviewer)

  • EgoAttacker posted Aug 24, 2010 9:16 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    EgoAttacker

    Posted Aug 24, 2010 9:16 pm GMT (hide)

    I think as far as multimedia goes ps3 is way better, but for games and online 360 wins, and has slightly better graphics too, but they are both great systems...

  • rugripper40

    Posted Aug 23, 2010 5:40 am GMT

    this is my problem...i like all games but this article makess our american company look like s..t...this is why america,the land that i love is falling into the crapper...lol

    http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/101/1014486p1.html........and btw this is a year ago aug,2009...by now its probably closer to 75 percent

    i didnt write this article but if over half of the 360s are failing why would you even buy it....plus as you can see in the screenshots above that the ps3 renders better,has better colors,and has more crispness in picture quaility plus its failing rate is non-existant....i guess halo 3,reach,splinter cell and the rest of the kool games will have to wait.....too bad,i really want one

  • marvel456

    Posted Aug 17, 2010 2:38 am GMT

    To me the only exclusive on xbox360 i want on ps3 is the halo series.

  • Aragorn_Narsil posted Aug 16, 2010 8:26 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Aragorn_Narsil

    Posted Aug 16, 2010 8:26 pm GMT (hide)

    Its Hilarious How Much Better The 360 Looks In The Lst Shot...Like Look At The Wall Detail, And Ezio's Brother's Shirt! LOL...

  • HailedJohnDman

    Posted Aug 16, 2010 8:36 am GMT

    lol, is gamespot deliberately trying to start a fanboy war?

  • rugripper40

    Posted Jul 4, 2010 6:20 am GMT

    i agree but is that a question??...yeah splinter cell,mass effect,gears,halo,fable,many more kool games...very true....hopefully the new model of the 360 stays stable and dosnt melt down....would love to enjoy some of the exclusives on the 360 plus the newer model will look awesome next to my ps3....the new 360 with the glossy black looks sweet....but time will tell...aint buying one till i know its stable

    edit: too bad there still inst a bluray player in the 360

    @Commander-Chaos rugripper40,

    the 360 has better exclusives?

  • Commander-Chaos posted Jul 2, 2010 1:34 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Commander-Chaos

    Posted Jul 2, 2010 1:34 pm GMT (hide)

    PS3 looks better in most games. Better lighting, contrast and filtering. Although some games don't apply to this. They're pretty matched. I generally think games programmed for the PS3, and not ported, look better than the 360. Textures look largely similar, although 360 seems to have a very slight edge in 2 or so of the games. However, I think the edges are generally smoother on the PS3, very sharp and crispy on the 360 - pixellated. I think that's why the textures possibly look better. Most of the games seem to lack or only have 2x AA, so I'm not sure what that's about.

    @ rugripper40,

    the 360 has better exclusives? They're both pretty matched. PS3: MGS, GoW, Killzone etc. 360: has games like Fable etc.

  • joey_bulky

    Posted Jun 27, 2010 4:09 pm GMT

    For Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 xbox 360 is better...

  • joey_bulky

    Posted Jun 27, 2010 4:00 pm GMT

    I have done my gaming mostly on the PC, now looking into getting a HD console either a PS3 or Xbox360. Why do xbox360 has a thin vein of blur compare to PS3? Can it be turn off? We the blur len on I do think PS3 wins this round.

  • mrwmom

    Posted Jun 25, 2010 5:54 pm GMT

    Honestly none of this really matters... neither of the consoles are better than other. We all know that PC is better than either the Xbox360 and the PS3, anyone who doesn't admit that is stupid. All comparisons are just opinions so neither will ever win because people will believe what ever they want to.

  • Axcalay

    Posted Jun 22, 2010 8:11 am GMT

    Both look the same to me.

  • rugripper40

    Posted Jun 13, 2010 7:35 am GMT

    i totally agree with everything you said....ive been looking into mods for the 360....water cooling...koolance has some kool mods but microsoft sould produce this 360 already modded or put it in a bigger case so it stays cooler and stops melting......the koolance water cooling mod is 360 us dollars and a 360 is 300 us dollars...not fisable to buy yet....my old original xbox ran great and became more played by me by the end of last gen cause of the controller was a better feel....im no fanboy at all or an idiot,all i really want is a reliable product that last a lifetime....stiil have my old xbox and it runs great almost 7+ years later.....and btw look at genesis,nes,ataris,colleco....mine still run to this day........im sure if bill gates had work done to his house or anything around him....ex his yatch and it crashed and burned.....he wouldnt like that one bit....shotty crasftsmanship sucks...i call it the ruth goldberg effect....lmfao................................................................................................................................................................................ PS3_Gamerboy Posted Jun 11, 2010 10:32 am ET The Ps3 is clearly showing better colours.....It is finally doing what it was made to do

    It wll emerge as the winner The only reason Xbox 360 sells is because of it's exclusives That is why i am buying it.........

  • PS3_Gamerboy

    Posted Jun 11, 2010 7:32 am GMT

    The Ps3 is clearly showing better colours.....It is finally doing what it was made to do

    It wll emerge as the winner
    The only reason Xbox 360 sells is because of it's exclusives That is why i am buying it.........

  • clap-trap0095

    Posted Jun 10, 2010 8:05 am GMT

    @DABhand_UK what the hell are you going on about?! we are normal people that speak english not super nerds!!!! one simple thing to say instead of all the stuff you said....XBOX is good but so is PS3.

  • seanthehitman

    Posted Jun 5, 2010 4:10 pm GMT

    pft remote... brightness setting ect... sorted... to sum up who cares?

  • rugripper40

    Posted May 26, 2010 9:11 am GMT

    @MTMind2............the 360 version isnt ported....ff13,star ocean,and many other square game were made for the 360...btw star ocean runs better on the ps3...so your port theory dosnt work for me....bioshock,fallout 3...etc all look chrisper and clearer on the ps3 and have a greater drawing distance...you can see farther in the environment and the models look more realistic,movement is alot smoother,etc,etc,etc.....native res sucks to compare console games...unless you trying to hide quality...lol...these are consoles not pc s which have many different configs and hardware

  • MTMind2 posted May 26, 2010 3:38 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    MTMind2

    Posted May 26, 2010 3:38 am GMT (hide)

    Wow, this is still going?!?!? Anyway...

    @rugripper40 who wrote "nah man...the 360 cant handle final fantasy 13...thats a fact..."

    Actually, for the gameplay graphics, it can. Let's stop pretending the PS3 wasn't the lead format with the 360 port playing second fiddle to the PS3 version (in the past its often been the reverse, with the PS3 version suffering). If they spent equal time on the 360 version, it would have been the same res as the PS3 version during gameplay (but of course, not the high res movies).

    That said, what's done is done, hence it can't be proven one way or another, however, it will be interesting to see if the 360 FFXIII versus rumours turn out to be true, even if the PS3 version is a timed exclusive, and if so, see how they compare.

    BTW, a game's native resolution is the ideal way to compare them directly. A higher res is a test of how well a console can upscale.

    Oh and, this is just a fleeting visit but... nice talking to you again. I'll give this more time if Gamespot get around to doing 360 vs PS3 Graphics Comparison Round 6.

    (waits for 10 thumbs down from same person with multiple accounts. hehehe)

  • alexfunnypleb

    Posted May 25, 2010 2:05 pm GMT

    ps3 wins hand's down for me and always will

  • k83

    Posted May 24, 2010 9:09 am GMT

    @DABhand_UK WTF?????????

  • rugripper40

    Posted May 21, 2010 9:03 am GMT

    DABhand_UK......dude did u ever think the opposite of your previous statement....maybe you do know alittle bit about disassembling the binary code but dont u think that there is limitations in the binary code so the game would run more stable???...dude use your brain....the game ff13 plays horrible in the 360 with the limitations you speak about...think about that statement u made....if they didnt set limitations on the 360 version the game,it would be unplayable...dont u think mate....cheers

    btw i think thats why your post got hammered...its got nothing to do with fanboyism at all

  • DABhand_UK posted May 19, 2010 6:03 pm GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    DABhand_UK

    Posted May 19, 2010 6:03 pm GMT (hide)

    Actually the 360 is more than capable, and if you know some ASM with experience, you can disassemble their binary to see that square actually forced a limit of hardware limitations.

    Lets face it the 360's GPU, although not amazing in hardware bonus's, the extra 256mb GDDR3 and the high amount of streaming available could easily easily handle FFXIII vertexing etc.

    I wouldn't call a PS3 a beast either, in terms of current PC gaming its actually lacking now. Now we have Ferma tech on Geforce cards with the GF470 and 480, now imagine a PS4 with one of those, and a hexcore CPU with multi-threading, sata3 HDD (on AHCI mode so no more hours to copy data), etc. Then you would have a beast.

  • rugripper40

    Posted May 19, 2010 2:14 pm GMT

    nah man...the 360 cant handle final fantasy 13...thats a fact...square went 360 only for the longest time....the ps3 inst a ps2...square has the same problems that everyone else has programming this beast [ps3] ....the ps3 is slowly creaping away from its competition with a more reliable and real high def entertainment system which wasnt that the platform the big three was going for...an all in one entertainment system for your living room...for those of you that own a house...lol....sony went all chips in and gave u the best bang for ur buck....microsoft went ala cart...pay as you go...lol...and nintendo went with the gimmick machine

    btw these screenshots dont even come close to the picture u c while playing.............. and to play as gamespot puts it...in its native resolution 720p is rediculous.....you should play every game in as high detail as possible.....in 1998 graphics didnt matter ,now, 2010 they do

    DABhand_UK
    As for the FFXIII comment, the 360 was more than capable of handling the game, but since Square is more friendly with Sony (in terms of exclusives in the past), Sony would have made a deal to entice new players to the PS3 platform than the 360's. Clever move, a bit underhanded but hey its business.

  • DABhand_UK posted May 18, 2010 8:53 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    DABhand_UK

    Posted May 18, 2010 8:53 am GMT (hide)

    This is a tough choice, the X360 has an ATI Xenos GPU 512MB GDDR3- similar to an ATI x1900 (yes its not that great) vs the PS3's modified GF7600 256MB GDDR3 (Yeah not that great either). ATI GPU's have more streaming capabilities whereas the GF7600 has better hardware support for Physx effects etc.

    In terms of graphic abilities the GF7600 does come out on top, but that sweet extra 256MB on the 360 makes it faster.

    But the real power is the CPU's. The 360 uses an Intel Xenon CPU, which is a triple core but with an advantage each core can handle two threads at a time, making it in theory a hexcore (six core). But the winner here is the PS3's CPU, with 8 PSE's nice. (Faster and more stable on the slimline models).

    So overall in terms of graphics the 360 wins, but on overall performance the PS3.

    As for the FFXIII comment, the 360 was more than capable of handling the game, but since Square is more friendly with Sony (in terms of exclusives in the past), Sony would have made a deal to entice new players to the PS3 platform than the 360's. Clever move, a bit underhanded but hey its business.

    EDIT: I see the 360 fanboi's decided to mark my post down, sad.. especially when I said the 360 has better performance. Well done. Or is it that the information I provided was correct and they dont want others to see it? The usual suspects who think they know more, but in retrospect know absolutely nothing >.

  • fatpumba3 posted May 17, 2010 2:43 am GMT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    fatpumba3

    Posted May 17, 2010 2:43 am GMT (hide)

    The Xbox 360 looks better in all of them except Batman Arkham Asylum and Dragon Age Origins. Seriously if you think otherwise you either need to get your yes checked or get over that Xbox 360 will almost always look better in cross-platform games. To anyone who says Assassins Creed II looks better on the PS3, look at the blurry as hell textures in the last picture. Even in exclusives the Xbox 360 has beaten the PS3 now, look at Alan Wake it looks way better than Uncharted 2. Then again there is still more PS3 exclusives with better graphics than the 360's.

  • Tommz7070

    Posted May 16, 2010 6:48 pm GMT

    These guys are pretty bias. Most of these games looked better on the PS3 except MW2 and Dirt 2.

  • rugripper40

    Posted May 15, 2010 10:54 am GMT

    lol...this thread is still going strong....and game-on-man....side by side comparisions have to be done on high tech tvs to really see the quality of what the ps3 is generating...just bought... just cause 2...looks insane on the ps3...the 360 version looks sub par....drawing distances on the ps3 are much clearer and sharper...the colors are more brillant and no lag at all....which is screen tearing,clipping,etc.....even at 720p it looks better....wish it was 1080p though...this game would have been awesome and popped on the screen...........TOO BAD THESE DEVS ARE SO FREAKING LAZY

  • DarkGothiN

    Posted May 15, 2010 7:03 am GMT

    I think they should just stop trying to make a console look better by comparing them and let the consumers buy and like what they want to like, if it means anything I like both systems so it doesn't matter what's being showed.

  • asfand0072006

    Posted May 15, 2010 6:27 am GMT

    i think gamespot should compare FF13 on both consoles. or its like someone said it b4 in these forums, gamespot favours xbox360.

  • kazater

    Posted May 12, 2010 1:57 am GMT

    only got the 360, but i am buying a ps3 this afternoon when i get off work, prolly will mainly only get exclusives for it, cause i like the look of the 360 shots more.. that is different in the exclusives i emagine

  • game-on-man

    Posted May 11, 2010 3:05 pm GMT

    Im not trying to make enemies here, but people who are honest know that the PS3 is a more powerful console. Their is no way the 360 can could do Ps3 exclusives. Example: Final fantasy 13= the 360 needed 3 discs, and the colors were still flat and dull.......Im just saying

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