A very fair comparison by a guy who has all 3 versions (PC, PS3 and Xbox 360) of Oblivion.
Vsync / control :
I notice no tearing in either version, however, there is more input lag on the PS3 version. The lag feels about 75% worse (it's totally subjective however).
Jaggies :
PS3 has worse jaggies, but not by much. The PS3 version seems to have no AA, while the 360 version looks like 2xAA on a PC.
Bloom / HDR effects :
Best way to describe it is, 360 version seems to have more light bloom, with higher intensity of the colors. PS3 version has a more dynamic HDR effect, looking at a bright surface makes your 'eyes' adjust more than the 360 version.
Texture quality :
The textures are generally higher resolution on the 360. I'd say 80% of the textures are twice as good on the 360. The few textures that are better on the PS3 are the character textures and some objects, such as the little table in your cell at the beginning of the game.
Texture Filtering :
PS3 has an enormous edge here, looks more like 16xAF on a PC, more like no AF on the 360. This makes textures in the distance more clear.
Load times :
PS3 version is superior here. PS3 load times are about 40% faster. A 10 second load time on 360 is about 6 on PS3. A 40 second load time is about 25 on PS3. Stuff like that.
Lighting (not HDR) :
Lighting seems slightly better on the 360. One specific example is in the starting dungeon. The torch on the wall in your cell has a better effect on the 360. It waves around more, the PS3 version just pulses.
Framerate :
360 is the winner here. PS3 is all around slower 90% of the time. Sometimes it's just a few FPS, sometimes it's up to ~10fps, I'd say. The slowdowns on the 360 are worse on the PS3.
Sound :
PS3 version sounded more muffled, perhaps they compressed the audio. It's possible I'm wrong because the 360 itself is louder than the PS3 by far, so it was easier to hear the PS3 audio. Still, I'd say the PS3 audio sounds downsampled. Note, this doesn't count the music or voice, just the sound effects seem muffled.
LOD :
PS3 has no better LOD than the 360 version. There is no choppyness when moving around outside like on the 360, but it isn't pushed out any. Also, like many suspected, the 'LOD shader fix' is not much more than the little texture LOD fixes that users made for the PC version.
Both versions look VERY similar, but I would give a slight edge to the 360 version, simply for the better textures (for the most part). Load time differences wouldn't be noticeable if I weren't running both at the same time. The PS3 is nice and quiet, so you can pick up more sound details, but the sound itself sounds a bit muffled on the PS3.
I played some more of the PS3 version yesterday. Didn't really notice a lot new.
I had a single 'now loading' hiccup on the PS3 version. There was another time I saw 'now loading' but the framerate didn't skip at all.
I noticed that Bethesda really must have spent SOME time with the game. For example, there are a few new textures that aren't present in either the 360 or PC version. The patchy snow on the ground is WAY better artistically than it was. Still, a good 70-80% of the textures are downgraded. Some just look more compressed, others are blurrier and have less detail.
I started to feel that it was really the lighting and perhaps the jaggies which makes the game look worse overall. It's a strange thing. The game just feels less 'alive' and the walls feel more papery (as opposed to feeling more like the real objects). There's still specularity and normal mapping all the places it is in the 360 version, so I don't know why it feels this way.
The few better textures in the PS3 version really bug me. The textures look sharper in just a few places, and it makes the game look really uneven. There are areas of floor that are sharper than the 360 version and then on the same floor a few inches away blurrier than the 360 version.
Well, I'll tell you some places so that someone with a capable camera might be able to show :
Outside Bruma castle, near the statue is one of the 'new high res' textures vs. blurrier textures.
Outside the Chorrol Abbey, look right down in front of the door, better texture than 360.
The stool in the jail cell at the start of the game has a better texture.
For worse textures look at the fences all around Bravil, also the Mages' Guild (including the painting and flag thingy (for the guild, forget the correct name), all inside that guild. Also, the rocks in Bravil and many other objects look far worse.
The Mages' Guild sign in Skingrad and probably other places looks worse.
One thing that's also a bit better on the PS3 is the funny little reflection map on the glass objects (such as crystal balls) looks better than the 360 version and the same as the PC version. It's a REALLY small detail.
[edit : also, the patchy snow outside of Bruma, and also the rocks around there look to be remodeled and look better.]
[edit 2 : some of the trees around Bruma look worse (the speedtree 'leaves') on the PS3, I didn't really notice any of the nice fur ****'leaves' that are in the 360 version]
Oh yea, one thing I just remember that's pretty important.
I FINALLY saw what Bethesda was calling the LOD shader improvement. You know how stuff fades into view often on the 360 version? Well, the entire zone will blur into view on the PS3 (and presumably the patch coming to 360 soon). It IS a much better effect, instead of seeing a whole area pop in in front of you, the entire thing just fades in really smooth like.
Yeah i know a pretty long read, but a very interesting ;)
skyform
brilliant post. i have a 360 and not ps3, its not because i dont like the ps3 its simply because im 16 and so i dont have the money for a ps3. its nice to know my oblivion game looks just as good as the ps3 version.
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