If you want a real hardware comparison for SC 2, do yourself a favor and go to Guru3d,com...I'm not sure why gamespot keeps kidding themselves, they know nothing about pc hardware.
This is a great discussion topic, albeit gamespot is a bit late to the party. I think that in order to stay relevant, moral choices in video games need to evolve. The dualistic approach is not going to work for ever, there also needs to be greater, more concrete consequences for these choices. I'm not sure how to derive gameplay decisions within that "grey area" where many real life moral choices lie. But behind these consequences and the choices that precede them, the game needs to generate an emotional investment from the player to drive these decisions home. Making an altruistic choice in a game would seem all the more heroic and sacrificial if I REALLY had something to lose. A cheery or dark visage coupled with some exclusive abilities just isn't going to cut it for much longer.
Yeah I don't really think running the PC version at 720p is very fair. Who runs that limited resolution on a gaming pc any more? Show everyone the game as I see it at home and the difference will be a bit more obvious. Its not the prettiest game ever, but even turds look pretty polished at 1920x1200 or higher. Edit: I won't delete my comment, but my apologies to those who already stated the same observation.
@ tttttank That's all well and good, and I'm sure DX11 is going to pickup a much better following within the industry than DX10 did. However, you're computer is not particularly suited to run DX11 and its higher end features. Your card is not capable of hardware tessellation or shader model 5.0. Also, if you do upgrade to a 5800 series, you're going to start to see bottlenecks on that Phenom II. Just something to think about before you run out and spend over $100 on a new OS for a new DX runtime that your PC isn't really ready for.
Do yourselves all a favor...Don't take Gamespot's advice on hardware. They're not thorough, they're not impartial, and they don't really know what they are doing anyway. I recommend guru3d.com; those guys eat, sleep, and breath hardware.
Yay! I asked for this comparison...but if they really wanted to blow the doors off the consoles, we would have a resolution comparison as well. 1920x1080 (Hi-Def) simply does not compare to a 2560x1600 resolution monitor. However, to power that monitor properly I paid $400 a piece for 3 GTX280 GPUs, so yeah, its costly, downside noted. Sure, I could have bought both consoles not including a motherboard, case, processor, etc...but its just not as rewarding or versatile as building your own computer. But you by no means have to spend that much. You could easily push every graphic feature a game like FO3 offers at a 1920x1200 resolution monitor for somewhere in the $1200 ballpark, which is what you wind up paying for a console and a decent lcd tv anyway.
Anyone bickering about the image quality differences on these consoles needs to pick up at least one GTX 280 and a 1920x1200 monitor, then you'll see what this game is REALLY supposed to look like. I'm spoiled by my high-end pc but I think you guys should stop arguing and agree that they both look equally crappy.
On my old rig ...(don't laugh)A 2yr Old Dell XPS with a Pentium D Dual-Core 3.2ghz and (upgraded to) 4gb OCZ pc6200 RAM, with an 8800gtx running XP...this game was AWESOME. But alas, I finally built my first custom computer: Q9550 2.8ghz with a light OC up to 3.0ghz EVGA 790i Mobo 4 gb mushkin RAM at 1600mhz (soon to be 8gb) GTX 280 (soon to be dual GTX 280's) This game is MINDBLOWING. So I would have to say that its all relative, if your pc runs it at a quality that is acceptable to you...having the nicer parts is really just "bonus." Besides, who cares if its the prettiest thing ever? I had way more fun playing Bioshock than I every did playing Crysis...and I'm the biggest graphics whore there is.
I'm strictly interested in performance components as a gamer. This board is not important to me simply because it is not necessary. When games need hardware this expensive to run properly...I'm finding a new hobby.
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