19 replies to this topic

[Keviin]

So  I played SM3DW yesterday in stores (really awesome game) and what I noticed is the  difference  between playing on the Gamepad and on the  tv.  The  TV off course is very bright and.. HDish but also highlights  the 'uglier' aspects of a game (some textures, not so amazing  AA  etc.), while gaming on the gamepad looks more like what we've seen on screenshots  (superb lighting etc.). I also noticed it when playing Trine 2  demo (albeit  to  a lesser extend).  Am I  the only one  who  noticed this? Are consoles still not optimalized enough to run games in HD the way they are meant to  be?  (not just  Wii U, PS4 also has some.. jaggies and stuff)

[Nollog]

I heard the opposite about 3dworld.

[3Dude]

Sounds like the geniuses who set up your demo display are using composite cables from an old wii display.

And I dont think 3dworld bothers with even trying aa at all.

But it should still look miles better than on the gamepad in that regaurd because its over 4x the resolution of the 480 game pad image.

[storabajskorven]

It's probably due to light, colour and contrast settings on the TV.

[Arkhandar]

My local electronics retailer, which is full of geniuses btw, set the TV sharpness to 100 (max) on official Nintendo demo units. It's atrocious to even glace at the TV. Everything is so sharp and aliased (even NSMB U), but it does stand out the quality of the GamePad. It's probably the same situation your having.

Edited by Arkhandar, 03 December 2013 - 07:08 AM.

[MatrixChicken]

For the most part, games probably will look better on the gamepad, except for the lack of HD. But it's really the lack of HD that's causing it to look better. Like 3dude said, I don't think SM3DW attempts to use AA at all, but since it downscales the 720p image (or whatever resolution the game may be) down to 480p for the gamepad, there's some kinda unintentional (I guess?) antialiasing going on there anyway. At least, that's how I think it works... Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. :3

[3Dude]

MatrixChicken, on 03 Dec 2013 - 11:29 AM, said:
For the most part, games probably will look better on the gamepad, except for the lack of HD. But it's really the lack of HD that's causing it to look better. Like 3dude said, I don't think SM3DW attempts to use AA at all, but since it downscales the 720p image (or whatever resolution the game may be) down to 480p for the gamepad, there's some kinda unintentional (I guess?) antialiasing going on there anyway. At least, that's how I think it works... Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. :3

It WOULD work that way, except its missing a critical component.

What you are referring to is indeed the general idea of spatial anti aliasing, that takes a picture rendered and then sampled at a high resolution, and then resampling at the intended resolution, however it misses a critical step.

You must remove frequencies of data points that would not be properly displayed before resampling at the lower resolution. Its the combinations of these data points that become sub pixel in size (smaller than a pixel on your display screen) at the intended resolution that add up to that ugly unsightly jagged pixel.

Without that step, you arent really doing anything, and the only favor the gamepad will get is that its 480p resolution comes with a fairly higher dot per inch count than the standard hdtv (its pixels are smaller than a tv's), something that would be quite noticable if you were say, looking at the tv from less than two or three feet away, whilst had the gamepad at standard arms holding length.

[Happy Monk]

The Gamepad screen has superb colour balancing, it is hard to get the settings on the TV looking the same. If you manage to get the settings right, games look better on the TV.

[xile6]

Its all about your setup.

 

When i played cod bo2. It look good on the tv but had a plain look to it. but playing it from the game pad it look a look sharper. i know most of this is due to the smaller screen and res.

 

But same for other games can be said. If the game has som bad pixling then it may be seen more on your tv vs the smaller game pad

[Rockodoodle]

I remember somebody ragging on the gamepad for "not even being HD....."  I always thought that games looked really sharp and was pretty shocked at what the specs were.  At anyrate, I'm really pleased with it looks.

[DanJiblets]

I didn't read through the thread but I tried 3d world on my gamepad and immediately flipped my tv back on because it looked way better. It's nice looking on the gamepad, but just amazing on a decent tv.

[RETROBLAST]

I am in shock that stores such as GameStop have the worst display screens with the worst settings on them to display and try and sell consoles. At my local store the PS4 games looked Worse than the Wii U games and they didn't look great themseves.  I happen to have a 55in Sony TV and everrything looks better on it than the pad.

[Arkhandar]

I am in shock that stores such as GameStop have the worst display screens with the worst settings on them to display and try and sell consoles. At my local store the PS4 games looked Worse than the Wii U games and they didn't look great themseves.  I happen to have a 55in Sony TV and everrything looks better on it than the pad.

 

Retailers... what can you do?

[syks-1]

no looks better on the tv too me

[Goodtwin]

The smaller screen gives really good pixel density, so even though its actually lower res, the pixel density is higher.  Most games look as good or better on the Gamepad as they do on my 42in LG LCD 1080p tv.  Rayman Legends was the standout on my tv, it being 1080p native allowed it to look cleaner on my TV, but games that render in 720p are likely to look as good if not better on the Gamepad. 

[Grooseland]

All of my games look better on my TV to be honest. When I switch to the Gamepad it looks almost the same but not better. Perhaps it's my TV that helps?

[Pjsprojects]

I played AC4 on game pad the first couple of days and was happy enough, then played it on the big tv, wow.

[alan123]

So  I played SM3DW yesterday in stores (really awesome game) and what I noticed is the  difference  between playing on the Gamepad and on the  tv.  The  TV off course is very bright and.. HDish but also highlights  the 'uglier' aspects of a game (some textures, not so amazing  AA  etc.), while gaming on the gamepad looks more like what we've seen on screenshots  (superb lighting etc.). I also noticed it when playing Trine 2  demo (albeit  to  a lesser extend).  Am I  the only one  who  noticed this? Are consoles still not optimalized enough to run games in HD the way they are meant to  be?  (not just  Wii U, PS4 also has some.. jaggies and stuff)

maybe you need a better TV ?

 

how can the gamepad screen look better than a 1080p TV, the gamepad screen is not even 780p let alone HD.

[xile6]

maybe you need a better TV ?

 

how can the gamepad screen look better than a 1080p TV, the gamepad screen is not even 780p let alone HD.

Its the fact that its up in your face vs a tv thats far away.

I have seen screen shots on my cellphone which look great because of the small screen but when i get on my laptop or plug it to the tv it looks like crap.

But also the screens where crap to start off with. Just looks better because of smaller screen.

 

And yes peoples tv will play a big role in everything. I had a tv that did great at 720p but if it had to upscale anything it would look like crap. Looks like it was a digital zoom.

The tv i have now does great but also its a 3d tv so refresh rate is high and it does 1080p

[ChrisD]

Certainly seemed to be the case with Pikmin 3. Not sure if it's the large distance between our couch and the TV, or if the setting are off. All I know is that the game popped on the GamePad.

 

Too bad playing the game without the Wiimote+Nunchuk combo was a vile thing to do.