Should consoles manufacturers pursue resolutions beyond 4K?

This question was flouting throught my mind for some time now. This gen showed that Xbox fans are unable to tell the difference between 720p and 1080p, Nintendo fans care even less about resolutions for two gens now and the other casual players that are not into system wars dont care at all.

So should the console manufacturers aim beyond 4K when they reached that milestone (at least another gen)?

Unlike PC players the majority of console players are gaming on TVs (assumption) and aliasing is harder to detect from the distant you would normally have when playing on TV compared to Monitors. TVs are getting bigger but Homes are not, so there is a limit in the way the increased screen size would play a part into the necessity of improved resolution and IQ.

On the other hand resolution upgrades take a whole lot of power which could be used for other effects or things like draw distance and so on.

My stance is that after reaching 4K, console manufacturer should not go beyond that. Granted we dont know what the future will bring but at the moment I dont see the necessity to go ever beyond that level for consoles.

"640K ought to be enough for anybody."

I wish they made stable framerates, but when your type is the most vocal, fat chance of that happening.

Gaem Jurnalizm at its finest in that gif xD

My stance is that after reaching 4K console manufacturer should not go beyond that

Consoles will never reach 4k. They will be dead by then.

Well the freed up power from not pursuing higher resolutions could help with that.

@deeph: Yes they shold!

Not until the industry has moved over to 4k.

@jhonMalcovich: I knew this would be coming from a hermit before I even typed a single word for this thread. How unoriginal.

@suicidesn0wman: Fixed it. ;)

Lets have 1080p consoles first, then we can talk about 4K and higher.

Oh, come on. No need to be offended.

It took console manufacturers 6 years to hit 1080p and 30fps. And not everybody even made it yet, like xbox one or wiiU still lingering at 900p. Probably next gen consoles will still be about 1080p and stable 60 fps. After that, the standard for next next gen consoles will be 2k. By the time console approach 4k, we are taking about some 18 years counting from now, mobile devices will have caught up with them and kill them.

@jhonMalcovich: It baffles me that a PC gamer doesn't understand 60 fps is a design choice, not something achieved by better hardware. The NES is capable of 60 fps. The standard next gen will remain 30 fps on consoles regardless of resolution or power.

It baffles me that you think it's a design choice when it's obviously hardware limitation related...

Lol it's not. It's a hardware limitation. More fps requires more power. If it was a design choice, we all would be able to download a 60fps patch or something. Try to play any ps1 game on your nes if it's so capable lol. No, you can't

Truth

@jhonMalcovich: @nyadc: Well both of you so called PC gamers are wrong. Can you explain why the Wii U and even the PS3 are capable of running games at 1080p 60 fps?

60 fps has and always will be a design choice. Graphical fidelity, resolution, physics, AI, etc can call be altered to allow a game to achieve 60 fps. You two are in for a surprise when the next gen standard is not 1080p 60 fps. It'll either be 1080p or 4k at 30 fps.

Of course, some developers like Platinum and Nintendo will choose to design their games around 60 fps rather than 30 fps.

I'd be delighted if they focused on 1080p first. Lets start with that small step maybe?

The standard is generally always 30 FPS on consoles because the hardware is generally only capable of rendering that for the graphical budget of what developers are trying to create. Obviously there are exceptions to this and in many cases console games can achieve 60 FPS, but it has to be a game that is not pushing the technology to its boundaries per the hardware it is running on.

It's a hardware deficiency problem, most go for 30 because it's less work than trying to achieve a stable 60, not because they want it to be 30...

Im not offended.

Your estimations for consoles to reach 4K is another 3 gens? Man, you are way underestimating consoles. PS3 to PS4 was a general jump from 720p to 1080p for big buget titles, agreed? (Actually even bigger because many games run sub 720p on 360 and PS3)

1280 x 720 = 921600

1920 x 1080 = 2073600

3840 x 2160 = 8294400

The increase in resolution from 720p to 1080p is 2.25 times and the increase in resolution from 1080p to 4K is 4 times, correct me if I made a mistake. We just had a general jump in resolution this gen from 720p to 1080p so if we had the same jump in power 2 Times we will reach 4K at the latest in 2 gens. Notice that the jumps were not resolutions only but the games themselves were next gen in scope, geometry and so on and that was a relativly small jump compared to some other gens or at least thats what people say.

The only reason consoles would not make it to 4K in the next 2 gens would be that technology dev. would make a drastic stop and it would be too expensive to produce the required consoles which is actually not that far fetched.

Anyway this thread is not about if or if not they will make it to 4K but if you guys want consoles to have an even higher resolution than 4K.

So you basically agree with me that it's a design choice. The majority of devs will choose graphical fidelity over 60 fps, not because of hardware power, it's because that's what sells. Regardless of how much more powerful next gen consoles become, the majority of games will still run at 30 fps since graphics (among other things) can always be pushed higher.

That's one of the major differences between console gaming and PC gaming. PCs are open ended hardware.

I would agree with that in the sense that I dont want some half backed solutions just to increase the resolution for the sake of it. Give me better AA and greater fidelity if you cant make the jump to 4K for the majority of AAA titles.

@deeph: No, I don't think console manufacturers should push for 4K yet.. they should push for 60FPS. lol

It's not a choice if you're forced into it or have to drastically scale back your game to achieve 60, that is your hand being forced because of hardware limitations...

Thats not what this thread is about...

I can't tell the difference between 720 and 1080p.

@deeph: Then what is it about? Enlighten me.. How can console manufacturers possibly push beyond 4K, if they haven't reached it yet?

Its about the need and want for console games to go beyond 4K. The games could run at 30/60/120 fps it does not matter to my question. Or maybe you would be happy with 1080p forever?

I want 4K for console games but have no need for more after that. Of course things could change with some new kind of TV or whatever but at the moment thats where I stand.

@deeph: Then my answer is yes, console manufacturers should pursue resolutions beyond 4K, but, for now, they need to put their focus on 1080p 60fps at max settings.

You say you don't care about anything beyond 4K now, but wait until further down the line - when 4K is in the same boat as 360p. lol

no, 1080p/60fps is a fine standard, use that extra power to focus on better visual effects, better physics, better environmental destruction, better smoke, shadows, lighting, etc, better draw distances, better AI, better crowds and load times, I'd rather have all that than the same shit just looking sharper, great example is higher resolution doesn't always equal better, just look at the FF7 HD BC port on PS4, just goes to show upping resolution actually makes things look worse if you don't solve the problem of the base assets improving

No, 1080p with constant/stable 60fps and or 30fps is fine...as others have mention better put effort on 1080p at max detail & constant/stable 60fps and or 30fps. :P

@jhonMalcovich said:

My stance is that after reaching 4K console manufacturer should not go beyond that

Consoles will never reach 4k. They will be dead by then.

What monitor are you playing on Little Johnny?

let em reach 1080p stable then we will talk about higher res

I think consoles should focus on making 60fps a standard for all games before worrying about higher resolutions. 30fps is unacceptable in this day and age.

Maybe we should worry about getting consoles to run 1080p smoothly first before thinking of even larger than 4k. :P

No, going beyond 4k doesn't seem necessary.

The NX might have 4k video. Its leaked info.

https://youtu.be/7S88SObPIPY?t=244

@jhonMalcovich: You are delusional

As stated, consoles should work on 1080p with acceptable framerates before thinking of bumping up resolution. The next gen will most likely be 1080p still, while PC gamers moved on to higher resolutions.

4K is a total waste (2D games aside) for consoles in the near future. 1080p, max AF, a good blend of SMAA and MSAA will be great at TV distance.

If the next consoles focus on 1080p the graphical leap will be huge and devs won't have to sacrifice much for 60fps. 1080p60 with great graphics is perfectly achievable on Ps4 right now (Nier looks amazing) but some devs are better than others. Devs need to stop mucking up images with terrible post processing too.

Basically, 4K should be at the bottom of the priority list.

@deeph: For one the consoles are limited by whatever the mainstream TV resolution of the time is. You won't see further than 4K unless the 4K+ TVs are popular or have a realistic level of uptake within the console's lifespan.

Overall though the hardware is limited by whatever will hit that $400 price-point sweet spot. We can complain about lack of power all we like but people just don't buy 500/600 dollar consoles and none of the manufacturers are interested in subsidizing the cost of hardware any longer.

In the future what hardware can be put in the box at a price-point of $400 dictates the resolution primarily imo (unless cloud computing/streaming takes off big time).

Consoles should match whatever resolution TV's are currently at. The end.

I look forward to a day when graphics are as realistic and as good as they could ever get on even the cheapest of machines so that we can quit arguing about it. The people of the future will wonder why we were so stupid and argued so. They will say, "Didn't they care if the game was actually good or not?" No they just cared about graphics, how stupid they were!

Yeah agreed.

If you care that much about gaming at the latest resolutions etc, play on PC.

@Chozofication: How do you feel about consoles being in 1440p 60fps? They should work on that and other stuff first before 4k.

It would seem silly to even target 4K next gen

They'd only have to scale back graphics, 30fps games on consoles right now haven't seen technical game design leaps so 60fps wouldn't hurt that.

In the 6th gen the most impressive games were 60fps, that changed last gen.

1440p is probably what devs will shoot for if they want to go higher than 1080, but I really think 1080p will be enough. 4K will be a rarity. I'd like to see 60fps become at least as common as it was in the 6th gen for the next gen.

problem with 1440p is there are no 1440p tv's

We should start having that conversation once 4k TV's become standard. I don't even know anyone who has a 4k TV. In fact, my main TV in the lounge is only 720p. Looks pretty good to me though.

Consoles should just aim for whatever the next generation of TV's are at. So consoles aiming for 4k is fine for the moment.

agreed here.

4k might not be as much of a ceiling as people are making it out to be.

A manufacturer should just prioritize.

Resolution and FPS aren't the only things to keep in mind when making a console... If a manufacturer wants to achieve something, it's probably as simple as shifting focus..... Everything else depends on production expenses which is most likely the biggest stumbling block.

Wake me up when they can get 60fps and 1080p across the board