Home Gaming Can you tell console from PC just by looking?

Can you tell console from PC just by looking?

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47

hedifference

We’re pretty much all on the same page when it comes to video game graphics. There’s no point in even trying to deny the fact that suitably powerful PCs are capable of better graphics, with smoother framerates than the latest consoles. The question is, how much does it really matter? Gamespot sought to find out – and had people trying to discern the differences.

In an interesting test on the subject for Gamespot’s Reality Check video series, they set up stations with an Xbox One, a PS4 and a gaming PC, and asked folk, including some of the staff – so people who know and understand video games – to have a gander and see if they could tell which was which, just by looking at and playing them for a bit. Button prompts were covered using the highest technology available (duct tape) and each of the systems ran the same games; Far Cry 4, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Assassin’s Creed Unity.

You may actually be surprised by the results.

As a point of interest, you can actually take part in the challenge too. At the end of the video, there are clips from Far Cry 4, and it’s your job to guess which is which. Before you get moaning about the loss in quality from a compressed YouTube clip, you can also download the clips in full resolution here. In two week’s Gamespot will reveal which one was which. In the mean time, you can vote on them here.

I think the most interesting thing about it all is that in the end, it seems to not really matter too much, if the game runs, and runs well enough, then that’s all that matters. The whole resolution nonsense and console fanboy wars are silly and meaningless – though they can indeed be quite entertaining. Of course, there are ways to make it obvious which one is the PC – by going beyond the standard resolutions, using adaptive Vsync and enabling ambient occlusion – but in like-for-like situations, just about anybody would be hard pressed to tell the differences, and for the most part, even care.

Last Updated: February 23, 2015

47 Comments

  1. Hammersteyn

    February 23, 2015 at 15:06

    “No posts were found.” Must be PC

    Reply

    • RinceThis

      February 23, 2015 at 15:06

      lol

      Reply

    • Blood Emperor Trevor

      February 23, 2015 at 15:06

      That’s because they were comparing PS4 v Xbone v PC in GTAV :/

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        February 23, 2015 at 15:11

        Or they were comparing the heists which cant be found on any platform

        Reply

    • Geoffrey Tim

      February 23, 2015 at 15:11

      Should be fixed.

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        February 23, 2015 at 15:11

        😛

        Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        February 23, 2015 at 15:11

        😛

        Reply

    • Geoffrey Tim

      February 23, 2015 at 15:11

      Should be fixed.

      Reply

  2. Blood Emperor Trevor

    February 23, 2015 at 15:06

    I don’t care if one looks better than the other, minor differences are irrelevant.

    Reply

  3. RinceThis

    February 23, 2015 at 15:06

    You’re a major irrelevance!

    Reply

  4. Ranting Raptor

    February 23, 2015 at 15:16

    The resolution nonsense is nonsense.

    That being said… CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. WIll download and report as soon as I’ve had a look.

    That being said, the videos are in full res, but were the vids recorded rendered with a 24FPS video standard or were the videos encoded using the native FPS of the actual video source?

    Reply

  5. Matewis Jubilai

    February 23, 2015 at 15:20

    I can always tell with youtube videos when someone is playing an FPS with a controller. It physically hurts me looking at all of those stiff movements 🙁

    Reply

  6. Avi

    February 23, 2015 at 15:23

    1 – PS4
    2 – XB1
    3 – PC

    Reply

  7. HvR

    February 23, 2015 at 15:28

    Interesting should have been a blind test instead of guessing which platform is which.

    Reply

    • Andrew Shaw

      February 23, 2015 at 17:52

      A blind test…

      Reply

  8. Brandon van Reenen

    February 23, 2015 at 15:29

    Graphics are nice and all, but to me they take a backseat to gameplay and replayability/story.

    Reply

    • Matthew Holliday

      February 23, 2015 at 15:42

      less to do with graphics and more to do with broken promises and smooth gameplay.

      Reply

  9. Mossel

    February 23, 2015 at 15:35

    Depends on how close you sit to the screen. If you play at 900p @30fps but you sit 2m from the screen and it is a 40″ led tv, it will look the same as 1080p @60fps if you sit 50cm from the screen on a 24″ monitor.

    Reply

    • Johan

      February 23, 2015 at 15:38

      Is this scientific or observation.

      Reply

      • Mossel

        February 23, 2015 at 15:42

        It’s my personal opinion. So yes, scientific. xD

        Reply

    • Matthew Holliday

      February 23, 2015 at 15:41

      depends on alot of things, quality of the tv would be more important than the difference between where you’re sitting.
      there is a clear difference between my 50″ LCD and my 24″ LED or a 32-40″ LED.

      Reply

      • Mossel

        February 23, 2015 at 15:44

        It does indeed. TV’s also have greater input lag compared to monitors. But if you sit close to big LED tv you will suddenly see all the pixels compared to sitting far from it.

        Reply

        • Matthew Holliday

          February 23, 2015 at 15:48

          never been able to tell the difference with input lag between screens, unless ones REALLY bad.

          dont really care about sitting close to an LED though, LED pixel blending is pretty smooth compared to LCD.

          but yeah, if you sit with your nose against the screen, you’ll see more imperfections than usual.

          Reply

    • utack

      February 23, 2015 at 18:54

      Sitting distance won’t change fps.
      If aliens in space were to observe your TV they could still tell apart 30fps and 60fps.

      Reply

      • Mossel

        February 23, 2015 at 19:44

        Yeah I meant the distance will have an effect on how you perceive resolution.

        Reply

  10. Matthew Holliday

    February 23, 2015 at 15:38

    3 games that were all criticised for being poorly optimised on PC and aimed for the console market.
    hardly seems objective tbh.

    Reply

    • Darren Peach

      February 23, 2015 at 15:59

      That’s exactly what I thought.

      Reply

    • L337J1MB0B

      February 23, 2015 at 15:59

      Butthurt PC gamer? teeheehee!

      Reply

  11. eXpZA

    February 23, 2015 at 15:39

    The video that looks like you’re filming from above, Google Maps style. That’s the PC version right there.

    Perspective is always odd when riding your High Horses 🙂

    Reply

  12. Darren Peach

    February 23, 2015 at 15:50

    That’s all well and good, But what really gets under my skin is my mother can’t tell the difference between HD and SD.

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      February 23, 2015 at 15:53

      Older people spent so much time outside that they see in resolutions we cant even begin to comprehend.

      Reply

      • CAE9872

        February 24, 2015 at 07:38

        LOL

        Reply

    • Matthew Holliday

      February 23, 2015 at 15:54

      it took me 6 months to convince my dad to move from 19″ 4:3 to 23″ 16:9
      and even then, it took a takealot daily deal to do it.

      he doesnt see the need for stuff like HD, widescreen or even faster internet.

      Reply

  13. Pieter Kruger

    February 23, 2015 at 16:19

    Amen! But obviously the peeesfawr AC will be the easiest to spot, just look for the frame stutter!! ????

    Reply

  14. konfab aka derp

    February 23, 2015 at 17:33

    6 volunteers…
    Hardly a massive sample size.

    Reply

  15. Cyberats

    February 23, 2015 at 21:39

    The differences are Control, Realism, Beauty, Art, Story – all on the PC side. Where consoles have become an Internet tethered one player game, slow loading to a crawl, they no longer offer what they used to – group playing fun & instant action (cartridges). That is why Wii is still alive.

    Reply

  16. Cyberats

    February 23, 2015 at 21:40

    R.I.P. All Consoles.

    Reply

  17. Daniel evans

    February 24, 2015 at 21:59

    i liked the way they didnt actually compare assassin’s creed unity lol. i cant run assassin’s creed unity at its full glory on pc but i have seen it maxed out and running well on stupidly over powered computers. if they went ahead and actually compared that game propperly there would have been a massive difference with pc being easily the one to stand out. lol

    Reply

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