Nit Picking on the WII U? thoughts....

[KDub]

Hmm the output on mine looks really crisp. The only one that wasn't as good as it could be was ZombiU but that is from a lot of over use in filters for that dirty world look; something Ubisoft does a lot.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Sonic All Stars is by far the worst looking game I've played on the system so far (though very fun). ZombiU looks great artistically, but the filters hurt my eyes after longer than an hour or so (LOVE the game though). Black Ops 2 looks slightly better than it's 360 counterpart according to comparisons. Nintendoland is very pretty, though it's scene complexity isn't exactly high.

It's a launch lineup of mostly ports. I'm not suprised there isn't much 1080p content here at the start. Monster Hunter is 1080p, and I'm sure a few other upcoming titles are as well. I'm not expecting a monstrous improvement over the other consoles, but over the coming year or so I think you'll see stuff that's definitely better on WiiU.

I don't play consoles for graphics though. I have my PC for that.

I'll take 60fps @ 720p over 30fps @ 1080p though. Going from my PC to consoles is always a bit of an adjustment due to the generally lower framerates.

[Cronozilla]

This is something I have to comment on: Higher resolution doesn't mean no aliasing. It's not a solution. Anti-aliasing is the only way to remove those artifacts. Even in a 2160p image you're going to see aliasing if nothing is done about it. Also, TVs have pretty horrible pixel density (50-55ppi, gets worse as the TV gets larger), so any sort of problem like that will appear to be more exacerbated than it actually is. (A computer monitor will be in the 72-92ppi range, and resolutions usually scale with display size ... unlike TVs)

Here, I just took these to express this:

This is Assassin's Creed II on PC. This is the game in 720p, with no anti-aliasing ... pay attention to the hanging plant and the railing. http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/113 ... 22F47936D/

Here's the same thing, but at 1080p http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/11374 ... E438D4E3A/

Here's the same thing at 1080p with Anti-aliasing cranked up http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/113 ... A3C47CD92/

The only time aliasing artifacts are remotely unnoticeable is when using anti-aliasing.

Sonic is likely just a lousy iteration. The first one on PS3 had numerous graphical issues too.

RyaNtheSlayA, Definitely. I'd prefer a great 60 fps 720p image over a good 30 fps 1080p image any day.

[Redifer]

Yes I know all about anti-aliasing and whatnot, but these lines are BIG. They are definitely not originally rendered in 1080p or I would be complaining about tons of PS3 games. PS3 games have very little anti-aliasing and they're usually 720p. In Mario, look especially at the shadows on the map screen. Pretty chunky. No go look at the recent 2D Rayman on the PS3. Much more detail. Anti-aliasing can't hide everything, though. It can't make up for lack of detail. I was hoping Mario U would look as good as Rayman. There's also lots of screens that overall just generally look kind of blurry. Not everything, mind you, but things here and there.

[Cronozilla]

Shadow and image aliasing are two entirely different things, though. Shadow aliasing has to do with the resolution of the shadow maps used (Or sample size), image aliasing is an artifact due to rastorization (because the image is being broken up into pixels). And, the shadows in 3D PS3 games are absolutely atrocious.

Rayman Origins and Legends are mostly 2D ...

New Super Mario Bros U is almost entirely 3D ... They're really not the same, as a result. To judge shadows in this context they have to be dynamically calculated shadows ... that's just not possible if the images are all 2D ... the shadows in Rayman look like they're sprites that are manipulated to curve to surfaces then blended with the underlying sprites so it looks smooth (If it we're from the silhouette of the character it wouldn't look like a round blob). But a 3D shadow is an entirely different beast.

It's really difficult to argue that a 3D rendered game needs to look more detailed and vibrant than a handcrafted 2D game ... that's not even remotely fair. Though, I would LOVE to see a 2D Mario using traditional 2D techniques with current technology. We'd see more stuff like the swamp level, which looked fantastic.

The world map is also rendered at different quality levels than the actual game levels because ... the world map is huge and all of it is accessible in real-time. There isn't any AA going on the world map as a result, but there is in the gameplay areas.

Honestly, I'm not sure what you're looking at. I've played through all of NSMBU and it was really crisp and clear. It's not 1080p, but it absolutely is 720p ... and it's quality 720p at that. Just to note, PS3 games are not rendered in 1080p outside of a handful of titles. Hell, a lot of games aren't even rendered in 720p. (Crysis 2, Battlefield 3, and most Call of Duty games come to mind)

You can dislike the way it looks and prefer whatever else, that's fine and that's your opinion ... but this stuff is just not true or really inaccurate.

[alienjesus]

This is something I have to comment on: Higher resolution doesn't mean no aliasing. It's not a solution. Anti-aliasing is the only way to remove those artifacts.

The only time aliasing artifacts are remotely unnoticeable is when using anti-aliasing.

Call me stupid, but I literally cannot see the difference between the middle and last pictures you posted. What exactly am I looking for?

[AppleQueso]

This is something I have to comment on: Higher resolution doesn't mean no aliasing. It's not a solution. Anti-aliasing is the only way to remove those artifacts.

The only time aliasing artifacts are remotely unnoticeable is when using anti-aliasing.

Call me stupid, but I literally cannot see the difference between the middle and last pictures you posted. What exactly am I looking for?

Look at the edges on the windows in the background. See how they kinda have this 'stairstep' thing going on there in the middle image? Compare that with those same edges in the last image.

[alienjesus]

This is something I have to comment on: Higher resolution doesn't mean no aliasing. It's not a solution. Anti-aliasing is the only way to remove those artifacts.

The only time aliasing artifacts are remotely unnoticeable is when using anti-aliasing.

Call me stupid, but I literally cannot see the difference between the middle and last pictures you posted. What exactly am I looking for?

Look at the edges on the windows in the background. See how they kinda have this 'stairstep' thing going on there in the middle image? Compare that with those same edges in the last image.

Um...no actually, I can't see that.

Now I know what you mean though, I can see it on the rail the plant pot is hanging on.

I honestly struggle to see why people care so much about such a stupid minor thing

[RyaNtheSlayA]

I honestly struggle to see why people care so much about such a stupid minor thing

Aliasing is most noticeable when the image is in motion, as it causes "moving stairsteps". It bothers some people more than others. Luckily the WiiU, like the 360 (but unlike the PS3) seems to support AA just fine. I didn't really notice any other than in Sonic Racing.

[Cronozilla]

If it was something that was static, it'd be pretty hard to notice while playing ... but it's not. It leads to really stark contrast and it pops out everywhere. You do get used to it ... but the screenshots I showed were probably not the best game to make the point with.

I can try another game to REALLY show the difference off (something with a lot of arcs), though.