PORCast

So I finally downloaded The Lost And Damned on the Xbox 360. While it is a fine game and a very good piece of downloadable content - it’s essentially the same game in almost every aspect. Except of course the improved bike physics (THANK GOD!)

Now here I was playing through the missions and drinking vodka. After about 6 shots and 10 way-too-linear story missions, I decided to pop in the good ol quest of Kolya (Niko=Nikolay=Kolya) Bellick.

And do you know what hit me at that point? (besides the vodka)

Microsoft, the damn fuck faces, are the reason why GTA IV initially looked like crap.

Now I’m not going to say “TEH XBOX 360 is weaker than PI ES THR33 that’s becuz gta iv kud luk bettr!!!”. No.

Think about it.

Whenever a game is exclusive, it’s developed only for that specific platform to which it is exclusive. Fact.

Whenever a game goes multiplat, a single engine is developed for both platforms, but initially is tested out on console A - which is the main console. Only very few developers (Infinity Wards is amongst them) have dedicated teams that develop engines alongside for each platform. Rockstar isn’t one of them as far as we know.

Ok, so now you might be thinking - but since the explosions in GTAIV look better on PS3, it’s probably the main platform?

Wrong.

The explosions look better on the PS3 because it has more processing power (I am not contradicting myself with the upper quote, this is different), yet the main engine was developed for the Xbox 360.

Why?

Using my flawless 6-shots of vodka logic, I pop in Nikolays adventures from GTAIV and see that the game looks identical to the first DLC pack (Lost and Damned).

What does this tell us?

Merely that that is AS GOOD as the game can look. They CANNOT MAKE IT LOOK BETTER.

Microsoft gave out $50 GOD DAMN MILLION KAPITALIST DOLLARS for this content. Don’t you think M$ would pursuade Rockstar to make the game look better?

The expansion packs are EXCLUSIVE to the Xbox 360. You don’t need another team to port and/or develop specifically for another console. Allocate all your resources to this expansion and make it look better.

Wait, what, you can’t?

Ah, that’s right. It’s just that your console is weaker and you cannot make it look better. Tusk tusk.

I’m not being a fanboy here (or am I?), but I am very disappointed with the $50 million deal. It wouldn’t make ANY sense if the PS3 was the main console developed for, thus the Xbox 360 was ported onto it and the game was initially developed within Xbox 360’s technical limitations.

Ask any game developer about the situation, as in where one console is going to have extra content added to it further on, and the other won’t get that content. Which console would be the “main” one in this situation? HMMMMM what a tough choice.

Because of the Xbox 360, we got a WEAKER product.

I could’ve said that Microsoft is to blame for the shit-like brown look of the game itself, but I’m not sure about that one. But fact is that if it was developed for the PS3 as the main console, the game could’ve been something more. A lot more.
Just GOD DAMN LOOK AT IT YOU KAPITALISTS, CANT YOU SEE IT?

Just GOD DAMN LOOK AT IT YOU KAPITALISTS, CANT YOU SEE IT?

If you damn kapitalists don’t see it, I might just have to make a drunk video to show it to you.

em: http://thatsovietguy.com/gtaiv_lost_and_damned_review_sorta