Shipped games where graphics don't match preview

So there's alot of controversy right now over the current preview videos of Watch Dogs not matching the reveal videos from E3 2012.

http://youtu.be/wBGIi9VA_AI


Most likey the final shipped game will have downgraded graphics compared to what ubisoft first showed of the game. This happened last year with Aliens: Colonial Marines.


Are there other games, any generation, where the preview builds showed significantly better graphics compared to what finally shipped? Totally different versions like FF 7 on n64 wouldn't count since thats a completely different game across different systems.

 

Well in a way the compared Watch Dogs footage is also from completely different systems, you can't really compare an high spec PC to a console.

 

Killzone 2 and Motorstorm...

 

Aliens Colonial Marines springs to mind

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2...demo-looked-much-prettier-than-the-final-game

 

If the PS4 version got toned down like that then X360/PS3 version must look like crap, and run at subVGA

As for other cases well theres Daytona for Saturn which I remember used a lot of arcade shots in ads but when I actually saw the game I thought it was the rumored 32X version

Thats how bad it looked

 

Killzone 2 caused Penny-Arcade to coin the term "Bull-shot" which is now used across the industry.

 

There were several previews of Gamecube games shown at Spaceworld 2000 there were very different from what was actually released. Some of them were only intended as tech demos though, so that's a little different.

For example, there was the famous Zelda tech demo that was completely unlike anything that was actually released - although there is some resemblance between the Link shown in that demo and the model used in Soul Caliber II.

 

The shitty part is that PC gets the short end of the stick because the original demo was running in real time on a high end PC from 2012.

What's hilarious even more is that they have the balls to release more "Screenshots" that don't look anything like the actual game running motion.
http://static.gamespot.com/uploads/original/642/6422750/2448825-watch_dogs_ctos_takedown_.png
(Even though this is "In game/In Engine". Oversampled - rendered at a much higher resolution for better AA Quality, better quality effects, higher quality assets)

I've yet to still see a single game that looks as good as KZ2 was shown off to be initially. It was literally CG. And thereby it looks better than any game ever due to Anti Aliasing,Animation,model quality,lighting quality alone.


Even Killzone Shadow Fall doesn't look that good(Mostly, it certainly has more colorful and physically accurate lighting ). It still has to use low precision effects (Like DoF IIRC is rendered at like 1/2th or 1/4th resolution) and the AA quality is only ok for TMAA+FXAA.

http://assets.vg247.com/current//2013/06/Killzone-Shadow-Fall-e3-2.jpg

 

Apparently the PC was set to PS4/XBOX ONE visuals though. It wasn't straight out 'better'. They probably lowered the graphics because they were pushing 1080p so hard to be 'next gen'. Since everyone has been getting annoyed at 1080p 30fps thing.

 

Back in the cassette tape days (Sinclair Spectrum/Commodore 64/Amstrad) it was commonplace for games companies to put the best looking version of the game in magazine ads, usually with some miniscule small print stating the actual version shown, they were pretty shameless about it, frequently showing the Amstrad version (usually the best graphically) in magazines solely devoted to the Spectrum.

Some game case inlays would do the same thing, which was even worse obviously.

When the Atari ST / Amiga generation arrived there were even instances of Spectrum and C64 games being advertised using screen shots from those much more powerful machines.

Of course in the early PS1 and Saturn days, it was common to show a still image from a cut scene as "in-game graphics", which whilst not strictly dishonest, was certainly a little deceptive.

 

Well it like watching the TV advert when they show a nice crispy chicken royal with fresh looking tasting colorful burger but soon as you order one from the counter, it not so fresh looking tasting colorful burger and all squash up in the wrapper. It a sad sad world we living in today.

 

x

 

It's become so common place that now when commercials show game footage they typically will put in large font (not even small fine print, but DECENT size font that you can read) "ACTUAL IN-GAME FOOTAGE"

 

Best example ^

Like how the chips are all nicely stacked in the box, but when you get it, they are all floppy and hanging over the sides.

 

Perhaps the same could be said of all games nowadays, at least if it's E3 or the games aren't otherwise even remotely finished.

 

Wipeout HD failed an epilepsy test with its zone mode so there is a pretty huge difference between its preview build and the final build. The preview build has really crazy equalisers and more advanced color effects! The final build wasn't that bad though, it had some other good effects and details added to zone mode. The preview isn't all better, it is just... different.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6q23u_wipeout-hd-preview-final-comparison_videogames

During ordinary racing I would say that the preview is a little bit better though because the camera angles after race finish is way cooler than final build.

 

That another good example. I seen that happen. Chips looks so dead and lifeless.

 

I own this Wipeout HD back in 2008. I thought it was bloody good game If I being honest to you. This is a true 1080P with 60FPS with fluid gameplay.

 

The first Wipeout for the PS1 had a huge difference in gameplay from its first reveal, the movie Hackers!

From IMDB

The game being played in the arcade is a high-quality prototype of the Playstation game "Wipeout" by Psygnosis. It is done on a high-end SGI server and allowed the development team to try out tracks and gameplay, before porting it to the Playstation. As a result, there are features and graphics in the movie that do not exist in the actual game, including the "high score smashing" sequence.