While certainly not an unbiased source, Andre Vrignaud of Microsoft makes the argument that having 1080p output, possible on the PS3, just doesn't matter yet. Games, he says, will mostly be made for the 720p resolution and that 1080i signals are indistinguishable from 1080p. More inside...
One of the major selling points Sony has emphasized for the PS3 is the output of 1080p for games and movies. However, Microsoft's Director of Technical Strategy for Xbox Live Andre Vrignaud is claiming that 1080p is not significant this generation. He presented the counter-1080p argument in his blog, Ozymandias.com.
"The PS3 has roughly the same pixel-pushing capabilities as the Xbox 360," asserted Vrignaud. "Don't need to take my word for it, it'll be obvious soon enough over the next year. Even if this wasn't the case, consider we now live in a multi-platform development world, and that the current sweet spot developers are targeting is 720p due to the extremely similar system specifications. Simply put, a developer who is planning to release their game for both the Xbox 360 and the PS3 will aim for a common attainable ground. In fact, I'll stick my neck out and predict that that you won't see any 1080"x" games for the PS3 this year."
He then cites a blog for Home Theater Magazine's Geoffrey Morrison, which breaks down TV signals in a very way technical. In essence, it says that the only difference between interlaced 1080 signals, or 1080i, and 1080p is whether the TV or the player itself is doing the de-interlacing. Morrison states that if the de-interlacing is being done correctly, the difference isn't tangible.
"This is why I get hung up on the image encoding quality of HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray. That's where you're going to see a perceivable difference," continued Vrignaud. "As to games, 99% of PS3 titles will natively render at 720p; the few that come out with 1080"x" support are either going to be simple classic arcade ports that don't need to render complex scenes (think the original Battlezone), or will give up a lot of in-game visual effects and simply won't look very good (hence the poor showing of Gran Turismo HD at this past E3)."
"To sum up, don't get sucked into all the 1080p hype. Just make sure you have a recent HDTV that de-interlaces 1080i signals correctly and you'll be just fine," he concluded
