The differences between the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 have diminished with every passing batch of games, but some variation still exists between the two machines — particularly in how they render graphics.
One of the most important games to come out in recent history, Grand Theft Auto IV is a game that will make people buy a console if they don't have one. If there are any benefits present in either version, it might be enough to tip the scales when a late adopter is wondering which console to get.
Visually, the two games differ slightly. A large part of the difference emanates from their colour palettes, which is evident regardless of weather or time of day. From the second set of images, on a technical level, the 360 renders the Ether billboard with better clarity, but then it falls behind the PS3 when it comes to cleaning up the chequered stripping of the Burger Shot. The PlayStation 3 also keeps up with its blurrier look, but it's not as apparent, considering that the game looks only slightly less blurry on the 360.
Neither of the machines run the game smoothly enough to confer an advantage, given that moving the camera quickly or speeding through the city makes both versions hiccup from time to time. The PlayStation 3 has a nearly 10-minute-long installation sequence, which helps slightly in terms of in-game loads. However, saved games take equivalent periods of time to load on both machines. If we had to definitively pick a version, we'd go with the 360's rendition of the game for its crisper visuals, but we wouldn't be dejected if we had to play the game on the PlayStation 3.
Have you noticed differences in the games you've played on the PS3 and Xbox 360? Tell us your opinion about which machine is winning the console war below in the talk-back or leave us a message on the forums.
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Lazymonkey44
29/05/2008 06:31 PM
I think it looks much better on the Xbox
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John
29/05/2008 06:45 PM
Sarju Shah: u MUST be joking!! Better on the 3shitty?? I think NOT mate, on the xbox it has that crap 'bright' and cartoony feature, how it looks on the PS3 is how GTA is supposed to look, of course I would expect u fools to understand that!! If u dont believe me ask Sam and Dan Houser, even they agree that its better on the PS3!! Loading times on the 360 are longer, and have u seen the amount of pop-ins and slight jamming?? It's crap mate!! I think by now everyone knows which console its better on!!
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GTA4
29/05/2008 07:19 PM
Neither of the graphics are groundbreaking but I think Xbox 360 has the slight edge. For reference I own the game on PS3
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Scotty boy
29/05/2008 07:22 PM
John, I think if you had ever seen the playing side by side you would agree you get a much sharper image on the Xbox 360. Also The Ps3 Faces look like **** m8, whats with the blury faces compared to 360 ?
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abc123
29/05/2008 07:43 PM
It would look 10x as better on PC if they'd released a PC edition.
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billy
29/05/2008 10:12 PM
ive played each version in hd and in my house it clearly is ps3 i dont know what yall are looking at but ive seen a differance on the ps3 advantage
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mgillespie
29/05/2008 10:17 PM
PS3 has the edge, having played both versions, the PS3 looks more natural, is much quicker loading and has considerably less pop-in. I am very suprised that the bad pop-in issues on the 360 version are not mentioned in this comparision.
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chris manuel
29/05/2008 10:51 PM
The quailty is about the same. The Xbox has had over a year longer for game devolpers to work with the console. This shows that the PS3 is no where near its best and that there is much more to come
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tssa
29/05/2008 11:20 PM
If you look at the screens the PS3 version always has more going on in terms of other vehicles or pedestrians
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superdynamite
30/05/2008 12:09 AM
I have played both versions extensively. The Pop-ins on the XBox360 version were very hard to get used to after playing the PS3 version. Both are 30fps which is a big minus. Also, it seemed like the longer you played the 360 version, the more pop-ups you'd get. The 360 console got extremely hot and over worked with extended playing times. I give the PS3 version the slight edge on this one.
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jaime
30/05/2008 12:14 AM
more people and cars in ps3 version, in other words more real.
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lol
30/05/2008 12:52 AM
thing is u can change the clarity of the picture by adding or lessening the amount of colour or the brightness on ur tv u can give the pic a warmer glow or aa more cooler feel by changing these things
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Mike
30/05/2008 12:59 AM
The game running in a native 630p on the PS3 and native 720p on the 360, thats why the 360 looks slightly sharper, the PS3 is using some other graphical effects to limit the difference and the end result is that by and large they look much the same. You have to wonder why Rockstar chose to code the PS3 version in a lower resolution though as this suggests there were problems running it in 720p native, possibly some framerate drops.
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whaddevah
30/05/2008 01:01 AM
My friend, having played both versions side by side preferred the PS3 version in terms of graphics and clarity. ** I definitely would go by these graphics (19k compressed JPEGs) as any measure of anything. And who knows how the writers captured and processed the graphics. I smell bias
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Mike
30/05/2008 01:07 AM
The game running in a native 630p on the PS3 and native 720p on the 360, thats why the 360 looks slightly sharper, the PS3 is using some other graphical effects to limit the difference and the end result is that by and large they look much the same. You have to wonder why Rockstar chose to code the PS3 version in a lower resolution though as this suggests there were problems running it in 720p native, possibly some framerate drops.
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smileypothead
30/05/2008 02:21 AM
Whatever happened to the good ol' days when the family gathered around the TV set to see a intense battle of Ping Pong. The Atari, now that's fancy!
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Fooshnickens
30/05/2008 03:00 AM
Does it really matter in the first place? Personally I enjoy playing the game and I leave it at that. It annoys me when I have to read fanboys getting their rocks off on messageboards and comment sections so they can justify themselves.
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YIMYAM
30/05/2008 05:19 AM
YOU DONT LOOK AT THE MANTLEPIECE WHEN YOUR POKING THE FIRE.
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PS3 fanboy, lol
30/05/2008 05:29 AM
all i know is the PS3 better step it up, when the back of the boxes say 1080p, and comes out to be 640p. that is unacceptable for the next gen consoles, either developers are having trouble, or the cell processor is not a powerful as they say. i'd prefer it be the developers. since i bought a ps3. lol, then condemned 2 skips on sound. very weak guys. weak, games are getting rushed out for money, then patched later. again, unacceptable for $60. ya know? i know the crappy anti-aliasing on GTA 4 almost ruins the whole game, i mean its damn near ps2 graphics. so having to drop resolution to 640p, i know from my pc gaming days, ussually means lack of power to run at a higher res. so i guess all we can do is see which is true. - Developer issues, or PS3 not all that powerful. i want to see high def as they promised, thats why i bought a $3,000 tv! not to play 640p games, geeze!
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mark
30/05/2008 10:35 AM
Even though I do own the 360 version of the game, I have to say that the level of bias towards the 360 version in this comparison is huge. The comparative shots of the PS3 version are f#@*ing terrible - did the reviewer use the same method to capture screenshots, because surely the texture resolution and colour isn't really what the game looks like?
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sexy_shazam
30/05/2008 08:55 PM
wtf this is not a fair test as the pictures taken are completly diffrent, some of them are even at diffrent time periods. the only way this can be a fair test is if the same screenshot was taken at the same time
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mhm
31/05/2008 06:15 PM
are the pictures taken on the same time in the game?
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steb0ne
01/06/2008 06:16 AM
billy, you're an airhead. That's like saying some 720p tvs don't look as good as some 1080p tvs. When i bought my 720p Sony TV, compared to a Samsung 1080p, the Sony looked better. Now, when the game developer says "PS3 version is better graphically," people don't want to accept it. Play both versions yourself and you'll see. Eff what the spec's say.
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killmaster99999
02/06/2008 02:50 AM
360 looks better for sure. PS3's lighting looks all funny. Xbox looks more realistic
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ehutch
02/06/2008 01:13 PM
i just played it on my ps3 not 10 minutes ago and sorry but the pic is not dark and blurry. i call shenanigans!
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Diamonded Core
03/06/2008 11:27 AM
It does look better on the 360. the PS3 looks a bit blurry to me. but of course, since the downloadable content will be availabled only on the XboxLive, GTA4 on Xbox will score more point. But it's the same game on both console anyway.
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mus
04/06/2008 01:16 AM
I've played both versions and sorry PS3 fans but the 360 graphics are way better.The PS3 cell processor just isn't as powerful as the 360's one look at the time spent and this game, look at all the games that came out its been a while now and your telling me every game developer doesn't know how to design games to get the most out of the PS3 cell processor BULLS***.Thats all your going to get because it cant handle better sony bluffed all of you.The XBOX360 has a more powerful processor a better fill rate which makes the graphics look better sony only uses 2 processors out of the 7 for games xbox 360 has 512 ram were sony has 256 do the math and by the way i have both consoles and i did love sony but now its xbox all the way i only use my ps3 for the blu ray player to watch my movies
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comrade
14/06/2008 04:30 PM
Just wait for Metal Gear Solid 4, it kicks any other games ****
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stuart
21/06/2008 02:11 AM
hey i don't think u noticed are anything. to me in the ps3 images the contrast looks much more strong. like someones messed about with the tv contrast and the xbox looks much more suttal. making the 360 look like the best console...but in fact its the ps3 which is the best... nuff said :P
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joeblow
25/06/2008 04:51 PM
wat the hell. i smell bias. i own GTA4 on my ps3 and it's graphics are WAY better than what their showing. and anyway, the ps3's potential has not yet been reached- look at how long it took game developers to take full advantage of the ps2, and even the original Xbox. also, i agree with stuart- the tv's been screwed with, as i can say that i have NEVER seen my copy of GTA4 looking so crap. it has stunned me by how great the graphics are- even on my smaller tv which does not suport HD. but on my bigger HD tv? the graphics on the ps3 look REAL
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Racer_boi
26/06/2008 04:28 PM
steb0ne, what you say about a 720p tv looking better than a 1080p set is an absolute joke, was the 720p tv better because it was a Sony.... gee i wonder.
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james
30/06/2008 02:34 AM
but still, I think that maybe the xbox 360 elite could make a better visual than the regular 360, right?
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Ps3IsBetter
30/06/2008 12:29 PM
it looks like the ps3 version has more cars and people, in other words, more life like.
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Ps3IsBetter
30/06/2008 12:30 PM
it looks like the ps3 version has more cars and people, in other words, more life like.
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Darkchaps
03/07/2008 01:50 AM
I currently own both systems and both versions of the game. What you see here is exactly how mine look. Brighter colors and sharpness on xbox; flooded colors, jagged edges, and blurriness on PS3 version. I was really hoping the PS3 version would be better, but after playing both I prefer the xbox version (which sucks cause I'm on my second xbox).
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Joon
06/07/2008 02:05 PM
360 has much shorter loading time even though ps3 has HDD to install. Also, 360 has much better graphic and resolution so it looks much much better. I had ps3 version but it was unplayable due to its blurry graphic
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leitao
10/07/2008 04:05 AM
PS3 all the way i have it with HD cords it looks even better than the piece of shitty 360!! AND MY HD IS 480p it looks exactly like the 360!! JUST BLURRY BIG FRIGGIN DEAL!
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beamer
14/07/2008 10:01 PM
The 360's graphics have a better constrast = more realistic!!! The ps3's graphics have crap contrast = fake!!!
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deadendfoxhound
17/07/2008 08:06 AM
1. xbox sucks because its microsoft 2. use HDMI on ps3 and then compare, it will be twice as beter than the little 3shity 3. i have a ps3 and xbox so i know that is not corect. 4. fix the disply seting gecause if you do, theere will be a dramatic change in the way it looks, the bluyness goes away and the color comes more vibrent. 5. chech the setings on the god forsaken tv (video setting botton), you can change the contrast, color, sharpness and much more! I WANT EVERY ONE WHO HAS A PS3 TO TRY IT AND MESSAGE ME AND TELL ME IF THIS HELPED YOU...... DO NOT WAIT ANY LONGER. PS3 RULZ XBOX IS A PICE OF **** AND YOU KNOW IT my email: deadendfoxhound@gmail.com
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Zambini
21/07/2008 11:10 AM
You'd think that people would analyze it. The screenshots on the PS3 side are all taken at a time when there would be more people "naturally." Don't bother flaming me cuz I won't be checking this again. For reference I'm buying an Xbox360 because of all the people I know who have one or the other, its a 360, and I want to play the games I like with them. @ ABC123 ** Yes, it would look 500x better on PC, even with all settings on Low and AA&AF off. 1440 x 900 is way sharper than anything either Xbox or PS3 can do.
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kdizzle
23/07/2008 03:52 AM
See you can tell when people are just mouthing off just cause they like a particular machine better than another. Mike gave facts. If the resolution is downgraded for the ps3 version at 630 p 720p will win every time. You can have all the HDMI cables in the world an it won't change anything. I have to say that the Ps3 though seems richer in color, is more cartoony. I mean objectivly, just look at the images. (especially the pic with the cab) Ps3 will be a great machine and when they come out with some halfway decent games, i'll stop using mine just as a blu ray player and actually by some games for it.
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woot
25/07/2008 02:49 PM
I have the ps3 version and it doesn't look "horridly awful" or "cartoony". unless you play the game 3 feet from the screen, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. and if it does, pick up the remote and change your vid settings a little.
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Piko
30/07/2008 06:39 PM
Looks like mainly lighting effects difference to me... i have to say i prefer the xbox's lighting, though a cross between the 2 would be nice. Basically if you look at the PS3 lighting, it emphasises colours, green in the first 2, red in the second 2, and its a bit washed out. so hence xbox colour looks better. It seems impossible to make any other comments on it.
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tatsujin
01/08/2008 04:52 AM
Whoa ... whoa whoa! PS3 version is much better, who's saying that the PS3 plays @ 640p? I play the game on 1080p ... All you have to do is uncheck the 720p in your System options, and leave the 1080i/p checked, then go play the game. MGS IV is done the same way. Better colors, more lightning, deeper texture, more realistic. Get to know your PS3 =)
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gameboy
07/08/2008 08:07 AM
i wont lie i am in love with the 360 but my uncle has this for his ps3 and it does not look like this.the xbox 360 loooks better but this cant be right.the ps3 version looks all orangy
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Not this again
12/08/2008 11:14 PM
@ tatsujin, The ps3 is scaling the image. It runs native at 640p with no AA and has to be upscaled, the 360 version is 720p and 2xAA. This is proven fact all over the internet has has been beaten to death many times. And to be perfectly honest I think they both look like turd. Step it up rockstar!!!!
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for stupid guys think Xbox is better
29/08/2008 05:24 AM
oohhh yes Xbox is so powerfull right? its so good that GTA V will only be able to PS3 who dont belive? ok read this!!: Rockstar: GTA V Could Be Too Large for Xbox 360 Rockstar co-founder Sam (no, not Dan) Houser doesn't know if the next Grand Theft Auto title after IV will properly fit onto the 360's standard-sized discs. "One of the problems with the 360, and it affects games like Grand Theft Auto if you think about how much content we put in the actual machine, is the fact that they don't have a significantly larger storage medium than the previous systems. It's a slightly bigger DVD disc," Houser told 1up. Then take into account that not all Xbox 360s come with a hard drive. It's here that things get super sticky. "The 360 is going to have to get 'round this issue we're talking about...hopefully, they're going to adopt one of those in the next year or so, because it's going to become more of an issue. If we're filling up the disc right now, where are we going? It's not like our games are going to get any smaller." The delay heard round the world was mostly credited to technical issues during IV's development. Some said the 360 didn't have enough space to hold the game; others heard that the PS3 version was having big problems of its own. Whatever the case, Houser isn't telling. "Both machines are absolutely fantastic, but they both come with strengths and weaknesses. The strength of the 360 is a very, very accessible, familiar, effective environment to work in. You're making the game from the get-go, everyone understands its PC environment -- boom, off we go. It's pretty good." Development on the PS3 version wasn't too smooth early on, however. "I think it was challenging for a lot of companies, but it's also a machine where, now that we've got comfortable with it -- I don't want to say we've cracked it, but we've got comfortable with it -- we know we can make our games." Many have posed a big question that's on my mind, for sure: Does either version look better than the other? "There's a slight difference in the way they look," Houser admitted. "I think that's to do with really low-level technical stuff that I'm not the guy to explain. The 360 games have a certain look to them; PS3 games have a certain look to them. I like the way [the PS3] renders." He concluded, "There's a certain kind of softness without being blurry -- some warmth to it -- and then there's a certain more clinical element to how the 360 looks." Read the whole interview through the source link. XBOX IS A ****!
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