Call of Duty: Ghosts PC will look better than next-gen console versions

Call of Duty: Ghosts will ship on pretty much every platform imaginable, from current to next-gen systems. And the PC version will come out on top--at least visually--Infinity Ward executive producer Mark Rubin says.

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Call of Duty: Ghosts will ship on pretty much every platform imaginable, from current to next-gen systems. And the PC version will come out on top--at least visually--Infinity Ward executive producer Mark Rubin says.

"PC has its own set of assets," he said. "It's going to look better than any Call of Duty we've ever made on PC," pointing out that "they're actually using an even higher version in many cases than the next-gen consoles, from a texture standpoint."

Rubin's comments to Kotaku should be of some reassurance to PC fans of the franchise, given the series' poor treatment of PC players in the past.

Of course, while the PC version of Ghosts may end up being the best-looking version, many players are going to be playing on today's aging consoles. And Rubin says that some next-gen features will be rolled into the current-gen versions. "We spent a lot of time trying to get some of the next-gen features into current-gen," he told IGN. "A good for instance is audio. We created a brand new audio engine for next-gen... [and] we wanted to make it for current-gen as well." The new audio engine allows explosions to shake the environment around them, causing ambient audio from all directions.

Rubin also points out that "from a gameplay standpoint, everything's available."

There will be some stuff impossible to do on current-gen systems, but it appears restricted to graphics. "So some of the features we just couldn't do. Particularly on the graphics side, the tessellation stuff, the stuff that's under DirectX 11, that kind of thing--that stuff just can't happen on current gen," he told OXM. "Then obviously there's more memory on Xbox One, so you're going to get greater texture resolution and stuff like that. Pretty straightforward stuff."

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    August 19, 2013 7:00 AM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Call of Duty: Ghosts PC will look better than next-gen console versions.

    Call of Duty: Ghosts will ship on pretty much every platform imaginable, from current to next-gen systems. And the PC version will come out on top--at least visually--Infinity Ward executive producer Mark Rubin says.

    • reply
      August 19, 2013 7:05 AM

      Truly shocking news.

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      August 19, 2013 7:12 AM

      xbox one fan boys are crying already. You'll never be next gen with a console. Duh!

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      August 19, 2013 7:12 AM

      I really, really hope the "new" engine stick with the same strong points that the older versions had. High FPS over fidelity and nice raw, non-accelerated mouse input. I'm a big fan of the SP campaigns, and half the reason for that is the experience from a technical POV - runs perfectly in it's full glory, even on mediocre setups.

      Of course, I hope they take advantage of new tech and the new console generation where they can, but there's a big difference in my book between an engine that is 100% smooth 100% of the time, and 100% smooth 95% of the time. It doesn't take many fps drops for me to lose immersion.

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      August 19, 2013 7:30 AM

      "The PC version is not a console port; it will have mouse control, text chat in-game, and graphics settings." Remember that quote from 4 years ago?

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        August 19, 2013 7:56 AM

        Only you do

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          August 19, 2013 8:43 AM

          The Internet does, too. Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.

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            August 19, 2013 9:00 AM

            You're doing a pretty good job of remembering it and repeating it.

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              August 19, 2013 3:36 PM

              Hey, I'm not the developer who single-handedly killed off community-hosted dedicated servers, and then silenced all criticism of it. Your attitude means that you're no less innocent here.

              I don't think it's coming back, though, aside from a potential resurgence of indie FPSes, especially since devs like Valve, Epic, and Id Software don't care anymore. Congratulations, West and Zampella, you killed dedicated servers.

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                August 19, 2013 4:01 PM

                I'm so broken I was just happy to HAVE a dedicated server.

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        August 19, 2013 7:59 AM

        Difference is now both consoles are completely X86 . This should just scale to whatever PC you have.

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      August 19, 2013 7:36 AM

      I'm more curious what online features get omitted. While CoD: Elite kind came and went, they touted it pretty heavily at the time and it never came to PC.

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        August 19, 2013 7:50 AM

        Yeah, Elite was a giant bait-and-switch. The backend was probably so half-baked in terms of infrastructure, that they had to flatten the website to reduce the volume of database queried when MW3 launched, and then said, "Let's phase it out, and instead, just keep beating the DLC map pack drum."

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      August 19, 2013 7:38 AM

      no surprise there... the next-gen systems basically just caught up with mid-range PCs.

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      August 19, 2013 7:52 AM

      Glad to see them taking advantage of the strength of the PC platform.....except when it comes to dedicated servers.

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      August 19, 2013 8:57 AM

      In other news, water is wet and the sun came up this morning.

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      August 19, 2013 9:19 AM

      [deleted]

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      August 19, 2013 3:43 PM

      "The PC version supports installation to the hard drive."
      "The PC version supports changing the resolution to what you want."

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