Console Graphics

[thalaw2]

Maybe i should be asking this somewhere else, but ....I don't feel like going to another site and registering and what not

Anyway, I wuz thinkin' about graphics on console systems and I wonder how it is that on a given system games can come out for that system with better graphics than previous games.  I mean the hardware specs don't change much.  Is it a coding thing?!?!  For example, why can The Force Unleashed II have better graphics than Force Unleashed I? 

I first asked myself this question while playing Mass Effect 2 and seeing that it looked much better and ran smoother than Mass Effect 1 on the same system. 

[lugaru]

Going as far back as the SNES the last games really pushed the limits compared to the first games. A lot of it comes down to programers getting more and more familiar with the hardware and putting out games that take better advantage. Also sequels get to build on the original so there is less thrown into development and more into improving stuff.

But yeah, you hear all these press releases like "we are just now seeing the limits of what the PS3 can do" or whatever.

Either way I'm a pc gamer but I've always seen this on every console.

[Trelau]

It's a coding thing, and an "optimisation" thing. I you really have the time to do perfect normal map, you can drastically improve the final render with almost no drawback in term of performance. Developping special built-in 3d material can also improve the graphics. Like lugaru said, it's all a matter of knowing the hardware better, and actually working on improving what has been done, innovating by looking for the "how to go even further?" solution.