NOMINEES

Nintendo Switch: 

Nintendo’s new console managed to overcome all odds and skepticism, and actually work. The handheld-console hybrid showed us just what the utility of having a flexible, modular system like the Switch truly is, while its spontaneous local multiplayer capabilities made it stand out from every other portable system that had ever come before. In terms of specs, the Switch may not be the most impressive- but in terms of imagination, and how much it altered the paradigm, the Switch truly stands out.

Xbox One X: 

Going in the opposite direction of the Switch, the Xbox One X doesn’t try to do anything new- it just tries to do what it does exceptionally well. And it pulls it off with aplomb. The Xbox One X, with its stunning 6 TERAFLOP GPU, and its 12GB of GDDR5 RAM, with support for HDR-10 and native 4K gaming, with every bit of the latest, most sophisticated tech packed into it imaginable, is a beast of a console- and a reminder that Xbox’s heritage lies in delivering true power to console gamers.

AMD Ryzen CPUs: 

The first nw CPU architecture that AMD introduced in five years, the Zen-powered AMD Ryzen won everyone’s hearts and awe right away earlier this year- because of the sheer extent of performance it delivered. PC gaming gas always been a step ahead of consoles and portables- and with Ryzen, that generation gap has been widened even further, cementing PC gaming’s technological supremacy.

Decima Engine Used In Horizon Zero Dawn: 

Horizon: Zero Dawn is one of the most stunning games ever made- that it achieves this on a gaming console, while having a vast open world makes it veritable black magic. And it’s apparently a hugely flexible piece of tech, too, since Hideo Kojima will b using the engine in his widely anticipated upcoming game Death Stranding.

Frostbite 3.0 Engine Used In Star Wars Battlefront 2: 

Okay, look, Battlefront 2 has a lot of issues. We don’t even want to get into any of that right now. What is undeniable is that, for all the problems the game has, it looks and sounds spectacular- thanks to the technical wizards at DICE, who, with Frostbite 3.0, have upped the ante on the kinds of visuals we should expect in games yet again. We can’t wait to see what DICE does next- just how stunning will the next Battlefield look?

WINNER:

Nintendo Switch: 

The Nintendo Switch introduces an all new paradigm to gaming, and it executes it nigh on flawlessly. The hybrid concept just works, and the flexibility and convenience offered by the Switch is so great that at some point, you will find yourself wanting to play every game on it. Does it lack in power? As a home console, definitely- but when you consider how much Nintendo managed to stuff into a 6.2 inch across diagonal tablet, it is mind boggling. The Switch wins our best tech of the year award for not just doing what gaming technology has always done, but better- but for doing something completely new, and then more or less perfecting it along the way, too.

Note: GamingBolt’s Game of the Year categories, nominations and awards are selected via an internal nomination, voting and debate process. You can check the rest of categories and the respective winners here.

The shutdown of Visceral Games by EA has caused a lot of commotion recently. Many have speculated that this is a sign that single-player games are no longer seen as profitable by large corporations. Kotaku has now written  a piece exploring the many complications that the studio faced in trying to realize its ambitions with its project titled ‘Ragtag’. The game’s story would be set between the events of Episode IV and Episode V of the Star Wars movie series.

The story reveals that the reasons leading to the shutdown were multifold such as ambitions that were too large for the budget, a lack of resources, difficulty with the Frostbite engine, and much more.

For their part, EA has denied that they killed the ‘Ragtag’ project because it was a single-player game. Vice President Patrick Soderlund stated, “This truly isn’t about the death of single-player games—I love single-player, by the way—or story and character-driven games.”

“Storytelling has always been part of who we are, and single-player games will of course continue. This also isn’t about needing a game that monetizes in a certain way. Those are both important topics, but that’s not what this is. At the end of the day, this was a creative decision. Our job is to give people a deep enough experience and story, and it’s also to push the boundaries forward. We just didn’t think we were getting it quite right.”

When Amy Hennig of Uncharted fame came on board the team, there was initially much excitement and optimism, but soon enough the team was faced with more problems.  However, what is clear is that this wasn’t exactly a sudden move on EA’s part.

Over the course of development, Visceral Games faced various hurdles, such as having to developed their third-person game on the Frostbite engine which was never used to make a third-person game before. So after many such obstacles and even moments of optimism and having even delivered a stunning demo, Visceral Games finally met its end along with the ‘Ragtag’ project. Many former team members felt however that EA should have acted sooner since the project was doomed from the start. One person stated, “If anything, EA should’ve probably canceled this project earlier. I think Söderlund and them were too nice, gave us too many opportunities.”

EA Vancouver is now getting started on their own Star Wars game and hopefully, the employees from Visceral Games will be able to find suitable positions at other companies.

Mirror’s Edge Catalyst is a miracle of a game- a sequel to a failed cult classic from last generation, by a developer with an infinitely more popular property to look to, and a publisher known to back known hits more than creative and quirky games. And yet, here we are- the game is due to launch this year, and we finally get to see Faith get a second chance at establishing herself as a tour de force in the market.

The developers, DICE, will be speaking about the game, too. At GDC, they will be hosting a panel dedicated to the technical aspects of the game’s development, entitled Lighting The City Of Glass: Rendering Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst.

“Designing a big city that players can explore by day and by night while improving on the unique visual from the first Mirror’s Edge game isn’t an easy task,” the panel description reads. “In this talk, the tools and technology used to render Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst will be discussed. From the physical sky to the reflection tech, the speakers will show how they tamed the new Frostbite 3 PBR engine to deliver realistic images with stylized visuals. They will talk about the artistic and technical challenges they faced and how they tried to overcome them, from the simple light settings and Enlighten workflow to character shading and color grading.”

So if you are at all interested in technology, and want to know how it was used to achieve the gorgeous looking visuals in Mirror’s Edge Catalyst? Make sure to pay this panel a visit.

We’ve discussed Frostbite before and its evolution in recent years. The biggest leap was with Frostbite 2 and its support for 64 bit CPUs, an awesome destruction system with Destruction 3.0 and Geomerics’ Enlighten technology for indirect lighting or radiosity in quasi-real time. Other features include subsurface scattering, bokeh depth of field and support for screen space ambient occlusion. Frostbite 3 didn’t introduce a gigantic leap, at least at first, but it brought new weather systems, photogrammetry and physically based rendering to the table.

Over the years, we’ve criticized the use of Frostbite 3 in cross-generational games like Battlefield 4 and Battlefield: Hardline. With the recent Need for Speed, Frostbite 3’s success in post-processing became much more apparent. With Star Wars: Battlefront, DICE has used photogrammetry combined with physically based rendering to recreate the environments from Star Wars that we know and love. Frostbite 3’s destruction capabilities may be slightly different than one is used to in Battlefield but as a whole, this is the most significant leap forward for the engine yet.

Head to head comparison between PS4, Xbox One and PC versions of Star Wars Battlefront.

As we noted way back in April 2015 with the initial reveal, the colour palette and vivid recreation of levels like Endor are amazing. The beta provided us with a look at the scale of various levels and whether you were observing rock formations or just marveling at the sunset, it was an authentic Star Wars experience through and through. As mentioned above, photogrammetry plays a big part in this. By capturing assets from the actual films, including costumes and props, and then feeding them into a system which reconstructs and renders them into digital 3D, DICE has found an excellent solution for realistically depicting the Star Wars universe without losing any of the signature fidelity in the process. As senior producer Sigurlina Ingvarsdottir stated before, “I think that when you see the visuals of the game as a whole, and you compare in your mind with games that have been running on previous generations of consoles, you can just see the leap in capabilities of the hardware – as well as what the engine can really do, given that increased power.”

When observing Star Wars: Battlefront, it’s important to really understand why DICE didn’t go for a full HD resolution on consoles. The benefits in this trade-off are manifold including a full physically based rendering pipeline (which affects the way designers work with art assets, levels, materials and objects along with the overall programming) and enhanced realism with photogrammetry. It also allows DICE to focus more on post-processing effects, heavier per object motion blur, adaptive tessellation and parallax occlusion for detailed terrain, volumetric lighting voxels and heavy utilization of depth of field and focal length bokeh. The animations are phenomenal all around and it’s scary how true they are to the source material (the same could be said of the sound effects). As a whole, when you look at the huge leap in visual quality and the excellent performance across both versions, not having a full HD resolution suddenly doesn’t seem all that bad.

As stated above, the PS4 is at 900p resolution and the Xbox One is at 720p resolution. The 60 FPS frame rate is pretty much solid throughout – in offline mode, you’ll notice a nearly locked frame rate with very minute drops. The performance does tend to see a few drops in Walker Assault mode due to the sheer number of alpha effects present, but it’s otherwise excellent.

Interestingly, the Xbox One has slightly better performance. While both versions have V-Sync with no screen tearing, we did notice the PS4 version performing better in multiplayer overall. As it stands, Walker Assault is what tends to tax the frame rate. When in split-screen, you’ll notice the 30 FPS frame rate dropping into the upper 20s when there’s lot of action happening. Then again, split-screen on both consoles is running at 1920×1080 resolution, offering each player a 1920×540 view of the game.

Though it can claim slightly better performance at times, the Xbox One’s lower operating resolution has its own issues. Draw distance is the same for both consoles but the Xbox One’s resolution means blurry, softer image quality. Thankfully, DICE utilized some excellent post processing anti-aliasing to deliver less noise, which helps immensely on the Xbox One. Both console versions have graphics settings matching the PC version’s High settings with core assets like texture quality being similar. On consoles, we noticed some pop-ins for some levels.

Missing shadows and screen space reflections were also noticed and in some cases, the screen space reflection would appear to form from the centre rather than being distorted. It was weird to say the least. There’s also the fact that bullets fly over water without any colour reflections on the body’s surface. Though the issues with missing shadows, screen space reflections and lack of bullet reflections on water were observed more on consoles, they were noticed on PC as well.

Star Wars: Battlefront uses adaptive tessellation on ground surfaces and it looks great. Ambient occlusion is also implemented well. Texture filtering is similar across all three platforms but texture details tend to be resolved quicker on PC (with the clarity on Xbox One suffering most). We also noticed similar lens flare effects with texture geometry and shadow quality between both console versions being similar. That being said, the shadow quality on consoles tends to suffer at times when compared to the PC version, which has softer and sharper edges on shadows. The PC version also boasts better volumetric effects like smoke, water, etc.

PC graphical settings include support for up to 3840×2160 resolution, the ability to customize motion blur amount and FOV, and the usual options for texture quality, texture filtering, lighting quality, shadow quality, effect quality, post process quality and mesh quality. You can also customize options for terrain quality, terrain groundcover, anti-aliasing and ambient occlusion. Star Wars: Battlefront is GPU-bound and using an Intel Core i7-5960X with 16 GB of RAM, we tested it at 1080p resolution, 2K resolution and 4K resolution across a variety of cards.

1080p resolution:

• GeForce GTX 980 Ti – 105 FPS
• GeForce Titan X – 104 FPS
• Radeon R9 390x – 86 FPS
• Radeon R9 290x – 82 FPS

2K Resolution:

• GeForce GTX 980 Ti – 77 FPS
• GeForce Titan X – 74 FPS
• Radeon R9 390x – 66 FPS
• Radeon R9 290x – 64 FPS

4K Resolution:

• GeForce GTX 980 Ti – 41 FPS
• GeForce Titan X – 39 FPS
• Radeon R9 390x – 36 FPS
• Radeon R9 290x – 32 FPS

Conclusion

Star Wars: Battlefront on consoles isn’t a very tough proposition – despite the slightly inferior FPS performance at times, the PS4 version beats the Xbox One thanks to a higher pixel count. When you look at the bigger picture, it’s obvious that Battlefront heralds a significant benchmark for visuals regardless of the platform you experience it on with the sheer amount of post processing effects bringing it the closest to CG quality graphics we’ve seen yet. The PC version is recommended for those with strong configurations but the PS4 and Xbox One versions also deserve a look if you can excuse their respective shortcomings.

Note: Analysis carried out by Bill Smith.

The game is currently being developed by the Florida-based EA subsidiary, EA Tiburon who are perhaps best known for their work on Madden NFL, NBA Live and Tiger Woods PGA Tour. Running on the powerful Frostbite 3 engine, which was developed by EA DICE, Rory McIlroy PGA Tour is being published by EA Sports.

Rory McIlroy PGA Tour is set to launch on July 14th 2015. It is being developed for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

• 1. Development
• 2. Story
• 3. Gameplay
• 4. Courses

Development

This newest instalment in the PGA Tour series was first announced during the EA Press Conference at E3 2014. Not only will it serve as the next entry into the popular PGA Tour series, it will also be the next game in the series outside of the Tiger Woods branded titles.

EA later put the PGA Tour series on hiatus after the release of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14. With Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 acting as the final entry into the branded series, it was announced that a new golfer would be taking up the title of the next game.

Since then, EA have chose the popular and successful Northern Irishman, Rory McIlroy who was, and continues to enjoy, a streak of victories across a number of competitive fronts in the professional golfing scene.

Speaking about his appearance on the cover of the game, Rory said, “I grew up idolizing the best golfers in the world, and now I’m one of them. One of the ways I idolized them was in video games. Playing video games is one of the ways I try to relax in my downtime, and one of my favorite video games was golf. That’s what makes today’s announcement so exciting to me. I am on the cover of EA SPORTS Rory McIlroy PGA TOUR and it’s named after me. That is crazy! I am more excited than I can possibly put into words.”

He was first confirmed to be appearing on the game’s cover on March 16th 2015 after the first delay. Originally, the title was set to drop in June as the first entry in the PGA Tour series since 2013, but it was pushed back to July 14th.

This is the first game in the PGA Tour series of games that will be stepping away from the Ignite Engine which was put to use in most EA Sports titles. Rather Rory McIlroy PGA Tour uses DICE’s Frostbite 3 Engine. The reason for using Frostbite is, according to executive producer Brent Nielsen, that the engine was used to create “complex, lifelike environments” and to bring “some of the world’s most beautiful courses” to life in the game world.

Story

Given the nature of Rory McIlroy PGA Tour, there’s no story or campaign narrative in a traditional sense. Rather the game will lead the player through a series of competitions that will increase in difficulty and visit a variety of famous golfing locales.

Gameplay

EA went to length to ensure the gameplay in Rory McIlroy PGA Tour can be approached by both experienced gamers and those that are more familiar with arcade-like, easier games. They’ve done this by allowing players to choose from one of the three predetermined play styles. They are the Arcade, Classic and Tour gameplay modes.

The Arcade setting is the analog swinging mechanic that was present in previous iterations of the PGA Tour franchise. Just like before, the strength of the swing is determined by how far back the player pulls the analogue stick whereas accuracy is determined by keeping your shot straight and level when pushing forward.

Classic setting is a throwback to the older, simpler golfing games where the player is prompted to press a button at the right time, then time the press again to increase accuracy.

The Tour setting is a professional player’s setting for the more hardcore gamers in the golfing space according to EA. They’ve said, “The length of your back swing and the speed of the follow-through set the power, while accuracy is determined by how straight a line you make with the analogue stick.”

In the Tour setting, players don’t have the benefit of preset spins, zooming or an aim arc – this is all input by the player. The other two gameplay settings mentioned above however do benefit from these assists.

Gameplay options also allow space for customisation such as a custom swing style that could be amalgamation of the three previously mentioned styles.

Courses

At the time of writing, EA haven’t revealed the list of courses that will be available in the game. We do however know that the game will feature a course that is based on the Paracel Storm map from DICE’s Battlefield series. Footage of TPC at Sawgrass and Wolf Creek was also seen.

More courses are likely to be added post launch by way of DLC.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game.

Of course, there is a game in all that shiny detail and we have plenty to say about it. The first obvious disclaimer that DICE provided was that this was “game engine” footage. That particular term has a wealth of different meanings but its impact, especially in relation to what was shown, is akin to seeing the E3 2005 CG trailer for Killzone 2. It seems impossible but just flows across so naturally (the final game ended up looking even better than that but that’s another story). Though there is certainly a difference between “in-engine” and “in-game”, DICE has promised that the actual gameplay will be similar to this.

"With the visuals, we're excited to see DICE finally throwing off the shackles of previous generation hardware and making Star Wars: Battlefront exclusive to the PS4, Xbox One and PC. The potential of Frostbite has been seemingly squandered after Battlefield 3."

Let’s talk about the sound first though. Ignore for the fact the authenticity of the blaster sounds – think about how truly cinematic it felt, like you were actually present in this battle on Endor. The PC version of Battlefront will be using Dolby Atmos, an audio technology which utilizes more than a hundred audio tracks to create an encompassing shell around the listener. This allows for every single nuance in sound to be heard, allowing the listener to correctly discern the direction of different sounds. Sadly, neither the Xbox One nor PS4 support this technology. Chalk up another victory for PC users when Battlefront hits.

With the visuals, we’re excited to see DICE finally throwing off the shackles of previous generation hardware and making Star Wars: Battlefront exclusive to the PS4, Xbox One and PC. The potential of Frostbite has been seemingly squandered after Battlefield 3. Frostbite 3 failed to offer an overwhelming evolution to its predecessor as seen in the awful launch of Battlefield 4. Battlefield: Hardline didn’t do much to change that, again due to the constraints of cross-generational development.

Every aspect of Star Wars: Battlefront looked incredibly realistic. It was odd at times since the water effects and character models bore some strong similarities to Battlefield, utilizing the same physically based rendering model. Other than that, the environments, objects and soldiers showcased DICE’s use of Photogrammetry. This is the practice of capturing images from every possible angle for various assets like costumes and props. These images then inserted into a system, which reconstructs and renders them into digital 3D models (a similar approach was taken in The Astronauts’ The Vanishing of Ethan Carte). It’s a great way to capture extensive amounts of detail and it helps that DICE took pictures from props and costumes used from the original films.

That’s not to ignore all the work that went into the environments. The amount of foliage was incredible and every bit of it reflected specular lights on surrounding objects. Shadow quality was similarly great – every single object cast a shadow, from the leaves to the AT-AT Walker’s massive frame reflecting on the branches. We assume that Battlefront uses a custom solution along the lines of Nvidia’s PCSS (Percentage Closer Softer Shadows) which creates perpetually accurate soft shadows using a single light source and doesn’t require any pre- or post-processing.

"Consider for a moment that DICE wants Star Wars: Battlefront to run at 60 FPS. Now consider that the trailer was running at MSAA 8x with a high level of adaptive tessellation. Personally, even without the heavy amount of anti-aliasing and tessellation, we'd be amazed if DICE could capture all of this detail in 1080p resolution and 60 frames per second, especially on the Xbox One."

It’s a good thing DICE showcased the speeders – it gave us a look at the game’s motion blur and depth of field, which seem to be velocity based and add all the more to the cinematic experience. There is just so much detail to take in at all times, even when the soldiers were moving at top speed and the post processing effects only take it a level higher. If you thought the post-processing in Final Fantasy 15 was impressive, then Battlefront ably steps up. Alpha effects, be it in the blasters hitting the Storm Troopers or the AT-AT Walker going down, were spectacularly detailed.

Another aspect of Frostbite 3 we always wanted to see expanded upon was the destructibility. While the Battlefield series has always been content with going big in its destruction, Battlefront comes across as more nuanced. The air strike that destroys the Walker sees each part responding and collapsing accordingly with each bomb. Even the adjoining trees catch fire from the blasters.  It’s most likely scripted – much like the Battlefield games – but we’ll stay optimistic in the meantime. Regardless, everything from the draw distance to the screen space reflections and texture quality, even the animations of the soldiers, all combine to paint the perfect picture of Star Wars nostalgia.

Consider for a moment that DICE wants Star Wars: Battlefront to run at 60 FPS on PS4 and Xbox One. Now consider that the trailer was running at MSAA 8x with a high level of adaptive tessellation. Personally, even without the heavy amount of anti-aliasing and tessellation, I’d be amazed if DICE could capture all of this detail in 1080p resolution and 60 frames per second, especially on the Xbox One. If Frostbite 3 saw trouble on both platforms with Battlefield 4 and Hardline, then it’s possible that we see another repeat of 900p/720p with Battlefront.

We’ll be revisiting Star Wars: Battlefront in the coming months and given its multiplayer focus, it’s possible that DICE holds a multiplayer beta to further polish the visuals and properly optimize them for consoles. Again, it was amazing to see Battlefront running like it did and even if you’re not a fan of multiplayer, the overall atmosphere does bring back vivid memories of a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. DICE has flawlessly captured the mood of Star Wars. Now let’s see how that translates to gameplay en route to its release.

On another note: We looked at the initial teaser for the game and compared it to the most recent trailer. There have only been slight changes in terms of brightness, gamma and contrast but overall, there hasn’t been a visual downgrade of any sort. That bodes well for Battlefront at this point, but there’s still a long way to go.

Additional reporting by Bill Smith.

The key to Battlefield on current gen platforms is Frostbite 3. When DICE started out with Frostbite, it delivered such innovative features as HDR audio and Destruction 1.0. Version 1.5 introduced Destruction 2.0, taking the environmental destruction physics to a new level while also supporting DirectX 11 shaders in a minor fashion. The improvements seemingly kept coming with Frostbite 2 as both DirectX 11 and 64-bit CPUs were supported, along with the addition of Destruction 3.0 and real time dynamic lighting via Geomerics’ Enlighten.

Head to head comparison between the PS4 and Xbox One versions. Please select 1080p and 60fps for the best possible video quality.

And then came Battlefield 4, with Frostbite 3 seemingly unable to live up to expectations. While there was some improvement in the destruction, rendering, physics, etc. it was far from the massive leap that one expected from the newest generation of consoles. It didn’t help that Battlefield 4 didn’t hit 1080p on either the PS4 or Xbox One.

Such is the case for the resolution of Battlefield: Hardline on PS4 and Xbox One. As revealed by Visceral, the PS4 version is at 900p resolution while the Xbox One version is at 720p resolution. This is a far cry from the initial promise at E3 2014 to have a 1080p resolution and 60 FPS frame rate on both consoles. At this rate, we would have looked for those settings in the PS4 version, especially when you consider resource-intensive games like Dragon Age: Inquisition (also running on Frostbite 3) managed to achieve that feat. As for the Xbox One version, could its eSRAM have been a limiting factor? Creative director Ian Milham told us it wasn’t and one has to wonder if something changed somewhere in the past 6 to 8 months.

These rendering issues seem to be due to the framework on which Battlefield has been built. Again, when compared to games like Dragon Age: Inquisition, it’s odd since that game boasts more details but still operates at 1080p and 900p on PS4 and Xbox One respectively. Was Visceral simply unable to hit higher resolutions on both consoles or was it short on time?

Performance in the final build is remarkable closer to what we analyzed last month. Check out the video from the beta below. Please select 1080p and 60fps for the best possible video quality.

Whatever the case may be, the Xbox One’s 720p resolution is pretty inferior while the PS4 version shines. The post processing anti-aliasing seen in Battlefield 4 returns and it smoothens out many of the jagged edges seen in the beta. This doesn’t make it better than a full-blown AA solution but it certainly improves the image quality. In terms of frame rate, the PS4 version most consistently hits 60 frames per second in both campaign and multiplayer. The Xbox One version sees more drops but the overall average is at 53 frames per second versus the PS4’s 57 frames average. Interestingly, frame rate drops happen more on large maps like Dust Bowl. Downtown saw a more consistent 60 FPS on the PS4 compared to the Xbox One but overall frame rate performance in both versions mirrors the beta closely.

Volumetric effects, alpha effects and texture quality on both console versions are similar to the PC version’s High settings. It should be noted that the overall texture quality and its blandness are a result of development across generations. Shadow dithering is also an issue, especially on the Xbox One and PS4 which shouldn’t have problems like rippling shadows. The lack of any significant physical based rendering is also troublesome and characteristic of catering to the previous generation. Character models aren’t terrible looking but they’re a long way from those seen in Assassin’s Creed: Unity and The Order: 1886.

A head to head comparison between the PS4 and Xbox One versions of Battlefield Hardline.

PC screenshots for comparison.

The good news is that both console versions support HBAO leading to more realistic shadows across objects and environments. As has been the trend lately, the Xbox One version has better texture filtering compared to the PS4. At least the lighting on Frostbite 3 is still strong. Global illumination is paired with Enlighten. The latter combines rapid iteration and advanced runtime technology to bring global illumination to several different platforms, delivering dynamic lighting across baked static light maps. It also improves indirect lighting in geometry with large normal deviations. To put things simply, the technology really struts its stuff during the night time settings in Hardline where the environments best come to life.

For the PC version, Visceral promised to cater to players with a wide range of options. Frostbite 3 has always had little issue on the PC and such is the case with Battlefield: Hardline. Setting the resolution to 1920×1080, we tested the game across four different GPUs with an Intel Core i7-5960 and 16 GB of RAM. The results are as follows:

• Radeon R9 290X – 88 FPS
• GeForce GTX 970 – 84 FPS
• Radeon R9 280X – 62 FPS
• GeForce GTX 770 – 59 FPS

Multi-sample anti-aliasing can be a major resource hog but there are other AA options available. The game is highly scalable overall but you’ll still need a good CPU with a mid-tier GPU to achieve the highest settings. As Visceral has already stated, if you were able to run Battlefield 4 at 1080p and 60 FPS in 2013, you’ll have little issue achieving the same in Hardline. Those with lower configurations can still play around with the settings enough and find something that works for them.

Conclusion

If Battlefield: Hardline’s failings could be summed in a few words, they would be “cross-generational development”. The texture quality, lack of physical based rendering and shadow dithering are major issues on the Xbox One and PS4. Despite (mostly) hitting 60 frames per second on both versions, Battlefield: Hardline feels like an incremental increase over Battlefield 4’s visual fidelity, impressive real time lighting and weather effects aside. The lower resolution on the Xbox One is a shame and it would suit EA to focus more on optimizing the franchise for current gen platforms in the coming years.

The PS4 version excels in the console comparison thanks to a better frame rate and higher resolution. However, in terms of the highest quality graphics with top-tier AA settings, it’s the PC version which continues to reign supreme.

 Note: GamingBolt’s Bill Smith also contributed to this article.

Bioware has been hyping up the scale of Dragon Age: Inquisition, trumpeting its wide open worlds and sheer depth of exploration. The power of the Frostbite 3 engine, used in games like Battlefield 4 and Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, allows for the best visuals of the franchise yet but according to producer Cameron Lee, it’s an integral part of bringing Inquisition to life.

In conversation with MMGN, Lee was asked if Frostbite helped expand the scope of the game as it was envisioned. “Definitely. In order to do something with what we’re doing with Inquisition, the scope of it, the depth of it, it wouldn’t have been possible on the previous engine. Like the Eclipse Engine, and Unreal and stuff like that.

“Having these multiple open regions that let you explore these different environments and themes, this open traversal, open worlds, destruction, and all the creatures, and to bring that into a game like that? It just wouldn’t have been possible without Frostbite. So the engine, the lighting for example is absolutely gorgeous, which is one of the most powerful things about it, but we’ve spent a bit of time building upon the core Frostbite engine, which was obviously made as a shooter engine, so we’ve had to build a lot of stuff.”

Dragon Age: Inquisition will be out this November for PS3, Xbox 360, PS4 and Xbox One. Stay tuned for more information on the game in the coming months.

Visceral Games is currently hard at work with DICE on Battlefield Hardline, the cops and robbers themed entry in EA’s bestselling Battlefield franchise that is due to launch later this year (presumably, the game will be fully playable by about this time next year).

However, one thing that many people with sharp eyes have noticed is that Hardline seems to be using the same assets as Battlefield 4. PlayStation Lifestyle asked the developers about this, and Visceral Games was surprisingly candid in their reply.

‘Well, obviously the engine is the same. We’re using Frostbite 3, which is a fantastic engine. We’ve got improvements incoming to it, we’ve improved the vehicle physics and so on, because in a cops and criminals setting vehicle collisions are way more important than in Battlefield. So, we’re making fundamental changes under the hood to some of these systems. In terms of the UI, we still want it to be recognizably Battlefield but we got some changes…we’re listening to user feedback, and we’re always soliciting comments and feedback from the players. So, if you have specific comments, you got specific feedback, let us know. We’re happy to take it in, we’re still a good way from release, we got time to make some changes. Let us know what you like and what you don’t like and tell us why,’ they said.

It’s nice to see that the developers are at least receptive to the community, and that they are being honest and forthcoming about the game’s development. Whether Battlefield Hardline is a game worth playing (or just a playable game… at least at launch, anyway) remains to be seen, but as it stands now, we are cautiously optimistic.

EA has revealed a new PGA game, dubbed EA Sports PGA Tour at its media briefing. It has revealed that this is the first title to use Frostbite 3 and somehow manages to throw in a fantasy course wherein you can golf balls over battleships set to careen into the shore.

Wait, what?

Yes, that’s right. You will play in courses where you’ll able to hit golf balls during a live battle, taking place as battleships explode. Meanwhile, you’re on the green, hitting golf balls like a rube. Yes, we’re serious and we still can’t believe it.

EA Sports PGA Tour’s platforms are yet to be revealed but it will be heading to the Xbox One and PS4. What are your thoughts on the trailer along with our belief that this is easily the dumbest thing ever seen? Let us know in the comments below, along with any positive notes gleaned from EA’s conference.