CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGE – Both images are from PS3, Gamespot on the left, my own on the right

Take a look at the image above (click it to make it larger). If I told you the image on the right was captured from PS4, you would most likely believe me. It’s not, it’s actually captured from my own PS3. I don’t know how many of you have seen Gamespot’s video they produced showing off the differences between the upcoming PS4 Remastered version of The Last of Us and the previous generations PS3. The differences between the two are enormous if you were to believe what you saw.  However, they tricked you into believing that the differences were far greater than they actually are.  What happened?

One of two things is happening here.  Either they intentionally went down the road to deceive it’s viewers, or they are just unknowingly used awful PS3 footage captured with the lowest quality settings on the capture device which is inexcusable, or even worse,  just downloaded someone else’s crappy YouTube video. Let’s just assume that Gamespot doesn’t take other people’s YouTube videos and make them their own.  However, if they were to do so, there are many poor quality recordings out there. People can be using low bitrate settings when they capture their video so that it reduces the overall file size to make the editing process quicker, and then who knows how they compress it again when they render the video in their video editor. Plus we don’t know the quality of their capture card. These are some of the reasons many YouTube videos don’t look so good.  The other possibility is that they used stock footage they had laying around and didn’t know the recording was awful. Whatever excuse, it’s a blatantly deceiving tactic to fool their viewers.

Most capture devices have settings on them that allow the user to control the quality of the recording. The screenshot I posted above is with me using the highest quality bit rate setting on my Hauppauge PVR, which is 14 Mbps and applied no filters. If I was to recapture it again at 5 Mbps, it would look closer to what Gamespot is trying to pawn off as actual footage. It’s possible they just increased the brightness as that would drown out the detail, but I can’t be sure.  The reality is that the end user will see a quality that surpasses my own screenshot shown above on a nice big Television screen and NOT what Gamestop is trying to make people believe.

What Gamespot is showing you is a high quality PS4 video with the lowest quality PS3 video they could dig up.  This makes the differences much greater and then as viewers, we are led to believe that the PS4 version is better than it is. But hey, that’s how you get views and hits on website.  Let’s not take away how fabulous the PS4 version is. That’s not what this is about. The PS4 version still looked better than my rendered PS3 screenshot. It has twice as many shadows and four times textures. With it also running at 60fps, it’s going to be the best way to experience the game and I will most definitely be buying it.  However, shame on Gamespot for even showing this video. I expect this from several lower class media outlets, but you should know better.

Real difference between The Last of Us on PS3 and the PS4 Remastered version

PS3  (captured directly by me)

The Last of Us Remastered on PS4 (From E3 Trailer – Would look better if I could direct capture)