Its stunning visuals are no small part of why people have been talking about Battlefield 3. Of course, the console versions won't look quite as nice, and we're learning exactly what differences to expect. DICE rendering architect Johan Andersson told Develop that the game will run at 720p on consoles, at 30 frames-per-second.
"99.9% of PS3 and Xbox 360 games are 720p, and a lot of them, including Modern Warfare 2 run way lower than that," he said. Though MW2 runs at 60 FPS, Andersson claims that its resolution is "1024x600 on PS3 with 2x MSAA."
As for the concessions for console versions, he says DICE feels the trade-off is worth it for the game's scope. "We thing huge levels, lots of players, great effects, destruction, vehicles, and varied gameplay is more important than 1080p," he said. "We always do 30 frames per second on consoles, otherwise it wouldn't be possible to fit in vehicles, effects, scale and all players."
During Video Game Week on the NBC show Late Night, host Jimmy Fallon had DICE executive producer Patrick Bach on to show the game running on the PS3. Though fans noted a drop-off in visual fidelity between it and the previous PC trailers, it's by no means an ugly game.