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Gore impresario Hershell Gordon Lewis summed up an important rule of film-making when he pointed out that "People have walked out of movies after looking at 10 seconds of them, saying,'This is pretty doggone dull,'... [but] no one has ever walked out of a movie because of a ragged pan." But does the same axiom apply in video games? Specifically, has anyone ever stopped playing a game because the frame-rate is too low?
According to Insomniacs Mike Acton, No, they haven't. "There is virtually no advantage in sales or reviews of a 60 fps game versus a 30 fps game," reads a blog post from Acton. More boldly, Acton states:
"Framerate is still important to us here at Insomniac, but it’s not on the same pedestal it was before. And that Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time will probably be Insomniac’s last 60fps game."
This assertion is backed up with impressive charts and graphs that seem to indicate gamers and reviewers don't actually care about high frame-rates, so long as a game performs solidly. According to Acton, framerate drops are seen by some players as a "reward for creating or forcing a complex setup in which a lot of things must happen on the screen at once. As in, 'Damn! Did you see that? That was crazy!'"
So... how important is a high frame-rate to you?
Comments
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Aerindel_Prime
Another vote for I don't care. I would rather have a good game than a fast game.
dr_clocker
As long as the framerate never drops below 30 im satisfied.
SteveKB
many of you guys are missing the point, all of your moniters are usually going at 60hz (30fps) (or less if you have a huge plasma (those are at 15fps which is dumb)) anyway the reason why framerates seem better is because although the moniters are always out putting 30fps like a movie does about. the motion blur in games is not present unlike movies, however when the gfx card creates lets say 120 frames in one second, it will interlace 4 frames in a frame being output by the moniter since the moniter has a max of 30fps. This will make it seem like there is some kind of motion blur or tweening.
even if the game uses computation motion blur (like trackmania nations forever (i love that game)) the calculations will not produce the same effects as slower motion blur (make a jillion frames per second is the slower motion blur) but high fps + fake motion blur is better than slow fps + fake motion blur. because real motion blur (high as hell fps) + fake motion blur = really realistic (since you won't notice the flaws due to fake motion blur)
so yeah use fake motion blur and real motion blur and I'll be happy but more real motion blur please. (real motion blur is considered high fps or many frames interlaced into one 120fps from gfx to 30fps monitor = 4 sampled real motion blur)
westpusher
actually, human eyes can detect the difference in framerates quite an extensive level. Using a movie's shutter speed to gauge the ability of the human eye to detect change in a game is ridiculous. This was tested and proven over 10 years ago when only pc gamers heard the term "framerate" because most console gamers were playing in 3d for the first time outside of starfox. doom 3 was on the way and quake3 was still the basis for testing a gaming rig.
"Though animated media works on distinct frames sampled at discrete points in time, there is no evidence suggesting that the human visual system works in the same way. Therefore, it is impossible to express the limitations of human perception as a given maximum frame rate."
the smoother the game runs the more immersive it becomes and therefore the more your brain suspends disbelief...or as much as it can. framerate makes a difference and yes you can definitely tell the difference between 60 and 30, granted that depends on the amount of detail visible within the game, subtle things in the animation are much more apparent when the framerate is higher. So all the naysayers can bugger off, left4dead would definitely not feel as frantic at 30fps as it does at 60, if you have a pc and can limit your framerate, try it out
DuskMaster22
Not very, movies are only at about what? 24fps? The human eye can only see about that fast anyways, so really any more past that point doesn't make the game or movie look much better, the extra frames aren't worth nearly the amount of time or money spent to get them. All they do is make the game sound a little bit more impressive.
DuskMaster22
Not very, movies are only at about what? 24fps? The human eye can only see about that fast anyways, so really any more past that point doesn't make the game or movie look much better, the extra frames aren't worth nearly the amount of time or money spent to get them. All they do is make the game sound a little bit more impressive.
UltimaBlackMage
I care about the framerate only in high action titles like God Of War or a FPS and games like Ratchet and Clank. I think that if the game is full of action then a higher framerate is needed but if it's slow and doesn't have much happening then I have no problems with a lower framerate.
h4x121
I would rather have a game locked at 30fps with no drops then a game that gets 60 and drops down to 30. Games look smooth at 30fps its when you have a drop that you notice a game lagging. So basically as long as its smooth i could care less what the fps are.
MajorMajor
I don't know of anyone who thinks that way. When I see a framerate drop I think "Oh great, here's a game that I'm playing as advertised and yet the developers couldn't spend the time to make sure it actually worked." Framerate drops result in shoulda-been kills, missed oppritunities, and a ton of frustration. If Insomiacs can make a game at 30 fps that never slows down and where you couldn't tell the difference from a 60 fps game, I'm all for it. But, given the shoddy way some games are "polished" these days.... I'd rather have that extra 30 fps buffer against slowdown.
MajorMajor
"framerate drops are seen by some players as a "reward for creating or forcing a complex setup in which a lot of things must happen on the screen at once. As in, 'Damn! Did you see that? That was crazy!'""
I don't know of anyone who thinks that way. When I see a framerate drop I think "Oh great, here's a game that I'm playing as advertised and yet the developers couldn't spend the time to make sure it actually worked." Framerate drops result in shoulda-been kills, missed oppritunities, and a ton of frustration. If Insomiacs can make a game at 30 fps that never slows down and where you couldn't tell the difference from a 60 fps game, I'm all for it. But, given the shoddy way some games are "polished" these days.... I'd rather have that extra 30 fps buffer against slowdown.
Minuszero
Frame rates are important!
30 FPS is not acceptable for me. The worst thing about low FPS is lag / slowdowns. If you have slowdowns say goodbye to timing. 60 fps is great and does not need to go any higher because the human eye can't see anymore then 60.. There should be a FPS standard on games. I don't know about anyone else but Fallout 3 does have slow downs for FPS. But fallout 3 is a vast level and can see for a long distances and it's understandable why it is doing it..
Getting to my final statement low FPS in a game = a less quality game.
nivlac978
30 frames is fine for me. I can't really tell the difference but it is annoying when it drops below that.
Xero_Wing
id rather they drop the frame rate down if it means they can fix some of the weird glitches in the next Rachet and clank game i got stuck IN a moon today not to mention the jitter bugging enemies when you clip em with the shotgun
Giga
Technicly the human cant see any faster than 28 fps if i remember correctly the only thing a high frame rate dose is provide a smoother feel and that can still be done at lower frame rates as long you provide smooth movement transitions
Canid117
It is nice to have but you don't really need any higher than 40 per second
thesilentmole
I love a high framerate, and these comments sadden me. Apparently we don't care about visual quality and fidelity, which is hilarious because of how much bitching people do about graphics.
Don't care about framerate, dude I'm a huge stickler for frame rate and I know I'm not the only one. There are reviewers that will knock you for it, like most the people on IGN's Nintendo team. Framerate has ruined games for me. I gave up Odin Sphere because I watched my roommate try and fight some giant demon queen or something and the game was just unplayable at that point. I can't get into any MMO because of server lag, which operates very similar to framerate issues. The game isn't clear so I don't want a piece. Even Borderlands is a struggle because of how often the framerate dips when things get hairy.
And to anyone who claims your eyes can't tell the difference, you're just not paying attention. You can tell when a game is running at 60 frames, you just have to give a damn. Unfortunately most supposed hardcore gamers don't like to pay attention to designs and implementations.
thesilentmole
I love a high framerate, and these comments sadden me. Apparently we don't care about visual quality and fidelity, which is hilarious because of how much bitching people do about graphics.
Don't care about framerate, dude I'm a huge stickler for frame rate and I know I'm not the only one. There are reviewers that will knock you for it, like most the people on IGN's Nintendo team. Framerate has ruined games for me. I gave up Odin Sphere because I watched my roommate try and fight some giant demon queen or something and the game was just unplayable at that point. I can't get into any MMO because of server lag, which operates very similar to framerate issues. The game isn't clear so I don't want a piece. Even Borderlands is a struggle because of how often the framerate dips when things get hairy.
And to anyone who claims your eyes can't tell the difference, you're just not paying attention. You can tell when a game is running at 60 frames, you just have to give a damn. Unfortunately most supposed hardcore gamers don't like to pay attention to designs and implementations.
Griffith4100
Most people couldn't tell you the difference between 35 fps and 60 fps. It's all for bragging rights. I can only see 60 fps in some crazy twitch fps games where you would want the smoothness of turning 360 degrees and getting that mid-air headshot in insta-gib mode... I love UT.
gotaku99
Does a game need 60fps to be any good? Absolutely not. However, it does help. As long as you can keep the game running at a solid 30fps, I'm a happy camper. It's a choppy frame-rate, or those sudden drops in frame rate that turns a game into a chore for me. I remember playing Marathon 2 on my LCII before being enlightened by the wonders of a PC; with the framerate so low that it felt like I was playing a point and click adventure game. (Myst=Goooood! Marathon: Myst Style= Baaaad) Did I walk away from the game? No, I continued to punish myself, just like any other 12year old kid with no other choice. That doesn't mean I didn't care about fps.
Pearceorama
The framerate depends on the game. Racing games really need a high framerate to nail the physics of the driving experience, fighting games need a solid framerate in order to make the experience consistent--although one could argue that the framerate doesn't need to be high, it just needs to be consistent all the time. Overall I'd say that I want the framerate to be solid and no less than 24fps, 30fps is preferable, 60 is a must if the technical requirements of the game (IE: physics calculations/second) demand it. I don't see a need for engineers, coders, artist and designers to go to great lengths to make a game run at a 'high' framerate if the game (IE: texture quality, special effects, etc) suffers for it. Case in point, I think Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time looks great, but it seems to me that more power could've gone toward creating more atmosphere via lighting and texture and shader work. Insomniac have done a great job with their product and I applaud their effort as it has totally paid off.
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