EA's NBA Street Homecourt to be first 1080p 360 title
by David Dreger 
{ Feb 7th 2007 at 5:00PM }
Yesterday we pointed out that Virtua Tennis 3 was going to be playable in 1080p. It was going to be the first Xbox 360 title to official support the resolution announced back in September. But that was yesterday, and this is today. EA has announced that NBA Street: Homecourt will be shipping on February 20th, a month earlier. On top of that, the game will support 1080p at 30fps among the other standard resolutions, squeezing out VT3 as the premiere title to deliver the 1080p goods. So, you've played the demo, now it's coming to you in 1080p, are you interested in this game? If it's only the "True HD" experience you're after, will you wait a month longer for Virtua Tennis 3?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Derka @ Feb 7th 2007 5:21PM
Actually, Superman Returns was the first 1080p title.
carlos @ Feb 7th 2007 5:22PM
you do realize that sonic 360 also supports 1080p so technikly that was the first title
slyecho @ Feb 7th 2007 5:27PM
1080p at 30 fps is the same as 1080i without the interlacing. I'd much rather play it at 60 fps, even if it means interlacing or 720p.
Butcher PL @ Feb 7th 2007 5:31PM
Hmm... I'm a little confused. What about Lost Planet? My box for the game states "1080p" at the back-cover. Pity, I have no full HD TV to check it out...
So?
Killer @ Feb 7th 2007 6:26PM
What a surprise. Another EA game running at 30 fps way to go EA for not trying to improve the frame rate. Next-gen Should mean 60 fps. Come on EA show me you can deliver a 60 fps game, Madden would be nice, but we know that probally won't happen. :(
Ciaran Gallagher @ Feb 7th 2007 6:39PM
What the hecks the difference between 1080i and 1080p? Does anyone even have any TV's that support 1080i? What about computer screens? Do they count?
AoE @ Feb 7th 2007 7:50PM
@Ciaran
the "i" and "p" refer to interlaced or progressive scan, and they specify how the image is drawn to the screen. The number before refers to the verticle pixel measurement. A 1080 image is 1920 pixels wide and 1080 pixels high. if a TV can output 1080p, it means every time it draws a frame (standard television in the US runs at 29.97 frames per second) it draws all of the pixels in that frame. Interlaced, on the other hand, draws every other verticle line when it draws a frame. so if the first frame is all even rows of pixels, the frame after will be odd rows, even rows, etc. Interlacing was introduced in the 30's as a way to boost picture quality of broadcast transmissions without consuming extra bandwidth.
As for 1080i televisions in the wild? *MOST* 1080anything capable televisions you'll find installed in people's homes are 1080i. 1080p televisions are still a very new technology (I want to say they've only been around for two years max, but I can't recall clearly) and many of the HDTVs you'll find in your local home electronics store will still be 1080i or perhaps 720p max.
As for the computer screen connundrum? Computer screens can't display interlaced video, so only progressive scan settings need concern you if you're rocking the vga adapter.
@David Dreger, you should buy a copy of Lost Planet to rock 1080p early with the rest of us, at least until EA releases "the premiere title to deliver the 1080p goods." ;) Also, maybe I am wrong, but isn't Splinter Cell: Double Agent 1080p too? I swear I've got a few other games on my shelf (and no I don't own either sonic or superman) that are 1080p as well...
Jason @ Feb 7th 2007 9:08PM
The problem is, the controller simply isn't built for this type of game. On the XBOX, there were 4 turbos, the A button, L trigger, R trigger, and clicking down the Lt stick. The problem here is that you had to hold all this crap down to perform the coolest tricks. By the way Superman is a shitty game, and I think thats the point I'm making. The 360 controller is great for FPS, but not really for anything else. The PS controllers are the exact opposite. I hope they use the trigger buttons up top wisely; otherwise this will be yet another 1080p shitty experience, and the PS3 will win this one hands down...or perhaps there could be a hack for the 360 that allows the use of other system controllers like the PS3...
Jason @ Feb 7th 2007 11:19PM
1080p/i...its all great I guess, but more importantly every game mentioned here is shitty. Even the Street game wasn't very easy to play w/ the XBOX controller. Hell, as many games that come out, how many are really great? COD 2 was great on release...well it looked great. It's the only release title that was worth a damn. King Kong? Ass. Quake? Ass. Madden name it. Ass. Basketball name it. Ass. The boxing is decent, and Oblivion is cool if you're into that type of game. I mean Gears is cool...all 4.5 hours it takes you to beat it, but I'm at the point where I expect more from these assholes. Halo 2 is great, but not the reason to buy a 360, and I don't know many people who haven't logged more hours on Halo 2 than any 360 game available...even today. When will dudes start to use all of this power and buttons to make kick ass games? Sony and MS charge $600 for a system w/ next gen capes (high def DVDs, and if you don't run them on either format, don't knock them until you OWN them, and kick ass graphics). Maybe I'm numb to cool graphics and so so gameplay/length. I'm playing Resistance on the PS3 now, and as much shit as I hear about it, I still haven't beat it after a week on the difficult setting. It keeps getting compared to Gears, which is a foul. Gears looks great, but it IS over a year later. If you compare it to Quake or Even COD 2 or 3, its not even close. Gears has great lighting effects and the story kicks ass; Resistance looks more like a Medal of Honor game, but trust me here, its visually sick. Not as bright, but the AI seems to learn your tactics, I coulda swore while playing Gears I rushed a guy after he screamed "I'm reloading" . The killer is the ability to use my 360 controller to play FPS titles as they arrive for the PS3. So right now I'm faced with either Resistance on the PS3, or Halo 2 (which we've been playing for YEARS now, and Gears, and you can only chainsaw and curb stomp kids so many times. I've downloaded to Gran Turismo, Motorstorm, F1 championship, and some other shit for the PS3, and it's not looking pretty. I may be starting to sound like a fanboy here, but as a guy with both, I just hope more than Halo 3 and Gears 2 come out for the 360, and Sony cranks out some hits as they are known to do. I'm a realist about this shit. I didn't get a PS because of the specs or snob appeal; I remembered how happy I was to get GTA and Metal Gear on the XBOX, and how much better they looked...and how much I wanted to use my PS controller...even so much that I bought the adapter (which was still a shitty transition for games that you couldn't assign buttons for). The pleasure of the games being better looking on XBOX is out the window, so the gameplay is going to be an issue. If the XBOX controller is all you know, then ignorance is bliss in this case. What put my PS2 on the shelf for good was a hacked XBOX (free games) and the fact that the games LOOKED better. XBOX is king of FPS titles, but I fear that the controller is a big part of that, I use my 360 controller w/ my PS3 already. I dunno fellas, I just hope Halo 3 is worth my 400 bucks, cause so far I'm feeling a bit cheated...as far as the future of the PS3, Metal Gear (XBOX controller sucks for it), GTA 4 (controller), God of War 2, Gran Turismo, Motorstorm (don't let the kiosk jade your opinion, even the download version has noticeable improvement, and doesn't lock up every 5 minutes), Tekken (and lets face it, as far as 3D fighters go, it is king), Ace Combat, and of course Resident Evil. Sports games are also a wrap but I've mentioned that already. My thumbs are crossed here...
Scott Krueger @ Feb 7th 2007 9:31PM
When Sony announced 1080p for the PS3, everyone here told me that 1080p was "Not Necessary" and "You can't see the difference" and "720p is the Sweet spot".
So it is quite funny to hear you guys make Hypocritical Liars of yourselves while going crazy for 1080p Titles.
Jason Seely @ Feb 8th 2007 10:21AM
@ #10
way to keep on point with your comment. you really enhanced my reading of the article.
/wow
Jason @ Feb 8th 2007 11:03PM
sorry for the tangent #11, but I guess the point is who gives a shit if its in 1080I or P if the game is shitty in the first place? the hardware isn't in question, but the focus of this entire article becomes pointless if the game itself is shitty...which unfortunately is more often than not the case...
Bangbang... @ Feb 8th 2007 4:38PM
Jason:
You have no idea what your talking about. everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but the xbox 360 controller is widely accepted to be the best console controller ever. The only negative thing about the 360 controller is the digial D-pad. Even your precious ps3 controller had to take notes from microsoft(pressure sensitive triggers buttons and guide button) though they still failed to round the face buttons, offset the thumbsticks, and use a controller shape that your hands hold naturally.
ps
Tekken hasnt been the king of 3d fighters since 1995.
Jason @ Feb 9th 2007 6:26PM
Sorry to ruffle the old feathers bang bang, but the controller is a big reason that people didn't make the jump from the PS2 to the XBOX, even though the box has superior capability. Even after they went from the huge controllers to the small ones (hey, remember those huge ones? I have 4) it was still hard to introduce some of my bud to the XBOX. The fact that It was great for Halo won many over, but if they just weren't into Halo then it just felt too big. I can't knock the 360 controller; it's a great improvement over the last one and is arguably the best ever since the killed the black and white button and but them on the shoulders (wonder where THAT idea came from, come to think of it, thoughts of the Sega Saturn and Dreamcast controllers come to mind when I think of the whole feel of Xbox controllers). I never claimed that the PS3 controller was perfect, but as far as me not knowing what I'm talking about, I'm pretty sure the Dual Shock controller had pressure sensitive buttons (not that it fucking matters), and if it was THAT big of a deal the XBOX MAY have KILLED the PS2 in sales rather than the other way around. The staggered sticks would be an improvement, but as I said before, I CAN USE THE 360 CONTROLLER ON MY PS3 ALREADY. The option kills the argument that the 360 controller is better. Hell you could use a Wii-mote if your sexuality leans you in that direction. I hope the 360 hackers can give me the option to do the same eventually.
As far as Tekken goes, Soul Calibur 2 IS superior, but as far as console specific 3D fighters go, I KNOW you don't want to compare DOA to Tekken, and I guess Smash Bros. doesn't count as 3D, and thank goodness for that.
Yaz @ Feb 9th 2007 12:22PM
LOL @ #9
You wrote: "So it is quite funny to hear you guys make Hypocritical Liars of yourselves while going crazy for 1080p Titles."
Why should it bother you then? Unless you were one of the idiots attacking the 360 for not supporting 1080p before last year's Live update!
720p IS the sweetspot, that's why the VAST majority of games for BOTH the 360 and PS3 are 720p.
No-one said 1080p is nothing to get excited over, they said it wasn't necessary and it still isn't. A game doesn't get better because it goes from 720p to 1080p, it just looks a little sharper and needs a large TV to appreciate the difference.
360 gamers were responding to the PS3 fanboys idiots who were insisting that 1080p was EVERYTHING, just because the PS3 supported it and the 360 didn't (at the time).