Two Days of HD

My new LCD TV was delivered to me on Friday and I've been popping in all of my 360 games to see how well the life is breathed back into them. Not surprisingly, the bump up to 720p or 1080p coupled with the 16:9 aspect ratio has done wonders to almost every game that I've tried in my games library. It's amazing how quickly I recalibrated my expectations once my eyes were exposed to the visual splendor. I can never go back to standard definition on my dusty old CRT.

Although the visuals were a treat for my eyes, I was also pleasantly surprised at the quality of my new TV's built-in speakers. Maybe I've just grown accustomed to the truly horrid audio on my old Toshiba, but I've never been bothered too much by it. Well, consider my standards for TV audio raised a couple notches now, as I'm not only seeing details and colours that I missed out in standard def, I'm also better able to appreciate new subtleties in the sound design of my games.

I spent the better part of Friday evening just playing games and tooling around with my LG's interface. Here's a brief recap what it was like to have my high definition cherry popped...

Hit the jump for my giddy account.


300
A friend of mine was kind enough to hang out with me on Friday to help me pass the time while I anxiously waited for the TV deliver and later to assist with hefting my old TV to my bedroom and setting up the new one. I had gotten him hooked on Rock Band already but the first thing he wanted to see on the new TV was a movie, so I popped in the 300 DVD and proceeded to be unimpressed. I'm beginning to see what all the hype is with this Blu-Ray and HD-DVD stuff. There is a level of clarity to movies that I've seen in the Future Shop display televisions that simply cannot be matched by run-of-the-mill DVDs. Still, after I had actually switched my Xbox 360 display settings to 1080p and replayed parts of the movie, I noticed a marked improvement.

BioShock
This game already looked amazing on my crappy old set and the move to a 42" high definition screen tips it into the realm of visual perfection.

Rock Band
I wasn't expecting a big change in visual quality when I popped the disc in and sure enough, I was right. The extra screen real estate really helps in multiplayer mode but this game is really more about the music than jaw-dropping visuals. One jarring change, however, was the calibration of the instruments, which only differed by several milliseconds but it completely threw my timing off. I still haven't got my guitar and drums calibrated perfectly so that's my little project this week when I have some spare time.

Rainbow Six: Vegas
I finally got around to taking my favourite 360 game for a spin. To commemorate this occasion, I grinded out some rounds of Terrorist Hunt and finally achieved the Elite rank! The graphics didn't become amazing suddenly; it was more about the small details. All the HUD details were easier to read, tracking enemies at a distance became much easier and overall, the presentation just looked slicker. With the improved speakers, I also really enjoyed the sound of gunfire. It really felt like I was hearing the same old sound effects in a new way.

Gears of War
This game undoubtedly looks impressive in maximum resolution but I didn't get the "wow" response I was expecting. I only loaded up the final battle with General RAAM, mind you, so I'll need to play through more of the game to really get a sense of the improved visuals.

Mass Effect
This game is a sigh to behold. Of all the games I've tried with my new TV so far, I'd say Mass Effect has benefited the most. It's looking so fine, I'm happily going through the Hardcore campaign again when just a few weeks earlier I was ready to shelf this game for good.

Crackdown
I was frankly amazed how much better this game looks on a big screen. Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised. This game is all about over the top, larger than life action, as well as bounding betweenskyscrapers like a maniac, so it's only proper that you have a big-ass viewing area properly display all of these antics. I'll definitely be admiring more of Pacific City again.