[Deepblue]

God bless Bungie...

http://www.bungie.net/News/TopStory.aspx?story=h2anniversary&p=5312619

Now our screenshots are pretty legit, but it's likely they'll vary from what you'll see here, thanks to the multitude of display technologies that make up the ball of wax called HDTV. We also had to jump through hoops to get these shots, since the way they're handled by the video buffer means our conventional method no workie. But luckily it took me three hours, 400 lines of DOS prompts and a thousand phone calls to discover that.

In the end, we took video at 720p and captured stills from that. So it's far from perfect – Final Cut Pro was the software we used, and while it's very good, these shots are not identical to their on-screen counterparts. In fact, they look significantly better on an HD set (or a VGA monitor with the appropriate cable). But we thought you'd still like to see ‘em anyway.

Halo and Halo 2 will automatically be upgraded to 720p with full FSAA when emulated on the Xbox 360... Without any updates.

The texture's don't get an upgrade, but you can't have everything.

*waits for someone to roll eyes*

EDIT: Google ads, niiiice.

[pyro-manic]

Now that's pretty cool. How's that going to work then? Will it be built into the console itself, or written into the Xbox emulator thingy, or something else? Interesting...

[Deepblue]

I'm geussing it will be built it seeing as it doesn't require the hard drive. This begs the question though, will other games (HL2 for Xbox maybe?) get the same treatment? It would be nice to play Forza in 720p until Forza 2 comes out.

EDIT: NM, I misread, the emulation software is on the hard drive.

[ChronoReverse]

Meh, why didn't they do that with the PC version of Halo?  Pretty much garbage the product that was release.  In any case, it's a neat thing, but not terribly impressive and frankly it's the minimum that should be done.

They didn't even try something like a 2xsai filter on the textures for shame

[SadisticSid]

Well this is good, but did anyone realistically expect anything else? In effect it's just rendering at a higher resolution or applying post-processing AA, a feat any graphics card made in the last few years could achieve. It's nice, but it's trivial.

[Deepblue]

Eww...

2xsai filter on textures would not look pretty...

I think this gives some hope to getting rid of that annoying texture pop-in on the first Xbox with Halo 2. Seamless levels are good, but loading times aren't bad if it gives you prettier cutscenes.

[Flipside]

Well, call me Mr Cynical, but why do they call their screenshots Pretty Legit?

Still looks like good enhancement work

[Deepblue]

In the end, we took video at 720p and captured stills from that. So it's far from perfect – Final Cut Pro was the software we used, and while it's very good, these shots are not identical to their on-screen counterparts. In fact, they look significantly better on an HD set (or a VGA monitor with the appropriate cable). But we thought you'd still like to see ‘em anyway.

That's why.

And I geuss it's not a treat reserved just for Bungie...

http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000190067686/

Every single emulated title will get the same treatment, 720p/1080i/full FSAA. Am I the only one who think that's hella cool?

Ninja Gaiden in 720p = bliss.

[Setekh]

Ninja Gaiden in 720p = bliss.

Dude. I was waiting for someone to say it.

[Deepblue]

I'm very impressed by the number of games that actually are currently on the list. With the silence out of Microsoft, I was only expected 10-15 to be ready for launch. Plus, the list is not complete, and games are still being certified for emulation. In fact, the 360 will only ship with Halo and Halo 2 backward compatible (the most important ones for me). The rest can be downloaded from Xbox Live (not gold, so it's free for broadband people) and you can also download the profiles onto your computer, burn a CD with them, and then stick them into the 360. Also you can get a CD from Microsoft.

Half Life 2 also made the list. So the non-PC people can experience it in hi-res glory, even if that doesn't include the textures.