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My TV screen is oh so very small. Is yours? Then I have to ask a favour.
I have a TV. It is very, very small and also quite old; 14 inch CRT and so old it doesn't have a widescreen mode, to be as precise as I can. It works fine and I don't really want to buy a new one. I do, however, want to play contemporary video games on it, and I'm a trifle worried about how that will work out. Maybe it's just the fact that all you ever see anymore both in official PR documents and in privately shot videos are enormous widescreen HDTVs.
Regardless: if someone has a similarly sized TV, or even just a regular but non-widescreen TV, and a current console, could I trouble you for a few action shots or a few words on how a setup like that performs? At the moment I've got my eye set especially on Rock Band but I know myself too well to believe I wouldn't play goddamn everything else, too. |
I think my TV is 20 inches. It's something like that. Rock Band plays just fine. I can read the lyrics without a problem from across the (admittedly, very small) room. But, maybe that's because I have the Wii version.
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I have a 42" widescreen.
The X-box consoles are great at this, if that is at all applicable. They switch aspect ratios without issue very well, though it's been since college that I had anything as small as 20". Regardless, they are smart enough to scale as needed. The PS2 does this, too, but not so intelligently it seems. The Wii works great in either mode. I cannot speak for the PS3.
While it is true that I game on a large screen, it is my assumption that the important things, such as lyrics and notes in a game like Rock Band, are still visible enough on the screen that you should be fine. Think of it this way -- if you play things on that 14" already and/or watch television and are able to read text or little notes in the corner and such, dig it. If that's not always easy, well, some games are adding a lot more to the screen [eg: multiplayer Rock Band is probably going to be very annoying on that small a screen, as will split-screen Halo or the like] such that you might want to really look into a large television, if not a newer one. |
A friend of mine has a small tv, again around 14 inches I think and a ps3 hooked up to it. It's playable, but by no means good in any way. You can see the strain on the visuals in games like CoD4 and GTA4, they do look like they weren't mean to be played on such a tiny low-def machine. Even larger, non-HDTVs don't do them justice really, I've had a very hard time trying to play games on another of my friends widescreen set after getting so used to HD.
I'd say, if you're getting a console that runs on high def (not sure if the Wii actually does or not), then you need to get a HDTV, but you don't neccesarily need a huge set. I have a 19" 1080 and my games look damn near perfect. |
The Wii is, hardware-wise, a re-packaged Gamecube. It should be fine even without hi-def, but it was at least upgraded to handle progressive without being a per-game option. I run mine via component input. For that matter, the Xbox consoles can use standard composite RCA and S-video. Sure, it doesn't look as pretty, but I don't know if I'd go so far as to say it's game-breaking.
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The only thing you need to worry about is Dead Rising. Having a small to medium TV (Problem is solved with widescreen) makes the on-screen text impossible to read, which can make lots of the missions extremely difficult, and Capcom has gone on by saying that fixing it is a non-issue.
Other than that, I'm fairly certain all games have aspect ratio switching without a problem. |
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I have a 45' inch SD tv and I have trouble reading the text on Dead Rising from the couch.
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My tv is approz 12 inches (why do we still measure tv's in inches?) and I have a wii on it which runs just fine. Some games (like SMG) have a little thing at the start saying I'm not playing in recommended display mode but I just push A and it goes away.
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I used to prefer playing video games on smaller screens, but damn, the Xbox 360 I just bought? I have to sit like two feet from the screen and squint in order to read any of the text. And I have a 20 inch SD TV. I've been playing for several hours today and I can actually feel the eyestrain.
Yet I've never had trouble with the Wii. Nice big letters! |
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