Widescreen Gaming Forum

Okay, here's another aspect ratio discussion. Normally we would say that for a game to "truely" support widescreen, it would have to add to the horizontal FOV. Games that cut off the vertical FOV may "support" widescreen, but are not "enhanced" for (or by) widescreen display.

So, here's my question, what if a game does both? What if it cuts off a little on the top, AND adds some to the side. For example, check out the Guild Wars screenshot that autoloads here http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/screenshots.php

Those two shots were taken at 1024x768 and 1680x1050. It's obvious that the screen is "zooming in" and cutting off the mountain, and putting the bottom toolbar closer to the toon. But, check out the Quest Log on the left, in relation to the tree and the lamp post. The horizontal FOV is certainly increasing as well. So, does Guild Wars "properly" support widescreen. And this game has an adjustable POV. You can zoom in and out.

I'd call this proper support, mainly because of the zooming ability. It simply doesn't matter whether it cuts off the top and bottom or not.

Secondly, you get more room for your menus.

Developers are worried that increased FOV for widescreen users may be considered cheating, yet they want to support the resolutions. This method, I'd say, may be the proverbial 'golden middle-road', at least until widescreen is common.

I think that is fine ... it's about what "feels" right when you play ... giving you the extra width clearly makes it feel right and you also have the zooming option.

Battlefield 2 "feels" wrong ... but no where near as bad as ... King Kong.
Properly because the FOV is tighter with King Kong ... :(

Strangely ... Sniper Elite "feels" OK (providing you don't use the 16:9 ... 1600x900 option) .... even though the FOV is not adjusted. It must be the 3rd person view that helps.

That's a good point, Paddy. I've noticed that many games take certain liberties with the FOV when crafting widescreen, and in many instances it seems to come down to the developer's POV, i.e. their point of view on what constitutes proper widescreen.

For some this means taking a bit off the top in exchange for a wider horizontal view, for others it means merely stretching the view a bit while keeping verticality (mostly in tact). And for still others it means providing a balance b/w hozontal and vertical views.

I think one of the interesting factors influencing these different interpretations is the lack of a tradition of widescreen in the industry. It's a new thing, and un-like the cinema where widescreen presentation has always been the golden standard gamers are just starting to explore the possibilities.

So in a case like Guild Wars, I would agree with Paddy in that it seems to "feel right" whereas other games make it seem like there are some compromises being made that detract from the presentation quality.

I think that guild wars is spot on what the widescreen solution should be.

- Cropping the top and bottom is obviously bad.

- Adding too much to the horizontal FOV, is a little unnatural*

- A perfect balance between the two, is just right.

*This is something I've just started thinking about based on this thread. Although we don't like to think we're missing out on vertical graphics, it's just occured to me, that to remain natural looking, most widescreen games must loose a little from the vertical FOV and expand on the horizontal.

Just look at FPS's, simply expanding the FOV alone can give a fish-eye effect - F.E.A.R is a good example of this.

Simply adding more game-estate to the sides of the screen also has the side-effect of giving a more zoomed-out effect - and putting the player further away from the action.

IMO, zooming-in a bit (like guild wars) is a perfect and natural use of widescreen. Compare this to widescreen television. I bet camera-men of a widescreen broadcast will automatically compensate by zooming-in closer to the subject without even thinking about it.

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One last thought about what X-Warrior said:

It simply doesn't matter whether it cuts off the top and bottom or not.

Yes. At the end of the day, most games are designed for 4:3 and we are playing with pseudo 16:10 solutions - sometimes it looks better, sometimes it does not. When games are designed from the very beginning with widescreen in mind is when we will have "true" native widescreen support.

Here's a question:
What if batlefield 2 was completely designed for widescreen monitors? What if they just added to the vertical FOV as a quick solution for 4:3 gamers? Would you still miss the top and bottom of the screen if you knew this?

...Okay, that's probably not true at all, but you get my point?

During mouse over it does cut the top, but adds to the bottom.

i think i would like the increased FOV that widescreen would normally give you if for say it was a window in your house, in that situation the view outside would be wider, or looking at a bigger area, not a stretch of before ;)

i dont think the widescreen adds much to guild wars, but the widescreen option without comparison to the square one still looks good, by this i mean either of them looks fine on their own, but when comparisons are made you see how little the widescreen's addition to the game brings

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i dont think the widescreen adds much to guild wars, ...

Personally, I think it brings a lot. I enjoyed widescreen on GW, WOW and NWN immensely. It allowed me to keep inventory and quest log screens open without obscuring my actual "play" area. Now, if you don't run around with those windows open, then it would possibly have less of an impact.

i have the mini-map ( U ) and party ( P ) up mostly, and i do think that it could benefit from being wider, as in more landscape less banners. I meant that it doesnt add much to the landscape, just more space at the sides, rather than making you see more you see the same but now can have lots of stuff blocking as well :P

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Another good example of a game that really seems to get it right, at least IMHO, is Giants: Citizen Kabuto, a five-year old game that Cranky was good enough to exhibit in the screens section:

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/node/

I really like what they did here. Expanded horizontal FOV with (apparently) no loss of the vertical FOV. I'd definitely called that enhanced. :)

On a slightly different note there's the Painkiller shot in the screenshot area. It cuts off the verticality ever so-slightly, but does offer an increased horizontal view, which ends up looking very nice. A trade-off that seems worth it in this case.

So in the case of Guild Wars, where we've got some zoom-in that sacrifices a bit off the top, but clearly adds to the horizontal FOV you've got a good compromise going, though I think it would be awesome if they somehow managed to incorporate the same adjustments that Giants did.