Widescreen Gaming Forum

The game is not released yet but there's a rolling demo / benchmark app available (400 MB download):
http://download.japan.gamespot.com.edgesuite.net/gamespot/download/StreetFighterIV_Benchmark.exe

1) all resolutions and refresh rates are supported all the way up to WTH
2) gameplay is Vert-
2) 16:10, 16:9 and Auto aspect ratios are available, but they just turn a stretched 4:3 picture into Vert-
3) framerate = game speed, so if your system can push more than 60 fps, go fullscreen and activate v-sync or you're in for some fast-forward action.

Poor show. Hopefully it's just the demo. :?

1400x1050, aspect 4:3


1680x1050, aspect 16:10


5040x1050, aspect Auto

Seeing as how street fighting games require everyone to have the same aspect ratio online I am supried they didn't do letterboxing/pillarboxing. Hmmmmmm.

Now I really wonder what D3 will do.

Ya i got the same result from the benchmark.. but it's not really a big deal, as the characters are still on-screen. Shame about the TH, though.

In a strictly 2D-viewed fighting game, it is critical and essential that both players have the same horizontal screen width. (Otherwise the guy with a 4:3 or 5:4 could have the characters cut right off the screen!, etc etc.)

Kind of surprised that they didn't doo letterboxing and pillarboxing. I guess too many non-widescreen users would complain about that. :roll:

that's unfortunate, It's not going to lose a sale from me or anything though. It's just times like this when i regret having my 16:9 :(

is there an official release date announced yet?

Obviously Triplehead is messed up and there's no excuse for that, but...

Couldn't you make the argument that 16:9 is designed as the default in this 2D fighting game, so that the Vert- is in fact just a Vert+ "opening up the frame" instead of losing space?

(edit: obviously I know that argument doesn't work in 3D games, but this one is kind of 2D because it's viewed only from the side, and the fighting game format has an actual gameplay reason for needing to keep the Horizontal view consistently the same width)

In a strictly 2D-viewed fighting game, it is critical and essential that both players have the same horizontal screen width.

No it isn't, it's only essential that both players have a fixed horizontal width that neither player can escape. The viewport itself can be as wide as you want.

They could allow hor+ by simply restricting players to a 4:3 square in the middle of the wider image. This would also fix triplehead quite nicely, though all you would see on the side screens is more background scenery, since the characters can't leave the 4:3 box in the middle.

[quote]In a strictly 2D-viewed fighting game, it is critical and essential that both players have the same horizontal screen width.

No it isn't, it's only essential that both players have a fixed horizontal width that neither player can escape. The viewport itself can be as wide as you want.

They could allow hor+ by simply restricting players to a 4:3 square in the middle of the wider image. This would also fix triplehead quite nicely, though all you would see on the side screens is more background scenery, since the characters can't leave the 4:3 box in the middle.

My post was clearly talking only about situations where both players had single-display setups. For example, a 16:9 vs. a 4:3. You suspiciously avoided my next post where I mentioned the separate issue of triple head being messed up.

I had assumed by default that all comments in this thread were discussing the "playable width" and I apologize for not being clear in my comments.

I suppose I phrased it unclearly. I meant the horizontal width of the "playable area" as it appears on a single screen. I didn't mean literally in all situations, that the resolution itself only gets allowed so far and then bam it cuts off to black. Come on.

They could allow hor+ by simply restricting players to a 4:3 square in the middle of the wider image. This would also fix triplehead quite nicely, though all you would see on the side screens is more background scenery, since the characters can't leave the 4:3 box in the middle.

This would result in invisible walls in the middle of the screen. The entire width is used to determine which directions and how far the characters are allowed to move along with the background scrolling. In addition the ends of the horizontal screens are used as static edges for chararacter attacks. You basically described pillarboxing a 4:3 image with viewable area instead of black bars.

Maybe something like Tekken would work in the way you mentioned. To get SFIV to work like this the game would have to know what percentage of your resolution is your main screen and use that for all the gameplay. Even then I don't know if the stages are wide enough to even have data to display. It may just be black on the additional displays the closer you get to a stage edge. And I doubt they would be willing to rewrite code for TH.

Some games just aren't that suited to triplehead.

That does make things slightly more complicated, but it's still not an insurmountable issue.

A hybrid hor+ / vert- technique can be used to keep the game lined up with your center monitor, while still allowing the field of view to expand to the side screens.



You're right about the stage size, though. If they aren't wide enough it would cause problems.