WSGF Approved Game

1080p_gaming · Post by **1080p_gaming** » 14 Sep 2005, 20:16

We need to turn up the heat on these game manufacturers, to stay ahead of the widescreen curve.

I suggest a simple marketing campaign where we design a "Wide Screen Gaming Approved" Logo copyright it and then provide it free for game manufactures to put on their boxes as either a sticker or right on the box.

The requirements are:

1) Must support different aspect ratios
Portrait 3:4
Projectior 5:4
VGA 4:3
Wide Monitor 16:10
Notebook 15:9
HDTV 16:9
(others?)

2) Must allow for FOV to match screen aspect ratio (proportional to 4:3)

2) Support must be within normal configuration control menus

3) Must have properly scaled Text, HUD and 3D graphics

4) Must support AA, TLF and AF in the game controls (thats not widescreen but seriously people....) *Ok maybe we scratch this one.*

Then we follow that up with a press release to all the gaming magazines and G4 TV. Hopefully some writer for the gaming rags will ask the manufacturers about this with new releases.

Anyone a graphic artist? (Similar to the Explicit Lyrics or THX Logo)

I will volunteer to help with the press release and pay for the production of 25 press packets and mailing (for manufacturers and press)

In all we probably need 50 PPs, a logo and a WSG approved website, Emailbox, and CD-R's with electronic version of the Logo and information for each press packet.

I would also suggest that we start by getting one or two smaller gaming companies who's games already support this to sign up (for free) that way we can include their logo in the Press Packet. Who makes Ground Control 2? Maybe the Quake folks would sign up?

Anyone interested?

X-Warrior · Post by **X-Warrior** » 15 Sep 2005, 19:17

The idea is quite nice indeed. This would also enable us to see when an approved game supports widescreen before we buy it.

But (there's always a but):
The cost of such a project, although I have no experience in such things, would be quite large I imagine. Since Ibrin seems to have trouble enough breaking the cost of this forum even, I doubt there would be enough money to set this all up.

But to build on your suggestions for the requirements: I think you should split up the different aspects into different logos. It's too much to ask to support all aspects, especially the unconventional ones, like 3:4. There could be one logo designed to show the supported aspect(s).

Enygma · Post by **Enygma** » 16 Sep 2005, 02:28

I too, had given this subject some thought, and had even gotten to the point of almost actually writing some of the companies that have been supportive of WSG...

Unfortunatly, I never did send any of those emails, but who knows... I may yet get around to it.

Post by **skipclarke** » 16 Sep 2005, 04:56

I had the same idea. Great minds think alike. Maybe we could get one or two developers to jump on board and include the logo on their box. All we'd need is a press kit, some way to validate support, and then let them provide links back to the forum in their product documentation.

1080p_gaming · Post by **1080p_gaming** » 16 Sep 2005, 05:59

I had the same idea. Great minds think alike. Maybe we could get one or two developers to jump on board and include the logo on their box.

OK that's a good place to start.

Who is doing right? What developers are making the games totaly Widescreen compliant.

I mean you run the game, adjust the menus and Voila your playing widescreen with good FOV and high rez...?

I was going to say UT2004 but then I realized that 1920x1080 was only in the menu because I hack it in there with the console. The original UT is the only game I have that works correctly "out of the box".
But those are just the games I play. .....Anyone?

Ibrin is right we need a developer or two to sign up.

Post by **skipclarke** » 03 Apr 2006, 06:51

I had the same idea. Great minds think alike. Maybe we could get one or two developers to jump on board and include the logo on their box. All we'd need is a press kit, some way to validate support, and then let them provide links back to the forum in their product documentation.

I was thinking about this idea the other day, and realized that few if any developers would feel obligated to implement widescreen support that met such stringent (though needed, admittedly) standards just to have a widescreen approved logo on its box. The market just isn't there right now, and I have a feeling that the need to mandate such widespread support for widescreen would have to come from the top down, as it did from Bill Gates for the xbox 360.

Even then however, Bill mandated widescreen support because that is where the future of television and home entertainment is headed, Microsoft made that decision at Bill's behest after some serious pre-release market research on the buying habits and makeup of its key consumer demographic.

Still, I can't count out the idea of a grassroots movement completely. Or even media pressure upping the anty. I suppose the simplest way to implement the latter idea would be to have already established periodicals like PC gamer add a 'widescreen' rubric to their grading criteria. The biggest obstacle to that would be deciding what constituted proper widescreen support, and who would get a say in deciding that.

Third party/end user grass-roots media (like our beloved WSGF :D) can exert more influence toward that end, but I imagine that it might have to take the next step and move toward print media rather than remaining an internet only source for the widescreen community. Lots of possibilities there. :wink:

edit/update

One other thing I thought i'd mention with regards to media. I was browsing a home theater enthusiast magazine's web site last week, and belatedly noticed that they had a section on gaming. Not huge mind you, but a nice crop of reviews for PC and console games as they relate to home theater gaming. Like widescreen pc monitor's, I think this is an emerging (though very small atm) enthusiast segment. Not too sure if it will ever branch out beyond that though, due to the technical learning curve for some, the lower resolutions that television's support and the inability of pc's to invade the living room (even with Viiv) but...hehe...I digress...anyway,

All of the reviews were played on big screen televisions, but I noticed that despite the focus of the website/magazine (i.e. widescreen televisions as a central part of the home theater experience) that most of the widescreen issues were only mentioned in passing. The reviewer would be like, "Well this particular game fills up the whole screen" while in another they'd say, "Well this particular game only plays at a 4:3 aspect ratio". Ok, all fine and good, but never once did they really say anything beyond "Wouldn't it be nice if this game supported widescreen television resolutions and aspect ratios". In other words, there was really no focus, constructive criticism of the lack of support, or admonishment (civilized admonishment, of course) to the developer to add widescreen support in. There was also no critique of the way the game handled widescreen (which I'm sure would drive Paddy and Cranky nuts ;)

One wonders if this is somewhat intentional on the part of the reviewers and publishers, but for now it does serve to point out how even mainstream media outlets are somewhat conservative when it comes to grading, evaluating and propagating the need for more widescreen support.

[second edit/update]

Something else came to mind to, with regards to mainstream media. I think it was only a year or two ago that the hardware editor at PC gamer was still hanging on to his recommendation of a CRT for his top of the line gaming machine. Just the other week, I was browsing through an issue at the local bookstore and read that the entire office uses 19" LCD monitor's at the PC gamer office for their gaming. That makes sense, as a 19" LCD is most likely going to provide you with the broadest compatability possibile and offer a good balance of resolution and size. They are quite aware however of widescreen LCD's but have yet to really come out and embrace them fully. Methinks their reasoning might be similar to that of the Home Theater Mag I mentioned above. I.e. the sense being that although things might be moving in that direction, widescreen gaming still remains an enthusiast market. So, in the meantime I think most publications are playing it safe during this era of transition and waiting to see how the market plays out. Its a conservative approach, but one I can definitely understand.

YouTube · Post by **ViciousXUSMC** » 02 May 2007, 08:59

I wouldnt mind designing a logo, even if its just for fun.

now that HD stuff is getting big, widescreen is sure to get big. Already on the back of say an Xbox game case you will see the little "icons" with the game features and "16:9" support is one of them.

All PS3 games are supposed to support widescreen I think, if the console market is going to be able to do it thats a good foot in the doorway to get PC game's with some sort of marking.

Apple · Post by **Apple** » 02 May 2007, 09:58

ALL Xbox 360 and PS3 games MUST support 720p and I think 1080i for the 360 also. So I guess thats a step in the right direction. :)

This approved widesreen game tag would be a really cool idea, but I think it needs to be a little more lenient. Maybe the games have to support say 4:3, 5:4(Pretty much every game supports those now anyway), 16:10 and 16:9 all with the correct FOV and no stretched game elements. Games that support 3:4 etc just have that printed on there also.

DaFox · Post by **DaFox** » 02 May 2007, 17:17

[quote]I had the same idea. Great minds think alike. Maybe we could get one or two developers to jump on board and include the logo on their box.

OK that's a good place to start.

Who is doing right? What developers are making the games totaly Widescreen compliant.

I mean you run the game, adjust the menus and Voila your playing widescreen with good FOV and high rez...?

I was going to say UT2004 but then I realized that 1920x1080 was only in the menu because I hack it in there with the console. The original UT is the only game I have that works correctly "out of the box".
But those are just the games I play. .....Anyone?

Ibrin is right we need a developer or two to sign up.

Valve.

Even the legacy GoldSrc engine got upgrades to support widescreen properly. (Half life 1 and Mods)

Cynagen · Post by **Cynagen** » 02 May 2007, 18:35

My question is, when are we going to get off our asses and actually formulate these ideas into a sane rubric and install ourselves in the market as the Widescreen rating authority, for/by widescreen users.

Also if we're really serious about this, we might want to think about a dedicated website to the project. "WideScreen Gaming Forum (ratio) Approved" sounds very authoritative enough, but we need to back that up with stance. Nothing puts you in the stance of authority faster than a domain dedicated to a project. I would love to volunteer for this job (maintaining the website).

Now onto who I think would work great for this project:
Cranky as the rubric master for this project, director of testing
Ibrin as project manager
Paddy the Wak as PR/Press/Developer relations

These guys have already proven their ability to work well and closely with one another here on the forums, I see no reason why they would fail on this project.

Anyone else with any ideas or nominations for positions in this project?

Oh and I have an idea for a sticker layout. I'm gonna draw it out, take a picture of it, and then post it here later.

Go team Widescreen!

EDIT: My sketches came out messy, and I did them kinda small, so it'd be a pain to snap with my phone's camera and then blow up for detail.

Post by **The_cranky_hermit** » 02 May 2007, 20:03

My question is, when are we going to get off our asses and actually formulate these ideas into a sane rubric and install ourselves in the market as the Widescreen rating authority, for/by widescreen users.

As far as I'm concerned, the first part's been done a long time ago. If you go to the detailed reports page, I have a thread that lists games by grade, and all of the games with flawless support are at the top under the "Certified games" list.

But regarding the second part, I wish I had some brilliant ideas on how to get our WS certifications recognized by the industry, but that kind of thing really isn't my field.

Cynagen · Post by **Cynagen** » 03 May 2007, 01:16

As far as I'm concerned, the first part's been done a long time ago. If you go to the detailed reports page, I have a thread that lists games by grade, and all of the games with flawless support are at the top under the "Certified games" list.

But regarding the second part, I wish I had some brilliant ideas on how to get our WS certifications recognized by the industry, but that kind of thing really isn't my field.

Not to be mean, but we need a quicker rubric to measure games that these developers have coming out. I understand what you're saying, but we need something a little faster to produce, so unless you can find volunteers for the project to grade stuff as it comes in (if this does take off these will be pre-released games and we gotta make sure the testers are trustworthy not to stick it up on a torrent or something,) or you'll have to do it yourself, at which point we need a faster way to check and grade.

packerfan · Post by **packerfan** » 03 May 2007, 02:13

Yeah i think if we could get recognition that would be great for the site.

Also maybe ibrin if you send out those rewards to steam and those other good companies maybe include an info packet :D

Post by **The_cranky_hermit** » 03 May 2007, 02:37

Not to be mean, but we need a quicker rubric to measure games that these developers have coming out.

How fast does it really have to be? I conservatively estimate that with a little bit of organization, three people with specific tasks could put together all of the necessary information within 24 hours. In fact, here's a list of atomic tasks right now:

Determine widescreen method
Get 4:3 and 16:10 shots from gameplay
Get 16:9 and 16:10 shots from gameplay
Get 4:3 and 16:10 shots from multiplayer (if applicable)
Get 4:3 and 16:10 shots from cut-scenes
Test all required resolutions
Check for singleplayer anomalies (this part would take the longest - best for one person to be dedicated to the job in order to maximize efficiency)

If all of the above get done and we don't find any problems, we can say "this game will get certified" and then later on someone can take the time to do a complete report. And if a problem *is* found, we can tell the devs what the problem is specifically.

Apple · Post by **Apple** » 03 May 2007, 05:31

I've done whole detailed reports in a day, it doesn't take that long to do really, only a few hours... We just need the people to be able to test all the resolutions etc.

Playing the entire game through would take the most time, but if we get to test the games before release its not going to be to much time as Cranky said.

Post by **MobsterOO7** » 03 May 2007, 23:20

This sounds like a great idea. The only thing I can see why it wouldn't work is that all we are is an association of people through the web. There isn't like an office building with a mailing address and things like that were we would actually go to approve these games.

But I too would like to try making a logo for this, it could be fun.

antihero · Post by **antihero** » 06 May 2007, 05:19

this is a fantastic idea which could easily start by targeting smaller game dev's

you need to register as a legal organisation to give the certification on a game box

i think this is similar http://www.pcisig.com/home they make the standards which pc manufacturers then implement (granted they have engineers etc and a bigger organisation but still very similar)

two certifications in my opinion a Silver/Gold

-silver incorporates everything mentioned above my post aspect ratios, FOV, resolutions, etc
-Gold includes support for T/DH2G or multiple monitors not utilizing the matrox hardware

edit:

also what monitors support this portrait mode?

Cynagen · Post by **Cynagen** » 06 May 2007, 05:23

this is a fantastic idea which could easily start by targeting smaller game dev's

you need to register as a legal organisation to give the certification on a game box

i think this is similar http://www.pcisig.com/home they make the standards which pc manufacturers then implement (granted they have engineers etc and a bigger organisation but still very similar)

two certifications in my opinion a Silver/Gold

-silver incorporates everything mentioned above my post aspect ratios, FOV, resolutions, etc
-Gold includes support for T/DH2G or multiple monitors not utilizing the matrox hardware

edit:

also what monitors support this portrait mode?

You're making this sound like a competition, it's not a competition.

antihero · Post by **antihero** » 06 May 2007, 05:25

i'm not making it sound like a compeitition? if you look on the back of a game box you'll see things like nvidia's game marketing logo or bink video(technology utilized for free)

different levels of fuctionality with widescreen monitors can be displayed by allowing them to have certain sized logos/colours etc

antihero · Post by **antihero** » 06 May 2007, 05:30

[quote]As far as I'm concerned, the first part's been done a long time ago. If you go to the detailed reports page, I have a thread that lists games by grade, and all of the games with flawless support are at the top under the "Certified games" list.

But regarding the second part, I wish I had some brilliant ideas on how to get our WS certifications recognized by the industry, but that kind of thing really isn't my field.

Not to be mean, but we need a quicker rubric to measure games that these developers have coming out. I understand what you're saying, but we need something a little faster to produce, so unless you can find volunteers for the project to grade stuff as it comes in (if this does take off these will be pre-released games and we gotta make sure the testers are trustworthy not to stick it up on a torrent or something,) or you'll have to do it yourself, at which point we need a faster way to check and grade.

i think there are about 70 games published annually (from memory) which i think is doable considering how many people will initially take up the offer for a little image

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