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Halo 3 has quickly come under fire for disc-read errors and scratched discs, but now some tech heads on the Beyond 3D forums have found what they believe to be evidence that the quintessential game of Microsoft's 'all games in HD' console runs natively at a paltry 640p -- not 720p, not HD* -- and then upscales.

How did they come to this conclusion, you ask? By counting pixels. (Is this what we've come to as gaming enthusiasts -- measuring a game's visual fidelity with spyglass in hand?) ... Remember when we just played games?

Still, if true, Halo 3 would not be the first Xbox 360 game to compromise resolution for performance. Perfect Dark Zero also runs at 640p, and it's well known that Bizarre Creations dropped Project Gotham Racing 3 even lower, to just 600p, in order to achieve an acceptable frame rate. But this is Halo 3, and if you press your ear to the screen you can already hear the snarling internet mobs gathering up their pitchforks and nooses.

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I'm not sure if Halo 3 claims to run at 60fps, but if that is the case, do you think that's why it's being upconverted from 640p? Also, didn't Halo 2 on the Xbox run at a native 720p? I don't have my copy of the game handy, so I can't confirm that for myself.

gah.

still, it's higher than EDTV.. so what is it?

halo 2 is 480p only, but does upconvert to 720p if used in a 360. this is probably the only game that got the special treatment in regards to upgraded emulation.

the game still looks good. the user-made in-game screenshots look pretty damn good to me:

I have to say, the 1080 one at the bottom still looks pretty sweet even though it's allegedly almost double the size

the guy resized it to use as his wallpaper, i think. i was just c/p'ing a few pics from another board.

here's that 2nd pic, but in another angle:

i beat the game on my friends 1080p 56'' plasma, and played multi player on my other friends 1080p 130'' hd projector, both look awesome way better than on my tv.

The concern is not that the game is running at 640... it's running at 1080 at the TV. Internally, it is produced at 640 and then upscaled to 1080 (before being sent to the TV). It is plausible.

i dont car i dont use HDTVs and this game still looks amazing on regular TVs

wow...halo 3 is so shiny!

but HD > SD.

It makes my eyes bleed to watch a regular TV now

not me i play my PS3 wii and 360 on my SD 20" tv only problem i have to switch cables when i switch consoles but i only been playing 360 this week prolly for the rest of the year

Have you ever watched a proper HD picture?

Seriously, HD is a necessity.

sarcasm? trolling? maybe youre just into muddy textures and minimal lighting effects?

Why did I read that as a play on "Is it a bird? nah a plane! NO! It's Superman!!"

halo 3 is a beautiful game looks amazing prolly the best FPS to be on 360

i used to think the latter, but since my buddy got himself an 1080p, ive changed my mind there is a difference a huge difference and for a movie/tv/gameing enthusiast like myself hd is worth it. ive made up my mind that im mgetting an hd tv, once i get enough money XD im planning on a 22-27 inch for my room, but this probly wont end for a year and a half

Even after playing games in proper HD it still isn't a necessity to me. I've never been a huge videophile so I guess it's normal for me. I do want an HD TV, but I'm just not willing to spend a lot of money. I'll get one when the prices drop substantially.