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GTA IV PS3 fights off resolution woes in the UK

Gamers from the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 camps rejoiced when it was confirmed that Grand Theft Auto IV would be available on both consoles. But fans have begun complaining that the game’s resolution on the PS3 is lower than it is the Xbox 360.

It’s been claimed that GTA IV runs at a resolution of 630p (1120 x 630) on the PS3, which falls short of the 720p (1280 x 720) resolution claimed to be given to Xbox 360 gamers. On one forum, gamers have begun comparing like-for-like screenshots from both consoles and come to the conclusion that trigger happy PS3 players are coming off worse, resolution wise.

For example, one gamer wrote on his blog that there’s a slight “fuzziness” when playing the title on the PS3, whereas the game is much “sharper” on the Xbox 360. That suggests the upscaling of a lower-resolution image on the PS3 version.

But does 90 fewer lines of resolution mean that gamers won’t enjoy shooting people for no reason as much or driving mercilessly through the streets of New York Liberty City? Probably not, and it’s certainly not having much negative impact on UK sales.

GTA IV sales on Tuesday in the UK hit 609,000 copies, according to point-of-sale numbers collated by market watcher Chart Track. The analyst also found that, on the same day, 335,000 copies had been sold for the Xbox 360 and 274,000 for the PS3.

Chart Track said that GTA: San Andreas sold 501,000 copies in the UK on the first day of the release back in 2004.

We asked GTA IV developer Rockstar to set the record straight on the relative resolutions of the various versions of the game, but it did not respond to our calls. ®

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