October 21, 2011 by Paul Curtin
If you’re an Xbox 360 owner who was excited to hear that Battlefield 3 would include a super high-resolution texture pack that could potentially boost the game’s visuals on the 360 to what higher-powered PCs are capable of… then get ready to be severely disappointed. DICE has announced that while Battlefield 3 on the Xbox 360 will indeed come with an optional high-resolution texture pack that must be installed on the system’s hard drive, the texture pack isn’t going to boost the visuals past other consoles like the PlayStation 3 and will essentially be the exact same method that the PS3 already uses.
Basically, the game isn’t going to look superior over other consoles if you download the high-resolution pack, and if you don’t have a hard drive on your 360, then you’re going to be playing the “standard def” version that will look nowhere near as good. So Xbox 360 owners, make sure to go get a hard drive if you don’t already have one and install the high-resolution pack next Tuesday before running back to Gamestop claiming you want your money back because the game looks nowhere near as good as it did in the trailers. Here’s a direct quote from DICE on the issue:
“The thing with the 360 is that you need to be able to give consumers a game where you don’t have to install it on a hard drive, because there are 360s without a hard drive,” DICE’s Patrick Bach told GamerZines. “So we need to give you the option of installing it, rather than just demanding it. You could call it a ‘standard-def’ version for the 360 if you don’t have a hard-drive.”
