Yeah, but you' re also getting $300 quality as well, and $300 does not buy a good audio/video system.

Also, if you see a 4:3 HDTV, RUN! There is no reason for those to exist anymore. It will take the HD signal and letterbox it.

I have to say that I find it dissapointing that companies are purposely ditching 4:3 support.

Arcades do not have 16:9 screens and I would get a HDTV in order to achive a picture quality closer to the crispness of VGA. I' ve seen fighting and racing games running in widescreen and I think it sucks. To me they just don' t suit those type of games.

Sure Resident Evil 4 looked better in widescreen, but I would have liked a 4:3 option as a choice.

After all these years of putting up with shity black borders, and to finally get rid of the problem via a 60hz option for PAL gamers, it seems we are being shot in the foot again.

For gaming 4:3 is THE way for me. 16:9 is great for moves and stuff.

Movies and general entertainment now infuence gaming more than gaming influencing itself. Still, if I am forced to buy 16:9 then I will do so.

Arcades can be any aspect they want. Lots of vertical shooters use 3:4 instead of 4:3. Games like F355 Challenge (a crappy game, it' s not even as good as FF7) uses 3 screens, if I remember correctly. Widescreen means that you see more playable area (in the next generation, games in this generation like God of War zoom in). Seeing more is good. It' s like hearing the enemies behind you in Doom 3 for the Xbox (which is right on par with FF7). You can hear where they are and know quickly to turn around and shoot them... if you have Dolby Digital 5.1.

The only issue with the F355 three-screen setup is that each monitor display was powered by a separate Naomi board, so because of that type of setup, when it came to converting the game to home consoles I don' t think the developers would bother with anything other than the action happening on the central screen..

Gran Tursimo 3 copied F355 in that respect. Provided you had 3 TV' s, 3 PS2' s, 3 copies of the game and a couple iLink cables you could set it up to use 3 screens ala F355.

But yes widescreen is the future. It' s just a shame that widescreen TV' s are somewhat rubbish when it comes to playing all your old 4:3 games.

The future they may be, but I still think fighting and racing games look strange on them.

Anyway I remember Microsoft saying that all games are going to be made in 16:9 but then the hardware will convert it to 4:3, without a stupidly squashed looking display.

Hopefully it will do the same with the HD signal.

Are there any fighting games which support 16:9?

Racing games are perfect for widescreen gaming.

Soul Calibur 2 had great widescreen mode, when I played it at my mates who had a widescreen tv it seemed much better than 4:3 imo

Soul Calibur 2 had great widescreen mode, when I played it at my mates who had a widescreen tv it seemed much better than 4:3 imo

What you were probably seeing is a " zoomed" Soul Caliber on their widescreen tv, as Soul Caliber is only 4:3. This was actually one of the big complaints when it came out. It is indeed HD, but isn' t 16:9 for some reason.

As far as other games being 16:9; there' s DOA Ultimate and Mortal Kombat: Deception. I think they look great in widescreen. And both are JIGGLE-TASTIC!

Chee, you' re thinking of the Xbox720p mode of Soul Calibur 2. The 480p mode of the Xbox version as well as both the Gamecube and PS2 version of the game all run in widescreen. The Xbox is not quite powerful enough to play Soul Calibur 2 in HD and widescreen at the same time. It has quite a bit of detail.

Forenzo Motorsport for the Xbox also has the 3 console/3 TV setup, expect I think each TV can be widescreen. I hear the game sucks ass, though.

As for fighting games in Widescreen:
-Dead or Alive 3
-Dead or Alive Ultimate
-Soul Calibur 2
-Tekken 5

There are probably some others. (the " jiggle" physics in these games are poor. Obviously the programmers have never touched a real boobie, but they HAVE touched water ballons).

As for racing games, they look freakin' great in widescreen. Sega is one of the few companies that know how to do widescreen perfectly (no stretching). F-Zero GX is a perfect example. I had played that game like no tomorrow, and then I eventually got my HDTV. Turned on the progressive scan and widescreen modes and WOW! It was an amazing experience! The old 4:3 mode could not compare. It really did add to my enjoyment of the game.

Check out the comparison pic I made from Super Monkey Ball 2 on the Nintendo® brand Gamecube system, available at your local Toys R Us:

Obviously the top is 4:3 and the bottom 16:9. I used a replay file to capture this, so I could get the same exact frame in both 4:3 mode and 16:9 mode.

Don' t go and make me post a comparison shot of Out Run 2 or F-Zero GX!

Outrun 2 is great in widescreen. Was the arcade version running in widescreen or 4:3?

The arcade version runs in 4:3. Pretty much like 90% of arcade games.

Yes, therefore the home version of Out Run 2 is better visually than Out Run 2 arcade.

Not exactly, progressive scan 480p or even 720p through component cables are no match for an arcade VGA screen. Even if the resolution is only 640x480.

In the end it' s all down to personal preference. I can get used to widescreen, Resi 4 took me all but a few minutes (and looks awesome), but for most games I prefer 4:3.

If they made all the next gen consoles output VGA though, then I wouldn' t care less what ratio the display was. Hell, even progressive scan through an RGB lead such as RGBHV would be good enough.

Not exactly, progressive scan 480p or even 720p through component cables are no match for an arcade VGA screen. Even if the resolution is only 640x480.

That really depends on the monitor you are viewing it on. In most cases I will grant you that VGA beats out component at the same resolution, but VGA 640x480 does NOT beat out 1280x720 component by any stretch of the imagination unless the component TV really sucks balls (which can happen). But still, you are seeing more with the Xbox version of Out Run 2 running in widescreen than you are in the arcade. Therefore it is better visually at home. My TV is really really good at 480p. In fact, I' d say there is barely any difference when running the Dreamcast in 480p versus running it on a VGA monitor.

That really depends on the monitor you are viewing it on.

That I can say is pretty true, have you guys ever seen Sega' s NAOMI games being displayed on what I like to refer to as standard NAOMI monitors? OOOOOOOOH Droool!! Such amazing crystal clarity!

Then you' ve got those same games being displayed on other types of arcade monitors and it' s pretty much Ewww yuck city. One of the best examples I remember is that crapstastic game, Zombie Revenge.

That one game called Super GT game looked awful in the arcade. Bad convergeance and everything.

It didn' t control too well neither, but yet a lot of other folks consider it to be the greatest arcade racer of all-time. lol.. I usually tell them that I' ll save that title for an arcade racer that I actually enjoy controlling.

Hey no if they had an modified xbox(one that doesn' t ever display the xbox logo in the arcade dispalying the video game at 720p nobody would know they would just notice the eye burning HDTV quality ouch!

ORIGINAL: Russian Mobster
But since most of you gamers are just cheap ppl who dont work and cant afford a decent HDTV' s.

I don' t want to be cheap but I have to. I' m one of 6 children in a family of 8.