PS3 vs Xbox 360 Graphics: Why does Call of duty 3 look worse on PS3?

[Frozone212]

I played the 360 version and it looks crystal clear

The ps3 version looks washed out and ps2 like

why?

[famicommander]

Long story short, 360 had the more capable GPU and more flexible memory structure (360 had 512 MB of unified RAM, PS3 had 256 MB of general system RAM and 256 MB dedicated to the GPU). PS3 had the more capable CPU and storage format. Generally the 360 was easier to get more out of, especially for multiplatform games (Call of Duty 3 released on 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, and Xbox) where the developer doesn't necessarily have time to fine tune a game to a console's specific strengths and weaknesses. 

[NeonSpaceBeagle]

The PS3 looks great on a 1080p screen and the 360 looked really good on a 4k screen. I was PS3 mostly that gen, and recently got into Xbox and I was surprised how much better some games looked on 360, like Blur.

[Lostdragon]

Digital Foundary gave some good explorations as to why the COD games suffered somewhat on PS3:

 

 

'What is worth remembering is that the core engine powering CoD4 is an enhanced version of the one that ran the brilliant Call of Duty 2 (still one of the best FPS games ever made). That in turn is derived from code from the Quake 1/2 era - geared for a single CPU and GPU combo.. '

' As the tech-obsessed have debated already, Treyarch's 360 code does some very cunning things behind the scenes - rendering a 1040x620 framebuffer as opposed to the usual 1280x720, thus relying on the 360's ANA chip to make up the difference with a spot of bilinear scaling. As far as we know, the PS3's SDK isn't quite so flexible with resolutions - so in theory it should be running at native 720p, offering almost 30% more detail than the Xbox 360 game. The screenshot comparisons put paid to this theory - it seems that both games start off at the reduced resolution.. '

 

 

' in short, Call of Duty 3 is a solid enough game on PlayStation 3, but it's obvious that the Xbox 360 version was (and is) the lead platform for development and the Sony console is getting sloppy seconds. In this respect, it's simply not good enough.' 
 

 

It seems the Frostbite engine used in Battlefield Bad Company was a better fit for crossplatform FPS games on PS3. 

 

' According to posts on the Beyond3D forum from one of Bad Company's developers, the game makes extensive use of the SPUs - everything from animation to the Havoc physics and even the generation of undergrowth are farmed off to PS3's satellite processing units.'

 

Edited June 1 by Lostdragon