Ubisoft Discusses Xbox 360 King Kong Non-HD Issues

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has admitted that the Xbox 360 version of Peter Jackson’s King Kong exhibits some problems on non-HD televisions, with problems relating to screen brightness, in a discussion which shows some of the changes inherent in allowing HD and non-HD displays to co-exist in next-gen gaming. Software options to select the type of television being used, such as exist in Microsoft’s Perfect Dark Zero, were not included in the Michel Ancel-developed game, or in a number of the other launch titles, but it appears that this may change in the future. Speaking to the BBC News website, Guillemot commented that, "We have a problem on the 360. The screen is dark on some TVs and it totally changes the experience. When it's dark, you don't see where you have to go... I'm a bit disappointed that we didn't see it when we were developing the game." Guillemot has suggested that the Ubisoft’s developers are looking into the issue, with the implication that a patch will be made available via Xbox Live. The Ubisoft boss also commented that current generation versions of the game played on these televisions will look more natural on current generation hardware: "When you play on an Xbox or a PlayStation 2, you start to see that it is beautiful." There have been anecdotal reports of other Xbox 360 titles such as Neversoft/Activision's Gun appearing too dark on various types of televisions since its launch, but this is the first time that a games publisher has addressed the topic. Following the publication of this article, Ubisoft has released an official statement to news outlets commenting: "The company stands firmly behind the impeccable quality of [King Kong] on all platforms... Ubisoft is actively investigating isolated reports of resolution issues on specific plasma screens, which should be easily resolved by adjusting/increasing the settings." [UPDATE: 12/14/05 3.43pm - added Ubisoft comments.]