Let the flame wars begin.  Gaming site Lensoftruth.com put the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Ghostbusters: The Video Game to the test in their comparative feature, "Head2Head," and the results were, if nothing else, definitive; the game simply looks way better on the Xbox 360.

According to the comparison, not only does the PS3 version run in “sub 720p” resolution, it also features significantly lower texture quality and noticeably weaker dynamic shadows.  Even the burning ember effects on Proton Pack-damaged walls is missing in Sony’s version, leaving only dark grey lines instead.  Making the PS3 edition even more unattractive is the mandatory 8 minute, 3.9gb install.

So what happened?  Isn’t the PS3 supposed to be the more powerful system?  Isn’t Ghostbusters a Sony property?  Wasn’t the game supposed to be developed for the PS3, then adapted for the 360? Most importantly, weren’t we supposed to be done with inferior PS3 versions of games, like 2 years ago?

Well, despite remarks by Mark Randel, president of developer Terminal Reality, that “We're one of the few developers who love the PS3 and have a great time with it. We have great technology for the PS3 and we want to show it off,” and “If we’re doing a PS3 only game however, we could be doing a lot more. We could be pushing a lot more on the screen,” apparently, the PS3 is a somewhat inhospitable environment for the game’s Infernal Engine. 

Joystiq asked Terminal Reality about the huge discrepancy, and was told “For the record, the PS3 version [of Ghostbusters] is softer due to the 'quincunx' anti-aliasing filter and the fact we render at about 75% the resolution of the 360 version. So you cannot directly compare a screen shot of one to the other unless you scale them properly. The PS3 does have less available RAM than the 360 – but we managed to squeeze 3 out of 4 textures as full size on the PS3."

While at first glance this may seem like an excuse for the PS3 version, Terminal Reality is basically saying that either the Infernal Engine, their proprietary game engine, can’t handle the PS3, or that the PS3 can’t handle their game engine.  “Quincunx” filter aside, the developer can say what they want about scaling properly, but some of the PS3’s environmental textures are ¼ the resolution of the 360’s. 

So basically, if you own both systems, there’s no reason to buy the PS3 version of Ghostbusters unless you’re big into mandatory installs and squinting.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be covering my head to avoid the inevitable PS3/Xbox fanboy throwdown that’s about to kick off.  Remember kids, keep it above the belt, and no rabbit punches.

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