What is your thoughts on Widescreen being the standard?

[Dyne]

widescreen is objectively better, I think, as long as the content was made for it.
HOWEVER, I absolutely hate when 4:3 stuff is stretched. Black bars on the sides do not bother me. At all. Stretched images bother me IMMENSELY.

 

[dropsmegamega]

4:3 is kinda cooler and more compact. Widescreen is always like " heyy look how much empty space I have! " I am so tired of that guy and his cinematic pretentions really miss 4:3 a legit og

 

[rinkachi]

4:3 first person games sometimes give me motion sickness if the FOV is too low (i'm talking about you - borderlands 2 on the PS3 ) but so long as the game or media can fit all it needs to in the given aspect ratio then it doesn't matter - it's similar to graphics (realistic vs art style vs looking crap on purpose) it isn't about what you use, it's about how you use it.

 

[username_]

widescreen is objectively better, I think, as long as the content was made for it.
HOWEVER, I absolutely hate when 4:3 stuff is stretched. Black bars on the sides do not bother me. At all. Stretched images bother me IMMENSELY.

Do you know what's even worse than stretched visuals?: Cropped visuals.

Fortunately cropping is uncommon, especially in games. Super Mario Bros. Deluxe the only example most people would be familiar with, and to be honest there's no better case study. It adds a ton of improvements and features only for it all to be undermined by compromised gameplay.

It's not like it becomes unplayable, but the reduced field of view leaves less time to react. You sometimes have to finess the camera to see where you're going. Visual approximations of the original sprites would have been better because it would have avoided these issues (Super Mario Bros Mini proves it).

Cropping any other medium should be a capital offence. With games it's generally a result of hardware limitations. I can only assume television is cropped because the suits that own the IP insist on "A consistent visual experience, compatable with modern sesibilites" (or some similar BS). It's a decision made from ignorance for how cropping impacts the original, and it drives me up a wall.