Pixel counters, pick up your magnifying glasses: Konami has revealed that the PS4 version of Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes will be the only one that runs at a full 1080 lines of vertical resolution on HDTVs, with Xbox One and last-generation players stuck at 720p resolution. Both the PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game will run at 60 frames per second, Konami said, while versions for the older PS3 and Xbox 360 will only run at 30 frames per second.

The news comes via a product comparison page posted recently by Konami, complete with a chart detailing the differences between all four versions of the game. There's no gameplay video yet, but the developer has published some full-resolution screenshots so you can compare the effect of the resolution differences for yourself on the PS4 (1, 2) and Xbox One (1, 2).

My personal reaction to the practical effects of this resolution difference is much as it has been in the past: the change is noticeable, but mostly at close distances, and mostly if you're already looking for it. As Konami points out, both the Xbox One and PS4 allow for improved graphical effects over last-generation systems, such as more detailed textures, more realistic lighting and shadows, and reflections off of rain-slick surfaces. Even though the PS3 and Xbox 360 are both running at 720p as well, it's these effects that make the versions on newer hardware graphically superior and largely comparable to each other.

Still, Ground Zeroes is yet another entry in the list of cross-platform games that have a slight graphical edge on Sony's new hardware. Konami's announcement comes just one month after the Xbox One version of Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition ran roughly 30 frames per second slower than the PS4 version and after this month's Titanfall beta launched running at only 792 lines of native vertical resolution on the Xbox One.

The further we get from both systems' launches, the more these kinds of cross-platform differences have to be attributed to hardware-level performance issues rather than rushed coding or development resource allocation. Indeed, Sniper Elite 3 Senior Producer Jean-Baptiste Bolcato went so far as to say that the Xbox One's 32MB of super-fast eSRAM is "just a little bit too small to output 1080p within that size. It's such a small size within there that we can’t do everything in 1080p with that little buffer of super-fast RAM. It means you have to do it in chunks or using tricks, tiling it and so on. It’s a bit like the reverse of the PS3."

Microsoft is doing its best to downplay these issues, of course. Xbox Senior VP Phil Harrison pointed out via tweet that the system is "clearly" capable of 1080p graphics in games like Forza Motorsport 5 and Kinect Sports Rivals, despite Baptiste's claims.

"I think the point that gets lost a lot is that it’s all a game of trade-offs," Microsoft Studios head Mike Ybarra told MyXboxLive when asked about the 900p native resolution on Xbox One launch title Ryse: Son of Rome. "Resolution alone is not the final determination regarding if a game looks great or not; it’s one of many different levers and it’s up to the game teams to decide what is best for their unique game experience."

That's all very true, of course. But with all other things being equal on cross-platform titles, more pixels (and more frames per second) are generally better than fewer. On that score, for the next Metal Gear Solid at least, Sony once again has the edge.

Listing image by Konami