There has been a heated debate regarding frame rate in video games for quite some time, but it came to a head with the release of the PS4 and Xbox One. When it became clear that 1080p 60FPS wasn’t going to be possible for every current-gen game, gamers were disappointed, but now developers have one more incentive to crank up the visuals on their upcoming releases. This week, YouTube implemented a new feature which allows 60 frame per second video uploads.
YouTube announced this feature over the summer, but didn’t have any firm release plans at the time. Kotaku was one of the first to note that 60FPS videos had begun appearing on the popular video streaming site, pointing to a few astonishing examples of video game footage at the increased frame rate.
In order to play the video at its intended frame rate, you have to open the video in Google Chrome and make sure to set it to either 720p or 1080p. If you didn’t think there was a perceivable difference between 30FPS and 60FPS before, you need to watch this video of Mario Kart 8:
From my point of view, it’s an unmistakeable improvement. The video is buttery smooth (and the racing isn’t too shabby either). Switch back and forth between SD and HD for the full effect of those extra 30 frames.
Here’s a video of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor at 60FPS as well, in case the cartoony visuals of Mario Kart weren’t convincing enough:
