Please think about rendering your backgrounds at higher resolutions

[D3xter]

Dell to introduce sub-$1000 4K monitors (28"):

http://www.engadget.com/2013/12/02/dell-ultrasharp-4k-monitors/

http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/12/05/dell-introduces-1000-4k-monitor-a-step-towards-affordable-ultra-res-screens/

They also have a 24" 4K monitor for $1400 out now, but they expect the 28" to be considerably cheaper since it will be using a TN panel produced (as expected) in China.

 

A lot of high-end notebooks between 13"-15" are also launching with a resolution of 3200x1800 (they call WQHD+ and might just be poised to become the new 1366x768 Laptop resolution in UHD times):
HP ZBook 15": http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/10/hp-zbook-mobile-workstations/
HP Envy TouchSmart 14" Ultrabook: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/23/hp-refreshes-laptops-for-back-to-school/
Dell Precision M3800 15": http://www.engadget.com/2013/07/25/dell-officially-unveils-precision-m3800-workstation-at-siggraph/
Samsung ATIV Book 9 Plus 13": http://www.engadget.com/2013/08/07/samsung-ativ-book-9-1400-august-9/
Fujitsu UH90 15": http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/05/fujitsu-intros-lifebook-uh90-ultrabook/
Fujitsu U904 14": http://www.fujitsu.com/fts/products/computing/pc/notebooks-tablets/superior/lifebook-u904/index.html

Lenovo Thinkpad Slim 9 13": http://www.hardwareluxx.com/index.php/news/hardware/notebooks/27994-lenovo-ultrathin-thinkpad-slim-9-leaked.html
Lenovo YOGA 2 Pro 13": http://www.engadget.com/2013/09/05/lenovo-yoga-2-pro-hands-on/

 

Most of the panels are produced by SHARP: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Sharp-Displays-IGZO-LCD-Technology-Production,22623.html
SHARP will also begin delivering 15.6" 4K panels in early 2014, which will likely find their place in new Apple Macbook Pro products: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/4k-uhd-sharp-igzo-apple,24459.html

 

Samsung is also even looking at producing 4K phones till 2015: http://www.phonearena.com/news/Samsung-details-plans-for-4K-phones-own-64-bit-processor-for-2014-15_id49101

Edited December 6, 2013 by D3xter

[Sensuki]

Well one thing about still having the source area files is that IF for some reason UHD comes in waaay faster than we expect, Obsidian can simply re-render all of the areas at a higher base res. This does mean that they will have to paint over everything again and they will have to somehow distribute these really large files to the fans, but it could be offered as a payed download or as part of a future expansion.

 

The game still should be quite playable at 4K res, using the large area assets, closest zoom should be like playing BG2 in 1280x1024.

Edited December 6, 2013 by Sensuki

[teknoman2]

It's a TV, it would make a terrible PC monitor, it's only 30hz, if I was spending that much 120hz would be more important to me. Also in terms of PPI it's not going to be different to a 24" monitor at 1080p, higher resolution in PC monitors doesn't mean 4K like in TV, it means higher pixel density than what we have now. For a PC monitor a 27" 1440p 60hz for half the price would make much more sense. It's going to take a while for mid range GPUs to render 4K at 60 frames, thus there's not enough demand for 4K PC monitors to be made.

exactly

just look at any hardware survey and you can see that even if 4k monitors come out tomorrow, they will not become the norm for the average player earlier than 2020. their prices will be beyond the reach of all but the most rich gamers and of course the necessary hardware to run things smoothly at that resolution will cost a year's pay

[Karkarov]

Just as a fair warning Seiki tv's and monitors are not something you should look at for a bench mark.  They are fairly low quality tv's that regardless of "features" look worse than any top brand when put side by side.  Also please just trust me when I say this as I am not saying it as an opinion but as a person whose job involves knowing these kinds of things.

[Gorgon]

All this made me think about a discussion I had with a coworker about textures being done by math rather than huge source image files with the need to accommodate a wide range of resolutions. With games pushing 50 gb now because of huge texture packs I suspect this area will see more development.  It's not that far fetched for uniform surfaces and could mean much wider variation for tile-sets. 

[Irx]

Seriously there is no reason to aim for anything but 1080 since that is the resolution the majority of players will use. 4k resolution is used by what, 1% of gamers according to Steam stats? No reason to screw the majority by downscaling artefacts, it's the minority who should deal with upscaling. Also no reason to bother how the game will look in 10 years obviously, especially if it conflicts with nowadays needs.