> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tyler Silcox [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2005 6:24 PM
> To: CF-Community
> Subject: Re: Sony PS3 to have backward compatibility goodness
> 
> The hardware is quite impressive, but more importantly have you seen the
> videos?
> 
> The Killzone video is mindblowing:
> 
> http://media.ps3.ign.com/media/748/748475/vids_1.html
> (I'm not sure if you need an account to view or now)

I got most of the video from GameSpot (an account is only $29 per year).
They've got the whole presentation available for members as well as several
smaller clips.

The full clip is 1.3 gig (yup - with a "G") and just under 2 hours long.
I've not watched it all yet but it's definitely a production copy - not some
camcorder-from-the-floor crap.

The smaller clips I watched are insane.  The original "Killzone" just didn't
do it for me.  It was really clear that the game was struggling with the
hardware.  But the sequel looks amazing - and, reportedly, that video was
actual gameplay footage (I giggled when one of your allies hands you a
rocket launcher which then became your primary weapon - it just seemed so
very natural).

The rest of the videos I've seen are less impressive just because none of
them look like gameplay footage (although supposedly all are rendered in
real time).  We're used to fantastic looking pre-renders - so things that
look as good as pre-renders aren't as impressive to me out of context.

Essentially it just doesn't matter if a non-interactive bit is pre-rendered
or not.

The "Final Fantasy VII" clip brought a nostalgic tear to my eye - seeing an
entire "Final Fantasy" game with that level of detail would melt my
eyeballs.

The "Grand Turismo" clip was stunning as well - but still looked like
marketing footage, not gameplay.  But they're obviously using procedural
world-building techniques - the trees and mountains in the clip look
completely realistic.

I remember waiting upwards of half a day for high-resolution landscape
renders from "VistaPro" - to see it done in real-time like that was
breaktaking.

> I'm dieing for someone in the know to announce how realistically feasible
> that amount of detail (shaders galore) is possible with the final
> hardware,

Well - I've got a gForce 6800 Ultra in my system right now and something
like "Half-Life 2" is unbelievable.  Supposedly nVidia is claiming that the
PS3 solution more than doubles that performance.

So even at 1080p the results should blow even today's high-end PCs out of
the water.

Personally I'm much more interested in procedural world generation and the
physical models possible.  Something like "Burnout" or "Grand Theft Auto"
will be able to do all those things we grudgingly accept the lack of now.

> but right now the PS3 is looking mighty "Next-Gen" while the X360 is
> looking
> like MS might have, understandably so, jumped the gun on releasing a
> little
> too early.

Well - I'm willing to wait and see.  I would have expected more flash from
MS by now, but we might get that tomorrow.  So far the 360 looks good but
we've so little of it in action.

I'm surprised that Sony so seems so polished this early and we've not seen
the same level from MS.

As for the hardware Sony has definitely bested everyone else.  It's just
such a monster.  I mean dual monitor outs?  Who'll use that?  But it's so
cool its available.  Ethernet, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, USB 2.0, HD, three kinds of
flash card - this system is just screaming "Whatcha got?!  Well, I've got a
port for that!"

> MS will still provide an awesome overall experience with Xbox Live and
> multimedia connectivity, but it seems unevitable that they are going to be
> Sony's bitch in the eye-candy department.

Maybe - but of course that's secondary to gameplay and MS has always been
Sony's bitch in that regard.  ;^)

I can't wait to see what Naughty Dog, Insomniac or Ubi pull out of this
system.  In that respect you might consider the PS2 penance of a kind.  It
was hard to program but people are still pulling miracles out of it.

All those studios that dug deep into the PS2 have proven an ability to write
incredibly tight, efficient code - that kind of discipline will give them
just so much headroom on a system like this.

> Tyler
> 
> (I felt Nintendo's announcements were weak, weak, and weak as usual. That,
> and I'm completely disappointed that the VR unit didn't rear it's head.
> But
> Zelda will be awesome, and I will buy it and play the hell out of it.)

Yeah... but we don't buy Nintendo systems because they're cutting edge.  ;^)

I've honestly not really scratched the surface of the Cube.  I've played the
Resident Evil games and I'm nearly through "Wind Waker" (which I waited a
year to pick up) but most of the games we get for the Cube are for the kids.

Still I would have liked to see something... well, "Revolutionary" as well.
I was hoping, really, really hoping for a built-in GB emulator and cartridge
slot.  As it stands I'm not even sure how a peripheral would attach to that
thing.

I'm also a little annoyed that we didn't see a controller - this just leads
me to believe that we'll see the Cube controller again.  That's not a bad
thing, but it does mean we have a third generation with no meaningful
advancement in the human interface.

Jim Davis





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