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Are current PC games a full "Generational Leap" ahead of current console games?

With regards to UC3, haters are going to hate. No matter what people say after seeing the last levels, I was astounded by the draw distance. It overcame UC2 by substantial margin.

That said, I think it's time to move on. Personally, I expect to see open world games looking Uncharted 2/3 or GoW if not better by the time the next gen has aged a bit.

I think TW2 is the one of the best examples besides Metro 2033 that depict improvements can be both subtle and very noticeable, depending upon what the viewer is expecting. Next gen should improve upon the draw distance significantly. Also, given that the resolution will not be exceeding 1080p it should allow for greater optimization.
 
Take Mario 64 run it at the same resolution and IQ as Sunshine, re-texture everything to the same resolution textures...and Sunshine blows it away.

Take UC3, run it at the same resolution and IQ as TW2, re-texture everything to the same resolution textures. Fuck, UC3 blows TW2 away lol :P
 
Its Pranay btw :)

credits go to aldro from nd forum who took these screenshots.



Also he posted some multiplayer screenshots , though im pretty sure they are done through cinema mode, characters models are crap though

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These look much better than the last batch.
 
Take UC3, run it at the same resolution and IQ as TW2, re-texture everything to the same resolution textures. Fuck, UC3 blows TW2 away lol :P

Naw, it'd be down to what style you prefer.

I do agree UC3 at 1080/60 with all the bells and whistles would be a stunning game, though.
 
I just don't understand when IQ started to trump artistic design, production value and actual motion fidelity.

On the contrary, everyone here is giving too much credit to artistic design, thus claiming that a dx9 game like TW2 is all we can expect for the the next gen.

What we should expect from the next gen are games with the artistic level of TW2 but the tech of Crysis 2.
 
These look much better than the last batch.


I disagree. They might be a bit more flattering in terms of aliasing (thanks mostly to the very heavy depth of field), but have extremely flat lighting.

Singleplayer has significantly better lighting than multiplayer.
 
I disagree. They might be a bit more flattering in terms of aliasing (thanks mostly to the very heavy depth of field), but have extremely flat lighting.

Singleplayer has significantly better lighting than multiplayer.

Sorry which set is single-player and which is multi-player?
Edit: Ok so these latest ones are MP. Why does it look better?
 
idk the right tech word. But I think the main thing that separates gens are the quality of shaders or type of shaders/poly count. Can't describe it.
 
Naw, it'd be down to what style you prefer.

I do agree UC3 at 1080/60 with all the bells and whistles would be a stunning game, though.

Well, see...with past generations the same couldn't be said. You can't just take Mario 64, re-texture it, bring up its resolution and IQ and claim it is stunning. I mean, it's gonna be real pretty, don't get me wrong. But that's what I have in mind with a generational leap. A whole paradigm shift on how graphics is created and presented. I don't think TW2 represents a leap. Its a step, it is VERY beautiful. But UC3 has assets that if it were presented in higher resolution, with great AA, would give a lot of PC games a run for its money. Hey, sure the hardware isn't there console side to do that, PC's have an advantage, but if we did get UC3, with higher res textures, greater resolution and AA...and that's that...it would be a disappointing progression. I mean, its still beautiful, I won't have too much problem with that...but deep down I do like a nice huge paradigm shift.

This is an entirely reasonable situation though, MS and Sony can pull a Wii after Nintendo's success.
 
Take Mario 64 run it at the same resolution and IQ as Sunshine, re-texture everything to the same resolution textures...and Sunshine blows it away.

Take UC3, run it at the same resolution and IQ as TW2, re-texture everything to the same resolution textures. Fuck, UC3 blows TW2 away lol :P

The problem here is people are comparing previous generations to the current generation. That's somewhat unfair. Technology just hasn't evolved nearly as quickly in the past 5 years as it has before that.

Like I've been saying, people are going to be very disappointed once next-gen actually does roll out.
 
The problem here is people are comparing previous generations to the current generation. That's somewhat unfair. Technology just hasn't evolved nearly as quickly in the past 5 years as it has before that.

Like I've been saying, people are going to be very disappointed once next-gen actually does roll out.

It's looking like 2014 might be a real possibility for at least one of the two consoles. If that's the case we're gonna be blown away.
 
TW2 has great texture work and art, but yeah, it's not what I expect of a next-gen title. The shadows, in particular, are quite horrendous.

Crysis / Crysis 2 (not necessarily the games themselves, but what the engines are capable of) is about what I expect of next generation.

Say what you will about Crysis, but CryEngine can produce some ridiculous results.

Witcher 2 art and textures and brilliant brilliant brilliant color scheme combined with crisis 1 motion blur (I'm just kidding fuck motion blur) and battlefield 3 shadows and cryengine terrain and the AO from bf3 as well please.
Oh and with MSAA support pretty please (that doesn't crap on the framerate).

It would be so amazing.
 
It's looking like 2014 might be a real possibility for at least one of the two consoles. If that's the case we're gonna be blown away.

Heh, if it makes it to 2014, possibly. That's a 9 year generation though.

Witcher 2 art and textures and brilliant brilliant brilliant color scheme combined with crisis 1 motion blur (I'm just kidding fuck motion blur) and battlefield 3 shadows and cryengine terrain and the AO from bf3 as well please.
Oh and with MSAA support pretty please (that doesn't crap on the framerate).

It would be so amazing.

Crysis and Battlefield 3 both have awesome motion blur. I love Battlefield 3's motion blur in particular, as it's very subtle (this is at 50 strength), and adds a lot of fluidity to the motion:

park.png


Look at my teammates' motion. As I said, it's very subtle, but adds a nice degree of fluidity to the motion.

The Witcher 2's motion blur is awful. I took it off straight away.
 
The problem here is people are comparing previous generations to the current generation. That's somewhat unfair. Technology just hasn't evolved nearly as quickly in the past 5 years as it has before that.

Like I've been saying, people are going to be very disappointed once next-gen actually does roll out.

I fully recognize the chance that next-generation is simply not a leap like any previous generation. It will take some ridiculous power to create another paradigm shift. In that case, then all games released will simply be "steps" and not "leaps".
 
That's um. . . what? I understand liking Xenoblade as a better game, but what exactly are you seeing that could possibly assert that?

Geometry? Oh lordy.

FFXIII_Field04.jpg

wow i haven't played ff13 in a while...looking back xenoblade is way more detailed.

for shame Square-Enix...for shame.
 
If there's any "possibly" real tech demo out there that showcases something I expect of next-gen, it's the Zelda tech demo for the Wii U. I know some people will laugh, but I'd say it's about the best real-time lighting I've ever seen...that is if it is actually real time and not trickery.

Even though BF3 looks nice and all, it still looks fairly two dimension compared to Pixar animation. The Wii U Zelda tech demo seems like a bit of a stop gap...it's significantly more three dimension thanks to the superb lighting.
 
Heh, if it makes it to 2014, possibly. That's a 9 year generation though.

Yeah that would be crazy. The 'trend' of generations lasting 5-6 years was never a trend, though, because the sample size is too small to use it as the basis. These consoles have only been around for how many gens? 5-6? It's not been long enough to say that 5-6 years is the standard, which is why I'm not surprised at all that this gen has lasted as long as it has.
 
It's looking like 2014 might be a real possibility for at least one of the two consoles. If that's the case we're gonna be blown away.

It comes down to how MS and Sony are going to treat Wii U. If they look at it like the Wii where it is going to have its own and exclusive demographic appeal as the part of the over all install base then late 2013 or early 2014 looks highly probable. However, if they treat it as a direct competitor then the launch would be earlier. Either way, I think Nintendo's biggest asset right now has been keeping the specs under tight wraps.
 
Really, soupy textures?

Here's what the textures look like when released from the shackles of 720p:

Look at all dat soup

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That's Dungeon Siege III. Just like your screens, the textures look great when you're zoomed out from them, it's when you get close that you see the difference.
 
I fully recognize the chance that next-generation is simply not a leap like any previous generation. It will take some ridiculous power to create another paradigm shift. In that case, then all games released will simply be "steps" and not "leaps".

Which is more than fine with me. Besides I want to see more physics and animations improvement than anything else.
 
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That's Dungeon Siege III. Just like your screens, the textures look great when you're zoomed out from them, it's when you get close that you see the difference.

That's not a native 1080p shot, FYI. Clearly upsampled.

Either that or it has some really bad post-process AA applied to it.
 
>.>

It's FXAA, I was playing around with different settings at the time. I have some SSAA shots without FXAA but most of them are zoomed in.

Yeah, just realized it might have been bad post process AA. That's definitely one of the worst FXAA applications I've seen to date.

Either way, Dungeon Siege is a very unremarkable game on any system.
 
Dude next gen better have AF as a standard. It's fucking pathetic seeing so many console screens posted in here clearly lacking it. It drives me nuts.
 
Which is more than fine with me. Besides I want to see more physics and animations improvement than anything else.

Physics, hit detection, animation...these areas have huge amounts of room for improvement. I want a game where nothing clips into my main character...not his hair, not his glove, not the hilt of his sword, not another player character during an embrace. No clipping. I want all vegetations to move away realistically, bend in a believable manner as I walk past it. I want waves to crash on a shore in a realistic, simulated way (no scripted animation). If I walk into the surf, the water reacts realistically to my presence. And all of this in a completely and utterly open world, go anywhere...do anything. Many games achieve better graphics by corralling you into a pre-determined area. This area is a known quantity and allows for these kinds of flourishes...yeah I would be impressed if it was an open world.
 
Physics, hit detection, animation...these areas have huge amounts of room for improvement. I want a game where nothing clips into my main character...not his hair, not his glove, not the hilt of his sword, not another player character during an embrace. No clipping. I want all vegetations to move away realistically, bend in a believable manner as I walk past it. I want waves to crash on a shore in a realistic, simulated way (no scripted animation). If I walk into the surf, the water reacts realistically to my presence. And all of this in a completely and utterly open world, go anywhere...do anything. Many games achieve better graphics by corralling you into a pre-determined area. This area is a known quantity and allows for these kinds of flourishes...yeah I would be impressed if it was an open world.

Might as well ask for magical ponies too.
 
Yeah, just realized it might have been bad post process AA. That's definitely one of the worst FXAA applications I've seen to date.

Either way, Dungeon Siege is a very unremarkable game on any system.

Yeah, that's why I picked it ;)

Regarding FXAA, I've been playing around with the FXAA Tool to tweak the shaders before running the game and the results are much better if you crank up the quality and edge contrast threshold, and use the pre-sharpen shader. Still not as good as supersampling, but I like the extra in-texture AA on top of using MSAA.
 
Physics, hit detection, animation...these areas have huge amounts of room for improvement. I want a game where nothing clips into my main character...not his hair, not his glove, not the hilt of his sword, not another player character during an embrace. No clipping. I want all vegetations to move away realistically, bend in a believable manner as I walk past it. I want waves to crash on a shore in a realistic, simulated way (no scripted animation). If I walk into the surf, the water reacts realistically to my presence. And all of this in a completely and utterly open world, go anywhere...do anything. Many games achieve better graphics by corralling you into a pre-determined area. This area is a known quantity and allows for these kinds of flourishes...yeah I would be impressed if it was an open world.

Then. You would finally be able to relax and play a game?
 
Physics, hit detection, animation...these areas have huge amounts of room for improvement. I want a game where nothing clips into my main character...not his hair, not his glove, not the hilt of his sword, not another player character during an embrace. No clipping. I want all vegetations to move away realistically, bend in a believable manner as I walk past it. I want waves to crash on a shore in a realistic, simulated way (no scripted animation). If I walk into the surf, the water reacts realistically to my presence. And all of this in a completely and utterly open world, go anywhere...do anything. Many games achieve better graphics by corralling you into a pre-determined area. This area is a known quantity and allows for these kinds of flourishes...yeah I would be impressed if it was an open world.

You should totally check out the Wolfire games vlog:

Their animation techniques are awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta5SYgh5kDw
 
Might as well ask for magical ponies too.

Those are examples of the improvements that will eventually be made (probably next-next gen lols). Graphics tend to improve at a faster clip than animation/hit detection/physics. I am aware of that, but I sure would love to see a game that not only looked believable, but acted in a believable way too.
 
Yeah, no effin' way (for me at least). Sorry that's not gonna do it.

That Witcher 2 posted above by iam220 does NOT look like a gen'l leap to me whatsoever and it blows my mind that so many think it is. The environment looks like it could be out of Gears of War, like a higher res GoW. And the ground textures are crap. Are you guys serious.... http://i.minus.com/ibxuQXVLGUkrF5.jpg <-- this pic is a gen'l leap???? turn in your graphics whore cards if you truly believe that.

I did not specifically state that that screenshot is a generation leap. (Although I do believe it is given diminishing returns and all that). What that screen shot was supposed to show is the importance of IQ in video games (the better looking the game, the more important the IQ). Ironically you seem to agree with me in post 754 where you stated:

These look much better than the last batch.

In regards to UC3 bullshots vs direct captures.
 
I did not specifically state that that screenshot is a generation leap. (Although I do believe it is given diminishing returns and all that). What that screen shot was supposed to show is the importance of IQ in video games (the better looking the game, the more important the IQ). Ironically you seem to agree with me in post 754 where you stated:



In regards to UC3 bullshots vs direct captures.

Yeah, they do look much better but the thread is about a generational leap.
 
I did not specifically state that that screenshot is a generation leap. (Although I do believe it is given diminishing returns and all that). What that screen shot was supposed to show is the importance of IQ in video games (the better looking the game, the more important the IQ). Ironically you seem to agree with me in post 754 where you stated:



In regards to UC3 bullshots vs direct captures.

they are direct captures
 
Yeah, they do look much better but the thread is about a generational leap.

Which we've been trying to tell you they are. The largest improvement you are likely to get next gen, and this is completely dependent on what hardware the systems are packing, is engines designed around tessellation. That is the only potential paradigm shift in realtime rendering going into next gen. Everything else is more of what made this current gen of games look good. Higher precision, but still the same underlying tech.

Until the tech sees that next huge shift all you are going to get is iteration on iteration. You guys with sky high expectations need to temper them. Or just skip next gen. Because the tech will be powerful, insanely so by any metric. But no where close to what some of you expect.
 
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