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[thorns]

http://hardware.gamespot.com/Story-ST-x-1570-x-x-x

Multicore processors allow game developers to separate tasks between the different cores, and, once correctly implemented, the added processing power should give designers the freedom to create more rigorous physics and artificial intelligence engines. Dave Taylor, formerly of id Software and currently of Naked Sky Entertainment, demonstrated RoboHordes, an Unreal Engine 3-based game that takes advantage of the multicore nature of these newer processors. Taylor and his cohorts had engineered the game to assign specific tasks, like the physics, sound, and AI to separate processing threads. The physics thread allows the game to sample at 200 frames per second, and that gives the game a very responsive feel even though the graphics display itself may only be rendering at 25fps.

and an interview with mark rein about UE3.0
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=7189

GI: What kind of stage are you at with the different manufacturers regarding next-gen? You've presumably got Xenon / Xbox 2 kits - what about Sony's next platform?

MR: I, um... I can't really talk about any of that. I can't even confirm what you said about the first one. We have to keep our relationships with those companies! [laughs]

We've shipped about 50 Unreal Engine games thus far, and I'm pretty sure that just in the next generation alone, there'll be 50 Unreal Engine 3 titles at least - so we've got ro make sure we respect those platform holders!

GI: As someone who's been working closely with next-gen development, what do you think the biggest difference consumers are going to see in next-gen games is?

MR: There's no question that the graphics are going to be a huge upgrade. You know, people are such snobs, with this "oh, it's not about graphics" thing. That's such nonsense. It's totally about graphics, What's the difference between the first Metal Gear Solid and the latest Metal Gear Solid? Right, it's "wow, the graphics!" There's no question, that's going to be the first thing that people see - they're going to see that the visuals are just spectacular.

Other than that... I think that games have come a long way, and they'll have more processing power in the next generation so I think they'll certainly be able to do more cool things going on at one time, so a little more interactivity. Sound as well, on these systems they're obviously going to be pushing super high-quality sound, and I think that'll be pretty significant.

The main thing, though, is that I think your games will just look a hell of a lot better. I think that Microsoft has done a phenomenal job with Xbox Live, and I'm sure that they're going to come up with even cooler things that it can do - I mean, they've already done some great stuff. You now have the ability to just turn on your Xbox and send a voice message to somebody, say "hey, you want to play this game?" or whatever, which I think is brilliant. I'm sure they're going to come up with even cooler things to do, having more processing power.

I think that the main thing is going to be the graphics, but also important is the ability to have more live things going on on the machine at one time. That's definitely going to be crucial as well. A game like Half-Life 2 that had maybe 20 guys walking around a level, maybe now you'll see 30 or 40. You have more processing power, so you can make more of your AIs smart as opposed to just throwing more dumb guys in.

 

[Tellaerin]

Mark Rein's a great guy, but he's the last person who should be saying, 'it's totally about graphics'. If it was really 'totally about graphics', then most people wouldn't've abandoned UT2k3 for the original UT, and Epic wouldn't've bothered trying to tune the gameplay and modes in 2k4 to be closer to the original in order to woo those players back. If anyone ought to know that it's all about the gameplay, it's him.

 

[bogg]

"It's totally about graphics", as in, "...the biggest difference consumers are going to see in next-gen games is?"
He's just answering the question.

 

[Tellaerin]

"It's totally about graphics", as in, "...the biggest difference consumers are going to see in next-gen games is?"
He's just answering the question.

And dismissing people who feel that the big difference next gen will (and should be) gameplay as 'snobs', which he should know better than to do given the history of his own company's products.

 

[HooDoo]

It's totally about graphics, What's the difference between the first Metal Gear Solid and the latest Metal Gear Solid? Right, it's "wow, the graphics!

Yeah. Right sir, right...
Even if the quote is out of its context it's still a pretty stupid thing to say.

 

[capslock]

Well, this certainly explains the post UT Epic games.

 

[bogg]

I totally agree with you, but I still think "...the biggest difference consumers are going to see in next-gen games" is the graphics, like with any new generations of consoles.

 

[FinalSolace]

graphics just denote the particular minimum standard of that generation.

all games are gonna be really big budget next generation and the next.

its like the movie industry, smaller independant film maker almost do not stand a chance, and only a few are ever squeezed through. all the creative people do not bother anymore and move on with theyre dreary lives. soon we will get crappy big blockbuster games that are overly cliche and innovation will take a sidestep to big money generating franchises and greedy marketing tricks and hype techniques by corporations comparable to the major movie studio's.

they are looking more and more to converge movies and games.

we see alot of big effects blockbusters in cinemas that are just totally bomb, due to crap scripting and directing, and the studios make big bucks saying bigger is better- with regards to special effects graphics.

just take the japanese movie establishments, all their lower-budgeted innovative talet is constantly "borrowed by hollywood to make big bucks becuase hollywood has such a shortage of originality, and corporate execs dont wonna take risks- or what they call risks!!, EXECS KNOW NOTHING ABOUT WHAT CONSTITUES A GOOD MOVIE, THEY ARE JUST CONCERNED ABOUT MAKING MONEY THE WAY THEY KNOW BEST- MARKET RESEARCH AND TRICKS OF THE TRADE, did we really want to see resident evil movies with a rating below R??? well they did it to get a bigger audience that would pay bigger prices. STUPID ISNT IT.

and its the same for handhelds, bigger better graphics these days....... but do your wonna play highly detailed ports on a small screen that urges you to squint your eyes in pain all day!? thats the graphic whore fanboys choice.

and using multiple processing facets speads up the processing and allows graphics to be displayed at an incredibly high livel of realism.

would mario look good in such high definition? what about sonic, why will we need 2-d anymore???

2-d sonic is a good example, whats preferable- 2-d sonic or 3-d???

they are making this really big buisness now, and all thats gonna happen is higher and higher game prices, and console prices that deliver the technology. and non traditional gamers are helping to drive this.

i think it may even have to do with the yourger generation gamers, they can easily be told what to think through impressionable marketing, and its destroying conventional gaming, smaller games companies we have all known and loved and produced all the fun innovative games will go backrupt and be aquired by the bigger companies, In 10 years innovation will be dead, it will be as stagnant as the movie industry.

whats gonna happen when they run out of isource material for marvel-comic adaptions??? sequelitis thats what.

one day maybe we will be able to plug into games, and be in bullet proof 10- drug war, we can bang ho's all day, shoot rivals, maybe they will make a needle injection periperal to boot to gain stamina in game!! and so forth and so forth.
how stupid does it need to get??

smaller aquired franchises like street fighter would probably purposly be killed off to make room for stupidness like above, its been proven in the movie industry already.

what happens to fun, non-overly FX laden stuff? the recycle bin thats where.

people will reply to this saying, well that aint gonna happen coz they are too naieve to see whats going on and just want something to say in the interests of attention, to those people you can kiss my ass.

i'm sick of the way things are going with this once vibrant soulful industry, i will hate corporations and fanboys for the rest of my life!! thanks for my misery.......its all about freedom

I always considered myself a creative person, and thought i woulda liked to become a developer one day, but it looks like i would need to have loadsa connections, and a 100 qualifications and increasingly expensive courses. but i cant be bothered to deal with the hassel now, and the constriction of creativity would be stifeling. including all the idiot type people these big dollar industries attract i would be working with.