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[Lord Error]

I think GC version will use simillar engine as the PS2 version, but I'm not 100% sure. As you can see they have developed a bunch of techniques, among others "geo texturing" that repeats textured geometric surfaces that can even be beveled, to get the kind of effect you'd normally use displacement mapping for. You'll notice that this can't be used on character models, that's why PC and Xbox versions use the normal mapping on both environments and characters.

If they can make this run at steady 30FPS (that's a big if) this will no doubt be technically most advanced thing on PS2.

 

[johnjohnson]

Looks pretty impressive, considering this is PS2! Ubisoft Shanghai has some talented people for sure.

 

[Wario64]

Ubisoft Shanghai has some talented people for sure.

??

 

[pj]

"Nigh indistinguishable from the pc and xbox versions" my ass. OPM is the reason some people still say ps2 is as powerful as xbox. They even go as far as saying ps2 is better at refraction than xbox and pc, and that's why it's getting an exclusive water kill move.

 

[Lord Error]

Framebuffer based effects are indeed easiest to pull off (in massive amounts needed for complex effects) on PS2 than on GC or Xbox. I have no idea what that refraction water kill move looks like, but it sounds like the efect involved could be framebuffer based.

Ubisoft Shanghai has some talented people for sure.

This one is made in Montreal studio, actually.

 

[olimario]

THese screens are old and I think the water distortion one is from the GC because that is apparently a GC exclusive move.

 

[pj]

I have no idea what that refraction water kill move looks like, but it sounds like the efect involved could be framebuffer based.

Maybe it looks like this..

.....................

 

[pj]

THese screens are old and I think the water distortion one is from the GC because that is apparently a GC exclusive move.

It's definately not gc exclusive, unless OPM has gone from inflating the truth to just flat out lying.

 

[sc0la]

looks like shit to me =/

 

[johnjohnson]

This one is made in Montreal studio, actually.

Really? I thought that all Splinter Cell PS2 games were made by the guys in Shanghai. Well then, replace Ubisoft Shanghai with Ubisoft, please

 

[Lazy8s]

Technological proficiency is getting the highest utilization rate for useful work out of every component in the system, not performing the most new buzzworded, custom effects.

 

[Fafalada]

I think GC version will use simillar engine as the PS2 version, but I'm not 100% sure. As you can see they have developed a bunch of techniques

Well, let's be fair here, aside for displacement maps, the other techniques mentioned(water/heat distortions and refractions) have been used in PS2 games many times over before - including the first PS2 iteration of that "other" stealth series.

The game does look nice, though.

Technological proficiency is getting the highest utilization rate for useful work out of every component in the system, not performing the most new buzzworded, custom effects.

Well, that doesn't seem to stop 90% of arguments about "XBox tech superiority" being based on how games render various buzzworded effects that other systems don't.

 

[whytemyke]

definitely being made in montreal. pandora tomorrow was shanghai.

i dont know about this. I'm gonna get lynched for this but does anyone else think it even compares to the MGS3 graphics? No doubt the Xbox version of this pwn3d the shit out of MGS3 graphics, but I think the PS2 version of this game is looking weaker, graphically, than MGS3.

Regardless, I'm hoping the game is still a badass game and I plan on playing it the day it comes out.

 

[ScientificNinja]

I'd be surprised if the GC version looked less like the Xbox version and more like the PS2 version. I would've thought the GC's GPU would've handled the new special effects without having to use the kind of trickery/spoofery found in the PS2 version...

 

[capslock]

definitely being made in montreal. pandora tomorrow was shanghai.

i dont know about this. I'm gonna get lynched for this but does anyone else think it even compares to the MGS3 graphics? No doubt the Xbox version of this pwn3d the shit out of MGS3 graphics, but I think the PS2 version of this game is looking weaker, graphically, than MGS3.

Regardless, I'm hoping the game is still a badass game and I plan on playing it the day it comes out.

Yeah, MGS3 definitely looks better.

 

[Bishman]

I'd be surprised if the GC version looked less like the Xbox version and more like the PS2 version. I would've thought the GC's GPU would've handled the new special effects without having to use the kind of trickery/spoofery found in the PS2 version...

Remember when Matt-IGN said Ubisoft themselves said that GC might out do the Xbox version of Splinter Cell? Does Ubisoft take advantage of the GC's hardware or just port it from the PS2's version?

 

[johnjohnson]

The last two versions of Splinter Cell on GC were just ports from the PS2 version. Why should they change it this time?

 

[Miburou]

And some people say the graphical difference between the Xbox and PS2 isn't that noticeable.

 

[Lazy8s]

Fafalada:

Well, that doesn't seem to stop 90% of arguments about "XBox tech superiority" being based on how games render various buzzworded effects that other systems don't.

That's because the Xbox is distinguished by those advanced effects on top of doing more traditional effects, not in place of them relative to the other systems.

 

[ram]

definitely being made in montreal. pandora tomorrow was shanghai.

yepp. ubi soft saw, that the ps2 ports of splinter cell 1 & 2 & rainbow6 III and ghost recon 2 looked like shit and had no sales worldwide. so they decided to do better conversions. same with rainbow six: lockdown - it looks far superior compared to the rainbow six 3 port.

 

[Lord Error]

i dont know about this. I'm gonna get lynched for this but does anyone else think it even compares to the MGS3 graphics? No doubt the Xbox version of this pwn3d the shit out of MGS3 graphics, but I think the PS2 version of this game is looking weaker, graphically, than MGS3.

If you compare various effects, and purely technical aspects, even the PS2 version of SC3 probably has an advantage (I mean, these guys did after all effectively simulated some low form of displacement mapping here, gotta give them credit for that). However, from my admittedly very subjective point of view, MGS3 look and feel is nicer than any version of any SC game, even PC SC3 running in high res. I'd much rather look at that location where you appear after the Sorrow fight than anything in SC.

That's because the Xbox is distinguished by those advanced effects on top of doing more traditional effects, not in place of them relative to the other systems.

His point still stands in that there's tons of people who use Riddick as en example of visual quality, despite the game obviously having to rely on dirty hacks to achieve what it's doing, and having more traditional aspects of visuals suffer, to achieve it's advanced lighting effects.

 

[jarrod]

The last two versions of Splinter Cell on GC were just ports from the PS2 version. Why should they change it this time?

Because this time it's being handled inhouse by Ubi Montreal and not farmed out to Ubi Shanghai. GameCube is fully capable of normal mapping, I'd actually expect that port to be based off the Xbox/PC releases this time rather than this very hardware specific PS2 version.

 

[Ranger X]

-MGS3 looks a bit better but each game does different things. All in all, SC3 is in the best looking PS2 game ever WITH MGS3.
-The Waterkill is not an GC exclusive.
- Gamecube is again a port.

**fired from Ubi " haaa shit!!"

 

[thomaser]

A bit off-topic, but did anyone else notice weird graphical problems with the GC-version of Pandora Tomorrow? In my copy, there are strange, moving red lines at the bottom of the screen all the time. It's as if there's a horizontal "hole" at the bottom where the sky-texture (the red colour is the same as the colour of the sky) shows through. The overall graphical quality seems downgraded in comparison with the first SC on GC as well, with a more jittery framerate and pixellated effects. I've got the PAL-version, by the way.

 

[ge-man]

A bit off-topic, but did anyone else notice weird graphical problems with the GC-version of Pandora Tomorrow? In my copy, there are strange, moving red lines at the bottom of the screen all the time. It's as if there's a horizontal "hole" at the bottom where the sky-texture (the red colour is the same as the colour of the sky) shows through. The overall graphical quality seems downgraded in comparison with the first SC on GC as well, with a more jittery framerate and pixellated effects. I've got the PAL-version, by the way.

I didn't play it, but I don't doubt what you say. These days more multiplatform games are ending up looking their worst on the GC. Why bother to go all out when you believe that your game is going sell like shit compared to other formats?

 

[CorruptionDee]

"Nigh indistinguishable from the pc and xbox versions" my ass. OPM is the reason some people still say ps2 is as powerful as xbox. They even go as far as saying ps2 is better at refraction than xbox and pc, and that's why it's getting an exclusive water kill move.

Yeah I read that too, and my first reaction was "WTF. Riiigghhht. Maybe if you had a terrible TV and were to close your eyes, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two". While I must admit that Chaos Theory looks to be a great graphical/technological achievement for the PS2, it's nowhere near the Xbox and PC version as far as visuals are concerned. Although I buy every issue of OPM (mostly for the demo discs), I don't agree with most of what they have to say. They constantly exaggerate, and overrate at least 3 games an issue. It's almost a joke everytime they give a game a perfect score. Most of the games they give a perfect score to, while good games, are far from deserving a "5 disc" rating.