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Very quick Xbox 360 games impressions (PGR3,COD2, Kameo, PDZ)

B

Blimblim

The Inside Track
It looks like there was a meeting for retailers yesterday where they demoed brand new build of a few upcoming Xbox 360 games. Here is a quick translation of this blog :

First impressions: it's very impressive.

- PGR3 : It's a NFS fan speaking, but the cars in PGR3 are amazing (difficult to translate properly)

- COD2 : Nothing new (not much time for a translation)

- Kameo : Thousands of monsters, each with his own AI.

- PDZ was the graphical showcase with some amazing textures even up close. Quite a change from the first screens shown before. Up to 50 players, but they could only play it in 2 players mode (via network).

He's usually naturally sceptic, but was really impressed by these previews.
It reminds him of the gap between Mechwarrior 1 and Mechwarrior 2 in mood and special effects (comparing Xbox and Xbox 360 I guess).


I think I know some other people who were there, so I'll try to get more informations asap.
 
I cry bullshit on pdz, until I can see it with my own eyes I just can't believe it. I'm not saying this guy is lying about seeing it, I'm not saying that there are hats made of money involved. My mind just won't acept the posiblity of "perfect dark" and "graphical marvel" in the same sentence.

I'd love to be proven wrong.
 
I've heard from a couple people now that PDZ is something you need to see in motion to appreciate it.
 
i doubt i'll be really impressed with pd0, but i'm sure the single player portion at the very least, will look better then most 360 launch titles. technically, maybe not art-wise ;)
 
Encouraging.

I've always trusted pdz would look good eventually, and i expected all that parallax mapping to be pretty impressive in motion.
But while i don't doubt rare's capabilities with 3d engines and graphics, i am not expecting much in terms of gameplay.
Also, i don't see how it can be ready for launch; all those live features they're claiming should require lots of beta testing.

Having said that, if both Oblivion and PGR3 miss launch i might not pick X360 on day one.
Wait, there's still RR6...
 
eso76 said:
Having said that, if both Oblivion and PGR3 miss launch i might not pick X360 on day one.
Wait, there's still RR6...
Click to expand...
2K Games confirmed Oblivion for launch in France a few days ago. As for PGR3, it's another story...
 
Blimblim said:
2K Games confirmed Oblivion for launch in France a few days ago. As for PGR3, it's another story...
Click to expand...

eep. :(

i hope its near launch (ie, 2005)
 
*hopes for blurry leaked shots of PDZ soon to ignite the internet, then a full blowout next week to fuel the fire*

Very positive impressions. Especially Kameo, they are putting alot of importance on the AI of those battlescenes IMO.
 
Blimblim said:
2K Games confirmed Oblivion for launch in France a few days ago. As for PGR3, it's another story...
Click to expand...

I remember reading somewhere it was confirmed for launch, but Bethesda has been very quiet...
Then again, the same goes for all developers whose titles are supposed to be out for lunch.

"PGR3, it's another story" means we don't know or means you know something we don't ? :)

And Blim, do you happen to know anything about Oblivion's localization in europe ?
 
It should be one of the early titles, close to launch IIRC.

Also, what element says is going to be so very true for a lot of next gen games, not just PD0. Effects like parallax mapping and certain kinds of lightning/shadowing will only look great in motion, the FEAR demo was a great example of this, it looked ok in stills but seeing it in movement was a whole different thing. I am afraid that we are going to see a lot of games getting panned because of "crappy" screenshots until the publisher drops some videos.
 
Ecrofirt said:
Bah, I still don't know what to buy at launch.
Click to expand...

No kidding. I'm getting NFS for free, and I pre-ordered Oblivion, but it's hard to figure out what's worth another $60. Nevermind that we don't even know what games we'll be able to buy on launch day.
 
eso76 said:
"PGR3, it's another story" means we don't know or means you know something we don't ? :)
Click to expand...
It means there is a lot of buzz about it, nothing confirmed.
eso76 said:
And Blim, do you happen to know anything about Oblivion's localization in europe ?
Click to expand...
Don't know anything about this, sorry.
 
Let us speak little but speak well: yesterday, studios or respective editors of Project Gotham Racing 3, Call of Duty 2, Kameo and... Perfect Dark Zero (!) came to the improvist at the frenchies, to make demonstrations into live of these plays. First impressions: it is very impressive. - It is a fan of NFS which speaks to you: racing cars of avalent PGR3 bitumen like aucuns others, in spite of some chocks with starting. - the soldiers of CoD2 unload on the beach and in the hell of the war. One runs between the gusts of machine-guns and the bombs released by the planes in close-cropped-mound. That draws and that falls from everywhere, the battle field is traumatisant. - the coloured monsters of Kameo arrive in mass, by thousands. They all are autonomous, with their own IA. One throws oneself unconsciously in the fray... I do not know how the console can manage PNJ as many. - PDZ, it is the graphic snap with pretty textures which return well, even seen very near. Ca changes first screenshots seen on the Net. Up to 50 gamers can infiltrate in a map simultaneously, at the time of common missions. One tested the mode with 2 only, it is already very sympathetic, fluid and full with surprised (beautiful arms manufacture!). The large skeptic that I am find these previews more than promising. On the level of environment and special effects, the console crossed a gap. All that points out a little the passage to me of Mechwarrior (1989) with Mechwarrior 2 (1995), which had moved me much. : ] I do not hide you that I filmed all that, with the means of the edge. The vidéos are under seals (temporarily).

Babel fish translation
 
Funky Papa said:
It should be one of the early titles, close to launch IIRC.

Also, what element says is going to be so very true for a lot of next gen games, not just PD0. Effects like parallax mapping and certain kinds of lightning/shadowing will only look great in motion, the FEAR demo was a great example of this, it looked ok in stills but seeing it in movement was a whole different thing. I am afraid that we are going to see a lot of games getting panned because of "crappy" screenshots until the publisher drops some videos.
Click to expand...

Yeah, you have to work with imagination to understand what the games will look like most of the times.
For the early titles especially which were initially built around tentative specs, a lot of geometry was added later and will go into small details rather than being distributed equally on screen for greater purposes; such small details you can't see in videos.
I'm thinking stuff like fullauto; in movies it doesn't look any better than the latest burnout at first glance, but screenshots do show a lot more detail and geometry; otoh, you can't really judge what a lot of next gen effects will look like from stills.
You should couple pictures and internet footage as they show 2 diff. sides of the same medal, so to speak, and even then i don't think you'll get an accurate picture of what these games actually are doing.
 
OptimusPrime said:
racing cars of avalent PGR3 bitumen like aucuns others

cars and asphalt looks sweet like never seen before in a game
Click to expand...
That's not really the translation, not at all in fact.
 
Well in dutch it says that:

Het is fan van NFS die u spreekt: bolides van PGR3 avalent het asfalt als geen enkele anderen, ondanks enkele stutten aan de start. :lol
 
If my french hasn't grown too rusty, that sentence should mean:

PGR3 cars swallow the asphalt like no other, despite some (framerate?) drop at startup.
 
I cant believe all the bitching about pdz, its almost as if people want it to bomb or something. Even back then it looked great from a gameplay perspective.

Now Kameo...
 
Just got word from someone else who was there, and he also was VERY impressed by PDZ graphically.
He was disappointed by PGR3 graphically though. The game was very unstable anyway.
Edit: He also mentions that Johana Dark does not look like the one shown at E3. He only got to see her very quickly so he's not really sure.
 
Lakitu said:
You mean framerate? Coz the trailer is :o
Click to expand...
Nah, graphics in general. He's not a "technical gamer" so I'm not sure he'd be able to tell the difference between 30 and 60 fps.
Anyway, so far he's the only having a negative option of PGR3's graphics. Don't know if the build had all the graphical features or not.
 
Blim Blim , I do hope you will post a lots of (Xbox360) ingame-screens and yours first hands impressive during your visit to Tokyo game show :)
I can't wait :0,
Good luck :)
 
swordsman said:
Blim Blim , I do hope you will post a lots of (Xbox360) ingame-screens and yours first hands impressive during your visit to Tokyo game show :)
I can't wait :0,
Good luck :)
Click to expand...
Well, I plan to use my new HDV camcorder as much as possible. So expect lots and lots of videos :)
 
Well, I plan to use my new HDV camcorder as much as possible. So expect lots and lots of videos
Click to expand...

Take care with crew at boths, they use to be quite annoying not letting you filming anything (you will reckognise them because they will face you doing a X with hands).
 
aren't new console launches exciting!? :)

It'd be boring if they'd had everything ready and sitting in a warehouse all this time.
 
Gaijin To Ronin said:
Take care with crew at boths, they use to be quite annoying not letting you filming anything (you will reckognise them because they will face you doing a X with hands).
Click to expand...
Bleh, I'll do my best. I don't think there will be any problems at the MS booth at least.
 
Ho, one other very interesting information. If you have a LCD display with a strange resolution and wonder how a 720p image will look like, don't worry. You'll be able to choose your native resolution in the Xbox 360 dashboard. Like 1280 x 768 or 1366 x 768. The console will scale the image internally so you will not have to worry about asucky scaler or delays it could add.
 
Blimblim said:
Ho, one other very interesting information. If you have a LCD display with a strange resolution and wonder how a 720p image will look like, don't worry. You'll be able to choose your native resolution in the Xbox 360 dashboard. Like 1280 x 768 or 1366 x 768. The console will scale the image internally so you will not have to worry about asucky scaler or delays it could add.
Click to expand...

So on my 1280x1024 LCD it'll display a 1280x720 image, letter boxed? I guess that's cool. The VGA cable should be a hit with people in small dorms that don't have the luxury of a large TV. I just fucking hope it's possible they can release DVI/HDMI cables down the road. I'll be pissed if the AV out on the 360 can't do digital video at all.
 
Blimblim said:
- PDZ was the graphical showcase with some amazing textures even up close. Quite a change from the first screens shown before. Up to 50 players, but they could only play it in 2 players mode (via network).
Click to expand...


How is Rare/Microsoft planning on pulling off 50 players online? Will PDZ have dedicated servers set up for it? If so can clan matches be scheduled on dedicated servers?
 
It is incredible to me what a 180 PDZ has apparently done... every comment after the horrible TV debut has been how much better this game looks.... what did they slip a really old version in the TV debut by mistake?
 
Yusaku said:
So on my 1280x1024 LCD it'll display a 1280x720 image, letter boxed? I guess that's cool. The VGA cable should be a hit with people in small dorms that don't have the luxury of a large TV. I just fucking hope it's possible they can release DVI/HDMI cables down the road. I'll be pissed if the AV out on the 360 can't do digital video at all.
Click to expand...
I don't know about letterboxing for 4:3 VGA displays, but it sure would be a great thing.
 
PDZ impressions from yet another people that was there: Awesome, PDZ is AWESOME. Really impressive. And the jungle level is incredible. Prepare to be surprised !
He also mentions that the level objectives will change depending on the difficulty level.
 
DarienA said:
It is incredible to me what a 180 PDZ has apparently done... every comment after the horrible TV debut has been how much better this game looks.... what did they slip a really old version in the TV debut by mistake?
Click to expand...

Like I said a couple of months back:

The let you see what they want you 2 see :lol

And then it's talk, bad talk, good talk on the forums. And that means more free advertizing. :lol

BTW I am not going 2 be suprised, cos after I saw what Rare did with a xbox port Kameo. I knew PDZ would be special.
 
Yusaku said:
So on my 1280x1024 LCD it'll display a 1280x720 image, letter boxed? I guess that's cool. The VGA cable should be a hit with people in small dorms that don't have the luxury of a large TV. I just fucking hope it's possible they can release DVI/HDMI cables down the road. I'll be pissed if the AV out on the 360 can't do digital video at all.
Click to expand...
Dang, just been told that the 1280x1024 resolution was nowhere to be seen in the dashboard. Let's just hope it only displays the resolutions it actually detects via the VGA cable.
 
Mmm. Is 1080i selectable ? And for those who've seen it, how noticeable is the difference between 1080i and 720p ?
I'm going to buy a new tv for my new house, but i think i'll scrap the 46" dlp i was going to buy (i'll wait for sed's and oled's for my main tv) rather choose one of the few 1080i CRT's available (Samsung, JVC, Sony) 32 or 36".
 
eso76 said:
Mmm. Is 1080i selectable ? And for those who've seen it, how noticeable is the difference between 1080i and 720p ?
I'm going to buy a new tv for my new house, but i think i'll scrap the 46" dlp i was going to buy (i'll wait for sed's and oled's for my main tv) rather choose one of the few 1080i CRT's available (Samsung, JVC, Sony) 32 or 36".
Click to expand...
Yes, the native game resolution will still be 720p but the scaler will output a 1080i image.
 
Heh, i said this all along, wait till release, Rare games always look spectacular but nooooooooooooo. I was damage controlling huh?

Cerrius owned. Better start washing those cars boy, looks like your going to have to buy the retard pack

Cant wait for X05
 
I'm getting one game with my Every10minutes pack, and I'm afraid it's still Oblivion. I don't have BB anyway.
 
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