Comments on: Alan Wake dev team: “Yes, we’re still here”

By: Blerk

Blerk — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 07:41:57 +0000

Just show us something! Anything! At all!

By: No_PUDding

No_PUDding — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 01:31:14 +0000

I still think Shadow of the Colossus looks better than anything this generation.

Haha… I kind of do, in all seriousness.

Anyway, Eternal Sonata is nice, I agree Morriss. I think games with artistic directions are great, and it’s certainly more importnat right now, ebcuase we haven’t got ultimate technology. But Uncharted certainly is a pretty game as is Metal Gear Solid 4.

Whoever said above about Team ICO is right. They cheated so much to push the PS2, I cannot wait to see how they push the PS3. That will definitely be a very pretty game.

By: patlike

patlike — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:57:15 +0000

I *knew* it.

By: Psychotext

Psychotext — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:40:02 +0000

I’m a boyfan…

…wait, no!

By: Robo_1

Robo_1 — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:37:01 +0000

@Morris

Fair enough, that was quite a dismissive line to take, but it wasn’t baseless either. I’ve grown sick of the game being heralded as the second coming by Sony fanboys, and brushed off as average by the 360′s.

The truth is usually somewhere in the middle, and by any reasonable yard stick, it is a great looking game, there’s no need to talk it up to the heavens or pull it to pieces for spites sake.

Anyway, I’m still a proud Speccy fanboy waiting for Dizzy to make a comeback

By: patlike

patlike — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:27:01 +0000

I’m definitely a fanboy.

By: Quiiick

Quiiick — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:02:37 +0000

I’m a fanboy, you’re a fanboy, we’re all fanboys too; lala – lala, lala – lala, la le lu le lo …

By: morriss

morriss — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:55:43 +0000

”
Robo_1 said:

August 18th, 2008 at 5:22 pm

Techwise, Uncharted is still extremely impressive. The fact that there’s no load times in game (all cut scenes can be instantly skipped) and no install needed is very impressive.

It looks gorgeous too. To say less or more is just fanboy chest beating.
”

Translated:

“If you disagree with me, you’re a fanboy.”

By: Panipal2005

Panipal2005 — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:49:12 +0000

Actually, Team Ico’s delayed announcement is not working for me either. I’m wondering what they’ll do to top SotC – I enjoyed the seeking of the colossi with the sword that focussed light, just as much as the combat – but my anticipation is waning, because I’m becoming less certain that they’ll have something that blows us away like SotC did.

By: Psychotext

Psychotext — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:30:40 +0000

You don’t have to apologise for not getting into the Max Payne games.

As for there not being enough reason to anticipate… it’s no different to anticipating the next Blizzard, Team Ico, Bioware game for similar reasons. Some devs just know how to make enjoyable games.

By: Quiiick

Quiiick — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:29:17 +0000

Maybe you’re right and in my memory I don’t separate these things anymore. Haven’t touched the game for some weeks now.

By: Panipal2005

Panipal2005 — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:28:39 +0000

@ Psychotext

“It’s being made by Remedy.”

Sorry, never got into the Max Payne games, maybe I’ll make an effort to get hold of them but beyond that, still don’t see enough reason to anticipate Alan Wake on account of Remedy making it…only gameplay details do that…where are they?

By: Psychotext

Psychotext — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:25:14 +0000

Quiiick: The real difference is that they put so much more effort into the cutscenes than anyone else (especially the character models). The gameplay stuff is no better than something like COD4.

By: Robo_1

Robo_1 — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:22:14 +0000

Techwise, Uncharted is still extremely impressive. The fact that there’s no load times in game (all cut scenes can be instantly skipped) and no install needed is very impressive.

It looks gorgeous too. To say less or more is just fanboy chest beating.

By: Quiiick

Quiiick — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:21:42 +0000

I’m fully aware of these differences (which you described with great eloquence above). But first of all, every game has these limitations so it’s the same ballgame for everyone, and second, I really don’t see that much of a difference between gameplay and cutscenses in MGS4. It’s noticeable of course, but the graphics of gameplay in MGS4 are still top notch and to some extend unrivalled.

By: Psychotext

Psychotext — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:10:50 +0000

Quiiick: It’s the same engine, but that’s not how it works. You can do a lot more with the processing power when it’s all focussed on the graphics than when it’s handling the AI, physics, controls etc etc etc. You can specifically load the scene in, you know exactly what textures are on display (related to memory space) and where the player is going, you know how long you have to load the next set of geometry / textures etc.

Different ballgame.

By: morriss

morriss — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:08:28 +0000

Eternal Sonata beats them all hands down, imo.

By: Quiiick

Quiiick — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:04:04 +0000

@ Psychotext
MGS4 is the same quality in cutscenes and in gameplay, graphics-wise. It’s the same engine, isn’t it? … *confused*

And I don’t think our little discusion is very far off-topic because “Alan Wake” was only judged from a graphics standpoint back when it was first shown at E3 2005 in Los Angeles. We know close to nothing about the quality of gameplay.

By: Psychotext

Psychotext — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:49:36 +0000

Quiiick: MGS4 looks fantastic in the cutscenes (unrivalled in my opinion)… but the gameplay stuff isn’t exactly stunning either.

Anyway, this is all very off topic.

By: pjmaybe

pjmaybe — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:49:27 +0000

If what I’m seeing of Heavy Rain pans out to be in-game, then Alan Wake’s got a long way to go to pull itself up by its bootstraps to avoid falling into that “Development hell” scenario where the game takes 5 years to develop and ends up looking rather twee when it finally arrives…

Still moderately excited by it though.

By: Quiiick

Quiiick — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:47:37 +0000

I don’t want to offend anyone, but IMO ““Uncharted: Drake’s Furtune” looks better than “Gears of War” which often is cited as a visual benchmark.

In my eyes “king of graphics” of console games (not mood but reality-wise) is “MGS4″ up until now.

By: morriss

morriss — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:25:45 +0000

Whatever the difference, it still isn’t a benchmark game visually, imo.

By: El_MUERkO

El_MUERkO — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:13:31 +0000

uncharted is definitely an “art direction” over “graphical fidelity” kind of game

By: Quiiick

Quiiick — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:02:58 +0000

… people are still confused judging/comparing the graphics quality of a game because it is not, and never will be, possible to strictly separate “art direction” from “pure technical achievements”. It will always be a mix of the two. So graphic quality is also simply a matter of taste.

By: Quiiick

Quiiick — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:57:11 +0000

Tearing in “Uncharted: Drake’s Furtune” is terrible, indeed. Worst I’ve encountered so far. But graphics-wise it’s definitely still among the top 5 up until now on current-gen consoles!

By: morriss

morriss — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:50:16 +0000

And why is Uncharted all of a sudden being mentioned as the pinnacle of graphical achievement?

It looks good, not omfgthizizamazingwtflol graphics.

It’s like “Uncharted” is now the becnhmark when there are far better looking games out there (that don’t tear).

By: Quiiick

Quiiick — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:29:19 +0000

@ Panipal2005
100% agreed!

By: El_MUERkO

El_MUERkO — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:21:02 +0000

yup, they may take their sweet time but the finished product is often an 8 out of 10 or better and something different to the norm

By: Psychotext

Psychotext — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:09:33 +0000

It’s being made by Remedy.

By: Panipal2005

Panipal2005 — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:04:35 +0000

Do we have a reason why we should still be interested in this game? I’m not a graphics hound myself, but I can’t see that this game hasn’t been eclipsed by Uncharted or what we’ve seen of Heavy Rain so far, for example. So that leaves gameplay…I can’t even remember what would have excited me about what I’d heard of the gameplay either.

In short this game’s lost my interest, it’ll have to be something pretty damn special to put itself back on the map again. Media blackout has not helped.