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Forums - Microsoft Discussion - Bungie: "We are definitely bending the Xbox as far as it'll bend,"

markers on 22 January 2010
Lord Flashheart said:
markers said:

Why would you wanna bend a console, it could break D:

Wondering how many enemies/allies will be on screen...

To make it domed?

Bungie dooms Microsoft confirmed? O:!



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Lord Flashheart on 22 January 2010

@Nightsurge
As someone who edits their post several times immediately after posting all the time I wont hold it against you.

This time *Angry face and shakes fist*
It makes sense to have elements of the old engine in there but I would be worried that because it was old code from when they were still getting used to the new hardware it might slow the new engine down or stop it from being as optimised as it could be if they started completely from scratch.
But I'm sure they know what they're doing better than me.

God I hope they do.



Official member of the Xbox 360 Squad

Twistedpixel on 22 January 2010
Reasonable said:
Twistedpixel said:

Actually I suspect their design didn't take advantage of their technology. They had a great lighting engine but too few places where it really shone. They had a lot of flat surfaces and great textures but no anisotropic filtering to speak of. I suspect that this new engine is less technically excellent than the previous in certain areas like lighting and better in others but the game design will make better use of the technology they have available.

Halo is the reason why I own an Xbox 360 as well. Four player split screen + system link is still an amazing experience and its something that Sony has not really deigned to give me which makes me suspicious of their online efforts. Online seem to take precedence over offline play, which doesn't make sense as you'd suspect it would be the other way around given Microsofts incentives to emphasise Live.

That's down to the devs.  If you push any engine really far you're going to struggle to do split screen.  Halo 3 looked good for what it was (in resolution) and made sacrifices to have split screen.  Reach looks like they're going to take it as far as they can, but I guarantee that they'll still have to balance stuff to have 4 way split screen.

Some engines just go the other way.  Killzone 2 engine, for example, simply isn't designed that way.  That's not Sony's fault, that's GG's decision - they made the engine and levels, etc. such that it apparently couldn't support split screen in any form.  On the other hand CoD4 and other titles on PS3 support split screen fine because they're designed for it.

The PS3 and 360, despite all the internet rumblings, are fairly similar with regard to capability to standard engines, and each can can easily support split screen / online provided the developers design the game appropriately.

In the end if you're going to pursue really high end graphics (as many titles on PS3 have) then something's got to give.  I'd like more split screen too, but it's down to the developer to deliver it, not Sony.

Its just very disapointing to finally have the screen realestate to truely implement split screen gameplay well and have fewer games which support it! I've gone from a 29" CRT to a 55" LCD TV which means I have four times the screen real-estate but not too many games! I can't stand online play, so the only shooters I play in multiplayer tend to be Gears of War, Halo, Army of Two and Resistance 1 along with Call of Duty.

In any case the developers are calling the shots of Sony, which is why it peturbs me that they don't give much in the way of local play for these titles. I believe in the case of first party titles they are reflecting Sony's priorities on the issue of split screen.



Do you know what its like to live on the far side of Uranus?

Domicinator on 22 January 2010
nightsurge said:
Domicinator said:
When I first got my 360, I only had money for one title (Mass Effect), so I borrowed Halo 3 from a buddy. I hadn't played the other two before, so this was my first crack at the series.

I was utterly disappointed.

I couldn't believe how crappy the graphics were. There were these big open environments, and you couldn't always tell where the enemies were because if they were too far off, everything got all pixelated and weird looking. There was very little evidence of any anti-aliasing as well. In general, I was just very disenchanted with the game, and didn't really have much fun playing it because I was always straining to see what was going on. I haven't touched the game since. I would consider Halo Reach if it looks a little more polished and actually has fun gameplay.

HDTV.  Problem solved

I have 20/20 vision with my contacts in and I play on a 37" HDTV.  But unfortunately, not problem solved.  No HDTV or corrective eye wear can fix Halo 3's graphics.




Darth Tigris on 22 January 2010

Don't feed the trolls, folks. Why?

Because reading this was pure bliss. I'm far from a Halo nut, but I do agree that Bungie's focus on dynamic gameplay elements makes their games a TON of fun to play and rarely gets the attention it should.



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Seece on 22 January 2010

http://www.n4g.com/xbox360/News-462672.aspx



 

Aion on 22 January 2010

Great i hope if they release the beta soon.



 

   PROUD MEMBER OF THE PLAYSTATION 3 : RPG FAN CLUB

 

Reasonable on 23 January 2010
Darth Tigris said:
Don't feed the trolls, folks. Why?

Because reading this was pure bliss. I'm far from a Halo nut, but I do agree that Bungie's focus on dynamic gameplay elements makes their games a TON of fun to play and rarely gets the attention it should.

Yah, I prefer this approach and Valve's (which I think is just as good in titles like Half Life 2, etc) to an excess of scripted events that repeat exactly.

Right now the Director AI in L4D is probably my favourite approach and something quite exciting for both online/offline play potential.

If games are going to be scripted then I expect the quality of Uncharted 2 these days, where the experience is tuned to perfection.



Try to be reasonable... its easier than you think...

Lord Flashheart on 23 January 2010

A pre-alpha build?
Why do companies show us the old builds of games? I wan't to see what it looks like now.



Official member of the Xbox 360 Squad

JaggedSac on 23 January 2010
Lord Flashheart said:
A pre-alpha build?
Why do companies show us the old builds of games? I wan't to see what it looks like now.

"For example, the build that brought you the latest batch of media assets was already weeks old when we scrubbed it for screenshots. Pre-Thanksgiving, in fact. The nature of the development process is such that stability can often become a concern when the various disciplines are routinely plugging in their new pieces of technical and artistical hotness, so when it came time to show it off to our media friends, we decided to dust off one of the older, notably stable builds. Game tends to show better when it’s in rock solid working order."

http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&link=BWU_012210