Some recent PS3 quotes from developing companies:

Motorstorm team:

"The Havok engine in conjunction with the Cell processor has allowed us to integrate advanced physics into MotorStorm on a scale that hasn't been seen before. It's the sheer amount of things that we can do at once which has impressed us most about Havok and the PS3."

" We are using all of the SPU processors and all of the memory. We also use most of the Blu-Ray disk (thank god its not a DVD!). We are confident however that we can still sqeeze a great deal more out of the PS3 and as we found by making World Rally Championship for PS2 every yeat for 5 years, doubling the visual through put is not unusual on EVERY ITTERATION!) - yes, it even amazes us!"

"We focussed our coding effort at massively parrallel approach. This allowed us to make the best use of the CELL processor and the SPUs. As Evolution Studios are an exclusive developer for Sony, and MotorStorm was built entirely for PS3 only, it allowed us to focus our efforts on making the most of PS3 without the consideration of other platforms."

"we used all of the SPEs, but we are sure that we can use them even more efficiently in the future - so watch this space for even more cutting edge stuff."

"We use most of it, about 18GB if I remember correctly (and everything on the disk is actualy compressed at a 2:1 ratio too as the CELL is so powerful, that it can decompress the data faster than it can read it."

- Online mode will most certainly feature voice chat via both USB or Blue tooth headsets.
- Downloadable content is a must for MotorStorm. You can expect much more than just vehicles or tracks.
- You can wipe the floor with up to twelve total players online.
- Including the player vehicle you will have up to 16 vehicles on the track at any one time.
- we have 7.1 audio via HDMI as well as Dolby Digital support.


Quote from Square Enix exec (Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy):

"Wada expects a shift to the PS3 to begin first with a more pronounced shift to high definition television sets. "Once the television environment is in place, at last the true game business will form. I see the PS3 market taking off starting around 2008." "

@MikeB

I think it's really simple why Gears of War scored as highly as it did. It's fun.
Running around and shooting monsters or using a chainsaw on your friends online in a well-balanced engine is just that: fun. It's not about depth. It's not about making something brand new. Epic built on an existing foundation and were innovative in that space (especially with the pick-up-and-play easy control scheme, the always present co-op, the mechanics of moving into cover).

Cliff B. himself likens it to a blockbuster movie. It's all about having fun. Sure, sometimes you want a vast, deep experience with a great narrative (as rare as that combination is), but other times you just want something that's a lot of fun. Kinda like Bomberman. It's not the deepest game in the world, but it's simple, it's fun and if you're two or more it's even better.

I do not agree at all that visuals are basically the core of the game. They certainly add something (as all graphics should) such as the game's feel, the sense of "weight" and such. This is Brückheimer and not Darabont. That doesn't mean it's not an amazing game though. It's last year's best/most impressive/most fun shooter and everyone agrees on it. It wouldn't be so one-sided if it were all about the graphics - it never has been before so why should it start now?

Basically the game is built on the same recipe as Halo - the 30 seconds of fun repeated ad nauseam. It works when you do it right, and Epic did. The number of sold games speak for itself. A friend of mine (recently first time console owner - he bought a Wii) was over and played co-op with me and several times he spontaneously laughed or just said "this is FUN". Usually he easily gets frustrated by semi-difficult games, but whenever we were shot he just wanted to continue. Why? Because he had a lot of fun. Do graphics do that alone? Not at all.

@Trezzer

I'm not saying the game isn\t fun at all, but I think Resistance is more fun online and I expect Motorstorm to more fun as well.

I have higher expectations for Epic's Unreal Tournament 3 for the XBox 360 and PS3, but I don't expect the game to become the 'Game of the Year'. I haven't followed console games much for the last few years, so as having played tons of online shooters on the PC in the past, this may not impress me as much as compared to console-only gamers, for them this may be a relatively new experience.

As for single player for me the ancient Duke Nukem 3D was way more fun to play. Considering all the hype, I was simply expecting better overall (not graphics).

@MikeB

Did you actually try Gears of War online? (and if so was it co-op or multiplayer deathmatch?)
(btw. comparing a racing game with a war game is like comparing apples and trucks)

As for Gears of War hype... well, I had pretty much ignored it till shortly before launch. That's when the Mad World commercial came out and I sat up and took notice (because it was brilliant).

I was in no way let down by the game. In fact it was much better than I had anticipated. It was also different from what I expected, but that wasn't a bad thing. I can't really think of a shooter that was as fun to play since ... Halo. And before that: DOOM.

There were others where I had more fun in multiplayer (SiN, Unreal Tournament), but GoW still ranks highly in single player/co-op in my book.

Lost Planet is very enjoyable so far. It can be frustratingly hard at times, but it's a very good game. It doesn't really show its true face till you play at hard or higher though. Easy or normal is just a breeze.

Last edited by Trezzer on 10-Feb-2007 at 01:37 PM.

@Trezzer

Quote:

comparing a racing game with a war game is like comparing apples and trucks

I thought the point of chosing the 'Game of the Year' is to compare apples, oranges and bananas.

'Gears of War' would not end up in my the top 40 all-time games and I love shooters. Games more enjoyable range from Civilization IV, GTA San Andreas to even smaller projects like Warblade.

@MikeB

Quote:

I thought the point of chosing the 'Game of the Year' is to compare apples, oranges and bananas.

Well, I don't really think anyone at all considered Motorstorm for game of the year - and so far an online part is speculation (as in how it will be implemented etc.)

You're of course entitled to your opinion, but even considering Warblade among the 40 best games ever made is IMHO more than silly. There are so many mindblowing games available for various platforms that a derivative - if not clone - (even if it's very good) shooter wouldn't even get a look in. Then again I think I might have played quite a few more games (including PC titles) and as such have a larger range to choose from which I guess could explain your placement of Warblade in a top 40. Personally I can't help but think that the only reason you think that Gears of War isn't "all that" is because it's not for PS3.

As for GTA.... well, some people like sandbox games. I'm not a particularly big fan of them - especially when it comes to crime sims. Shenmue 1 and 2 were examples of a sandbox approach that was amazing.

If I were to choose a favourite "crime sim" I'd have to go with Saints Row - especially after they improved the game a whole lot with a couple of patches. PS3 owners will be able to have fun with that soon too.

Last edited by Trezzer on 11-Feb-2007 at 12:11 AM.
Last edited by Trezzer on 11-Feb-2007 at 12:10 AM.

@BrianK

Quote:

For those in the US who want a PS3...I've yet to see any takers wanting me to pick you up the ones laying around here.

Well, I would love to have one, but there are some practical problems for me. I could buy one here, but I probably would have to sell it when I go home. Not much point in having a US PS3 in Europe.

The other thing is that the apartment I'm sharing only has an old crummy 4:3 TV. Not exactly the TV you want to hook up your PS3 to.

I can't talk for the others though...

Last edited by jiyong on 11-Feb-2007 at 01:20 AM.

@Trezzer

Quote:

Well, I don't really think anyone at all considered Motorstorm for game of the year - and so far an online part is speculation (as in how it will be implemented etc.)

Personally I think the game has a lot of potential, possibly the most impressive driving game ever! I don't think it will become 'game of the year' though, considering all the high profile games planned for later this year.

The latest screenshots and videos look awesome:
http://ps3.vggen.com/gallery.php?game=156

Quote:

You're of course entitled to your opinion, but even considering Warblade among the 40 best games ever made is IMHO more than silly.

Maybe it looks silly to you, but the game makes me come back again and again, unlike 'Gears of War', which I frankly haven't toughed for quite a while after playing all the way to the end within just a couple of evenings.

Quote:

Personally I can't help but think that the only reason you think that Gears of War isn't "all that" is because it's not for PS3.

No, that's not the reason. The engine is good, the game isn't for me. So, from a technical perspective the game offers a lot to brag about for XBox 360 fans. But the game itself isn't really that good IMO.

Quote:

As for GTA.... well, some people like sandbox games. I'm not a particularly big fan of them - especially when it comes to crime sims.

I can understand that. But the game offers so much freedom and varierty, certainly one of the games which kept me busy and impressed me a lot. I like all the GTA games I have played so far, often I didn't even play the game with the aim of finishing a mission, just do some naughty stuff, so more and more cops, SWAT teams, police helicopter, etc to come after you, a really exciting challenge!

@MikeB

Quote:

often I didn't even play the game with the aim of finishing a mission, just do some naughty stuff, so more and more cops, SWAT teams, police helicopter, etc to come after you, a really exciting challenge!

Yeah, I know that's what I always end up doing, because the main game bores me.

It's more fun doing it in Saints Row though. Why? Well, consider what happens in GTA when you're on a roll. Then add homies. In other words: Start a minor war and lure the police back to your neighbourhood. Then all your homies will be helping you out and the Havoc physics engine really gets a chance to strut its stuff. You may have to dodge cars flying in your direction though...

(oh, and I actually like the main story better - not so serious as the GTA games and Saints Row has great voice acting and characters).

It seems that EA is somewhat pessimistic about the PS3. I'm more surprised at their remarks about Wii considering its insanely strong performance in the market so far, though.

The big question is whether Sony makes The Big Comeback that Mike has been talking about or whether it will just keep moving at the current speed with all consoles shipping approximately the same amount over the next year.

Activision thinks that the consoles will tie this year - effectively keeping 360 10 million units ahead of the competition (compared to current numbers).

Any bookies taking bets?

@Trezzer

Quote:

t seems that EA is somewhat pessimistic about the PS3.

I think EA have partly themselves to blame, if they would have deveioped some PS3 unique titles this would have been better for them as well as for the PS3 community in general, of course having none of their games may have been even worse.

If they up their usage of the PS3 potential to about 25% (up from the current~20% according to EA) in Final Night Round 3 for the European release and make the game fully fluent, I will probably buy it.

Quote:

The big question is whether Sony makes The Big Comeback that Mike has been talking about

Yes, I expect the PS3 to recover in terms of positive press coverages. Stay tuned!

I don't expect miracles with regard to multi-plaform games though, but the revelation of Oblivion's usage of Cell optimization (and a significant general upgrade) is a nice surprise and so I'll probably buy this game.

With regard to Lost Planet for the XBox 360, I earlier thought the game looked very interesting and I planned to buy the game. But reading some reviews I cannot stop wondering if it would be another 'Gears of War' experience. Great visuals (especially the smoke effects and impressive bosses) but:

- "The multiplayer mode is fun, but it's not varied enough to keep you playing for more than a few days."

- "weak artificial intelligence"

- "If you're looking for a deep, challenging, action game, you might be left in the cold."

- "The main character is hard to like - comes across as a bit of a wet blanket. Battles against VS without a VS yourself can get frustrating when you can’t get a chance to retaliate.

- so-so storyline

- "Too short in single-player mode." "The game took me 7 hours to complete"

?

A real shame if this is so, the videos look great. It's not the graphics that have me worried and at least the videos do look more appealing to me than those from 'Gears of War', why make it so short? Maybe, to still fit on a single layer DVD to reduce loading times?

@MikeB


Quote:

The latest screenshots and videos look awesome: http://ps3.vggen.com/gallery.php?game=156

Quite impressive, a huge improvement from the old videos I'd watched, which looked frankly bad.

Last edited by AMiGR on 11-Feb-2007 at 11:05 PM.

_________________

@MikeB

Quote:

I don't expect miracles with regard to multi-plaform games though, but the revelation of Oblivion's usage of Cell optimization (and a significant general upgrade) is a nice surprise and so I'll probably buy this game.

Shouldn't you be thinking in terms of whether the game is good rather than how much it utilizes the host machine? (I know it is - just pointing it out)

Quote:

With regard to Lost Planet for the XBox 360, I earlier thought the game looked very interesting and I planned to buy the game. But reading some reviews I cannot stop wondering if it would be another 'Gears of War' experience.

No, it's unfortunately not another Gears of War. I guess we won't see a shooter living up to Gears of War any time soon. Maybe Crysis?

I'll respond to the review comments in general rather than point by point:

I haven't tried multiplayer in the final game yet, but in the demo it was already a LOT of fun. There are relatively few modes of gameplay, but it doesn't really matter because the ones that are there are a lot of fun. Capcom clearly focused a lot on making it easy to jump in and join the fun in their first online title. And they succeeded.

As for the rest of the comments about difficulty, AI, game length etc. : clearly they haven't been playing on hard (let alone insane). I spent 6 hours fighting just the first boss on hard and I'm no spring chicken when it comes to hard games. You thought Ghosts n Goblins was hard? You ain't seen nothing yet.

It's unfortunately quite clear that most reviewers have been blazing through Lost Planet on easy (in some cases maybe on normal). On easy the game is way too easy, and yes, you can indeed blaze through it in no time. On medium you have to watch your TENG a little bit, but otherwise you'll be fine. On hard? Your hiney is fried.

The one solid point of criticism is the storyline and the character. It's unfocused, stereotypical and could just as well have been cut from the game. It's truly just a vehicle for more bug slaughter. If you look at it as nothing more than that it's just fine though. It's a wasted opportunity, but the core gameplay is quite frankly a lot more important than narrative in a shooter - and that's where Lost Planet excels. You can sort of excuse the main character's lack of punch, since he has suffered amnesia and has no idea whose side he's on (and that in a sense is also a bit of an excuse for the unfocused narrative).

Complaining about VS vs on-foot is entirely invalid IMHO. I wouldn't want to be in a VS against a skilled sniper / grenadier. It's pretty easy to take down a VS from a distance using zoom or up close using grenades.

A different matter is that there are some fun achievements to go for. You saw the video with the giant worm, and if you wish you can just try to survive and make it past it, but you can take it down for an achievement (which will be well deserved). The same goes for other bosses.

Anyone who has completed Lost Planet in seven hours is IMO either a super-gamer of the rare kind or someone who isn't qualified to talk about the experience (which would be after playing the game on hard as a minimum). Then again the same could be said for Gears of War on hard/insane versus casual.

If you've tried old Capcom games like Ghosts N Goblins or Devil May Cry on the high difficulty settings you'll have an idea of what I'm talking about.

It's a shame that games have to be watered down to appeal to a mass market.

@AMiGR

Nice use of HDR for sure. The textures and mountain models are still a bit bland and there are some jaggies, but then again you'll likely be focusing less on that when the game is actually moving at full speed.

It's definitely the one game on PS3 that deserves the "next gen" moniker so far when it comes to physics and visuals.

@Lou

In its current state I don't see the Cube as a viable platform for OS4.
You need to tinker too much around to make it desktop equivalent.
And even with OS4, I think the main memory is too limited.

By the time these issues have been resolved, how available will the Cube be?

Last edited by jiyong on 12-Feb-2007 at 03:42 AM.

@Trezzer

Quote:

Shouldn't you be thinking in terms of whether the game is good rather than how much it utilizes the host machine? (I know it is - just pointing it out)

MikeB already said that he thinks Oblivion currently is the best 360 game.
Having more eye candy on the PS3 wouldn't hurt, or would it?

IGN is the first to review God of War 2 for the Playstation 2, the game scored an impressive 9.7!

"The first is that God of War II will not only be playable on the PlayStation 3, of course, but that it will run at a true HD resolution of 720p."

"God of War II may in fact be the best action game ever made. "

MikeB wrote:

Quote:

I don't if pointed out these are dev renders, as this also shows what kind of resolutions they are working with while developing the game (the development environment's resolution seems have been higher than 720p - 1280 x 720). This game will look great @ 480p though.

IGN Graphics score 10:
"It simply does not get any better."

Thumbs up to Sony for this one, 2007 will be an interesting year!

Last edited by MikeB on 12-Feb-2007 at 09:47 AM.
Last edited by MikeB on 12-Feb-2007 at 09:27 AM.
Last edited by MikeB on 12-Feb-2007 at 09:27 AM.

God of War 2 preview videos, if you have a PS2 and you are sure to get this game you may want to skip these videos. For all others doubting the PS2's abilities or those who think the game isn't impressive enough to measure up with current next gen games, check this out:

Preview at Gametrailers:
http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?id=2567

Fighting a Barbarian:
http://gamevideos.com/video/id/9168

@MikeB

Who would doubt what PS2 can do today? It's not as if God of War is the first game in recent times that pushes the hardware. It's just the first with greek mythology...

Resident Evil 4 on GameCube and Chronicles of Riddick on Xbox were still better looking games (though I might tend to like the gameplay better in God of War - plus it's almost the title of a Manowar track which is a little plus as well ).

God of War is good looking though for sure. I'm sure it'll look as good as the PS3 games in 720p (with the exception of Motorstorm).

@Trezzer

Quote:

Who would doubt what PS2 can do today? It's not as if God of War is the first game in recent times that pushes the hardware.

I think God of War 2 pushed the PS2 unlike any other game before it. And it seemed as if you doubted this game:

MikeB wrote (last month):
Quote:

Quote: God of War 2 for the PS2 already looks like a worthy Next Gen class game: Trezzer wrote: That you think PS2 games look like next-gen games really puts everything you've said into perspective. And no, it doesn't even look as good

MikeB wrote:
Quote:

The video looks impressive, up the resolution to 720p and yes I would consider the game to be worthy (or at 480p on a Wii). Sure 'God of War 3' for the PS3 will most likely outshine part 2.

Just look at the Colossus smashing the bridge into little pieces, if you were impressed by the Beserker in 'Gears of War' crashing through pillars, you will be doing the same yourself in God of War 2.

I think the game would be stunning if released for the PS3 at high definition resolutions exclusively. Luckily they didn't, ensuring a more than 7 years lifespan for Playstation 2 owners.