Video Games Thread

[Late]

And when did I say that the U is going to be 'way behind'..?

You've indicated your belief, numerous times, that that the next Sony/Microsoft machines will be about 3 or 4 times as powerful as the U.

If the U was only 80% as powerful as it's rivals it'd be below the curve. If it were only 60% as powerful as it's rivals it'd clearly be the runt of the litter. But you're estimating it to be around 25%-33% as powerful as it's rivals. That doesn't just make it the number three console in a field of three. That makes it an embarrassment. (And that's based on YOUR estimates and assumptions i.e. that the sony/microsoft machines will be only three or four times as powerful as the wii. I imagine the difference will be more than that, but I'll stick with your figures for this post.)

...we know that next gen engines are going to have no problem running on the U...

We know cross platform games will be weaker on the U. Significantly weaker.

[harv]

We know now that the 720 is going to be around 6 times more powerful that the 360. We know that the U is going to be around 3 times more powerful than the 360. Both the U and the 720 are going to be in the same sort of ballpark in terms of power, there isn't going to be a 'significant' gap in power at all. It's looking like the difference in power between the U and the most powerful console next gen, the 720, is going to be very similar to the difference in power between the PS2 and Xbox last gen but the most important and biggest difference between the two pairs is that the PS2 and Xbox comparison involves a huge difference in terms of eye candy thanks to the latter being able to use programable shaders, and the U and 720 comparison won't have as much of a huge eye candy difference thanks to both GPUs having traditional programable shaders and compute shaders. Like I've said before this is impressive (and quite surprising!) forward thinking by Nintendo.

As for multiplatform games next gen that all depends on the alleged fixed functions, how they're implemented and how well the next gen engines can implement the fixed functions. The GPU7 is going to have a big disadvantage in pushing less GFlops but assuming that Nintendo have done things right this will be offset by giving engines free use of AA or HDR lighting, which is quite a big deal in development terms.

Going to be interesting to see how it all comes together tbh.

[ancelotti]

You only just finished RDR.. wow, thats a great game.. I was fixed on finishing that as soon as I started playing it... amazing game

Haha, yeah. I tend to only play FIFA and COD as they're easy to play and you don't have to invest a lot of time into a single playing session. To play a single-player mode to completion it needs to be very engrossing for me not to get bored and stick FIFA in. Luckily, RDR had one of the best stories I've experienced on a video game!

Getting through the first 15 hours of FF13 was one of the toughest experiences of my life.

[jman]

Been playing NFS:Shift2 recently.. as a simulation racer its crap, the handling is terrible.. prefer Forza and PGR to this.... also feels a bit cheap re-using a lot of tracks from the first NFS:Shift.. the fact I know most racing tracks corner for corner now means that I've either played too many racers in my life (which I havent).. or they all use the same tracks.. the Nürburgring is one of the best tracks in the world.. but im sick of playing it in racers fer gawds sake!

I was quite pleased to find the DLC worked within the game though.. it gives you double XP for the first 24 hours of playing.. I managed to get up to level 11 of 16 within 2 hours.. which has completely taken the challenge out of the game really.. I have tons of money and can buy pretty much any car I have unlocked so far..

[AVFCRoss]

I quite like Shift 2, though I haven't actually completed it yet...It's one heck of a gruelling trophy list, and I tried to finish it a few months back and just got a bit burnt out by it all, so I'll return to it at some point in the future. Funny you should mention the handling, because that was the hardest thing about getting back into the game for me...I wouldn't say the handling is bad, because if you know anything about driving, it's realistic, but that never really makes for good racing games if you try and make it too true to real life.

I like simulation racers, because I prefer the way races are more about technique and intricacy, rather than by winning via the fact you're smashing into others and stopping them getting ahead of you in games like Burnout lol

[jman]

And I thought my collection was badass.. look at this one
(every nintendo console from the nes to the gamecube + every single game released and every sega console from the master system to the dreamcast + every single game released + all NEC consoles (american only).. with all their games too .. slightly impressive)


Ive just added a few more back to my collection.. slowly working my way back up to 100 again lol...

The Witcher 2 Enhanced Edition - £21.99 preowned
and
Mafia 2 - £8.95 preowned

[Late]

Tempted by Witcher 2 at that price, but I'll wait - by the time I work through my games backlog it'll almost certainly be available cheaper.

[jman]

Yup, but I've been itching to buy a more recent game for a while now.. it was either The Witcher 2, Max Payne 3 or Ghost Recon:Future Soldier.. but I can see myself getting totally immersed in The Witcher 2 and it was the cheapest of the 3.. it sounds like a great game thats right up my street and the graphics looks superb.. so why not.. Should be able to sell it for at least as much as I paid for it on ebay if its crap.

Been on the hunt for a cheap copy of Mafia 2 for a while now.. didnt get the best price ever.. but then cheaper than the rest.. still looking for a cheap Resident Evil 5 copy though.. refuse to pay more than £5/£6 for it as I know I'll get pissed off playing it with the dodgy controls.. but I want to play it before RE6 comes out..  Also wouldnt mind a simulation game to add to my collection.. R.U.S.E/Civilization/Tropico 4 something like that maybe.. Still waiting for Saints Row 3 & Assassins Creed Revelations to hit less than £10 too.

[harv]

Woo hoo!!! The guys that developed the wonderful World of Goo are working on a new game, Little Inferno. Nice. World of Goo must have made them a small fortune, so I reckon they must have increased their staff a bit...most of the game was developed by two people

Definitely one of my favourite games so far this gen, mainly due to it being so delightfully Burton-esque. Hope they're getting the same guy to do the music.

[Late]

World of Goo was great - bought it on both pc and wii.

[jman]

Harv loves "a World of Goo developed by 2 people".. im sure you do.. dirty devil...


I bought 'I Am Alive' last night.. it was 1200 points but I was impressed by the demo.. however what I will say, that whilst the story is very engaging indeed and the graphics are very good for an arcade game.. it feels a bit linear.. the combat in particular doesnt feel right.. the combat feels more like a puzzle, a puzzle you have to do in the correct way (so this adds to the linearity).. rather than the free-flowing combat the game should have..

However, Im pleased with my purchase and spent about 3 hours on it last night not getting very far.. its a horror game, set in an apocolyptic world with puzzle and survival elements and would recommend checking out the demo

[Late]

Two new GTA5 screenies. Looking very pretty.
One
Two

From a Q&A today. Still no news of when to expect the game.  

[bealec]

Apparently it'll look like this on the Wii U.

[harv]

Apparently it'll look like this on the Wii U.

Image fixed.

And if they do decide to do a GTA on the U it should look stunning. Higher resolution, better lighting and shadows, better depth of field and AA. But going by recent comments they're not going to. Bad business sense not to spread the development costs over a fourth platform imo.

Shin'en are working on a U title, given how impressive their WiiWare titles have looked considering that they were restricted not only by the Wii's hardware but also by being forced to squeeze their games into a compressed 40MB file we should have something looking very good indeed. Here's screens of their two WiiWare efforts:





Can't wait to see what they can do with hardware 3 times more powerful than the 360 with suspected free use of depth of field, lighting and shadows.

[Late]

Wish you could hear yourself.

"If they made a version for the U it'd be fantastic, but they're not."

Yeah, the U is awesome...