World Airforce

[Inquisitive_Idiot]

The Energy Airforce flies onto the Xbox 360 with photo-realistic environments and licensed aircraft.

At the recent Xbox Summit 2005 in Tokyo, Japan, several Japanese publishers announced their support for the Microsoft Xbox 360. One of the publishers was Taito, which revealed that its contribution to Microsoft's next-generation console will be World Airforce. The first details on the game have been unveiled courtesy of the latest issue of Famitsu.


Link (http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/07/28/news_6129956.html)

Picture 1 (http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2005/206/929256_20050726_screen001.jpg)

Picture 2 (http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2005/206/929256_20050726_screen003.jpg)

Picture 3 (http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2005/206/929256_20050726_screen002.jpg)

Impressive for a game thats only 10% complete! The graphics look sharp and if Microsoft can manage to get a decent joystick out for launch this one may be worth checking out.

[pso]

Beautiful graphics. I saw this posted in IGN and I'm still impressed by the screens. The first screen almost looks real. :shock:

[SanGreal]

The screens are impressive, but the video was not.

Then again, the video wasn't direct feed or even HD.

[Brimstone]

Great looking pics (although I'm pretty sure the mods want you to post links to the pics instead of the pics themselves.)

Maybe we will be able to use some PC USB sticks, I would prefer something like the Saiteks with HOTAS. I also hope we will have more than just one or two jet combat games, although I do love crimson skies.


Gamers go wild and get a wheel for a driving game like Gran Turismo or Forza. People will do the same for flight sims on a console. Car racing sims these days are very hard core, nothing about a PC style flight sim on a console is more extreme.

Hopefully World Airforce ends up being a good game and selling well, so then it could end up being a catalyst to get publishers to come out with more combat flights sims for nextgen consoles. More than enough FPS, sports games, and RPG's will come out. It's time for more diversity.

[scooby_dooby]

that's gotta be CG...wow if it's real

[DigitalSoul]

I hope it plays as good as it looks. AceCombat needs some competition.
Lethal Skies and Air Force Delta couldn't cut it :P

[Bobbler]

that's gotta be CG...wow if it's real

If you look at the screenshots there isn't much else in them but the planes, so the poly budget is probably pretty crazy on them (same with shaders and normal maps and all that jazz)... 250k++ poly planes :twisted:

[MrSingh]

Sequel to Delta Force? I love how Konami gives MS all of their crappiest titles.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[DigitalSoul]

This is from Taito, not Konami.......

[SanGreal]

Its a sequel to Energy Airforce.. it says it right in the quoted article (which shouldn't be quoted in its entirety, btw) :)

[mckmas8808]

Looks good. I think it can be real-time.

[PC-Engine]

Sequel to Delta Force? I love how Konami gives MS all of their crappiest titles.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Poor troll attempt...

Screens look very nice btw.

[liverkick]

12 posts in and no one comments on the ugly ass terrain? And you call yourselves the B3D console forum? :)

Seriously though, that looks sub Ace Combat. :? Hopefully they're just placeholders. I take it most of the energy has been spent on those gorgeous looking jets so far.

[Bobbler]

12 posts in and no one comments on the ugly ass terrain? And you call yourselves the B3D console forum? :)

Seriously though, that looks sub Ace Combat. :? Hopefully they're just placeholders. I take it most of the energy has been spent on those gorgeous looking jets so far.

I was going to comment on the second pic -- the terrain does look rather bad (like a semi hi-res photo but not hi-res enough). The terrain looks terribly flat and picture-esque (in the bad way, like it was just a texture pasted on a flat ground).

The planes look snazzy though!

Depending on how the game is set up, it may not really need detailed grounds (if your constantly flying very high in the game and not allowed to go down to the ground, for example).

[BenQ]

To those of you bashing this games graphics, can you think of ANY other game of this type which has graphics that are better or even as good as this game?

I doubt it.

[robofunk]

There is clearly a depth of field effect in that shot. Save your comments for when they want to show you the ground and not the sweet jet models. I think the ground looks sweet though in anycase, lots of rolling hills.

[Bobbler]

To those of you bashing this games graphics, can you think of ANY other game of this type which has graphics that are better or even as good as this game?

I doubt it.

I don't think anyone is really bashing the graphics... there was mention that the back/terrain looks bad, and it does -- if the terrain is just a placeholder or not important to the game really then the problem is moot, but that doesn't change the fact that the terrain looks strange.

But, since you're asking...

There are games out now that currently look "better" overall. These screenshots just show a couple planes, that isn't exactly what I call awesome graphics. The models look nice, but the game still looks rather simplistic (from those screenshots). One high quality model on screen does not make the game incredible -- add a few more planes and some rockets/bullets flyin all over and some volumetric clouds to fly through and we'll be in business (maybe the game does have all that stuff but we can't tell from those screenshots).

Edit: Just watched the video (or the clip of it) and the terrain looks a lot better there -- it doesn't look nearly as strange as in the second short. Now all they need is volumetric clouds and that kind of stuff!

[BenQ]

To those of you bashing this games graphics, can you think of ANY other game of this type which has graphics that are better or even as good as this game?

I doubt it.

I don't think anyone is really bashing the graphics... there was mention that the back/terrain looks bad, and it does -- if the terrain is just a placeholder or not important to the game really then the problem is moot, but that doesn't change the fact that the terrain looks strange.

But, since you're asking...

There are games out now that currently look "better" overall. These screenshots just show a couple planes, that isn't exactly what I call awesome graphics. The models look nice, but the game still looks rather simplistic (from those screenshots). One high quality model on screen does not make the game incredible -- add a few more planes and some rockets/bullets flyin all over and some volumetric clouds to fly through and we'll be in business (maybe the game does have all that stuff but we can't tell from those screenshots).

1. That terain does NOT look bad.
2. Name the games of this type that look better overall.... I guess you forgot to do that.

[3roxor]

The planes look good at first but it only takes a sec to notice they are exact copies and the wow effect is gone. The few particle effects look good but the terrain looks average at best.

[PC-Engine]

The planes look good at first but it only takes a sec to notice they are exact copies and the wow effect is gone.

Oh please...a few different textures here and there isn't impossible.

[BenQ]

The planes look good at first but it only takes a sec to notice they are exact copies and the wow effect is gone. The few particle effects look good but the terrain looks average at best.

Im not sure exactly what kid of Jets those are ( let's just say they are F-16's ). But would not all F-16's be essentially EXACT copies of all the others?

[Bobbler]

video with clip of World Airforce in it (http://media.xbox360.ign.com/articles/636/636165/vids_1.html)

I suggest watching it -- it shows the terrain a lot better (doesn't look like a just a sneakily made flat texture like the second shot).

A flying game with the amount of planes that the War Hawk (ps3) video had would be nice. But I have a feeling the detail wouldn't remain as high as they are in the screenshots if that was the case.


PS: BenQ -- Games don't exist in a vacuum per genre. It isn't as if certain games can only be compared, graphically, to other games in their genre. (I misread your original post and apparently missed the word Type, though). I posted in response to you to explain why I thought that -- I'm not saying the game doesn't look good, it does, but there is more to a game looking good than just putting a high poly model in a screenshot. If I compare this game to games out I think there are quite a few I'd rather look at than these screenshots (although I've never been much of a fan of flying games). Don't get so defensive/offensive when someone, apparently, disagrees with you.

In summary: the game looks good, nobody is saying otherwise (I don't think?) -- the second screenshot looks funny but it seems to be just that screenshot and not the entire game.

[london-boy]

The planes look good at first but it only takes a sec to notice they are exact copies and the wow effect is gone.

Well.. Aren't all planes just a copy of each other?

A bit of dirt and maybe different symbols on them wouldn't hurt i guess, but the models should really all look the same.

It would be a bit like a race with all Ferrari F-something's in PGR3.

[3roxor]

The planes look good at first but it only takes a sec to notice they are exact copies and the wow effect is gone.

Oh please...a few different textures here and there isn't impossible.

Tell that to the devs not me..
If you are showing details like wear, numbers, symbols coloration and all you have to know that people are gonna notice these things. In sport games you also see different facial features even though people can almost look the same.

[PC-Engine]

The planes look good at first but it only takes a sec to notice they are exact copies and the wow effect is gone.

Oh please...a few different textures here and there isn't impossible.

Tell that to the devs not me..
If you are showing details like wear, numbers, symbols coloration and all you have to know that people are gonna notice these things. In sport games you also see different facial features even though people can almost look the same.

When you're playing the game, you won't be seeing these kinds of perspectives anyway except in replays. I think saying they all look alike is rediculous to begin with...of course they're going to look alike.

[passby]

I'm not sure whether this title should get the attention it's getting here. Taito's sims efforts have always ranged from poor to mediocre to 'OK'.

And 'OK' for the hardcore fans only.

[Arun]

While the screens and video look good, I'm not sure what's the big deal - very few actual polygons are visible at the same time, so obviously you're gonna be able to put a LOT of polygons & texture detail on the planes - nothing amazing going on here, people. Still, nice looking planes indeed :)

Uttar

[london-boy]

Just imagine what a next gen Ace Combat game will look.

[Shifty Geezer]

Whata funny thread.
1) The planes look great - could they be any different? The entrie system polycounts and shader budget goes on a couple of planes! There's nothing else. If anything I'm inclined to think these planes don't look as good as they could, because with the resources available they can squeeze SOOO much into a couple of plane models they should be photorealistic. So call me hard to please, but I'm not, probably ever, going to find a couple of plane models against a blue sky impressive, unless I can't distinguish it from a real photo.

2) THe planes look identical - As has been raised, that's kinda the point of planes. They're all made alike so look the same. Of course you may want some random dirt, but strangely enough most airforces wash their planes. Have a look at these...
http://www.mustangsmustangs.net/p-51/p51shows/reno2004/home/f15s-3.jpg
Not agreat deal of variety. It won't take much for the final game (and not work in progress) to add some different textures to different aircraft.

3) The area to impress in a flight sim IMO is in the terrain. I rememeber flight sim many years ago where a key marketting gimmick was the Golden Gate bridge. In a sim I wantto be able to drop to 100ft and skim the tops of the trees. Blue skies and clouds aren't hard to render. If they want to impress they need to show more than a couple of models against a blue ground.

[robofunk]

you didn't bother with the video did you

[Shifty Geezer]

No. Am on quota'd BW service don't do most vids.

[c0_re]

I was going to comment on the second pic -- the terrain does look rather bad (like a semi hi-res photo but not hi-res enough). The terrain looks terribly flat and picture-esque (in the bad way, like it was just a texture pasted on a flat ground).



thats what I thought too but after looking closer the ground is far from flat and it does look pretty realistic as long as it's nice in motion.

there's no reason why flight games can't all lok this good next gen, that and they have to have good draw distance.

[london-boy]

Am i the only one having seriosu problems with IGN videos, ever since they switched their player thing? The not-working kind of problem.

[robofunk]

The quicktime ones are all save-as. Look closer, ou also may need Flash.

[talyn99]

Ace Combat looked great, so I think they can get that looking even better(and keep in mind I HATE MS). SO the screeens are no surprise to me.

By the way, when is that win an x-box every ten seconds is gonna take place. Hey, if I can get one free, i already have my wish list(im kinda shallow...........DEAL WIT IT)

[Brimstone]

LOD is more forgiving in a flight sim than a FPS, so the hard drive should come in real handy to cache the terrain with hi-res textures.

I'm curious to know if a game like World Airforce is a case where you would want the unified shaders on the Xenos GPU to do nothing put pixel shading, and use the CPU for all the vertex workload? Also wouldn't procedural synthesis be useful on things like ground textures and terrain features?

[MrSingh]

Poor troll attempt...

Screens look very nice btw.

alright you got me. :lol:

but I assure you I'm the biggest Xbox fan in east Tokyo. :lol:

[liverkick]

I guess I bothered the hive by saying the terrain looks like ass. :)

Hard to tell much difference in that short trailer, and it isnt direct feed. Clouds look nice though.

Compare AC5 (ps2) terrain with the World Airforce capture.

http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/554/554118/ace-combat-5-the-unsung-war-20041005095931704.jpg

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2005/206/929256_20050726_screen003.jpg

Like I said I hope its just a placeholder. I agree with Shifty, I'd like to see a huge jump in detail on the environment itself on next gen flight games to go along with all the other expected advancements. Personally I cant wait to see how next gen Ace Combat is going to turn out.

[london-boy]

Poor troll attempt...

Screens look very nice btw.

alright you got me. :lol:

but I assure you I'm the biggest Xbox fan in east Tokyo. :lol:

Surely you mean the only one? :wink:

[Mintmaster]

12 posts in and no one comments on the ugly ass terrain? And you call yourselves the B3D console forum? :)

Seriously though, that looks sub Ace Combat. :? Hopefully they're just placeholders. I take it most of the energy has been spent on those gorgeous looking jets so far.

I was going to comment on the second pic -- the terrain does look rather bad (like a semi hi-res photo but not hi-res enough). The terrain looks terribly flat and picture-esque (in the bad way, like it was just a texture pasted on a flat ground).
Personally I think this makes it look more realistic. There should be a good depth of field in a game like this. Have either of you seen the movie True Lies? Remember when the camera was looking down on the Harrier, and you could see the street below? The latter was focussed too sharply, so it looked too obviously superimposed.

[Almasy]

I guess I bothered the hive by saying the terrain looks like ass. :)

Hard to tell much difference in that short trailer, and it isnt direct feed. Clouds look nice though.

Compare AC5 (ps2) terrain with the World Airforce capture.

http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/554/554118/ace-combat-5-the-unsung-war-20041005095931704.jpg

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2005/206/929256_20050726_screen003.jpg

Like I said I hope its just a placeholder. I agree with Shifty, I'd like to see a huge jump in detail on the environment itself on next gen flight games to go along with all the other expected advancements. Personally I cant wait to see how next gen Ace Combat is going to turn out.

Heh, that explains why I had the feeling I had already seen these screenshots. :P

[ralexand]

I guess I bothered the hive by saying the terrain looks like ass. :)

Hard to tell much difference in that short trailer, and it isnt direct feed. Clouds look nice though.

Compare AC5 (ps2) terrain with the World Airforce capture.

http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/554/554118/ace-combat-5-the-unsung-war-20041005095931704.jpg

How about showing a real screen of Ace Combat.
http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/559/559903/ace-combat-5-the-unsung-war-20041025095619392.jpg

[liverkick]

Im sorry, what was fake about that IGN shot again? Because it was frame buffer? The terrain texture looks exactly the same from that height on my Wega. Oh, the one you provided showed the textures up close so they look a lot worse. Wow ya dont say? Like every other AC game in history.

:roll:

The comparison is more than apt. The World Airforce terrain in that capture looks worse than a game on previous generation hardware, and I hope its not indicitive of the final product.

[Pete]

Really? These (http://www.gaming-age.com/cgi-bin/img.pl?image=/reviews/ps2/acecombat5/&img=2&imgnum=4&returnpath=/cgi-bin/reviews/review.pl?sys=ps2%26game=acecombat5) two (http://www.gaming-age.com/cgi-bin/img.pl?image=/reviews/ps2/acecombat5/&img=3&imgnum=4&returnpath=/cgi-bin/reviews/review.pl?sys=ps2%26game=acecombat5) shots from G-A don't look similar, so I'm thinking one is a cutscene/replay and one is in-game. Is the difference in AA and lighting on the planes so pronounced? Does the ground detail improve in replays?

[MrSingh]

Surely you mean the only one? :wink:

You'll never know how hard it is to be the only gay in the village.

[liverkick]

Really? These (http://www.gaming-age.com/cgi-bin/img.pl?image=/reviews/ps2/acecombat5/&img=2&imgnum=4&returnpath=/cgi-bin/reviews/review.pl?sys=ps2%26game=acecombat5) two (http://www.gaming-age.com/cgi-bin/img.pl?image=/reviews/ps2/acecombat5/&img=3&imgnum=4&returnpath=/cgi-bin/reviews/review.pl?sys=ps2%26game=acecombat5) shots from G-A don't look similar, so I'm thinking one is a cutscene/replay and one is in-game. Is the difference in AA and lighting on the planes so pronounced? Does the ground detail improve in replays?

Not in replays, but in general with AC games the ground "detail" improves the further you're away from it. ;)

Aliasing is worse in game than in replays (its not as bad as those captures on my set though). Regardless my point was the terrain at that distance is of the same quality, and I'd certainly expect an improvement on a next gen flight game. So I stand by my assessment that World Airforce's terrain looks like raw booty. :)

[Kill_Jade]

I guess I bothered the hive by saying the terrain looks like ass. :)

Hard to tell much difference in that short trailer, and it isnt direct feed. Clouds look nice though.

Compare AC5 (ps2) terrain with the World Airforce capture.

http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/554/554118/ace-combat-5-the-unsung-war-20041005095931704.jpg

How about showing a real screen of Ace Combat.
http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/559/559903/ace-combat-5-the-unsung-war-20041025095619392.jpg


hmmm i have AC5 and it sure doenst look like that. this game looks good but the first thing i thougth when i saw the screens was AC5.

[Shifty Geezer]

Personally I think this makes it look more realistic. There should be a good depth of field in a game like this. Have either of you seen the movie True Lies? Remember when the camera was looking down on the Harrier, and you could see the street below? The latter was focussed too sharply, so it looked too obviously superimposed.
Just went looking for a real-life example of what things should look like.
http://www2.arnes.si/~ttomsi5/eurofighter-2.jpg
Of course it depends on the lens type as the wider the angle and smaller the aperture, the less DOF you'd get.
Here's another...
http://www.bundeswehr.de/C1256EF40036B05B/CurrentBaseLink/W269TH5A309INFODE/$FILE/050221_eurofighter.jpg

[PC-Engine]

Compare AC5 (ps2) terrain with the World Airforce capture.

The terrain are from two totally different heights. It's obvious it'll look better at higher altitudes...

BTW I think we should stop with the downscaled highresoluiton PS2 devkit PR shots.

http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/558/558767/ace-combat-5-the-unsung-war-20041021021425439.jpg

http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/552/552711/ace-combat-5-the-unsung-war-20040930030523062.jpg

http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/article/554/554118/ace-combat-5-the-unsung-war-20041005095924938.jpg

[Fafalada]

It reminded me of AC5 too - but with shots like these, can you blame me?
http://ps2media.ign.com/ps2/image/acecombat5_032504_006.jpg
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2005/206/929256_20050726_screen003.jpg

[PC-Engine]

The difference between the two will be that one looks like complete turd in-game PS2 AC5 while the other won't. It seems like the WA screenshot has heat haze coming out from the afterburners of the fights too. 8)

but in general with AC games the ground "detail" improves the further you're away from it.

Isn't this true with other air combat games as well? BTW look at that WA screenshot again. It's nowhere as high as the other AC5 pics you posted. I wouldn't be surprised if WA looked a lot better than AC5 at the same altitudes. The fighters defintely look a lot better.

[macabre]

The difference between the two will be that one looks like complete turd in-game PS2 AC5 while the other won't.

And it better should not considering the hardware.

[PC-Engine]

The difference between the two will be that one looks like complete turd in-game PS2 AC5 while the other won't.

And it better should not considering the hardware.

I'm sure it will.

[Brimstone]

Some new shots from Watch Impress of Japan.

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20050801/waf03.jpg


http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20050801/waf04.jpg

[overclocked]

One thing that makes ACE look and feel so good is the buttersmoth fps. Metroid for sims..