Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

[fearsomepirate]

New screens:

http://gonintendo.com/?p=18283

FSAA was apparently too cutting-edge for Nintendo to pursue.

When have FPS games been about graphics? What did anyone ever talk about when Doom, Quake, Quake 2, Unreal, UT 2K4, Doom 3, Halo 2, Far Cry, or Half-Life 2 were coming up? Pretty much the graphics. 90% of FPS hype is graphics-related. Occasionally people get excited about some new vehicle, weapon, or deathmatch mode, but it's mostly about graphics. If you want buzz about your FPS and don't have killer ueber-sweet graphics, it had better be ridiculously awesome.

 

[Natoma]

Agreed. If those are indeed current build screens, the controls must be ridiculously good on the Wii as to redefine how a FPS should play. Bye bye Red Steel controls. heh.

They've had so much additional time to work on this game. If they put it all into making the game run rock solid 60fps at 480p and flawless controls, then I can easily forgive the lack of graphics upgrade over the previous build in September. But as you said, the expectations are now VERY high.

 

[Corwin_B]

The latest batch of screenshots is pretty bad, which is strange since the in-game footage from last year was quite pleasing on the eyes. I remember screen grabs from MP1 and MP2 weren't that good either, though, and the games ended up looking great on the Cube. Since the MP engine was one of the only engines to really push the Cube last gen, I'm confident MP3 will be well in the end.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

New screens:

http://gonintendo.com/?p=18283

FSAA was apparently too cutting-edge for Nintendo to pursue.

When have FPS games been about graphics? What did anyone ever talk about when Doom, Quake, Quake 2, Unreal, UT 2K4, Doom 3, Halo 2, Far Cry, or Half-Life 2 were coming up? Pretty much the graphics. 90% of FPS hype is graphics-related. Occasionally people get excited about some new vehicle, weapon, or deathmatch mode, but it's mostly about graphics. If you want buzz about your FPS and don't have killer ueber-sweet graphics, it had better be ridiculously awesome.

Those screens are the same as I posted (and supposedly from older builds as posted by other users). Agree with you on the rest.

 

[Eteric]

Kind of surprising that FPS are the most depandant on visuals, while Counter-Strike is still one of the most popular FPS games of all time.

I'd argue that sandbox games depend more on hardware more than any other genre. Crackdown is a good example.

Anyway, these screenshots were stretched, and lowered in quality (338kb). If it's like any other Metroid game, it looks better in motion.

 

[Cheezdoodles]

Kind of surprising that FPS are the most depandant on visuals, while Counter-Strike is still one of the most popular FPS games of all time.

What FPS games sell that aren't hyped up by graphics. You think Doom 3 sold because of gameplay? Its the exact same thing, with the same ridiculous cliche stories that we have played since the dawn of FPS games. But because it looks shiny (or bumpy) it will sell a million copies.

Crysis isn't exactly hyped because its the exact same gameplay etc, as we saw in Far Cry. Its being hyped because it looks amazing.

I'd argue that sandbox games depend more on hardware more than any other genre. Crackdown is a good example..

How is Crackdown a good example?

 

[Teasy]

New screens:

http://gonintendo.com/?p=18283

FSAA was apparently too cutting-edge for Nintendo to pursue.

When have FPS games been about graphics? What did anyone ever talk about when Doom, Quake, Quake 2, Unreal, UT 2K4, Doom 3, Halo 2, Far Cry, or Half-Life 2 were coming up? Pretty much the graphics. 90% of FPS hype is graphics-related. Occasionally people get excited about some new vehicle, weapon, or deathmatch mode, but it's mostly about graphics. If you want buzz about your FPS and don't have killer ueber-sweet graphics, it had better be ridiculously awesome.

Outside of Half Life 2 you just listed all my least favourite FPS's. Not suprisingly Half Life 2 is also the only example there of a game that was hyped for a lot more then its graphics. That said the majority of talk about any new big game these days seems to be graphics (very little else ever changes on most big console/PC ). Doesn't mean its really the most important eliment of a game. Or that a developer has to be sad if they can't create the latest graphics masterpeice. There are other things for a developer to do with his or her time after all.

 

[inefficient]

Outside of Half Life 2 you just listed all my least favourite FPS's. Not suprisingly Half Life 2 is also the only example there of a game that was hyped for a lot more then its graphics.

Are you kidding? Some of the biggest forum wars in the history of the internet was fought over HL2's graphics.

I'm sure if you search Beyond3D's history you will still see records of the scorched earth resulting from the HL2 Nvidia vs ATI benchmark and image quality wars.

 

[aselto]

How is Crackdown a good example?

Good graphics, very distant draw distance, smooth framerate, physics engine updated 240 times every second. It's a rather good showcase of what could be done when you're exclusive.

As fo Metroid Prime, the series is more like First Person Adventure, no? This, plus the fact that Retro is making the game on the very popular next-gen platform where they have little to zero competition should make thair game sell rather better than Echoes did.

I feel sorry for the guys at Retro. I'm sure they're doing their best with the hand they've been dealt. It's just kind of a sad time to be an FPS game developer on a Nintendo platform.

For the PS3 and 360, even a third rate developer with 1/10th the experience the Retro guys have could license the unreal engine and develop a vastly better looking game that what we are seeing here at this point.

You're suggesting that Irrational Games is a third rate developer? Bioshock is launching almost the same day and is running UE3.
edit: but maybe you weren't thinking about Bioshock at all.

 

[Teasy]

Are you kidding? Some of the biggest forum wars in the history of the internet was fought over HL2's graphics.

I'm sure if you search Beyond3D's history you will still see records of the scorched earth resulting from the HL2 Nvidia vs ATI benchmark and image quality wars.

Try reading would you? I didn't say nobody cared about Half Life 2's graphics. I said it was one of the only games mentioned there that was hyped for more then graphics alone. The fact that some nerds on a forum argued to death over benchmarks of the game doesn't change that. Half Life 2 was hyped for lots of things, the tight gameplay, AI, physics, story and interesting new takes on weaponry. Which is why I actually liked that game, something I can't say for any of the other games mentioned.

 

[fearsomepirate]

Doesn't mean its really the most important eliment of a game.

It does depending on your metric. If your metric is sales to consumers, then graphics (and I suppose other technology; HL2 made physics important) is probably your #1 concern. Remember STALKER? I read quite a few people on forums saying they'd lost interest because the graphics would be dated by this point. Interest perked back up when they heard it had features that would kill a lot of newer cards.

Of course, if your metric is how much you personally like the game, that's different.

 

[pc999]

It does depending on your metric. If your metric is sales to consumers, then graphics (and I suppose other technology; HL2 made physics important) is probably your #1 concern. Remember STALKER? I read quite a few people on forums saying they'd lost interest because the graphics would be dated by this point. Interest perked back up when they heard it had features that would kill a lot of newer cards.

Even by sales I dont think that gfx are the main concern, there is many games that dont go gfx alone PS2 games, EA games, and overall many multiplatform games that sold very well even having very bad gfx (specially on the GC/XB).

Meybe that is more true in the PC realm, but not that much in the console one.

Also if new tech is used for new gameplay (eg HL2/physics, Splinter cell/lighting) it starts to be hard to tell if gamers are hypped because of the tech per se or because of the new gameplay (or both).

 

[fearsomepirate]

Even by sales I dont think that gfx are the main concern, there is many games that dont go gfx alone PS2 games, EA games, and overall many multiplatform games that sold very well even having very bad gfx (specially on the GC/XB).

We were talking specifically about first-person shooters. As a genre, FPS's seem to be much more about the technology than any other, even relative to the platform.

 

[Teasy]

It does depending on your metric. If your metric is sales to consumers, then graphics (and I suppose other technology; HL2 made physics important) is probably your #1 concern. Remember STALKER? I read quite a few people on forums saying they'd lost interest because the graphics would be dated by this point. Interest perked back up when they heard it had features that would kill a lot of newer cards.

Of course, if your metric is how much you personally like the game, that's different.

Stalker is one game I do like, even though its graphics are nothing mind blowing. Anyway yeah the way I was looking at it was from a developer point of view. The poster I replied to was talking about it "being a sad time" for FPS developers on Wii. Which I took to mean that developers would not enjoy creating a FPS as much on Wii because they can't produce state of the art graphics. Which seems a little silly to me.

 

[NERO]

since there is no such industry accepted standarts for videogame genre classificiation ; ) it's only natural that we are disagreeing.

Whatever Metroid is, I enjoy it. I don't care too much for classifying games so I just label the thing - for the sake of conversation - a FPS adventure. It is an odd label because, who is to say that other fps aren't adventures? Looking for med packs and superweapons is still adventuring/exploring. All fps have some puzzle element even if it is menial - which is where MP differs a bit. The puzzles are at the forefront. But remember that to solve these puzzles or reign in prizes resulting from these puzzles nearly always involves shooting.

Your points are still valid faust, I just choose to paste fps before adventure.

 

[pc999]

We were talking specifically about first-person shooters. As a genre, FPS's seem to be much more about the technology than any other, even relative to the platform.

Even in FPSs, eg EA FPS used to sell very well even on the XB (althought not as good as the exclusives, but those are overall much better anyway). I do agree that FPS use much more the tech to get sales but I dont agree that is their most important point (just in some cases).

 

[DeadlyNinja]

I just want to point out that Nintendo makes some of THE MOST DREADFUL SCREEN SHOT ever. Take a look at the Mario Galaxy screens.

http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/732/732719/super-mario-galaxy-20060914080415034.jpg
http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/732/732719/super-mario-galaxy-20060914080418409.jpg
http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/732/732719/super-mario-galaxy-20060914080417081.jpg

It looks like they were taken from a 4:3 TV and stretched to look 16:9. We all know Mario Galaxy looks better than that.

 

[Eteric]

I just want to point out that Nintendo makes some of THE MOST DREADFUL SCREEN SHOT ever. Take a look at the Mario Galaxy screens.

http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/732/732719/super-mario-galaxy-20060914080415034.jpg
http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/732/732719/super-mario-galaxy-20060914080418409.jpg
http://wiimedia.ign.com/wii/image/article/732/732719/super-mario-galaxy-20060914080417081.jpg

It looks like they were taken from a 4:3 TV and stretched to look 16:9. We all know Mario Galaxy looks better than that.

IGN does that, I think.

That's why I dislike them sometimes.

 

[DeadlyNinja]

Hey, there are some new Metroid Prime 3 screens online, but I'm not sure if I can post a link. It's a scan from a magazine BUT it was posted on Nintendo's own forums and no one said anything. I'm not sure if I can post a link to the Nintendo forums, if not, you can go to their forums to find it yourself.

They look much better than the screens earlier.

 

[StefanS]

You can post them if the magazine was distributed for free, if not please don't post them.