Digital Foundry tech analysis channel at Eurogamer
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grandmaster
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grandmaster
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Can easily do that if you want as Alex has already annotated it, but I was kinda tempted to roll that into a Ico/SotC/TLG feature at some point in the future. Though maybe that's not such a good idea.
Good idea
I did try my luck by talking about the 360's eDRAM, responsible for so many of the advantages in certain crossplatform projects, but the question turned out to be pointless and went nowhere. Criterion simply don't look at the consoles in the same way as we would traditionally believe developers do, or in the way that we discuss them on the internet - they simply gauge their balance points so that what they do works on both. I thought the Black response about how they used the eDRAM in the PS2 was interesting though and what worked well on Xbox that gave them the room to replicate it on an entirely different architecture.
I've been thinking a lot about this interview and how it works so well and it comes down to a few factors. First of all, I was in the room with the guys - no email replies; answers were genuine and off-the-cuff. Secondly I was allowed to ask whatever I wanted, and write whatever I wanted, with just a few common sense restrictions - ie talking about new projects etc. Thirdly, it's the same tech team behind all of Criterion's hits - there's a continuity there that allowed for some fascinating answers. And finally, no marketing influence or moderation!
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I loved the interview, excellent work, grandmaster.
We kinda want.
Regarding Black, I hope that after the NFS game they go for Black 2.
Hope never dies.
Btw, when will you visit Naughty Dog for a similar interview? You seem to get along pretty well with them.
We kinda want.
Regarding Black, I hope that after the NFS game they go for Black 2.
Hope never dies.
Btw, when will you visit Naughty Dog for a similar interview? You seem to get along pretty well with them.
It'd be so cool if you could have that kind of freedom in future interviews, I'd love to read an unguarded wide ranging chat with some of the 1st party teams (shame the PR folks prolly wouldn't go for it), or one of the more established houses like say ... Rebellion, nothing against the start-ups, I wouldn't say "no" to a Media Molecule article for instance, I just figure more history = more variety to the interview.
This quote:makes me really wonder about when Ms will manage to have real ninja/top developers to push something really tapping in what the 360 can do best... Not much hope tho ...
Rare? Lionhead? Turn 10 (to me) appear to have made huge strides with F3, if F4 is x360 it'll be interesting to see how much further they can push it.
This is why I love podcasts. A lot of talk in podcasts seems a lot more 'off-the-record' no b.s. type conversation and there is rarely a marketing person censoring what's being said. The interview reminded me in that respect of some of Criterion's own podcasts.
As far as pushing the 360 goes, I just don't know. Bizarre seemed to be doing it best in PGR4 (and a little bit Geometry Wars), but for many people Gears 2 still seems the stand-out title, even though I can't really see why (although it seemed to at least have more/better particle effects than Gears 1), and it's somewhat disconcerting that an Unreal Engine game should be a graphical showcase for a system. Lost Planet (1 and 2) are titles I think that use the EDRAM fairly effectively at least. Otherwise though I just don't know - so far 360 games have had serious trouble exciting me on a technical level.
As far as pushing the 360 goes, I just don't know. Bizarre seemed to be doing it best in PGR4 (and a little bit Geometry Wars), but for many people Gears 2 still seems the stand-out title, even though I can't really see why (although it seemed to at least have more/better particle effects than Gears 1), and it's somewhat disconcerting that an Unreal Engine game should be a graphical showcase for a system. Lost Planet (1 and 2) are titles I think that use the EDRAM fairly effectively at least. Otherwise though I just don't know - so far 360 games have had serious trouble exciting me on a technical level.
grandmaster
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Perhaps, and they've already admitted there's lots of CPU time going spare on the consoles, but maybe the Black answer about how world drawing/particles were 50/50 on PS2 and 25/75 on Xbox is more of an indicative answer about how different levels of resources are required to achieve the same thing.
standing ovation
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Apparently, Criterion spends a LOT of time in pre-production, a phase that lasts about as long as a first-party development cycle. But for a middleware manufacturer, it's just enough time to get the operating room setup.
I got the impression that they used this time to create a new architecture, a weighted average of sorts, which would become the target platform. Content is then developed/created with this spec in mind. (Behind-the-scenes, middleware management ensures that what's happening to the virtual architecture can be replicated on a menagerie of real world platforms.)
Now once this framework is in place, you should be able to evolve the end-product AND the production process simultaneously—provided, of course, that everybody plays by the rules.
I got the impression that they used this time to create a new architecture, a weighted average of sorts, which would become the target platform. Content is then developed/created with this spec in mind. (Behind-the-scenes, middleware management ensures that what's happening to the virtual architecture can be replicated on a menagerie of real world platforms.)
Now once this framework is in place, you should be able to evolve the end-product AND the production process simultaneously—provided, of course, that everybody plays by the rules.
grandmaster
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A small but important update on the DF blog. Now, articles directly linked externally will be displayed in the DF template, as opposed to the Eurogamer one I've been pressing for this for ages because while I have no problem with EG airlifting DF stuff into their site, I wasn't happy about all of our content looking like EG stuff when people linked to it.
It's all about building a bit of brand awareness.
Oh and here's the Last Guardian piece... a bit inconclusive at the moment.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-last-guardian-e3-blog-entry
I've been pressing for this for ages because while I have no problem with EG airlifting DF stuff into their site, I wasn't happy about all of our content looking like EG stuff when people linked to it.It's all about building a bit of brand awareness.
Oh and here's the Last Guardian piece... a bit inconclusive at the moment.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-last-guardian-e3-blog-entry
A small but important update on the DF blog. Now, articles directly linked externally will be displayed in the DF template, as opposed to the Eurogamer one
It's all about building a bit of brand awareness.
Oh and here's the Last Guardian piece... a bit inconclusive at the moment.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-last-guardian-e3-blog-entry
Good work
grandmaster
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With a fair wind, we should have an absolutely brilliant Red Faction Guerrilla feature up on Saturday. Volition is an absolute joy to work with.
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