That was a "beyond polygons" quote from sony interpreted by the gaming press to be the alternative to polygons. In the 3d modeling industry the new hotness was NURBS, so the press assumed they were the thing. I don't think Sony ever said NURBS, but I do remember at the time remembering how much more computational NURBS were on my PC (I dabbled in some 3d modeling, never really got far), and thinking that Dreamcast and the un-named Nintendo console were in trouble. Then the PS2 came out and it was polygons, and you could see them.
Console marketing nonsense *spawn
- Thread starter vipa899
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I still think that mgs2 is the most impressive title as a 'launch' game for a console. As you said it had everything technically but it was a great game aswell, think it says more about konami then the PS2 though, since ps2 was so hard to program for, yet konami delivered with mgs2 so early. No other game really topped it, MGS3 was a unstable 30fps and not that much better looking.
Game had dd5.1 during some cutscenes too, which was unusual by then.
Same goes for tekken tag tournament, T5 doesnt look that much better, TTT even has some advantages.
One could say the ps2s potentional was maxed quite much during its first year.
Yeah, MGS2 is imo the most impressive PS2 game from a technical perspective, considering what they pulled off so early into the life of the system. Well, I guess Jak and Daxter was out around the same time and did an entire open world at 60 fps (probably a good bit higher polygon count too), but I don't like that game as much 
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I remember back in 1999 when the specs were released that in the polygon numbers per second under different situations (wireframe, textured, shaded etc) they also had a number of NURBS per second.
It probably was an underutilized feature (or one never utilized).
Then I remember someone in these forums mentioning that the PS2 was designed to be used in specific ways to take fully take advantage of, but the standard workflows of the industry dictated a standard utilization of the hardware, which meant that we never saw fully the PS2's potential if games were programmed differently.
https://www.ign.com/articles/1999/02/19/is-the-playstation-2-cg-quality
So much talk about Bezier surfaces.
So much talk about Bezier surfaces.
Garrett Weaving
Newcomer
Anybody else remember this?
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/04/17/playstation_2_exports/
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/04/17/playstation_2_exports/
You mean, like, rendering everything on the DSPs? I don't think one could go very far, but you certainly can do a couple things. You are still leaving an extremely powerful rasterizer unused, which can't be made to help with your unorthodox rendered because it's totally fixed function.
Sounds very exciting, wonder how games would have looked like on the PS2. Untapped potentionals at its best.
Yeah, the world was holding its breath, in fear for the mighty PS2.
Sony is the master of hype, would be a missed oppertunity to not do it again with the PS5.
Sony were so good at hype that Microsoft's far more egregious sins in this department are commonly misattributed to them. Killzone 2 was bad, but have you ever compared the dancing robot demo they claimed was real-time (it was prerendered) with the actual real-time one on the original Xbox? And the PS3 losing a couple port happened years after Microsoft introduced the Xbox console as a giant silver 3D X shaped thing.
Garrett Weaving
Newcomer
I wonder to what degree those rumours made potential Dreamcast buyers think twice about going with SEGA that round. It's often cited as the number one reason that the Dreamcast failed, the impending launch of the PS2. Kinda funny if you think about it, since a lot of the early PS2 games that came out on both systems were usually inferior on Sony's console. By late 2001 is where things really started to get serious with stuff such as Silent Hill 2, Metal Gear Solid 2, Ico etc... Sometimes I wonder how the Dreamcast could have compared.
Also, you guys are right, Metal Gear Solid 2 was jaw dropping at the time. I was hugely into MGS1 and I first saw MGS2 in action in the summer of 2002 (European launch was delayed) at a friend's house and I just couldn't believe my eyes. I remember thinking at the time just how smooth it looked, probably because of the framerate which I didn't realize at the time. The friend that showcased it to me started at the Tanker chapter and played that in its entirety I believe and then... He shut it off and told me I may want to play the rest on my own someday. He fucking knew, that prick.
Also, you guys are right, Metal Gear Solid 2 was jaw dropping at the time. I was hugely into MGS1 and I first saw MGS2 in action in the summer of 2002 (European launch was delayed) at a friend's house and I just couldn't believe my eyes. I remember thinking at the time just how smooth it looked, probably because of the framerate which I didn't realize at the time. The friend that showcased it to me started at the Tanker chapter and played that in its entirety I believe and then... He shut it off and told me I may want to play the rest on my own someday. He fucking knew, that prick
.Sony hyping things have toned down alot with the arrival of the PS4 though, guess in modern times it doesnt generate as much attention anymore? Is it because of X86/pc GPU hardware?
Thought it was quite exciting reading the PS2/Sony brochure as a kid with the extreme hype, about giving emotions and feelings, and being 20times better then then-current hardware. The 128-bit crazyness helped that too. Everyone wanting to take part of this 'third place' adventure, all wanted a PS2 badly. Il never forget opening the box and starting the thing up, can say that the Sony hype got me into wanting one at launch, much more so then a GC or Xbox which went almost un-noticed here thanks to Sonys hyping and TV ads.
Thought it was quite exciting reading the PS2/Sony brochure as a kid with the extreme hype, about giving emotions and feelings, and being 20times better then then-current hardware. The 128-bit crazyness helped that too. Everyone wanting to take part of this 'third place' adventure, all wanted a PS2 badly. Il never forget opening the box and starting the thing up, can say that the Sony hype got me into wanting one at launch, much more so then a GC or Xbox which went almost un-noticed here thanks to Sonys hyping and TV ads.
A LOT. The hype and tech demos were enough to make people believe that the PS2 was going to be on another level compared to the Dreamcast.
We also had some interviews stating that they used data from the CG movies to make some of the tech demos such as the Final Fantasy 8 demo and the old man who was based on a model from Spirits Within.
If I recall correctly I think George Lucas mentioned something similar about using data from films to the PS2.
While the DC was demonstrating the incredible visuals of Shenmue and the character facials, the old man tech demo obliterated anything seen on the DC, including Sega's Irimajiri tech demo.
The DC looked like old news.
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Correct. They played it much more straight with PS4. But I think it's the effect of the humbling they received with ps3's launch. They didn't want to repeat that fiasco for sure. They were concentrating on doing things right that time. No gimmicks. Which is great, that's how we want to see companies operate. I hope they mantain that mindset with ps5.
I wonder to what degree those rumours made potential Dreamcast buyers think twice about going with SEGA that round. It's often cited as the number one reason that the Dreamcast failed, the impending launch of the PS2. Kinda funny if you think about it, since a lot of the early PS2 games that came out on both systems were usually inferior on Sony's console. By late 2001 is where things really started to get serious with stuff such as Silent Hill 2, Metal Gear Solid 2, Ico etc... Sometimes I wonder how the Dreamcast could have compared.
Also, you guys are right, Metal Gear Solid 2 was jaw dropping at the time. I was hugely into MGS1 and I first saw MGS2 in action in the summer of 2002 (European launch was delayed) at a friend's house and I just couldn't believe my eyes. I remember thinking at the time just how smooth it looked, probably because of the framerate which I didn't realize at the time. The friend that showcased it to me started at the Tanker chapter and played that in its entirety I believe and then... He shut it off and told me I may want to play the rest on my own someday. He fucking knew, that prick
Tech demos are one thing, but in those days the people feeding off that was even smaller than today's 'DF' kids.
I worked in sales at the time, and the DVD player was a big selling feature...as was BC
The fact that the DVD player was a big selling feature for those not much into gaming doesn't mean people interested in gaming were not super hyped about the PS2's supposed hyper graphics.
The PS1 was the most successful console ever released back then and eager people for the next PS2 were in large numbers. A few images or one or two videos were enough to spread the word and make people go nuts.
DF kids look for details and technical analysis. Technical analysis and real technological knowledge had zero value then. The masses responded to easilly consumable information even if they had zero connection to reality
Garrett Weaving
Newcomer
I agree. A couple of photos and badly translated info/interviews on GamePro was enough to get people excited keep the machine rolling back then.
Also, you guys are right, Metal Gear Solid 2 was jaw dropping at the time. I was hugely into MGS1 and I first saw MGS2 in action in the summer of 2002 (European launch was delayed) at a friend's house and I just couldn't believe my eyes. I remember thinking at the time just how smooth it looked, probably because of the framerate which I didn't realize at the time. The friend that showcased it to me started at the Tanker chapter and played that in its entirety I believe and then... He shut it off and told me I may want to play the rest on my own someday. He fucking knew, that prick
To me MGS2 always looked old vs. Splinter Cell, graphics and game mechanics/gameplay wise.
Btw do any of you gusy remember these demos?
I wonder if they were indeed running on PS2 back then. It looked much better than the final game on XBOX and the shadows were really impressive looking and soft.
I was never sure if those were target renders or real time on high specced hardware or on a PS2.
I wonder if they were indeed running on PS2 back then. It looked much better than the final game on XBOX and the shadows were really impressive looking and soft.
I was never sure if those were target renders or real time on high specced hardware or on a PS2.
Yes, I do!
Running on more powerfull xbox hardware yeah.
