I'm personally wondering what Virtua Fighter Quest is going to look like.
It seems like the next-gen in game graphics is going to be characterized by heavy shading, self-shadowing, and more realistic looking object surfaces like metal, wood, fabric, etc. Halo 2, and Doom III to some extent, seem to be distinguishing themselves from earlier games by pulling that look off while still maintaining larger scale scenes and worlds.
For recent, real-time 3D graphics representation in games, I'd say the progression has been something like:
- Advanced, high-speed sprite scaling like Hang On and Space Harrier from AM2 in the mid-eighties
- Flat-shaded polys with a smooth animation and camera introduced around 1993 with Virtua Racing and Virtua Fighter 1 from AM2
- High-res, 60 fps 3D with texture mapped polys around 1995 in Daytona USA and Virtua Fighter 2 from AM2
- Perspective correct 3D with polygons using all sorts of texture filtering, mip-mapping, z-buffer, and other effects a year or so later in Super GT and Virtua Fighter 3 from AM2
- Larger scale and more detailed geometry with more pronounced usage of lighting, particles, and texture effects and variation with Shenmue in 1999 from AM2
The next major shift that will distinguish the "look" of the new era of 3D from the last will be the deeper and better lighting, realistic surfacing of materials, and the self-shadowing we're seeing now in Halo 2 screenshots. With AM2 having been the one to set the pace for so many of the past eras, it's only natural to think they could be the first to release a game that distinguishes the next. And while we haven't seen any evidence in that respect from AM2 yet, they suspiciously have a big project looming for release possibly before Halo 2 of which we still haven't had a peek of yet - Virtua Fighter Quest. I'm not saying Virtua Fighter Quest will fit that billing for sure and get the jump on the next-gen Halos and Dooms, but I wouldn't be too surprised if they did. Of course, they also have a new Outrun and some other projects due soon enough for release which we haven't seen yet, too.
Even if it is Halo 2 which changes the paradigm with polybumped detailing and heavier usage of more advanced lighting/shadowing schemes, I'm still pretty interested to see some of the finer details of Virtua Fighter Quest's graphics - like the animation and look of the fabric in the clothing on the Virtua Fighter characters. The series has always made exceptional strides in having the material fold, crease, ripple, flow, and animate well off the fighters' bodies, and Suzuki recently expressed his desire to see human flesh, skeleton, and muscle structure modeled better in games... in fact, one of the reasons he didn't include the sumo-wrestler Taka for VF4 was because AM2 couldn't saisfactorily account for the behavior when his rolls of fat were struck by blows from other characters.
It'll be interesting to see if AM2 made any significant progress in the behavior and look of the characters' bodies and clothing for Virtua Fighter Quest. The clothes will probably look pretty real, and if VF4 is anything to go by, the lighting could also be pretty killer too (VF4 arcade's lighting on the rooftop stage looked incredible, and in some ways has already set the stage for the newer era of lighting-heavy games.)
