I knew that this poor guy would be reputation'd into oblivion for this post
Poor guy? 1 Post, inaccurate flamebait posts hardly represent a "poor guy".
even though each point he made can actually be factually conceded going from the media we have access to.
Oh really? Lets take a look at his points and see if they can all be factually conceded:
* Almost completely static environments
Lets define static environment. Most games, specifically FPS, have worlds where outside of blowing up windows (and sometimes not even that) the worlds are very static. In GOW we have seen buildings crash, the ground crumble and monsters crawl out, and most importantly a contextual cover system where various sorts of cover provide different amounts of protection--from nearly undestructible cover, to crumbling cover, to cover that is easily penetrated.
In the context of console games, specifically this genre, the environment are hardly "almost completely static" and provide not only some eye candy based environment changes but also environmental destruction that impacts gameplay. At this point in time you cannot ask for much more than that.
environments with poor texture quality
Oh come on, this is an UE3 strength and GOW has very, very good texture quality. If you are going to "factually conceded" this as you state, then the bottom line is you are not comparing GOW to console games at all.
* Low poly - overly normal mapped models - leading to that blurry look of the character details
The core models run in the 10k range. Overly normal mapped is subjective, but the detail tradeoff for finer detail is in favor of normals over the expense of true geometry and hence almost the entire industry leans this way. As for the relationship to blurry character detail (have not seen it in any 720p direct feed...) the only thing I can think of is LOD, but this impacts all games in regards to texture and mesh detail, and I would go on a limb and say GOW is on the better IQ end in regards to character detail.
* Can't maintain steady fps during firefights
1. Since the threaded renderer was added, can he show one example of frame drops due to firefights?
2. In the past the framedrops were actually not limited to firefights.
I see this point as a total fall back: Many games, in heavy action, drop framerate, so one size fit all accusation... right? Hardly. GOW during development, like many games, demonstrated framerate instability. Since they have stabilized the engine every media and press account I have read have noted the stable framerates.
This may or may not be true of the finished product, but the most recent available media doesn't substantiate this point.
* Amateur effects system other than the blood
The water (rain, puddles, drain and spouts, sewer flow, etc) is excellent, in addition to many other effects.
PeterT said:
Sure, he picked just the bad parts and highlighted them
I guess you agree with him that the texture quality is poor and so forth.
PeterT said:
It also again shows the fact that the reputation system doesn't reward independent thought, but talent in recognizing the party line and parrotting it.
Hardly. While it can reward party line thinking and posting, and at times punish for not following suit, I have a lot of negative posts/threads about all the companies and products. But in general, I will say this: People with higher rep reward independant and well thought out posting, regardless of positive IF you are fairly and honestly evaluating the topic. Now, there are posters who never, ever give me rep and there are some I get negative rep from on a near weekly basis
lol
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But one purpose of the rep system is to identify trolls right off the bat... and in this case it worked perfectly. It is a red square, not a big deal. Easy enough to get ride of if so desired... and kind of irrelevant to begin with. And getting rep isn't hard... I was gone for ~ 6 months, all it takes is an objective tone, fair posting habits (even with preferences... everyone has 'em), and thoughtful/respectful replies. And in general you have to maintain such -- people see through phonies. Anyhow, I sense your defense of him is either you agree with his infactual points (which your comments indicate in places) and, as you noted, your dislike for rep. With all due respect, his post absolutely deserved neg rep because of the tone and errors. 1 post wonders are on a short leash on a technically oriented forum like B3D.