Genji: Dawn of the Samurai

[London Geezer]

Man this game looks very interesting! Screen grabs are criminally bad, but you can see the art is top notch.
Very interested in this game!

Safe to say they are all realtime, though they are low-res shots blown up to 640x480... They do look beautiful though.

 

[Guden Oden]

I could have sworn it was an xbox game, but it's actually PS2? Jeez! Who was it who complained about washed-out colors etc?

Of course it's hard to tell for sure what this title looks like REALLY considering how fuzzy the shots are (lots of jpeg artifacts and they seem scaled up from non-power-of-two source compared to the final rez... Still, it looks very good I have to say. Maybe even damn good.

 

[London Geezer]

I could have sworn it was an xbox game, but it's actually PS2? Jeez! Who was it who complained about washed-out colors etc?

Of course it's hard to tell for sure what this title looks like REALLY considering how fuzzy the shots are (lots of jpeg artifacts and they seem scaled up from non-power-of-two source compared to the final rez... Still, it looks very good I have to say. Maybe even damn good.

Yeah, the rez of the shots is half what it should be, but even then, it just looks freaking amazing! And on top of it, it sounds like a good game too! Seems Sony's first party keeps getting better and better. Which is always a Good Thing (TM)

 

[one]

Seems Sony's first party keeps getting better and better. Which is always a Good Thing (TM)

Well it's rather a 2nd party title, it's developed by Game Republic (which will release 2 games on Xbox 360 later)

 

[London Geezer]

Seems Sony's first party keeps getting better and better. Which is always a Good Thing (TM)

Well it's not a 1st party title, it's developed by Game Republic (which will release 2 games on Xbox 360 later)

Ooooh right!!

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Add that to Shining Force Neo, Wanda, Oikedoneken or whatever the water colour rendered one is called...there's loads of excellent work comaing out on PS2 nowadays. Maybe devs are finally using those vector processors?!

Imagine what would have happened if this level of art was possible at PS2's launch.

 

[London Geezer]

Add that to Shining Force Neo, Wanda, Oikedoneken or whatever the water colour rendered one is called...there's loads of excellent work comaing out on PS2 nowadays. Maybe devs are finally using those vector processors?!

Imagine what would have happened if this level of art was possible at PS2's launch.

Errmm the VUs have been used for quite a long time!

This level of art is possible because the artists came up with the good art, not because they found magical hidden powers in PS2.

 

[xmu]

Add that to Shining Force Neo, Wanda, Oikedoneken or whatever the water colour rendered one is called...

You mean Okami? It's not water colours though, but insanely pretty. The Magic Box had new screenshots a few days ago, check them out.

http://www.the-magicbox.com/0504/game050424c.shtml

Naturally devs have gained a lot more knowledge of the PS2, but personally I think especially the artists are dying to try out fresh new looks for the games. Also it's just as good a try as any to try and stand out in the crowded market.

 

[Kolgar]

OMG!!11! Developers have finally found PS2's m4xim|_|m p0t3nsh4lz!!111

Hehehe, no, but seriously. Those screens look very impressive. Amazing what devs are achieving with that little black, underpowered, hard-to-program box.

 

[Guden Oden]

Seems Sony's first party keeps getting better and better.

What?! Sony has first-party games?!

This has always been Sony's biggest achilles heel, the lack of credible "mascot" games. Is there ANY game series that one instantly associates with PS? I can't think of even one, though there are of course many well-known series that are PS-exclusive.

 

[London Geezer]

Seems Sony's first party keeps getting better and better.

What?! Sony has first-party games?!

This has always been Sony's biggest achilles heel, the lack of credible "mascot" games. Is there ANY game series that one instantly associates with PS? I can't think of even one, though there are of course many well-known series that are PS-exclusive.

That's the thing. Nowadays people associate GTA, FF and GT to Playstation, whether or not they're actually 1st party "mascot" games.
No one cares about mascots! They care about huge games like GTA, big boobies and shiny shine!

 

[V3]

Seems Sony's first party keeps getting better and better.

What?! Sony has first-party games?!

This has always been Sony's biggest achilles heel, the lack of credible "mascot" games. Is there ANY game series that one instantly associates with PS? I can't think of even one, though there are of course many well-known series that are PS-exclusive.

That's what Sony wanted anyway, not to be associated with mascot.

 

[Phil]

the only one that comes close, would be Crash, from Crash Bandicoot... despite that the game was by a 3rd party developer...

 

[London Geezer]

the only one that comes close, would be Crash, from Crash Bandicoot... despite that the game was by a 3rd party developer...

No one cares about Crash anymore.
Geeks are still hung up with mascots from years back, from the Sonic and Mario games. No one cares about mascots these days.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I think mascots are last millenium. Since Sonic and Mario, everyone wanted a mascot. Commodore wanted a mascot for Amgia/CD32, and tried Zool, Osar, and others but nothing worked. Apart from Mario and Sonic I don't recall any particular mascots for other platforms.

I think PS2 has overcome a simplicistic model and presents itself as an all-round gaming platform, not just 'the platform you need to play this game.' Nintendo is still tied to Mario and Zelda, you bought Sega to play Sonic, and XB seems tied to Halo. I guess PS2 does have GT and friends but to me at least, they don't have the 'must get a PS2 to play' image. They're just strong sellers and one of many strings to the PS2's bow.

Mascots have 'matured' into franchises, which sounds more mature and allows more of them

L-B : Regards VU0 and VU1, wasn't it last year Sony said 80% of games weren't using them?

 

[London Geezer]

L-B : Regards VU0 and VU1, wasn't it last year Sony said 80% of games weren't using them?

VU1 has always been used properly more or less, since it, coupled with the GS, is basically PS2's "GPU".

VU0 is more of a mixed bag, but all the best looking games use it. Maybe not efficiently, but it's definately being used.

 

[London Geezer]

i must be mising something about the gushing....genji even by ps2 standards is average...oni3 look better

fuzzy, yes jpeg compressons, but also part of typical ps2 PQ. doubt blown up even contribute to fuzzys. this look fine.

The screens in the first post were the ones that made people go "ooo pretty!".
And more for the art than for technical reasons, but thanks for budging in, chap. As you can see, the first screens are much different from this one.

 

[PC-Engine]

Regards VU0 and VU1, wasn't it last year Sony said 80% of games weren't using them

And you believe that?

If the VUs aren't being used, then how are the polygons being transformed? Magic?

 

[London Geezer]

Regards VU0 and VU1, wasn't it last year Sony said 80% of games weren't using them

And you believe that?

If the VUs aren't being used, then how are the polygons being transformed? Magic?

That's been covered already, thanks for your contribution.

 

[Phil]

I take it as clear he was refering to VU0 often being used in macro-mode instead of micro-mode.