Graphical effects rarely seen this gen that you expect/hope become standard next-gen

I think Lensflare is the key feature for 2010 and onwards.

Personally I don't think Lensflare is really important…
Only game where Lensflare have a justification is in games where the scenery is retranscribed by cameras. So we have sport game in TV mode, racing games in TV replay, may be a game there you are a droid, Meca, or a game where you a reporter with a camera. ;).

Definitively stable FPS, No Screen Tearing, AF, AA, but we all known that these they're be already sacrifice for some more "Eye-candy" effects, like in this generation.
 
The sharp shadows of UC1 (I suppose that the shadows in Crysis are even better)!

I am rather dissapointed that the shadow quality took a hit in UC2, as this was one of my favorite UC1 graphic features!! It seems that sharp non-jaggied shadows are difficult to achieve, as even the shadows in KZ2 look weird (look 'blocky' somehow).

EDIT: from the (rather bad quality) GOW3 demo captures I had the feeling that the shadows are sharp.
 
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But it depends on viewing distance and if first person view of third person view. In third person view shadows that are blocky or jaggied can be percieved as smooth due to distance. However in first person it would have been revelead they are blocky/jaggy.

For now in Crysis it is a combo of "high-res shadows" (1024x1024 or higher if custom), soft edge and jittering for that realistic shadow scattering effect. However far from perfect due to cascade LOD for distance. Maybe nitpicking but when the bar is so high every small thing is to be criticized.


So as said I would vouch for better solution regarding shadow cascade LOD to not need super duper high-res shadowmaps to counter effect. Especially in games where the shadows are rendered far away and are in motion due to environment factors. This repeated 2 times again.
 
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Insane amount of foliage (trees, bushes and grass) reacting to wind and your movement.

u got me there :)
seriously dense environment (Not necessarily foliage ) with full physics interaction is pretty much the only 'special' thing I want next gen (Excluding the obvious leap in shaders that will come with next gen).

Apart frm these I'd want:
1) Better AA (TSAA or any costom solutions)
2) Moaaaar games using AF (8xAF or above..though 4x is fine by me too )
 
I actually want anisotropic filtering standard more than I want MSAA. It's such a waste of good art assets when you render them with just a bilinear filter. Even old games like 6-8 years get new life breathed into them with the help of anisotropic filtering.
 
I actually want anisotropic filtering standard more than I want MSAA. It's such a waste of good art assets when you render them with just a bilinear filter. Even old games like 6-8 years get new life breathed into them with the help of anisotropic filtering.
Indeed I back you and Damienw on that one especially when you consider that it's possible on our actual systems but it's not a developers/studios priority :(

But I agree with Mazinger Dude screen tear has to go or be kept minimal. depending on where it occurs it can be the most annoying glitch out of the bunch...
 
I want some effects that are tied to physics. For example the lingering dust cloud as it swirled due to a passing dropship in KZ2 first level just wowed me.
 
The lighting and Water in Halo 3 look really damn good which is pretty impressive, considering that Halo 3's engine still has its roots from the original xbox hardware.I can only imagine how graphically impressive Halo Reach is going to be though...I have a feeling that Bungie is going to blow us away with a graphically stunning game.We all know that the company is easily capable of doing such a thing and I can't wait to see more of the game at GDC 2010 and at a E3.

I don't quite think there is evidence in their past work to show they could do it but I am pretty anxious to see what they pull off. Hoping this is the 360 exclusive to wow us.

Anyone got a vid of the Halo 3 effects mentioned?

My hopes for next gen lie in lots and lots of physics. Not necessary level and object destruction but in fluids and particles. Of course good image quality is welcome and 720p with 8xaa 16xaf as standard would be great. They don't need to aim for 1080p at all (just put in a hardware scaler and call it a day)
 
One thing I'd like to see more, especially in open world games, is dynamic weather. I thought GTA4 was ugly at first, but after a while, after coming through the same places a lot of times and seeing them in different conditions added a lot of charm to the game's world and I'd like to see more of that in the future.
 
One thing I'd like to see more, especially in open world games, is dynamic weather. I thought GTA4 was ugly at first, but after a while, after coming through the same places a lot of times and seeing them in different conditions added a lot of charm to the game's world and I'd like to see more of that in the future.
That would be interesting indeed, how about push further and have full seasonal weather simulation (changing night/day ratio, various weather condition from snow to thunderstorm to sun, and having vegetation to follow seasonal cycles). I think it would had not only charm but life to an open game world.
 
But it depends on viewing distance and if first person view of third person view. In third person view shadows that are blocky or jaggied can be percieved as smooth due to distance. However in first person it would have been revelead they are blocky/jaggy.
yeah, this makes sense!

For now in Crysis it is a combo of "high-res shadows" (1024x1024 or higher if custom), soft edge and jittering for that realistic shadow scattering effect. However far from perfect due to cascade LOD for distance. Maybe nitpicking but when the bar is so high every small thing is to be criticized.
hmm, this are what I call perfect shadows :cool:

It reallly seems that appropriate looking shadows are very difficult to achieve on consoles, I rember while playing MGS4 that I was shocked about the sawtooth shadows with sawtooth bigger than the remaining shadow itself :LOL: .
Another bad example (for my liking) are the shadows used in Mass Effect...when talking to person graphics are really outstanding, except the shadows on the characters...the just looked weired with a lot of artefacts...just like a bug or something completely wrong.
 
Personally I don't think Lensflare is really important…

Sorry, I was being ironic, though a smiley at the end would have probably have helped. I was just thinking back to the early days of 3dfx, where every game seemed to have lens flare, whether it made sense or not ;)
 
Another bad example (for my liking) are the shadows used in Mass Effect...when talking to person graphics are really outstanding, except the shadows on the characters...the just looked weired with a lot of artefacts...just like a bug or something completely wrong.

Yeah that was annoying. Supposedly they've fixed it for Mass Effect 2.

As for shadows in next gen games, I hope they go the route of "contact hardened shadows".

Old way, the shadow is uniformly blurred:
http://www.firingsquad.com/media/gallery_image.asp/2039/5

New way, shadow gets blurrier with distance from occluder:
http://www.firingsquad.com/media/gallery_image.asp/2039/6
 
Is there any console tittle making use of subsurface scattering? Crysis or maybe Uncharted?

Don't own any console so i dont know but that's one effect i wish would come to use often next-gen on the PC side at least.
 
I'd also like to see more displacement mapping, be it virtual or actual. If virtual, it needs to be self-occluding/shadowing.
Personally I don't think Lensflare is really important…
Only game where Lensflare have a justification is in games where the scenery is retranscribed by cameras. So we have sport game in TV mode, racing games in TV replay, may be a game there you are a droid, Meca, or a game where you a reporter with a camera. ;).
Our eyes are lenses, and we do get lens artifacting in our vision. Since we can't get a TV to display the full luminance and color range of the real world, games simulate a camera iris to convey the intensity of lights. Our eyes won't behave with an on-screen image the way they would of the real thing, so it needs to be "enhanced." It's the same as applying motion blur. Our TVs can't refresh fast enough to make our eyes naturally blur the motion of objects we're not focused on.

Is there any console tittle making use of subsurface scattering? Crysis or maybe Uncharted?

Don't own any console so i dont know but that's one effect i wish would come to use often next-gen on the PC side at least.
There's one object in Uncharted 2 that looks likely to be using it. There's a statue in the museum that has qualities reminiscent of the marble statue in ATi's old SSS demo.
 
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Is there any console tittle making use of subsurface scattering? Crysis or maybe Uncharted?

Don't own any console so i dont know but that's one effect i wish would come to use often next-gen on the PC side at least.

Well I assume different implementations and with different load on hardware but several games on PC sports it in some form. Ofcourse more will come and I certainly missed some. Sure there are some console games to with some implementation and parts where it is used.

Witcher has skin SSS, Shift has SSS shader, Crysis games (snow/ice/vegetation etc) and certainly Crysis 2 and probably for console version to in some form and place, Far Cry 2 on PC has SSS and indirect lighting a la CE3 style -> image, CM10 mod for HL2 has SSS skin shader. :mrgreen:

EDIT: Doesn't Far Cry 2 on consoles also use SSS?
 
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