How about a new Wii tech discussion thread? (Games Analysis)

[Nano]

I've seen small developers rush out a launch game for the Wii with bump mapping. Ever heard of Pipeworks? Not a big name developer at all. They were one of the first 3rd party developers to use bump mapping on the Gamecube and on the Wii. I don't think Pipeworks had a very big budget or much time. They worked on games like Rampage and Godzilla Unleashed. Both games had bump mapping.

But surely one can agree, there's more to pushing graphics than applying bump mapping to relatively small productions. Conceptually that's rather easy. For the majority of games, be it smaller or bigger, I doubt they're given the go ahead to spend resources and time on pushing all sorts of advanced techniques from surfaces to lighting, as well as come up with a marketable, profitable title.

 

[sfried]

Some new Sin & Punishment 2 videos.

 

[DeadlyNinja]

Sin & Punishment is more about blowing you away literally and figuratively with action. But damn does it look good. The characters aren't very good, though. I find it strange that Isa has an accurate shadow during the cinemas, but his shadow becomes a ball when you play.

 

[tapionvslink]

wii Sadness from Nibris

Sin & Punishment is more about blowing you away literally and figuratively with action. But damn does it look good. The characters aren't very good, though. I find it strange that Isa has an accurate shadow during the cinemas, but his shadow becomes a ball when you play.

Well, I just hope that Sadness really comes this year since I hece been waiting for a long time. I just checked out Nibris website and still says that the game willl be realesed at fall of this year.

Mod edit: the spam was unnecessary, thanks
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[swaaye]

You are the god of marketing material and inspirational technical terminology.

I really wish Wii had gotten the rumored RV530. That chip would scream at 480p. The Cube library backwards compatibility wasn't worth gimping the machine with '90s tech.

 

[sfried]

I find it strange that Isa has an accurate shadow during the cinemas, but his shadow becomes a ball when you play.

I think that aspect is completely for gameplay purposes (to help the player allign horizontally. Being made by Treasure, it is, after all, a game about precision), as objects other than the player display accurate shadows (unless they're projectiles).

 

[DeadlyNinja]

I think that aspect is completely for gameplay purposes (to help the player allign horizontally. Being made by Treasure, it is, after all, a game about precision), as objects other than the player display accurate shadows (unless they're projectiles).

I was just being picky. A game like Sin and Punishment should always stress speed/frame rate rather than visuals. The amazing speed and amount of chaos on screen is what makes S&P so freakin' amazing. I still have the N64 game and remember seeing so many enemies on screen while the art was designed to keep the polygon count low.

 

[sebbbi]

Again, there many proves out there that suggest that wii has a gpgpu, especially the displacement mapping patents

Displacement mapping is a graphics related feature. GPGPU = using GPU to do general purpose (non-graphics) calculation. Your sentence implies that you do not even know what GPGPU stands for.

comments from konami that Wii has a dedicated ppu

Could you please provide a link for this?

 

[AlNom]

Could you please provide a link for this?

He won't be able to answer this on the forums for a very...very long time, I'm afraid.

 

[sfried]

I posted some screenshot links and gameplay footage of The Crystal Bearers in the Console Games thread.

Once again, I really think smart art direction is the key. You can see a number of TEV effects in the footage here in there (The reflection on the windshield for one), but they are more interspersed with a couple of others than done all at once a la The Conduit.

 

[DeadlyNinja]

Those are some damn nice textures. Forget bump mapping, it seems like it's too much trouble to actually use better/more textures for a Wii game with most 3rd party developers.

 

[Iron Tiger]

There's some good footage in this review of Darkside Chronicles. The bosses look incredible. Overall, the visuals look more artistically appealing than the heaviest hitters on the Xbox (Halo 2 and Splinter Cell), even if the effects aren't as liberally caked on.

 

[sfried]

There's some good footage in this review of Darkside Chronicles. The bosses look incredible. Overall, the visuals look more artistically appealing than the heaviest hitters on the Xbox (Halo 2 and Splinter Cell), even if the effects aren't as liberally caked on.

I wonder how it stacks up against Dead Space Extraction's presentation? That game definately demonstrated the whole principle of great art direction able to circumvent any technical shortcomings.

I was also reading the Normal Mapping Wii demo thread and wondered if the could be used sparsely but just as effectively in most games.

 

[DeadlyNinja]

Oh, someone used a GC emulator to run the old demo we saw but now in 1080p. The old one was kinda hard to see anyway, but now we can all see the details.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clwR6H9TatQ

I do have a question. Now that demo is obviously just a demo without a real game running, but can the beefed up power of the Wii render those visuals in a fully playable game?

 

[Iron Tiger]

I know there's that other thread about Wii doing Doom 3, but the discussion is too limited. I want to start a new thread to talk about all the games with interesting tech behind it. The Wii is actually getting some interesting games (tech wise) now and I thought it would be cool to analyze it and compare it to whatever you want instead of just Doom 3.

IGN just unveiled High Voltage's new Wii game Gladiator AD. Check it out. I honestly thought this game ALMOST looked like a game from the 2 HD consoles, minus the HD.

http://wii.ign.com/articles/986/986261p1.html

IGN is unveiling another High Voltage game tomorrow.

From that to this. I just resumed play of The Conduit this week, and can finally admit that it truly sucks. But the screens of Gladiator A.D. looked promising, and I've been scouring the net for new info on it, only to be disappointed with the latest info. It's completely lost its identity, and I've completely lost interest.

 

[DeadlyNinja]

I admit, I hated the sepia tone look of the original, but now with more colors, the game actually lost some of its charm. This is why art is more important than tech, especially on the Wii.

At the tech is cool... right?

 

[Iron Tiger]

At the tech is cool... right?

The tech was there in The Conduit, and it still looked like garbage. The controls were great, but in a game that played terribly. They need to stop making tech demos and focus on making good games. Fool me... you can't get fooled again.

 

[DeadlyNinja]

Here's a comparison someone showed me of the game's changes.

Here's 8 minutes of what the game looked like back at E3.

Here is a video of the latest build.
http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3178339

Those screens actually didn't do the game justice. The graphics do look pretty nice, plus, the gameplay also looks far better than the original. Look at how clunky it was back then.

 

[Rolf N]

It looks like a random 1v1 fighter now. I don't see how this is a step up.

They even integrated waggle QTEs and minigames

 

[DeadlyNinja]

I traditional fighter with its own unique spin. I don't mind really. The original is hard to grasp how well it plays. It wants t be like Punchout, but it looks clunky rather than fast paced like Punchout. At least this, I know how it'll play out.

The mini-games are actually part of repairing your armor between rounds, while the QTE monsters are similar to the by passer from Samurai Shodown that throw bombs and health at you.