I was sceptical of this game in terms of gameplay, but I'm getting more confident about it.
Anyway, I thought that the latest 1up show had a pretty good interview - the guys asked some quite intelligent questions, also regarding technical merit, and the demonstrations he gave showed off the game much better (like flying under the bridge's pillars etc.)
Very interesting I thought was that he mentioned that if you waited ten minutes, you'd see the sun come up and notice that everything was already being globally illuminated. That is very impressive.
He also mentioned again that while he's not nearly sure that Factor 5 were a major influence in this matter, they already asked Nintendo for tilt/motion sensing when they were still programming for the GameCube, and asked again when they attended a special controller meeting with Sony. Here they specifically also asked for the accellerometers. When they were developing, they always had motion sensing in mind, but did work with a backup solution for a while, when things weren't quite certain yet.
One of the best questions asked I think were the ones on why Lair is doing so well with 1080p where other games don't manage yet, and in which way their game made use of the specific PS3 features and strengths.
For 1080p, he said, the main problem is fillrate - the RSX is plenty capable of handling everything else at this resolution. Their solution to the fillrate problem is implementing clever mathematics that determine what does and doesn't need to be drawn. They are doing quite well in that respect, and he predicts that you'll see most PS3 games go 1080p.
For the other, he indicated the global illumination, the AI for 3000 soldiers on the bridge, the water, the progressive LOD among others as examples of where Cell is helping them out to achieve more.
He also feels that where the first version of Rogue Squadron for GameCube managed to hit about 80% of the performance capacity of the GC, and the subsequent version pretty much maxed it out, Lair at its time of release will probably use about 50% of PS3's power, and the rest of the 50% will probably be gradually unlocked over the next 5-7 years. He praises Sony's devices of being able to store a lot of 'hidden power' in their consoles that developers can tap into for a long time which adds to the console's excellent lifespan.
Note that this is the other side of where he says that the PS3 isn't an easy device to work with, especially if you want to max it out, but that the challenges and potential this offers a developer is what makes Factor 5 really enjoy developing for it.
It has pros and cons there.
Anyway, it was a good interview, and the 1up episode was very good all-round. I did find it quite amusing though that while they end with praising Microsoft for being 'reliable' and showing existing 360 owners to have a decent amount of stuff to look forward to, the episode ends up showing off the PS3 a lot more than the 360. But that could be my own bias - maybe I just personally saw more stuff there that I enjoyed.
