Too Human at E3...

[pipo]

http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?pager.offset=1&cId=3151120

1UP: The element of the demo that surprised us the most was the framerate, which was significantly choppier than what we saw of the game when we visited Silicon Knights back in February. What changed since then?

DD: Several things actually. Epic has added significant technology to the Unreal Engine 3 as they try to adapt it to the 360 hardware, and we have as well. Unfortunately, there was not time to fully optimize the newest adaptations before E3. You guys saw it running in a better framerate when you visited Silicon Knights. We are confident that we will get the framerate back and well beyond the framerates that you first saw.

I guessed right for a change...

 

[Ben-Nice]

Even with a good framerate it does not mask the fact that the camera and gameplay looked terrible.

 

[Lysander]

There was only one camera. In final game there should be a multitude of cameras watching from every angle (like football game).

 

[scooby_dooby]

There's no way this game makes holiday 06, I hope MS gives them the time to make this game as great as it has the potential to be.

 

[Ben-Nice]

There was only one camera. In final game there should be a multitude of cameras watching from every angle (like football game).

When did they state it one camera?

 

[Johnny Awesome]

I love SK, but this game needs a LOT of work. I'm thinking a 6 month delay is coming.

 

[Acert93]

There's no way this game makes holiday 06, I hope MS gives them the time to make this game as great as it has the potential to be.

I love SK, but this game needs a LOT of work. I'm thinking a 6 month delay is coming.

Agreed. I remember God of War was said to be in a mess 12 months out from the final release date. MS has talked big about quality, not rishing titles, more quality and less quantity, etc... lets see if they live up to this mantra.

 

[scooby_dooby]

Agreed. I remember God of War was said to be in a mess 12 months out from the final release date. MS has talked big about quality, not rishing titles, more quality and less quantity, etc... lets see if they live up to this mantra.

Ya they talk that crap, and then the obviously force Dyack to have his game on teh showfloor at E3. I don't believe that a developer, who is obviously already very pressed for time, would have wanted to create a demo for E3 and take time away from their already very tight schedule. The end product was horrible, and I'm sure Dennis and co. realized that.

Ms talks a good game, but then they have people like that chick overseeing the GoW team who tells them the chainsaw "has got to go" what!? I was like who are you, and why are you tellin cliffy how to design a game?

 

[expletive]

Ms talks a good game, but then they have people like that chick overseeing the GoW team who tells them the chainsaw "has got to go" what!? I was like who are you, and why are you tellin cliffy how to design a game?

I got the impression that was only for the E3 demo becuase of the bugginess of it leading up to the event, not permanently remove it from the game (if thats what you meant).


I wonder what UE3 engine updates for the 360 he was referring to? Did GoW have them but also not optimized, didnt have them, or *gasp* had them and was optimized...

If someone told me that Too Human would totally tank at E3 yet MS would still have such a strong showing I wouldnt have believed them, its really a testament to their lineup.

 

[scooby_dooby]

I agree, I expected Too Human to be one of the top 3 showings at E3 for MS, instead, it went almost completely unnoticed and they still basically stole the show.

I don't know how this got missed in the 1up article:

But the weird part about this situation is that we had actually seen and played the game back in February -- running much smoother and with a better camera system.

There may be hope for an 06 release after all....

 

[Inane_Dork]

1up didn't ask three really obvious questions:
1) Why was the animation lackluster?
2) If the February build was so much more impressive than the May build, why show the May build?
3) If so many things are not in the May build, why would I expect the game to ship on time? Even if everything could be added in time, there would not be enough time to playtest it.

 

[one]

Maybe they were demoing it on a PC back in Feb like Assassin's Creed?

 

[Acert93]

Maybe they were demoing it on a PC back in Feb like Assassin's Creed?

Where are you pulling that from? Epic has made a number of comments about the continued progress and development of UE3. If developers wish to use the new releases, like the threaded renderer, they need to work them in which can be one step back before two steps forward. In which case SK's excuse sounds more than reasonable for the recent downgrade. If 1Up is vouching that the E3 version looked worse we know something is up. The simplest answer seems the most obvious, so I don't understand left field comment.

Further, besides the contention of whether at E3 2006 Assassin's Creed was on a PC or not, there would be no reason for Too Human to be on a PC--it is not a cross platform title. There has never been an indication of Too Human being developed on a PC (there are even pics roaming around with Too Human off a shakey cam being played on a 360), the 360 Alpha boxes (G5 PCs) have lowly X800s in them, and the only 360-only game running on PC hardware (to my knowledge) was Gears of War E3 2005. And even Epic switched over to the beta kits in August 05.

On ther other hand Assassin's Creed is a much more interesting question due to conflicting reports and considering MS (who has to approve titles for its platform) specifically mentioned this title at X05. But there is already a thread on that issue.

 

[one]

Where are you pulling that from? Epic has made a number of comments about the continued progress and development of UE3. If developers wish to use the new releases, like the threaded renderer, they need to work them in which can be one step back before two steps forward. In which case SK's excuse sounds more than reasonable for the recent downgrade. If 1Up is vouching that the E3 version looked worse we know something is up. The simplest answer seems the most obvious, so I don't understand left field comment.

Since it's natural that Inane_Dork has suspicion about why they did a bizarre thing like showing a worse version even though they had a better version in Feb, I assume my comment sounds not so left-field. Everything depends on the release date of Too Human which I don't know either.

 

[pipo]

Too Human is currently scheduled to ship to stores in November.

Ya they talk that crap, and then the obviously force Dyack to have his game on teh showfloor at E3. I don't believe that a developer, who is obviously already very pressed for time, would have wanted to create a demo for E3 and take time away from their already very tight schedule.

I'm not sure about this. It looks to me SK made a wrong guess. After all, they had a better demo before E3. Why not use that one in a controlled environment?

Also, for the guys who didn't click the link, keep this in mind...

"I thought maybe my opinion of the game would change upon actually playing it, which [it] did... However, playing the game only reinforced my negative reaction to this really ordinary experience. Not only is the control scheme awkward, but the split-screen mode looks like a Nintendo 64 game. The framerate routinely froze during the action, and it sputtered along the rest of the time. I also wondered how it would look on a normal TV. The high-definition, widescreen setup used at E3 worked well, but how many gamers out there own a widescreen TV?... Kick ass? I just don't see it." -hands-on preview of Halo from E3 2001

Having said that, I think they will delay the game if it's not ready.

 

[scooby_dooby]

Well considering it was a showfloor demo I can think of many reasons they might not have been able to show the other build, and had to create a custom non-crashable 'e3 build'

When you bring a bunch of journalists into a room, and demo something it much easier to control how they play it, and make sure they don't do anything you know might crach the game. Stick a game out on the showfloor at E3, and that's a whole new ballgame.

As for playtesting, good point Inane, but Dyack did comment that some of the playtesters can actually clear entire rooms without touching the ground using mid-air combos. Now, there's no way anything like that was even remotely possible in the build we saw at E3, so something is up.

So far we have ME, Too Human, BIA, Assassin Creed all probably slipping to 07

 

[Mefisutoferesu]

As for playtesting, good point Inane, but Dyack did comment that some of the playtesters can actually clear entire rooms without touching the ground using mid-air combos. Now, there's no way anything like that was even remotely possible in the build we saw at E3, so something is up.

When did Dyack say this? A Link please.

 

[scooby_dooby]

When did Dyack say this? A Link please.

he's said it multiple times in multiple video interviews, sorry I don't have time to look it up, but he did say it.

 

[Inane_Dork]

I'm not sure about this. It looks to me SK made a wrong guess. After all, they had a better demo before E3. Why not use that one in a controlled environment?

Maybe my memory is faulty, but didn't EGM get their hands on the February build? At any rate, a developer-only playable February build would have made a much better impression than a press playable May build. Oh well, hindsight 'n all that.

And I *really* don't understand how the camera regressed from "amazing" to "stupid." Surely the engine changes shouldn't have screwed the camera up like that.

Also, for the guys who didn't click the link, keep this in mind...

Having said that, I think they will delay the game if it's not ready.

See... that's another issue I have with Dyack. He keeps refering to the heavyweights of gaming. DMC, GoW, Halo, etc. Not that his comments are necessarily invalid, but at some point you have to give justification. Halo turned out really well because Bungie is a good developer overall and can crunch well. Can SK?

I still think Too Human has loads of potential and I really want it to be a great game (and trilogy), but the time for excuses and words has passed. I won't beexcited about it until the game impresses me directly.

As for playtesting, good point Inane, but Dyack did comment that some of the playtesters can actually clear entire rooms without touching the ground using mid-air combos. Now, there's no way anything like that was even remotely possible in the build we saw at E3, so something is up.

That "something is up" is about the only thing we know for sure.

 

[pipo]

Well, for what it's worth, I don't think MS will make them ship a bad game. They're putting too much money behind this IP. SK is already working on part two...

Sit and wait.