OC3D Article: Graphics - what do gamers want?

[Dav0s]

It's a sad reflection on the gaming industry, particularly for pcs.

I reckon something akin to spore wouldn't be a problem for lesser systems, for that matter gta4. Problem we're facing here is gameplay vs esthetics. There have been some semi-standard looking games in the distant past that quite frankly survived on sheer gameplay, u take graphical massiveness out of the games and what's left doesn't prove that demanding.

It's too much of this use-of-an-engine for game devs afaic. They rely on the likes of Unreal, Gamebyro, to produce something they can work with to spawn their idea. Sure there have been some decent creations over the years, but I don't think we're touching what the pcs and consoles can do as a potential.

i was getting at the fact that the internet linking aspect of spore, and the sheer size of the map in gta would not have been possible on the likes of ps1 and similar consoles, although some of the greatest gameplaying games came even before this time. i wont bother mentioning them because we all have our favourites.

 

[Rastalovich]

Game techniques regarding programming should usually pull u out of the crap when it comes to map running, or the size of.

Harping back to the likes of the outside maps of FFVII on the ps1, although the environment isn't as detailed on the large map, it is nontheless massive. I'd hesitate to say larger gta, but what they would do there is instead of having a static fixed map all loaded with it's pointers at one time, they would have a dynamic one that would be loading areas that the "character" would be predicted to go into. In this sense u have a small static area which u then move around a map that is as larger as ur imagination - there really isn't anything other than physical media constraints (cd/dvd/harddrive) that would hamper u. Maps not being ones u store as graphical representations, but if u have a type of flooring for an area u put a "1" in a table, "2" for another type and so on. Effectively designing massive areas with just a data table.

What I'm pointing at here, with the crazy loose example above, is that rather than the sandbox type style many present day engines used, devs would use their intuition to come up with an idea of how to do what.

 

[ali_james]

Having been away for a while I just read through this and most of the recent GPU reviews, to be honest I feel inclined to save any money I would otherwise have spent on a new GPU to upgrade my 8800 GT.

But seeing the frame rates for most games it shows that any modern card can run any game. Except for Crysis, which I have already played through on release. Yes not a bad game but not worth dropping £200+ to play at 40 fps thats for sure. I think I'll let the cash out on a long overdue monitor upgrade.

 

[mrapoc]

I agree man

I still have my 8800gt

Clocked it up and it still handles like all games i want to throw at it really

Going to try and hold onto it as much as possible, tech goes too fast now - well in terms of software requirements - the hardware is overpriced considering the actual technological advances

Although dual gpu on one card seems a decent enough breakthrough

 

[PanzeR_1987]

Looking at the previous posts.

I was abit ****ed of that they were releasing battlefield 1943 on the console alot earlier than the pc

To be honest with you, consoles are alot better than pc's (price, future proofing 'n all that) but i enjoy building my computers... i get alot more satisfaction building a computer from scratch then overclocking it.

Soon enough consoles will turn back into pc's. if you can already change the hdd on an xbox 360, i cant see why in a few years time you wont be able to change the graphics card on it to.

 

[d1abl0]

I have found that the only really good PC games that i play anymore are RPGs, RTS and MMOs. I still play diablo 2 on my computer and the graphics suck on that but the gameplay is brilliant. The best PC only games are the ones that focus on the gameplay and dont care about the graphics such as World of Warcraft.

But im also a big fan of games like call of duty, halo, GTA etc which i now use my xbox 360 for because it is cheaper than my PC but still provides good graphics and gameplay.

I generally play my 360 now and only use my PC for older games but I am looking forward to games like diablo 3, starcraft 2, and WoW

 

[k4p84]

I liked Crysis and i like to play any game i own on the highest settings.

I have to admit that i did spend a lot on my rig so i could max out settings but i had the cash to do so. It really should not be a requirement that you have to spend X amount of cash to be able to play certain games.

Being Personal computers you can build them how you want with thousands of different hardware configurations so you can never expect games to run the same on all systems.

There was the old adage of what is the point in buying new hardware to increase your fps when anything over 60 is wasted due to the refresh rates on many screens.

Since putting my rig together i have not played on my 360 once and i am trying to sell the thing.

 

[Rastalovich]

Biggest thing I didn't like about Crysis was that I found if u got a large weapon, like a mounted weapon on a vehicle, u could kill the opponents from very far away, often without even needing to see them - just knowing they were there was enough. Then u went in afterwards to find little resistance.

 

[d1abl0]

Biggest thing I didn't like about Crysis was that I found if u got a large weapon, like a mounted weapon on a vehicle, u could kill the opponents from very far away, often without even needing to see them - just knowing they were there was enough. Then u went in afterwards to find little resistance.

Thats the thing that put me off buying crysis warhead. I found that on crysis you had the choice to use powers such as invisibility and strength but in most cases i just drove around in a military vehicle when i saw enemies i switched to the turret and shot in the general direction and killed everyone it was way to easy even on the harder difficulty levels.