NextGen World Progression

[nakamura]

Hmmm. Sort of!

[Asura]

Hmmm. Sort of!

I'm aware I'm making big generalisations here, but I'm trying to keep the explanation as basic as I can for the benefit of those who've never looked into this kind of thing before. I used to understand it much better, but it's been a fair few years since I last looked into it in detail. What I have left are broad brushstrokes.

[nakamura]

Will that issue be less with a 1080p camera and game image?

Because there are more pixels, there is less chance of that yellow taxi focus etc?

['Press Start']

I know what I do not want this gen, a truly amazing visual experience with Resident Evil 1 levels of scenery interaction.

Ryse looks nice but ultimately it is a 'corridor push' game, Just like Last of Us. I would sacrifice graphics for more realistic scenery and AI interaction.

I am sure eventually we will get a nice balance once developers have stopped trying to blow people socks off with visuals alone.

[Strider]

Second son may look amazing but it's an empty world that isn't representive of the place it is based on. As a result it's not realistic at all in my eyes.

[capcom_suicide]

I think that flying around the world with super hero powers kinda trumps the need for it to be realistic, it's just a tonne of fun! I felt the world wasn't too empty, buts it's certainly not interactive that's for sure. The people come out once you clear the DUP, have you put many hours into it?

[Strider]

I've put enough hours into it to know that i can't be fobbed off by pretty looking things. Dead rising 3 is more fun.

[capcom_suicide]

I've put enough hours into it to know that i can't be fobbed off by pretty looking things. Dead rising 3 is more fun.

Yes, dead rising looks to be loads of fun! I've not played it, but the videos of the carnage and weapons look fabulous and the world is jam packed with zombies etc. looks fantastic, glad you're enjoying it. I thought dead rising looked like a very pretty game, and mental to boot! Thousands of zombies onscreen certainly seems to tick the nextgen box!

['Press Start']

I think that flying around the world with super hero powers kinda trumps the need for it to be realistic

I did that in Crackdown and Saints Row IV with the same level of interaction. Sure the graphics were not as good but game play wise I've done it.

[Asura]

Will that issue be less with a 1080p camera and game image?

Because there are more pixels, there is less chance of that yellow taxi focus etc?

Precisely. I'm not trying to say that higher res doesn't mean mean higher detail (erk, double negative), rather, I'm trying to explain how real world "rendering" can be "higher detail" than a rendered scene in a video game, even if the resolution is much lower. You can't compare the two.

[EvilBoris]

It will surely become possible to approximate these things algorithmically to some extent, most of what we see in a video game isn't a true to life simulation of physics, merely a clever way of making something look the same.

[Asura]

That was a fascinating post! Thanks!!! So what should we expect of next gen? Persistent worlds? Slightly better visuals? Anything that will actually feel like a generational leap?

It depends heavily on the genre, and how consumer tastes progress. Outside of the indie sector, there are a hell of a lot of games which are "a bit like CoD", "a bit like Uncharted" and "a bit like Assassin's Creed", because they were big successes last gen and people jumped on the bandwagon. No reason to see those trains coming to a halt any time soon, as they're a bit broader in appeal than something like the plastic-instrument music genre that crashed and burned last gen. So expect to see more titles like that, with flashier graphics and bigger set-pieces, but not so much in terms of real new gameplay.

I think the big thing this gen will be physics. There were a few titles last-gen that did cool things with it, like the better moments of The Force Unleashed, but the big watershed moment for me of late has been Kerbal Space Program. Actually constructing machines using physics and getting them to do stuff like go to the moon is both educational and tremendously emotionally involving (seriously, getting back from the moon for the first time was one of the most nerve-wracking gaming experiences I've ever had). This will match up well with the video sharing services that the new consoles provide, so expect to see plenty of it.

[capcom_suicide]

Taking into account the vast majority of gamers don't even care about next gen, lets all try to stay friends on here!

[Brad]

Really hard to do but I'd like most of the games I play to be sandbox based, as in the developers program all the interactions that can happen, all the AI and the physics and set a series of goals and just rely on the stability of the world they've created to provide me with an entertaining romp. Part of the fun of gaming, for me, is talking to folks here and RL friends about the experience. Those discussions would be so much more interesting if my experiences were different to those of the people I'm talking to. It's the reason that the incredibly broken Day Z is so interesting. That's the brokest game I've ever played and by an enormous margin but the chance for new experiences means I'll actually put up with an awful lot of crap. If I could have that in games that aren't bugged to hell I'd be a happy man. Probably.

[Lebowski]

I did that in Crackdown and Saints Row IV with the same level of interaction. Sure the graphics were not as good but game play wise I've done it.

You can't hover or fly or run up the side of buildings in crackdown, crackdown was more about jumping really high and climbing, the great thing about crackdown was working out the building puzzles and how to get up them, you where more a super cop than a super hero in the traditional sense. second son dose feel fresh, and it makes you feel super powerful and dose it in a really nice environment that lets you cause massive amounts of mayhem.