Xbox - Series S/X: Thread 01

[EvilBoris]

I can't think of any worse a time to make your flagship title look like something from 2010 on purpose because of artistic reasons.



What happened to this?

That’s the engine being presented in that Instagram way that everyone loves. Showing there TOD cycle and different atmospheric effects, stuff we will see in the full game.
This demo was a mess. Compare that to the screenshots and the video we’ve seen and you can see they clearly has someone without any eye for composition or even just a critical eye making it.

I think they would have been better off doing a guided walking tour of that kind of stuff rather than a straight gameplay segment. Hand hold the viewers, give them the facts to parrot about online and give them nice sections to make screenshots of that look good. Not what we have now

[MartyG]

It sounds like excuses.
'its the lighting'
'it's the time of day'
'it's an early demo'
None of this is good enough for a flagship title on the brink of release.
.

This isn't unusual in software development, this is why crunch (wrongly) exists. Management set unrealistic deadlines, change specification and think engineering is like flipping a switch, so rather than having achievable deadlines, this sort of thing happens. Games often see polish in that crunch period and I wouldn't take what was shown as what will be delivered.

They weren't showing a finished game and maybe in this instance development isn't as progressed as it should be yet Microsoft are definitive they want this as a launch title regardless of whether it's ready or not, wanting gameplay footage to demo.

Sometimes it's just better to do a Cyberpunk 2077 and delay things a bit, but what I definitely don't think this is, is a reflection of the ability of XBX hardware.

[Cassius_Smoke]

It might look ace at launch. It'll probably get a massive patch and fix all the weirdness, but it doesn't get round the fact that what MS have shown looks like crap. Horizon 2 is due out at a similar time and looked immaculate, and thats without the months of crunch polishing its going to get like Halo will get.

[randombs]

I saw a DF video about how Halo 2 was meant to have some sort of real-time lighting(like in the tech demo) so they didn’t bake it in that much. Then they discovered they couldn’t do real-time lighting and abandoned it, which is why the retail game looks quite flat.

If 343 have been pining their lighting hopes on ray tracing and suddenly find they can’t do it...

[MartyG]

To say it looked "crap" I think is a big stretch. It was running smooth as butter and the 4K footage shows there's plenty of detail in the game - I don't disagree it could have looked better, but I do think there's a lot of hysteria around Infinite at the moment - perhaps it might have been better not to have shown game footage in its current state at all.

[Cassius_Smoke]

'it took a herculean effort to make sure this little corner of our Ringworld was polished and pretty enough for its premiere!'

And

'The Xbox Series X, our new platform, along with our Slipspace Engine, gives us tremendous amount of graphical power. My team and I worked closely with the content creators to get the degree of detail and polish to the highest quality, and that means polishing code and performance specifically for this corner of the game.'

Suggests that what they showed is representative of the finished product.

https://www.343industries.com/news/articles/employee-spotlight-ani-shastry

[Brad]

I didn’t think amd were interested in, or even had ray tracing in their GPUs?

[Family Fry]

I didn’t think amd were interested in, or even had ray tracing in their GPUs?

Here’s the official blurb about ray tracing.

Hardware Accelerated DirectX Raytracing (DXR) – From improved lighting, shadows and reflections as well as more realistic acoustics and spatial audio, raytracing enables developers to create more physically accurate worlds. For the very first time in a game console, Xbox Series X includes support for high performance, hardware accelerated raytracing. Xbox Series X uses a custom-designed GPU leveraging the latest innovation from our partners at AMD and built in collaboration with the same team who developed DirectX Raytracing. Developers will be able to deliver incredibly immersive visual and audio experiences using the same techniques on PC and beyond.

I do find it fun a lot of people are on or hand saying are saying “oh 60fps/4K should become standard next gen” Halo Infinite is shown at 4k/60fps and all of a sudden everyone can’t stop talking about how it looks.
People really don’t know what they want.

[Brad]

Halo infinite will be 4K 60fps on the one x too. Something has to give to get 4k60 on a last gem console. No one should be surprised it doesn’t look as good as horizon

[EvilBoris]

Halo infinite will be 4K 60fps on the one x too. Something has to give to get 4k60 on a last gem console. No one should be surprised it doesn’t look as good as horizon

DF just did a video about it and a big chunk of it is down to it having dynamic lighting and no Gi solution. He also points out that the entire demo is literally set in the worst possible lighting conditions to make a game look good - ambient lighting/shadow.
I don't know what the solution to that is, can a decent GI solution even operate on a game like this at 60fps on the hardware we have.

On plus side, Even if it does look like Far Cry 5 at 60fps, it looked like it will play really well.

[fishbowlhead]

To say it looked "crap" I think is a big stretch. It was running smooth as butter and the 4K footage shows there's plenty of detail in the game - I don't disagree it could have looked better, but I do think there's a lot of hysteria around Infinite at the moment - perhaps it might have been better not to have shown game footage in its current state at all.

I mean whatever happens its not going to be a crap game, it’ll be a decent game overall and probably fun.

However, it needed to be the best game, like blow your flipping socks off this wasn’t possible before run out your house and pre order a SeriesX instantly good.

It wasn’t. Plus now has the absolutely embarrassing position of being compared to PS4 games and looking a lot worse.

[MartyG]

However, it needed to be the best game, like blow your flipping socks off this wasn’t possible before run out your house and pre order a SeriesX instantly good..

Even if Halo had looked like Jesus's bum hole after a shower in holy water it wouldn't have influenced my decision on whether to buy an XBX at launch or not - maybe different for different people, but I haven't found Halo particularly interesting since Halo 3, it's not really evolved that much over the years and if I want a grapple hook I'll play Titanfall

I am a massive racer fan though, so it's a pity that Forza 8 isn't a launch title as that would have been a definite chalk mark in the win column, likewise with Gran Turismo 7 - if that turns out to be a launch title it may sway me to get a PS5 closer to day one. But launch titles generally never stretch the machines, developed without final hardware and rushed out for sale day, so it means my desire to grab either console on release day isn't very high.

[EvilBoris]

Even if Halo had looked like Jesus's bum hole after a shower in holy water it wouldn't have influenced my decision on whether to buy an XBX at launch or not - maybe different for different people, but I haven't found Halo particularly interesting since Halo 3, it's not really evolved that much over the years and if I want a grapple hook I'll play Titanfall

I am a massive racer fan though, so it's a pity that Forza 8 isn't a launch title as that would have been a definite chalk mark in the win column, likewise with Gran Turismo 7 - if that turns out to be a launch title it may sway me to get a PS5 closer to day one. But launch titles generally never stretch the machines, developed without final hardware and rushed out for sale day, so it means my desire to grab either console on release day isn't very high.

It’s a bit of a funny next generation really, it looks like there is no real reason to buy either machine at launch if it is a killer app you want.
You are buying it to play the best versions of games that are on current machines

[Team Andromeda]

It’s a bit of a funny next generation really, it looks like there is no real reason to buy either machine at launch if it is a killer app you want.
You are buying it to play the best versions of games that are on current machines

Other than a Nintendo launch hasn't that always been the case for when a console system 1st ships? Matybe to a point the OG Xbox, but that was because the system was delayed for like a year; Speaking of which, I seem to remember the OG Halo getting savaged for its poor graphics and terrible frame rate at its E3 2001 reveal.

I suspect when people actually sit down and play the final version Halo Infinite, it will be a similar situation. The gameplay looks so good and pure HALO.

The biggest letdown was no Forza gameplay or the utterly pointless State Of Decay 3 CGI crap

[Family Fry]

Turn 10 have been too busy helping 343 with Halo Infinite which has probably pushed Forza into a 2021 winter schedule.
State of Decay has just entered pre-production so I look forward to playing that 2025 alongside Everwild.