Feature: Hands-On With The Xbox 360 S

On Friday 16th July gamers in the UK were finally graced with the release of the brand new Xbox 360 S; a slimmer, quieter version of the current Elite model 360, with a 250gb hard drive and built-in wireless adaptor. It comes as no surprise that early sales of the machine have been brisk, with many stores opening up on midnight in order to generate further hype for the launch. And by and large it has been largely successful, bar perhaps the odd complaint of having a faulty hard drive, or trouble with the new machine recognising the Data Transfer cable.


Naturally, I took it upon myself to pick up one of these new slim consoles in order to write this in-depth report for IQGamer, in which we’ll be covering the machine’s design, connectivity, build quality, and of course operating noise.

On first impressions, and before holding the unit for the first time, the 360 S appears better in every single way than the old ‘fat’ models that came before – especially compared to my original 20gb launch unit (just about going strong) – although on further inspection it is clear that not all is quite so perfect. But then again, it doesn’t really matter given the massive improvements that have been made in almost ever area with the new machine.



The first thing you’ll notice is that upon initial viewings the packaging is pretty similar to the one that housed the old 360, featuring the same square shape, whilst instead having bottom-opening flap allowing easy access to the contents inside. If you haven’t seen the old box in a while then the new one looks to be the same size, maybe only slightly smaller. However, side-by-side comparisons show a clear inch or two being cut off the sides, whilst being slightly taller overall.

Seeing as the actual console is almost the same size as the old 360 it isn’t at all surprising to see a similarly sized box that keeps it all together. However it does weigh noticeably less than my 20gb Premium when boxed up, although by no means light, simply commanding less strength in order to lug it from the retail store to the bus stop, and then home than the older model.


Inside, the 360 S is packaged similarly to before, except that now the individual compartments for holding the controller and other accessories are better organised allowing for things to be unboxed and boxed up again more easily. Underneath where the actual console sits are four distinct compartments, each housing the different peripherals that come with the machine. The largest one contains the controller and wired headset, whilst the two on either side contain the power cable and composite lead, along with the scart adaptor. At the end of these three compartments is where the power supply lives.

The overall internal layout is much simpler this time around, thus making it easier to pack away the console if need be in the future. Also, two of the sections are clearly marked with small stickers dictating what should occupy these specific spaces just in case you forget. Yet another improvement over the horridly packaged ‘fat’ model 360.


In terms of the actual console, noticeably, Microsoft have gone to town in producing a sleeker, more high-end looking aesthetic for their new Xbox 360 S. The old matt plastic look has been replaced with a smooth, glossy finish that only comes in black. Chrome highlights provide a small contrast between the black contours synonymous with the Xbox 360 Elite; the new power button and both outer edges of the machine benefiting from this touch of class. Round the back the aesthetics again change slightly, instead becoming a combination of the new shiny gloss design with a slight hint of the old matt finish around the various ports.

Annoyingly, this new shiny design as stylish and sexy as it is, is prone to attracting dust and fingerprints which can cover the machine in seconds if you’re not careful. Likewise, the 360 S also scratches really easily. Even using a fine micro fibre cloth regularly used for cleaning the PSP and ‘fat’ PS3 can leave very slight marks. Although these are only visible in certain lighting conditions and from a specific angle, so its not too much of a problem.


The previous inhaled design remains on the ‘S’, although now it is complemented by a new angular focus with sharpish curves leaning inwards on both the front and back of the machine. Initially this looks somewhat strange, especially when resting the machine in its standard horizontal position. However, standing upright it looks incredibly stylish and far more desirable than the old console. This new look and feel is accentuated by the use of touch-sensitive buttons for powering on/off the unit, and for opening and closing the disc tray, which remains a traditional slot loading drive.

Surprisingly, the new 360 S is still rather heavy, more so than I expected, and the overall build quality is superior to the old versions of the console. However there are some parts of the design which feel decidedly cheap to the touch. Like with the plastic casing on both the top and bottom of the machine, which tends to creak as you hold it. The console also feels a touch softer and more flexible too - no doubt made this way to better enable the plastic to constrict and contract as the internal temperature of the machine heats up during use, and cools down after.



Compared to the old 360, the ‘S’ is only slightly smaller in size covering almost the entire length of the original console, though it is slightly shallower as well. For something rumoured, and sometimes officially recognised as the 360 Slim in passing it’s quite disappointing how similar in size to the original it is, especially when you consider that the power supply is still external. Sony, with their Slim PS3 should really be commended on their engineering prowess seeing as both the power supply and hard drive are both built-in, and the machine itself runs a little bit quieter overall.

Despite this, Microsoft’s first entry into redesigning a console midway through its life-cycle has much to offer, and the use of the old-fashioned slot-loading DVD makes shrinking down the internals that much harder. Effectively how much smaller can you make that drive, is the question you should be asking.

Either way the new ‘S’ variant of the 360 hardware looks far more sophisticated, and highly stylized.


In terms of connectivity the new 360 S features the standard two USB ports situated around the front of the machine, under a flap next to the new rectangular shaped controller sync button. The disc tray remains a slot loader like the previous models of the console, although it is much quieter and feel a tad more solidly built. Round the back you have a further three USB ports, along with an Ethernet port, optical output, one HDMI port, multi-AV out, and a special port design solely for powering and interfacing with the Kinect unit.

Like with the Pro and Elite model 360’s, it is still possible to use the HDMI cable with the AV audio adaptor if you require the option of analogue stereo sound from the machine going into a hi-fi system or external amplifier.

The machine also features the use of a semi-built-in hard drive located on the bottom, or right hand side of the unit depending on whether you have it laying flat or standing up. I say semi-built-in as although the HDD is housed inside the 360 itself, it is fully removable and comes locked away in its own plastic casing. As we first revealed here, the HDD is a Hitachi HTS545025B9SA00 1.5Gbps hard drive which connects to the 360 using a standard SATA connector.


Moving on to the controller, and you can see that Microsoft have made similar aesthetic changes in order for it to match the new style of the console. The entire controller, save for the four face buttons and the Guide button have been made uniformly black. The underside of the pad is now finished in glossy black rather than the matt grey of the Elite and Pro models, or the shiny metallic silver of the Core and Premium units. Both the D-Pad and analogue sticks have also gone through a similar change, appearing black instead of dark grey, while the Guide button has given a shiny chrome finish representative of the highlights present on the console.


Other than the look of the controller not much else has changed. The D-Pad does feel slightly more responsive compared to the one that came with the controller with my launch unit, although it doesn’t appear to have full eight-way precision like the on the Japanese Sega Saturn pad. In that respect, playing fighting games using this new D-Pad is still a chore with certain quarter-circle type movements being incredibly fiddly to pull off. At least all four directions actually work this time around, unlike on my launch 360 controller in which parts of the D-Pad have always been largely unresponsive requiring a heavy push in order for the press to be recognised.

Outside of the console and controller both the hated power supply unit, and AV cables have been given a complete makeover, appearing to match the new styling present for the entire range of ‘S’ accessories and hardware.


Styled in black, with a matt finish, the PSU is now much smaller and lighter than before. Curved in its appearance it can finally be considered stylish for the first time, though more importantly it seems to accompany the main hardware pretty well, rather than looking like an eyesore trailing out from behind the 360. The power cable that goes from the PSU to the 360 also slots into the back of the machine almost effortlessly; a stark contrast with the constant wiggling and pushing required to get it coonected with the old non-HDMI models.


The same principles when it comes to styling have been applied to the AV cables, which now have a more angular look to them. They are less rounded compared to the old ones, but still display just enough of the smooth curves to be consistent with both the 360 brand as a whole while matching the new 360 S console.


Sure enough, from a purely design and aesthetics point of view the new 360 S is lovely, but all that isn’t going to count for much if it still sounds like a Jumbo Jet taking off from Heathrow now, is it? And the less we talk about the noise problems of prior versions of the old console the better.

However Microsoft have made waves with this new design, the newly fabbed Valhalla chipset demonstrating some noticeable decreases in operating temperature, and most importantly, noise, especially when inserting a game disc into the system.

Powering on the console for the first time using the touch sensitive button on the front of the unit, you are almost immediately graced with a fairly loud, but smooth ‘bing’ sound coming from the machine. It’s s very welcoming and goes well with the aesthetic style Microsoft have created for the console, and the new sound effects used in the NXE 360 dashboard.

Reassuringly, this is the most noticeable noise to come from the console at start up.


One of the main complaints about previous models of 360 was the high level of operating noise coming from the machine, especially when a disc-based game was inserted into the system. Installing games onto the hard drive partially solved this problem on the old 360, but now this is no longer required for an all-round quieter experience. Claims by Microsoft of the new unit being ‘whisper quiet’ were initially to be taken with a pinch of salt. However, when idling the new 360 is actually barely audible unless turned on in a completely silent room. By contrast my 20gb launch unit can be heard at all times whether or not a disc has been loaded into the system.

Like with my 20gb Premium, installing games into the new 360 S leads to an even quieter gaming experience. When playing a game via a disc however, the fan speed still ramps up on this new model and the familiar electronic humming noise appears, albeit no longer drowning out the sound coming from the TV. Installing the game means that this never happens, with the fan speed sticking at idling levels for the duration of your gaming session.

Installing games then is still the best possible way to experience just what the 360 can deliver, with less noise leading to greater levels of immersion and less in the way of a distraction. But does the new HDD equate to shorter install times and quicker loading compared to standard disc-based approach?

In short, yes and no. You see whilst I found the new 360 S quicker to load up games off the hard drive I also found it slightly slower in installing them in the first place. Right off the bat I can tell you that average install times for the few games that I tested (Alan Wake, Halo 3, VF5, Gears 2, and Resident Evil 5) was about one to two minutes slower than on my 20gb Premium. Loading times however, were either on par or slightly faster, as was the case when trying out Bungie’s Halo 3 on both machines.

This is an interesting find to say the least, but also somewhat confusing as I’m not too sure why it should be happening. Could the size of the hard drive have something to do with it? Or perhaps something to do with cache size and speed. Maybe we shall do a proper investigation into this later on at IQGamer, as our initial results are surprising.


In conclusion, from all my time spent with the new Xbox 360 S I can definitively say that the machine IS what the original 360 console should have been. Even though it isn’t that much smaller – in fact it’s pretty much the same size – it looks a whole lot nicer and runs far quieter than any of the old models. It should also be noted that we shouldn’t be seeing any more of that RROD death problem which plagued most original and Falcon chipset 360’s, not least of all because the rend ring physically doesn’t exist on the new model, but simply due to the reductions in operating temperature and better cooling provided by the 45nm Valhalla revision to the CPU and GPU.

So, in the end the 360 S represents an improvement over the previous design in almost every way, minus perhaps the shiny finish which will certainly see the unsightly disfiguration of many consoles before reaching the end of their natural life-cycle, and shows how much time has been spent consolidating the hardware, and making changes where necessary.

Outside of the sleeker look, quieter operating noise, and built in wi-fi and 250gb hard drive there isn’t much to sound off about, and a much to be content with. Some may complain that the machine isn’t really a ‘slim’ version of the console, but given the technological and financial constraints it is unlikely at this point in time that Microsoft could have done any better. The end result is a highly polished successor to the long running line of original Xbox 360 consoles, and a brief look at the future of the platform.

Killzone 3 To Have More Responsive Controls

Killzone 2 suffered a lot of criticism from many gamers surrounding its controller response time, as a fair few found it laggy, and somewhat inaccurate at high speed compared to the likes of Call Of Duty. Initially, it was simply believed that the developers had attempted to deliver the sensation of weight much like when physically holding each of the weapons in real life - a crude approximation if you will. Although later on it was discovered that there was more latency between button presses compared with other comparative first-person shooters.

Some sites reported that Killzone 2 featured lag up to 150ms from when pressing a button on the controller to a visible response on screen. Compare that to the likes of Halo 3, which provided just 100ms of delay, and you have an either a noticeably more sluggish experience, or a heightened sensation of weight envisioned by the development team for the title.

For the upcoming sequel Killzone 3, Guerrilla Games has been looking into the issue and aim to bring about the same sense of realism without the lag that so many found intrusive to the experience.

Via the official site Guerrilla Game Director Mathijs de Jonge wrote:

"Our first priority when we started working on the controls for Killzone 3 was to listen closely to Killzone 2's players - what they liked, what they disliked, and how they felt things could be improved," He said. "Accuracy and responsiveness consistently came up as the top issues. At the same time, a lot of players were saying they loved the weighty feel."

On top of this he also stated that the team were hard at work in delivering an optimal degree of controller response time for Killzone 3, hopefully preserving the feeling of weight without sacrificing the fluidity required, and indeed expected from such a high-end FPS.

"Right now it's still a work in progress," Mathijs explained. "But we're definitely getting there. We've recalibrated the dead zone to be more responsive and significantly reduced the input lag, resulting in far better accuracy. Best of all, we've managed to retain that sense of weight that set Killzone 2 apart from other shooters. I can't wait for people to try it out."

This can only be good news for the people who felt Killzone 2’s controls to be a little too slow for their needs, especially when the sensation of weight doesn’t necessarily have to mean any additional input lag to facilitate it.

Review: Earthworm Jim (XBLA & PSN)

Earthworm Jim was one of my favourite Megadrive games of all time, although it didn’t start out that way. When I first played the game I was confronted by a steep difficulty curve and a unforgiving level design structure that confused me more than it cared to entertain. After a few goes over three days I took the game back to the rental shop thinking that it nowhere as good as the likes of Aladdin or Cool Spot; two of Shiny’s best MD platformers.

However, a few months later something finally made me pick up EWJ again and alas, I found myself renting it for the second time. Surprisingly the game made more sense this time around. The previously confusing level layouts and cheap enemy positioning didn’t seem half as bad, merely providing a much needed challenge to an otherwise simplistic title. Maybe Sega Magazine was right about Jim - that it was one of the most essential must have titles released that year, along with Treasure’s guaranteed spectacular, Dynamite Heady. Or so it seemed.

Out of the two challengers to Sonic’s crown it was Shiny’s Earthworm Jim that most caught on with the general games playing public. The story was as simple as it was idiotic; a man-sized space suit had came crashing down from the sky and the stars above, landing straight on our invertebrate protagonist turning him from an ordinary earthworm into a alien blasting, cow saving super hero. This suit brought Jim intelligence, plus a whole host of enemies wanting to blow him to pieces and steal back that powerful suit he was wearing.

Tasked with battling your way through a bizarre mix of enemies, and something about saving a princess who’s name he can’t remember, the game saw your jumping, blasting, and swinging your way through eight levels themed around junkyards, hell, internal organs, a laboratory, and an underwater base, whilst also delivering its own unique brand of humour.


EJ was always a funny game, with enemies ranging from a psychotic cat with genius levels of IQ; a goldfish with an eye for world domination; and a wealth of bizarre creatures ranging from killer crows to a Jekell and Hyde type puppy dog. It was also incredibly tough, requiring some precision jumping, and extremely quick reflexes in order to navigate some of the devious levels the designers had waiting for you.

Earthworm Jim HD then, is more of the same. In fact, it is almost exactly the same, right down to the obviously amusing character designs and twisted level layouts. What you have here is the 1994 original, remade with brand new, hand-drawn HD graphics, a reworked soundtrack, and disappointingly, completely new voice acting for all the characters and some less than stellar sound effects.

In terms of looks you can tell that every single frame of the original game’s animation has been re-drawn in HD for this version. The vast majority of animations still look really smooth, and almost Disney-like at times - just one of the trade marks of Shiny’s 16bit output. Everything from when Jim scrunches up his face in anger, to when his big eyes almost burst out of his face when hit are all accurately represented here in this HD take on things. Jim’s range of moves is also identical, being armed with a plasma pistol and his own wormy body as a whip, used both to grapple on hooks and to slap the enemy into submission.

The only qualm is that the new flash-like visuals lack some of the personality and raw detail to be found in the original’s 16bit bit sprites, though admittedly not all, with much of the humour based off the graphics still coming through. More importantly, every last sprite created for this remake is at least trying to accurately represent the original artwork, rather than completely re-envision it for modern day audiences. Essentially the flash-style nature of the work does this instead without cheapening the overall look and feel of the game too much.


Gameplay wise, some fifteen years on from its original release Earthworm Jim is still a solid enough title, challenging and reasonably fun after a while, even if being a little too abstract in its design to be completely successful today. Initially frustrating, the game regularly presents you with some rather confusing level design choices and some limitations with regards to how much Jim can use himself in order to traverse certain areas of his environment. For example, he can only jump down from hanging onto wires or hooks, rather than being able to jump up to reach higher ledges or platforms. Instead the game makes you find alternative routes to reaching a previously unreachable destination. Sometimes this pays off and reveals a rather cleverly thought out approach to the strange level design. More often that not though, it simply leads to more frustration and another trip to the continue screen.

However, It is also apparent that EWJ isn’t all that hard once you get back into the swing of things, learning the layouts of each stage and knowing where to jump, and which parts of the environment to touch or avoid. In this respect EWJ HD is as faithful as it could be to the original MD game, and to an extent that is actually a good thing. Some of the design choices that initially seem bizarre to modern day audiences start to make some kind of sense, and you can begin see how the developers have tried to craft a fine balance between a fair challenge and impossible odds. Jim has always had less in common with contemporary platform games in this regard, although in 2010 this maybe does him more harm than good.

Combined with its off-the-wall sense of humour, strange characters, and filled with originality, EWJ is still a potentially enjoyable game even if it doesn’t quite hold up as well as you remember. Newcomers to the series, and old fans without the patience required to enjoy it will surely be disappointed. Give it a chance though, and Jim can be a reasonably entertaining and particularly challenging alternative to other 16bit platformers of the time. Worthy of the HD remix treatment? Maybe not, but better than another poor attempt at a 3D sequel.

Sadly, not everything is quite as forgivable with this release. Whilst some of the gameplay deficiencies can be overlooked (more a deliberate part of the design than anything else), the use of new sound effects and poorly arranged soundtrack simply cannot.

The developers at GameLoft have taken the liberty of changing the voice work for Jim and some of the other characters, making them sound annoying different whilst also taking away some of the endearing personality they had in the original. Voices sound scratchy, and appear to be slightly compressed lacking the clarity they need, thus doing more harm than good for the experience. The brand new arranged soundtrack doesn’t fare so well either. It’s more upbeat and electric than the16bit tunes of the MD original, giving the game a more modern feel but at the cost of becoming intrusive during play.

However, the new sound effects, voices and music do suit the new flash-styled visuals on offer in EWJHD, which is not really all that surprising as the visuals themselves lack some of the detail and personality contained within the original’s 16bit pixel art, but appear fresher and more modern as a result. But perhaps that’s the problem; all these changes cheapen the experience somewhat, and only help to heighten the gameplay issues as you become less immersed in Jim’s world as the game’s outrageous humour loses its sparkle throughout all the tampering.


Despite some annoyances with this HD remake, Jim holds itself together pretty well and provides fans of the original with the best conversion of the first EWJ game since the Win 95 and Mega CD releases. Misguided audio aside there’s very little to complain about in terms of the game being authentic, and certainly, there’s none of the sloppy control problems and graphical slowdown which ruined both GameBoy Advance iterations of the first two games. Perhaps the only real downer is that the game design hasn’t aged very well, often proving to be incredibly frustrating at times, and that the new multiplayer features included in this release are next to useless seeing as very few people appear to be playing it online at the moment.

Earthworm Jim HD may well be worth checking out for die-hard fans of the series, who are likely to quickly become accustomed to its unforgiving nuances, though it isn’t quite as easy to get into as it should be with the level design and gameplay issues putting a dampner on some interestingly twisted characters, and a genuinely warped sense of humour. It that respect, it is almost exactly as you remember it, which is both a blessing and a curse, depending of course just how you decide to approach it and whether or not you care to get around the game’s initially confusing design choices.

VERDICT: 7/10

New Xbox 360 S 'Arcade' Coming Soon?

The brand new 250GB Xbox 360 S was just the beginning of Microsoft’s strategy for the their remodelled version of the console. After replacing the now discontinued 360 Elite the company now apparently have plans to reintroduce an arcade version of the 360 based on the new slim design.


According to Amazon.de an new "Xbox 360 4GB Arcade System Bundle" will be released on the 20th August and comes with a speculated 149 Euro price point. However the news isn’t exactly fresh, as Microsoft has recently discussed their interest in releasing another Arcade model 360 based on the new design exclusively for the US market, although European support seems at this point to be out of the question – officially at least.

In an interview with Eurogamer, Microsoft’s Neil Thompson stated that the company had no plans to launch another model of the new 360 in Europe, instead focusing on the current 250GB slim and the continuation of the original 360 Arcade unit.

"The Elite model we'll slowly phase out, but we're continuing with the Arcade model as it stands,"

This response was the exact opposite to what Microsoft’s US arm has said in the past, although that would explain the current situation with many retailers in which the Elite model is completely sold out, but the Arcade in comparison is still reasonably stocked.

The other point is that he could mean that the existing Arcade SKU will be moved into the slim design but without the 4GB storage space listed by Amazon, being more or less an exact continuation of the current system. Of course this is very unlikely, and all signs simply point to his stance being more centred around the company wanting to make a proper official announcement on the matter nearer the time, and after supplies of the old 360 Arcade have run dry.

Either way we should find about this ‘new’ version of the 360 Arcade soon enough.

Tech Analysis: Infamous 2 - Early Screens & Trailer

Infamous 2 made its debut at this year’s E3 showcasing a slight change in art style and numerous graphical upgrades. For the first time the series looked reasonably impressive, throwing around more detailed characters and environments with even greater use of the fancy lighting effects which propped up the first game.

The look was clearly refined, and the tech powering the game enhanced over and above the original. And that is exactly why we are going to be looking at Infamous 2 today, having a peek at what lies beneath the graphical upgrades you might have witnessed in the game’s E3 trailer and demonstration footage.

The original Infamous wasn’t particularly graphically impressive, with no anti-aliasing creating loads of crawling jagged lines, and the somewhat poor texturing, combined with the dark and gritty art style often counteracting the game’s technical proficiency. So it pretty surprising to see this sequel actually appearing relatively impressive this early on in the game, especially when you think about how the build shown off at E3 was pre-alpha code with many engine improvements yet to be implemented.

Sucker Punch has looked at the criticisms levelled at the first game’s visuals and has set about improving them in every way, with a more refined art style backed up with a range of noticeable technical enhancements.

Most interestingly is the announcement that the developers are targeting 60 frames per-second in time for the game’s release – that’s double the framerate of the first game, no mean feat considering the series open world nature. Coincidently, I actually stated whilst playing Infamous, that I though it looked like a 60fps game but running at 30fps, one that appeared to be held back by a lack of optimisation and certain compromises usually associated with titles striving for that rarely seen benchmark in smoothness.

Considering the size and scope of the game it is unlikely that a constant 60fps will be obtainable in this sequel. Instead I expect that Sucker Punch will be able to deliver a framerate that fluctuates between 60fps and 30fps, with the average count hitting around 40-45fps in most scenarios (much like in God Of War 3). So better than 30fps, but not quite the revelatory solid 60fps that is considered the Holy Grail then? We shall have to wait and see.


Like with the original, Infamous 2 appears to be rendering in 720p (1280x720) with no anti-aliasing of any kind, though given the compressed nature of the screenshots it can be quite hard to tell. It could well be 640p, no AA, but both the blur effect combined with the compression artefacts prevent any flawless pixel counting from taking place. Either way, from these screens the game looks closer to 720p with blur than anything else.

In terms of the no AA claim, initially I found that there could be some kind of selective edge smoothing could be going on, however this isn’t actually the case at all. What is basically happening is some reduction in jagged lines caused by the games use of blur and post process effects, which in motion do little to alleviate the overall appearance of aliasing, but in stills do help to cover up the jagged nature of the game’s visuals - although not to the extent of using a proper AA solution. Evidence of aliasing can be found in parts of the image being blurred, which again further proves the lack of any AA.

However, seeing as Infamous 2 is only at the pre-alpha stage it is possible that the developers may well include some form of AA in the game. A strong possibility is the use of morphological anti-aliasing, which is relatively easy to implement if you have a few SPU cycles spare. Although just a guess, it would make perfect sense, and it’s pretty unlikely that someone at Sucker Punch hasn’t already considered the approach for this sequel.

Outside of the resolution and lack of anti-aliasing Infamous 2 is sporting a whole host of obvious engine improvements. The characters in particular have been completely reworked, looking far more detailed than before using more geometry and greater levels of texturing. The art style, although still dark and gritty, now has strong influences from Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series, in particular Uncharted 2, looking smoother and more polished as a result.


Looking closer still, you’ll find that it’s not just the characters that have seen a large increase in detail. The buildings which make up the cityscape, and the cars which populate it have also seen noticeable improvements. The buildings are more detailed, and like the characters, benefit from having better use of texturing and increased levels of geometry. In particular the game’s LOD system seems to be less aggressive compared to the first Infamous with buildings retaining detail much further on in the distance compared to before.

Of course, texture detail and geometry complexity are only part of what makes up a graphically impressive game world. In order to make it truly convincing you need to have a balanced and consistent lighting system, with realistic and dynamic shadowing - something which the developers are keen to showcase with Infamous 2.

From the screenshots used in this feature, and from the E3 live demo, and recent trailers it is clear that Infamous 2’s light sources have a greater range compared to the ones used in the first game. Notice not only how the light travels further away from its point of origin, but also how it affects objects all around it, lighting up surrounding shadowed areas and casting some new shadows in others. Unfortunately, at this point none of the dynamic lighting given off by the games visual effects actually casts a shadow of itself anywhere on the environment. Instead it simply creates new or extended shadows for environmental objects.

Enemies do however cast shadows this time around - the fact that they didn’t before is something that looked a little odd, and there appears to some evidence of screen-space ambient occlusion (SSAO) going on in the environment. Just focus your eyes on the signpost to the right-hand side of the street, looking at the shadowing behind it. There are clear signs here that SSAO has been included in this sequel, and the result is a greater amount of natural depth to the overall image. This was something that the original Infamous sorely lacked, and is something which clearly benefits this sequel.


Moving on, the particle system featured in the first Infamous was quite impressive at times, especially when the screen became filled with lightning and sparks began to fly off surrounding metal objects and vehicles. So for Infamous 2 Sucker Punch have also upgraded this part of the engine. Particles are larger and the lightning effects themselves seem to have more of an effect on the surrounding environment than with the first game.

Most of these visual effects all appear to be running at the same resolution as the rest of the game, although compression once again prevents us from accurately gauging this one hundred percent. We can also see that some are clearly rendered using a lower resolution alpha buffer, though the difference is very slight indeed. Sadly the same cannot be said of the smoke particles to be found in the game, which are not only low res, but are also flat 2D sprites which occasionally stand out when combined with the other 3D effects. Still, this issue is only apparent in certain situations, and is unlikely to be noticeable during gameplay as it is in still video captures.

On top of all the improvements that Infamous 2 is delivering we can also glimpse from the E3 live demo, and recent trailers that there is far more in the way of destructible scenery compared to the last game. The sheer amount of things that can be blown up, and that can catch on fire is noticeably greater, as is the level of detail in these objects, which have all benefited from improved texturing and better modelling.


From what we’ve seen so far Sucker Punch has upped the ante for this sequel, refining and building upon an already solid game engine with an even better one. The improvements to character and environmental modelling are obvious, as is the improved lighting and larger special effects, all of which help to create a better sense of depth to the image and generally gel together in creating a more polished look in accordance with the adapted art style.

Surprisingly, the developer also hope to have the game up and running at 60fps by the time of release sometime next year. Surprising, because Infamous 2, like its predecessor, is an open world game, one which features sprawling environments, and at times, densely populated areas which will no doubt compromise the engine’s ability to maintain the targeted 60fps.

However, if this sequel sticks to the level design blue print of the first game then there shouldn’t be so much of a problem. The original Infamous made use of having various tall buildings obscuring distant streets, and denser parts of the environment in order to maintain framerate, so it’s highly likely that the developers will do the same thing here in this sequel. This controlled use of your viewpoint in a game in which the player controls the camera, and in which the engine cannot predict the load, is particularly important in maintaining a smooth framerate - let alone 60fps, especially when optimisations in other areas may not be so convenient when you’re pushing around more onscreen at any given time.

Either way, Infamous 2 is shaping up rather well. Graphically, at this early stage (its pre-alpha) it already looks noticeably superior to the last game and still has ways to go until it’s finished. Nailing down that now seemingly mythical 60fps is going to be the toughest challenge the developer faces, along with maintaining resolution and overall environmental detail at the same time. But so far it all looks to be going smoothly, with controlled use of lower-res transparencies, and only minor such cutbacks in image quality in order to sustain the various improvements we are seeing.

As more developments surface we shall be taking another look at the technology behind Infamous 2 in the future. Hopefully some uncompressed framebuffer grabs come our way finally allowing us to properly determine rendering resolution and clear up any inconsistencies we might be finding.

PS3 Gets More 3D Features

It’s not just games and BluRay movies that you’ll be able to view in 3D on the PlayStation 3. At an exclusive London event Mick Hocking, Sony Worldwide Studios head of 3D games, revealed that support for both 3D TV shows, and YouTube 3D was coming in a future firmware upgrade for Sony’s flagship gaming system.

"Crucially for us, PlayStation 3 will be able to store all types of 3D content. And we can do this through properly upgrading the Firmware on the platform.

Hocking also mentioned that Sony have plans to release a full 3D update for their PlayTV PVR add-on for the PS3, which will enable users to record both current HD broadcasts along with 3D Freeview content when it finally arrives. In addition, support for 3D photos and video camera recordings will be hitting the PS3 by the end of this year, although no firm dates were revealed.

"So you'll see 3D games in the next 12 months, you'll see Blu-ray movies in 3D, and as soon as the broadcasts start through our PlayTV services, you're going to watch 3D content [via that].

"YouTube will be supporting 3D content over the next 12 months as well - and you'll be able to watch that on the PlayStation 3. And as you start taking 3D pictures of your family or 3D camcorder movies, you can play those back on PS3, too."

This news means that not only is the PS3 vastly becoming a solid destination for all music, video, and games media, but also for all 3D entertainment content too.

All in all, Sony’s plan in attempting to conquer the living room appears to be going well, with BluRay becoming the next disc-based movie standard after a short format war with HD-DVD, and with strong support for 3D gaming already in motion, the inclusion of 3D TV show and YouTube support is the icing on the cake.