Creating games in 3D is an arduous task, with the need to render two separate frames (one for each eye) baring a heavy load both on the consoles and for the developer, the quest to reach that mythical 18080p status weighing in on the back of their minds against the ever increasing demands of the consumers this generation.
The solution then, it seems, is simply not to participate in such an endeavour in the first place, instead dictating somewhat more manageable terms to developers and anyone looking to venture into the 3D space. And this is exactly what Sony are said to be doing, mandating a standard of 720p for all developers wanting to make their games in 3D.
Just a few weeks after Housemarque and Ilari Kuittinen revealed on the PlayStation Blog that they had Super Stardust HD running at 1080p and 60fps in 3D, Sony's Simon Benson recently commented at the Develop conference in Brighton that the company was planning to enforce a 720p maximum resolution mandate to developers. This means that even if you are able to get your game running at a higher resolution it will be downscaled by the machine into 720p, much like what will be happening Super Stardust HD as soon as the next PS3 firmware arrives.
The reason behind the move is simple. It’s partly due to the HDMI 1.4 specification not supporting 1080p60 officially (1080p24 is the highest it will go), and to make things easier for developers by taking the pressure off in trying to get things running in 3D at 1080p by removing the option. Perhaps that is not such a bad thing as many games struggle to render in native 720p let alone 1080p, and at 60fps that whole scenario dramatically worsens considerably.
Benson also came to this conclusion and mentioned at the conference that despite the mandate being applied to most games, some ‘more cinematic’ titles which could benefit from using a higher resolution and lower framerate would be allowed access to the 1080p24 3D rendering mode supported by the console. No games would be able to use 1080p60 even if the developers had comfortably implemented it.
Sony’s argument over the use of 1080p60 then, or rather, 1080p for 3D gaming in general seems to be directly aimed at the stresses of getting games running to that standard in the first place. Benson emphasised the difficulties that many developers would be facing and told attendees that this mandate was a way of curtailing that. A preventative measure of some sorts, restrictive but at the same time ultimately beneficial, especially when you think that having more stuff on screen at 720p is usually far more impressive than a game being cut back in order to hit 1080p.
However, rendering at 1080p60 in 3D doesn’t have to mean rendering one frame for each eye, as Crytek has shown so enthusiastically at this year’s E3. Instead it is possible to render in one single frame for 3D, like with normal 2D rendering, and to simply apply a form of 2D displacement tech to the image (2D to 3D conversion) thus creating a final 3D display without any of the usual workload involved. We talked about Cytek’s solution here, although Sony have also said in the past that they were working on something very similar.
So the question is why are Sony restricting the rendering resolution on 3D games when clearly they have, or will have in the near future, a solution which circumvents rendering two frames instead of one. Surely that in itself would make things much easier for developers without taking away another all important check-box feature. But perhaps that’s the point, that for this generation 1080p is largely just that, a check-box feature that has more use on paper than practically in games development, and when you consider the potential performance costs incurred by running in 3D then it makes perfect sense.
Either way, the removal of 1080p60 and 1080p24 does very little to harm the end user. When you consider how many titles actually use the resolution effectively, and that contain more detail and visual effects when running in this mode, you can see why the chase for the supposed holy grail that is 1080p isn’t particularly justified, and could even be described as wasted.
That said, there is no doubt that some of us out there will still salivate over the potential of seeing another title pushing that magical 1080p60 resolution on consoles. It’s an incredible feat when you see it in 2D, so how much more spectacular would it be seeing it in 3D, full 1920x1080 no less. This is not something that we will be able to tell you with Sony’s proposed plans, but is it really going to make all the difference? I suspect a resounding no is the answer.
Personally I’d much rather be seeing more titles running in full 720p and with at least 2x multisampling anti-aliasing, or morphological AA at 60fps than a misguided attempt at 1080p with absolutely none of those benefits. And judging by Sony’s reaction, and indeed Crytek’s 2D displacement tech, many developers feel the same way.
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
New Xbox 360 Announced, Kinect Pricing Revealed
Yesterday we brought you our in-depth hands-on with the new 250gb Xbox 360 S, and a few days before we reported that a potential replacement for the 360 Arcade was on the cards. Well, today Microsoft officially announced not only the brand new version of the ‘Arcade’ console, but also full pricing details and bundle information for Kinect.
For the latest version of the 360 Microsoft have dropped the ‘Arcade’ suffix instead naming both the current S and the new machine by their memory capacity. The 4gb Xbox 360 becomes the new entry level console, and will be released on 3rd August in North America, priced at $199.99, and 20th August in the UK for £149.99, with the rest of the world taking delivery of the unit sometime later this month.
This new 360 will have 4gb of flash memory instead of a 250gb hard drive, whilst keeping the full functionality and other features of the 250gb model, including the built in Wi-Fi adaptor. The hard drive used inside the 250gb slim will also be compatible with the new model (in which the expansion bay is empty), although Microsoft currently have no plans to release it separately, or in any other sizes at this point in time. You can probably expect another announcement about this later on down the line.
Like with the 250gb 360 S that launched last month in the US, and last week in the UK, the 4gb version will feature the very same slimmed down design, complete with the trademark chrome highlighting and touch sensitive buttons. However the shiny aesthetics of the 250gb S model has been discarded for a more favourable matt finish, much like the old model 360’s and PS3 Slim.
Along with confirmation of the Xbox 360 Arcade’s replacement Microsoft also announced full pricing details for Kinect, both as a solus bundle (Kinect + game) and as a package with the new 4gb 360 console.
Kinect will be released sometime this November (date to be confirmed) and will come bundled with Kinect Adventures. The device will retail at $149.99 in the US, and £129.99 in the UK. All first-party software will retail for of $49.99, and £39.99 respectively. Third-party games will have no baseline retail price, with the publishers of individual titles being able to set their own price brackets accordingly.
Both the Kinect and 4gb Xbox 360 S console will be available as a package. It will be available the same day Kinect launches and will retail for $299 in the US, and for £249.99 in the UK.
Microsoft also confirmed that around 15 games will be available at launch, with a large selection of first and third-party titles being available.
On a final note, the revelation that the console and Kinect bundle will contain the 4gb version of the machine is perhaps unsurprising.
Previously many people suspected that the Kinect + 360 would contain the higher-end model of the console. However, this simply isn’t the case with Microsoft opting to instead package their entry level model with the device in order to maintain a cheaper price point. Interestingly this puts the machine and Kinect in the same bracket as the stand-alone 120gb PS3.
For the latest version of the 360 Microsoft have dropped the ‘Arcade’ suffix instead naming both the current S and the new machine by their memory capacity. The 4gb Xbox 360 becomes the new entry level console, and will be released on 3rd August in North America, priced at $199.99, and 20th August in the UK for £149.99, with the rest of the world taking delivery of the unit sometime later this month.
This new 360 will have 4gb of flash memory instead of a 250gb hard drive, whilst keeping the full functionality and other features of the 250gb model, including the built in Wi-Fi adaptor. The hard drive used inside the 250gb slim will also be compatible with the new model (in which the expansion bay is empty), although Microsoft currently have no plans to release it separately, or in any other sizes at this point in time. You can probably expect another announcement about this later on down the line.
Like with the 250gb 360 S that launched last month in the US, and last week in the UK, the 4gb version will feature the very same slimmed down design, complete with the trademark chrome highlighting and touch sensitive buttons. However the shiny aesthetics of the 250gb S model has been discarded for a more favourable matt finish, much like the old model 360’s and PS3 Slim.
Along with confirmation of the Xbox 360 Arcade’s replacement Microsoft also announced full pricing details for Kinect, both as a solus bundle (Kinect + game) and as a package with the new 4gb 360 console.
Kinect will be released sometime this November (date to be confirmed) and will come bundled with Kinect Adventures. The device will retail at $149.99 in the US, and £129.99 in the UK. All first-party software will retail for of $49.99, and £39.99 respectively. Third-party games will have no baseline retail price, with the publishers of individual titles being able to set their own price brackets accordingly.
Both the Kinect and 4gb Xbox 360 S console will be available as a package. It will be available the same day Kinect launches and will retail for $299 in the US, and for £249.99 in the UK.
Microsoft also confirmed that around 15 games will be available at launch, with a large selection of first and third-party titles being available.
On a final note, the revelation that the console and Kinect bundle will contain the 4gb version of the machine is perhaps unsurprising.
Previously many people suspected that the Kinect + 360 would contain the higher-end model of the console. However, this simply isn’t the case with Microsoft opting to instead package their entry level model with the device in order to maintain a cheaper price point. Interestingly this puts the machine and Kinect in the same bracket as the stand-alone 120gb PS3.
Monday, 19 July 2010
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.
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.
Saturday, 17 July 2010
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.
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.
Thursday, 15 July 2010
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
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
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.
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.
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