Team Ico Collection Officially Announced

Rumours have been circulating for a while now that a HD collection containing two of gamings most artistically beautiful releases was on the cards, although today at the Tokyo Game Show that became a solid reality.

Announced earlier this morning by none other than Fumito Ueda himself (who if you didn’t know is the Director behind the legendary Team Ico) was that a collection featuring both Ico and Shadow Of The Colossus would be heading to PlayStation 3’s in time for spring next year.


Like with the recent God Of War Collection, the one from Team Ico will be rendered in HD, with a few graphical upgrades in order to keep things looking good with the boost in resolution – including being framed correctly in a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio. Texture work is being tweaked and redone where necessary (seeing low res art stretched upon higher res geometry doesn’t make for impressive viewing), and both games will now be locked at a constant 30fps. Expect full v-sync to be easily maintained, with no slowdown or tearing – or so we hope.

Whilst some of you might be disappointed that the magical 60fps number wasn’t thrown around, in the sake of accurately keeping the original ‘feel’ of both games in tact, the decision to use a lower framerate I think, was the right one.

On a plus note, Team Ico also announced that the collection would also feature native 3D support, which will be rather interesting to see. If it is anywhere near as well implemented as in the likes of Disney’s Up or Toy Story 3, then it should deliver us an even more immersive experience than before. Hopefully, with little out-of-the-screen pop, and with more depth perception.

Interestingly, the collection will also mark the first time US gamers will see the complete version of Ico, which now makes it’s worldwide debut with its longer ‘intended’ European ending.

The Team Ico Collection (tentatively titled) will make its debut sometime next spring (rumoured April 2011 for North America, and June 2011 for Europe). It will come packaged on a single Blu-Ray disc, and is expected to retail below the usual full price RRP of new release titles. I imagine £29.99 like with the GOW Collection sounds about right. But of course, we shall see.

Review: Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker (360)

When the Mass Effect franchise was first announced back in 2006 the fans who grew to love the universe were promised dlc which would ever expand that universe. Unfortunately, Bioware failed to properly deliver on the first game, with two very different dlc packages, both of which frankly didn't offer very much in terms of expansion. Since then Bioware have gone back to the drawing board with Mass Effect 2, learning from the mistakes of Mass Effect by releasing a combination of free and premium content which has way surpassed the scant offerings featured in the first game.


The latest offering though, Lair of the Shadow Broker is probably the best and most satisfying piece of dlc I have ever played, expanding on the Mass Effect story in ways fans would have been hoping for. The dlc continues the story of Liara T'soni, a former team mate of commander Shepherd, and ties directly with the Mass Effect mini series, Mass Effect Redemption; a four issue comic series published by Dark Horse Comics.


Concluding a story arc which was started in Mass Effect redemption, in which Liara is desperately seeking payback against an entity known as the Shadow Broker, this expansion finally gives us the chance to confront that mysterious foe. The adventure you have getting to that point however, is not only challenging combat wise but also features all the elements which have made Mass Effect 2 possibly the best RPG of this year.

The story is of course, emotionally compelling - so much more so if your Shepherd had a relationship with the Asari doctor in Mass Effect, as you have an opportunity to continue their relationship, and the combat suitably polished.

With two satisfying boss battles, one especially so if your character class is Vanguard, the dlc rivals segments from the main Mass Effect 2 story. As for fan service, other than rekindling a relationship with Liara there is a ton of Mass Effect references that more than once caused me to laugh out loud, especially the part about the omni-gel.


Overall, as far as Lair of the Shadow Broker goes, this in imho is the best piece of DLC yet released by any publisher or developer so far, and the cost is spot on. At 800 Microsoft Points you wouldn't expect a full expansion, but with the play time coming in at around 3 hours, and plenty of end game tid-bits to laugh over, this is an essential download for any Mass Effect 2 owner.

VERDICT: 9/10

Leon Goldstone, Contributor

Capcom Shows Off MT Framework Mobile Tech

We know that the 3DS is a potentially very powerful machine, and although its GPU is lacking any kind of programmable pixel-shader support, many of the effects done through this method can be recreated via its advanced fixed-function pipeline. The result is a range of visual effects that look surprisingly high-end and extremely close to what is possible on current home console hardware.

A glimpse of just what is possible on the system was briefly shown off with Capcom’s Resident Evil Revelations demo at E3 earlier this year, but now the company has shed even more light on the tech powering the game, and the results are not so surprisingly impressive.

In an interview with Zenji Nishikawa for Japanese site Impress Watch, Capcom’s Jun Takeuchi (head of production), Masaru Ijuuin (head of technical research and development), Satoshi Ishida (programmer) sat down to discuss the latest version of their MT Framework engine (called MT Framework Mobile), created specifically for the 3DS and incorporating many of the advanced visual effects usually found in the company’s PS3 and 360 titles.

Impressively, the trio revealed that the new engine is fully capable of delivering advanced features like normal mapping, depth of field, motion blur, gamma correction, anti-aliasing, surface shaders and self shadowing, whilst rendering in real-time at 30fps, and with most of the effects being enabled in 3D.

Some of these, like motion blur, and anti-aliasing are not available in this mode, perhaps down to both the way they are implemented and the additional processing load they require to work.

A few comparison shots were also revealed. They show the game with these features both enabled and disabled, demonstrating that the 3DS’ fixed-function graphics pipeline can still handle work carried out by the PS3 and 360’s pixel-shaders with relative ease.

The results are very impressive. And the screenshots in question can be found directly below.

Note: top shots are without these effects, bottom ones are with.

Motion Blur



The use of motion blur appears to be more than just a simple post-process effect added to the finished framebuffer image. Instead, all signs point to it being object based, calculated in real-time and processed only for the items which use it. This usually requires a large amount of processing power compared to the much cheaper ‘camera-based motion blur’ solutions, so seeing it up and running here is a pretty incredible feat.

Currently the effect has been fully implemented with the game is running in 3D, although Capcom are assessing its suitability for use in this mode.

Depth Of Field



When using a DOF effect objects in the foreground or background appear to stand out, and focus points are created. This accentuates cinematic realism when using certain camera angles.

HDR (top) and Colour Correction (bottom)





Capcom’s use of high-dynamic-range lighting here seems to create a larger contrast between light and dark areas of the scene, although it can also be used to show a larger spectrum of light points across the entire available range. The above shows a more realistic presentation of shadowed parts of the screen, creating a moody, more atmospheric look to the proceedings.

Normal Mapping



Seeing as polygon counts are vastly lower than in 360/PS3 Resident Evil 5, normal mapping has clearly been used to make both characters look smoother, their lower polygon origins slightly more concealed as a result. This technique allows for more detail to be included via texture mapping without the need for incredibly high levels of geometry, which is perfectly suited for the 3DS.

Surface Shaders and Self Shadowing



Like with HDR, the effect of self shadowing adds additional realism and depth to the scene, whilst additional shaders help maximise the amount of detail from the game’s texture maps.

Anti-Aliasing

Perhaps the most interesting feature is the inclusion of 2xAA when the game is running in 2D mode. While Capcom didn’t discuss the method of edge smoothing they were using, it is very likely that it is the very same supersampling technique as found in Nintendo’s Starfox 64 conversion.

Effectively the 3DS renders its final framebuffer output at 800x240 when running in 3D mode, with two 400x240 frames being created (one for each eye). These are then combined to form a single 2D image using jittered samples, thus basically equating to 2x supersampling, and it’s this image that is finally displayed on screen. Regardless of mode, the game is always rendering the full 800x240 resolution in order to apply AA in the final framebuffer output.

Tech Advantages

It’s pretty clear from what we’ve seen so far that the MT Framework Mobile engine is a force to be reckoned with for sure. From a mere graphical standpoint Resident Evil Revelations is easily the most complex 3DS title we’ve seen to date given the large range of effects displayed at any given time. However, it is the engine’s cost and time saving properties which are perhaps even more important than its flagship game’s visual splendour.

One of the main things to come out of the interview was that when making for the platform using MT Framework Mobile, you wouldn’t need to start the entire game creation process from scratch. It is possible for developers to carry over all of their existing art assets from the work done on PS3 and 360 titles, simply scaling back geometry counts and texture detail to match the lower spec hardware.

This is exactly what Capcom have done for Resident Evil Revelations and 3DS Super Street Fighter IV, in which most of the artwork and assets were taken directly from both Resident Evil 5 and the console version of Super SFIV, before being downgraded accordingly.

Effectively, by doing this overall development costs should be lower, thus allowing for software teams to target high-end levels of graphical performance that are usually expected from fully-featured AAA titles. Only this time in the handheld space. And all without breaking the bank.

Ultimately, Capcom’s mobile version of the highly proficient MT Framework engine bodes well for not only future handheld ports of PS3 and 360 games, but also original titles as well. More time spent on game design, and less on getting your art, assets, and tech up and running can only be a good thing. And it is precisely this approach which will be the driving force behind future development - a statement echoed by the fact that the company also confirmed the MT Framework Lite; a cross platform solution designed to get games ported from PS3 to Wii more quickly, but without the usual legwork.

Feature: Super Mario Bros & 25 Years Of Mario

Today, Monday 13th September, marks the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros on the Nintendo Entertainment System, and in celebration of the occasion we will be running two special features here at IQGamer over two days. Yesterday we took a brief look at the defining NES gaming system, and today we look at Super Mario Bros and the Character himself.

It’s easy to blind you with stats about how successful Super Mario Bros and the Super Mario series of games has become. The character itself is one of the most famous and recognisable faces in the developed world, and his impact has been felt across more than one generation, as families open up their children’s lives into the world of videogames, and of course Mario. Indeed, the character is not only one of the worlds most enduring, now being far more popular, and dare I say more recognisable Mickey Mouse to the youth of today, but one which transcends boundaries of age, race, gender, and time. Everyone it seems loves, or knows about Mario.


The original Super Mario Bros on the Nintendo Entertainment System alone is the second biggest selling game of all time, with a whopping 40 million copies to its name – that’s like the equivalent to how many Xbox 360’s have been sold worldwide so far, only missing out on first place to Nintendo’s other global smash-hit, Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training on the Nintendo DS. What makes this feat more incredible is that it happened in the 1980’s, long before videogaming was a mainstream leisure activity, and the PlayStation a blink in Sony’s eye.

Some of the most familiar, iconic imagery, and recognisable sounds of today come from this 25-year-old videogame – a testament to the impact it had, and continues to have on the world. When you see children, teenagers, and fully grown adults sporting a Mario mushroom t-shirt, and your dad humming the first level theme tune to Super Mario Bros you know something extraordinary has happened. To put it bluntly, Mario the character, and Mario the game was, and continues to be a worldwide phenomenon.

Although these days his success is far more restrained - the brand has dissipated ever so slightly as more and more younger games are weaned on the likes of Call of Duty and Halo, rather than fun, family-friendly platform games. Still, the impact he had cannot be understated, and continues to be felt to this day.

The brainchild of one Shigeru Miyamoto, the original Super Mario Bros was a revolutionary step forward in game design. Pretty much most of the concepts that hold together traditional platform games can be traced back to this very one title. The use of power-ups, a scrolling playing field, secret pathways, and different environmental physics depending on whether the character was either underwater, on icy ground, or on normal solid, were all concepts that had never really been explored before - certainly not to the extent of Miyamoto’s classic. Hardware restrictions, development costs, along with the desire to keep game prices low held back these kind of forward-thinking ideas until the NES, and SMB delivered them in spades.


The basics of Super Mario Bros gameplay was simple. The title saw Mario progressing from the left to the right hand of the screen, collecting golden coins and jumping on the heads of any enemies, whilst also navigating a series of ever more tricky platforms and traps laid down in his path by the nefarious Bowser. It sounds pretty basic by today’s standard. Although back then there was nothing else remotely like it. Most platform games were either single-screened affairs, or featured a move from one screen to another, rather than the continuously flowing nature of Nintendo’s title.

SMB also had some extremely clever level design ideas that even a decade after its release, was still not being matched by its rivals. Warp pipes lead Mario into secret areas containing either more coins, or another power-up, and also acted as a quick level skip counteracting the lack of a battery-save option in the cartridge. The most familiar of these is contained in world 1-2, in which it is easily possible to break out above the confines of the normal stage design, avoiding most of its perils before leading you to a secret room featuring three warp pipes, each teleporting you to later worlds, congratulating ardent players skilled enough to discover this.

Moving platforms, rotating rows of fireballs, underwater sections, and icy whether conditions all changed how certain areas would play, thus not only increasing the game’s challenge as a result, but also providing players with a sense of wonderment and adventure not seen in other comparable, early 8bit platformers. All these things we now tend to take for granted, but back then all of this was revolutionary stuff, and was executed with exemplary precision.

The game also opened up the concept of having ‘power ups’ enhance the main character’s abilities, making him bigger, invincible, being able to shoot fireballs from his hands. But to be fair, there’s no need for any further explanation as most of you already know about the ‘Super Mushroom’ and Fire Flower’ power ups, the use of the Starman, the concept of hidden power-ups, and other such design ideas, many of which are still considered part of the basic blueprint for the 2D platformer.


Outside of the highly praised and revolutionary gameplay it was Koji Kondo’s memorable score which is perhaps one of the most recognisable pieces of music in today’s popular culture. Even people who have never played any of the game will often sight the tune as ‘ the theme from Super Mario’, something all the more apparent when you that the catchy, first level theme has been released in various forms from mobile phone ring tones, to being modified and used as an example of generic videogames music for TV advertisements.

The game’s iconic western boxart is also one of the most highly recognised in the world. The image of Mario, drawn in 8bit pixel art, and blown up onto the front cover of Super Mario Bros shows the quirky, simpler nature of early designs that often donned games outside of Japan. By contrast the artwork for the Japanese release is altogether more in-keeping with the rest of the series, featuring both Mario and Luigi, along with Bowser and his minions taking centre stage on the front cover.


A mock-up below shows us just what the North American and European releases of SMB would look like with the Japanese art replacing the familiar 8bit styled design most of us remember so vividly.


Super Mario Bros biggest success though came from the fact that the game was so incredibly simple to play, and controls being so much more responsive than other comparable titles released at the time. It was seemingly easy to pick up and play, but incredibly challenging in later stages, testing even the most ardent gamers to the limit. The game was always fair however, with that fine line between success or failure down to the player’s own swift reaction times and ability to read, and then take advantage of the situation.

I remember first getting a hold of the game with NES in 1988, and quite frankly it was like nothing else I had played. Sure, I had owned other single-screened platformers - even ones that saw you moving between different screens, but nothing as smooth or quite as polished, expertly designed as SMB. For the first time since the likes of Pong popularised gaming in the home on the Atari 2600 VCS, this was a giant leap forward, the next true evolution of the medium. Well, for platform games that is. Nintendo would continue to expand and perfect other gameplay concepts and ideas in future titles, like Metroid and Zelda, although some of the groundwork was laid down firmly here.

Going beyond the game itself, many of the imagery found in Nintendo’s worldwide smash has made its way into popular culture. T-shirts featuring the 1-up mushroom are commonplace; TV advertisements all too often shamelessly rip off the theme tune and ideas behind the series thus to represent gaming as a whole, whilst the mere use of blue, denim overalls screams Super Mario whenever an unlikely sole may be happening to wear them.


Mario’s biggest legacy by far however, is with the NES in helping to transform the videogames industry into what it has become today. It largely helped take an industry left on its last legs after the 1983 videogames crash, and revitalised it, perhaps driving it forward further than any other title had done in the years before. That’s not to discredit earlier successes by the company, or some of Atari’s, Ultimate’s or even Activision’s hits of the day, but SMB moved beyond those, forming many of the gaming concepts present in all 2D platform games today.

So far Mario has starred in games selling an excess of over 210 million units to date, and has constantly been the driving force behind reinventing what can be seen as possible in a videogame. With each subsequent sequel the series added multiple routes, gameplay incorporating advanced visual effects, the first real, fully 3D (in terms of both gameplay and graphics), interactive platform world, and the use of physics and gravity like never seen before, all of this combined with some quirky humour and some of the most finely-crafted gameplay mechanics to date.

To talk about everything that the Mario series has brought to the table would take all day, and several thousands words more than anyone would care to write in one week, let alone in a few hours. To keep it short, the original Super Mario Bros transformed the industry we loved forever, and the series has a whole has been constantly redefining itself, never afraid to change direction or push the boundaries into new areas. And amongst all this, the character himself, a once two-toned carpenter originally known as Jumpman, has become one of the largest entertainment properties worldwide.


It has been exactly twenty-five years today since the ‘worlds favourite videogame hero’ appeared in Super Mario Bros, released on the 13th September 1985 in Japan, and we, along with hopefully the entire industry, salute him, and those responsible for his creation. Hats off to Shigeru Miyamoto, Takashi Tezuka, Koji Kondo, everyone at the team at EAD, and of course Nintendo. Here’s to another 25 years of gaming magic.

Feature: A Brief Look At The NES

Tomorrow, Monday 13th September, will mark the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros on the Nintendo Entertainment System, and in celebration of the occasion we will be running two special features here at IQGamer over two days, covering both the console and SMB itself. Today we take a brief look at the defining NES gaming system, and how it helped shape the industry I work in today.

The Nintendo Entertainment System is one of the most recognisable videogames consoles that has ever been released, anywhere in the world. At one point it has been said that the majority of the population of the United States either had, or had access to a NES in their homes, and almost certainly a copy of the game said to have kick-started a second wave videogame revolution, the awe-inspiring Super Mario Bros. Indeed when talking about the impact the NES had on the world it’s almost impossible not to talk about SMB shaped this change, and how this one game changed the fortunes of our favourite pastime forever.

It’s hard to believe that it has been twenty-five years since the NES reshaped the videogames industry so many of us take for granted each day. The bulky, square-shaped, grey console was instrumental in bringing the joys of gaming to a mainstream audience long before the NDS or Wii was even a blink in Nintendo’s eye.

Many of the things we associate with the industry today started with Nintendo’s fledging 8bit system. The game design blueprints firmly laid down by Super Mario Bros; the near two decade long Japanese domination of the videogames industry; and the whole concept of software liecencing to third-party developers, all started with Nintendo, and the release of the NES.


In 1985, armed with a slew of high-profile Japanese developed hits, and two years after reaching fever-pitch success with its launch at home in Japan, the NES touched down in North America to a fantastic reception. Despite the videogame crash of 1983 the public were more than happy to give another videogames system a try, and after an initial launch in select retailers in New York Nintendo released the NES all across the country in February of the following year. This not only gave confidence to retailers looking to stock the system, but also the whole market for videogames itself.

Following on from its North American launch, Nintendo was already riding high on a wave of immense success when it decided to bring its Nintendo Entertainment System to Europe, or more specifically the United Kingdom. The machine had quickly spread to homes all over the US and was by and large a phenomenon of sorts, with Mario leading the charge all the way, and backed up by other popular hits such as The Legend Of Zelda and Metroid, both staple, must have titles for arguably one of the most cherished consoles ever to have been released.

The company launched the system in most of mainland Europe themselves in 1986, and then a year later in the UK, Australia, and Italy, with Mattel distributing the hardware, facing strong competition from Sega’s Master System a few months later. It wasn’t until 1990 when Nintendo opened their own operations in the UK, and took over distribution of the NES, along with marketing the machine.

Although featuring far more in the way of polished software in the first few year of its release, the NES never managed to achieve the same levels of sales success across Europe as the Master System - not initially anyway. Poor marketing and management on the side of Mattel, along with delayed European releases of many games proved troublesome, and allowed Sega’s 8bit console to take the lead. The fact that Sega’s system was some £50 cheaper upon launch didn’t help matters either (it sold for £100, against the £150 entry point of the NES).

However in both North America and Japan, where Sega’s presence was much smaller and less impactful, the NES was by far the most popular console at the time outselling every other videogame system by a wide margin.


The unique look of the NES console – a familiar sight in most North American homes, and many across Europe as well - was designed to differentiate it from other videogame systems of the time, with Nintendo not wanting to be associated with the 1983 crash of the games market, while also attempting to revitalise it with cutting-edge new software. Compared to other systems the NES was bigger, bulkier, and featured a square, angular design which housed a front-loading cartridge slot (hidden under the flap with the printed NES logo on it), and two control pad ports on the right-hand side – a first for most videogame systems.

It’s what most of us remember playing while we were young.

Interestingly the PAL version of the console was also subtitled with the words ‘Mattel Version’ or ‘NES Version’ being printed directly below the ‘Nintendo Entertainment system’ logo. This was due to Mattel distributing the system in part of Europe for three years, before Nintendo finally took over control themselves in 1990, leaving many late adopters bragging that their ‘NES Version’ was “better” or “more authentic” than their friends Mattel branded console.

In reality, the difference actually boiled down to the ‘Mattel Version’ featuring a slightly higher quality plastic finish on both the top and bottom of the machine, while the ‘NES Version’ was compatible with games from North America.

I myself received my ‘Mattel branded’ Nintendo Entertainment System in Christmas 1988. It came packaged with two controllers, a copy of Super Mario Bros, plus Duck Hunt and the famous Nintendo Zapper. After months of seeing what seemed like constant TV adverts in the run up to Christmas, I was completely overjoyed, and my first little foray into console gaming would later lead me into becoming a fully-fledged enthusiast during the 16bit era with the Sega Megadrive. But it all started here, with the NES and a copy of SMB.

Indeed, compared to my first gaming experiences with my old green-screen Amstrad computer, the NES was like a breath of fresh air. The games were far more responsive, and that d-pad made playing fast-paced action titles a breeze compared to the Amstrad’s clunky official joystick.


Whilst the console itself may be considered iconic, the controller itself is no less revered. In the eighties most consoles released with large, somewhat bulky control pads or joysticks, restrained by their inherent arcade heritage and often, by the use of only one action button. Most of these, like the one that came with my Amstrad PC, were rather unresponsive, requiring strong, defined joystick movements, and hard button presses in order to control the action on screen.

Nintendo’s rectangular, slab-shaped design of the controller, along with its cross-shaped d-pad then, was revolutionary. A multi-button set-up, consisting of two action buttons; ‘A’ and ‘B’, plus both ‘START’ and ‘SELECT’ buttons, and its most defining feature; that Nintendo d-pad design synonymous with modern day gaming, basically provided the next standard in control for well over a decade, up until the launch of the N64, and its controller’s trademark analogue stick.

Better, more responsive d-pads may have since been produced – with Sega’s Japanese Saturn pad commanding the lead – but it was this NES/Famicom original that paved the way.

Even now the NES controller is still one of the most responsive out there, making a laughing stock of the shamelessly plasticky feel of both Wii Vitual Console controllers, and their poor imitations of that ‘NES styled’ d-pad used in every Nintendo console to date in some form or another.


Outside of the revolutionary control pad, Nintendo also produced a few other iconic peripherals, including the Zapper Gun, and R.O.B, both of which were packaged up with NES at some point in its life. The Nintendo Zapper, along with Duck Hunt and Super Mario Bros was often bundled with the NES console, and two control pads.



The NES had a rather successful worldwide run that lasted up to twenty years (including the Famicom in Japan), at one point being the biggest selling, and most recognisable console of all time - a feat that perhaps has only been dwarfed by Sony’s PlayStation; another success story that changed the industry for the second time.

Some of the worlds biggest gaming franchises also began life on the system, including Mega Man, Castlevania, and Contra (Probotector), along with Nintendo's own Mario, Zelda, and Metroid - just another area of significance for one of the most popular consoles ever to come to market.

In 1995, after steadily declining sales and large software droughts, along with a decade of success, Nintendo discontinued the machine in both the United States and throughout all of Europe - to be fair the last release for the platform was in 1994 with Wario’s Woods. In Japan the machine would continue to be sold up until 2003, although software production was halted years before when the popularity of the Super NES had long since taken over, and the release of the N64 garnered more of their attention.

In its long and prosperous life the NES defined a new standard in which other videogame companies would follow, and that is still echoed in the designs and choices made by Nintendo and other companies today. The concept of software licensing for third-party developers, the trademark controller and d-pad design, establishing some of the most common, and copied blueprints of videogame design with Super Mario Bros, and the near two decade long Japanese Dominance of the videogames industry, were just some of the things Nintendo, and the NES brought to the table.

It’s this forward thinking approach that has both disappointed (Virtual Boy) and propelled (Nintendo DS, Wii) the company to be the revolutionary success story it is today.

A Look At Some New Dead Or Alive 3DS Screens

Early screens of Dead Of Alive 3DS surfaced at this year’s E3 shortly after Nintendo unveiled the 3DS console itself, showing off Dreamcast quality graphics with more advanced visual effects. Now Tecmo have released some updated shots of the game, which not only further showcase the 3DS’ fairly advanced graphical prowess, but also the progress that has been made since its initial unveiling.

Dead Or Alive Dimensions, as it’s now being called, is looking mightily impressive. Previous shots of the game looked good, although didn’t quite appear as detailed geometry wise compared to the DC version of DOA2, nor did it feature quite as detailed texturing. However those screenshots were heavily compressed, and also came from a much earlier version of the game. Compared to the ones released at E3, this latest batch of shots appears distinctly more polished, clearly featuring improvements in a number of areas.


Texturing seems to be a little more consistent, with the characters in particular seeing more detail than before, and the overall shading model is a little less rough around the edges. Specular highlighting is also present, appearing subtly amongst the game's more pronounced use of normal mapping.

Interestingly the latest screens all feature insane amounts of anti-aliasing, more than what is likely to be present in the actual game, if any at all. Like with most publisher-released screens these are likely to be downsampled bullshots, and given the lack of any aliased edges this is almost certainly the case. Currently Nintendo’s 3DS port of Star Fox 64 is the only 3DS game we know of that uses anti-aliasing.



The most noticeable improvement besides the obvious, and slightly artificial increase in image quality, is the liberal use of normal mapping in these latest shots. It’s pretty clear that the characters in DOA Dimensions aren’t made up of as many polygons as DC DOA2, however a similar level of detail, and more in certain areas, is created through using normal maps to simulate ‘bumpy’ surfaces and other such looks.


Impressively, the clothing appears to a focal point for using the technique. You can see all the little creases and folds that occur during movement which adds even more realism to the proceedings. Admittedly, this on its own is hardly new, and we don’t know whether or not the developers are simply using a static normal mapping solution, or whether they are dynamically blending different 2D normal maps together to create an effect which contorts and changes with motion. If they are then this is a pretty mean feat, although particularly unlikely.


Dead Or Alive Dimensions is looking pretty darn hot right now, with impressive use of various graphical effects and much better image quality than many 3DS games we’ve seen so far. These latest shots represent a noticeable improvement to the ones released a few months ago, and things generally seem to be progressing nicely. It will particularly interesting to see how well the developers can maintain a constantly fluid 60fps with so much detail being apparent, especially in some of the backgrounds, and with all those effects. Although I guess we shall just have to wait until the first direct-feed gameplay footage surfaces.

More screens of the game can be found over at Famitsu’s website.

Feature: Halo Reach Legendary Edition Unboxing

Being a huge fan of the halo franchise I was extremely excited when I was able to get my hands on the Bungie space crate. Following a delicate unboxing I was not disappointed. Fans planning on getting their hands on this edition of Halo Reach will be getting not only the definitive edition of the game, but also a whole lot of fan service in the form of notes letters from the Halo universe. Then of course there is the Noble team monument and Dr. Halsey's personal diary on creating a Spartan.


The crate in which all this goodness is packaged in is a fairly durable collectors piece itself, designed to be something you would expect to find in the halo universe. Once inside you are greeted with the collectors edition of the game and a letter both snugly fitted in to tight polyester. What grabbed my attention was not only the quality of design of the collectors edition box but the accompanying letter. The letter explains on how the Noble team monument was actually a museum piece which was rescued and had been passed down eventually to you.


The collectors edition packaging is actually one of the most satisfying pieces of game packaging I have ever handled, and I do like my collectors editions of games. This even trumps the legendary edition of Halo 3 in terms of case quality. Though I don't think anything could beat the Halo 3 helmet in terms of functionality - being able to store the master chiefs trilogy plus ODST in one commemorative helmet was a master stroke. But the Reach packaging stand alone is not only durable but impressive - the feel of it as you pull it from the outer ONI black box is nothing short of legendary.


The game is encased in it's own little section which detaches away from the main box. It is here where you get some of the best fiction a company has ever released as an companion piece. Dr. Halsey's journal is a work of sheer quality as is the various clippings featured with it. I don't wish to ruin it so I shall leave it at that, fans of Halo will not be disappointed.


The Noble team monument, crafted by the guys at McFarlane toys, is every bit the quality collectable any halo fan would want. Sculpted and moulded to perfection, complete with adjustable weapons this monument captures each of the noble team with pinpoint accuracy. This piece along with the letter explaining it's origin, plus all the contents of the collectors edition is what makes this Legendary edition of Halo Reach truly Legendary.

Leon Goldstone, Contributor

Tech Report: A Look At Epic Citadel

With the impressive specs of the recent iPhone 4, along with the iPad and iPhone 3GS, we always new that Apple’s stylish little handhelds had tantalizing potential that seemed destined to be unlocked at some point. The question was whether or not the system’s slightly limiting development environment, in combination with the high development costs in creating graphically fully featured releases would prevent such a thing from ever happening. With Epic Games’ Epic Citadel Demo a glimpse of that potential has been realised, finally showcasing just what the iPhone range of Power VR SGX GPU’s can do.

This is probably the first time that we have seen anything that pushes Apple’s mobile devices in such a way, as although titles such as Epic’s own Doom Resurrection, and Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 looked good, they were far from demonstrating what was really possible. Despite this, the Epic Citadel demo whilst appearing very impressive is actually not that technologically advanced, featuring very few high-end shader effects and a lack of heavy dynamic lighting – something usually found in UE3 games. It does look very good however, and makes the point that having good art is sometimes more important that having the most advanced tech.




The above screenshots show the game running on an iPhone 3GS (pinched from a friend while on lunch) and are easily above original Xbox quality. The level of texture detail is incredible for a handheld device, looking far better than anything we have seen on either the PSP or even Nintendo’s 3DS, and the subtle but pleasing inclusion of some basic dynamic lighting, plus additional tone mapping brings a sense of depth to the image.

More impressive still is the use of a very cleaver LOD system, which means that pop up is never as intrusive as you’d expect when looking upon far away areas, and that the high levels of detail effectively remain on screen for longer.



The iPhone version of the UE3 only supports the use of OpenGL ES 2.0, thus only working on the latest models of the device. Although it’s not just iPhone 4 users that will benefit from this upgrade in graphical quality with titles that use the engine. The demo even manages to run smoothly on the older iPhone 3GS or iPad whilst either missing, or simply toning down specific visual effects.


iPhone 4


iPad


iPhone 3GS

On the 3GS that I used to sample the demo, the framerate largely hovered around the 30fps mark, only really dropping down in areas where lots of detail is visible in wide open spaces. In these areas the framerate can, and will frequently drop down to around the 20fps mark, whilst also introducing some serious input lag that temporality ruins the otherwise responsive controls.

Available memory, and memory bandwidth for the GPU seems to be the main issue here, as does GPU clock speed – it’s faster in the iPhone 4 compared to the 3GS and iPad. However, even with these small cutbacks in visual fidelity Epic Citadel is firmly above other titles on either device, and represents just the kind of visual step forward we could be seeing in future titles.



Outside of the highly polished nature of the demo’s texture mapping, and filtering providing us with lavish image quality, and the subtle inclusion of dynamic lighting (backed up by a custom lightmass GI baking solution), there isn’t much that is all that technically impressive - Specular reflections are hardly new even if the still look great. Most of what makes Epic Citadel look so good comes down to using high quality art assets, and good overall art in general – both of which are lacking in most current iPhone releases.

This is especially true for games running on lower spec platforms. Some of the most impressive looking PS2 titles used good art to simulate far more advanced effects without the means to do them natively, thus holding up against their Xbox counterparts.


Of course, increasing the quality of the art assets used takes both time and money, and one of the reasons that we haven’t seen such high production values in a iPhone game yet is largely down to the software market that it will be entering into. Most titles sell for less than £7 on the AppStore, even less than £3 in many cases, meaning that it will be harder for developers to claw back the increased costs involved of embarking on higher-end projects. And the risks may not be worth the rewards.

However, at least the option is now wide open for software houses to choose, and it’s likely that getting your game up and running using a decent middleware solution like UE3 is far easier than developing your own advanced, fully custom iPhone engine. The real question is whether or not it circumvents enough of the additional development costs incurred by significantly ramping up your art assets. But that is something that can only be answered by individual publishers themselves, and until then, all we can do is watch, wait, and see what happens.

Tech Analysis: Vanquish Demo (360 vs PS3)

We all remember the travesty that was the PS3 version of Bayonetta. It was hardly the best example of solid multiplatform development, instead representing exactly what happens when a publisher chooses to take a game perfectly designed around the advantages of one platform’s unique specifics, and converting it to another without doing the same.

On one hand you had the sublime 360 version of the game, complete with full resolution alpha and particle effects, detailed, vibrantly coloured textures, and a fluid 60fps framerate. On the other, there was the distinctly sub-par PS3 game, with its washed out textures, lower resolution effects buffers, and a framerate that was for the most part cut in half.

The game’s lavishly detailed nature, in combination with so many high res alpha effects was ideally suited to the huge amount of bandwidth provided by the EDRAM situated on the 360’s GPU, but was a poor fit for the PS3’s bandwidth starved RSX in its original form. Of course this shameful port was nothing to do with the game’s original creators Platinum Games. Instead it was converted and shipped out by a team at Sega, who wanted a PS3 version of the game out shortly after the 360 game’s release in Japan.

Thankfully for Vanquish, Platinum Games are at the helm of both versions of the game, and have developed it from the ground up – using the Bayonetta engine no less – optimising it in a way that takes advantage of both platforms without being more tailored for one than the other. In short, they have achieved an impressive example of platform parity, in which the PS3 build is every bit as solid and technically accomplished as the 360 one.

Arguably, there have been some noticeable changes in regards to what the engine is rendering on screen to make this happen; not least of all the slightly sub HD resolution of the game, along with the toned down use of alpha effects. Although this in it self is no bad thing, and is required for parity to be reached without large differences between builds. What is commendable, is that the development team at Platinum Games not only understood what needed to be done for their next venture, but that they have achieved it whilst still creating a visually impressive experience with plenty of intense action.



Seeing as Vanquish features a wealth of more advanced shader effects and post processing than Bayonetta, the game effectively renders in 1024x720 on both platforms in order to keep performance up, with edge smoothing being available through the use of 2xMSAA (multi-sampling anti-aliasing).

What is impressive is the fact that Platinum Games have managed to get anti-aliasing up and running on both platforms to an equal standard, and that the vast majority of alpha effects are rendered in full resolution matching the framebuffer – fire being the only one which sticks out as being slightly lower. And that’s also on both PS3 and 360.

The use of 1024x720 with 2xMSAA means that the FB just about squeezes into the 360’s 10MB of EDRAM, and that given the tweaks made to the underlying engine doesn’t put too much of a strain on PS3 performance, other than in heavy load situations, in which both versions suffer. In fact, as you will find out later, it is the PS3 game which initially fares a little better in this area.



As you can see in our screenshots, both versions look pretty much identical with only very subtle differences between them. The PS3 game appears to be a tad sharper, whilst the 360 version appears a little more pristine overall. Though most of the time they really do look the same in motion. It is likely that the ever so slightly cleaner look of the 360 build is down to the machine featuring a better scaler contained within its GPU, compared to the relatively poor horizontal scaler found PS3’s RSX, which simply features a bilinear solution. Although in this case there’s hardly anything between the two.

Brightness levels also appear to be slightly different on both versions, as does the look of the shadowing. Although it isn’t a case of one looking better than the other, with any differences being down to the way both machines respective GPU’s deals with certain effects. For example, in terms of the shadowing, both the PS3 and 360 versions actually use the same type of filtering, though it does seem to be implemented a little differently.

You could also point out that the lighting looks a tad washed out on the PS3 game, however that is as much due to the gamma differences between the two consoles video outputs than any technical limitations. In any case the precision of the lighting is the same on both versions, and adjusting the RGB settings for HDMI on PS3 and 360, along with your TV settings, helps bring this into line.

Either way it is safe to say that Vanquish looks as good on the PS3 as it is on the 360, with no glaring differences to be found like the ones so easily apparent in Bayonetta. Things like texture detail and filtering are the same across both versions, as is the use of post processing effects and alpha buffers for transparencies, so it’s basically like for like.



In our early tech report of the game we found that some of Vanquish’s pre-release screenshots had huge amounts of post-processing visible, some of which we thought would never make it into the actual game. Well, as it turns out most of it is in fact correct and present in the demo, although without being enhanced specifically for supersampled PR bullshots.

Here we have some impressive screen distortion effects, coupled with per-object motion blur rarely seen outside of the PC space, but that is becoming ever more feasible on consoles as developers find new ways to optimise their engines even closer to suiting the hardware.

Like with the rendering resolution and use of AA, post processing looks identical on both PS3 and 360, with the cool motion blur effect helping in making the game’s 30fps update appear smoother than it actually is.



So far what we’ve discovered about Vanquish is par the course for parity, with pretty much every area of the game looking the same on both platforms. Impressively, the PS3 version has had nothing in the way of visual cut-backs, even having proper MSAA and full res alpha buffers, which is a testement to Platinum Games’ resolve about getting their flagship engine working identically across both platforms.

Interestingly, the developers were actually quoted as saying that the PS3 was the lead platform for Vanquish, and that they were optimising the engine to ensure that any differences would not be detrimental to the overall experience – something they have managed to achieve in a very short space of time. But is there anything that points to that fact being apparent in the way Vanquish as been built up to operate?

Nothing conclusive, I have to say. Although we can see that texture detail has been paired back from Bayonetta; no doubt to save on memory in order to keep things the same on PS3, and that the use of alpha heavy effects has also been cut down on slightly. However the game’s the use of far more advanced shaders and lighting, with some computationally heavy post process effects (per-object motion blur) clearly circumvents this, providing a more impressive visual range but in vastly different areas.

Also, by rendering in 1024x720 with 2xMSAA, and at 30fps, in addition to the changes made with regards to particle and alpha buffers, Platinum Games have allowed for their engine to comfortably fit in with the bandwidth and processing requirements of both consoles, and especially the bandwidth limited PS3, and have built upon these limitations by enhancing the game’s visuals in ways that work within these constraints.



Going back to our comparison of the game itself, we can see that performance across both platforms is far more closely matched than with Bayonetta. In fact, it’s pretty damn near identical most of the time, being one of the best examples of cross platform development we have seen so far alongside Dante’s Inferno and Burnout Paradise.

For Vanquish Platinum Games has targeted a 30fps update rather than going for the more preferable, eye-blazing 60fps found in many Japanese titles, and the decision was definitely the right one. In the case of Vanquish, where the engine is throwing around all kinds of advanced effects and heavy amounts of post processing, having the game maintain a smooth 60fps update would have been next to impossible, and the extra work would have almost certainly impacted on the PS3 version of the game.

Going for 30fps means that not only do both versions maintain a smoother framerate for longer, but also that the developers have managed to implement v-sync on both platforms with differing methods of preventing screen-tear.



Indeed, both versions hit their target framerate for most of the experience, only slowing down slightly when there is an over abundance of stuff happening on screen at once. Although throughout the demo, in the busier sections before facing up to the boss, it is the PS3 version which manages to drops less frames than the 360 one, appearing slightly smoother during general play as a result. These drops are pretty small on both platforms, mainly going down to around 25fps or so for brief moments, or maybe even less for the most part.

During the boss battle things appear to be reversed with the 360 build commanding a slight, but noticeable lead over the PS3 game. In this section the framerate drops down to at least 20fps on the PS3 when the action is at its most intense, whereas on 360, the framerate, although dropping down noticeably is slightly steadier.

Without using video capture equipment we cannot be any more specific, but overall it definitely feels like the PS3 version was slightly smoother for the most part, and that the smaller drops in framerate were less noticeable than on the 360 - the boss battle aside of course.


We mentioned earlier than Platinum Games had managed to implement v-sync across both platforms for Vanquish, and the results are very impressive; the game practically never features any screen tearing on the 360, and absolutely none on the PS3. Interestingly, the way both games deal with screen tear also has a small, but barely noticeable impact on how each version controls.

I’m pretty certain that some kind of frame buffering technique is being used here, especially on the PS3 build which not only demonstrates ever so slightly more controller lag, but also nothing in the way of tearing.

For those who don’t know, triple and double-buffering is a method of rendering multiple versions of the same frame, which are then held in reserved just in case one of them is torn. When this happens the torn frame is replaced with the next one, which should hopefully be clean. As tearing is really only visible when multiple frames are torn this results in an effective method of reducing screen tear altogether when failing to maintain v-sync. In the case of triple buffering, you hold two frames in reserve rather than just one.

My best guess is that the PS3 game is being triple buffered, and that the 360 is using the slightly lesser double buffered approach seeing as it has less lag and practically no visible screen tear. Using double buffering would also consume less memory, which would be better suited for the framebuffer being limited by the system’s 10MB EDRAM.

Saying that, any screen tearing that occurs in the 360 game is so minor and incredibly hard to spot – even when looking for it, that it’s practically not worth mentioning. I could only see it for a fraction of a second on occasion, and that was when carefully looking for it.


In the end both versions perform largely identically with only small differences between them. The 360 game drops less frames in the most intense situations, whilst the PS3 game is more consistently smooth overall, only faring worse in heavy load areas, such as the boss battle. Screen tear isn’t an issue for either build, and the PS3’s use of triple buffering doesn’t affect controller responsiveness to any noticeable degree during regular play. In fact it is the PS3 version of the game that actually just pushes ahead, looking slightly smoother, and sharper overall, though without commanding anything more than the subtlest of leads.

There’s no doubt that Platinum Games have really taken the time and effort to get both versions of the game looking and operating near identically, to the extent that either one is well worth picking on release regardless of platform preference or past experiences.

Perhaps all that’s left to say is that this is just the demo code of the game, and that there’s still over a month to go until the final release build is shipped. Seeing as I’ll definitely be buying at least one copy of the Vanquish upon release, I will endeavour to get a hold of both versions at some point soon after launch for quick look at what, if anything has changed. Until then it looks like both versions will come highly recommended, whilst also representing another stellar example of multiplatform parity that few developers manage to achieve.

Thanks to Mr Deap for our comparison screens, and AlStrong for the pixel counting.