You can already play 3D games on your PS3 assuming you have a 3D ready TV: an update released a few months ago made this possible, although the playback of 3D Blu-Ray movies was strictly out of the question. Until now.
Earlier today Sony released firmware update 3.50 across the globe. This latest update now allows users to be able to watch compatible Blu-Ray films in stereoscopic 3D for the first time. Sony originally enabled the PS3 to play games in 3D way back in the summer, and at the time mentioned that movie playback in the format would arrive shortly after.
The company commented on the update by saying:
"In 2010, only Sony can deliver a full "lens to lounge room" 3D experience from content capture, content creation such as films to games, to device delivery that provides the ultimate 3D enjoyment in the home."
Of course this was only in regards to the 3D portion of the update. However, the firmware adds much more than that to your PS3.
Here is a full list of features that the 3.50 upgrade will provide:
- 3D BluRay support
- Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity - adds a new icon to the Music category, linking to the new service that should become available in this quarter.
- Browser update with Playstation Move 'direct pointer' support
- Improvements to the Playstation Plus user interface in the Playstation Store
- A 3D logo for 3D enabled content
- The Move (re)calibration screen in the XMB is available from within games
- You can report people from the friends menu
- 14 of the most common errors have received better descriptions
- Access your Facebook profile from within Account Management on XMB
The most significant changes, other than 3D Blu-Ray support, appear to be a proper integration of Facebook with the XMB (or at least accessing your main profile), and the ability to use the Move’s pointer ability to navigate the XMB menu screens. Sadly there is no sign of the rumoured, brand new web browser, or the option to have cross-game chat – a feature that is constantly at the top of most users most requested lists.
Tuesday, 21 September 2010
Monday, 20 September 2010
Feature: PlayStation Move: The Verdict
There is no doubting the Wii’s initial success; it was the right time, and the right place for motion controls to really start to take off. Promises of life-like, eventual 1:1 motion, combined with that feel-good, family fun factor when people come together to play were all jostled about like F1 cars battling for that coveted no.1 spot. However, amongst all the hype, the potential to change the face of traditional gaming forever, was the hard reality that, for all Nintendo’s promises the Wii had largely failed to deliver on them as a whole. The lack of true 1:1 motion control led to what is known as the ‘waggle’ factor being included in games; a series of predefined moves in the game where by the data from the Wii remote and sensors would be processed and interpreted by the Wii console into these actions. The result: a mere illusion of proper motion control, in which you were simply waving your arms around (or the flick of a wrist) in order to do what seemed like a number of overly flashy button presses.
Nintendo finally brought in the Motion Plus upgrade to alleviate the problem, finally delivering on that original 1:1 promise. And although it did, by and large succeed, it was far too late, and the end results were less than impressive. There was still some form of waggle being present, and the lag in titles which actually used full 1:1 tracking was noticeably high. Suffice to say the Motion Plus was too little, too late, and by that time both Sony and Microsoft were eying up the market for them selves.
Whereas MS are clearly aiming themselves at the casual gaming market with their completely controllerless solution in Kinect, Sony, with PlayStation Move, are in fact attempting to cross over into the best of both worlds; luring gamers with the incredibly high-precision of their device, whilst also catering for the mainstream via a selection of highly accurate mii-too sports and entertainment titles.
Unlike Nintendo, who in the beginning promised accurate 1:1 motion tracking and a fast, responsive solution, Sony have actually delivered on just that. The sheer accuracy and precision of the Move is simply incredible. Not only is true 1:1 tracking fully available, along with advanced depth perception, it is also able to operate with in just 1 or 2 frames of latency (that’s between 66ms and 132ms of lag), with just an additional 22ms stemming from the Move device relaying data to the PS3 itself.
If those numbers at first seem a little high, remember that most 60fps titles operate with 66ms latency at standard, with 30fps titles hitting around the 100ms mark. Interestingly, both Halo 3 and the forthcoming NFS Hot Pursuit operate at 100ms, whilst Killzone 2 is around 150ms. Incredibly, that puts the Move right up there with standard controller response times in an average to best scenario. This completely overshadows Microsoft’s Kinect, which on average operates at around 200ms latency when using full body tracking.
Indeed, a few of the Move’s launch titles show off the device’s unflinching precision when it comes to movement tracking. Pin-point accuracy is commonplace in the best titles, whilst latency is noticeably well below levels found on all the best Wii games. What this means is that the most accomplished launch titles for the Move don’t suffer from having that bolted on, or artificial ‘waggle’ feeling to them.
Case in point: Sports Champions demonstrates uncannily realistic 1:1 motion tracking in it’s Table Tennis game, carefully replicating nearly every subtle movement of the player onscreen. Granted, the demo does seem to feature some kind of additional assist function auto-enabled, though this can be turned off in the final game for exact precision tracking.
All this is only made possible because of the unique make up of the Move hardware itself, and it’s relationship with Sony’s own PlayStation Eye camera. Whereas Nintendo went for a combination of infrared tracking, and built-in accelerometers to detect motion and positioning, Sony on the other hand have used a whole array of extra sensors, including LED marker tracking (by far the most important) in order to replicate true 1:1 mapping in a 3D space, whilst also using the PS Eye camera for a simpler form of full body tracking like seen in MS’s Kinect.
The combination of Move’s motion sensors, LED light, and PS Eye camera is just what gives its incredible accuracy. The glowing orb on the end of the controller is tracked by the PS Eye camera, which in turn uses both the data from the internal Move sensors, and the LED light on the front, to intricately track the position of the controller in full 3D. Effectively, it uses the size of the orb within its viewpoint as a guide to determining the distance of the Move, and thus tracking it accordingly.
It’s only when the Move is obscured behind various objects (people, furniture, etc) does the precise nature of the tracking go off-kilter, instead briefly, for a moment reverting back to Wii methods of determining position and movement. When this happens the precision is temporarily lost, resulting in less accurate tracking and an increase in controller latency. However, the Move quickly corrects this as the LED orb on the front of the controller comes back into view.
From a technical standpoint then, the Move offers not only the best of both worlds; precision 1:1 motion control, and full body tracking as well, but also manages to clearly be the most responsive and overly accurate of all three current motion solutions.
Onto the actual hardware itself, and you can see that both the Move and the Navigation Controller (Nav Con) have been lavished by Sony’s high-end design expertise. Both are very comfortable to hold, and benefit from their ergonomically crafted, curved and rounded shape. Compared to the blocky Wii Remote, the Move remains comfortably in your hand for far longer, weighing less, whilst providing better grip and control. The same principles apply to the Nav Con, which feels weighty, but light at the same time.
The fact that both controllers effectively almost weigh the same, and pretty much feel the same, is a big plus. Where as Nintendo went for the most iconic handheld device in the home (the TV remote control) as the base of it’s Wii motion controller design, complementing it with a more traditional feeling Nunchuck, Sony have instead unified their design in a more succinct, albeit stylish manner.
Both the Move and the Nav Con are wireless, working off bluetooth like with the Dual Shock 3 controller, and feature rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. Charging is done via the same USB cable that the Sixaxis and DS3 use to connect up to the PS3, and you can expect each full charge to last between seven and eight hours; which isn’t at all bad considering what the Move has to do, although far less than a regular Sixaxis pad.
Seeing as Sony doesn’t provide any additional USB cables with either the Move or the Nav Con, you might want to invest in one of the few double charging stations that are available. The Sony one in particular features a similar high build quality to that of the Move itself, although more expensive than the lesser third-party solutions available.
In terms of button placement and functionality, both Move and the Nav Con provide ample options as a replacement to the standard Dual Shock controller. The Nav Con features an analogue stick closely matching that of Sony’s DS3 and Sixaxis pads, whilst also having both an L2 analogue trigger and the L1 button (feeling much like the ones on a DS3) slightly beneath the front of it. The Move itself features a new custom T-Trigger on its underside (more like a trigger from a gun than the one from the DS3 pad, it has a softer resistance to it compared to the L2 trigger on the Nav Con) whilst also having the standard four face buttons situated around the brand new Move button, which serves as the units main action/start button.
Furthermore, the PS home button is featured on both the Move and the Nav Con; indented into the controllers to prevent accidental presses from occurring, and on the Move, the Start and Select buttons from the DS have also been lowered into the plastic casing for the same reason.
Annoyingly, the main face buttons feel rather small, and have a cheap, but strong resistance to them. Pushing down on these feels like it requires more effort than it should, as it also does with both Start and Select buttons, making using them slightly uncomfortable. It would have been better to not only make these buttons (the main four face ones) bigger, but also giving them a softer click when pressed.
Thankfully, the rest of the controller is a complete joy to use with no more such mishaps; a quick pull on the T-Trigger, a move using the Nav Con’s analogue stick, or a push of the Move button is quite satisfying, reiterating the high build quality of both devices.
Perhaps the only real downside is that the Nav Con is lacking any kind of motion tracking at all in its innards, making its use somewhat limited compared to the Wii’s Nunchunk. Instead, games that may well work best with two motion controllers require the user to have two Move’s, thus limiting the experience in other areas as the Move doesn’t feature either a d-pad or an analogue stick.
Another, is that the PS Eye is maybe a little too basic in its spec for advanced full body tracking without lag, and that its relatively low resolution display (640 x 480) sometimes makes tracking the LED sphere on the Move difficult in brightly lit areas. I personally found the bright morning sun shining through a window behind me, to the side, mildly affecting its overall performance.
The onscreen image produced from the camera is also very grainy. It’s not so bad in daytime conditions, but in low light situations clarity is replaced with plenty of grain and some digital noise. Having the camera’s lower resolution feed upscaled to match the output resolution of the software using it doesn’t help much either, and the difference in sharpness between the two images (game and camera feed) only provide a disconnect from the experience. Having a HD camera would have been far more beneficial, giving not only better image quality, but also more accurate bright light and body tracking as well.
Saying that, outside of these issues there’s very little, if anything to complain about, and Sony have clearly produced something that is as functional as it is stylish. The accuracy and lack of any heavy latency in accomplished games is obviously the Move’s main talking point, secondary to it treading old ground where early ideas are concerned.
However, all this is in vein if the software doesn’t accurately represent what the tech is actually capable of, and this is one area where the Move is distinctly let down. Out of the Move specific launch titles there is only maybe one of two games worthy of your attention, with some of the best ones being PSN-based download titles.
For this reason alone, I decided not to purchase any games off-hand for review purposes, instead opting to playtest the various demos available via both the Starter Disc that comes packaged with the Move and the PS Eye, and from the PSN.
Sports Champions is clearly the main draw out of all the games and demos available. It is the game which really showcases the Move’s potential over and above that of both the Wii and Microsoft’s forthcoming Kinect. On the Starter Disc two separate games from this title are available for demonstration: Table Tennis, and Disc Golf. Both are incredibly accurate in terms of the way they play, the kind of 1:1 tracking expected, and with regards to their extremely low latency.
In Table Tennis pretty much all of my movements were accurately mapped using the Move, from the angle of my shots, to the speed in which I was moving. The amount of lag that was detectable was minuscule, practically absent, and better than most normal games in framerate dropping situations. To word it better: it WAS like using your arm as an instant controller. The only downside with the demo, is that it had some kind of assist function activated so that hitting the ball was made easier, though its reactions weren’t always as realistic as they could be. Apparently this doesn’t happen in the higher difficulty modes (demo is on easy) as no assist takes place.
Disc Golf was also very accurate and responsive. I could make both drastic and subtle changes to how I wanted to throw the disc by naturally throwing it differently each time, and the Move would pick up on this. The delay was slightly higher than in Table Tennis, with you needing to let go of the T-Trigger just a tad earlier to get the desired effect. Even then adjusting to this took only moments, and the result was still far in advance of anything comparable on the Wii.
Tiger Woods was a huge let down. Although the quality of the actual motion tracking seemed pretty good, there was still a noticeable amount of lag going on – not as much as say Motion Plus Tiger on the Wii, but still more than expected.
Thankfully putting fared much better than on the Wii title. Unlike with Motion Plus Tiger 10, the delay in my movements to the actions on screens was relatively small, and I could see my character’s club moving almost as the Move controller was. On the Wii I had to swing harder than I needed to for the game to respond to my movements, but not so here with the PS3 Move version. This meant that I could accurately gauge both my position and power of my shots quite easily in comparison.
Sadly, the controls are let down by having to hold down one of the face buttons in order to put spin on the ball, and that you need to use a Dual Shock in order to start the game and navigate the menus.
Start The Party was pretty much an enhanced Eye Toy affair, with the player using a virtual fly swatter to hit various insects that appeared on the screen. Video feed of the player is projected on screen, along with the image of the swatter you are holding in place of the Move itself. Control was really poor, lag was instantly apparent, and on many occasions it felt like the game wasn’t registering all of my hits. It was also difficult for me to determine distance in a 3D space on screen when 3D graphics are laid over a video feed, leading to missed shots and bouts of frustration. Despite the novelty of seeing you hold a virtual racket on screen, Eye Toy Play’s Kung Fu was a far better game.
EyePet: Move Edition seemed a little pointless. Although it uses the Move quite well, it’s also made redundant by the fact that the game is far more fun by simply using your hands to interact with your creature. Having Move support didn’t add anything to the overall experience, not when you can already touch and play with your virtual pal without it. The new stuff is a nice diversion for a short gaming (if you can call it that) session or so , but that’s about it.
Interestingly, my favourite game out of the bunch of demos that I played, was the PSN game, Tumble. The concept is very simple: the idea is that you have a certain number of blocks that you have to stack up onscreen, each having different properties such as size, shape and weight. The starting block at the bottom has to be touching the pressure pad on the floor, and you can only build on top of this. Obsticales are also presented to the player, such as avoiding moving objects, and another challenge sees you blowing up an existing tower seeing how far away you can blast the blocks.
The control seemed to me to be pretty accurate, although the cursor speed didn’t react quite as fast a my movements. This can be remedied by upping the Move’s sensitivity in the XMB menu however, so not really an issue. You can turn and flip blocks using a quick flick of the Move in any of the four main directions (left, right, up and down), and navigate the onscreen pointer around the on screen environment by literally Moving the Move controller around the room. The best part however, was both the simplicity and fun of the whole concept; the demo had me glued for about an hour repeatedly trying out new things. It’s hardly revolutionary, but lots of fun.
Other than the Move specific game demos found on the Starter Disc and PSN, there are a few other titles with added Move functionality worth considering. Ruse looks especially suited to the device, and the new Move controls in Heavy Rain are quite well thought out, definitely bringing the player even closer to the game than before. There’s also Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition, which has Move support enabled in the latest download patch, although its implementation leaves a lot to be desired. But more on that in another report if I get the time.
Overall, the range of software for the Move is decidedly a mixed bag of sorts. On one hand, you’ve got the likes of Sports Champions clearly showcasing just what Sony’s motion controller can do, Ruse and Heavy Rain showing genuine improvements over the standard DS3 controller. On the other, there’s shovelware type rubbish as seen with Start The Party, and missed opportunities with the latest Tiger Woods, neither of which really make you feel that the Move was a worthy investment. Even the impressive Sports Champions suffers from a total lack of personality. It feels bland and completely soulless like many of the other Move-specific offerings. At least the art style doesn’t try and patronise you like say Start The Party or anything.
So software-wise the Move doesn’t quite deliver on all accounts. Despite some genuinely impressive flashes of brilliance, there’s a lot that needs serious improving. Nothing out of the current line-up of titles screams of being an essential purchase, a real reason to own the Move. Hardcore gamers are likely to enjoy downloading and trying out the various game demos that are available on PSN, especially Heavy Rain and Tumble, whilst casual gamers may well wonder just what all the fuss is about.
Going back to the hardware though, and it is apparent that Sony have absolutely succeeded in delivering something that not only works as promised, but also something manages to offer a level of precision and accuracy not found in other motion control solutions. Sure, the full body tracking capabilities of the Move + PS Eye camera may not be able to match the Kinect in this area, but the tracking of the Move itself and the upper body is easily as good, with overall accuracy being to a far higher standard with vastly lower latency.
Certainly, the experience of proper 1:1 tracking with precise depth perception is undeniably impressive, and seeing it implemented here with minimal latency – were talking about 1 to 2 frames as standard (66ms to 132ms) - is arguably Sony’s coup d'état against both Nintendo and Microsoft. But it remains to be seen if that’s really enough.
There’s no question that for a variety of experiences, from family party games, to high-end hardcore FPS’s that the Move unquestionably provides the strongest baseline to work from; you’re going to need an additional control device for some types of game to work on kinect, but not with Move. However, the issue is whether or not Sony can convince developers to spend the extra time in crafting advanced AAA Move experiences. Unlike Kinect, there doesn’t appear to be the same amount of processing overhead when using the device so I don’t see why not. But time, and consumer spending will dictate whether or not that uptake will happen.
For the time being then, PlayStation Move is definitely worth a look. The technology is clearly up to scratch, and there is a fair amount of free content to try out if the likes of Sports Champions isn’t quite your thing. It’s just a shame that some of the software fails to live up to the Move’s potential, failing to expand outside of the mii-too clone market and into something a little more polished and unique.
So, at this very moment the Move represents an impressive technological demonstration, but lacks any true must have titles to really back it up. The promise of what it was supposed to be able to do has been fulfilled. All that’s left is for more games to do the same thing.
Saturday, 18 September 2010
Tech Analysis: Halo Reach - Final Game Update
Up until now, the Halo series on the Xbox 360 has always been somewhat lacking in the graphics department. Halo 3 ruthlessly cut back on the high levels of image quality and texture detail expected from a title this generation in order to include what was, and is still, arguably the most advanced HDR lighting solution we’ve seen in any game so far. Whilst ODST merely added a brief lick of paint to the proceedings, upping the quality of the texture filtering slightly, and bringing in a post process blur effect to smooth out the upscaled framebuffer.
For Halo: Reach Bungie have completely gone back to the drawing board, stripping out, and rewriting most of the engine with alarming success. So much so, that the game now ranks as one of the prettiest on the 360 – no meant feat when considering the series dwindling reputation for graphical prowess.
We first took a look at the tech behind Reach in our analysis of the Beta way back in May. But now, as we blast our way through the final game, we take an updated look at the title, now focussing on the Campaign and the drastic graphical upgrades that are apparent over the ones originally seen in the game’s impressive range of multiplayer modes.
Now while multiplayer in Reach looks pretty much identical to the Beta version – still representing a true current-generation look over Halo 3 and ODST- it’s absolutely nothing compared to the visual majesty of the Campaign mode. Here the game ramps up its graphical polish considerably; textures are noticeably more detailed, bump-mapping has been expanded and hugely refined in the process, the full range of Bungie’s trademark HDR solution is not only evident, but also combined successfully with a new, real-time, dynamic lighting system, complete with baked shadow maps and much improved use of local lights (like in the beta each projectile has its own light source).
Furthermore, you’ve also got improved smoke and particle effects, which don’t appear to be rendered using vastly lower res alpha buffers. In fact both of these effects have been expanded with far more in the way of alpha transparencies than before. Plus, adding to this is a range of impressive post process effects; including object-based motion blur, and different screen distorting filters, used in varying scenarios throughout the game.
Most of these have been seen before in the multiplayer beta, just not quite to the level on offer in the Campaign mode – and that includes the online co-op campaign as well.
The title’s use of SSAO (screen-space ambient occlusion) – previously only used for indoor areas of the beta – can now seen in both inside and outside spaces accordingly, adding an extra layer of depth to the scene and its already high-end approach to lighting.
Evidence of this is very subtle however, although you can definitely tell that its there when seeing the game running in real-time. The most obvious places where it appears are near buildings and bespoke areas of scenery. The look that the effect provides is reasonably recognisable, if not also a little inconspicuous at times in Reach.
Amongst all the accomplishments, there is one compromise. In order to conserve on bandwidth the game does use an A2C blend on foliage. As you may be aware this is a process of rendering certain alpha effects in an interlaced-style, half-res manner, but without simply downing the overall resolution of the buffer.
The effects can be seen in the screenshot below. Just about. For most of Reach the usual side effect of using A2C (dithering and a screen door look) is largely inconspicuous unless you actually go look out for it. And when you do, you’ll se that the effect is far better implemented than in most other games that use it.
Thankfully, you’ll find that it is only the foliage that suffers from this; other key visual elements like water and fire are rendered in full resolution using proper alpha blending – none of that low res stuff there.
Outside of the additional polish applied to the game’s use of visual effects and advanced rendering make up, the basic framebuffer and method of anti-aliasing remains the same as the Beta.
Halo Reach renders in in 1152x720 for both single and multiplayer modes, and uses a custom form of temporal anti-aliasing, though the effect is most visible on static objects. The reduced horizontal resolution, and use of a non-standard form of anti-aliasing is required for the game’s framebuffer to fit into the 360’s 10MB of EDRAM without the need for titling.
Effectively, using regular 2xMSAA would mean that parts of the frame would have to be broken up and rendered using tiles, which results in an additional geometry processing cost due to the large amount of triangles needing to be rendered multiple times across different tiles – not helpful in maintaining performance, whilst also taking up more in the way of overall memory outside the FB.
Instead Bungie’s custom solution works extremely well, and just about fits into the tight memory constraints given to the framebuffer by the machine.
However the use of the temporal AA solution does have some drawbacks. For one, only objects that are static get the majority of AA. And this mostly disappears immediately when you start moving – some AA is still present, just not as effective. Plus none of the 2D, sprite-based foliage gets any edge smoothing either, making some jaggies apparent regardless of whether the AA is working or not. In reality however, this seldom makes a large difference at all, with the game’s use of post processing effects (like motion blur) keeping the overall image clean and smooth.
The temporal AA also has some odd, but extremely subtle side effects. For example, there are times when only parts of the screen receive any AA. Though this is only visible on a frame-by-frame basis (not during actual gameplay), and doesn’t happen all the time. Well-trained eyes can see the bizarre occurrence in the screenshot below.
Another is a blurring, or rather what looks like ghosting of the image while fast sideways movements or sharp turns occur. In still frames you can notice what looks like a double image, but with no AA. This is basically caused by the way Bungie’s AA solution actually works. Two separate frames are combined to form the anti-aliased image, although a successful blend only happens in still scenes due to a time delay between both frames being blended. The result: the aforementioned double image ghosting that manifests itself in these situations.
However this particular issue now only seems to affect the surrounding environment, and not the weapon you are holding. Other than that it is exactly the same as in the beta, and can be found in both multiplayer and the campaign mode of Reach.
Performance wise, Halo Reach is pretty impressive, enabling an almost constant use of v-sync and hardly ever deviating from its targeted 30fps update. However, there are times when the game does drop frames quite badly, and this is perhaps the biggest discrepancy between both the Campaign mode and the multiplayer.
In multiplayer, like the beta, reach holds to an almost constant 30fps with only very minor, small deviations in performance. Screen tearing is also kept to a bare minimum, practically never occurring at all. Campaign mode however, is a largely different story.
Interestingly, this mode is also v-synced, pretty much solidly so. And this can, and will on occasion severely impact on performance. Like with the multiplayer, and the beta, Campaign mode runs at 30fps for most of the time, only dropping frames in the most strenuous of situations. Small dips happen here and there, but nothing but the slightest blip. Until, that is, all hell breaks loose.
In the first encounter you have in the game, the framerate drops below the 20fps mark, becoming a temporary slideshow. While this is all going on your sense of control is adversely affected; latency spirals, and all attempts at getting a steady aim go out the window. It’s hardly the best of starts, and would be a rather constant annoyance if it wasn’t for the fact that examples like these are few and far in between.
Quite why these occasional, heavy dips in performance weren’t optimised out is unknown to me – when they happen they’re worse than anything Halo 3 had to offer in this regard. Perhaps Bungie thought it best to try and maintain v-sync as best they could in these types of situations. Although in practice, having a little screen tearing is better than a large increase in latency in the middle of battle, and that’s without the intrusive eradication of a smooth framerate.
Despite this Halo: Reach performs incredibly well, with very little in the way of large overall framerate drops, and almost no screen tearing in either the campaign or multiplayer modes.
Cut-scenes fair a little differently though, with Bungie freely upping the level of detail on characters and objects safe in the knowledge that performance can be more tightly controlled. And in that respect, with the additional load that it is pushing, does so quite admirably, though not without faltering slightly.
In many of the game’s real-time cinematics tearing was clearly visible across the entire screen, with different tears appearing on screen for different lengths, and the frame rate also took quite a few steady dips below the 30fps mark. On some occasions the framerate drops I witnessed were almost as bad as those in the minus 20fps sections of the single-player campaign. However, as the action isn’t controllable the effect it has on the game is far less important.
Ultimately, what IS important, is that the game performs smoothly for the majority of the time with only minor dips here and there. And in that sense Bungie have succeeded with Halo: Reach. What’s even more impressive is that the developers have been able to do this whilst upping the game’s framebuffer resolution, along with stringing out more intensive graphical effects, all the while still including their trademark HDR lighting system without compromising it.
On top of that you’ve got the inclusion of SSAO, a mix of dozens of dynamic light sources perfectly complementing the use of plain old, baked light and shadow maps, and a mildly tweaked version of their custom temporal AA solution. All of this manages to not only be rendered in a final framebuffer image which fits into the 360’s EDRAM, but also a game that from both a visual, and a tech perspective, is right up there with the best titles on the system.
The debate on whether Reach is the best Halo game yet is still ongoing – I myself still prefer Halo: CE’s campaign to this one’s so far – although the undeniable fact that it is by far the best looking is not.
For the first time in nearly ten years Bungie have produced a game that once again can be used to show off the graphical capabilities of a flagship console, devoid of the restraints of the past, and the rushed development cycles that once impacted on past performances. Sure, the slightly plain, angular, and almost barren style of the series’ architecture may look tired or stylistically unimpressive, although in a raw technical sense, without fail, it commands your complete attention.
For those of you who either don’t like Halo, or have grown tired of the series many attempts to match the raw brilliance of the original, there may not be much to tempt you back into Bungie’s world of Spartan soldiers and religious alien zealots. But at least now the franchise truly looks great again, and that definitely counts for something. At the same time that classic Halo gameplay seems to have been refined down to a fine art, and a few campaign issues aside, Reach as a whole may well be the best game in the series since the original.
Thanks go out to Mr Deap for the screenshots, while AlStrong once again counts the pixels.
For Halo: Reach Bungie have completely gone back to the drawing board, stripping out, and rewriting most of the engine with alarming success. So much so, that the game now ranks as one of the prettiest on the 360 – no meant feat when considering the series dwindling reputation for graphical prowess.
We first took a look at the tech behind Reach in our analysis of the Beta way back in May. But now, as we blast our way through the final game, we take an updated look at the title, now focussing on the Campaign and the drastic graphical upgrades that are apparent over the ones originally seen in the game’s impressive range of multiplayer modes.
Now while multiplayer in Reach looks pretty much identical to the Beta version – still representing a true current-generation look over Halo 3 and ODST- it’s absolutely nothing compared to the visual majesty of the Campaign mode. Here the game ramps up its graphical polish considerably; textures are noticeably more detailed, bump-mapping has been expanded and hugely refined in the process, the full range of Bungie’s trademark HDR solution is not only evident, but also combined successfully with a new, real-time, dynamic lighting system, complete with baked shadow maps and much improved use of local lights (like in the beta each projectile has its own light source).
Furthermore, you’ve also got improved smoke and particle effects, which don’t appear to be rendered using vastly lower res alpha buffers. In fact both of these effects have been expanded with far more in the way of alpha transparencies than before. Plus, adding to this is a range of impressive post process effects; including object-based motion blur, and different screen distorting filters, used in varying scenarios throughout the game.
Most of these have been seen before in the multiplayer beta, just not quite to the level on offer in the Campaign mode – and that includes the online co-op campaign as well.
The title’s use of SSAO (screen-space ambient occlusion) – previously only used for indoor areas of the beta – can now seen in both inside and outside spaces accordingly, adding an extra layer of depth to the scene and its already high-end approach to lighting.
Evidence of this is very subtle however, although you can definitely tell that its there when seeing the game running in real-time. The most obvious places where it appears are near buildings and bespoke areas of scenery. The look that the effect provides is reasonably recognisable, if not also a little inconspicuous at times in Reach.
Amongst all the accomplishments, there is one compromise. In order to conserve on bandwidth the game does use an A2C blend on foliage. As you may be aware this is a process of rendering certain alpha effects in an interlaced-style, half-res manner, but without simply downing the overall resolution of the buffer.
The effects can be seen in the screenshot below. Just about. For most of Reach the usual side effect of using A2C (dithering and a screen door look) is largely inconspicuous unless you actually go look out for it. And when you do, you’ll se that the effect is far better implemented than in most other games that use it.
Thankfully, you’ll find that it is only the foliage that suffers from this; other key visual elements like water and fire are rendered in full resolution using proper alpha blending – none of that low res stuff there.
Outside of the additional polish applied to the game’s use of visual effects and advanced rendering make up, the basic framebuffer and method of anti-aliasing remains the same as the Beta.
Halo Reach renders in in 1152x720 for both single and multiplayer modes, and uses a custom form of temporal anti-aliasing, though the effect is most visible on static objects. The reduced horizontal resolution, and use of a non-standard form of anti-aliasing is required for the game’s framebuffer to fit into the 360’s 10MB of EDRAM without the need for titling.
Effectively, using regular 2xMSAA would mean that parts of the frame would have to be broken up and rendered using tiles, which results in an additional geometry processing cost due to the large amount of triangles needing to be rendered multiple times across different tiles – not helpful in maintaining performance, whilst also taking up more in the way of overall memory outside the FB.
Instead Bungie’s custom solution works extremely well, and just about fits into the tight memory constraints given to the framebuffer by the machine.
However the use of the temporal AA solution does have some drawbacks. For one, only objects that are static get the majority of AA. And this mostly disappears immediately when you start moving – some AA is still present, just not as effective. Plus none of the 2D, sprite-based foliage gets any edge smoothing either, making some jaggies apparent regardless of whether the AA is working or not. In reality however, this seldom makes a large difference at all, with the game’s use of post processing effects (like motion blur) keeping the overall image clean and smooth.
The temporal AA also has some odd, but extremely subtle side effects. For example, there are times when only parts of the screen receive any AA. Though this is only visible on a frame-by-frame basis (not during actual gameplay), and doesn’t happen all the time. Well-trained eyes can see the bizarre occurrence in the screenshot below.
Another is a blurring, or rather what looks like ghosting of the image while fast sideways movements or sharp turns occur. In still frames you can notice what looks like a double image, but with no AA. This is basically caused by the way Bungie’s AA solution actually works. Two separate frames are combined to form the anti-aliased image, although a successful blend only happens in still scenes due to a time delay between both frames being blended. The result: the aforementioned double image ghosting that manifests itself in these situations.
However this particular issue now only seems to affect the surrounding environment, and not the weapon you are holding. Other than that it is exactly the same as in the beta, and can be found in both multiplayer and the campaign mode of Reach.
Performance wise, Halo Reach is pretty impressive, enabling an almost constant use of v-sync and hardly ever deviating from its targeted 30fps update. However, there are times when the game does drop frames quite badly, and this is perhaps the biggest discrepancy between both the Campaign mode and the multiplayer.
In multiplayer, like the beta, reach holds to an almost constant 30fps with only very minor, small deviations in performance. Screen tearing is also kept to a bare minimum, practically never occurring at all. Campaign mode however, is a largely different story.
Interestingly, this mode is also v-synced, pretty much solidly so. And this can, and will on occasion severely impact on performance. Like with the multiplayer, and the beta, Campaign mode runs at 30fps for most of the time, only dropping frames in the most strenuous of situations. Small dips happen here and there, but nothing but the slightest blip. Until, that is, all hell breaks loose.
In the first encounter you have in the game, the framerate drops below the 20fps mark, becoming a temporary slideshow. While this is all going on your sense of control is adversely affected; latency spirals, and all attempts at getting a steady aim go out the window. It’s hardly the best of starts, and would be a rather constant annoyance if it wasn’t for the fact that examples like these are few and far in between.
Quite why these occasional, heavy dips in performance weren’t optimised out is unknown to me – when they happen they’re worse than anything Halo 3 had to offer in this regard. Perhaps Bungie thought it best to try and maintain v-sync as best they could in these types of situations. Although in practice, having a little screen tearing is better than a large increase in latency in the middle of battle, and that’s without the intrusive eradication of a smooth framerate.
Despite this Halo: Reach performs incredibly well, with very little in the way of large overall framerate drops, and almost no screen tearing in either the campaign or multiplayer modes.
Cut-scenes fair a little differently though, with Bungie freely upping the level of detail on characters and objects safe in the knowledge that performance can be more tightly controlled. And in that respect, with the additional load that it is pushing, does so quite admirably, though not without faltering slightly.
In many of the game’s real-time cinematics tearing was clearly visible across the entire screen, with different tears appearing on screen for different lengths, and the frame rate also took quite a few steady dips below the 30fps mark. On some occasions the framerate drops I witnessed were almost as bad as those in the minus 20fps sections of the single-player campaign. However, as the action isn’t controllable the effect it has on the game is far less important.
Ultimately, what IS important, is that the game performs smoothly for the majority of the time with only minor dips here and there. And in that sense Bungie have succeeded with Halo: Reach. What’s even more impressive is that the developers have been able to do this whilst upping the game’s framebuffer resolution, along with stringing out more intensive graphical effects, all the while still including their trademark HDR lighting system without compromising it.
On top of that you’ve got the inclusion of SSAO, a mix of dozens of dynamic light sources perfectly complementing the use of plain old, baked light and shadow maps, and a mildly tweaked version of their custom temporal AA solution. All of this manages to not only be rendered in a final framebuffer image which fits into the 360’s EDRAM, but also a game that from both a visual, and a tech perspective, is right up there with the best titles on the system.
The debate on whether Reach is the best Halo game yet is still ongoing – I myself still prefer Halo: CE’s campaign to this one’s so far – although the undeniable fact that it is by far the best looking is not.
For the first time in nearly ten years Bungie have produced a game that once again can be used to show off the graphical capabilities of a flagship console, devoid of the restraints of the past, and the rushed development cycles that once impacted on past performances. Sure, the slightly plain, angular, and almost barren style of the series’ architecture may look tired or stylistically unimpressive, although in a raw technical sense, without fail, it commands your complete attention.
For those of you who either don’t like Halo, or have grown tired of the series many attempts to match the raw brilliance of the original, there may not be much to tempt you back into Bungie’s world of Spartan soldiers and religious alien zealots. But at least now the franchise truly looks great again, and that definitely counts for something. At the same time that classic Halo gameplay seems to have been refined down to a fine art, and a few campaign issues aside, Reach as a whole may well be the best game in the series since the original.
Thanks go out to Mr Deap for the screenshots, while AlStrong once again counts the pixels.
Thursday, 16 September 2010
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.
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
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
Tuesday, 14 September 2010
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.
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.
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