Apologies for the lack of content so far this week, but I’ve been doing a full 40hrs straight at work so far, with another stretch coming up next week, so coverage might not be as regular as I’d like. That’s not to say there won’t be any in-depth updates at all though, I’m going through the first few hours of both retail copies of Mass Effect 2 for a final tech, due for this Sunday, before moving onto LBP2, and then finishing up with either the Bulletstorm demo or a short look at the Crysis 2 multiplayer trailer.
If all goes to plan, expect LBP2 on Wed and the rest sometime on the weekend. Other than that, the usual tech-related news pieces will continue, and Dead Space 2 is on the agenda for the week after. Hopefully, I get time to plow through all of the above. It’s going to be a very busy, and utterly tiring, week. But should be well worth it.
Out of interest, just before head you decide to head off, here's a very quick look at the Crysis 2 multiplayer trailer:
Despite looking like console footage, Crytek have infact created the trailer from footage of the game running on the PC, with what looks like medium detail settings applied. The IQ appears far too clean to be running on consoles, and we see some extremly high quality effects, along with what looks like a framebuffer around the 720p mark. Although, the alpha-effects appear to be rendered at a lower resolution. Just look at those smoke and particles.
By contrast, the 360 build of the single player campaign I played at the EG Expo looked decidedky worse. Sub-HD framebuffers with no anti-aliasing seemed to ruin any chance of decent image quality being present, whilst the framerate also appeared to be, at times, well below the 30fps targeted by the developers.
That build of the game however, is now very old. And it's more than likely that Crytek have made some serious headway with both console ports since then. Although, the complete lack of any PS3 footage since the original CryEngine 3 trailer is a cause for corncern.
Expect more later, after we've sampled some high quality footage that hasn't been compressed into something that approaches sub-SD quality.
Saturday, 22 January 2011
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
Kinect On PC - Now To Be Official
A few months ago, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 motion control entry into gaming, the Kinect, was hacked and custom coded drivers developed which enabled it to run on the PC. So far, some of the homebrew demonstrations have been even more technically accomplished than much of the official software for the device, with a 3D webcam and competent FPS controls being the highlights.
However, the Kinect was never really hacked as such. The device has always been ‘open’ as it were, only requiring creation of software drivers in order for it to work on other platforms. Plugging it into the PC for example, and you can use it as a basic webcam with relative ease.
In addition, much of the custom software solutions using Kinect on the PC have been using a depth buffer with four times the resolution than on commercial games. The Kinect’s official depth buffer spec indicates it to be 320x240 in size, whereas the actual hardware is capable of producing 640x480’s worth of depth information. This means that some homebrew applications have features significantly more advanced – if not incomplete and more rough around the edges – than the intial batch of Kinect games.
Seeing as the hardware is actually capable of working around its original PrimeSense spec – all the functionality and tech is there – signs point to Microsoft’s software API restricting the device’s full use. In particular, the resolution of the depth buffer, maybe due to the additional amount of processing workload it would have on the 360’s CPU. However, MS has also stated, that in time, via software updates from Xbox Live, that the Kinect will see more of its potential unlocked – I.E: developer support or using full-size depth buffers.
But ultimately, all this is already possible now, albeit via homebrew software applications on the PC. Although, that is all about to change if fresh rumours are to be believed.
Previously MS have commented on the Kinect hack as being expected, even welcome. That they didn’t have any plans to restrict the tech, and were instead looking to broaden its use beyond the confines of the Xbox 360 and into a wider market – into the PC space. Now, that seems to be closer to becoming a reality. A new report – via WinRumours - clams that in the next few months, MS will themselves reveal an official Kinect software development kit (SDK), along with driver support for Windows-based PCs.
Interestingly, Microsoft’s next operating system, Windows 8, will feature gesture-based control in addition to traditional mouse and keyboard support. Perhaps making Kinect an open-platform device was part of that plan from the beginning. Certainly, some of the impressive user-coded demos show that there is much potential for it to be used in the way MS are hinting at... and more. Whilst pointer support is let down with lack of precision and high latency, a simpler gesture-based solution, maybe using more complicated tracking for only specific functions, would be an ideal starting point.
Also, on the gaming side of things, Kinect’s implementation on the PC could well show us a small glimpse of the future regarding the technology. Without being held back by the 360’s aging CPU spec, and instead opened up by the possibilities of high-end PC hardware, we could see far more in the way of advanced tracking with considerably more accuracy, but with a minimum amount of lag – only slightly more than Kinect’s USB data transfer limitation.
The prospects behind this, and indeed unofficial Kinect applications, are particularly intriguing, given just what appears to be possible. And with a full MS SDK only a few months away, we shouldn’t have to wait long before some of the more originally elaborate ideas envisioned for the device to come to fruition.
Monday, 17 January 2011
3DS Internals Sighted/Analysed
A few days ago a teardown of the 3DS was posted on TVGZone, which reveals a few more interesting details about the innards of the system. The unit appears to be a final, production-grade unit. It features the slightly modified aesthetic of the final model displayed at Nintendo’s World Event in Japan; a grey analogue slider is present, along with the now flat, what looks like touch-based ‘Start’, ‘Select’, and ‘Home’ buttons. But far more relavent, the images reaveal some vital info on the internal hardware present in the system.
On to the inside, specifically the motherboard itself, and we can see two distinct pieces of silicon that stand out. The first appears to be a single package containing both ARM CPUs, and one DMP PICA200 GPU. Initial impressions seem to hint that it is a SoC (system-on-a-chip) with the individual components most likely all on one die.
The other, is what looks like a block of memory – possibly the entire 96MB that the system is supposed to have – unified as one single pool, from which, due to the overall hardware configuration, it looks like both the CPU and GPU can use. Markings on the chip indicate that it is FCRAM made by Fujitsu, possible a custom solution just for the 3DS as the company doesn’t make FCRAM chips higher than 64Mb.
The use of a unified memory pool is also interesting. Usually this can be limiting for the system if the GPU cannot access it directly. However, from what is known about the main memory and CPU/GPU configuration at the moment, all things point to this not being the case.
In addition to the main 96MB of memory, sources indicated that the 3DS also contains a separate pool of VRAM dedicated to the GPU (rumoured to be around 4MB), which is believed to be located on the SoC. This is most likely to be fast access eDRAM, used just to hold the framebuffer, with the GPU being able to directly access the system’s main memory pool for other things as and when it needs.
From what we can see, the use of a SoC and a separate large block of memory clearly showcases Nintendo’s cost-centric approach when designing the internals of the 3DS. It also looks like being a tidy, efficient set-up. Having all the main components on two separate packages (well the memory appears to be a single chip) keeps cost down, seeing as there is less in the way of overall silicon being used.
It will be interesting to find out just what process node both chips are on. Usually having individual parts groped together on single dies indicates a low process node in the first place, meaning that cooling and heat dissipation should be easy to achieve. In other words, Nintendo have carefully chosen components that not only provide the best ‘bang for your buck’ where the cost/power ratio is concerned, but also ones that should be easy to make future savings on for later revisions of the hardware.
Hopefully, we should find out more shortly after the 3DS’ Japanese launch, when someone else performs a slightly more in-depth teardown of the system, thus allowing us to get a better look at those two chips and the internal hardware make-up as a whole.
On to the inside, specifically the motherboard itself, and we can see two distinct pieces of silicon that stand out. The first appears to be a single package containing both ARM CPUs, and one DMP PICA200 GPU. Initial impressions seem to hint that it is a SoC (system-on-a-chip) with the individual components most likely all on one die.
The other, is what looks like a block of memory – possibly the entire 96MB that the system is supposed to have – unified as one single pool, from which, due to the overall hardware configuration, it looks like both the CPU and GPU can use. Markings on the chip indicate that it is FCRAM made by Fujitsu, possible a custom solution just for the 3DS as the company doesn’t make FCRAM chips higher than 64Mb.
The use of a unified memory pool is also interesting. Usually this can be limiting for the system if the GPU cannot access it directly. However, from what is known about the main memory and CPU/GPU configuration at the moment, all things point to this not being the case.
In addition to the main 96MB of memory, sources indicated that the 3DS also contains a separate pool of VRAM dedicated to the GPU (rumoured to be around 4MB), which is believed to be located on the SoC. This is most likely to be fast access eDRAM, used just to hold the framebuffer, with the GPU being able to directly access the system’s main memory pool for other things as and when it needs.
From what we can see, the use of a SoC and a separate large block of memory clearly showcases Nintendo’s cost-centric approach when designing the internals of the 3DS. It also looks like being a tidy, efficient set-up. Having all the main components on two separate packages (well the memory appears to be a single chip) keeps cost down, seeing as there is less in the way of overall silicon being used.
It will be interesting to find out just what process node both chips are on. Usually having individual parts groped together on single dies indicates a low process node in the first place, meaning that cooling and heat dissipation should be easy to achieve. In other words, Nintendo have carefully chosen components that not only provide the best ‘bang for your buck’ where the cost/power ratio is concerned, but also ones that should be easy to make future savings on for later revisions of the hardware.
Hopefully, we should find out more shortly after the 3DS’ Japanese launch, when someone else performs a slightly more in-depth teardown of the system, thus allowing us to get a better look at those two chips and the internal hardware make-up as a whole.
Thursday, 13 January 2011
Tech Analysis: RE: Revelations Gameplay Video
Nintendo showcased a small variety of software at its recent World Event in Japan. However, it was the first time that Capcom demonstrated Resident Evil Revelations running in real-time, with a short, but no less impressive live demonstration of the game. A trailer focusing on the title’s in-engine cut-scenes was also shown just before, proving that what we were seeing during gameplay is a match for the detailed cinematics.
Perhaps more importantly, Capcom’s first proper reveal of RE Revelation’s gameplay comes as a relief for anyone expecting a hectic, RE5-like pace, in which horror and tension is subdued with all out violence in a almost fear-less shooting gallery of shorts. Revelations, although sharing the same over-the-shoulder viewpoint, is a far slower affair focusing on unsuspecting scares and fewer, but far tougher enemies. In this respect it faithfully builds upon the original PSX games whilst bringing all the benefits of RE4’s vastly superior control and camera system.
So, lets take a look.
Visually, from what we can see, it looks like the quality of both the character and environment modelling is basically identical across the cut-scenes and gameplay. Almost nothing has been lost in terms of detail and precision, sans a small error in lighting when in targeting mode, but we’ll talk about that a little later. Characters feature a reasonable amount of geometric detail, but mostly, the really fine stuff – like the small elements of clothing, round look of the arms – is accomplished through the use of normal mapping in combination with solid texture work.
Through the use of the 3DS’ fixed-function, multiple texture-layered approach to rendering effects, we can see clear implementation of normal maps, adding finer details to the characters, along with specular reflections to highlight gloss, moisture and other similar properties.
Environments too, benefit from having similar effects. Parts of the walls, floors, and various other objects are normal mapped, with some surfaces – like metal pipes – getting specular, and others simply using the more common diffuse map in order to scatter light across the surface. However, these are used somewhat sparingly, with the majority of the environment using less of a multi-layered approach.
Alongside the game’s use of detailed normal mapped characters and enclosed, but also reasonably intricate scenery, the lighting engine is perhaps the most impressive component of the title’s feature-set. RE Revelations takes full advantage of the 3DS’ ability to handle per-pixel based lighting calculations, and as a result sees some key environmental objects casting dynamic lights which actively illuminate and shade both the characters and surrounding environment.
The lamp hanging above the stairwell for example, whilst swinging from side to side, projects a shadow which moves and changes according to the position of the light source itself. The environment also seems to be accurately lit according to where the lightsource is projecting from, the angle, intensity etc. Other elements, such as the texture layer based shader effects – reflections in particular, especially on normal mapping – are affected, with certain surfaces shining as light passes over them, before dimming as levels reduce.
The characters benefit greatly from the real-time, per-pixel lighting implementation, with considerable depth being added to them, and the scene as a whole. This is nicely backed up with subtle use of self-shadowing, which complements the dynamic nature of the lighting and its accuracy.
Occasionally though, there are times when the game’s lighting system perhaps isn’t quite as accurate. When switching to targeting mode there is some noticeable polygon jittering, along with what looks like slightly flatter lighting. Like with the PSP, the reason from this seems to stem from both a lack of precision with geometry co-ordinate calculations, and what looks like a lack of per-pixel lighting when in this mode – on the character’s arm at least, its still present in the environment.
We can also see evidence of low quality shadow filtering, no doubt used to save on bandwidth, and what looks like low-resolution shadows in general. Take a look at Jill’s shadow, paying particular attention to her right hand. The effect looks like PCF, a cheap method of filtering used on some PS3 titles in order to save memory.
Of course, the plentiful use of such an advanced feature-set comes at the cost of environmental size and scope. From what we’ve seen so far, RE Revelations mainly takes place in tight, enclosed spaces with little in the way of distant, horizon-based scenery. The enemies we’ve seen so far, also rely a lot more on being normal mapped than constructed via lots of geometry.
Having the game set in mostly enclosed environments not only allows Capcom to bring a foreboding amount of atmosphere to the proceedings, but also to carefully budget the engine’s graphical load. High levels of bump-mapping and shader-like effects have a large memory and processing cost, so by restricting the draw distance and sheer overall complexity of any given scene, more of that budget can be spent on these effects whilst retaining that target 30fps performance.
In its current state, Revelations frequently runs at 30fps in areas which doesn’t tax the engine too greatly – usually in sparse corridors or when there are no enemies around. In more complex scenes, ones which currently add in a human-size foe into the mix, framerate dips below 30fps and down to around 20fps for brief periods. No visible screen tearing seems to be present (although the poor video encoding makes it hard to tell) so the game appears to be running with v-sync enabled. This would explain the drop to 20fps when the engine is pushing a heavier load – drop to 20fps rather than tear frames when the engine cannot render them in time.
Although, with nearly a year to go and at only 20% complete at this stage, such performance issues are likely to be sorted out by the time of release. Regardless, RE Revelations is still a mightily impressive display of the 3DS’ capabilities. Here you’ve got some nice precision lighting not seen in any iPhone title to date, and plentiful supply of shader-like effects being generated by the system’s fixed-function hardware. There’s nothing else that is quite on the same level currently on competing mobile devices, and this is effectively first generation software.
Beyond the visuals, it’s great to finally have what looks like a classically inspired instalment in the Resident Evil franchise, based on fear rather than adrenaline-centric action. Resident Evil 4 was a great leap forward, with arguably the right balance of action and atmosphere in order to generate horror. RE5 however, was a huge disappointment. Focusing purely on shooting… lots and lots of shooting, it massively diminished the series trademark tone. With Revelations, Capcom appear to be putting this right.
Perhaps more importantly, Capcom’s first proper reveal of RE Revelation’s gameplay comes as a relief for anyone expecting a hectic, RE5-like pace, in which horror and tension is subdued with all out violence in a almost fear-less shooting gallery of shorts. Revelations, although sharing the same over-the-shoulder viewpoint, is a far slower affair focusing on unsuspecting scares and fewer, but far tougher enemies. In this respect it faithfully builds upon the original PSX games whilst bringing all the benefits of RE4’s vastly superior control and camera system.
So, lets take a look.
Visually, from what we can see, it looks like the quality of both the character and environment modelling is basically identical across the cut-scenes and gameplay. Almost nothing has been lost in terms of detail and precision, sans a small error in lighting when in targeting mode, but we’ll talk about that a little later. Characters feature a reasonable amount of geometric detail, but mostly, the really fine stuff – like the small elements of clothing, round look of the arms – is accomplished through the use of normal mapping in combination with solid texture work.
Through the use of the 3DS’ fixed-function, multiple texture-layered approach to rendering effects, we can see clear implementation of normal maps, adding finer details to the characters, along with specular reflections to highlight gloss, moisture and other similar properties.
Environments too, benefit from having similar effects. Parts of the walls, floors, and various other objects are normal mapped, with some surfaces – like metal pipes – getting specular, and others simply using the more common diffuse map in order to scatter light across the surface. However, these are used somewhat sparingly, with the majority of the environment using less of a multi-layered approach.
Alongside the game’s use of detailed normal mapped characters and enclosed, but also reasonably intricate scenery, the lighting engine is perhaps the most impressive component of the title’s feature-set. RE Revelations takes full advantage of the 3DS’ ability to handle per-pixel based lighting calculations, and as a result sees some key environmental objects casting dynamic lights which actively illuminate and shade both the characters and surrounding environment.
The lamp hanging above the stairwell for example, whilst swinging from side to side, projects a shadow which moves and changes according to the position of the light source itself. The environment also seems to be accurately lit according to where the lightsource is projecting from, the angle, intensity etc. Other elements, such as the texture layer based shader effects – reflections in particular, especially on normal mapping – are affected, with certain surfaces shining as light passes over them, before dimming as levels reduce.
The characters benefit greatly from the real-time, per-pixel lighting implementation, with considerable depth being added to them, and the scene as a whole. This is nicely backed up with subtle use of self-shadowing, which complements the dynamic nature of the lighting and its accuracy.
Occasionally though, there are times when the game’s lighting system perhaps isn’t quite as accurate. When switching to targeting mode there is some noticeable polygon jittering, along with what looks like slightly flatter lighting. Like with the PSP, the reason from this seems to stem from both a lack of precision with geometry co-ordinate calculations, and what looks like a lack of per-pixel lighting when in this mode – on the character’s arm at least, its still present in the environment.
We can also see evidence of low quality shadow filtering, no doubt used to save on bandwidth, and what looks like low-resolution shadows in general. Take a look at Jill’s shadow, paying particular attention to her right hand. The effect looks like PCF, a cheap method of filtering used on some PS3 titles in order to save memory.
Of course, the plentiful use of such an advanced feature-set comes at the cost of environmental size and scope. From what we’ve seen so far, RE Revelations mainly takes place in tight, enclosed spaces with little in the way of distant, horizon-based scenery. The enemies we’ve seen so far, also rely a lot more on being normal mapped than constructed via lots of geometry.
Having the game set in mostly enclosed environments not only allows Capcom to bring a foreboding amount of atmosphere to the proceedings, but also to carefully budget the engine’s graphical load. High levels of bump-mapping and shader-like effects have a large memory and processing cost, so by restricting the draw distance and sheer overall complexity of any given scene, more of that budget can be spent on these effects whilst retaining that target 30fps performance.
In its current state, Revelations frequently runs at 30fps in areas which doesn’t tax the engine too greatly – usually in sparse corridors or when there are no enemies around. In more complex scenes, ones which currently add in a human-size foe into the mix, framerate dips below 30fps and down to around 20fps for brief periods. No visible screen tearing seems to be present (although the poor video encoding makes it hard to tell) so the game appears to be running with v-sync enabled. This would explain the drop to 20fps when the engine is pushing a heavier load – drop to 20fps rather than tear frames when the engine cannot render them in time.
Although, with nearly a year to go and at only 20% complete at this stage, such performance issues are likely to be sorted out by the time of release. Regardless, RE Revelations is still a mightily impressive display of the 3DS’ capabilities. Here you’ve got some nice precision lighting not seen in any iPhone title to date, and plentiful supply of shader-like effects being generated by the system’s fixed-function hardware. There’s nothing else that is quite on the same level currently on competing mobile devices, and this is effectively first generation software.
Beyond the visuals, it’s great to finally have what looks like a classically inspired instalment in the Resident Evil franchise, based on fear rather than adrenaline-centric action. Resident Evil 4 was a great leap forward, with arguably the right balance of action and atmosphere in order to generate horror. RE5 however, was a huge disappointment. Focusing purely on shooting… lots and lots of shooting, it massively diminished the series trademark tone. With Revelations, Capcom appear to be putting this right.
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Uncharted 3 Tech Update
We’ve already taken an in-depth technical look at Uncharted 3, analysing both the original teaser trailer and subsequent gameplay demo. However, an extended version of the teaser has surfaced at CES, briefly highlighting some of the heavily edited, chopped up gameplay footage contained within. These segments have now been presented as full-size clips, interwoven with the rest of the trailer and show more clearly some of the stuff we were talking about.
In addition, the extended trailer also contains some short additional footage right at the very end, depicting a desert-based, hand-to-hand fight scene between Drake and an enemy assailant.
The main purpose of this report was to highlight the way certain visual effects have been created in the game. Some of the things talked about before, like water, fire, and particles, can be seen in much more detail for the first time.
With the water in particular, you can see how the main body is constructed from volume rather than individual particles, with particles simply making up the front, sides, and overall extended splashes of the effect. Use of blended normal mapping and multi-layered texturing add detail and extra animation with the inclusion of ripples and surface changes.
In the previous trailer, this could only be seen very briefly. Despite the rather poor quality footage, with lots of artefacting hiding some of the finer details, now it is overly apparent how the flow of water is built and animated.
The second gameplay clip shows Drake waist-deep, and displays a perfect example of how the volume-based effect has been animated to flow naturally, like how it would in a real life approximation of flowing water. If you think about how liquid is largely stuck together, usually only separating when impacted upon, then Naughty Dog’s solution not only caters to the PS3’s limited bandwidth requirements (by reducing the amount of individual particles used) but also in replicating water as organically as possible.
The final part of the new trailer also shows some more interesting technical observations. The footage here, like with the majority of the trailer, is pre-rendered using in-engine assets before being supersampled down to 720p. Character modelling is more detailed than in-game, and like we’ve already touched upon, shadows and lighting are far more precise – with no obvious rendering errors – than what is possible in real-time on the hardware.
Interestingly, we can see that Naughty Dog have implemented some secondary surface lighting reflections, whereby the sunlight bounces off of the ground and onto the characters. Look at the base of the enemy’s arms - or rather under - and you can see it. It’s not the light source from the sun that’s having this effect, as the light is being directed from below at an angle.
Single bounce global illumination? Well, that’s highly unlikely since it isn’t supported in Uncharted 3’s advanced lighting engine, and would be too performance intensive to use in-game as it were, without optimisation. Instead, it looks like it could be some kind of baked GI solution, perhaps some kind of occlusion mapped onto the environment. As Naughty Dog already use plenty of pre-baked techniques in combination with real-time lighting and AO in screen space (SSAO) then this seems like the most obvious conclusion.
The other conceivable way this could also be done, is via the use of some simple shader algorithms, thus saving on even more performance. Without seeing the effect for extend periods of time, it is simply well informed guesswork on how this is being accomplished, and either way needs to be clearly seen in actual gameplay footage to be of any real significance. Though, I suspect that it may well find itself entering the game’s in-engine, but not real-time cut scenes. There are a number of low-tech, performance saving ways this could be implemented; like UE3’s Lightmass GI solution for example, used in Gears 3.
The rest of the trailer is exactly the same as before, so there’s no need to go into further details here. The gameplay footage still looks like its being rendered in 720p compared to the rest of the footage, before also having its image quality decimated by GameTrailers poor video encoding.
Outside of the CES updated version of the original teaser trailer, there have also been two extended gameplay videos of the Chateau stage released a few weeks back. The beginning of the first video shows some crisp, white HDR lighting, intermittently complemented by the implementation of bloom. Bloom appears in some scenes clearly, whilst being completely absent in others. Like in Uncharted 2, its use appears to be more artistically controlled than simply being an early rendering bug.
HDR also looks very similar to both Uncharted 2, and in turn God Of War 3, meaning that it is likely that ND are using a similar if not the very same RGBM version of the technique. In any case HDR appears to be a tad subtler on first impressions, although that could well be down to the environment and artistic use, than anything else. UC2 had areas in which both HDR and bloom were highly prominent, and areas where neither seemed to have much of a noticeable presence.
You can also see solid evidence of MLAA in the works too. There’s very little in the way of edge-based shimmering in the higher contrast areas of the scene, only the usual sub-pixel artefacts not covered by the technique. But overall, it’s a noticeable improvement over the second game’s solid use of MSAA.
In terms of Uncharted 3, I think that about covers it for now. The range of screenshots and videos showcase what appears to be a range of subtle, and quite substancial – in some areas – improvements to the core technology powering the game. On the whole it’s not drastically different to Uncharted 2, but more an evolution of the engine than a complete revolution. Although, you could easily argue that is all the game really requires.
Up next... a few 3DS bits and pieces to cover.
In addition, the extended trailer also contains some short additional footage right at the very end, depicting a desert-based, hand-to-hand fight scene between Drake and an enemy assailant.
The main purpose of this report was to highlight the way certain visual effects have been created in the game. Some of the things talked about before, like water, fire, and particles, can be seen in much more detail for the first time.
With the water in particular, you can see how the main body is constructed from volume rather than individual particles, with particles simply making up the front, sides, and overall extended splashes of the effect. Use of blended normal mapping and multi-layered texturing add detail and extra animation with the inclusion of ripples and surface changes.
In the previous trailer, this could only be seen very briefly. Despite the rather poor quality footage, with lots of artefacting hiding some of the finer details, now it is overly apparent how the flow of water is built and animated.
The second gameplay clip shows Drake waist-deep, and displays a perfect example of how the volume-based effect has been animated to flow naturally, like how it would in a real life approximation of flowing water. If you think about how liquid is largely stuck together, usually only separating when impacted upon, then Naughty Dog’s solution not only caters to the PS3’s limited bandwidth requirements (by reducing the amount of individual particles used) but also in replicating water as organically as possible.
The final part of the new trailer also shows some more interesting technical observations. The footage here, like with the majority of the trailer, is pre-rendered using in-engine assets before being supersampled down to 720p. Character modelling is more detailed than in-game, and like we’ve already touched upon, shadows and lighting are far more precise – with no obvious rendering errors – than what is possible in real-time on the hardware.
Interestingly, we can see that Naughty Dog have implemented some secondary surface lighting reflections, whereby the sunlight bounces off of the ground and onto the characters. Look at the base of the enemy’s arms - or rather under - and you can see it. It’s not the light source from the sun that’s having this effect, as the light is being directed from below at an angle.
Single bounce global illumination? Well, that’s highly unlikely since it isn’t supported in Uncharted 3’s advanced lighting engine, and would be too performance intensive to use in-game as it were, without optimisation. Instead, it looks like it could be some kind of baked GI solution, perhaps some kind of occlusion mapped onto the environment. As Naughty Dog already use plenty of pre-baked techniques in combination with real-time lighting and AO in screen space (SSAO) then this seems like the most obvious conclusion.
The other conceivable way this could also be done, is via the use of some simple shader algorithms, thus saving on even more performance. Without seeing the effect for extend periods of time, it is simply well informed guesswork on how this is being accomplished, and either way needs to be clearly seen in actual gameplay footage to be of any real significance. Though, I suspect that it may well find itself entering the game’s in-engine, but not real-time cut scenes. There are a number of low-tech, performance saving ways this could be implemented; like UE3’s Lightmass GI solution for example, used in Gears 3.
The rest of the trailer is exactly the same as before, so there’s no need to go into further details here. The gameplay footage still looks like its being rendered in 720p compared to the rest of the footage, before also having its image quality decimated by GameTrailers poor video encoding.
Outside of the CES updated version of the original teaser trailer, there have also been two extended gameplay videos of the Chateau stage released a few weeks back. The beginning of the first video shows some crisp, white HDR lighting, intermittently complemented by the implementation of bloom. Bloom appears in some scenes clearly, whilst being completely absent in others. Like in Uncharted 2, its use appears to be more artistically controlled than simply being an early rendering bug.
HDR also looks very similar to both Uncharted 2, and in turn God Of War 3, meaning that it is likely that ND are using a similar if not the very same RGBM version of the technique. In any case HDR appears to be a tad subtler on first impressions, although that could well be down to the environment and artistic use, than anything else. UC2 had areas in which both HDR and bloom were highly prominent, and areas where neither seemed to have much of a noticeable presence.
You can also see solid evidence of MLAA in the works too. There’s very little in the way of edge-based shimmering in the higher contrast areas of the scene, only the usual sub-pixel artefacts not covered by the technique. But overall, it’s a noticeable improvement over the second game’s solid use of MSAA.
In terms of Uncharted 3, I think that about covers it for now. The range of screenshots and videos showcase what appears to be a range of subtle, and quite substancial – in some areas – improvements to the core technology powering the game. On the whole it’s not drastically different to Uncharted 2, but more an evolution of the engine than a complete revolution. Although, you could easily argue that is all the game really requires.
Up next... a few 3DS bits and pieces to cover.
Monday, 10 January 2011
3DS Battery Life: Unsurprisingly As Expected
Nintendo has been showing off much of its new 3DS system at their World Event in Japan, with confirmed date and full launch line-up for the system’s Japanese release – February 26th – along with a small barrage of impressive video demonstrations of this year’s biggest games for the platform. We may be taking a small, updated tech-themed look at some of these later on in the week, but for now our attention has been turned to the console’s confirmed battery specifications.
Using a 1,300 mAh rated battery, Nintendo has revealed that 3DS games running on the system would give the user around 3-5 hrs of playtime, while original DS games would yield an average of between 5-8 hours before charging is required - noticeably less than the 9 to 14 hours possible on the DSi and 15 to 19 hours on the DSL. Charging itself will require around 3.5 hours.
As to be expected, how long each charge lasts will be dictated by both the screen’s brightness setting and the software being played. Nintendo themselves have stated that screen brightness will have the most affect, although we know that other factors also regularly come into play.
Titles that use up more of the GPU’s capabilities – to push either more geometry on screen, or with additional effects – will drain more power from the device. You also have to consider the additional power requirements of using a parallax barrier, auto-stereoscopic display, which is likely to use up more juice than a regular LCD screen.
While 3-5 hours may not seem like much, given the visuals being pushed on screen by the GPU, and when comparing it to the iPhone 4’s 4-6 hour mark playing games such as Infinity Blade, then this seems well in line with other handheld devices out there. By contrast, some Android smartphones last a mere 2-3 hours when playing high-end games, and that’s with many unessential features turned off.
The 3DS then, should provide ample playtime for most gamers out there, with only the most dedicated of the hardcore crowd likely playing games for the maximum 5 hours straight. That said, a back-up battery-powered recharging station, supplementing the system's usual power supply, looks like an essential add-on for all those looking to regularly travel on long commutes.
Using a 1,300 mAh rated battery, Nintendo has revealed that 3DS games running on the system would give the user around 3-5 hrs of playtime, while original DS games would yield an average of between 5-8 hours before charging is required - noticeably less than the 9 to 14 hours possible on the DSi and 15 to 19 hours on the DSL. Charging itself will require around 3.5 hours.
As to be expected, how long each charge lasts will be dictated by both the screen’s brightness setting and the software being played. Nintendo themselves have stated that screen brightness will have the most affect, although we know that other factors also regularly come into play.
Titles that use up more of the GPU’s capabilities – to push either more geometry on screen, or with additional effects – will drain more power from the device. You also have to consider the additional power requirements of using a parallax barrier, auto-stereoscopic display, which is likely to use up more juice than a regular LCD screen.
While 3-5 hours may not seem like much, given the visuals being pushed on screen by the GPU, and when comparing it to the iPhone 4’s 4-6 hour mark playing games such as Infinity Blade, then this seems well in line with other handheld devices out there. By contrast, some Android smartphones last a mere 2-3 hours when playing high-end games, and that’s with many unessential features turned off.
The 3DS then, should provide ample playtime for most gamers out there, with only the most dedicated of the hardcore crowd likely playing games for the maximum 5 hours straight. That said, a back-up battery-powered recharging station, supplementing the system's usual power supply, looks like an essential add-on for all those looking to regularly travel on long commutes.
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