Topic: EA Comments on Revolution Development

[darknight06]

correction:

"but I kind of prefer the DS. It makes the most BUSINESS sense to me."

Go figure, cheap bad ports of console games take no effort to do.  As long as their IP's are on the system and it's known that better versions of them exist they're not gonna care.  What's $5,000 to them compared to 6 million+?  And I doubt the DS devs working on those titles are even getting that!

Oh and one more thing EA, next gen games don't look so next gen anymore when they:
a. go from 60fps on field to 15 when you show a crowd (FIFA 06)
b. go from 60fps on current gen to 30 and below* (Fight Night R3, *Madden 06)
c. when for some stupid reason, the rag doll STILL screws up like current gen (Fight Night R3)

[hudsonhawk]

While the comments themselves make a marginal amount of sense, I could see the lower-powered approach affecting development negatively.  It may mean that they have to repurpose all the resources specifically for the Revolution because it can't handle high resolution textures, and high-poly count models.

Rereading what he said, I think that may be what he meant - that when they resources are scaled to work with the Revolution's hardware, they're no longer legible / discernable.

In other words, even if you're playing the Xbox 360 on a SD television, it's still using the higher poly counts and higher resolution textures.  However, playing that same game on the Revolution at SD would not yield the same results.

[KDR_11k]

But then again they don't mind redoing all their assets for the portables.

[Kairon]

Perhaps then developers would end up creating games for the lowest-common-denominator?

~Carmine M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

[Faithinchaos]

Is this the first time I've ever been disappointed to hear that a developer is supporting a Nintendo console? We really should only be so lucky to "lose out" on EA's support. Okay, so Revolution won't have the all important "dumb jock" and "frat boy" demographics? I'm crying right now. Seriously.
And besides, listening to this guy is akin to listening to my mother talk about technology -
"You sit further away from the TV, so it's higher pixels, amirite? SEE! You have to squint to read from the computer! Told you so!"

[hudsonhawk]

Quote
Originally posted by: Faithinchaos
Is this the first time I've ever been disappointed to hear that a developer is supporting a Nintendo console? We really should only be so lucky to "lose out" on EA's support. Okay, so Revolution won't have the all important "dumb jock" and "frat boy" demographics?

Wow, elitist much?  

You can't win with the hardcore gamers alone (see the Xbox) and you definitely can't compete without EA (the lack of Madden absolutely killed the Dreamcast).  Like them or not, EA sells lots of games and their support is necessary for success.

[Renny]

Stupidity drives the economy. It's a fact.

[Ian Sane]

"You can't win with the hardcore gamers alone (see the Xbox)"

I'd say Dreamcast is a better example.  Despite what Microsoft claims the Xbox is about as "hardcore" as the Monkees.

If the issue is actually the hassle of porting a game to weaker hardware then EA's concern is justifiable.  That has been pretty much issue numero uno regarding the whole hardware debate.

"listening to this guy is akin to listening to my mother talk about technology"

You should hear my father talk about widescreen.

[Giolon]

I am one of the Xbox 360 owners who DOES have an HDTV.  In fact, all my of my friends that have 360's DO have HDTV.  My decision to get one was largely based on the fact that all the games do play in HD.  Just because EA can't make good use of the graphics to go with good gameplay, but other developers can.  Oblivion isn't an absolute blast to play simply because it has super pretty hi-res graphics, but they sure don't hurt.  Perfect Dark Zero looks pretty amazing to me in HD too.  It's got the great classic Perfect Dark gameplay with new shiny graphics, thus I'm super pleased with it (so are my eyes.  If I go back today to play PD, the low framerate destroys my retinas.  Polycounts/textures don't bother me, but framerate does.  It's really bad, but the gameplay is ooooh sooo good. ).  Heck, for a PD sequel I would've been happy for a Gamecube sequel, as long as the framerate was greater than 10.

However, I will still be getting a Revolution.  Why?  Because I am confident that Nintendo can and will provide games that live up to their new controller's potential.  I can't live without Zelda, Mario, Metroid, etc.  Nintendo still makes great games.  But those denying the fact that HD can make games much more appealing, or even provide better experiences as in the RTS example, are simply kidding themselves.  It's not going to make your game, but it certainly can make your game better.

[Rize]

Has anyone tried running 360 games in both HD and standard?  Notice any framerate differences?

[hudsonhawk]

Quote
Originally posted by: Rize
Has anyone tried running 360 games in both HD and standard?  Notice any framerate differences?

For most of the games, no, not much difference.  But a couple of the games have major framerate issues in HD - the worst of which is Quake 4.  It plays pretty well and is a fair bit of fun in SD, but in 720p it's an unplayable mess.

I think this is why the scores are so all over the board on the 360 version of Quake 4 - I bet the people who liked it were playing it in SD.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I too have a HD TV, and DID have an Xbox 360, but I ended up selling it for Geforce 7900GTX since most good Xbox 360 games are on PC anyway. With that said I am happy with the basic progressive scan feature the revolution will have, and really the difference in graphical clarity really did little for me since I'm so used to PC games anyway. After playing an Xbox 360 game in HD for awhile I really didn't care, same with SD.

[Jensen]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
EA can't rely on people having HDTVs for their games so this comment is either stupid or they're just making excuses.

Exactly.... they are complaining that instead of having to support both HD and SD on the same system, they only have to support SD.  How is that harder?

[cubist]

I bought Madden recently Knox...but it was my first one in six generations...that's how long it took Madden  to take a significant enough leap for me to fork out the money for it...

[wandering]

Quote
But then again they don't mind redoing all their assets for the portables.

But then again EA's portable games suck.

[Shin Gallon]

Darn, no more crappy movie liscense games or sports game expansion packs-err, totally new Madden games. What a shame.

[BigJim]

OMG, all this standard definition support we've been doing for the last 20 years is SO HARD!!!!

[UncleBob]

Hey Guys, check this one out...

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6148455.html

GS interview with guy from EA
"I don't think Revolution consumers want straight ports."

[Caliban]

Like duuuuuuuuuuuh!

Edit: I'm reading the article and look what I found: "unique controller, which has a pointing device as well as the accelerometers inside of it."

Is that something that we knew already or just comfirmed accidently, heck I don't even know what accelerometers would do but I would sure be thankful if someone explained.

Hm, I might just get a Madden for my first time just because of the controls.

[KDR_11k]

Accelerometers sense movement. It's the proper name, a gyroscope could only measure rotation.

[Caliban]

Ah, cool, thanks for clarifying it for me.