Gaming Forums > Nintendo Gaming
why dont we see more bumpmapping and hi-res textures in GC games?
turkishpunkass:
a lot of people talk about how gamecube has a really powerful texturing unit, but how come we haven't seen much in action? Rogue Squadron had bumpmapping, yes, but still not on the level of Halo.
How much does it hurt GC performance to have bumpmapping enabled? is it a big hit?
Is the gamecube capable of DOT3 bumpmapping in hardware, or just embossed bumpmapping?
is the 24mb of mosys 1t-sram not enough for GC to draw as much hi-res textures as xbox?
Christberg:
The Xbox has more total RAM than the GC by a fair amount so because of that Hires textures get used more.
The GC can't do DOT3, just emboss as I recall. I could be wrong on that though.
The GC is still capable of some rather nice looking games. Metroid Prime looks better than Halo IMO but that's not necessarily a fair comparison.
Rory C:
What's the difference between Dot3 and emboss bump-mapping?
Razex:
Man i thought Rogue Squadron had bump-mapping that was equivalent or even better than Halo, that game just looks so amazing. And yea, I think Metroid looks better than Halo, but that's because of all the little details and the art direction. And plus, Halo only runs at 30 fps, while Metroid and Rogue Squadron run at 60 fps. And who cares all that much? If the game looks awesome, who cares how it's done? Halo, Metroid, and RS all look great.
Sean:
Appreciation of graphics, for me, and probably most people, is mostly based on a very natural gut reaction. I mean, I never go into it and say, "Wow, look at that amazing bump-mapping." I don't mean to make fun of people who DO do that--we all have different, and sometimes much more technical, ways of appreciating things, but in the end, I'm just saying it's not something I think about all that much. I couldn't tell you what, technically, is going on with Zelda: Wind Waker, but I do know that it's got something many games don't.
And I'd just like to say that Ocarina of Time's well-below-30-fps rate didn't stop it from being perfectly playable and bloody great.
Are we too hung up on the tech side of things? What say you other peoples?