thanks BlimBlim, any drive club demos at TGS ?

Like the volume to the geometry and the lighting, really nice. Kinda with the camera was free like Ratchet and Clank, would really help with the feel of it I think and if there were more hectic fights going on. Guess it's more geared towards a younger audience, which is fair enough, has to be something for kids to play when the game comes out. Look forward to seeing where they take this franchise in the future :)

Second-purchase game indeed. I will buy when it goes on sale.

is this the same build as gamescom ?

I honestly have mixed feelings for this game (a mix of disappointment but also excitement and giving the developers the benefit of the doubt and time for optimization till release), for starters Knack looks really graphically/technically inconsistent :

1- some parts look great and CGish (transparent knack in indoor environments, some parts of the ice mountain and knack composed of transparent ice...) unlike some other parts (the dull non interactive parts of the city)

2- some use of high rez textures, in other parts average rez textures...(it is like different artists were given different orders in different times with regards to the resolution to use in game, hopefully by release all textures woud be high rez)

3- some parts look very clean with almost no aliasing, some other parts suffer from a lot of aliasing

4- sometimes the shadows of knack are renedered in real time realistically and correctly, and sometimes are just prebaked non changing unrealistic shadows

same remarks goes for the lighting (inconsitent quality throughout the levels shown), animations of knack, of enemies (inconsidtent quality)...etc

I honestly dont understand how come this very simplistic game with fixed camera angles, with mostly non interactive environments, with dead enemies and lost particles of knack disappearing from the screen in milliseconds after their destruction...etc cannot run at 60 fps ?maybe it has to do with the complex gpgpu simulations of the 5000 particles composing knack ? but is it justificable to use all this GPU power for this simulation ? maybe developers could have faked the simulation and used the remaining power to achieve higher fps/more impressive cleaner graphics ?

I really hope the game get rid by release of its aliasing, and if we are getting 30 fps for this, be it without any slowdown please and with very sharp responsive very little input lag controls...and most of all : perfect and optimize the gameplay.

thanks for your reply. and to all the videos of gamersyde, you are doing a great job with high quality videos, I am a fan of your website since the beginning. keep the good work.

looks fun enough to me. It's a perfect launch game for me because It doesn't seem to be this overly huge game with all kinds of different things to learn, it's just simple and great looking for what it is.

I'll certainly be trying this one out at launch.

Looks OK but This seems Like something that could be done now.

The gameplay looks weak.

This game strikes me as old school...and not in a good way. Where are all the advancements that have taken place in the genre over the years...non of them seem to be implemented here. Forget current gen...other than graphics, EVERYTHNG shown by this game could have been done on PS2 or Xbox. Very pretty game actually, but the GAMEPLAY and mechanics very been there/done that.

Name a next game game that isn't like that?

if this was directed towards another console you'd be like "SO TRUE BROFIST I wet myself thinking about sony."

is there anything dynamic going on here? i mean, on the one hand at first glance you're like oooh some CGI quality bits, but then you keep watching and realize something isn't right. a lot of untapped potential for the visuals wasted. uneven flow of quality. prebaked. and wtf is up with the 90s'ish drop shadow for the character when he seemingly has a dynamic shadow? if it's some kind of SSAO goin on there they kinda failed with the effect.
anyway, it's a kids game so who really cares right?

did you read my previous post ? lol

Nope. I'm just a realist when it comes to new consoles. Everything we've been shown of next gen is a game we could play right now on current gen. It just wouldn't look as nice. That goes for killzone. Ryse. Dead rising, infamous, BF4, forza, driveclub, need for speed, watchdogs etc etc. Nothing of what has been shown of next gen games have shown anything new outside of visual polish. Welcome to console gaming.

Totally agree there, games are not gonna have a massive jump for next gen.

Makes me laugh when people go on about graphics, I go WOW it looks pretty. Shame the game play is bland.

Sorry but Ive been playing diablo 3, yet that game aint a looker but its addictive, Game play needs to be some what different as we are just gonna be playing the same re-hashed crap from last gen.

also I mean Watch dogs reminds me of Assassins Creed in the future with a phone lol

Again, I'm not talking current Gen here...its only common that the next ten would draw on what's happening in this current generation for the time being. I'm suggesting this game could run as is (other than graphics) on the PS2 and be right at home. That is not the case for many current or next Gen games from the online advancements, animation advancements, mechanic advancements, and physics advancements. Knack is really old school in that it uses none of todays advancements in it. It is very straightforward and old school. Like a throwback game. It would be like buying a old Sega Saturn or PSX game that's been ported to a new console...when you watch it being played you think this has been done already...wheres the new stuff. However, to answer your question...Project Spark, Quantum Break, are games to me that would/did not happen last Gen with the same approach.

Both of those games are entirely possible with a visual downgrade to fit the limitations of current gen. All games are like that. Knack is showing a serious amount of physics work with the way the character is formed/destroyed. But ultimately it's something that could be faked current gen. Nothing shown so far is bringing a single new thing to the table. It's visual upgrades only. Better facial animation, higher poly counts, real time lighting and day night cycles, volumetrics. There is no guarentee a "new" experience would even amount to a "good" experience though. And in regards to knack, maybe it's old school approach is something fresh in itself due to games no longer being like this anymore? Kinda like how I'd welcome a WW2 FPS right about now. It was ran into the ground a generation ago.,but you hardly see them anymore, which would make a new one something different. I'm not excited for knack, but it has it's place. Much like the recent influx of megadrive/snes style side scrolling platformers.

Thanks for the great analysis dude. I have the same mixed feelings. Seriously what is up with the particles disappearing after 2 seconds they hit the ground? What is this the Unreal Engine 3 lol? Look at Infamous Second Son where every single piece of shrapnel and destruction stays in your vicinity for ages.

Japanese programmers bro...I guess some genius at Sony Japan decided to copy paste PSX era code from Ape Escape

What i find weird. Is the engine is UE4. Not even using an in-house engine. Criminal.

I disagree. Their has never been a game before that's incorporated a TV into the way Quantum Break has. The fact that the TV show and game's story intertwine and play out like a season of interactive entertainment is again, a new approach. Project Spark is new in the sense of its cross-platform nature, mixed with its input methods that can be switched on the fly. Controller, touch, M&K, Kinect...Windows 8/PC, 360, The One all adding to this overall universe that can be shared and added to. The mere fact that you can use Kinect to record your own animations/cut scenes and make that apart of the world for people to use means it could not have been done on any previous console generation.

And no...their is nothing remotely fresh looking about Knack...old feeling yes, but not fresh. Again, its not taking advantage of any advancements at all that have come out in the last 10 years but visual. Its style is pure throwback to a time when games were less complicated...thats cool for those looking for that, but it ain't next Gen...its not even current Gen.

So control methods and TV gimmicks are features that you consider "next gen", yet mechanics and gameplay which remain entirely current gen do not? Strange logic, agree to disagree i guess.

As for knack. It's fresh in the context of a world where platformers have died and realism, military shooters and guns have over-saturated the market. Is it "retro" in it's design? Yes. But it is also something different in a sea of the same. If a game like rayman can get away with retro themes in a sparkly coat of paint, then i don't see why knack can't too. Ultimately though knack isn't a game for me, it simply adds variety to a launch lineup, and is aimed at those who enjoy the lego games. It is what it is, and it looks nice doing it.

rather you think its a gimmick it not is neither here nor there to me...but the APPROACH is what I'm calling different in Quantum Break and something that has NEVER been done in videogames before...that is fact. The story intertwines between the two and the characters you see in the TV are not the same as you play in the game, yet they want you to become attached to all the characters and you can alter what happens in the TV show by your decisions in the game...tell me a game that's taken that approach? And yes, taking the advancements of all the categories over the years and crossing platforms with every input method available in a universe that's powered by the community is new. Again, name another game that does this? Even though you feel differently, you'd have to admit these are more than just graphical elements being put into games that have yet to be produced in previous generations. They are advancing videogames...knack does not. This is not a knock against knack, just an observation from all the info that's been shown about the game so far.

Ogres. yay. Can't say I understand what the fuss is all about. It looks ok, but nothing outstanding.