I'm finally back from the X05. I do not have as much videos as originally planned because of a very busy schedule today, but still there should be enough footage to keep my PCs busy with encoding tomorrow. So while I'm working on the videos, here are my quick impressions of the games there.
Kameo : The games looks even better than during TGS, thanks to self shadowing and depth of fields effects! Kameo is now my most anticipated title (with PGR3) for this launch. I would never have thought this possible just one month ago.
PGR3 : The build we got to play (2-3 weeks old) still had a few framerate and texture streaming issues, but the gameplay was as good as antipated. If you liked PGR2, you'll love PGR3. Can't wait for a finalized version !
PDZ : I have mixed feeling about this game. The gameplay seems very solid with some very nice coop features, some levels look great, but there also some very strange "art" issues, especially with how the characters look. For me, this one is a Wait&See title.
Top Spin 2 : The game was running at 60 fps on the showfloor, with some nice graphics. The gameplay was still a bit buggy, but otherwise it was very good.
Amped 3: They killed my Amped ! Amped 1&2 have been some of my most played titles on Xbox, and this Amped 3 is simply a different game. The mountains are huge now with a good framerate, but I'm not sure I'll actually want to play on them anymore...
King Kong : Activision should take some notes. For a port from a Xbox game, this 360 version looked very nice ! The art direction is excellent as expected, and the gameplay seemed quite tight.
Oblivion : Looked as nice as excepted, but it's difficult to get an idea of how it will play in just a few minutes
Condemned : The game was running quite well now. It seems like a more "intelligent" game than your average FPS, with some very nice gadgets and effects. Very oppressive atmosphere, not unlike Se7en.
Full Auto : Just a few seconds are enough to understand this game. A quite mindless but very fun racing game. It was running at 60 fps with some huge framerate drops, but the devs still have some time to fix this. A very likeable game.
Test Drive Unlimited : Much better than the horrible TGS demo. This game is full of excellent ideas, making it (I guess) the first MMO-racing game. Very nice concept, and it looks like the devs will actually manage to pull it off. A game I will try to follow as closely as possible until its release in Q1 2006.
Fifa 360 : The graphics are nice, but something is off with the players lighting. Otherwise it's still Fifa, some people will like it, others will hate it.
I'm about done with the games I've been able to play. I'll update this news if I have forgotten some. Overall I think Microsoft managed to have a very nice game sho, with lots of nice titles being playable and enjoyable.
All comments (89)
Sounds like it was...nice.
BTW, when can we expect some new videos?
As for madden, it was good from what the few US people who were there told me. It looked quite nice.
As for madden, it was good from what the few US people who were there told me. It looked quite nice.
Just wondering ... I am very much anticipating Tiger Woods 2006. I know it is only going to have 6 courses and only 10 PGA players, but I was just wondering if you had a chance to play it or see it in action, and if so, could you comment on it? Thanks blim.
One more thing.
I am worried about the aliasing in these games because every screen shot I have seen recently has a bunch of Jaggies. Can you comment on whether or not AA was turned on in these games that you played? Thanks again.
Excellent work Blim!
I have really enjoyed the vids and impressions. You seem to have the same prespective that alot of us have on PD0. I just don't know about that one. It is not creating the positive waves it needs to be a success.
Just wondering ... I am very much anticipating Tiger Woods 2006. I know it is only going to have 6 courses and only 10 PGA players, but I was just wondering if you had a chance to play it or see it in action, and if so, could you comment on it? Thanks blim.
One more thing.
I am worried about the aliasing in these games because every screen shot I have seen recently has a bunch of Jaggies. Can you comment on whether or not AA was turned on in these games that you played? Thanks again.
As for the AA, I asked J. Allard himself about it. He told me that they were quite flexible about this, unlike with the requirements of the first Xbox. If a developer can justify not having FSAA (by using HDR/Depth of field like Kameo for example, or their own AA technique) then they can be allowed not to use it. Honestly, I had a very hard time noticing any jaggies on Kameo running in 720p.
As for the AA, I asked J. Allard himself about it. He told me that they were quite flexible about this, unlike with the requirements of the first Xbox. If a developer can justify not having FSAA (by using HDR/Depth of field like Kameo for example, or their own AA technique) then they can be allowed not to use it. Honestly, I had a very hard time noticing any jaggies on Kameo running in 720p.
Thanks for the overall impressions on X05 Blim.
I would never have considered Kameo, but maybe once it drops in price or goes on sale I might have to give it a looksee, and probably rent it.
As for the AA, I asked J. Allard himself about it. He told me that they were quite flexible about this, unlike with the requirements of the first Xbox. If a developer can justify not having FSAA (by using HDR/Depth of field like Kameo for example, or their own AA technique) then they can be allowed not to use it. Honestly, I had a very hard time noticing any jaggies on Kameo running in 720p.
But as someone else posted, I thought that one of the 3 cores allowed the developers to get virtually "free" AA in their games. If thats the case, why would they not put it on? I also remember hearing that AA was a standard for each and every xbox360 game, just as 16:9 @ 720p is as well, so is this now not the case?
(of course, i have an HDTV so I am just loving this whole HD stuff, and glad to hear its not noticeable on Kameo, especially since its from the final build)
here is an example:
Here is a picture of Valve's DoD in NON HDR:
http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/video/valve_hd...
notice so many jaggies around every object? thats with a 7800 Nvidia Card with AA disabled
Now look at this
Here is the SAME image with Full HDR:
http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/video/valve_hd...
notice that the jaggies have been reduced considerably, as much as 4xAA
Do you understand now
here is an example:
Here is a picture of Valve's DoD in NON HDR:
http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/video/valve_hd...
notice so many jaggies around every object? thats with a 7800 Nvidia Card with AA disabled
Now look at this
Here is the SAME image with Full HDR:
http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/video/valve_hd...
notice that the jaggies have been reduced considerably, as much as 4xAA
Do you understand now
but htere is obviously a performance hit or why not use it as well as hdr as the jaggies are still there, i know from using 4xAA on BF2 they jaggies diaapear on my X800XL card
but htere is obviously a performance hit or why not use it as well as hdr as the jaggies are still there, i know from using 4xAA on BF2 they jaggies diaapear on my X800XL card
X800 generation of cards didnt have HDR capacity