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First Pictures of Quake IV
Snaller writes "Yahoos GameDomain are looking ahead to 2005, and have the first pictures of Quake IV. For all those who have missed the Stroggs since Quake 2 - fear not, they are baaack! Quake IV will be made by Raven software using the Doom 3 engine."
On the down side, it looks like yet another game where all the colors are too dark (murky greys, greens, and browns). Must every game look like it takes place inside the "Nostromo" from "Alien" (1)? The same old same old. On the plus side, the refinement makes it look as good as the "Final Fantasy" movie. If that is considered to be a plus...
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
PC Gamer had exclusive pics months before this.
As much as I like id software, remember when the occasional new game was different and unique, instead of the same old game with graphics updates?
I know there are new games out there that are different, but they never seem to reach our side of the pond.
I want more than FPS 17: This Sequal Requires DirectX 12. I want more than MMORPG: The Quest To Pay Us Money. And I want more than Super Mario Branded Piss Poor Game Remake and Zelda: We Are Whoring This Franchise Out For the Money.
Processing power has increased to insane levels, the gaming industry has more money than Hollywood, and yet we get the same bland crap?
*Waves cane!*
...but let's face it, this is Quake - the gameplay will still be stuck in 1996.
Unreal has grown up and matured. The FPS market is oversaturated with as it is, and there are a lot of good games. I know Quake has tons of name recognition, but is there really much room for a game that hasn't changed much of anything since its first incarnation 8 years ago?
... the pics are poorly photoshopped. notice the one with the two marines!? one marine isn't even holding a weapon... and the other one is in a different environment all together (notice the red behind him)... oh, and lots not notice the very obvious seams. why in the world would you release a picture of an upcoming game when you can't even do a decent photoshop job. I liked the quake series as much as the next fragger... but I'm weary that Raven has to resort to crap like this...
Grease & Counterbalance
"Some things have to be believed to be seen." - Ralph Hodgson
Other than Quake, which completely blew everyone away by going from 2 dimensions to 3, Every game they have produced has been "more of the same" with only graphics, monster, and gun updates. Wolfenstein -> Doom had the difference of what... larger rooms and diagonal walls? Doom II was also just more of the same. Quake - Quake3 were only marginal improvemens also. Doom 3 IMHO was a huge step forward, but again not revolutionary, though I certainly would not call it bland crap- I have found most of their games to be exceptionally good.
This is what id does. They make FPS games. Asking them to do something completely different is like asking Britney Spears to start making hardcore rock music.
Game genres are similar to music in that certain styles go in and out of favor. A few, like RPG's and FPS's are always around. Others like puzzle/adventure games go in and out of style like disco/dance music does every few years. The main difference between the two is that regardless of how fun a certain genre is (aka side scroller) if it is deemed outdated it gets buried and is never really seen again.
Remember when the graphics mantra was, "Toy Story in realtime on a graphics card?" Did anyone notice when we passed that landmark? I won't even get into the, "There's more to games than graphics quality and speed," since others are covering that area so well.
Years back, I read an article about what happens as you model people better. Once you get to the threshold of recognition, simulated people become "cute." For the most part, improve the simulation, and they get cuter. Then as you get more realistic, you reach a threshold, and they're no longer cute, they're *wrong*, and repulsive. According to the article, the brain has a line between "art" and "real" and as long as you're on the art side you're OK. But once you cross to the real side, you'd better *be* real, or else.
This gap between art and reality forms a chasm that may have to be crossed in the laboratory, because in-chasm games may not be marketable. (Hey, how about a "zombie" single-player FPS game? Zombies are *supposed* to look "wrong", and you can't see yourself in first-person.) Plus, why bother? I predict a resurgence in classic animation in a few years, once the novelty of today's 3D wears off and as we approach the chasm.
One of my pet fantasies as graphics get more realistic is to get into young kids' games. You know, things like "tag", "hide and seek" - the things I really did. Disgusting idea really, worse than battery-powered kid's vehicles. Even worse, I'll bet such a game would sell. I think I'd cry all the way to the bank. I'm happy I don't have time to even try such a thing.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
One thing that really bugged me about Doom III was that everything appears to be wrapped in plastic. Be it metal, skin, paper or stone, everything was shiny. When I look at the Quake IV shots I see the same thing. I don't see this in games like Farcry, Painkiller, or UT 2004 (Or the next-gen UT engine demos) so I'm assuming that it's just got something to do with Doom III's lighting engine.
Does this bug anyone else.
I actually found the vehicle scenes in HL2 to be the most fun.
So far Quake 4 sounds more like Doom the game than Doom the movie does.
Have they gone mad? How can I possibly bring myself to shell out for a new Quake title that Carmack himself didn't lovingly craft with his own hand and sick, twisted brain?
Heresy, I say!
That monsters in the first pic has a HUGE FRICKIN NIPPLE!
see for youself. -- it's casting its own shadow.
Software Wars
I haven't played other FPS games lately, so maybe someone else has it right. We used to play Quake 2 and 3 on the lan where I used to work on Friday afternoons and the thing that bugged me wasn't the graphics but the stupidity of the play.
The only way to survive was to put your character into constant run mode and constantly be jumping so as to make you a harder to hit target. This made everyone look like overcharged jackrabbits bouncing around unendingly.
A little more realistic gameplay would be accomplished by adding something like FATIGUE to the game. The more you run, the more tired you get. You need to slow down occasionally to catch your breath, etc. Also, the more tired you get, the worse your aim should get (slightly). This would IMHO increase the playability of these games quite a bit, as you could then act in a sane manner with your character instead of bouncing around at full speed until the fraglimit is hit taking you to the next level.
Fatigue is only the beginning. How about creating a physical model in which I'm really able to run around and do what I want?
Why is it I can sit in most FPS games and fire my big ass gun at a wall until the cows come home but never blow a hole through it? (...unlesss it's one the game designers specifically put there for that purpose)
I'd like to see a FPS in which *all* walls act like walls, *all* doors act like doors, and if it's visible on screen, it's an object I can act upon. I don't just want to see bullet holes mapped onto the texture of something I shoot, I want to be able to blow a freaking hole through a wall, tie a rope to something in the room, and climb down (or jump to my death if I'm done playing). I can't stand it when there's some door I can't get through until I get the red key or some crap like that. I've got enough explosives to bring down a skyscraper and I can't even dent this door? Riiiight... It's just BS to keep you following the script.
I think the whole FPS genre could get a lot more people back into it if the environment were a more realistic physical model. That's why the whole thing jumped when it went from 2D to 3D, there was additional freedom to move about and do things the game designers never necessarily intended you to do.
I imagine games will eventually get to this point, where walls, doors, floors, tables, ceilings, windows, and, well, everything has qualities that make up how strong they are, how much they weigh, how far I can throw them, how much weight they can support, how big a blast it takes to destroy them, etc. Just overall a more realistic phyiscal model instead of "wow! what awesome lighting effects!"
But for now, I think a lot of people are sick of following the game script. I know I am.
I definitely agree. Seems like every time I see a little kid walking around these days they're quite overweight, which I suspect is because of the phenomenon that you're describing. Not that I don't think TV and video games have a place for kids, since they develop other sorts of skills (How many of us know the alphabet from watching sesame street? And video games develop things like hand-eye coordination and problem-solving skills.), but parents have to draw the line somewhere.
And childhood games also teach kids what bastards people can be, which I think is a valuable lesson that needs learned early on.
hot foreign sheep.
Im wondering if Raven will have a Linux port. Im asking this because games based on idsoftware engines done by other companies tend not to have Linux ports even though it would be very easy to do. I love Call of Duty but the makers refuse to make a Linux port even though its based off the Q3A engine.