That's nice and all but I think he was talking about perception. The XC is a lot faster but to the player the increase looks nowhere near as large as it is. That's one possible interpretation for the Wii's "2-3 times", a user will perceive it as an increase of 2-3 times.
Correction there, most game artwork is done at mid level detail and then rez'ed up or down to suit needs. Also, it costs exactly the same to export a texture at 1024x1024 as 256x256. You always work on the texture large and export it out small to hide any flaws it may have. Same applies to visual effects.
Uprezing makes no sense since you'd only add interpolated pixels. If you've worked at too low of a resolution you're screwed. If the specs for texture sizes aren't final you should work with the largest size that could happen (or the multiple of it you usually use), if the specs are finalized already it depends on the artist, some prefer working at higher res and downsampling, others work at final res right away. Also lower resolution means less details, PS2 textures are usually pretty detailless because small details would emphasize the texture resolution and look bad. Granted, normalmaps can be rendered at any resolution but even then you have limits to the detail you can feasibly include so you'll spend less time on a 256x256 normalmap than a 2048x2048 one.
No one uses the high poly model for the game, it's for cinematics and for normal map creation. Having worked with Maya and 3D studio max for 5 years now, I can assure you there is no magic tool that lowers your poly count without totally wrecking your model. You have to do it by hand, no matter what.
I think with Doom 3 and its ilk they used a hybrid approach, an automated reduction as the first pass and manual cleanup afterwards. Personally I prefer making the lowpoly from scratch (doesn't take that long since we're talking about ~1-2k tri models) but whatever floats your boat...
As I said, switchable power socket. Flip a switch and the PC and all connected devices get power, flip another switch and your TV and the consoles get power (but TVs have easily accessible power buttons that send them into off instead of standby so that's probably unnecessary). No need to pull plugs and they can include the surge protector already. I've attached a switchable only to the PC since that's too many devices to switch off manually (including the network switch that ironically doesn't have a switch) and the monitor doesn't seem to lose power completely.
The DS has better graphics than the N64 at a MUCH better framerate yet it's a lot smaller. As technology progresses you can get older tech in miniature versions.
It's not just console sales, the sales of the launch games are important. That's what sunk the Gamecube, only Nintendo got to sell games on it. Publishers will support the system where the games sell, preferrably where mediocre games sell as if they were top end games.
You can vote for the dude that at least promises to do what you want or the dude that promises right away that he'll screw you over. What have you got to lose?
There's no law regulating movie ratings yet politicians want to make one for games. Even more, the game restriction law doesn't use the existing game ratings, it tries to define what is a bad game on its own. That means a clerk cannot rely on the rating on the box to determine when to check for age, he has to judge the game on his own and he goes to jail if other people disagree wih his judgement.
Or that there's nothing wrong at all with polygamy.
What's wrong with polygamy? As far as I can tell the only reason we don't have that legally recognized is because our major religions promote monogamy. Other countries allow that because their major religions allow it.
I know it sounds crazy but if the police started spraying innocent protestors with tear gas, as long as they had the right to bear arms, they could fire back and defend their right to peaceable assemble. Granted they would probably be killed or imprisoned for years, it still ethically qualifies as self-defense.
If the police is expecting return fire they'd either ready lethal firepower before the return fire happens or they'll cover the whole place in gas to prevent people from using their weapons (since you cannot use a weapon very well when you've been hit by tear gas) or at least reducing their accuracy enough to allow shooting those who draw a gun.
A suppressive government would hand its forces better weaponry and you might see those armored vehicles mount machineguns instead of water cannons.
It does add up. The modern household has many devices that go into standby by default, turning them all off (use a switchable socket if you don't trust the device's off switch) can save you quite some money. It's not like you're getting any drawbacks from powering stuff down when not in use.
It's unlike AO because AO only covers porn (which I think has its own rating in Japan as well). But if enough games end up rated Z retailers will start carrying them.
Also that list sounds like Manhunt and God of War weren't released in Japan...
(Chance is that software that's that old won't run under Windows without an emulator anyway...)
Well, yes, those modern PCs wouldn't be compatible with your games. Since PCs are very modular you can only make a statement about certain configurations but clearly modern PCs aren't backwards (is that really backwards?) compatible with games distributed on 5.25" disks. On a PC every component has to be compatible with something so the compatibility of your PC is the product of the compatibility of all components. MSDOS says it's compatible but your drive (and probably a few more components) say they aren't and therefore the entire PC isn't.
Or would you complain that your Pentium 233 cannot run a game that's marked as "compatible with Windows XP" just because you have WinXP installed?
I am categorically against videogame restrictions as long as books can be sold unrestricted. Books have been proven to make people violent and especially the most widely sold books have been cited as the reason for millions of murders. Violent videogames have about ten people claiming they were the reason they committed a crime. Books like the Bible, the Qu'ran and numerous others have entire wars claiming to be inspired by these books. If we can enact laws against videogames because of ten people, we can enact laws against books because of millions of people.
Of course that's just what you get if you apply Jack Thompson's logic to books. But even without sensationalism you can easily see that some books are definitely more damaging to the development of our society than the videogames the "think of the children" politicians are trying to ban. I'm not talking about the Kama Sutra, I'm talking about books like Mein Kampf (or any other propaganda book). Books that consciously try to influence the reader towards hatred and violence. A violent videogame may depict violence but it won't attempt to make the player hate jews (if we ignore Neonazi propaganda games for now). A book can contain an ideology AND give a reasoning that makes the ideology appear as the one truth (propaganda is dangerous).
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That's nice and all but I think he was talking about perception. The XC is a lot faster but to the player the increase looks nowhere near as large as it is. That's one possible interpretation for the Wii's "2-3 times", a user will perceive it as an increase of 2-3 times.
Correction there, most game artwork is done at mid level detail and then rez'ed up or down to suit needs. Also, it costs exactly the same to export a texture at 1024x1024 as 256x256. You always work on the texture large and export it out small to hide any flaws it may have. Same applies to visual effects.
Uprezing makes no sense since you'd only add interpolated pixels. If you've worked at too low of a resolution you're screwed. If the specs for texture sizes aren't final you should work with the largest size that could happen (or the multiple of it you usually use), if the specs are finalized already it depends on the artist, some prefer working at higher res and downsampling, others work at final res right away. Also lower resolution means less details, PS2 textures are usually pretty detailless because small details would emphasize the texture resolution and look bad. Granted, normalmaps can be rendered at any resolution but even then you have limits to the detail you can feasibly include so you'll spend less time on a 256x256 normalmap than a 2048x2048 one.
No one uses the high poly model for the game, it's for cinematics and for normal map creation. Having worked with Maya and 3D studio max for 5 years now, I can assure you there is no magic tool that lowers your poly count without totally wrecking your model. You have to do it by hand, no matter what.
I think with Doom 3 and its ilk they used a hybrid approach, an automated reduction as the first pass and manual cleanup afterwards. Personally I prefer making the lowpoly from scratch (doesn't take that long since we're talking about ~1-2k tri models) but whatever floats your boat...
As I said, switchable power socket. Flip a switch and the PC and all connected devices get power, flip another switch and your TV and the consoles get power (but TVs have easily accessible power buttons that send them into off instead of standby so that's probably unnecessary). No need to pull plugs and they can include the surge protector already. I've attached a switchable only to the PC since that's too many devices to switch off manually (including the network switch that ironically doesn't have a switch) and the monitor doesn't seem to lose power completely.
The DS has better graphics than the N64 at a MUCH better framerate yet it's a lot smaller. As technology progresses you can get older tech in miniature versions.
Probably an effective defense against an armored vehicle...
You noncomformists are all alike!
I already have to do that with my 70k model PS2 so it wouldn't be a new approach.
They assume that any Mac user with enough brains to solve a 5D Rubik's Cube bought a proper mouse along with their first Mac.
It's not just console sales, the sales of the launch games are important. That's what sunk the Gamecube, only Nintendo got to sell games on it. Publishers will support the system where the games sell, preferrably where mediocre games sell as if they were top end games.
No but if he said "Halo wouldn't have been XBox-exclusive without MS throwing money at Bungie" he'd be right.
You can vote for the dude that at least promises to do what you want or the dude that promises right away that he'll screw you over. What have you got to lose?
There's no law regulating movie ratings yet politicians want to make one for games. Even more, the game restriction law doesn't use the existing game ratings, it tries to define what is a bad game on its own. That means a clerk cannot rely on the rating on the box to determine when to check for age, he has to judge the game on his own and he goes to jail if other people disagree wih his judgement.
Or that there's nothing wrong at all with polygamy.
What's wrong with polygamy? As far as I can tell the only reason we don't have that legally recognized is because our major religions promote monogamy. Other countries allow that because their major religions allow it.
I know it sounds crazy but if the police started spraying innocent protestors with tear gas, as long as they had the right to bear arms, they could fire back and defend their right to peaceable assemble. Granted they would probably be killed or imprisoned for years, it still ethically qualifies as self-defense.
If the police is expecting return fire they'd either ready lethal firepower before the return fire happens or they'll cover the whole place in gas to prevent people from using their weapons (since you cannot use a weapon very well when you've been hit by tear gas) or at least reducing their accuracy enough to allow shooting those who draw a gun.
A suppressive government would hand its forces better weaponry and you might see those armored vehicles mount machineguns instead of water cannons.
Probably because all the pros have signed contracts with non-compete clauses.
It does add up. The modern household has many devices that go into standby by default, turning them all off (use a switchable socket if you don't trust the device's off switch) can save you quite some money. It's not like you're getting any drawbacks from powering stuff down when not in use.
what do you hope to achieve by switching off your modem?
Conserve power?
The demos are held in the DS's RAM, which is 4MB. The DS demos I have on my computer average around 1.5 MB.
Sony management has officially gone insane.
You sound surprised. Never read an interview with Kutaragi?
It's unlike AO because AO only covers porn (which I think has its own rating in Japan as well). But if enough games end up rated Z retailers will start carrying them.
Also that list sounds like Manhunt and God of War weren't released in Japan...
(Chance is that software that's that old won't run under Windows without an emulator anyway...)
Well, yes, those modern PCs wouldn't be compatible with your games. Since PCs are very modular you can only make a statement about certain configurations but clearly modern PCs aren't backwards (is that really backwards?) compatible with games distributed on 5.25" disks. On a PC every component has to be compatible with something so the compatibility of your PC is the product of the compatibility of all components. MSDOS says it's compatible but your drive (and probably a few more components) say they aren't and therefore the entire PC isn't.
Or would you complain that your Pentium 233 cannot run a game that's marked as "compatible with Windows XP" just because you have WinXP installed?
I am categorically against videogame restrictions as long as books can be sold unrestricted. Books have been proven to make people violent and especially the most widely sold books have been cited as the reason for millions of murders. Violent videogames have about ten people claiming they were the reason they committed a crime. Books like the Bible, the Qu'ran and numerous others have entire wars claiming to be inspired by these books. If we can enact laws against videogames because of ten people, we can enact laws against books because of millions of people.
Of course that's just what you get if you apply Jack Thompson's logic to books. But even without sensationalism you can easily see that some books are definitely more damaging to the development of our society than the videogames the "think of the children" politicians are trying to ban. I'm not talking about the Kama Sutra, I'm talking about books like Mein Kampf (or any other propaganda book). Books that consciously try to influence the reader towards hatred and violence. A violent videogame may depict violence but it won't attempt to make the player hate jews (if we ignore Neonazi propaganda games for now). A book can contain an ideology AND give a reasoning that makes the ideology appear as the one truth (propaganda is dangerous).
So were the ratings systems in Germany before the govt declared them as legally binding.
Army education IS encouraging violence. OMG, the Army is turning our children into killers! Ban the Army!
Unless you have a Microsoft brand printer it's not Microsoft's responsibility to update its drivers to work with NT.